David Cook--Are you kidding me????

Ok, so I am pretty much exasperated that David Archuletta didn't win. All those weeks of watching and they took away my reward. I thought he was truly the kind of idol that I would want my grandkids (and kids) to emulate--clean, nice, humble, talented, modest, did I mention nice? I think that the reason so many people loved him is because the Spirit was able to shine through him because of his sincerety. I hope he'll go on to do great things.

Tag, I'm it!

I didn't actually get "tagged" (kinda like being the last person picked for a team in gym.....) but I am a grownup now, so I will just play without the actual tag. My things mostly come in fours instead of threes, so deal with it.

Three Joys
1. Having a husband who loves me, provides for me, and actually likes to be with me.
2. Having 4 wonderful children, with wonderful spouses, who all like each other (I think). They
do things together without us and with us. They are all productive, active people who are
great contributors to society. They are marvelous parents, greatly invested in the welfare
and progress of their children. And they come to see us often. (not just when they need
something.....) For someone who had a hard time having children, I feel greatly blessed.
3. Having Six (so far.....)terrific, fun-loving grandchildren--each with different talents and
personalities.
They like to spend time with their grandma. I love it when they don't want to go home. I
also love it that I can send them home. I love to be with them all together, but even more
I love to be with them one-on-one where there are no distractions or competition. They get
to be the center of my attention.
4. Having a testimony of Jesus Christ and His Restored Gospel. Knowing that Joseph Smith
was and is a prophet and that we have a living prophet on the earth today. And knowing that
we have the Priesthood on the earth to bless our lives and having a husband and sons and
a son-in-law who are worthy to use that Priesthood to bless others. Knowing that the Book of
Mormon is the word of God to us in the latter days. Knowing that I am a daughter of God,
and that He knows and loves me, that Christ is His Son and was sent to redeem me and
teach me how to love and serve others. Knowing that I can and do have prayers answered.

Three Fears
1. Having something bad happen to one of my children, grandchildren, or husband.
2. I am afraid of spiders, bees, hornets, rattlesnakes, and any other poisonous, unpredictable
ugly creature. Hey, I don't invade their home, what are they doing in mine????
3. I am afraid of drowning. I was twelve before I was able to swim. I can't swim well without
noseplugs and have been known to wear them while crossing the ocean in a plane--just in
case.
4. OK, one more fear. I am afraid of not being a good wife, mother, mother-in-law,
grandmother, friend, teacher, sister, sister-in-law, daughter-in-law, daughter--of somehow
letting the above mentioned people down. I want every one to get along and love each other
and that somehow I am the one who should make this happen. (even though I really know
it is not up to me.)

Three Short Term Goals
1. Finish (actually start) the I Spy Quilts I have had cut out for about 6 years and the fringed
quilt that I started cutting out during the last conference session in April.
2. Try to get to the temple once a month. Because of my sleep apnea, I CANNOT stay awake
for an entire session, so it is hard for me to go.
3. Catch up on my scrapbooking (it will never happen because we are always out of town taking
new pictures. (I just got a cool one of a hummingbird in a cactus.)
4. OK, I just can't fit them into three things. I want to have on-on-one days with my grandkids
maybe on a quarterly basis.

Three Long Term Goals
1. Do Family History Work for my lines--including two fathers.
2. Organize years of Recipes. I don't love to cook, so this is probably not a practical goal.
3. Clean out my school teaching files and find someone to give my school teachng things to
who will love them as much as I do.
4. Dejunk my house--I am a collector and a reluctant give awayer.

Three Obsessions (This is an EASY one.)
1. Scrapbooking and owning every scrapbook item there is to have.
2. Rubber Stamps --Making sure there aren't any out there that I like that I don't already have.
3. Books--mostly children's books (I have a room with 10 floor to ceiling bookcases full of
them.)
4. We have a" four" thing going here. Children's toys. I have to check to make sure there
aren't new ones out there that we need to have.

Three Random or Surprising Facts About Me
1. I love to throw rocks through windows or glass. I like to see footage of buildings being
blown up and demolished. I like throwing rocks through ice.
2. I used to be very shy. I cried for 2 months when I had to switch schools in 9th grade. It
was a social nightmare for me. I had no confidence even though I was a great student.
3. I really only like to wear cotton. I have to be able to pull up the sleeves on long sleeves to
let my arms be able to breathe. Polyester makes my skin crawl.

