Its that time of the year...

This is the time of year when most of us are going crazy with political ads and backhanded comments about this side or the other...well, at least I feel that way. Admittedly, John McCain was not our first (or second, or even third) choice for President, and well, Obama didn't make the list. Today Jacob and I went to see Mitt Romney here in town - the first candidate that really got me fired up this last year. It was Jacob's first political experience! He was so excited to go - I had a Romney sticker from when I volunteered for his campaign in the Primaries, so I dug that out along with an American flag I got at the McCain rally I went to right after the RNC. Its a great story, read about it here.
Jacob is working on memorizing the Pledge of Allegiance, so he was really excited to take the flag with us, and was so happy when they said the Pledge at the beginning of the meeting. Kathy met us there, too. It was nice for Jacob to have a friend to play with, and Kathy and I got to listen :). Jacob was cheering and waving his flag from up on my shoulders - without any prompting from me. I think he had a great time as well!
There were other GOP Candidates that spoke (Shaffer, Lamborn...) but we were there to cheer for Mitt! I thought I would see a lot of people I know there, but I didn't see too many. Mitt talked about the economy and what he thinks we should do, namely reduce the size of government as well as reducing taxes, supporting our troops and families. He also talked about how wonderful America is, and that we need to defend our freedoms. We were not that far away, but the pictures make it look like we were...oh well...I also recorded a little bit of what Mitt said, the audio is pretty clear, but a little quiet. Right before this clip he was talking about the importance of placing your hand over your heart when the National Anthem is played and what that should mean to us as Americans:



The event was at Mr Biggs, which has a ton of games for kids/families - so Kathy and I went out the back door with the kids to avoid any tantrums. There was a big area with trees and leaves everywhere behind the building, so we let the kids run around and play for a little while. One last picture of Jacob - he had more stickers on his shirt - he loved all the people offering them, so he had quite the collection! It was fun sharing that with Jacob, and I hope that he will never take our freedoms for granted, and defend them proudly and faithfully - I want the American Dream for our children as well!
There are two quotes I found that I wanted to post with this:
"Our stand for freedom is a most basic part of our religion; this stand helped get us to this earth, and our reaction to freedom in this life will have eternal consequences. Man has many duties, but he has no excuse that can compensate for his loss of liberty."
President Ezra Taft Benson, General Conference - October 1979
"We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life."
Joseph Smith, Doctrine and Covenants 134:2 (August 17, 1835)