I've been tagged...

All of us bloggers have had it happened to us at least once. Here is my latest "tag" from my cousin-in-law (that's sounds funny, Katie!)

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning. B: Each player answers the questions about themselves. C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

10 YEARS AGO TODAY

I was 21 and a senior in college getting ready to graduate and unable to shake the unmistakable feeling that I was supposed to serve a mission for my church. This went against everything I wanted at the time, but I knew the Lord needed me to be at Temple Square and that obedience has forever shaped my life. I was student teaching and had just moved out of the dorms where I had lived for 3 1/2 years and moved in with my best friend, Melissa Walker. She was getting married soon and I would then live with a chiropracter friend, Sheila, until graduation. It was fun having my first apartment and getting excited about life after college.

5 THINGS ON MY TO-DO LIST TODAY (WEDNESDAY)

1. Make sure someone is teaching at MRE today (it's a church thing...once a week our ward has a military enrichment. Other sisters come and babysit our kids, feed us lunch, have a lesson and then, mostly, just chatting. There is always something fun we learn like sewing, cooking, scrapbooking, crafts, etc). I will really miss that in this ward.
2. Get my dad's 80th birthday present while down in San Diego tomorrow and ship it off so he gets in by Monday.
3. Make sure Ben isn't freaking out during his doctor appointment in San Diego tomorrow.
4. Get my TB shot checked out (got all my shots for Okinawa yesterday)
5. Drop my taxes off at the free tax prep place on base

5 THINGS I ENJOY

1. 7pm- when the kids are all asleep and I have "me" time or "me and Rob" time.
2. My hobbies--quilting, reading, Internet surfing and running
3. Spending time with Rob. There is nothing more precious to me.
4. Taking walks on the beach as a family.
5. Calling home

WHAT WOULD I DO IF I WERE SUDDENLY A BILLIONAIRE

1. Pay off student loans
2. Buy a second car
3. Buy some new clothes. Every single pair of jeans I own has a hole in them.
4. Hire a housekeeper and cook
5. Travel

3 OF MY BAD HABITS

1. I'm bossy
2. I'm a horrible housekeeper
3. I spend too much time on the computer

5 PLACES I HAVE LIVED

1. East Aurora, NY
2. Hiram, OH
3. Salt Lake City, UT (including Provo and Sandy too)
4. Prineville, OR
5. Cleveland Heights, OH
(although, I've recently realized that I've lived in 13 different apartment/houses over the past 10 years, NOT counting different places on my mission)

5 JOBS I'VE HAD

1. Driver for the transportation department at Hiram College (yeah, I was the person standing with a little sign at the airport)
2. Manager at Kaplan Test Prep (where I met Rob)
3. Dance assistant
4. Office assistant in the Student Life office at Hiram College
5. Client Manager at iAccess (a CD replication company)

5 THINGS PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME

1. I can't grow out my fingernails to save my life. I've tried. They always break before they get pretty.
2. I have to eat in order to think straight. If Mama ain't fed, no one is happy.
3. I always do to our taxes every year, but I don't do anything else with our finances (checkbook balancing, etc). I always mess it up.
4. I never knew either of my grandfathers. They both died before I was born.
5. When I was 2 years old, I would take off my diaper and spread the poop all over the wall (like fingerpainting). Disgusting, I know. I think I would seriously kill Isabella if she did that on a regular basis. What does that mean about me in Freudian terms?

3 PEOPLE I TAG

1. Shelly Bennion
2. Julianna Viegas-Haws
3. Angela Wilpula

Get Ready For The Storm

For some unknown reason, Rob Tivo'd Gladiators the other night. A highly entertaining piece of footage. At any rate, he thought he'd teach the kids some "manly" moves. They are supposed to be saying, "Meet Thunder, meet Lightening, get ready for the Storm."

