Shame on you!

Shame on you for taking out adjustable rate mortgages w/o knowing if you could really afford the house once the rate when up! Shame on you for buying a bigger house you could barely afford so you could keep up with the Jones'! Shame on you for walking away from your house even though you could afford to pay the mortgage!

Our house has dumped 33%. Yes 33% in less than four years. We bought it for 180 and a house a few doors down is selling for 119. Holy cow. I blame all those in the Boise area that bit off more than they could chew. I am not blaming those who lost their jobs, just those who bought houses they knew they could barely afford and were always one paycheck away from missing a mortgage payment.

You can try and blame mortgage companies as much as you want but at the end of the day, the buyers were the ones who signed on those many many documents on closing day. It is so frustrating to me that there are those out there that are being hurt by this only because they bought at the wrong time.

I already know when we sell we will be losing money. I already know that we will have to bring money to the table to pay back the loans on the house. I joke with Garrett (though am serious at the same time) that I will be working just to save enough money to sell the house. The only silver lining is it is still worth more than when it was built. At least we have that going, right?

"Paparazzi"

Pandora

Dear Pandora,

Thank you for having free music for me to listen to. I need it as I try to clear my mind so I can fill it up with crim law information. My tenants wants us to spend more money for them to renew their lease. We are willing to do it, but I will be stressed about it until they sign the new lease and the new sprinklers are put in. It isn't working yet, but I have faith you will come through for me!

Elizabeth

Arizona Immigration Law

I enjoyed reading this. Very informational!

Arizona governor: Boycott is misguided
Jan Brewer, the governor of Arizona, responds to calls for sports boycotts of her state
By Gov. Jan Brewer
Special to ESPN.com
Archive
In my 28 years of public service, I have made a lot of tough calls. But with a federal government unwilling to secure our border for years and years, Arizona is left with little choice. Imagine a sporting event in which rules have been agreed to for 70 years, but the umpires refuse to enforce those rules. It makes no sense. Although I recognize that Arizona Senate Bill 1070, as amended, is not the entire solution to our illegal immigration problem in Arizona, most people are united in the hope that it will finally inspire the politicians in Washington, D.C., to stop talking and to start action now.

By now, sports fans everywhere have heard something about the passage of Senate Bill 1070, a measure I signed into law. It has resulted in protests outside ballparks hosting our Arizona Diamondbacks and has led to calls on Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig to strip the City of Phoenix's opportunity to host baseball's Midsummer Classic in July 2011.

Urging Major League Baseball to take away next year's All-Star Game from Phoenix is the wrong play. In Arizona, both proponents and opponents of Senate Bill 1070 have stated that economic boycotts are an inappropriate and misguided response to an issue that is clearly worthy of proper public debate and discourse. Put simply, history shows that boycotts backfire and harm innocent people. Boycotts are just more politics and manipulation by out-of-state interests. As a border state, Arizona has already paid a heavy price for the federal government's failure -- hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars in unreimbursed costs -- and its citizens should not be punished further.

It is critically important that all Americans understand the impetus for this new law and have a clear understanding of the law itself. Our neighbor to the south, Mexico, is in a massive battle with well-organized drug cartels. Because of Washington's failure to secure our southern border, Arizona has become the superhighway of illegal drug and human smuggling activity. In December 2008, the U.S. Justice Department said that Mexican gangs are the "biggest organized crime threat to the United States." In 2009, Phoenix had 316 kidnapping cases, turning the city into our nation's kidnapping capital. Almost all of the persons kidnapped were illegal immigrants or linked to the drug trade.

Essentially, our border leaks like a team with a last-place defense. The very same week that I signed the new law, a major drug ring was broken up and Mexican cartel operatives suspected of running 40,000 pounds of marijuana through southern Arizona were indicted.

While drug smuggling is the principal cause of our massive border-violence problem, many of the same criminal organizations also smuggle people. Busts of drop houses, where illegal immigrants are often held for ransom or otherwise severely abused, are
not uncommon occurrences in Arizona neighborhoods.
Today, Arizona has approximately 6,000 prison inmates who are foreign nationals, representing a cost to our state of roughly $150 million per year. Arizona taxpayers are paying for a vast majority of these incarceration expenses because the federal government refuses to pay what it owes. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, as governor of Arizona, sent numerous requests to the federal government to pay for these prisoners -- only to be given the same answer she and President Barack Obama are now giving Arizona: They will not pay the bill.
The Immigration Issue

Arizona's new immigration law has become a hot-button topic in the world of sports. Over the past several days, ESPN has presented a number of perspectives on the controversy.

