Honey I'm Home!

We finally got it! Yesterday we got the keys - after a little drama. We closed on Thursday, but the sellers didn't sign the papers on Friday - so we had to wait until Monday to get the keys. Eric did the obligatory carry the wife over the threshold thingee - and Cade snapped us some pics. Our realtor and his family (9 kids!!!!) came and helped us unload the 1st load. What a great family night! We were glad to have their help. Eric and I thought we'd be doing it ourselves. One more load of furntiture tonight and we should have everything over there. Now....for the cleaning and unpacking....I don't think I'll be on here for a few days (or weeks.)

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

The letter of the day for our home mom preschool today was ....you guessed it ....y. Because I have had the flu and because I am supposed to be super busy packing....of course all that I did was spend a couple of hours getting ready for preschool. I am a master of avoiding the things that I'm really supposed to be doing. Instead of procrastinating important things like um...packing to move....or ummm resting because I feel yucky....I just substitute other things that are kind of important, like how to entertain some 3-4 year old for a couple of hours.

Here was our "Y" Day.

We rode a Yellow Bus (i.e. kitchen chairs) to Yemen. (We looked at a world map to see where in the yell that was.)

We visited some Yaks that were hiding in a Yurt. (okay, we just made silly yak faces while hiding in the bunkbeds.)

We made Yoda Masks and then....

We had a Yelling Yoda contest.

and...a Yawning Yoda contest.

and...a Yodeling Yoda contest, finished with singing the Austrian that went Yodeling song


For a snack - Yogurt and Yoda Soda (green lemonade.)

All in all, not a terribly educational day, but it worked. Tomorrow is our yard sale. Yup - you guessed it. I got burnt out today, tomorrow will be a little less exciting...I might get gutsy and pull out some yo-yos though.

Books Books and More Books

I just bought another two book shelves. That makes a grand total of 9! Yikes. It is no wonder that when we bought our home I made sure it had room in an unfinished basement to add a library. While cleaning, it has been fun to go through all of our books. I have 4 bookcases, plus 3 baskets full of just kids books -(books for kids about 5 and under.) I think I'm in trouble....if I have that many for toddlers (and my kids really can't read yet....) what is going to happen when they actually start reading???? I suppose I may have to get rid of some of my books. But for now, I am heartily enjoying them.

There is a problem, though. problem is that I get soooooo bored reading kids books. The repetition just kills me. I hate reading anything twice. (I also ate watching a movie more than once, too. We never buy movies for us. They just sit there. Boring - seen it once, don't need to see it again.) So, instead of reading the same ones over and over I've just trained my kids that if they want mom to read to them they have to read new ones. I have developed a really bad habit of buying lots of books since having kids. It's so hard to pass them up when they are buy 3 get one free at Savers at only 59 cents a piece. In San Diego our libraries always had some on sale, and I would buy some new ones every week, with the rationalization that I was only supporting our local Friends of the Library Program. I just love books, and hate reading the same thing twice.....oh on top of owning all these books we go to the library weekly. Sometimes multiple libraries. I have a card in both Weber and Davis County. We check out basketfulls of books. Books are great. They are also hard to clean up :) Anyhow...here are a few pictures of us enjoying our new bookcases.

A few of my recent favorite books include (but certainly aren't limited to....)

1. David books by David Shannon. I fell in love with these when Cade was a toddler and no surprise, after having a David, he gets these for Christmas/Birthday/ etc. I think we only have one more to complete the set, oh...and then there are the David dolls. My favorite page is this one..."Come Back Here David!" We love all the David Shannon books, and the Pirate Books he illustarted, too (Pirates don't change Diapers and How I Became A Pirate - good books.)

2. Tana Hoban books - these are old school - but awesome. I love the pictures and how you can talk about them with a 1 year old and a 4 year old at the same time. They work for many levels and many concepts. Her books inspired me to try my own Tana Hobanesque book a few years back. It is the book at the top of the picture. I entitlted it "Of Shadows and Shapes." I'm not really a photographer but I had a ton of fun making the book and putting together pics of random shapes all around me. It made me look at the world totally different. I secretely wish I were a photogorapher actually. I wish I had that skill. I think it would be tons of fun. I just don't think I have the natural talent or patience to do it. Dash it all.

