An answer to your questions....

After posting the "Fiesta Navidena" video, some of you have asked why I am in the Spanish Branch. Well, since the holidays are over and my kids are in the kitchen playing with "goo", I actually have the time to post the answer.

3 1/2 years ago we moved to Louisville for Shane to attend Law School. Before moving here we found out that Louisville had a Spanish Branch. I was worried that Shane would lose his Spanish during law school if he wasn't forced to practice it. Prior to moving to Louisville he had plenty of practice at school (he did a double major which included spanish) and he also was a translator in the Jail system. So, when we moved to Louisville we were trying to think of ways that we could get into the Spanish Branch. We moved into the boundaries of the building where the Spanish Branch met to increase our chances of getting in. Then, after attending the English ward for a couple of months I asked one of the counselors how we could possibly attend the Spanish Branch. Well, the rest was history. The executive secretary from the Spanish branch was sitting right by us when I made that comment and he immediately told the branch president that we were interested and wanted to go. A week later we received a call from the Stake President asking us to meet him. He extended us a calling as Service Missionaries in the branch for 18 months. Well, 18 months came and went and we gladly extended our service mission many times. Finally after almost 3 years we were released from the Spanish Branch 2 weeks ago. It was sooooooooo amazingly sad but we were ready to go. It was a LOT of work.


The main reason why they needed service missionaries in the branch was because most members were brand new. We had baptisms almost every sunday. So you have TONS of new members, and none that are capable or ready for large scale callings. Even small callings were very intimidating for these people. So we were there to teach and train members how to hold callings and then also hold callings that the members simply couldn't have yet.

Now some of you might be thinking that I speak Spanish having spent so much time in the Spanish branch. You would be sooooooo wrong. I didn't speak a word of it before going in and I really haven't progressed much beyond that. For the first 2 years I was the Young Women's president and all of the youth programs are done in English. They do this because they combine all of those programs with an English ward so there are more youth to interact with. Plus, 99% of the time the kids can speak English. Also, many of the members really wanted somebody to practice their english with. They all said they felt comfortable with me practicing their English and I felt strongly about helping them. The not speaking Spanish part really wasn't a problem until I was released from YW's. Once I had to start attending Relief Society and stuff that kinda got old not understanding what was going on. But once again, almost everybody there either speaks english or is trying to learn, so I always had plenty of interpreters.

So there you go, that's my story.

A Christmas Carrols DEAD

Dax Flame is my Hero... if only one day I could get him and Dwight Shrute to meet. My life would then be complete. Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Fiesta Navidena

Spanish Branch Christmas Party -- Not like your regular Mormon Christmas Parties!

I'm alive, well.... maybe.....

So I got a sweet message from Amber making sure I was okay since I haven't posted anything in a while. Well, the past few weeks have been a whirlwind. I'm planning the branch Christmas party and I've been trying to get all of the decorations and such together. I have also been putting together the branch choirs and the actual Christmas program for the Sunday service. In between there has been music classes/piano lessons I'm teaching along with volunteering at Kelly's school, shopping for Christmas gifts at Unique Thrift (best thrift store in town) AND getting sick in the middle of it all. I had some weird virus that gives you flu-like symptoms for just a few days. Weird. So here's a few of the things that I find note-worthy:

1. I have found THE best gifts for the kids at a thrift store here in Louisville. I'm just ecstatic. Perfect condition, super cheap, and it's totally what the girls wanted! Kelly is super into diaries/journals and scribbles in them constantly. She always reminds us that they are private, but of course little sister finds her way to them to look at them. WELL, while I was at Unique Thrift, I found one of those "password" diaries where you have to say the password before it will unlock for you. Okay, this is a BRAND NEW item that normally costs $40. It also has a little movable lamp inside of it and a secret compartment as well. SO COOL. I got it for $1.30. I'm so stoked and I know Kelly will be too. Isabelle loves stuffed animals and big Barbie cars and I found both. I also got a couple of other really cool gifts there all-in-all totaling $21. Not too bad for a LOT of presents in really really really good condition or brand new.

2. After 2 1/2 months I finally finished the gift I made for my mother-in-law. I was soooo excited to give it to her and she absolutely loved it! (We exchanged Christmas gifts at Thanksgiving). She's way into bird watching and has been wanting me to crochet her something for a long time.


