Ketchup Bootie

Our date night didn't go so hot last night. We'll just say that my nickname all night long was "ketchup butt." Why do you ask?

We had made a good and valiant effort to go to the Juarez Mexico temple for our monthly date. Little did we know, that by arriving only an hour ahead of time at the bridge to cross over would NOT be enough time for us to get across. We arrived just in time to see back to back traffic and red break lights all over the lanes. It was pretty frustrating to say the least.

There is a lot of prep to go to the temple! You have to get a babysitter, get out the door on time, pack not only your temple recommend...but your passport as well, and then get to the border with enough time to allow the weekend traffic to slow you down. It was not our night...

After saying a prayer of forgiveness to God (we sure do NEED those blessings right now!!!), we headed to the nearest exit...another 1/2 hour wait to just get on a major street. We hit up the local dollar theater...which is where another adventure begins.

We saw the movie, "Jumpers." Pretty lame, but decent entertainment. As we were leaving, something unfamiliar was making my skirt stick to my chair....oh no...what could it be? You got it....bright red and clotted ketchup was stuck all over my backside...all over my light pink and beautiful skirt. Why couldn't this have happened to a black skirt, or better yet, to Jared's chair? Nope...it looked like I had had a serious accident all over myself...a nasty period if you will.

How embarrassing for me. Jared walked behind me until we got out the door and to the parking lot. We went to the nearest clothing store where I had got lots of weird looks from strangers and I was very insecure. I went to the dressing room where I turned my skirt inside out and from front to back. It had gone through my slip and down to my garments! Seriously, what kind of nasty prank was that?

So, in other words....no temple, boring flick and a permanently stained cute skirt to toss out.

Tonight I am throwing a "pizza party" for some girlfriends. Sounds fun? Well, it would be even better if my kids would behave, eat their blasted Spongebob Mac 'n cheese and give me some peace so I can mentally prepare myself!

Lubbock, TEXAS

We took a roadtrip to Lubbock, TX this weekend to visit my old SUU roommate Amy Merrill Baker. We left late Friday night and got into the Ramda Inn at 1:30am (a solid 6 hour drive if you don't stop, which of course we have to with small children). We then tried to share a king size bed between all four of us. Jared got squished and kicked in the middle, and I got nothing more than 2 inches of space and no covers on the end.

We woke up cranky and tired, but were excited to see Amy and her family. I have never met her little boy Taylor, and our boys got along like brothers. They loved to run around the house, share Spiderman sippies and play with golf clubs.

The city itself is based off a huge Loop of Freeway. I didn't understand the layout of the city while I was there...either "inside the loop" or "outside the loop" was all I got from it. There are no mountains in any direction to help you out, but there were some pretty green parks everywhere.

I was in a bit of culture shock b/c all I saw were white people as well. I guess I have gotten pretty used to my El Paso/Mexico city and I have enjoyed all of the diversity. Surely there are some hispanics in Lubbock, but I sure didn't see them! White folk everywhere!

Brandon (Amy's hubby) cooked us a mean "Texan brisket" that was really yummy....he had to cook it for 12 hours overnight! Talk about dedication! I guess it's a popular dish here in TX, and I can now see why.

More than anything, I LOVED MY CHATS WITH AMY! We hadn't really seen each other in our "mother" role...we had never met each other's children...that's a long time! How fun it is to see your college roommate, who was really into boys and dating back at SUU now involved in time outs with toddlers and chocolate milk. I think we have even more in common now than we did back then; motherhood, education (she teaches high school bless her heart), being wives and involved in the church.

Amy is very knowledgeable about current events and especially politics. She sent me a great email if you can't decide which president you want to vote for:
QUIZ ON PRESIDENTS

Supposedly I am a fan of Barak Obama. I may need to read more up on my debates now.


The ride back always takes longer, and Austin had to go poopies every few hours....but once we'd take him inside the truck stops, he would change his mind! He would choose another stall, or complain that he'd want to be at home, or just toot with no results. Wesley did fantastic with his 5+ movies in our DVD player and his gummy sharks that he got at the gas stations.

Road trips are good for the family, although now it is back to doing laundry and getting back on a sleeping schedule.

One last word: Bahama Buck's! Check it out and see why I LOVED IT...

Rascal is gone

After three solid months of trying to make things work out with our sweet "rescued" dog, Rascal, we had to give him away to the Humane Society. It really did break my heart, as well as Jared's. We are dog lovers to the bone.

