HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLEY!!!

Yesterday was my Best Friend ASHLEY's 25th Birthday!!! I hope she had a great day because she out of anyone I know deserves it! She is the kindest and bestest friend EVER! Love you Ashley!

Also Yesterday marks the 3 year anniversary of Ben and I getting engaged! I can't believe how the time has flown - it was a GREAT ENGAGEMENT/PROPOSAL! Ben is the best and I love him!

Movie Review

Last Saturday we saw Get Smart. It was very enjoyable! It was a good o'fashion wholesome movie that was clean and actually funny at the same time. Steve Carell is of course HILARIOUS and the whole cast was pretty good. I really liked this movie and would highly recommend seeing it!

So You Think You Can Dance Top 18!

Last night's show was pretty good. There were a lot of dances that I love and a few that I absolutely disliked! But one stood out again to me last night. I have never really gotten too emotional with the dances, but this one actually made me cry! The only other time I think I was close to crying was the Mia Michaels Bench route in Season 2 with Travis and Heidi - Mia won a Emmy for it in fact. Anyway - so the reason that this dance made me cry was because the Choreographers designed this dance for their daughter who became handicap at 20 months - lost all motor skills but her eyes will light up when she see movement - so they made this dance for her and it was extremely touching for me!!! Anyway - let me know what you think!



Here is the Mia Michaels' Bench dance is you want to see :)

The Del Mar Fair

I love the fair and look forward to it EVERY Year! This year I was even more excited because it would be Ryan's first fair experience... But I make one grave mistake... I went on Dollar Tuesday! I will never... let me repeat that... I will NEVER go to the fair on Dollar Tuesday (or any dollar day for that matter) again! We went after work and left Escondido at about 5pm. I had a few quick stops and got to Ralphs in San Marcos at about 5:30pm... They of course were already sold out of dollar tickets... So we texted Google and called 4 different Ralphs until we called the one in Carmel Mountain and they had stupid dollar tickets left. Now when we go to the fair we always take Del Dios Hwy because it's fun and quicker, but since we were in Carmel Mountain we took the 56 over to the 5 and up to Del Mar... The traffic getting off the freeway was HORRIBLE! I hate the 5! We waited in line to get off the freeway for 30-45 mins and then waited another 15-20 minutes to get to the parking lot.... Then because I'm so super smart I got in the wrong freaking lane! I was not a happy camper and Ryan at this point had woken up from his nap and was ready to get out of his car seat... He was just plan ol'fussy butt! So we finally ended up parking in the "Preferred Parking" and finally got into the line to get into the Fairgrounds... We entered the fairgrounds at 8pm! I was not happy!!! We met up with some of our friends and got some yummy fried food... and then we listened to a really crappy band play for like 3 minutes because Ryan likes live music... And then we went and looked at all the booths. I have 4 things that I like to do at the fair - 1. look at all the "stuff" for sale. 2. Look at the gardens, 3. Look at the photography exhibit and 4. look at the High School woodworking stuff... We of course only had time to look at the stuff for sale - and there really wasn't anything SUPER cool this year... and then we looked at the gardens. There were a couple of cool gardens, but the gardens last year were phenomenal... But there were some cool ones... The only reason I liked this one was because the fire pit was dug into the ground and I thought that was kinda cool... Plus I'm obsessed with fire pits!

I want to eat my breakfast on something cool like this someday! It had tile flooring which was pretty cool too! And you can't see it but a cute little stream.

So I'm bummed that I didn't get to see the photography or the woodworking stuff, but OH WELL! There is always next year :)

Ryan Videos

My parents are constantly filming Ryan! :) Ryan loves to watch his videos and will laugh and talk to the videos. He will even clap at the end :)

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers! Ben enjoyed his first Father's day and I got him the raddest gift EVER! I got Ben and I tickets to the Monday Night Chargers game on Sept 22!!!! I am so excited and Ben is too! GO CHARGERS!

The Gas Screws Us Over AGAIN!

Ben told me a couple of days ago about a new crime wave that has been hitting our country. People are now stealing gas out of other peoples cars! When he told me that I was shocked that it has now come down to STEALING because the gas prices are out of control. Now I am just mad... Ben called me this morning and to make a long story short - Someone put a hole in his gas tank of his truck and stole his gas. Luckily he didn't have much in there, but now we have a new problem to deal with - getting his truck fixed when we don't have ANY money! NONE! I'm getting more and more mad at our liberal government who don't EVER listen to the people... Don't even get me started on how in 2000 Californians voted that Marriage was between a MAN and a WOMAN, but now the California Supreme Liberal Court has rule against that - Now Homosexuals can marry each other, because once again the minority is MORE IMPORTANT than the Majority. Get your heads out of your butts you liberal monkeys and start doing some good instead of destroying my country!