3. Yummy Yucky. David gets a kick out of me reading this and bluck bluck blucking and spitting. Yes.,....this is one of the few I HAVE to read over and over. I'm not totally immune from it.

4. This is My Hair. It makes me laugh. I love crazy silly kiddy board boooks.

5. George and Martha - this was actually the first present I gave to Eric. I had only known him a week or two, and this collection of stories of 2 best friends just seemed to fit. We sat down and read this together and laughed and laughed. My favorite story: The Tub. "George was fond of peeking in windows. One day he peeked in on Martha. (cut to picture of Martha dumping tub on George's hippo head.) He never did that again!"

6. Sandra Boynton Books with music - Dog Train and in particular Mooo Mooo MOooo Quack Quack is our favorite around here.

7. I asked Cade what his favorites were - he picked these 3. Nutmeg (about a little girl who has a spoon that stirs up her house), The Incredible Book Eating Boy (so funny, the little boy eats books and turns green and vomits etc....), and The Stinky Cheese Man.

8. Other classics we love - Joe on Holiday, The Happy Dresser, Dr. Seuss, Curious George, Helen Oxenbury, James Marshal fairy tales, What Color is Your Underwear, Dr. DeSoto, Star Wars anything of course, Richard Scarry - especially the funniest story book ever, books...I could keep writing for hours, but my head hurts and I need to lay back down. Stupid flu. I have a hard time resting....so this is as close to resting as I get. Blogging about books. Somewhat relaxing. Too bad I can't lay down and do it.

IF YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITE KIDS BOOKS PLEASE COMMENT AND TELL ME YOUR FAVS!!! I"M ALWAYS LOOKING FOR NEW SUGGESTIONS!!!! THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

Cleaning out the Cobwebs

So in preparation for moving soon - I am cleaning. I am a cleaning fool. I hate cleaning. I am bad at it. It stinks. Okay, moving on. It feels good AFTER it is done for sure. I think I hate it because I am a sentimental-sappy-sue. I get cleaning and it brings back all these memories which brings back all these emotions, which is why I have such a hard time throwing things away. I'm getting better at it though. It helps that my kids are really rough on toys and tear them to shreds. I have no attachments to most broken bits, and neither do they.

I keep getting flashbacks though to the last week before we moved from San Diego. Permit me to spill my guts if you will. I've never REALLY moved from there. I just haven't really moved on. I kind of got stuck there. I HATE change, and I'm really bad at adjusting to it. It has been a year and a half and I still haven't moved on. I think it is time, now though.

That was a CRAZY week. They had these horrible wild fires. Of course we had no air conditioning inside (who needs it in South CA? HA - everyone -cheap-o landlords.) The smoke was awful and the air quality was soooo bad. The fires were pretty darn close, so we had to keep all our windows closed. It was hazy and smoky, and yeah, you were supposed to stay inside. This really made me miffed. I had 2 pages in my journal of everything I HAD to see and do before I left just one last time. I only got about 10 of them in that week. Several of those....were against the advisements to be outside. I was very pregnant, too. I had David 3 weeks later. Pregnant, elderly, children were especially supposed to stay inside. Phooey on that. I had to see my ocean several more times, even if it was hard to breathe by it. As we loaded the truck - we realized we didn't get a big enough truck. We had to leave stuff behind. Pack rat Debby. I still miss my old broken park bench :( I take comfort the new owners have kept it on the porch though. It was kind of a dismal time.

