Take the Disney Quiz

Probably the best thing about these silly quizzes is that they tell you your STRENGTHS and make you feel good about yourself for a bit! Go ahead, give it a try....2 minutes worth a self-esteem boost:)

Too bad I don't have any girls b/c I would know at least who Esmerelda is vs. Venom or Spiderman! I think she is from Hunchback???


You Are Esmerelda!

Mysterious and passionate. You are a survivor. Even though life has swung you some difficult situations you have a strong intuition that gets you through. Also, you have the capacity to sympathize and relate to a variety of different people.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

This was Jared: (3 questions into it he said, "Why am I taking this?" Good sport!~)


You Are Cinderella!

Dignified and hard working. With a gentle and soft-spoken manner you have something many people don't. Patience. Even through the moments of heartbreak you're still able to hold onto all of your hopes and dreams. Bide your time; your dream will come true.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Where's Waldo?

These last few weeks have turned into a crazy traveling time for our family....a bit stressful, full of decision making, entertaining, sleep depriving and educational.

Can you guess where any of these pictures have been taken? Where's Waldo (Wilson?)

ANSWERS GIVEN AT THE BOTTOM>>>>BUT LET'S SEE HOW SMART YA'LL ARE!!!!



SLC, UT for General Conference




Lubbock, TX temple

Just a cute pic of my "muscles!"

Oriental Theatre, CHICAGO for Broadway Theatre, "Wicked." A great mother's day gift!!


Field Museum, Chicago


Enjoying a true, "Che-cago" hot dog!

We were like natives using the Metro in....


Chesapeake Bay, MARYLAND

This is my favorite pic! Jared and the Washington D. C. Capital!

Museum of natural arts, Washington D.C.

The LDS D.C. temple POPS out right from the freeway as you are driving along....very fun!

The new World War II Monument in D.C.



I loved how each statue had the states represented...

What monument is this?

The Franklin D. Roosevelt monument


Of course the Lincoln Monument

Vietnam Statue

We all know this monument! Gorgeous reflection...


Wow....THE WHITE HOUSE!!!


The Vietnam Wall...a sacred and peaceful sight...everyone there was very respectful.

A closer look at the D.C. temple. We actually were able to do a session inside on our way back to the hotel. What an aspiring and powerful temple! 7 stories tall!

Racing back to AZ for a double baby shower....Leslie Boley and Arianne Pearce. Too bad my flight got delayed from MD and I actually MISSED all of it! So sad for me...but, they knew that I had made every effort possible to get there from across the USA.

Pictures of my boys playing with our new plants that Jared planted yesterday....with their "shoot guns" of course!

Confused by all that traveling? Here is the break down:

EL Paso - Utah
El Paso - Lubbock, TX
El Paso- AZ
AZ- Chicago
Chicago- Washington, D.C.
D.C.- AZ
AZ- El Paso

Whew! We are done traveling for now! Soon I will let ya'll in on more info about our life...until then...keep on reading!

CHASING A PREGNANT WOMAN

I invited my BBF Arianne Pearce to go lunch with me here in Phoenix, AZ. I decided to come for a quick visit this week. So, we loaded up our two toddlers and headed out to "On the Border."



We had a nice lunch, the two year olds behaved themselves quite nicely with only a few hundred broken chips all over the floor. Our waiters name was Ruben, and since he had a heavy Spanish accent, I enjoyed praciticing my Spanish on him.



When it came time for the bill, of course I reached for my purse. Well...this is where the brawl began!



Arianne insisited that it was her turn to pay, but I HAD INVITED HER to eat. I am staying at her house, I am eating her food, she is prego with her 4th child, and I wanted to treat her! She had already handed Ruben HER CARD...which I was not going to allow. So, I stood up and started chasing down Ruben to ask him not to charge her. What did Arianne do? She chased after me! Yup, her big ol' 8 month prego belly doing sprints after me. We left the toddlers in their high chairs and started doing a mad dash circle around the entire restaurant! You can imagine the looks we were getting! I was not going to give in, and neither was she.



By the way, is this a good time to mention that Arianne has been on semi "bed rest" these last few weeks? Why is a woman like her running in her condition!!!



I yelled across the dining room for Ruben NOT to charge her card (of course this was all in Spanish which even infuriated Arianne even more b/c she couldn't speak it back to him!) I then ran back to our table, thank goodness our toddlers were more entertained than ever and didn't try to climb down.



I reached for my purse, and what did Arianne do? She grabbed it and hid it underneath her arm. So, I SAT ON HER TINY LAP and started poking at her boobs to give it back. She then started biting my arms. We were laughing so hard, we could barely focus on the other victim.



Eventually, after a strong tug of war, Arianne gave up a bit of strength. So, I seized the opportunity and dug inside my purse to get my wallet. I then CHUCKED the entire wallet at Ruben, yelling at him in Spanish to, "Charge the silver Discover card!" Hopefully he didn't take any other cards while I was pinning down my opponent.



In the end, I did pay and we left Ruben an LDS pass along card:)



Hopefully Arianne doesn't have any more contractions after our wrestling match.

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.