In the mail the other day I received some gas saving tips that I thought were helpful so I'm passing them on to you. Hopefully this helps relieve some pressure at the pump.

1. Only buy gas in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below the ground. The colder the ground, the more dense the gasoline. When it gets warmer, gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening...your gallon is not exactly a gallon.

2. When you're filing up, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to fast mode. If you look, you will see that the trigger has 3 stages: low, middle and high. In low mode, you should be pumping at a slow speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank, so you're getting less value for your money.

3. Fill up when your gas tank is half full. The more gas you have in your tank, the less air is occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere so it minimizes the evaporation.

4. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT FILL UP! Most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of that dirt that normally settles to on the bottom.

Hopefully this helps...

Hoy Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Vintage photos - Genealogy searches

So You Think You Can Dance!

Last night was the top 20 performances on SYTYCD! It was a really good show with a lot of great dances, but one dance stood out as my absolute favorite routine! I don't really care for the girl's personality, but I LOVE the guy dancer! So enjoy the video! Make sure you watch all the way through for some awesome stuff!

I have become a woman obsessed with GAS!

I am obsessed with gas prices! What on earth is going on?! Why did I just pay $27.00 and only get 6 gallons of gas? Why did I pay $4.55 per gallon? This is getting absolutely out of hand and there seems to be no end in sight. The Department of Energy thinks that gas prices will stay over $4 for the next year! Who can afford that? I know that I can't... I really don't know what we are going to do other than go no where other than work and home... The government likes to get their hands into everything so why aren't they relieving this problem? By the way - I'm totally uninformed when it comes to current events - I know this is incredibly stupid to say, but I rather live in my bubble that get so caught up in Politics! I was really into politics in 2004 during that election, but now I'm so afraid for our country... I don't know what to think anymore! But speaking of government... LET'S START DRILLING IN OUR OWN COUNTRY! Let's stop being dependent on countries who have no values or morals!!! Let's start being self sufficient and stop crying like little babies... "Oh but let's not destroy our environment" Well then you can pay for my gas! I'm tired of liberal environmentalist and I'm tired of the majority in Congress being the Democrats! Stop screwing everyone over because you are concerned about the minority! JUST SHUT UP ALREADY! ((and this is why I don't get involved in politics... anyone who has seen me at Ben's soccer games can get the picture...))

I don't like throwing my money away... and this is the worse possible situation of throwing money away! My Highlander has a screen that shows me how many MPG I'm getting... I have also become obsessed with getting my MPG's higher! I do all the tricks now, including: driving slower (those who know me know how hard this is for me and can therefore know how serious I am about this!), throwing the car in neutral on hills or whatever, using cruise control like my life depends on it, and lastly trying to keep my RPM's under 2. This might sound totally crazy, but hey it works. After getting gas yesterday, I didn't have a chance to go on the freeway and get my MPG's up, but using my tricks I was able to pull off a 21MPG - that's really good for my car.

I'm sorry that this blog is so angry, but I am angry! I have to work because we have too much debt, but as soon as that debt is paid off I can be a stay at home mom (even though I will probably still work 1 or 2 days a week) but these gas prices are just another way of postponing eliminating our debt. Why don't these big gas companies care? I don't understand... And because I don't understand I am angry. Hopefully this isn't hitting anyone else as hard as it has hit us! Good luck with gas and keep praying for our country... We need more faith (at least I know that I do) and we need strong leaders so Pray for our Country!

Picture Tag

My first job
My Favorite Place
My Favorite Food
My Favorite Color
A Nickname of mine
A Place I will visit
How old I will be on my next birthday
Tag your it! If this looks like fun start googling and find images to represent these 7 questions and post them to your blog!

Ryan is 11 months!

I'm in denial... There is no way that Ryan is 11 months and that in only 1 month he will be a year old! That is not possible! What happened to my little newborn baby?!? I love the things that Ryan is doing now, but sometimes I can't believe how the time has flown!