When I signed the legislation, I stated clearly I will not tolerate racial discrimination or racial profiling in Arizona. My administration worked for weeks with legislators to improve SB 1070, to specifically clarify and strengthen its civil rights protections. I issued an executive order to implement proper training and enforcement protocols for our police so that the intent of the language could not be misconstrued. Although it is already against the law, the new law undeniably prohibits law enforcement officers from considering race, color or national origin in implementing the new statute.

I have worked for years without fail to solve problems diligently and practically. I have done so always with an eye toward civility, and always with the greatest respect for the rule of law.

This new law is no different. As committed as I am to protecting our state from crime associated with illegal immigration, I am equally committed to holding law enforcement accountable should this statute ever be misused to violate an individual's rights.

There have been countless distortions, honest omissions, myths and bad information about Arizona's new law -- many, undoubtedly, spread to create fear or mistrust.
So here are the facts:

1. The new Arizona law creates a state penalty to mirror what already is a federal crime. Despite the most vile and hate-filled portrayals of proponents of the law as "Nazis," actions that have been condemned nationally by the Anti-Defamation League, it is ALREADY a federal requirement for legal aliens in the United States to carry their green card or other immigration document. The new Arizona law enforces what has been a federal crime since before World War II. As anyone who has traveled abroad knows, other nations have similar laws.
2. Contrary to many of the horror stories being spread -- President Obama suggested families risk being pulled over while going out for ice cream -- law enforcement cannot randomly ask anyone about their immigration status. Much like enforcement of seat belt laws in many states, under SB 1070 there must first be reasonable suspicion that you are breaking some OTHER non-immigration law before an officer can ask a person about their legal status. Only then, after law enforcement officers have a "reasonable suspicion" that another law has been broken, can they inquire about immigration status -- but ONLY if that individual's behavior provides "reasonable suspicion" that the person is here illegally.
"Reasonable suspicion" is a well-understood concept that has been thoroughly vetted through numerous federal court cases. Many have asked: What is reasonable suspicion? Is it race, skin color or national origin? No! Racial profiling is prohibited in the new law. Examples of reasonable suspicion include: a person running away when approached by law enforcement officers, or a car failing to stop when the police turn on their lights and siren.
3. Arizona's local law enforcement officers, who already reflect the great diversity of culture in our state, are going to be trained to enforce the new immigration law in a constitutional manner. It is shameful and presumptive for opponents to question the good will and the competence of Arizona's law enforcement personnel. The specter that is raised of rogue, racist police harassing people is insulting to those in Arizona who risk their lives in the name of law enforcement every day.
President Theodore Roosevelt said, "No man is above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when we require him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right; not asked as a favor." Arizona has been more than patient waiting for Washington to act. Decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation. Arizona has acted to enforce the rule of law equally and without bias toward any person.
It is time for our country to act to resolve our border security problem; an economic boycott in Arizona would only exacerbate it -- and hurt innocent families and businesses merely seeking to survive during these difficult economic times.
A boycott that would actually improve border security would be to boycott illegal drugs. Dramatically less drug use and production would do wonders for the safety of all our communities.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?page=brewer/100505

Update

Well lets get this update going!

Garrett: only one more semester going full time! This summer he is taking 5 units and then 16 in the fall and then 11 (part time) in the spring 2011 semester. The CA bar is crazy hard or so everyone says. All I know is that he will graduate in a year! He has had some interest in tax law so I think he is going to take some other classes like that.

