{dRaFts}

Did you know that when you publish a draft, it places it on the date that you originally saved the draft? I guess those of you who are more experienced than I would have known that! I had a few drafts that I decided to finish up. I published them and I couldn't figure out where they went. They didn't show up where I thought they should, but lo and behold they really were there. They were listed back on the dates that I first saved them.

{RiP StiCks}

Oh my... All the guys(adult men) in my neighborhood have been borrowing my kids rip sticks. They are these boards that look kind of like a skateboard, but don't be fooled! It is nothing like a skateboard.

• To start, skateboards are one single piece, rip sticks are 2 separate pieces, though joined together, they can be moved independent of each other.
• Skateboards have 4 wheels, rip sticks only have 2!
• You can't just put one foot on the board and push with the other.

... but my kids make it look soooooo easy!!!

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.

.

.

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I decided to finally give it a try. I tried and tried and tried. Those things are difficult for those of us who rank a big fat 0 on coordination.

{fly A kite}

Let's go fly a kite
Up to the highest height
Let's go fly a kite
And send it soaring
Up through the atmosphere
Up where the air is clear
Oh, let's go fly a kite!

I couldn't resist when I saw the kites at the store. I love to go kite flying. The wind, freedom, and courage! How high do you dare fly your kite?

So I bought a few cheapie kites for my kids. Last week, when Annie was here, we went outside to help Ally fly her kite. Our street is perfect for it. It's a cul-de-sac, so they can run in circles if they choose and no one has trees yet so the only thing to watch out for is one street light.

Ally was great, she never could catch on to the fact that you can stop running if the kite is high enough and catches the wind!

Slowly, one by one, the neighbors started coming over (parents and kids). I had to leave to take Sam to dance, but when I came back even more neighbors were there and Anne was flying the kite with a trail of kids following behind.

It reminded me of why we are going to love living on our street. Everyone is so friendly, there are a ton of kids and they can safely fly kites in the street!!!

{eXhaUsTion has SeT in}

I can't believe how worn out I am from yesterday. As I mentioned in my last post I had to run our caucus meeting. So my morning started with driving around so Sam could put up a few signs to remind people of the caucus. I spent the lunch period at Provo High registering students, who will be 18 years old, before November 4th, to vote. Then I had my normal chauffeur duties (Sam to dance, Keyan to soccer, etc.) We went to watch part of Keyan's soccer game, then I was off to my meeting. We had about 40 people at our caucus. Not everyone there voted, but it was fun to have them anyway. It went well. I ran against another guy for precinct chair. I won!!! My first ever elected position (I was serving as vice chair, but I was appointed after the position had been vacated). We had elections for 9 positions: chair, vice chair, secretary, 4 county delegates & 2 state delegates. Since I was elected as the chair I also get to serve as a county and state delegate. Chris was nominated (not by me) as a county delegate and won. It was crazy. Our meeting lasted 2 hours. We kind of discussed some of the issues, but it was always in regard to how those that were running felt about them or how they voted for them in the past. The big issues seem to be school vouchers and immigration. It will be fun to be apart of this election process. An hour after the meeting was done I was able to leave. Then Chris and I went around and took down our signs. It was exciting and fun. I hope that others who attended liked it also. Their votes definitely made a huge difference. Mark Johnston from the Daily Herald came to our meeting and took pictures. His photo and article were published in today's paper (I heard it was on the front page).

{NeiGhBooRHooD CAuCuS MeeTiNGs}

Tomorrow, in Utah, we hold our caucus meetings. When we moved we moved into a new precinct that was in need of a vice chair. Somehow I was appointed to that position!!! As a result I am running our precincts' meeting tomorrow night. Last night I found myself somewhat worried about this. I've conducted lots of meetings before, but never on a political scale.

At the same time I find this to be an exciting thing, not being in charge, but to participate. There is no where else you can vote, that will have more of an impact then at a caucus meeting. You will have the power to vote (or run if you choose) for delegates that will have a lot of political power in up coming elections.

For instance Chris Cannon is the U.S. House of Representative for my District. There are many people who are not happy with what he has (mostly has not) done while in office. As a result 6 people have decided to run against him (1 democrat, 1 constitution party & 4 republicans). In the November General election each party can only have 1 candidate on the ballot. In this race there are 5 republicans running. To really make a difference you want to cast your vote in the early stages before it's whittled down to just one candidate and this is where going to your caucus meetings comes in.

At these meetings you will vote for delegates that will be the ones who will vote for positions like the one mentioned above. If it's a county delegate they will go to the county convention, if it's a state delegate they will go to the state convention to vote (for positions like the U.S. Senators & House Reps, Governor, etc.). When you vote in the General Election or even the earlier primary election your choices have already been made for you by someone that was suppose to represent you.

So if you want to make sure you are represented well - you need to be there at your neighborhood caucus meetings and let your voice (or vote) be heard!!!

{haPPy easTer!}

HOPPY EASTER!!!

{TaGGeD}

I got tagged to post a picture of both my purse and all it's contents.
Here are the rules:
1) Take a picture of your bag
2) Show a picture of ALL the contents in your bag and name them. (NO CLEANING OUT FIRST)
3) "Bag Tag" 5 to 10 people
4) Make sure to leave a comment on their blog so they know THEY'VE BEEN TAGGED.