3. I'm in the process right now of making decorations for the branch Christmas party this friday. I'm trying to cut costs on decorations since the majority of our budget goes towards food. Once again I got some amazing deals at Unique Thrift. I showed up one day just trying to get some cheap ornaments and garland and such and they announced that all of their Christmas trees were 1/2 off that day only. Oh My Gosh...... I got one 4 1/2 foot tree for $2.50 and another 4 1/2 ft pre-lit tree for $8.50. Awesome!!! Then, we got another free tree from Shane's office. Now I'm making a bunch of paper snowflakes using Martha Stewart's instructions and those pom-poms that Candace showed us.



4. And last, but certainly not least, today is my mother's birthday. She's 49 years old. Okay, she's not 49 years old, but that's what I've been telling everyone for the past 5 years because I kept forgeting to actually ask how old she was. Turns out she's 54! She looks dang good for 54! (You know you do mom!) Anyway, I thought I would list just a few things that I love about my mom:

• All of my friends loved my mom growing up. She was like the cool mom that all of the kids wanted.
  
• She was literally the only person that could handle 5 super smart-mouthed kids that loved to push her buttons just to see if she would ever crack (she never did).
• She always made me feel beautiful and loved, and what more could a kid ask for?
• She's a dedicated wife and mother and a great role-model for me

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!!

I've been tagged by Heather

Here are the rules:
1. The player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves - try to find 6 you haven't already posted about.
2. At the end of the post, the player tags 6 people and posts their names, and then goes to their blog and leaves them a comment, letting them know they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog for the rules.

1. When I was younger I was convinced I could speak "cat." To this day I am still taunted by my brothers for that belief. ( I was really convinced that I could)
2. I twirled a flag for my school's marching band for three years. Marching bands out here are very competitive and very demanding. It was way cool and much harder than you think.
3. When I was in 7th grade I was on the academic team. That was also the same year I thought it was genetically impossible for boys to grow bangs. yeah. True story.
4. I have had a calling in music since I was 12 years old except for 6 months while living in Idaho. Usually it's been playing the piano for sacrament meeting or choir and once I lead the music. When I was 12, my oldest brother left for his mission leaving no one in my branch to play the music for sacrament meetings. My branch president gave me the calling to take over even though I couldn't even play the "easy to play" hymns. But, of course, with the blessings of a calling and a LOT of practice, I got better and better. Now, here I am still doing music callings all these years later.
5. With both of my pregnancies I knew exactly when I got pregnant (even before the test could prove it) and that I was having girls before I had an ultrasound. Now that's pretty cool!
6. For as long as I can remember I have always wanted a little boy named George. I think it's a lovely, funny country name and I really really really wanted a little George. Well, when Shane and I were dating, I expressed this to him and he said "okay" as long as we could name the 1st boy after him. I was okay with waiting for a second boy when we were still thinking we were going to have 5 kids. WELL.... 2 crazy kids and 1 certifiably crazy mom later and I'm not getting my George. Once in a while I still throw a fit.

Okay, I tag: Laci, Amber, Jessica, Jackie, and Emily

Have Fun!

Too good not to post

So my little brother called one day asking if he could come over and take pictures of us doing "normal" things with a ski mask on. Being the wonderful sister that I am, I agreed right away. I actually think the family portrait is pretty nice! Definitely going up on the wall.

Late night visit to the E.R.

Poor little Isabelle had to make a trip to the emergency room late Saturday night. She was being silly and "stole" Kelly's seat during dinner when Kelly got up. Kelly wasn't too happy about this and started pushing Isabelle off of her chair. Isabelle was trying to stand up as Kelly pushed and next thing you know Shane and I hear a loud "THUNK" (we were in another room when it happened). Poor little Isabelle let out a loud scream and sat up with blood running down the back of her head. Shane and I of course freaked out and Shane took her to the hospital. She had to get three stitches, the poor little thing. Fortunatly the hospital was great and gave her a little elephant to keep her occupied and happy. She had a little syringe with water to "wash" her elephant and they gave her plenty of gauze to wrap it up as well. The doctor said she was really brave and she didn't scream once while getting the stitches. We still have to keep an eye on her and wake her up at night to make sure there's no hidden head trauma (that should be fun). We also have to wash the wound several times a day to make sure she doesn't get an infection. I'm just glad my little girl is okay!

Baby Blanket

Some friends of ours from church are having another baby and I thought I'd make a blanket for them. This blanket was actually started 2 years ago for someone else and I just never got around to finishing it. So, when I found out they were having a baby, I pulled it out and finished it up just in time. I forgot how fun it is to see a finished project... it's been a while. :-)

It's a small blanket, it's designed to be used for a car seat. The middle is done entirely in knit and then the edging is done in crochet. I don't think I've ever mentioned this before, but I am a lover of more classic crafts. I'm not really into scrap booking or other newer "crafty" things. I would much rather master crafts done years ago. Sometimes I feel like such an old woman for being 26!