Me: Got my first C+ on a paper. Stupid legal writing. I love my professor and on a side note, people that judge their professors based on their grade in the class need to grow up. So love the teacher, hated the grade but oh well. It is only worth 12 percent or something like that. The final memo (due Wed at 3pm) is worth 80 percent so that's the important grade. I still am enjoying my classes. Our section was very lucky this year to have such great teachers. I have heard some horror stories about other 1L professors so we are definitely lucky! I am a staff writer for the school newspaper (though haven't actually written anything yet....), Student Bar Assoc. social committee member, diversity chair for the Crim Law society. Oh and we are going to re-start the Jefferson Democrats group (how a law school has an active republican one -outside of BYU that is-and not a democrat one is beyond me). A friend and I want to start a PALS group which is Parents attending Law School. Hopefully we can pull it off. The only problem is that I don't have enough units under my belt to run anything so my friend will be president of PALS and I think I will technically be VP or something. As for the democrats group, I am sure I can find a democrat somewhere out there :-) And yes I am up on my studies. My outlines for finals are already done. Just need to finish up my final memo for legal writing.

Madison: lost her teeth in the wrong order. She has one front tooth missing, the other in tact, and then next to the one still in there, a missing tooth. She is still doing well in school. Next year I am going to go part-time during the day so she would go back to the after school program for one hour after school. I gave her the option of either me staying in the evenings or her going to Primetime after school for an hour. I can't believe she will be seven soon and on top of that in second grade! In case anyone is curious, she is only four years away from middle school. A little crazy. She will go to middle school when my niece goes to kindergarten!

Reagan: thinks that everytime you go to the doctor there will be a prize at the end. How she has equated that from just two visits ever to the dentist is beyond me. She has her four year check up tomorrow and thinks she will be getting a toy. I have tried to explain that isn't the case but tomorrow around 11am we will see if she "got it." She went to the optometrist for her annual appt. Her vision hasn't gotten any worse so that's good. Of course, there is that side of me that goes, well its only 1.00 or something like that...do we really need to spend a hundred dollars on glasses (btw does anyone else think that kids frames should be less than adult ones? oh but they're not!)? Of course going to costco for the appt and new glasses and lenses was still cheaper than an optometrist with an office outside of the costco box. She loves having long hair. She wanted it in a low pony tail today and would swish her hair back and forth. She tells me all the time that she has long hair. She is so proud of it! At some point we will have to trim it. We do trim her bangs though. I think she looks better with short hair, but if she wants it long, I don't care.

Upcoming events:

Sami's (my niece) first bday!! The parents will be in town for the big event. I am taking my dad to Coco's (we used to go on our bdays with him) while my mom takes Maddie shopping for her seventh bday. G informed me he is taking Rea to breakfast too.

Finals! I only give this an exclamation point because its amazing how fast the semester went. It helps that I kept up with my reading, outlines, etc. Now I know why people don't sleep for forever. Not only do the full timers have two more classes, those that don't outline throughout the semester must go crazy getting it done so they can study.

Hawaii! Not for over a month but it will be SO MUCH FUN!! G's parents were kind enough to let us have the timeshare on Oahu this year since they are in Ghana. On top of that we got to use their Alaska Airline miles for free and discount tickets. And for a bonus my parents are coming too!! We will meet up in Seattle and fly over together. Our seats are all in the same row. I have a feeling the girls will be next to grandma...The timeshare has a main suite/apt and then a "lockout" which is basically a regular hotel room (the apt has a regular kitchen, dining room, living room etc). I told my mom that they will need to lock their side of the door if they don't want two little girls going in there all the time :-) It will be lots of fun.

Summer school! I am taking professional responsibility (aka what not to do as a lawyer to get disbarred) and G is taking two classes but I can't remember what they are. I am taking PR from Prof Christensen who is super super nice.

Preschool/daycare! Yes Rea will be in daycare/preschool. We had to do something b/c night school for mom isn't working well for Rea or Maddie. Poor kid knows that if she wants my attention during the day she has to take away my laptop and cell phone. She will go this summer on the two days I have class. We want to make sure she enjoys the school before she goes in the fall when we are "stuck" with my schedule. She will be there two days a week. Its the least expensive one I have found. It has a big kid side and little kid side. Each side has its own kitchen and play ground. Yes they provide two snacks and lunch everyday. Reagan will be in the prekindergarten/kindergarten group. By the end of the school year she should know basic reading and writing and basic math. They run the place on the same schedule as the school district. Reagan will start June 22 since thats the first day of "summer school." Our schedules mismatch for a few weeks b/c G and I start school mid August but Maddie won't start until after labor day. I think we will have her go to the YMCA for one week to have some "fun" of her own and then the other week or so figure something else out.

I am writing this on my laptop so I don't have any pics to share. Will get on that at some point...