Eric had a creepy experience that week, too. He was in the garage cleaning and boxing stuff when he heard someone screaming. He ran out to see what was going on. Some lady had been in the hot tub and wasn't breathing. The guy didn't know how to do CPR - so someone was running and knocking on everyone's door trying to find someone who did. Eric was the 2nd person there. He did chest compressions and cleaned out her mouth vomit. Yuck. He is still haunted by it a little bit. It turns out she had been drinking and she had been down in the water for quite some time. The paramedics didn't really even try. But, still yeah...CPR and knowing what you are doing are VERY important. Here's a link to buy a kit to teach your family. This is not a certification, but is better than knowing nothing. http://saturn.igetsmart.com/servlet/loaddaemon?Type=92&Load=ahacpr&Field1=62942&Field2=0&Field3=0&Field4=0&Field5=1

Or here is a link to the Red Cross to sign up for a class. http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/?vgnextoid=46de1a53f1c37110VgnVCM1000003481a10aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default There's my plug for CPR.

Anyhow....hopefully this move will go smoother. We are about a week away from closing. So far, the only thing wrong is that I failed to get a flu shot. Naturally, I end up with the flu - the real flu - as in diagnosed with a culture at the Docs - and a really bad sinus infection to boot. Oh well, I can handle that. It still is easier than my last move.

I am officially....moving on. Hopefully emotionally this time, too - not just physically. I really don't recommend moving somewhere and not being ALL there. It kind of makes for a rough year :) I think I just had the chance to live somewhere REALLY great. I think I will always miss it and a big part of my heart will always be in San Diego with all my great memories and with all the wonderful people I met there. It is somewhat easier, most of my friends from there have also moved on now too. Things change....and thankfully there is room enough in our lives to keep growing and embracing new people and new things. You just have to be willing. I think I am finally to that point. It took me long enough! Zukes!

On the last moving day with Leslie and her daughter Ava. October 2007.

Cade says good-bye to San Diego - and moving day spent at the beach while Eric did all the grunt work. The Big Truck - not too much fun to ride in for 16 hours when you are that pregnant. Okay, okay, I actually rode in the car. Still not fun.

Date Night and a Plug for The Village Green

On Saturday, Eric and I decided we had had enough. Enough cleaning and packing that is. We had been at it all day trying to get ready to move. We decided we would go out on a date. We rarely do this anymore (we should, though.) We called a baby sitter and an hour later we were off. This neighborhood has a TON of willing and able sitters. I wish we would have taken advantage of that fact more. Cade snapped a pic of us on our way out the door. He got a camera for his 4th birthday. I should post some of his work - it is not half bad. It's fun to actually get pics of Eric and I together. Cade takes a lot of them, too.

We went to a play at the Village Green in Clearfield called the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, abridged. It was hilarious! We laughed and laughed and laughed. It really covers all of his works in 90 minutes. In fact they do Hamlet 4 times. Slow, fast, faster, and backwards. I knew that I was in for a treat because I knew all 3 of the actors. I have worked with them in past shows at the VG. Eric thought they were hilarious, too. Mandie, Bryan, and Spot - you are all so great! If anyone lives nearby, they have another few shows this weekend T,F, and S at 7:30. It is well worth the 8 bucks.

I'm so glad that I found the Village Green. Cade's preschool teacher's brother partially manages it or something. In December they were frantically looking for a pianist for She Loves Me, a really fun musical. I was bored beyond belief and totally missed performing....so I said sure. I went into it thinking - okay, low budget, untalented, community musical. They surprised me by being good. (And super kids friendly!) Lots of couples with little kids were involved and totally supportive of taking care of the kids while sharing your talents. It ended up being pretty high caliber. Yeah, they don't have hardly any money yet...but they managed to garner some really quality people. Here's the link to their facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=70839805231&ref=share

In January, they asked me to play for a Pirates of Penzance Sing Along. So FUN! Yeah, I knew that I would be playing for this audience interactive show. What they didn't tell me was that I would end up singing a solo TWICE! Yikes. There are reasons why I became an instrumentalist. It was painful. They had signs that the audience members could hold up at the end of songs - signs like "Double Time this Song" (good thing I LOVE to play super fast,) or "Swap Gender," or the one that got me in trouble....."Swap Charachters." Who would've thought to make the pianist and the Cop switch? I survived and had an absolute blast making some fun new musical friends.