Three Annoying Things About My Life
1. I am allergic to almost every scented thing. (perfume, candles, anything AVONish, hair
products, laundry soaps, hand soaps, lotion etc.) (Also, lots of plants and animals)
2. I used to be able to eat anything and everything and not gain an ounce. And now I do gain.
3. I don't really love the outside. (bugs, allergies, dangers, etc.)

Three Things I Would Be Doing if I Could Do Anything I Wanted
1. Scrapbooking
2. Shopping for Scrapbooking/Rubber Stamping Items
3. Riding on the big wave runner at Lake Powell with glassy, warm water and no other
boats on the lake yet--and I could clearly see our campsite so Iwouldn't get lost,
and all the rattlenakes were asleep in their holes and there were no bugs that day.
4. Having someone give me a million (or more) dollars and being able to regive it to my
children and other people who needed it.

Well, here I am in sunny Phoenix and I am spending the entire day catching up on my emails and reading everyone's blog. I got the best Mother's Day present EVER from all of my children, their spouses and Mike. They surprised me with a boxed swingset/playhouse and then spent the next 8 hours putting it together. It was so much fun watching them work together. I was mostly inside the house watching the grandchildren, thus keeping them out of the way. We took several excursions to check on the progress. They VERY best part was the JOY in the faces of the grandkids when it was done and they got to play on it. (Note: so far we've logged in two injuries....) And the coolest part (as Sarah pointed out) is that there is nothing to pickup when they are through playing with it. It will be so nice to have something for them to go play on when they come for their Sunday dinners. Note: pictures to follow when I get home to my real computer. (I am using Mike's laptop and having a heck of a time typing on it. I keep running all of my words together.

Now I have to figure out a way to zero landscape the area so that it will be easy to take care of.

These are my new additions to my blog--some of my very favoritist people. Note: If there is more than one picture of a person, that does not mean that we love them more than those with less photos. It just means that they were here more often when the camera came out.

Also, note, the following pictures are kind of mixed up as to when they were taken, but here they are, so that's what counts.

Mike and Carson being buddies.
Kevin and Jen came to watch conference with us and here they are.
Niyah is posing with her new Easter Duck.
This is Jasmine with her Easter Rabbit.
Brandon and Melissa getting cozy for the photo op.

Ok, so Mindy taught me how to post photos. I am still working on how to get them into the right order, but, nevertheless, here they are. I just wanted to have some fun photos of my favorite people. So, here they are.

This is celebrating Sarah and Allie's birthdays.
Khursten is very photogenic and knows how to "strike a pose."
This is Allie blowing bubbles.
This is a typical family portrait in which we can't see Allie's face. Audrey and Khursten are still checking out the bubble blowing equipment.
This is a little older photo, but very cute!!!

Fun with the Dress-ups!!!

This is Jasmine in her secret identity mask.
This is Carson, the Magnificent.

This is Nyah indicating that she is pretty well done with dress-ups, thank you very much.

And this would have been the last picture if I knew how to move it there, but I don't. But

Mindy has been teaching me a little each time she comes for a visit.

This is Brandon fitting into his karate clothes from his childhood days.
This is Mindy fitting into her younger days' leotard.
This is Melissa being very 'peaceful....."
This is Brandon also fitting into Mindy's younger days' leotard.
This is Nyah looking mighty spiffy in her lovely boa.

I just spent a wonderful week. On Tuesday I got to tend my three cute grand daughters from the Ryan and Sarah family (while Sarah was having surgery). Then on Wed. I went with my good friend Christena to stay at her fun getaway house in Saratoga Springs. We spent Thursday and Friday at BYU Women's Conference (along with about 300 gazillion other women). Then today (Saturday) I got to spend the entire day scrapbooking for National Scrapbook Day--taking classes and getting lots of cool stuff. The highlight of the day was finding a $50 bill in my wallet that I had hidden from myself--and hence, I had money to spend for more scrapbook stuff. Yeah!!!! Because I really need more stuff.....

Christena made me learn how to "Text" on my cellphone.
Mindy is teaching me how to "Blog".
Gosh, I may even try to learn how to program our new tv/recorder that we have had for several months since I am becoming so technically savvy.

Mike spent the weekend working in the yard and hauling peoples' yard garbage to the bins for our annual neighborhood cleanup day. He really needs to find a hobby he likes.....