London Calling!

Whitney has now been in London on her study abroad program for almost 5 weeks...she has two more to go! While I could spend hours and minutes and days telling about her adventures, that's not really my place, but I do want to share a few photos. She has had the time of her life...so many plays, including Wicked, Les Mis, Jersey Boys, lots of Shakespeare, Josh Groban, and a soccer game in Ireland.





This week they went to the London temple to do baptisms for the dead, and ate dinner with a 5 star chef in the temple cafeteria. She climbed the Tower of London, rode the London Eye (a GIANT ferris wheel!) been to the Beatles store TWICE, and had dinner in an Irish pub. She shopped at Harrod's and put her hands in the prints of Sean Connery and Maggie Smith. She visited a few Harry Potter sights and even spotted Indiana Jones on a billboard. We all miss her,and want her home soon, but are so excited for her adventures! Pip, pip, cheerio!

The Amazing Mr. E.

Lest anyone start to think I only have one child, I'll brag for a minute on the other two...so here's my tribute to Eli, the amazing, extraordinary, and always precocious, Mr. E! Just last week he 'graduated from kindergarten. It was a long time coming. Two weeks into the school year, he informed us that, "I can read, I can do math, I can do science. What am I going to do for the rest of the year?" Mrs. Briggs kept him busy, he made lots of new friends, loved p.e. and computers, and music, and informed us that, "Now I'm in first grade I can learn even more facts than ever!" I hope we can keep up with his brain, which is constantly turning and spinning in all directions. Just this morning he asked me if I knew the difference between personal, and personnel, then proceeded to tell me that "personal is something for only you, like a secret code or message on your Nintendo DS. Personnel are the people who work for you when you grow up and have your own company." Not too many 6 year olds on my block are worrying about who will work for them when they become the next Bill Gates, but it's just the way his mind works. This morning we were in line at the zoo. It was a long line. "Hey, Mom" he says, "I'm now going to share an interpretive dance to "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Don't laugh too hard...he saw it on a tv show, memorized all the moves, and entertained everyone in line! It was a crack up! I surprised people didn't start passing a hat around! You just never know what he's going to come up with next, but it's always funny, always inventive, and never dull! He is, after all, the amazing Mr. E!

She's Off to the Ball!

Isn't she lovely? Tonight is Commencement and Cassidy is all dressed up with someplace to go. Her friend Julie is always so nice to come over and do her hair. Since she cut it after the last dance, we weren't sure if it would curl, but it turned out sweet! Don't you just love the orange shoes and matching toenails! In my haste to get her out the door, I failed to take pictures of her date! They promised to do it at the next house with someone else's camera! Coolest mom once again, NOT SO COOL!

One-Two-Three!

I've been tagged by Karalee to play a 'THREE'S COMPANY' sort-of game. For those of you who get tagged by me to play later, here are the rules. List 3 of each of the following: JOYS, FEARS, GOALS, CURRENT OBSESSIONS OR COLLECTIONS, and RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS.
At the end of your post, tag 5 friends, and leave them a comment on their blog to complete the survey as well. HERE GOES NOTHING:

3 JOYS: (Hey, that's me!)
1. My family, of course, including my 3 AMAZING KIDS!
2. The fact that I FINALLY have signs of spring in my yard...tuplis, hyacinths, daffodils. HEAVEN!
3. Staying in contact with old friends via the blogging network! IT ROCKS!

3 FEARS:
1. Illness and bad health. We have next-to-none Health Insurance, with a nice big $5000 deductible, so I'm always praying for good health in our home.
2. I'm scared to death of bats. Several up-close-and-personal experiences with these flying rodents have left me petrified of them. I can't even look at them in the zoo. And yet, my favorite superhero hands down is, HOLY SMOKES, none other than BATMAN. Go figure.
3. Any type of natural disasters. Floods, earthquakes, tsunamis, dams breaking, micro-bursts like the one we had when we lived in Lehi. I don't think I'm a fan of death and destruction, but I always get an adrenaline rush when I watch TWISTER!

3 GOALS;
1. To get a better camera and become a better photographer.
2. To lose a little weight before the end of the year, via more activity and less m-n-m's. It's been a long winter and this bear has been hibernating WAY TOO MUCH!
3. To get my life history caught up. It's actually my 4th fear...that I won't leave a written legacy for my family. For someone like me who loves to read, it's a scary thought to think I haven't written it down for my posterity.

3 CURRENT OBSESSIONS/COLLECTIONS:
1. I really like making movies on my computer. I think in my past life I worked at a movie studio as the person who decides what music goes where. It takes way too much of my time whenever I start working on the movies, because I want the music to be JUST RIGHT, but I LOVE IT the entire time I'm doing it! It's my form of scrapbooking.
2. Over spring break, Eli taught me how to play solitaire on my new laptop. Prior to that, I had never played it a day in 45 years of life. Now I spend WAY TOO MUCH time each day trying to beat my high score, which sadly, isn't even really that high.
3. Strawberries. I can' t get enough of them this time of year. On my waffles, in my shakes, on my ice cream, dipped in chocolate, plain off the stem. They are SO DIVINE!

