10 years ago I:
1. Was a Senior in High School
2. Went Swing Dancing as often as I could
3. Loved singing in the school choir
4. Had no stretch marks, and perky breasts
5. Had a boyfriend

5 things on today's "to do" list:
1. Clean the House
2. make carmeled apples
3. pick all my yellow pear tomatoes again
4. Catch up on my spanish homework
5. Find out where we can vote early at

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Cashews
2. Hummus and vegetables
3. apples and peanut butter
4. popcorn
5. slightly green bannana

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Pay tithing
2. Hire a maid to clean the house
3. Set up college/mission funds for the kids
4. Put away for retirement
5. Set up my own recording studio

5 places I have lived:
1. El Paso, TX
2. Troutdale, OR
3. Idaho Falls, ID
4. Blackfoot, ID
5. Provo, UT

Five jobs I have had:
1. Piano Teacher
2. Manager at Hogi Yogi
3. Telemarketer (I will never ever ever ever do that again)
4. Secretary at Insurance Auto Auctions
5. Paper Route

I tag...Whoever wants to and
1. Heidi
2. Amanda
3. Kyle
4. Kellie
5. Michelle

Rules: Each player answers the question themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog

Things that I learned this week...

*You can get good deals at garage sales...we got a dresser, T.V., and DVD holder.
*I still can't take Samuel shopping
*Learning Spanish takes a lot of work
*We need to be more resourceful
*Joseph will behave better in school if he listens to Mozart music
*Betsy needs at least three hours to put together a collage, due to her compulsion to make sure everything is done perfectly.
*If I clean the kitchen counter off, Samuel has to climb up on top of it, and run sprints back and forth on it giggly, while I'm having a heart attack trying to make sure he doesn't fall off of it.
*If you buy a bigger broom, it really does take less time to sweep.
*unfortunatly the new mop is no match for the messes my kids make, so it will have to go back to the store
*Don't ever walk past the ball display at the store with an almost two-year old
*Hosting a pampered chef party is a good motivation to get your kitchen really clean
*I need to find someone who can watch Samuel while I go Visiting Teaching
*I don't think my tomato plant is ever going to stop producing
*One of my primary students is getting baptized today! Yeah!
*Sameul loves Cantelope, he calls it "lope"
*Austin must be growing, becuase she is always hungry

The End of Soccer Season!

The last game of the season is always with mixed emotions. On one hand, it's sad that Joseph will not get to play soccer, and have that extra activity to get out extra energy, and on the other hand I'm happy about not having to drive and go to soccer three nights a week. Plus, keeping track of all the kids, is not an easy task. Joseph likes soccer quite a bit, but I'm not sure which he likes more; playing in the game, or goofing off at the sidelines. For instance at the last game we watched from the other side of the field, while Joseph went over to the water jug, got water in his cup and than sneaked over to the other team's side and dumped water over the head of another player. He did have a few good plays on the field today in his game, he enjoys playing offense. He has his own unique style of blocking the ball, he tends to throw his whole body in front of the path of the ball in order to block it, many times that means he's throwing himself on the ground in order to block the ball, it is pretty funny to watch. He was known as the "wanderer, and hider" on his team. His coach said that during the game, Joseph would kick the ball, and then he wouldn't be able to see Joseph, and all the sudden he would pop up right where the ball was. We had an enjoyable season, and look forward to soccer again next year.

Wal-mart trip

I usually try my hardest to avoid going to the store with Samuel, because at the age he is, it makes it a pretty frustrating trip. I had to go to the store, becuase I'm having a Pampered Chef party tonight, and I needed to get the ingredients. I was going to go last night, but by the time I could go, it was too late at night. So after I dropped off Austin and Joseph at school, Betsy, Samuel, and I headed for Wal-mart. I came prepared with my list, and a purse full of snacks. We were doing pretty well for a few minutes, and then I made a huge mistake. We passed right by the big display of those big bouncy outdoor balls. Samuel starts yelling "Ball! Ball! Ball!" Now Betsy being the nice, helpful older sister, sees what he wants and runs over and grabs a ball for him and starts bringing it back before I could figure out how to get away from the balls and keep Sam quite at the same time. I told Betsy to put the ball back, and she starts to go put it back, and Samuel flew into a full blown tantrum, and betsy looks at me and says "Mom, can I make him happy?" I realize that I have 2 choices, 1) Let Samuel have the ball, and continue shopping, or 2) Don't let him have the ball, and leave the store immediatly due to his tantrum. I decided that I really had to finish my shopping and told Betsy she could make him happy. So she gives him the ball, and immediatly he is happy and giggling, and Betsy turns to me and says "mom, it's just a ball." So as we continued our shopping Samuel would throw the ball, and betsy would run and get it and bring it back to samuel. Now, although this did a really good job of keeping the kids busy while I shopped, I can't tell you how many times I had to apologize to people for samuel hitting them with the ball (I think he was waiting for someone to cross his path before he threw it). This one time he bopped this lady right on the head, and the look on her face was pricless, hehe! Oh wait, sorry, that's not supposed to be funny. Anway, we finally got to the check out, and about half the things I was trying to purchase, didn't have tags on them, so I couldn't purchase them.(I think Samuel was sabatoging me, and ripping them off when I wasn't looking, but I have no proof) Then, my WIC card wouldn't work, so I couldn't get my milk and eggs either. That was pretty frustrating, but at least I was able to get the ingredients for tonight, I'll just have to go to the store again soon, without the kids.

Carlsbad Caverns

Although you can't tell, the carlsbad caverns are behind the kids. My parents were in town for the week, and we did some fun things with them, one of them was the carlsbad caverns in New Mexico. It was amazing, I couldn't believe how huge the caverns were. We went in an elevator down about 750ft. Then we hiked through the caverns for about 1 1/2 miles. The cavern was pretty awesome, it is as big as 14 football fields( I remember this, becuase I chased samuel through all of them) and the largest vertical distance was approx. 385 ft. from top to bottom. The kids were really fascinated by all the different formations, and listening with the audio guide about how they form and such. I plan on going back once samuel is three and we can go on the guided tour, which is supposed to be pretty neat.

The pictures on the top are taken at the Wyler Aerial Tramway. That was also fun, the kids really enjoyed the ride up the mountain, and had fun running around on top at the observatory. It was a really fantastic view, which included 3 states, and 2 nations. I wouldn't have minded staying on top a little longer, but the kids really wanted to ride the tramway back down.

Murder Mystery date!

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate the picture, so you'll just have to look sideways. Anyway, we went to a really fun murder mystery party on saturday at the perez's house, it was the first one I have ever been too. It was a lot of fun playing the part, and trying to figure out who the murderer was. The food was delicious, and it was fun to get all dressed up and get out for the evening without kids.