When it came down to Austin/Wesley vs. Rascal, I obviously had to choose my dogs. He was just too hyper, bouncy and energetic for my boys (or me) to handle. A family with older children, or a single adult would really be ideal for sweet Rascal.

Jared and I sure did feel guilty. It's like he knew he was leaving us. He was so well behaved in the back of the truck when we drove him over to the shelter, and he kept giving us those huge sad puppy dog eyes. Break my heart!

We headed to the downtown El Paso location where we arrived early. To waste some time, we hit up the local, "Chicos Tacos" (pretty much drenched in cheese and a red sauce that were pretty good, although too early for me to enjoy a taco at 10am). I then hung out at the ghetto park with a drunk man and some scattered pigeons while Austin climbed up on the bars. I knew I wouldn't be able to handle leaving Rascal, especially after I had heard those sweet dogs howling for a home the minute we pulled up. I was too emotional and kept crying to make it a peaceful good-bye.

We told Rascal how much we loved him, how sad we were to have to leave him there and that we really do hope he finds a good home. The good news is, is that they never kill the animals. They also usually adopt out the larger breeds (especially Labs). That does give me some hope.

The boys have been very devastated and Wesley doesn't understand why we had to give him away. Wrangler also seems to be in some funk now that his brother is gone. That really makes me so sad!!! I took and got him groomed yesterday (shaved and shampooed) and we let him sleep inside our house last night. He doesn't know what to think being inside b/c he has been an outdoors dog for over a year now. The boys LOVE to hang all over Wrangler, and Austin especially had to give him TWO hugs and TWO kisses before going to bed.

We continue to pray for him everyday and I will check back in a few weeks to see if he is still there.

We love you Rascal!

Some Random Thoughts:

I just finsihed watching a 5 minute slideshow with music....you really ought to check it out:
http://mabrystudios.typepad.com/reflections_of_christ/2008/03/reflections-sli.html

It is about Christ and some great real-to-life pictures of Him and His life....with a great song to back it up. A wonderful thing to help you feel the Spirit...Go on and let His spirit touch you!

I didn't mention that I WENT TO GENERAL CONFERENCE last weekend in Utah with my mom. I decided last minute to go and join her as we did some volunteer work with Guest Services there at the Conference Center. WHAT AN EXPERIENCE!

I had not been there in 6 years (since I was fresh off of the mission), and now that I no longer live in UT (which has been 8 years), I really can appreciate the beauty of UT and the blessings that the church provides to us as members.

My mom works for the church, as the head bilingual secretary/project manager of the Employment dept...needless to say, she has connections. So, we were able to work at the translation table handing out headsets to those who needed translations.

Within my first few minutes of seeing all of these wonderful people coming from around the world; Brasil, France, Africa, Germany, Russia, Czeck, Navajo, Aruba, Argentina, Philipines, etc my heart was FULL and I almost cried. To think of not only the sacrifice that they had made to get to conference, but also that it would be provided in their own native tongue! It really softened my heart to think about how large this church really is and how much God does love each of us....in all different cultures and languages. My heart was overflowing with gratitude to have the gospel in my life, to know that He loves me and everyone else.

We were able to sit in the conference center among the other 22K people, and my eyes were wet as we sang hymns together and gave respect to our dear prophet Monson.

I really do love Utah. I love what it represents, I love to see the "army" of Mormons come together and I love how beautiful the landscape of it is (although I was such a baby with the 20 degree weather! I was so cold...my blood has thinned since I have lived there). But, I am also so grateful to live out in the "mission field" where conference has that much more meaning to me, and to be able to recognize how much I truly love and treasure our gospel amidst a world of other non-believers.

I am grateful to have spent a few hours with my dear mother as well and to see her socialize and interact with so many people...she truly does reach out to others and was giving non stop hugs and kisses to every Hispanic that we saw! She was quite popular:) Every time I see her, now that I am a grown woman and mother, I can only respect and value her that much more and for her efforts in raising 4 kids all alone. I love you mother.

As one last thought...I pulled off a LARGE COMMUNITY YOUNG WOMEN GARAGE SALE today! With Girls Camp sneaking up on us (I am the director of our ward this year), we through a garage sale to raise money for the girls. What a lot of work! It wasn't as bad as I had imagined b/c I had some wonderful ladies help me out, who seem to do it every year.