3 RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS:
1. I used to announce high school baseball games when I was in school. My love of the game and my gift of the gab made me very good at it. Not to mention, it was a great way to meet guys from other schools. If no one is in the room, I still turn down the tv and do the play-by-play sometimes.
2. I was voted Best Dancer my senior year and have a very 80's SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER picture in my yearbook to prove it. If no one is in the room, I turn up the music really loud and do my best DANCING WITH THE STARS imitation, minus the raunchy costumes, lifts, and bare-chested partner. Phillip just isn't comfortable wearing spandex and spray tans!
3. I yearn to swim with dolphins. Perhaps someday when I can finally feel good about myself in a wetsuit, or raise the funds to go somewhere and do it. I have an inflatable dolphin one of my students brought me from Sea World. If no one is in the room, maybe I should just put it in the tub with me!
DONE! I'm tagging Jana, Judy, Sandi, Emily, and Summer. HAVE FUN!

Bag Tagging!

My friend Sandy sent me something called 'a bag-tag'. (Don't laugh about me not knowing what 'blog tagging' is. I don't have a lot of 'blog-gang' activity on my site yet!) I would have done it sooner but I have been burning up the highways a lot lately. Picking up Whitney from BYU, sending Cassidy off to San Francisco to a choir trip, taking Whitney back to Salt Lake to catch her plane for jolly old England, and then getting Cassidy back! So, here's what's in my purse...I confess...I took out all of the old paper scraps and receipts from the 90's before I took the photo!

1. Pay stubs from pre-school. It's not a million dollars, but it covers the extras, like proms, road trips, candy, gum, drinks, and drugs!
2. A credit union reciept. After I get paid, I have to deposit the money in Phillip's credit union.
Then I just take it right back out, but it's the principal of the process that I enjoy. Plus, since his building is practically in our backyard now, I get another chance to see him during the day!
3 Two sets of keys--house and car on one ring, church on the other. I'm not quite sure why I actually have the church keys since, they have re-keyed our building and these don't work anymore. I found that out last Wednesday when I was trying to get into the building to set up for the ward talent show. Luckily, the Primary President had a set that worked. It was a blizzard outside waiting to get in!
4. A pen. For whatever, obviously. Generally, I don't have a pen in my purse, so I'm not sure what writing angel left this one for me. Mine are usually lost, until I get a new replacement from the credit union. I'm glad Phillip has a job that keeps me in pens!
5. An orange sharpie. It's on kind of a cool key ring and it was free from my brother-in-law. Plus, I LOVE to write with bright sharpies. It makes me HAPPY!
6. My cell phone. I wish you could see the picture of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones on my front wallpaper right now, and I wish even more that you could hear my ringtone, "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Can you tell I'm getting excited? It's coming out in only 18 days!
7. Indiana Jones M-n-M's...plain AND peanut. As far as I'm concerned M-n-M's are the perfect candy, and when Harrison Ford is on the front, it's an added bonus! Can you guess which package is full, and which one is empty?
8. Alteration cards. Cassidy is going to Commencement this weekend. (Idaho's version of Prom) We borrowed a dress from a lady in our ward whose daughter had graduated, but it had tiny spaghetti straps. She gave us the matching shawl and said we could use the fabric for whatever. Here comes my modesty talk for the day. The dress is SO MUCH cuter with sleeves! Now all the girls in the neighborhood want to borrow it. And it only cost me $25.00. So, we are going to pass the cards out among anyone who wants to promote modesty in young girls! ( I'll post pictures after the dance)
9. Zyrtec. Two words. Allergy season. Enough said.
10. Ibuprofen. Two more words. Sprained ankle. We went for a walk a week ago around our greenbelt, which goes all the way around the rives, about 4 miles. Somewhere across the river from where the car was parked, I stepped, heard a snap, dropped to the ground, and waiting with Whitney and Eli, while Phillip ran to get the car. A week later, it is still swollen, black, blue, yellow, and sore. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to wear shoes again. Thank goodness for flip flops!
11.Enchanted Orchid lotion from Bath and Body Works. If you want to smell like lilac heaven, this is the anwer. It's my new favorite summer scent and I have some in every room of my house! I can't live without it!
12. Alba Coconut Cream Lip Balm. Again, something yummy that I can't live without. It makes my lips feel like they are on a Surfin' Safari!
13. Orbit Sweet Mint gum. Love it, love it, love it!
14. A wallet. Just the usual. Credit cards, insurance cards, receipts, a CTR (current temple recommend, phraise coined by President Uchtdorf in our regional conference last week) family photos, etc.
15. Dr's appointment card. It's from Whitney's rheumatologist when she gets back. Side note here: We are grateful everyday for her health. He calls her a 'miracle'. A year and a half ago she couldn't walk around the living room, now she is walking all over London!
16. A notebook. I keep it for quotes, addresses, ideas that come to me while I'm waiting in the car, just whatever. If you don't have one, get one!
17. Nail file. I don't really have fingernails, but Eli always gets snags!
18. Last, but not least, the ever-present Sonic receipt for drinks from HAPPY HOUR!

And my cool, new purse for the summer is from Aeropostale. $10.00 on clearance. It looks good, it's roomy, and it was on sale! Works for me.

Bag-tag challenges to Judy, Summer, Jana, Emily, Whitney, whoever wants to share!

P.S. Can anyone tell my why my photos I try to post on the blog are always larger than life? I'm not trying to show big photos, but I can't figure out how to minimize them. HELP!!!