My baby is 6 years old!

My baby girl turned 6 on sunday and it's been a very strange thing to look back at how much she has changed.

When she was a baby the poor girl cried and cried and cried (or maybe I should say "screamed"). And now she's this quiet little well-mannered little girl with so much love in her heart. I thought I'd take a page from Keri and make a list of 6 things you may not know about Kelly:


1. She's the best big sister in the world -- From day one she has tried very hard to be so nice to her little sister. Rarely do they fight and Kelly is quick to forgive her when they do. Isabelle is a lucky girl.

2. She's an artist through and through. She could do artwork all day long if you let her. She's also very emotional about her artwork. Take for instance the picture of the pumpkins. After she finished painting them, she set them outside for the whole world to see. The next day we found the small mouse one with its face chewed off by ravenous squirrels. She cried and cried for 2 days.

3. She's an insomniac just like her mommy and can't take naps just like her daddy.

4. She loves church -- She loves anything that has to do with the gospel. She always wants to listen to her scripture scouts CD's (they tell scripture stories) and listen to children's hymns. She looks forward to Primary every sunday and gets very upset if she's sick and has to miss.

5. She's working really hard to overcome her fear of food. Ever since Kelly was a baby she has had a fear of food. We are not sure where it comes from, but it's been like that her whole life. These past several months she has told me she really wants to change and eat new foods, and so she's trying very very hard to overcome. She's so mature for her age.

6. Her smile melts my heart every time.

Happy Birthday Kelly!

Bardstown Bound

There's this really neat event every year here in Louisville called "Bardstown Bound." It takes place along a short stretch of Bardstown Road (duh). During the event from 5pm 'til about 10pm all of the small businesses stay open and pass out candy to the kids. Some also have cider, cookies, and even food! It's really neat because it gives you a chance to see all of the artsy fartsy stores that normally you would never feel comfortable taking your kids into. The girls had a lot of fun seeing all of the women's clothing boutique's -- or as the girls called them, "beauty shops." The local arts and crafts stores were just amazing and really made us excited to someday be able to shop at one of those stores! lol! For a city of over a million people, it was a really nice small community gathering.

Pumpkin Carving!

Those are some pretty cute girls we have!

This is why my burners look so nasty. (okay, and a little bit of laziness too)

When you're cooking at almost 9 o'clock at night because you had nasty pancakes with your kids earlier for dinner and you're using all three good burners you have at the SAME time, they're bound to look as bad as mine. When you're finished that late at night, the LAST thing you think about is "hmmm... I should really remove those burners and scrub the drip pans so they'll sparkle!" However, when Shane saw the last posting, he was thoroughly disgusted. It does go to show you how little time he spends in the kitchen when the only time he notices is when he's reading our BLOG instead of actually noticing the real thing. Why am I posting this you ask? Well, I thought it was cool that I used a wok.
mmmm... pomegranate & lemon.....

Am I really this cheap???

So my friend Keri challenged us to find something hiding in our kitchens that really should have been thrown away and replaced a long time ago. Unfortunately mine isn't so hidden. As you can see from the picture the burners on my stove are about as nasty as they can get. The one that is on top in the picture hasn't been used in over 2 years. Our oven cooks REALLY hot and makes the top of the stove very hot to the touch. So you have to be very careful about what you set on top of it. Well, one weekend my sister-in-law Tracy came to stay with us and she wanted to cook us dinner (which by the way was AWESOME). Anyway, I completely forgot to tell her about this. As she was pre-heating the oven, she set a package of tortillas on top of the burner. We don't have a lot of counter space, so it was a totally logical thing to do. However, the plastic from the packaging melted onto the burner ruining it for good. Now, it's not hard or expensive to replace these burners. However, I am so stinkin' cheap I refuse to pay for a new one when I have three other good ones. Remember, this happened 2 years ago!!!! Also, did you see those drip pans? I mean, when you see it every day I guess you just get used to it. But now that I see the picture, I'm slightly disturbed that I have gone this long without cleaning them. So right now I'm going to come up with an excuse that is going to make me feel better about not cleaning them. I cook too much. I just love my family so much that I want to cook them good home cooked meals all the time and therefore I just don't have the time to clean them. Yep, that's my excuse.

