PHEEENOMINAL!!!!

American Idol last night was the best night in the history of American Idol in my opinion. Maybe that had to do with the theme Rat Pak Standards-- I love that stuff. There are 5 contestants left and all five are great singers. Usually there is a frontrunner and usually you know the one that should be voted off, but they are all spectacular right now! I think all 5 are going to make great albums.

Adam- I have talked about him before and his amazing upper range. He can scream like no one else can. He has ultimate control over his voice like I have never seen. He is definetly in it to win it and seems to have had a strategy all along. He is good. Real good.

Allison- This girl can sing like no other! She is only 16 it is hard to believe. She is a rocker but I loved her song last night. She can definetly sing a ballad. Nice sound. Love her...

Danny- Power soul. He puts his heart into the songs and SINGS them if you know what I mean. Reminds me a bit of Taylor Hicks (AI winner) but Danny is 10 times better. Great tone. Great voice. Amazing.

Matt- Personally I like him a lot. He can do runs that are interesting and difficult and not typical. I think he lacks a little polish and once in a while is slightly off pitch but I truly enjoy listening to him and will buy his album for sure. I think what Randy said at the beginning of the season is true he is like a Michael Buble' and Justin Timberlake combined. I like that vibe...

Kris- Nothing stands out about him. He just has a good, sweet voice suitable for an "unplugged" kind of thing. Its pleasing. No criticism. Enjoyable to listen too.

I think the finals should come down to Adam and Allison but Danny could sneak in there. But like I said. I like them all!

Catch up

One day last week it snowed. Alot. The next day it was gone and hot. For the last two weeks I literally switched from the heater to the cooler in my car every day. One day hot the next day cold. That is spring in Utah for ya.

A nice neighbor of ours came over and trimmed our trees for us. It was so nice I felt like crying. Mark and I just can't and don't know how to keep up with everyone else's nice yard here. I look at our grass and say hey, thats pretty green compared to Arizona yards.

Tai insisted on carrying the big branches while Mark chose the small ones :). Actually Mark did work hard at moving all the branches to the front where it will be picked up next week during our neighborhood cleanup.

Good Job Mark! I have to catch a picture when he does outside work, cause Mark is an inside kind of guy and it makes me happy when he gets out of his comfort zone.

After I pulled out all of the stickers in the tires from last year and repaired the holes we were able to take our first family bike ride of the season and Tag's first one ever!

...on the tandem. Yes, I know folks, it is pretty funny to watch. Everyone stares, teenagers mock and adults laugh...but it is sure fun.

This was precious. Both zonked out for hours while watching Return of the Jedi. I passed on that movie.

Oops, Tai and her friend Valeria picked my lovely tulips so we decided to put them in this vase. The stems were short but it looked kinda cool like this.







Today, I sadly cut Tags hair. Of course he needed it, but I wanted to let it grow long like a native american. My dream is dashed.

Before.

After. Yes, I know it is lopsided. I will have to finish it later, the one pair of scissors we have were too dull, probably cause we use it on everything--paper, food, hair you name it :) I liked it long better:(

Annual Easter Egg hunt on the Tabla side. Tai is the one with the plastic bag for a basket. (she didn't notice or care about that luckily)

Easter dinner and egg hunt at cousin Ryan's who lives in Bountiful. Lindsey cooked a wonderful dinner and Tai loved playing with their 5 cute kids. We had a great time at the Smiths place!

I love this picture. This is at the Smiths. Love the couch, love the wall. Classic.

Here we are at the car repair shop getting a transmission flush. I finally found "my mechanic". He was a Peruvian race car driver and doesn't rip people off. Once I went to firestone when I had to get my brakes fixed, they quoted me about 600 and something dollars. I found my Peruvian and he did it for around $200. What a difference. They even give me rides home if I don't want to wait at the shop and they greet me by name when I walk in even though they don't speak English.

Kids just love farms, don't they? We spent a morning at Thanksgiving point farm where Tai enjoyed a horse ride and all the other farm animals, she especially loved feeding the goats.

Tea Party

Have you heard about the Tea Parties that are happening all over the country? Are you disappointed with the way things are going in Washington and all the hypocricy? Today, on tax day thousands of people are gathering to STAND UP. Even though it is raining I will probably go to the one in Provo.

Here is a site for locations of Tea Parties today. This explains more about it too.
http://taxdayteaparty.com/teaparty

Here is another site I really encourage you to take a look at if you have an hour sometime to spare. It explains what is really going on with the government, lobbyists and pork. We all need to get informed on what is really going on instead of just existing in the "united states of entertainment" and being duped by those in power.

www.ourcaucus.com

There is another movement going on.....join in and let's make a difference!

Also, watch Glenn Beck weekdays at 5:00 Eastern, or DVR it.
www.glennbeck.com

Pics of the week- end of March

Look who got some teeth last week.

My boys!

Tai was so proud of herself after she decorated the top of her bookshelf. She wanted me to come see all the "beautiful" items arranged. I like the salt and pepper shaker she stole from the kitchen the best and for some reason that monkey always makes me smile.

We attempted to play sorry with Tai. Normally, we can get one fair game in and play by the rules before she starts acting silly and moving the peices how ever she wants. It took intense concentration and all my might to keep us on track this time as Tai was acting silly from the begining. But then it all went to pot as I got a phone call and Mark was falling asleep so before we knew what happened it ended up like this.

Last Saturday I took the kiddos to a park up the canyon while Mark tried to get some taxes done....how silly to think he would be done when I got back. It seems our taxes get more and more complicated as each year passes. After hours and hours of more work they are still not done. Oh, to live the simple life again would be splendid.