I'm Tagged!

Thanks Rachel for Tagging me, I'm not too good at this tag thing so I'll give it a whirl! list 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 surprising facts about yourself, then tag 5 people other people.

~Joys~

1. My Family, I love spending time and doing things with them.
2. Spending time with my hubby! I love our lunch dates.
3. Listening to my kids laugh, watching their reactions to things.

~Fears~

1. Crashing in an airplane
2. Being held up in a bank
3. When people drive reckless

~Goals~

1. To be a nicer mom
2. To be a better wife...more compassionate
3.

~Current Obsessions~

1. hmmm...no big obsessions here..in AZ I'd have said NEDS,Flan, YMCA
2. Ok, here I love to read blogs
3. Twilight books

~Surprising Facts about me~

1. Chocolate is NOT my first choice for junk food! I'd rather grab a bag of chips
2. I have pretty crazy dreams and wake up screaming ,yelling or flapping my sheets because a "bug" was on them...I scare the dickens out of Mike. I jumped out of bed Thursday but he caught me and held on to me. I've sent him scrambling down stairs because I "saw an intruder" while sleeping....you should've seen him half asleep running to the doors to check them. I sat in bed laughing because he was sooo scared.
3. Nothing else is surprising about me...I'm an open book....

Now I tag my sisters Heather and Jaime..get to it girls!

HELP!!!!

I know some things in life just can't be explained. I think these phenomenon's that happen in our home are some of them. Take for example our laundry hamper. I think I bought the wrong one. The kind we have doesn't open automatically when it senses clothing is near. In fact, it must be defective because the lid somehow just stays closed and the clothes end up on the floor....WEIRD!
Neither Mike nor I can explain why the clothing doesn't end up INSIDE the empty hamper....I don't think he knows that the hamper OPENS, and I just follow what he does.. :-)
Secondly, why does our sweet dog (said with much sarcasm) insist on sneaking up to the table when we're not around? I go to GREAT length's to make sure chairs are pulled away, the bench is pushed under and she STILL got on the table today. As she rummaged around to find the box of cereal which I normally make sure there isn't anything on there, she knocked over my cute lenox vase and BROKE IT! I was ticked off! Lauryn picked the lavender from our plants 2 days ago and got the vase out. Mike had a feeling last night to remove it from the table, OOPS! Even if there isn't anything up there, she'll get up just to check. You'd think she was a dog or something similar.
So, she'll be banished to the bathroom when we leave because she will piddle or poop if needs be where ever she wants. I'd rather it not be on a rug, my tile is just fine for that sort of thing. Do any of these strange things happen in your homes? Things that just can't be explained?? Is our house just abnormal??

What we've been up to....

We've been enjoying our summer break thus far. We've started gymnastics for Brilee and Lauryn. Maddi started hip-hop dance yesterday. We've got piano lessons, we will go on weekly outings with the ladies in our ward. (church group) This week we'll visit the Neunkirchen Zoo. We have gone swimming and will go to an indoor water park this evening. The weather this week will be beautiful. Temp's will be in the high 70's to mid 80's.
This past weekend we went to the Mosel river valley to visit some Castles. The area was beautiful and the weather was perfect. You can read more about the Burg Eltz here, and see what it is. We went with friends who just moved here last week. We had a blast! Even Lola the dog enjoyed the adventure. It was an hour and 40 minute drive. The river was pretty, we found a dock to sit on and skip rocks from. I think the kids were happiest doing that then walking around the castle. We saw barges moving rocks and such, Dallin thought that was a treat. We enjoyed a yummy picnic lunch, and had delicious ice cream bars.
So, that is what the Smith family has been up to!

Why Lauryn is loved sooo much!

Lauryn is a kind child. She is the one to think about other's feelings, and is sensitive to their needs. She loves to give things to people, which include money, toys and anything else she brings to school. Today was no different. This was our last day of school and me being the boring mom that I am, didn't buy gifts for the teachers. My children in their class was a gift enough. :-) Actually, I usually do buy something I just didn't get my act together this year.
Lauryn was feeling pretty bad about not having a gift for her special teacher and aide. So, she packaged up these gifts to give. The fruit, and a special bear that she dressed in a ribbon. It made me sad that I didn't have anything for her to take. I didn't let her take these because the fruit, you can see has seen better days, and the bear...well ......
So, this post is for Lauryn. We love your kind spirit and heart. Keep up the hard work girl!

Strawberry Fields

The time has arrived for the strawberries to come into season. Our village has a big strawberry patch that I've already visited 3 times. The first time Dallin and I picked a huge bucket which we made fruit salad and just ate them. The second trip was yesterday where I picked another large bucket. I made 15 jars/containers of freezer jam. It turned out yummy! I wish I had access to the low sugar pectin but unfortunately I took what I could get. Today, we stopped in and picked another bucket which we'll eat and freeze for smoothies. They measure in kilo's so it was about7 kilos or about 16 pounds for 12 dollars. It's such a deal, plus they are just beautiful strawberries. Wish you all were here with us to enjoy the feast!