So...here is my plug for the local business The Village Green. It is by the drive through Baskin Robbins -YUM!!! in Clearfield in the same complex as Sparetime. They are just getting started, but I think they will have success. It's hard to say though...I have never seen so many community musicals and plays in one place before, though. Utah is full of them. Only in Utah do you see billboards - yes - billboards advertising High School Musicals like Showboat. (!!!!!) It cracks me up. Silly musical nerdy people we are! At any rate, it is a fun place and I'm glad I have finally found SOMETHING to keep me performing. It has been a switch going from playing every year at Copley Symphony Hall in San Diego, to a little theatre that doesn't even have a stage....but it is a great place. I totally LOVE the people I have met doing this, too. They are soo much fun and so genuine, and still terrifically talented. I think that in a few years they will really start to see more business boom. There is a lot of potential. We have another musical coming up this summer that I get to play for - HOORAY! I'll post some more when I get some more details about it. I just got asked on Sat. night, but can't even remember the name of the show. Should be fun, though!

A Little Green and a Big Bowl

So I used to not decorate anything...and I'm still pretty crummy at it. Cade gets SOOO excited though when we put up any kind of decorations. So, I've been doing just a little bit. I've really been letting Cade come up with ideas and then I kind of help, but not too much. So....if anything doesn't look perfect - it is because a 4 year old did it, right? (That's my excuse for not being crafty, anyways.) Cade helped me make the banner with the rainbow, and he made a hat for David's "Brobee" and we had a lot of fun.

"THE" Big bowl

I finally found a use for THE bowl - the bowl that kept me up a couple of nights - seriously. I put the bowl to use as the pot of gold under the rainbow. This bowl was the bowl I got from RC Willey. On President's Day they had a sale at RC Willey - and they handed out $25 gift cards to the 1st 200 people. I roped Eric into going with me and we each ended up with one. We had planned to put them together and get a new Wii game. Then - we read all the exclusions on the back of the card. Pretty much - you couldn't buy anything with the gift cards. No games, or computer stuff, or movies - just expensive stuff or the little knick knacks hanging around the store. We did find a hand blender perfect for making smoothies - which was perfect timing considering I lived off smoothies for a few weeks. We still had $25 left to spend, though. I perused the store for a good 2 hrs. I was trying to find the perfect object to decorate my house with - the perfect object priced at 26 - 30 dollars so I didn't have to pay much for it. In frustration I settled on the big brown bowl seen in the above picture. I came home and the dumb bowl kept me up for a few nights. It bugged me. I got this ugly bowl because it was different - but I didn't have a use for it. It bugged me because it reminded me how crappy I am at making decisions. I take forever to decide something, and then half the time what I pick wasn't the best choice....or was it? So this bowl made me wax stupidly philosophical. (I can't even spell that right for sure, I shouldn't have said it.) It made me lose a lot of sleep. But, I finally found a use for it and it worked out in the end. Things always do, right?

Puddin' Head Wilson

In high school I had to read the book Puddin'Head Wilson by Mark Twain. It seemed like an appropriate title for an entry of David with pudding on his head. We had a lot of pudding in the house - thanks to my gum surgery. Living a liquid/soft food diet was not a whole lot of fun. I got really sick of pudding. I ended up giving it to the kids in the end.

Here are some pics of my very own Puddin'Head - David Wilson. I love messy babies. Especially when Dad is home to clean them up!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Here's a pic from the Library Luck o' the Irish Party in Layton we went to on Saturday. It was a lot of fun. I guess they have free family activities every month - I'll have to go more. They had the usual cake walk and fish pond, and story time - but it was fun. I'll try to get some more pics up of our festive house, too. We have shamrock lights and we even made a rainbow - go us! Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!

Our First Home....finally!

