Last night I went to see the band Thriving Ivory with my sister and my two friends. I had such a blast because my friend Kelley (above) came with me kinda last minute. It was a great show!
Yep, we were right along the stage, best seats in the house. The highlight of the show...when they broke out into the Beatles song, Let It Be!!! Melt my heart!
Yep, this is the prince.
The day was a success, we had a blast!!!
But his favorite is to find any bit of sun and enjoy it.
He's so cute!
The family has grown quite a bit since the last time all Mark's brothers and sisters came together for a picture. With 10 grandkids the task is getting more difficult but we pulled through without any casualties :-).
We took advantage of the beautiful scenery and took some personal shots.
This show was so much fun! Putting all emphasis on their sound and not trying to look like them at all, these Beatles impersonators were fantastic! This was one of my Christmas presents and I loved it!!!
February 12 is a pretty big birthday day.
Most of the attention today is on Charles Darwin. It's the bicentennial of Darwin's birth. Google has an artsy icon in honor of the man who gave us one of the greatest, and most controversial, scientific breakthroughs. And tons of stories are out there discussing the British naturalist's findings.
As we reflect on Darwin today through a tax lens (that is what all y'all are doing today, right?), we can definitely say that the U.S. tax code has evolved over time. But Feb. 12 has a more direct tax connection.
Thanks, Abe: On Feb. 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Ky. His actual birthday isn't such a big deal any more, since we celebrate it, along with George Washington's birth, as a Monday federal holiday. That annual commemoration, and call to shopping, is coming up in a few days.
And while our 16th president achieved many noteworthy things during his time in the White House, his contribution to our tax system is usually overlooked.
OK, he didn't actually write the tax code. But he saw the need for an income tax and signed the legislation into law to help finance the Civil War.
Below, thanks to the research of the Library of Congress Business Reference Services, the Civil War Preservation Trust and Tax Analysts Tax History Project and Tax Museum, is a brief history of the United State's first income tax.
Our early tax history: The first federal income tax in American history was passed in August 1861. It was created so that the government would have a reliable source of income to pay the interest on war bonds.
Initially, lawmakers wanted to implement an emergency property tax similar to the one adopted during the War of 1812. But the Constitution required the federal government to apportion the burden among states on the basis of population rather than property values.That created another set of problems.
Residents of lower-density western states, border states and poor northeastern states stood to bear a greater burden than those of highly-populated urban states, despite the latter’s valued real estate. So lawmakers followed the British example of income taxation, which that country used to finance the Crimean War.
Because it did not tax property directly, Congressional leaders viewed the income tax as indirect, and thus immune from Constitutional strictures.
The first income tax was moderately progressive: a 3 percent tax on annual incomes of more than $800. Back then, that amount exempted most wage earners. That levy applied to income up to $10,000, with a 5 percent tax imposed on earnings in excess of 10 grand.
The taxes were finally collected in 1862, when Lincoln signed the bill creating the income tax into law.
Tax trouble from the get-go: While the first U.S. income tax looks appealing simple, according to one report, Lincoln himself had trouble with it. He is said to have misunderstood the law and overpaid his taxes by $1,279.15.
We know exactly what you went through, Mr. President.
Sure, our tax system today is much more elaborate than the one you signed off on, but some things, such as filing mistakes, never change.
And we do sort of think of you at tax time, sir, since most of us need a whole lot of pennies bearing your image to cover our modern income tax bills!
Most of you know that Mark and I were called to be "Ma and Pa" for a group of teenagers on a pioneer trek simulation that took place December 28-31. We had a great time and here are some of the pictures to share our experience with you. On the first morning we met the kids that would be part of our family and then put together our handcart.
And we are off!
After 8 miles we had what was called "The Women's Pull". This represented the times when pioneer families were separated from their husbands, fathers and brothers due to missionary or military duties. The sisters took it upon themselves to haul the load alone for a mile while the brothers walked along side or behind. It was not easy.
Here is some of the beautiful scenery we were lucky enough to enjoy while out there. We were still pushing our cart into camp here as it was getting dark and as we approached the site where we would settle for the night we had to push up "heartbreak hill". It was the most difficult hill through the entire trek and my family had to camp at the top, pushing higher up the hill then any other family. As soon as we arrived we had to set up camp and get dinner. So soar we didn't want to move we had pushed through nearly 12 miles on the first day.
This the second morning on the trek. We took down camp, had breakfast and pushed our carts approx three more miles.
After arriving at camp and setting up tents we had the chance to enjoy some activities. Above I am doing some archery and below "Pa" is relaxing with the baby as the rest of the group is participating in hatchet throwing.
After some more activities, pioneer games and lunch we made a trip to the make shift cemetery to bury the baby who had phnamonia and had a rough night with it being so cold. Of course this was all to simulate what the pioneer families had to go through facing death along the trail.
Next we were on to learn how to shoot a rifle with old fashioned black powder. This was fun.
Back to camp to warm up and have a campfire dinner.
Early in the morning we met for some words of wisdom from our Stake President and then a spiritual testimony meeting. We were so proud of our family with four of them getting up among their peers to share their thoughts.
Another couple miles and we are almost done!
We gave hugs goodby, took some last pictures and had everyone sign the family flag for our souveneir.
It was a great experience and Mark and I are so glad to be a part of it.
Saturday night following Christmas my family went to the Temple to enjoy the light display as well as the musical performance. Both were wonderful!
On December 26th "The Cab" came back to the valley and played at The Venue of Scottsdale. We had planned on going for weeks but there were going to be a couple other people with us. Things didn't quite work out for them so it ended up being just Misty and I which was at first weird but we had a lot of fun.
After the show we met up with some of the group outside and got them to sign our cds and pose for a couple pictures.
Above is Alex the guitar/piano player and below is Alex the lead singer/songwriter.
Yes, I did write that correctly...there are three members of the band with the name Alex.
It's tradition to spend Christmas Eve with the Christensens'. We have a huge dinner and then run around town a bit viewing the Christmas lights.
The next morning we watched the grandkids open their gifts and then spent hours playing guitar hero. That was a lot of fun.
Some of us were too tired to play.