I don't have a purse, I've got a huge luggage bag! That just happens to be the family catch all! I've got a stack of papers (we just had parent teacher conferences), a notebook, treats for the kids, camera case, sunglasses, wallet, pda, phone, ipod, eye drops, keys, highlighter, and 3 pens!

Nothing too exciting :)

{FLaWLeSS}

Keyan is an awesome drummer! Now playing Rock Band might not be the best way to demonstate that, but more than once he was gotten a perfect score on expert mode!

Rock On...

{AnNiE}

We always love for Annie to come home to visit. The kids have a reason to stay up way too late on school nights. I have a reason to go shopping for nothing in particular and play with finger puppets! One day she will leave that barren wasteland that she is TEMPORARILY calling home and rejoin us in the real world!!!

♥♥Love you Annie!

{FReeDoM}

Last week Ally sat outside hiding from her friends because they were all riding their bikes around. She was hiding because she was embarrassed that she still had training wheels on her bike. We told her it's OK, she should just go ride it anyway. Notta, No Way, Ain't going to happen!!! She said that they would make fun of her. I assured her they wouldn't, but nothing was going to convince her otherwise. Chris took pity on her and took her to the church parking lot to practice riding her bike. He bent the training wheels way up, but she still wasn't ready to take them off. Then Monday evening (St. Patrick's Day), she was out practicing and she decided, or maybe Chris decided, that she should take those extra wheels off. Chris thought he was going to have to run with her for awhile. But, lo and behold, off go the wheels and off goes Ally!

{ HaPPy St. PaTricK's DaY! }

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

{Kids saY the Darnest ThinGs!}

My neighbor, Jared (3 years old) tells me, "I don't like yellow fruit snacks, they look like pee!"


I cut a pear into slices, that look like apple slices. Jared eats one (thinking it's an apple) and with a sour look on his face says, "why is it at my house I like these, but at your house (his face scrunches up more), I don't?"


My neighbor, Hayden (5 years old) is at my house and at first I don't recognize him. Then I say to him, "Hayden your hair is all gone!" He looks at me funny and puts his hand to his head and says, "I still have a little bit." His haircut is great!


A girl on the soccer team I coach is very concerned about someone on the other team tripping her on purpose. What if the ref doesn't see it and the other player says it's an accident when it's really not an accident. Finally I said there are lots of parents who will be watching the game and they will let the ref know if they are really wrong. Another girl chimes in, "Yeah, parents don't lie." Then the same girl with the concern starts in, "unless they are in divorce!"


Sam says to Landon, "You're a nut!"
Landon says, "Oh yeah, you're a nerd!"
Sam says, "Oh yeah, Ally's a ..." Before she can finish -
Landon interrupts with, "Oh yeah, mom's a sucker!"
"Oh wait, wait, I never said that!"

{ T...A...N...G...O }

Oh my... who knew that ballroom dance could be so much fun! Sam's Elementary School Ballroom team had a team match today at BYU during the 2008 U.S. National Amateur Dancesport Championships. It was so much fun.

The boys are hysterical, they do their thing and come off the dance floor giving their buddies high five like it's their time out during a b-ball or soccer game.

When they dance the TANGO, the kids all chant T-A-N-G-O to the beat of the dance. It's very lively and fun.

The best part comes at the end. They invited all the dancers on to the floor. Then told them they had to find a new partner from a different school. We were rolling. This was one of the funniest things ever. The conductor was joking with them saying, "you're not trying to find someone to marry, just someone to dance the next dance with!"

{The WORST Birthday EVER!}

Poor Sammy! Her 12th birthday was in the beginning of January. Unfortunately, I was not recovered enough from my surgery to have a birthday party with her friends. However, we did have a family party so it wasn't a complete loss. Now instead of having a bunch of friends over, we decided in a few weeks that we would take a couple of her friends out to lunch. A few weeks pass and there is no mention of a friend outing. We are now 2 months past her birthday and still nothing, not to mention that she has been waiting for years to get her ears pierced. We decided that 12 years old was a good age to let our daughters get their ears pierced, if they so choose. Now I'm feeling really, really guilty. At this rate her next birthday will come and go before anything is done for this one. Finally, on Saturday I took her to get her ears pierced and we decided to use the money that would of gone to take her and her friends to lunch and help buy her an ipod nano. I think she is in heaven!!!
Does that make up for the worst birthday ever?

{VARISTY}

Yippie - Skippie!!!
On Friday,

Keyan played in his

first
High School
Varisty

Boys Soccer Game!!!

{heAlthY, wEaltHy & wiSe}

My poor kids! Landon fell off his ripstick, because he was trying to avoid a cat, and hurt his wrist pretty bad. Annie came over and helped to make a brace for him (it's amazing what you can do with soccer socks, newspaper, camping toilet paper and tape!) so he wouldn't hurt it more while he slept. He had his last Jr. Jazz game a few days later and he was determined to play, but was worried that he would hurt his arm so we got him a brace. They finished the season undefeated!!!

Ally this past week has been sick. My kids don't get really sick very often, but when they do it's sooo sad. Ally had to have me where ever she was, which means nothing got done all week. Once she was afraid of throwing up, so she had the trash can right with her, she fell asleep with it there. We ran out of liquid meds so I was trying to get her to take a pill during the middle of the night. She completely paniced - hyperventilating and all. The thing that has been nice is that it's actually been quiet around here!!!

We may not be healthy, wealthy and wise but we'll keep trying!!! :)