Above: The view from our home

Below: A few pics of the new place

So....we are finally going to become 1st time homebuyers near the 9th of April. This has probably been the most difficult decision I've ever had to make. I feel truly blessed to have such a pretty 1st home. It's not really a 'starter' home, but we have been saving for many years now. It's been kind of hard because in my heart I really want to be living somewhere else. (Portland is my dream city currently.) I want to raise my family somewhere else and most importantly ---- I need some kind of sunshine! I think I got spoiled in San Diego. I had no idea I could be converted into a sun-dweller, or even that it mattered that much to me, but it does. I really want to be somewhere where I can be outside more often, and that is really much more walker friendly. I truly love to walk places, and Utah just isn't walker friendly. The weather stinks most of the time, and it just is designed to be suburbia heaven. I miss the city!!! I miss my piano students and music opportunities, but have faith something will open up for me here too. I think if we lived in downtown SLC, I'd be just fine...but we really don't want a 40 minute commute, or the more expensive housing. Anyhow, we decided that since the economy stinks, we are going to be in Utah for at least a few more years. There really isn't a better time to buy a home (thanks $8,000 tax credit, most likely another $6,000 tax credit in Utah on new homes - and low interest rates.) So, we are moving to Syracuse. Syracuse, Utah that is. (I wish it were New York....maybe one day...but what a dumb name for a town in Utah, though. Copycats.)


We got a great deal on a brand new home in Sawgrass Meadows by Liberty Homes that has been sitting on the market for some time - it was a custom build that fell through. We love it, and it's....well....an AWESOME consolation prize for having to live somewhere I really don't want to be. I can't complain. I'm very blessed. We don't have neighbors yet, or a yard, or blinds, or a fridge...but I'm excited to see it improve and can't wait to meet new people as they build, and hopefully get some piano students! So....here are a few pics of our home. The master bedroom is my favorite. It has a fireplace and a deck with french doors that walk out to some stellar mountain views. I LOVE the unfinished basement too. I can't wait to put all the toys down there and totally declutter the bedrooms of our boys. Our 1st offer got laughed at, but we let them sit for a while and think about their interest....and came back and got in....so here we go. Off to a new home and new adventure.

Private

I never seem to want to write in my blog anymore.....that is probably a lot of laziness, a little of craziness, and a touch of hysteria about security. So...I think that I am going to go private. I'm not sure how this works, but I've seen others do it and it seems to work well. I might actually be more motivated to write and then I'd put some pictures up of the kids, etc.... so if you want to follow my new private blog I think you need to send me an e-mail and then I send out an invitation. My current e-mail is debbydawn@gmail.com.

THANKS!

The Nonagon and The Potty

I LOVE They Might Be Giants. I truly do. They are funny and upbeat and only mildly annoying. Their kids music is great, too. We have on Here Come the ABC's and the 123's all the time. I guess my kids are picking up stuff from them. There is a song on the 123's about a party of shapes. It talks of a nonagon who attends the party. The other day I was having a bad day, and Cadet came up to me and gave me a very intricate card. He handed it to me mom and said, "Look - I made you a nonagon card to make you happy. It has 9 sides." Sure enough, he had cut it so that it had 9 sides. So...thanks be to They Might be Giants for schooling my 3 year old on nonagons. Sometimes....Cadet seems very old for a three year old....but then there are other times when he is VERY 3.

The day after he made me a nonagon card he had his 1st performance for his music preschool class he is attending. In the middle of the 1st song - Dona Nobis Pacem ( a pretty little Latin piece) - came a shriek from the front row: "MOMMY! I have to got POTTY NOW!! Hurry before the Piddle comes out all over! Mommy! I have to go Potty!" I had the great pleasure of escoring him to the potty. Accident averted. Concert interrupted. People laughing. The joys of a very adorable 3 year old!

Happy Halloween!

Here are a few pictures from you from our recent Halloween adventures. There is root beer from our preschool party, leaves from our trip to Liberty Park/Tracy Aviary and our pumpkins that have been at the Haunted Hangar here. Cadet's 1st place award winning pumpkin is Santa Pumpkin, complete with a Candy Corn Cape. Our family pumpkins are PETOP pumpkins (pumpkins for the ethical treatment of pumpkins.) Just in case you can't read it from the picture the canned pumpkin says: Here lies our precious pureed pumpkin pal. Bless his seeds. Enjoy!

