Rules:
Each player answers the question themselves.At the end of the post the player then tages 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person that tagged you know when you've answered the questions on your blog.

THE FIVE

10 years ago I:
1. was 18
2. Had moved from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to St. George, UT
3. Going through total shock at being broke and away from everything I knew
4. Working at Down East Outfitters
5. Gaining a richer testimony while living with my awesome cousins

5 things on today's "to do" list:
1.Dr.s appt.,
2.call Angela Back,
3.Call Courtney Kimbal back,
4.make lunch & take care of Ben,
clean house,& call Rachel and see if she needs help

5 snacks I enjoy:
1. Almost anyting mediterranian
2. Maui onion and garlic roasted almonds
3. HOT Krispie Kreme Donuts
4. Bell Peppers
5. a HUGE glass of ice water

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire:
1. Buy a home and start an awesome garden
2. Buy a sweet car
3. Invest in either something smart or something crazy like my MANY inventions
4. Get guitar lessons, piano lessons and make an album
5. Obviously I'd pay tithing but I would also buy a part timeshare in some horses (does that even exist?)

5 places I have lived:
1. Great Falls,MT
2. Coeur d'Alene, ID
3. St. George, UT
4. Phoenix, AZ
5. Post Falls, ID

I tag... Rachel, Natalie, Megan, Christina, Matt&Heather, Dave&Lindsay

Can you tell how much baby Ben enjoyed his first haircut? We took him to this place for kids because with this mound of thick hair, even the best at home haircut looks pretty bad. So Grammy treated him to a cut that we thought he might enjoy. There were a ton of toys, we got to pick out his favorite movie and he was riding a zebra! But in the end, he was put in a gentle headlock by the stylist and he went ape the rest of the time...seriously, these pictures aren't even the worst! Those pics are just blurrs of tiny fists and frowns. So I think we'll be going back to the Flo-Bee.

If anyone can tell me how to post a video from my camcorder-I need. I have a video of Jonny stealing the little neighbor's kids bike at Christmas and riding it down the street as the kid screamed behind him. It's truly precious!

In my defense...she WAS younger than me!

Courtney looks innocent enough but there's no way I was responsible for that...gut.

Now and then, then and now. From "ladies who lunch" to...well...this. From ages 1, 5 and 9 to now at 20, 20, and 20.

So I went to my 10th reunion the other night and I actually had an awesome time! It was great catching up with old friends and shakin' it to the horrible tunes of "DJ Juicy", I assume that's his name because his belt flashed it across a digital screen. I wanted to push him off the stage and take over. It was so funny reminiscing about stupid stuff we did in high school including the science baby Miles and I created that had every disease possible, a silky uni-brow, acne, bad teeth, and sweet crew cut. His name was Falcon Talon something and he was ours, made out of love...I don't remember what grade we got but Mrs. Gomes hung his pic on the wall above the white board for all to enjoy so that says something. We were there until almost 2 a.m. which suprised me because on the way there, Richard and I were trying to come up with a code word to escape the party in case we needed it. I was sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to everyone there but DJ Juicey was blaring "Cotton-eyed Joe" too loud. (Ya that's right, freakin' COTTON-EYED JOE...I was so close to asking someone to put me in a choke hold until I passed out just so I could miss the song! But I danced to it anyway.) Long story short, it was great and I'm glad I went.

I wasn't even done loading pictures but this laptop is so problematic that I put in what I could, which takes many attempts because the computer kicks me off every time, and decided to write another day. So here goes...In June we went to Car d'lane and gawked at the many amazing cars like the original woody wagon, which has always been my dream car, and the "band wagon" car. I have no idea if that's the name but that's what I called it. And I thought, "It's a band wagon...should I get on it?" I think all it took was something like a dog wearing a scarf to distract me again, but we saw it and kept moving, which was hard being that the immature dweeb in me wanted to violently jump on and start banging and smashing around in all the instruments like a trunk monkey. You know, like those Jack Russells you see that are always shaking because they just want to run wild but they've been trained not to? Ya, we're like kindred spirits. I also tried wearing Bennett on my back until I humbly had to admit that in the first five steps I had taken, I almost fell over three times. Richard laughed at me and gave me this,"oh you sweet, naive little weakling", and threw him on his own back. We also have been enjoying playtime in the back yard and our trip to Manito park in Spokane. I swore to Bennett that we'd go when it wasn't just the two of us with him on a leash but that's the only way I could keep up with him. It's really beautiful, these pics don't do it justice. Then for the 4th of July we headed to Bigfork and enjoyed some time with Grandpa, Mimi and the family. My friend Megan and her two kids, Joel and Ella also joined us so it was really fun. Richard had the flu more than half of the time so he missed out on a lot. It was so sad. We've been doing well and Bennett is talking more and more everyday and flirting with all the ladies he can. He can count to ten and hasn't been charged with grand theft auto yet which is both suprising and great because he manages to steal one or two cars from EVERY house we visit. I seriously should start documenting it and taking pictures! We hope you all are well and are enjoying your summer! PEACE!!!

So, as some of you may know, Richard has recently become OBSESSED with "Hannah Montana". And just after he turned 30, he began talking about a "new hairstyle", to which I responded,"go for it babe, whatever will make you happy" and I then buried my face back in the sports section of the newspaper. Well there we were a few months later and as he watched his new DVR'd episode of "Hannah", he began talking about,"how cool that Billy Ray Cyrus is". So I put down my issue of "The Smithsonian" and said,"are you kidding me?" Once I realized I had hurt his feelings, I rephrased my comment and agreed that Billy Ray was pretty spectacular...I didn't realize I was getting on board with Richard's new and "jiggy" hairstyle. But here we are, Richard in all his glory rising every morning to wash, condition, flat-iron and set his new tresses before putting on his mechanics uniform to head off to work. Hair extensions=$300.00, salon grade styling products=$112.36, your husband's happiness=priceless.