TOP 11 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY RY-GUY

1. I love his smile! (I know I've said that before but I really do!)

2. I love how he claps for everything!

3. I love that he puts his two pointer fingers together when you sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider"

4. I love his "scrunchey" face.

5. I love how good he is getting at standing up on his own

6. I love that if you ask him to give you something that he has that he probably shouldn't he will give it to you. For example, yesterday he had gotten into my purse and pulled out my sunglasses and I asked him to bring them to me and he crawled over and handed them to me! :)

7. I love the way he "talks" to me

8. I love the way he reads books and he will bring you a book if he want you to read it to him

9. I love how he pulls all of the DVD's out of the TV stand

10. I love the way he plays "Catch" with his mommy and daddy.

11. I love his giggles

He really is the best baby and I'm more and more amazed wtih him everyday. I'm so thankful that our Heavenly Father has sent him to Ben and me because our lives are fuller with him in it!

The Ice Cream Truck!

Ben, Ryan and I were sitting at home this evening when we heard the all too familar sounds of the ice cream truck! It was very exciting seeing as the Ice Cream Man never comes into our complex. Ryan and I ran downstairs and got some yummy treats!Ben got a Ninja Turtle Ice Cream... and I got a...Fudge Bar!We all enjoyed our treats!Well... almost all of us enjoyed our treats....

Ryan and Lola

This may be the funniest thing EVER!

BEACH DAY!

Today, Melinda and Olivia, Collette, Seth and Brandon and Ryan and I went to the beach! We had such a good time! The kids had a blast playing in the sand - although the younger kids thought that you had to eat the sand... :) The weather was perfect and I didn't get SUNBURNED!!! Whoo Hoo!!!Ryan thought the sand was really intresting... He didn't really dive right into it, but rather he looked at it for a time and then touched some of it and all in all he thought it was pretty cool.

Olivia really enjoyed the sand! She had it all over her face and hands and was still able to enjoy a snack! Ryan also got sand all over himself, but didn't quite know what to do... Look at that cute belly!I told Ryan and Olivia to make a funny face for this picture... and those are some funny faces!!!

Melinda and Olivia

Me and Ry-Guy

It really was a great day! So nice to be able to get out and go do something fun! Next week... POOL PARTY!!!

Thankful Thursday

This might sound kind of strange seeing as I'm 24 years old and "graduated" from Young Woman's 6 years ago, but I'm thankful for the Personal Progress program! When I was in Young Women's the program was different than it is today. Back in my day, we had to complete goals for each year that you were in Young Women's and then at the end of your second year (or in my case at the end of my 2nd month in my 2nd year - I was a personal progress junkie) you would receive a medallion - they were gold medallions so no one really ever wore theirs :) But I have all 3 of mine plus my Young Womanhood medallion. I loved doing personal progress because I'm a goal driven person. Now that I'm in Young Women's again as a leader I have the opportunity to earn my Young Womanhood Recognition Award again! The program is way different now and at first I didn't care for it but now I really like it. I don't have to do as much as the girls have to do because my service hours as a leader count, but for the past 2 weeks I've been doing Personal Progress as my scripture study and it is AWESOME! I love it! I love Young Women's - especially my ward's Young Women! I love this gospel! I love our prophet! I love my Savior! And of course, I love Personal Progress!

Euphoria

Last Saturday night, James, Christy, Ben and I went to dinner at Red Robin. It was fun and I had a really good croissant sandwich. Ben and James both got Raspberry Mint Lemonade and would "fight" over the refills. Ben took one refill that James thought looked good so he stuck his straw in it and shared it with Ben... It was really quite romantic :) Christy and I thought it was funny enough to take picture of... I don't know why at this point, but we did.

Ryan's New Tricks :)

So for the past couple of weeks Ryan has been getting really good at pulling himself up and cruising. Now he is mastering the standing up without holding onto anything! It's really cute - this isn't the best picture of him standing, but right now... it's the only one :)

And yet another trick Ryan has learned is to close doors... While I was sitting in Ryan's room blogging - he crawled out of his room - across the living room and into my room where he closed the door... The only problem is that he can't figure out how to let himself out once he has closed the door. I heard a faint cry and wondered where my boy was and I found him in my room sitting by the door holding onto his "snuggle" (a little 6"x6" soft blanket with a frog on it) crying! It was kind of cute actually :) I might be a bad mother because I laughed at what he had done... IT WAS CUTE!

He also likes playing the the hose attachment for the vacuum cleaner.

And he has also discovered that it is really fun to pull all of the DVD's out of the TV stand.

Here ya go mom!