My fiance and I are trying to plan a ring ceremony, and I was wondering if anybody out there had any ideas or suggestions because really neither of us has a clue what to do.
Thanks!

Okay, so,
My husband just informed me that he is still getting bills from our doctor's office.
The baby is 16 months old now.
We've been repeatedly informed that we were all squared away on our payments long ago, but we continued to get bills.  Big ones, like thousand-dollar bills, $600 bills, etc...

As it turns out, our insurance company conveniently lost the conversation where they referred us to our in-network doctor, and when the baby was 8 months old, they finally decided to tell us that the doctor was not in network after all, and that all the hospital bills were completely our responsibility.
They also claim to have called and informed our doctor's office, but neither our doctor's office, nor the insurance company bothered to tell us about it.
Upon almost every doctor visit throughout the pregnancy, we asked the office if everything was alright between them and the insurance company, we were told it was covered, and my husband continued to pay the $30 or-so co-pay as he continued to pay the insurance company.

We mentioned all this to our doctor, who told us that while she herself was not in network when we first began seeing her, she is now, and that her office and her associates are all on the same tax code, so she told her office to re-file my entire pregnancy under the name of her associate who I saw once or twice in her absence, and was there during the labor.

Things quieted down for a while, but now we're right back where we started, the insurance company, and the doctor's office babbling off
"We have to check on _____."  When my husband calls to talk to them about it, but we never hear back from them, and we continue to get bills.
When we finally cave and pay one bill to wash our hands of this, -we get another one.

Both my husband and I have been terrified of getting a lawyer involved, because we can't hardly take care of these bills coming at us.  We have very little in savings, and we've been looking to get into a townhouse.  So we don't feel like we're in any position to hire a lawyer, but I don't know what else to do.
My mother-in-law told us that we should just have a meeting with a lawyer, maybe get a formal document written up to send to the insurance company, saying if they don't straighten this out and pay us back what we've been paying the doctor's office in their negligence, we will meet them in court.

Should I try to find out who's a lawyer in my ward?  Has anybody gone through something similar?  What did you do?

I just noticed this photo on Instapundit.

I was just wondering if you think one of the reasons why Utah is such a hotbed of MLM health products and supplements could be something to do with the following scriptures in Alma 46:

39 And it came to pass that there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing.
40 And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate—
41 But there were many who died with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose.

Account Structure Update
Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.

New Themes
Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.


L to R: Circular and Brown

New V-Gifts
Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.


L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi

Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect!
This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.

Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.

This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!

I'm heading our ward's efforts to celebrate Pioneer Day. Now, this might not seem so unusual except that we're in the middle of Europe and we've never really given much thought to something that's traditionally a very Utah thing.

I don't know why—well yes I kinda do—but when I was learning about the Church and social things like P-Day (not prep day, either), I felt drawn to the idea. None of my ancestors were pioneers, but I always felt, as a convert, that I had a kind of connection with those brave, early Latter-day souls. So anyhow, I suggested to our PEC that we celebrate it, and so now we are. On the following Saturday, anyhow.

We're going to have our young ward missionaries join us for a little street contacting downtown in the morning. After that, back to the church for some lunch—probably chili (with and without meat)—while our Elders Quorum gives a presentation on 72-hour kits and food storage. Then we'll watch a little PowerPoint thing I'm working up on early pioneers, early member of the church here in Essen and Germany, and some testimonies of converts like myself. Then, the pièce de résistance is our Olympic Pioneer Games with the typical tug-of-war, relay races, and seeing who can (a) peel the most potatoes in five minutes and (b) peel the longest peel.

( Here are my flyers. In German, of course. )

So, has anyone else "out there" got plans for Pioneer Day? If so, what? Any ideas for cool ward activities I might be able to slip into the program? :)

 Has anyone been keeping up on this:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/2301139/Mormon-beefcake-calendar-creator-excommunicated.html

What are your views or opinions on this?

Alot of people are saying what is the big deal and the Church is too stuffy, etc. etc. The proponents are pointing out the tenets of modesty and respecting the oaths and convenants you make in the temple, not the mention the message this sends and how it makes the Church look.

If the calendar had return sister missionaries in it, wearing two piece bikinis, would that be more offensive? Would the Church be justified in its actions then?

I believe you can't pick and choose what tenets and rules you want to follow, just because you agree with some and don't agree with others.

Regardless, I don't think the guy cared about being ex-communicated or not. It's obvious he has other things on his mind.

I posted this picture in my own journal, but not many people read it. So I thought I'd post it here, too. I think my shoes look good, which is basically all I wanted to say.

:)

I have a bit of a problem, and I'm hoping there are some ladies out there who have gone through the same thing and can offer some advice.

I'm about 5 1/2 months pregnant, starting to get a belly, and having a horrible time with garment tops. Some of my old ones still fit, but they're way shorter in the front now because of my growing belly.

The nearest distribution center is two hours away, so I went online to order some maternity garments, and I was really surprised and disappointed to see that they only make them in cotton-poly and drisilque! With how much the church encourages families and childbearing, you'd think they'd give us pregnant ladies more options! I love cotton-poly during the cooler months because it fits really nicely, but it's so hot during the summer! And with drisilque I can never get anything to stay in place because it's so slippery.

Well, I went ahead and ordered one of each anyway, in my normal non-pregnant size (because that's what they said to do), and they're huge!! Not just in the belly, but everywhere! The sleeves stick out of my t-shirts! :(

I guess I can go ahead and try ordering them smaller, but then I'll still have the problem with them being either too hot or too slippery.

Mesh is my favorite fabric because it's so cool, but it only comes in one style, which (when sized to accommodate my belly) is too baggy in the bust and falls off my shoulders! I've been contemplating a 1-piece, but I've never worn one before and I have no idea if they'd fit me now or in a few months when I'm huge.

So.. advice? Anyone? I seriously need to figure something out, because my combination of frustration, discomfort and pregnancy hormones is almost enough to make me just stop wearing them for the duration of my pregnancy, which I know is a bad idea!