Hey all you pervs out in blogger land. So I did it. I went blond. I decided to find out if blonds really do have more fun, and you know what? They don't. I didn't find anything more exciting than usual. Reading-same, doing dishes-same, cleaning the brown film out of the toilet-SAME!!! I was so looking forward to having a little extra oomph added to all of my daily goings on but honestly, it just left me with a dry scalp and the urge to put on a red "Baywatch" swim suit. "Myth...busted." Good thing I'm kidding since Grandpa would strike me with lightning if I actually changed my hair. Lesson learned "in the year two thousaaaannnnnd!" at the family reunion. But really, you can go to Instyle.com and change your hair for fun. I have pics of me with every hair color possible. Just a heads up if you have desire for change minus the huevos.

You know you want it. Here it is ladies, girl porn. Dirty guys like to look at smut, but for us...oh no...it's allllll about the manual labor. The vacuuming, the dishes, the yard work and can I say this?...Cleaning up after THEMSELVES!!!...Ohhhhhh yaaaaaaa...

Is it bad that this picture makes me smile? Okay it's a little beyond smiling. It makes me feel ALIVE! I almost break out in nose flaring, eyes watering, stomach aching laughter every time I see it. Maybe it's because Cinnamon actually half chewed out my eye with the kind of rage you see there on her face. I saw all like, 5 years flash before my eyes when she came at me that day. Was she justified? Sure. Did she smell? Absolutely! But no, that's not the reason it makes me so happy. It just is what it is. Matt gettin' all up in a rabid dog's face as she finally, FINALLY loses it after probably only about 2 seconds of adorable kid play time. Matt, the squirrely kid who by the look on his face, enjoyed a little too much bringing out this emotion in a dog, and Cinnamon, the devil in the smelly fur coat who lived next door. Yin and Yang coming together for a rare beautiful moment. Perfection. Now I only wish I could pan to the left and see the look on Dad's face. His hairy elbow is like the "Where's Waldo" in that picture. Maybe it's that awesome, scratchy, plaid couch that helps it? It's like camo for the hairy man. Anyway, I digest. Long story short, those were the days...

So basically this is how it went, I was changing a dirty diaper of his, once again, and I says to myself, I says, "Why the heck am I doing all the work around here?" So I takes off his footy pajamas and I says,"son from now on, you need to earn yo keep! I want you to mow that lawn so well that I can see my face in it!" And you know what? You know what? He did. And after I actually saw the part that had my face in it, I had to throw it back over the neighbors fence. It's their dog! Seriously, anyone ever hear of a "pooper scooper" ? Sheesh!

So we spent Easter weekend in Big Fork with Grandpa and Mimi and had, as always, an amazing time. We went to church, had fondue, played "Apples to Apples", and enjoyed the family time together that we don't get enough of. The Easter Mimi also visited and dropped off the coolest basket ever! Then we spent some time playing on the bottom of the lake where the water usually is in the summer and enjoyed the best views around! Bennett loved playing on the wet sand with Tanner and realized a little to late that the moisture and cold weather makes a baby's hands hurt when you play too hard. That's the pic where we're all hunching down with a painful look on our faces. So I helped Daddy zip Ben up inside his coat with him where he was happy and warm. Now we're just getting excited for the 4th of July parade so we can all dress up like freaks and shout weird phrases at the strangers on the street as we throw hard candy at their faces! YAYYYYY!!! We love going to Grandpa and Mimi's!

Our trip to Utah was really fun. We were there for Christina and Josh's wedding and they are so cute together by the way! Ben put up with the festivities and met some new cousins, aunts and uncles and got into just enough trouble to satisfy himself! It was beautiful and I almost forgot how bright the temple is when the sun is shining! I think I burned my corneas...seriously.

He hasn't truly gotten a chance to play outside-ever! He was born in the winter and too little to really play outside when it was nice enough that I had him outside so he ran wild! It was so sweet.

Oh how time flies when you finally get your first car. It feels like only yesterday he was so young that he still used his pants as a toilet, and now he's driving. We got an amazing deal on the car. The company that manufactures it is call Mimi & My Toybox Inc. It's fully loaded (when he's actually in it and his diaper is at it's capacity). It's an automatic with a voice prompt system (much like On star), and as you can see, it's a convertible. So we'll have to see how it goes. He's not very fast in it but he definately has road rage that appears to be a new problem. He knows if he breaks the rules, we'll cut the string and keep the key. Wish us luck!

This pic is a little old, but I just saw it again and I had to add it. This was a great day. Matt and I having a brotherly, sisterly moment. Look how happy we are. There in front of the colorful windows with the old wooden cowboy looking on with approval. It looks like Matt has the meal worm and I have the cricket. They were delicious. Crispy, the good kind. We tried both and I think I remember liking the cricket better than the maggot-looking meal worm, although it had it's own zing! MMmmmm...

This pic is truly my days in a nut shell. "The Bennett" as Uncle Frank calls him, finds joy in the simple things. You know, ripping things, throwing things, opening, slamming, squishing, breaking, slapping, and I could go on, but I digest. He has a real talent for destruction. Which means, my back always hurts because of the time spent bending over to do damage control. And the weirdest part is, I love it. Even when he's throwing a tantrum while I'm changing a dirty diaper. And though that's a recipe for disaster, I don't care. I waited so long for this little destructo! I completely understand when people say it's like having your heart walking around outside your body. And it's the best feeling. :)