Swearing in Ceremony

Today was the big day! Shane and my brother Louis were both sworn in to practice law in the state of Kentucky. Originally we thought we were going to have to wait until Oct. 25th for the swearing in ceremony. That is when they are doing the general swearing in for every person that passed the bar in Kentucky. Lucky for us, my dad is a State Senator and asked Chief Justice Lambart to do the swearing in today -- Love ya dad! The ceremony was AWESOME! It was really quick but sooooooo cool. Shane just couldn't stop smiling knowing that he had finally accomplished his goal of becoming a lawyer. I am one lucky girl! It was also really neat seeing my husband and my brother get sworn in at the same time. Life just couldn't be better!!!


This picture just cracks me up!!!

Here is a video of the actual swearing in. It's kinda hard to hear, so you might have to turn up your volume.

He did it!!!!

It's official! On Friday Shane found out that he passed the bar!!!! We probably danced around for about 2 hours after we heard the news. It's been a LONG wait and we're soooooo excited to have it done! That night we got a babysitter and we went out to eat at an indian restaurant with some friends of ours to celebrate.

On Monday Shane and my brother (who also passed the bar) are going to Frankfort to be sworn in and officially become licensed to practice in the state of Kentucky. He's going to continue to work in the office he is at already. Instead of being a law clerk, he will be a lawyer! Woo hoo! He's working as an immigration attorney and really loves the field. I'll make sure to take some good pictures of the swearing in ceremony and post them on here. Love you all and thanks for all the congrats so far!

Peanut Work

When Kelly was a baby we attended a small branch in Georgetown, KY. There was a family in this branch that had 5 girls -- YIKES! Their kids were amazing... very well behaved and very personable. We commented all the time about how good they were. The parents, however, told us something that has stuck with us ever since. They said all girls, no matter how cute and sweet, go through the "brat" phase. After raising two little girls of our own, we have come to realize they were pretty much on target. Our girls are notorious for throwing major fits and tantrums any time we go somewhere. They are the sweetest angels at home, but as soon as we get into a public place they turn nasty. We've really been getting fed up that every time we try and do something as a family, the kids end up screaming and crying the whole time. SO, we tried just about everything we could think of. We tried spanking -- that didn't work because their immediate response is "but God said our bodies are temples and that we shouldn't hurt our bodies!" Yeah.... so that's out. We have always tried teaching them how to properly express their anger or frustration, but I don't think they cared to learn. We also tried taking away their "special" things -- Kelly has a teddy bear that she's in love with and Isabelle won't go anywhere without her princess pillow. All that seemed to do was create a bigger "freak-out" and the girls never seemed to get the message. (We tried this tactic for about 6 months and we got zero progress) We also tried taking away privileges, but gosh darn it they never cared. So one night out of complete desperation Shane and I sat down trying our hardest to think of what to do. That's when it hit me! I remembered reading somewhere that there was this one family that made their kids shell walnuts every time they got into trouble. So, we decided to make the kids shell peanuts during their precious "free time" if they acted out inappropriately. Wow.... I just want to say "wow." I can't believe how well it has worked. It will stop a tantrum in its tracks. After school Kelly only has an hour and a half of free time before she has to start doing chores and homework, so she really loves her free time. Shelling the peanuts and then cleaning up afterward takes about an hour, so she REALLY doesn't want to have to do it. It's great because it's not so bad that you feel like you're torturing them, but it still makes a big enough impact on them to keep them from wanting to do it again.


Click here to see a video of the girls "working"

Close encounters of the Isabelle kind

Did you ever see that 70's movie with Richard Dryfus called "Close encounters of the third kind"? Today Isabelle was working hard on a craft. I told her to stop using so many foam shapes and I started to put some back when she said "Mommy, I need to make this... it's a mountain!" She was so adamant about making the mountain it reminded me of the part in the movie when Richard Dryfus' character was obsessed with making the mountain out of clay and mashed potatoes. And what's even funnier is when he gets all frustrated when he can't get it right and kinda messes it up.... well, just like the movie, so did Isabelle:

I'm telling you, if I hear any weird musical notes outside my window tonight, I will just assume some aliens took Isabelle. This is just freaky...