Listos, Tarzan and Henry Weinharts

I've taken a bunch of pictures over the last week and finally decided to post them. The first few pics are of the boys playing their new favorite game...Tarzan. Tarzan's Treehouse at Disneyland is one of their favorite "rides." They decided they needed to strip down to their skivies in order to play this properly including jumping off the couch into the vines of the jungle. Next, they fell asleep on the couch together....a rare moment of peace. Third, Rob is teaching them the fine art of drinking Henry Weinharts rootbeer. They had a hard time grasping the concept of letting a little air in the top of the bottle so it wouldn't all come up after your sip. Lastly is a little unknown place in Oceanside called Listos (means something in Spanish that I can't remember). It's funded by the Oceanside School District for kids 0-5 years old. It reminds me so much of the Heights Parents Center in Cleveland (which we frequented OFTEN), but it doesn't have as great of a staff and it also has lots of money to put into it. They have about 20 different stations with everything from arts and crafts to dress up to painting to books to tea party and so on. The amazing thing is that they change these 20 stations WEEKLY! That's right. Every week is a new theme. This week it was Castles and the boys had so much fun with it. Next week it's Valentines Day. They've had diversity, Chinese New Year, stars, etc. So cool. It's open for drop in play from 9-3 daily. Anyone in the area should definitely check it out because it's FREE!!!! Enjoy.

Misc video of stuff

Hey All!
My mom was asking for some video of the kids, so here it is. It's a bunch of misc stuff from over the past two months. The first bit is Noah quizzing Ben on the content of some flashcards. I love how he gives hints when Ben isn't sure what something is. Second is Noah getting down with the newly discovered Wiggles guitar that we found in our garage. Third, there is a bunch of video from our Christmas visit to NY to visit my parents. Ben's birthday, sledding and a visit to the bounce houses are included. This is about 10 minutes long and, really, I think only my family will find entertaining. Grab some popcorn and enjoy.

The Passing of President Hinckley

Gordon B Hinckley, President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died this evening. He was an amazing man who made great strides to build more temples and bring the Church into the 21st century. His sweet wife died almost 4 years ago and now he can be reunited with her. My favorite memory of him was when I was a missionary on Temple Square. I was at our farewell dinner in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and the room we were in had a view straight into his apartment. I saw him and his wife, both with aprons on, doing dishes together. This was about 8 years ago and it always stuck with me. Here was a prophet of God, doing dishes with his wife. No servants did it for him and he obviously didn't consider it "woman's work." I'll never forget that. For a full story, go to www.lds.org

Reconnecting

I just have to say that I have recently reconnected with a bunch of friends from high school, college and mission days. It has been awesome to hear from people from my past. So, if you're reading this blog and haven't reconnected yet, please do. I love hearing from everyone.

I also wanted to give a shout out to the most amazing person I know. Rob is FREAKIN' AWESOME! He is the hardest worker I have ever met, never stopping to think about himself. He cares so much about his patients which they not only love, but will be such an asset to us when we are in private practice after the Navy. He gives so much to the kids and I. He was dog tired tonight, but still read books to the kids for 30 minutes before bedtime. Noah, Ben and Issy ADORE him. They absolutely light up whenever he is around. He's also got a rocking hard body now that the military pays him to workout 3 days a week (he runs about 6 miles at a time and biked 30 miles on Monday). Rob doesn't do anything half assed...whether it's dishes or dentistry he goes at life with gusto. That also means he works hard at our marriage and for that I am eternally grateful. I love you, Babe!

World Famous MUD RUN

I have a new resolution to lose that baby weight. It all started when we witnessed the Camp Pendleton World Famous Mud Run last summer. A "muddy" part is right by our house and we witnessed the mess firsthand. It was aweseome. 4,000 people and a 10K. So, I decided I wanted to run it before we leave for Okinawa. Registration opened up the first of the year and it is sold out. Three days are sold out (that's 12,000 people wanting to do this thing). I pretty proud of myself and how my training is going. I ran for 30 minutes straight yesterday all around our neighborhood which has some HUGE hills. Today I went to the gym and did a 60 minute "Body Works plus Abs" class. I know I was a runner in high school, but I was a sprinter. I used to try and get out of the mile warmup they wanted us to do. Anything over 200 meters was too long for me. This is 10K and I've had 3 kids since then. Stay posted for more progress reports.