The Price Is Right

Did you all watch us? Okay, you can't really see me but you could see Sam. His belly was in the top left when the bidder on the far left was bidding. And he is a bit bigger than I am. And there was a shorter person in front of him than in front of me so you can't really see me except for a few times when they passed over us. I keep saying 'can't see us' because we have the show recorded on the DVR and the poor kids had to watch a few spots of it in way slow motion. And if you have it recorded you can watch it over and over too. So we could see ourselves- a couple of times. Still, how cool was that? And I think I almost have Sam talked into going again after Bob retires. Somehow he's not the most important part of the game anymore.

My kids didn't enjoy having to be reverent in the front room today either. I wanted to listen to conference and they can't do the sit down and listen for a long time thing yet. They are also too old and yet too young to listen and fall asleep. But the conference was great. My favorite talk so far was Elder Holland's "Speak Nicely" talk. I hope DiAnn and her family are enjoying their time in UT and at conference. Enjoy it guys!

Random Thoughts

I came back. For a minute. Remember when I was so excited that Slade was potty trained. Well, regression has come and he isn't really. I suppose it should last more than 1 week before I should say it out loud. Still working on it.

We got a different computer. We are paying for the high speed DSL and our computer was/is so slow. So we decided to try something different. I can't believe how much faster this new one moves. I can turn it on and sign on within 30 seconds instead of 5 minutes. And I can read the blogs online so much faster too because the web moves, it actually changes pages and such.

We have Jill's daughter here this week. She and Slade are the same age. They love each other most of the time. For about 1 hour a day and then at bedtime they aren't quite as patient with each other. But the boys are happy to have her here. There is someone new to play with.

Sam has qualified to be a first line manager (the job he has been training for) out at work. This last week he took his test, took his oral board, had to do some extra drills, and all kinds of medical stuff (no the medical has nothing to do with the qualification, he just didn't get it done earlier) and he passed. He is now a more qualified worker- for this job anyway. And we got to celebrate.

Life is good and it's almost time for bed. Goodnite.

So guess what happened. I got to go to the ER early Sunday morning. Poor Sam. It was his birthday and I made him wake up early and take me and the kids to the hospital. I had some major ear pain. It went crazy. I woke up at about 1:45 with a hurting ear and it got worse and more exciting til about 4am. When I layed down I could hear a fizz in my ear like when you shake a bottle of Coke up and it you have to open it slow so it doesn't explode. That's when I woke Sam up and we all headed out to the hospital. By the time we got to the ER there was stuff leaking out of my ear. (What a pleasant picture huh.) But they got me some new meds and my ear just leaks a little here and there. So that's the excitement I wanted to share. And Sam got to go work late because he stayed at home with me until my friend who was going to take me to church came to stay at my house instead. We had quite a day.

FYI

Okay Susan, you asked for this info. I'm going to try. Oh, and I think it's so way cool that you found Jolie again.

1. What is your occupation? domestic engineer
2. What color are your socks right now? blue slippers
3. What are you listening to right now? None, I'm sitting at the computer and the boys are in bed.
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Tootsie rolls
5. Can you drive a stick shift? yes, but it's against the law
6. If you were a crayon what color would you be? blue
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? I left a msg for Ticee. Before that I talked to a plumber who was supposed to call me back about 6-10 hours ago.
8. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I love her
9. Favorite drink? water
10. What is your favorite sport to watch? diving
11. Ever dyed your hair? Nope.
12. Pets? Never
13. Favorite food? It depends on the week, it's Mexican right now. The west US has better Mexican food than the South.
14. What was the last movie you watched and did you like it? I don't remember. Maybe Flicka. It was alright.
15. What do you do to vent anger? I cry
16. What was your favorite toy as a kid? I don't remember the child thing but when I was a teenager I had a teddy bear named Enos that I loved. Slade is sleeping with him tonight.
17. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall. It's my birthday, the start of the holidays, and we get to spend time with family.
18. Hugs or kisses? hugs
19. Cherries or Blueberries? neither
20. Do you want your friends to email you back? just fill out the info on your blog
21 . Who is most likely to respond?
22. Who is least likely to respond?
23. Living arrangements? home
24. When was the last time you cried? Tonight, watching American Idol dedications.
25. What is on the floor of your closet? medical supplies, summer clothes, shoes.
26. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to: I'm not sending I'm answering.
27. What did you watch last night? The Price is Right, my boys wanted to find someone who was playing Plinko. There was no Plinko
28. Favorite smells? The food I like that week.
29. What inspires you? smiles
30. What are you afraid of? cucas and grasshoppers
31. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? No hamburgers, how about tacos?
32. Favorite dog breed? None
33. Number of keys on your key ring? 3
34. How many years at your current job? 3 1/2-6
35. Favorite day of the week? Whatever day's Sam is off work.
36. What states have you lived in? Utah, Arizona, California, South Carolina, New Mexico
37. Favorite holiday? Christmas
38. Ever driven a Motorcycle or heavy machinery? Nope