Hummus

Have any of you ever had the Tuscan hummus at the California Pizza kitchen???? It is seriously the BEST hummus I have ever had (although, admittedly, I haven't really tried too many different kinds of hummus). Well, I decided that I just HAD to have some one night and I came up with this recipe that's pretty similar:

Ingredients:

• 1 tbl minced garlic
• 1 150z can garbanzo beans
• 1/4 cup reserved liquid from beans
• 1 15 oz can great northern beans
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1/4 cup tahini
• dash of ground red pepper
• dash of paprika
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• olive oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Instructions:

Reserving 1/4 cup liquid from the can of garbonzo beans, rinse and drain both cans of beans. Place in food processor along with reserved liquid. Add remaining ingredients. Mix in food processor until smooth. Make sure you stop food processor and scrape the side atleast once during the process to make sure all ingredients are incorporated. Store in a container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Serve with pita bread or veggies

Kelly lost another tooth!

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad that Kelly finally lost this tooth. It is her 4th tooth she has lost, but by far the nastiest looking one!!! lol. The tooth underneath was pushing on it in a way that caused it to twist and stick out in a very funny way. Now she's got the cutest little toothless grin!

Before


** I still can't figure out why my pictures keep coming out blurry. For now I'm going to blame it on the camera and not the photographer.

First try

So for the past month or so I have been a secret fan of a blogger named Candace (Sparkle Power). She's a friend of Keri's (whose a friend of mine), found her website, and have been inspired to try my hand at sewing again. Before, all of my attempts at sewing have cost us more money than it ever would have been to buy -- AND it would look worse! Well, with her inspiration and love for all things vintage, I have been on the pursuit to create something cool and cheap. On her website I found a link to another website called My Half of the Brain. It's this great website where they try to find crafting tutorials on the web. A few peaked my interest:

1. Montessori by Hand -- Children's smock.
   
2. Making a child's dress out of a Men's button down shirt (can't seem to find the link)

I stayed up late last night to try and finish them both. Here's how they turned out:




















This was the children's smock. I found the fabric at a thrift store and got it for 25 cents. Normally I would never buy fabric that looked like that, but I thought "what would Candace buy" (nerdy and weird, I know) and thought "what the heck -- it's cheap." The pattern for the dress was not done very well and since my kids were already asleep, I couldn't have my daughter try it on to see if it was going to fit well. Fortunately for this one I will be able to adjust the dress with minimal stress to fit Kelly. When she tried it on today she just LOVED the colors.

Okay, here's the other one:

This one I was really disappointed with. I was so tired that I was having a hard time following the directions and there was NO pattern to use. Basically, you take an old Men's dress shirt and use the back of the shirt to create the dress front, and then use the front of the shirt to make the back of the dress. However, all measurements and such were basically a guessing game. Once again, since Isabelle was asleep I couldn't use her as a reference to see if I was making it big enough. The dress turned out really cute, but it's at least two sizes too small for her. Oh well.... the only thing I paid for was the pink lace, the shirt was a really old one of Shane's. I'm going to try again and this time not attempt it at 2:00 in the morning!

Isabelle's 1st play date

Poor little Isabelle is so shy that she has really had a hard time making any friends. The few "friends" she has are older girls at church. We finally had one of the little boys from nursery come over to play (along with his little sister) at it went really well. At first she didn't like it. She was confused and didn't really know what to say. fortunately Moses was really good at getting Isabelle involved and doing things that she wanted to do. By the end they were playing together really well and I can't wait to have him over again!

Dish Towel Apron

One of my really good friends' birthday is coming up and I thought it would be fun to make her something. Last year she asked me to make her an apron and, well, I just got lazy and didn't do it. So this year I decided I would actually grant her wish. lol. Let's just hope she likes the final product!
Over the flower I painted "To Mi Amor." My friend is from Guatemala and her and her husband always call each other "mi amor" or "my love." Well, I started calling her "mi amor" just to be funny and it's really stuck. So I thought it would be great to add to the apron. I think it's a lot funnier in person. lol.

I was actually surprised at how fast it was to cut out the different stencils (the flower was done twice -- once in yellow and then in blue slightly offset). I'm excited to try the technique on some shirts next time.

Mets game Labor Day

Getting a bite to eat before the game


It's so blasted hot!


Galvez Clan




Phil wanting me to stop taking pictures so he can watch the game


Visiting my nephew after the game

World Fest

I made a shirt!!!!!!