Here in El Paso, garage sales are NUTS. People come to buy from you and wipe you clean of all the "junk." They then go and re-sale it at the fleet markets down town or cross over to Mexico and re-sale it there. I wouldn't have bought anything myself personally, but I sure was grateful for the ward members who donated their random items; 1940's hairdryer, broken lamps, brown stained pillows, washed out linens, old computer monitors, lawn chairs and even a Nordictrack! We were busy bees late Friday night "clustering" the categories, and then were there this morning from 6:30am-1pm....overall, we made $800! Yahoo! My sweet boys were running around in the bed spreads (hopefully not getting any lice or bed mites!), and jumping into the piles of clothing. The highlight of their day were the free donuts (maybe my highlight too!)

I am looking forward to camp this year, and hoping to even make it on the big 4th year hike. The preparations are slow, and I am a bit overwhelmed with the task, but I look forward to the secret sister gifts, the campfires with lots of kleenex for our testimony meetings, the braided hair, and the cheesy songs:)

Jared took Wesley out tonight for a "daddy date." Of course they went to go see a movie since they both LOVE movies. We will rotate who goes out with dad every Saturday. I went in to DirectBuy where we had some dinner together, dropped off Wes and I came home with Austin where we read books and he ate some oranges. Why is it that children behave so much better when they have that special one on one time? I love it! Lots of hugs, kisses and sweet smiles.

Bushy Hair

After a short six weeks, I had my hair extensions removed. Jared helped me out this morning, as he was very tired of seeing my "nest." I knew it wasn't a good sign when he kept asking me when I was going to take them out. My mother also had described them as being, "bushy." Hmmm...not a good thing to describe them as for sure.

I don't know how anyone can handle having dreadlocks b/c you can't ever really wash or comb your hair out. For my extensions, I wasn't able to do it either and that drove me crazy! After the first painful weeks when my scalp was adjusting to the weave, my scalp got super itchy. Every night I would try to scratch "around" my extensions, but I could never quite get the itch out.

Despite my bushiness and oily scalp, it was fun to have the extra long, silky and thick hair. I like even better knowing that now I can wash my hair and really rinse out any dirt that collects.

If anyone feels like doing it, I would recommend it...why not?

Ms. AZ Biker Pageant

"A Sore Swollen Thumb" is what my wonderful friend Leslie Boley told me she felt like when we walked into the MS ARIZONA BIKE PAGEANT.... Not only did we stick out like sore thumbs, but b/c she and Arianne Pearce are 7+ months prego, you can imagine the looks and thoughts that we were stimulating from the other bikers in the club. I went to AZ with Wesley and Austin to spend Easter with the Wilson's in Florence, AZ. After many egg hunts and sugar, we headed up to Surprise, AZ for the rest of the week.



It was great to see my girlfriends and to jump right back into the routines of carpooling, eating lunches, playdates and crazy mornings to get out the door. Of course I had to schedule a "Girl's Night Out." So....after some internet researching, I convinced the girls to go to a "Pageant." I figured it couldn't be that bad, right? Wrong!


One word: Yikes!!!! There were tons and tons of bikers everywhere, inside the club and outside rolling around with their gears revved up. You know you are in a sketchy place when they give you the pat down and search through your purse for weapons! Inside we went, clutching our purses and trying to "blend" in. Yeah right! After a few moments of thinking, "What are we doing here?" (Not to mention that is probably what everyone else thought of us as suburbial stay at home moms in a bikers bar and club), we decided to give it a shot. Afterall, we were here for an adventure!


We eventually got settled in, in a corner away from the crowd and next to one of the bars. We checked out the girls that were up for competition....the little bit of clothing they had on and their cheesy answers of "I want to ride you!" when asked why they wanted to be the Ms. AZ Biker girl. It would've been even more eye candy for us if they had been in shape....you can just imagine what they all looked like; dimpled butts and flabby tummies. That is fine, don't we all have that? But, at least try to hide those imperfections when you are in a pageant up on stage!


Needless to say, we stayed for a good hour and enjoyed the live music and crazy environment. Thanks to Arianne, Leslie, April and Candy for going along with my crazy and "exciting" idea. At least we had fun getting dressed up, leaving the kids for the night and doing something besides the typical, "dinner and a movie." I MISS YOU GIRLS SO MUCH ALREADY!!!


We left early, I wonder who even won?

Easter pics...click on it to see larger!