Yesterday.

Cadet got stung by a bee. Tink landed his picture in the newspaper for the 2nd time in 3 days. Hubby got mashed pretzel on his suit. I scored a sore throat.

Energizer Baby

So last week, when I was in the bathroom Tink managed to swallow a watch size battery. He was playing with a light up flash toy that you put on your arm to make sure you are visible on a bike. We got it at a safety fair. Yeah, not a very safe thing to give your baby I guess. He managed to break it open. I noticed that there were two battery slots inside, with one battery missing. I looked everywhere. I wasn't sure at first if he swallowed it - but being a battery and all - I decided to take him in. Sure enough the x-ray revealed the battery. They called down to the ER at Primary Children's, but they said that since the battery had already passed through to the stomach he should be fine. I just got to dig through his diapers for a few days until it came out. Hubby actually found it over the weekend. All is well again. I felt like a very inattentive mom. But - I have to say that it has been 3 1/2 years and two kids before either of them ever swallowed anything harmful. That's not too bad of a record.

I've been inspired by this incident. Tink is going to be the Energizer Baby for Halloween now. I'm putting some bunny earson him , giving him a drum, and he'll wear a black shirt with the picture of the battery in his tummy. Not quite as fun as Cadet's first Halloween as a Sumo-wrestler, but it will work.

5, 242, 650 : 6

5, 242, 650. That is the number of steps I took this summer from June 4 - September 27th. I entered the Weber Pathways Step it up Competition. You just had to wear a pedometer, and the person who clocked in the most steps won a day pack with a witer syphon thingy and a whole bunch of other stuff. I ended up winning. Walking has been my solution to boredom this summer. I'm taking at least a week off from walking now!

6 - that is the number of steps that Tink has taken this summer! On Saturday he took his first steps. Now that's a REAL accomplishment. I can't wait for him to start walking. Neither can Cadet. Cadet wanted to call everyone and tell them that Tink was walking. Cadet also wants to start potty-training Tink. "He can use my little toilet." Cadet proclaims. Ahh - if only it were that easy! I think he has a few more years before he gets the hang of that. Cadet thinks he can do it tomorrow. We'll just wait and see who wins this debate.

Disturbing. Wrong. Gross.

I read a terribly disturbing news story. Here it is:

September 23, 2008
Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, CofoundersBen & Jerry's Homemade Inc.
Dear Mr. Cohen and Mr. Greenfield,
On behalf of PETA and our more than 2 million members and supporters, I'd like to bring your attention to an innovative new idea from Switzerland that would bring a unique twist to Ben and Jerry's. Storchen restaurant is set to unveil a menu that includes soups, stews, and sauces made with at least 75 percent breast milk procured from human donors who are paid in exchange for their milk. If Ben and Jerry's replaced the cow's milk in its ice cream with breast milk, your customers--and cows--would reap the benefits.
Using cow's milk for your ice cream is a hazard to your customer's health. Dairy products have been linked to juvenile diabetes, allergies, constipation, obesity, and prostate and ovarian cancer. The late Dr. Benjamin Spock, America's leading authority on child care, spoke out against feeding cow's milk to children, saying it may play a role in anemia, allergies, and juvenile diabetes and in the long term, will set kids up for obesity and heart disease--America's number one cause of death.
Animals will also benefit from the switch to breast milk. Like all mammals, cows only produce milk during and after pregnancy, so to be able to constantly milk them, cows are forcefully impregnated every nine months. After several years of living in filthy conditions and being forced to produce 10 times more milk than they would naturally, their exhausted bodies are turned into hamburgers or ground up for soup.
And of course, the veal industry could not survive without the dairy industry. Because male calves can't produce milk, dairy farmers take them from their mothers immediately after birth and sell them to veal farms, where they endure 14 to17 weeks of torment chained inside a crate so small that they can't even turn around.
The breast is best! Won't you give cows and their babies a break and our health a boost by switching from cow's milk to breast milk in Ben and Jerry's ice cream? Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Tracy Reiman

This just really bugs me. I had to vent. I think maybe it is because I nursed both of my boys. I think it just bugs me. Worried about the cows? What about the women? Have they ever used a pump? Anyone who has ever used a pump will probably agree - it is just not fun. It is just wrong to suggest using women's milk for ice cream. Not just wrong - it's gross. Peta. You really disturb me.