Okay, so here's the story: Some friends of ours invited us to go with them to a Mets game. My husband and I are big Mets fans and we wanted to show our support for the team. My husband has plenty of Mets gear, but I had none. We looked and we looked and either all of the shirts were too expensive or were too big. SO... I asked my little brother for help. He is a freak artist that can do just about anything (he's one of those "golden touch" people). Anyway, he has been making/designing his own shirts using this stuff called discharge paste. Basically, he buys a super cheap shirt, cuts out a stencil he designs, and then puts this stuff on. Well, I wanted to make one and he was more than willing to help (what a good little brother!). He helped me figure out what I wanted and printed out a copy of the picture that I wanted. All that was left for me to do was finish "designing" the stencil, cut it out, apply to shirt, apply paste, wait to dry, iron, and viola! Super cool shirt for only $8.

In case you are wondering who the guy is on my shirt, that is Jose Reyes. He's best known for stealing bases. Shane thought it would be hilarious if I put on the shirt "Stealing bases and stealing hearts." But I thought that was better served on one of those white trash air-brushed shirts. Here's a picture of the back of the shirt:


I'm so stinkin' proud of myself that I want to make more. lol, let's see if I actually find the time to do it!

My little gymnist!

We decided that since Kelly was in school now, Isabelle should have something fun to do every week. Since she is always climbing all over everything we thought she would enjoy gymnastics. Well, we didn't realize what a good fit it was going to be! She's already doing so well after only 2 lessons. The picture of her on the right is her swinging on the trapeze. They take turns swinging several times before dropping into the pit below. She's pretty brave for a 3yr old! Right now she's working on cartwheels, front roll-overs, balance beam, and the bars.

If you want to see a video of her on the trapeze, Click here

Tag you're it! (Thanks Keri!!!)

Jobs I've Had

• life guard
• babysitter
• smoothie maker
• hair salon receptionist (now THAT'S a riot)
• swim instructor

Movies I can watch over and over

• Hmm.... not much into watching movies, but.......
• NAPOLEON DYNOMITE!!!! It just gets funnier every time!

My Guilty Pleasures

• Chocolate and anything sweet
• did I say "chocolate"??
• naps
• I have no more "guilty pleasures" to add.... I need to get a freakin' life!

Places I'd like to Visit

• Spain
• My pretend hometown -- Chiquimula
• Alaska
• Mongolia

Places I've lived

• Kentucky
• Idaho
• Back to Kentucky

Shows I enjoy

• Lost
• The Office (I love you Dwight!)
• Jericho

What were the first things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?

• That he looked nothing like his brother Loren. My roomate at the time (who introduced us) knew his brother very well and said they looked "just alike." I also didn't really think a whole lot about him that first time. His roommate was a lot funnier. LOL!

Places I've been on vacation

• Disney World (several times -- yeah, I'm spoiled)
• Atlanta, GA
• Alabama
• St. Louis
• Palmyra, NY
• Kirtland, OH
• Salt Lake City, UT
• Corvallis, OR
• Yes, it's true... I've never been out of the US......

Favorite Foods

• Anything Indian
• Anything Mexican, Guatemalan (except for pickled beets... yuck), Cuban, Peruvian, Chilean, etc. etc. (Did I mention 90% of my friends are hispanic?)
• Fish fish fish
• Beans and rice (which technically would fit under the latin foods category)

Websites I visit daily

• Drudge Report
• Hotmail
• MSN
• Gmail
• Courier Journal
• Facebook
• Youtube -- Daxflame is hard to resist

Body parts I have injured

• Shortly after my oldest daughter was born I became an extreme clutz. However, all of my clutziness was focused in one area of my body -- the middle toe on my left foot. I somehow smashed/jammed that toe at least once a week for several months. One day while visiting my parents I smashed it into a door once again. This time, the pain was unlike any of the other times. My brother made fun of me for making such a big deal out of the pain until he saw the damage that was done. My entire toe was purplish-blue and swollen twice its normal size. Other than that, nothing has happened to me.

Awards I have one

• I once won a spelling bee in this really small redneck town in Eastern KY. The winning word was "dolphin." (BTW... that was the 10-13 yr old age group) So sad.....
• Do swimming competitions count?? Won lots of those
• Marching Band/Color Guard championships

Nicknames I have been called

• Collie (thanks to my obnoxious brothers)
• Ollie Trolley
• Ollie Burger (from the Ollie Trolley)
• Olie (Pronounced oh-lee) Actually, this really wasn't a nickname. When I went to Ricks, sooooooooo many people couldn't pronounce my name. My bishop ALWAYS called me Olie.

Tag, you're it!

• Jackie
• Heather
• Jessica
• Tracy

Shane's idea of playing barbies with the girls

Shane gets very tired of playing "girly games" all the time with the girls. So every once in a while he'll throw in something just to remind everyone he's a boy. This one was classic:



Just click here to view the video