Going Private

In a week, I am going to turn my blog private. I am a very open person and wouldn't do this normally, but I read an article and it just said if you didn't want to share something on your blog with some stranger in the road at night, then you don't want it available to share on the web with everyone. Since I don't want to be extremely careful about what I write on my blog, I am going to go private. Please send me an email with your email address or respond to this post with your email address so you can continue reading about my life!

Thanks!

Memory Game

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Goodbye Ivan!

Well, Ivan has gone home and we are all a little exhausted! After we went to the Roy Aquatic Center on Thursday Ivan left with the girls in our ward and was gone until 3 AM. We didn't mind though because I had my cooking group that night and we just had leftovers for dinner.

On Friday I took Ivan to the dinosaur park in Ogden and Tim was afraid of all of the dinosaurs, it was pretty boring but kind of funny watching Tim. That night my parents took us to dinner at Garcia's and then he went out with his new friends.

On Saturday Justin took Ivan to hike Mt. Olympus with my brother, his wife and my sister. Then we all went swimming at my grandma's house and then to dinner at Mueller park with Justin's family since his sister Shannon and family are in town. Then we went to the Ogden Rodeo...what a crazy busy day! On Sunday we went to church and then took him to the airport and he was off!

This week I am going to catch up on everything and relax at home!

Sooo busy!

With Ivan here, we have been extremely busy with many activities. Here is a list of the stuff we have done (or others have done) with Ivan:

* Temple Square
* Mount Timpanogas cave
* Classic Fun Center in Sandy
* Be School
* Eat at Hire's Big H
* Young Men's (gun safety class and ice blocking)
* Lagoon
* Uinta's to fish and hike
* Hiking
* Potato Gunning
* Clinton Fireworks
* Hang out with the girl's in our ward several evenings
* Hill Aerospace Museum
* Mall
* Cherry Hill mini golf
* Clark Planetarium IMAX movie
* Walk around the Gateway

Today we are headed to the Roy Aquatic Center to swim and then Justin is going to take him to the Ogden Nature Center. He is also going to go to the midnight showing of the new batman movie with some girls in our ward. It truly has been a whirlwind but lots of fun. Here are some pictures!

On the left

French Foreign Exchange Student

Today we are getting a 17 year old French foreign exchange student for two weeks. His name is Ivan Chwetzoff and he lives near Paris. Actually, Justin just barely picked him up from the airport and I am looking forward to meeting him. I was planning to pick him up but then we realized we had the time wrong for his flight and his flight was landing at the moment we looked it up so my husband rushed out of work to go meet him and luckily got there just in time. I actually put my kids in the car to go as well but Allison was bawling five minutes into the drive so I turned around and went home.

He is here on a individualized program and gets to do whatever we want. He does not have any scheduled plans with a tour group so it will be busy and fun. We are planning several activities to do in the next two weeks! I will post more when I meet him!

Name Game

Find out your true alter ego names!

1. Your Rock Star Name: (first pet & current car)- Kitty Civic
2. Your Gangsta Name: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)- Rocky Road Chocolate Chip
3. Your "Fly Guy/Girl Name: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name)- J McM
4. Your Detective Name: (favorite color, favorite animal)- Red pig
5. Your Soap Opera Name: (middle name, city where you were born)- Kathleen Salt Lake City
6. Your Stars Wars Name: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)- Mcmja
7. Superhero Name: ("The: + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink)-The Aqua Hot Chocolate
8. NASCAR Name: (the first names of your grandfathers)- David Russell
9. Stripper Name:
(the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy)- Miracle Snickers
10. Witness Protection Name: (mother's & father's middle names)- Ann Russell
11. TV Weather Anchor Name: (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same name)- Nelson New Orleans
12. Spy Name: (your favorite season/holiday, flower)- Fall Rose
13. Cartoon Name: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y")-Banana Caprisy
14. Hippie Name: (What you ate for breakfast today, your favorite tree)- Pumpkin Bread Russian Olive
15. Your Rock star Tour Name: ("The" + your fave hobby/craft + fave weather element + "Tour")-"The Reading Thunder Tour"

Funny Answers

When I was in Primary on Sunday, the Primary President Cheri Criddle asked the children to share what they would like to give their dad for Father's Day as a gift. We heard the usual gifts like ties, candy and hugs and then one kid blurted out scissors and another yelled out Keep the Commandments! I thought it was hilarious, especially the kid who yelled Keep the Commandments because he was obviously not paying attention to the question :)

My cute girl!

5 Years!

Justin and I just celebrated our 5 year Anniversary on Saturday, June 7th and it was such a nice weekend! My mom took the kids on Friday night and Saturday and we went to dinner at TGI Fridays and then went shopping at the Gateway and saw Indiana Jones at 9 PM. We decided to go to a late show since we never get to do that anymore! We stayed at the Scenic Motel because I bid on a silent auction a few months ago and won a 2 night stay plus a $20 gift certificate to TGI Fridays for just $45! However, the motel was just okay and not really a great place to stay.

On Saturday we got a dozen free donuts at Banbury Cross which I also won at the same silent auction as a door prize and got some chocolate milk for breakfast. Then we went to the Salt Lake Temple to do sealings but then Justin remembered that it was a Saturday in June and they would not likely be doing proxy sealings since they would need all of the rooms for live weddings which was true. We did a session instead and it ended up being a live session. We had a nice time and then stopped at my parent's to give them Tim's carseat since we forgot the day before. Then we ate lunch at Moki's, a fabulous little Hawaiian restaurant in Taylorsville and then visited Mark's Arc because Justin loves strange animals and he hadn't been there in years.

Then we headed to Park City where we shopped and shopped at the Outlet Malls and then we visited the Olympic Park for a bit and then went to Main Street and had dinner at Taste of Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant that was pretty good. We stopped at Scanlan to look at their beautiful pictures and then headed home after making a quick stop to buy a shirt at the VF Factory Outlets in Draper. As Justin would say, it was my kind of vacation! Going out to eat, shopping, and going to a movie :) I would agree and I loved it!!!

For my present, he gave me 5 dozen roses, they are gorgeous! I got him a new bike seat.

Budgeting revisited!

So, the month is over and I have to admit that I did not completely follow my budget. I tried my best but there were just days when I threw the budget out the window and had fun and there are always expenses that come out of nowhere. Instead of saving $500 like I planned, I only saved $150 but at least I did save some! Plus this month Justin got an extra paycheck and a check for doing some outside work which we saved all of which is great.

Some of the things that cut into our savings were Justin going to St. George for a wedding and hiking, wedding gift, bachelor party stuff and dinner, Mother's Day gifts, Justin bought a new processor for $100, GAS!, a donation to aid those in Burma, clothes for a family picture and some shoes for Tim and summer clothes for Allison. Man, we sure do have a lot of things to pay for each month!