Okay there is a ton of unimportant information about me. I hope you enjoy it. Just know it's good to learn unimportant things about everyone. Things like these can be used in solving mysteries. (Monk uses things like this to solve murder cases.)

California and Back

I know it's been forever but here I am with the California story. Sam and I went out to LA on the 22nd of Feb. Jill kept our kids for a week. The kids like being there so that was good. Things were exciting. We landed on Thursday and stayed in Riverside that night with Sam's Aunt Peggy. The next day we went to San Diego.

I took Sam all around Imperial Beach and Chula Vista, the two places I served in. I couldn't find where I had lived. I couldn't find the grocery store. I couldn't even find my favorite Mexican restaurant. But I did find Papa John's pizza. We spent most of that day in Old Town, the original part of San Diego. There is a ton of history there. Did you know that the Mormon Battalion built the 1st brick building there in San Diego? There is a visitor's center there and we went to it. That was good. And we went to Coronado beach and Sam brought home a seashell for each of the boys. We also got to go to the temple that night. That temple is like a castle. It's amazing. I love the stairs and the little glass garden at the top of the temple between the 2 spires that looks up at them. It was amazing.

We went to Balboa Park the next day. We saw an air and space museum and a science museum (w/ and IMAX theater) where we watched a show about dolphins. Sam had to go because of the theater. We also went to the USS Midway, an aircraft carrier in the Navy. Church on Sunday was at a different chapel. The ward is huge. They had 70 baptisms last year. Holy cow! And it looks great! All of the classes are crowded which means that people are staying for more than just sacrement meeting. I was dissappointed that I only knew 3 people. I guess that's expected after 10 years. We went back to Riverside after church.

Here comes the excitement. The Price is Right films on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. We had heard that we should be at the studio before 5:30am. We planned for 5am. When we got there we were still far away when the tickets ran out. There were probably about 100-150 people in front of us. And there were 2 shows filmed that day, thus 2xs the tickets. We were standing by this couple who had come from Iowa. We decided to meet there at midnite so we could get in the next morning. There were people in line at 6pm when we got to the shopping center by the studio. We got in line about 8pm. We were by a family from Ohio and a brother and sister from Seattle and N. Carolina. Sarah and Jamie (our friends from the morning) came in around 10:30 or so. So there we sat by the side of the road waiting for a ticket to the Price is Right. Around 12am it started to rain. I think it stopped about 4:30 or 5am. During all this time there were people all around us prepared in different ways. There were 2 tents in line in front of us. The people in one of them had a BBQ. There were sleeping bags (Sam and I had some to keep us warm) and lawn chairs. There was a store across the street that rented chairs. It was funny. We had snacks and some people brought pizza. There were some girls just down from us who were asleep and their mom yelled because she saw a rat by them. It went into the hedge behind us. About 6am we got our order of arrival #s that would become our ticket #s that would finally let us in, some of us. I think about 125-150 of the people on the street got in. It was crazy. But Sam and I got in. And we got some new friends too. We got to yell and scream out prices. The best thing was that the lady who was at the front of the waiting line (she had been there since 2:30pm Monday and I think probably since Sunday evening before) won the showcase. If you want to see us on TV watch the March 29 show. Sam and I are wearing bright blue shirts, in the center section about 5 rows up. So when Bob says it is so easy to get on the show, don't believe him. It takes alot of conviction.

When we went back to Riverside we slept for about 12 hours straight. It was crazy. But before we left that night we went to see the Hollywood walk of Fame. I had no idea that it was so long. And we saw the Chinese theatre where the people sign their names and have hand and foot prints. We also went to the Kodak theatre. It is a major shopping mall. I had no idea.

We flew out at midnight and saw our children again the next afternoon. I was so excited to see them and so happy to be home. Journeys are fun, coming home afterward is better.