I've been tagged.

Jenna has tagged me on a High School Tag. I have to agree with Jenna - I liked college a lot better....and Jenna this post should make you feel a lot better. You were WAY cooler than me :)



.1 Did you date someone from your school? Date? What was a date?


2 What kind of car did you drive? um....I did get to drive a Pontiac Grand Am once or twice about a month before school got out. The first time I drove it - I got hit. Not my fault really. I was rear-ended. Really.

3 Did you pass your driver's license test on the first try? Okay...here we go. No. I didn't. Well, let me preface by saying I got 100 percent on the written part on the first try. Now - the driving part. That was another story. I didn't pass on the first try, or the second...I think it may have been the third. I've kind of blocked that whole misery out. Let's just say driving was not my forte. My seminary teacher had pity on me (Good old Brother Pyper was a private driving instructor on the side). He gave me some private driving lessons - and yes, I finally did get my liscence. Albeit - rather late. I think there was something in the yearbook that was Top 10 Signs you shouldn't be out on the road - go me - my name was Number 6. I'm happy to report though, that I can drive California freeways with no problem. LA traffic even...and I've never had a ticket, or been in a wreck that was my fault, or hit another moving object (not moving...well....let's not go there...I did hit a cement wall my first week of college and dented my car.)

4 Were you a party animal? Not a chance. I was voted most likely to live with my parents until I die! Go me! That's how much of a party animal I was.

5 Were you considered a flirt? Only the biggest ever. Okay, no.

6 Were you in a band, orchestra or choir? I was in choir and musical theatre, and would have loved to have been in an orchestra but our district didn't believe in stringed instruments.

7 Were you a nerd? Yes - and I still am. Once a nerd always a nerd.


8 Were you on any varsity teams? What are varsity teams? (Kidding.)

9 Did you get suspended or expelled? No - but that might have been fun.

10 Can you still sing the fight song? Yes, unfortunately. Music sticks to me like glue. Especially annoying songs.


11 Who were your favorite teachers? I think that I must be negative - because it was much easier for me to think of all the teachers that I didn't like. I did like Miss Nelson - she was the only teacher who made me feel like I could actually do math. I liked Ann Ward - even though she only taught I think one semester for the complete joke of a class "Advanced Research" - she was my elementary LEAD teacher, and I have always just adored her. Mr. Anderson.


12 Where did you sit during lunch? On a chair. I remember going to some bagel store with Jenna, Ashley, and Tigger or staying in the cafeteria with Kami and Jennifer.


13 What's your school's full name? Hillcrest High School

14 What was your mascot and colors? Knight. Red Black and White.

15 Did you go to homecoming? Which dance was that? I may have. I did go to a few. I just didn't enjoy them much.


16 If you could go back and do it all again, would you? No way. Been there done that. Don't want to do it again.


17 What do you remember most about graduation? Not much.


18 Where did you go on your Senior Skip Day? Which one?

19 Were you in any clubs? HOSA, Italian Club, Key Club...maybe something else - I don't remember.


20 Have you gained some weight since then? Yes, I did gain quite a bit in college. I got the classic "piano bench butt" (your bottom expands to fit the bench because you are sitting on it so much) - , but then I lost it. I'm thinner now.

21 Who was your prom date? It that is the one at the end of the year - I think it was John Welch. A friend who was going to Ricks College.

22 Are you planning to go to your 10 year reunion? I missed it. I was out of town. Really I was. My hubby had a business trip and I went with.

23 Did you have a job while in high school? Yup - I taught piano. Funny, I'm still doing the same thing. Some things don't change that much.