For Fun .......

1. My rock star name (first pet and current car): Bingo Hyundai

2. My gangsta name (favorite candy bar and favorite cookie): Snickers Chocolate

3.My "brotha/sista" name (first initial of first name and first three letters of last name: G'Ric

4.My detective name (favorite color and favorite animal): Blue Dog

5. My soap opera name (first name and city where you were born): Gwen Lake

6. My Star Wars name (first three letters of your last name and first two letters of your first name then the word "of" then a medication you are on): Ric Gw Vitamin

7. My superhero name (2nd favorite color and favorite drink with "The" in front): The Red Water

8. My Nascar name (first names of your grandfathers/grandmothers): Frank Flora

9. My stripper name (name of your favorite perfume/cologne and your favorite candy): Emeraude Kisses

10. My witness-protection name (mother's and father's middle names): Lee Tonks

Haha! This was so funny! I tag all of you to do it if you haven't done it before.

Taggarts with the Petersons

We had a great dinner tonight. We met with Elder Dallin Peterson's mom and dad, Bonnie and Dave. We had a good time talking about our boys, and getting to know each other. Bonnie and I have had lunch a couple of times, but this is the first time we've gotten our husbands involved :) Afterwards we took a short drive around Morgan, and stopped at our house to pick up an audio tape. Landon had sent it home previously, and Dallin had talked on it a couple of times. We need to do this again soon !!

In no particular order.................

I'm thankful we have enough in the budget to fill up the truck with diesel, even though it HURTS !! We don't drive it much at all, and if we had just filled up a COUPLE of weeks ago at $3.59..........that would have been alot better than the $4.07 we paid for 15 gallons tonight. OUCH !!

I'm thankful the snow is melting, melting, melting - YAHOO !!! We ran around this afternoon out in the backyard with Camryn. Our poor matted, ugly, dead grass is going to need some tender loving care for sure.

I'm thankful the two sister missionaries came and had supper with us tonight. It made my evening. Bless their hearts !! Go here to see their pics.

I'm thankful that Rog will get to go and see D Ross play baseball this weekend. He will enjoy that. Thanks to Derick, who keeps Roger in the loop. I know Roger sure appreciates it.

I'm thankful for my DVD recorder. That way I can go to water aerobics, and still watch American Idol. Gotta love that David Archuleta and Jason Castro, David Cook, and Brooke White.

Power In His Touch

Mom and I went down to Salt Lake last Saturday evening, and enjoyed a musical performance of Power In His Touch. We met my sister Erika and her family there. Her daughter (my niece) Tiana Bettinson was in this production. It was really good. A nice touch with Easter and all.

Tiana with a couple of her friends

Tiana with two of her Uncle's who were also in the musical.

Can you spot the ODD woman out ? ?

New Baby Tagg

Revolving door at our house

July 1998 - Manda moves out of the house to Phoenix
January 1999 - Manda moves back home
October 1999 - Manda moves back to Phoenix
August 2003 - Zac gets married and moves out
March 2004 - Zac and CJ move back in while they get their home fixed up
July 2004 - Zac and CJ move out - into their home
October 2004 - Manda and Cam move back home
September 2006 - Landon moves out to college in Oregon
October 2006 - Manda and Cam move out to a little home in Morgan
June 2007 - Landon moves back home from college
October 2007 - Landon leaves home for his mission in Peru
May 2008 - Manda and Cam are moving from Morgan, back to Phoenix
Anytime soon - Zac and CJ & boys will move back in if their home sells
Sometime before October 2009 - Zac & CJ move into a new home (mom & dad's)
October 2009 - Landon comes home from mission

Take this Test - How observant are you?

I'm thankful I remembered "Thankful Thursday" this week.

I am thankful that I am finally "back in the saddle" as far as exercising and eating good healthy food. Once you fall off the wagon, which I have done SO MANY times, it is harder and harder and harder to climb back on. But once you're back on, it's do-able. I feel so much better (even though I'm beat and tired from water aerobics - YES, I'm cheating and writing this LATE Wednesday night :) 3 weeks, 9.5 pounds, 22 inches......... Yes, I'm stoked. Hopefully I can keep this up, once and for all....

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West   Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The South
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

High Five's

5 years ago I was...2003.........hmmmmm. Zac was head over heals in love with CJ, planning on proposing to her (April 2003). They were married in August 2003. Landon would have been a Freshman, and of course it's baseball season, so we would have been supporting him there. Manda was in Arizona, I think maybe in the process of buying her home. Here is an exerpt from my journal. March 14, 2003 - Roger and I went to Vernal for Landon to compete in club wrestling. While there, I was able to go to the Vernal temple. It is an old chapel which has been converted to a temple. It was smaller than other temples I have gone to. It was SPECIAL. March 18 – went with the YW down to “White Elegance” – a bridal store in Layton. The girls tried on temple dresses. Baseball has started – Landon is on the Freshman team, and Roger is helping to coach with Barclay Earl.

5 months ago I was... Taking Landon to the MTC - on this very day - October 17, 2007

5 hours ago I was...at work....reading Landon's latest email he sent :)

5 minutes ago I was...sitting here at my computer, perusing blogs - My name is Gwen, and I'm a blog-stalker.....

5 things on my to-do list today... 30 minutes aerobics, read my scriptures, mail taxes to Kevin (keeping our fingers crossed), get something accomplished at work, READ Landon's EMAIL !!

5 recent pieces of mail I've received... 20% off coupon from Bed, Bath & Beyond (I never shop there - too expensive), Landon's hardcopy letter, Morgan County News (we subscribe), a reimbursement check from Roger's work, a sponser letter from Morgan Baseball (Go Trojans!)

5 things I would do if I became a billionaire...Pay my tithing, Get out of debt, get my kids out of debt, buy Manda and Cam a new home in Arizona, Donate to others (Gwen's BIG GIVE !!)

5 of my bad habits...Procrastinating, sitting in front of my computer too much, not hanging up my clothes, letting food spoil in the fridge, biting my nails

5 good memories...Playing up at Grandma Dickson's with my cousins, the playhouse my dad built us kids, the airplane tire, camping trips, Subway hike.

5 films I watch over and over again...Silverado, Top Gun, Shawshank Redemption, Fried Green Tomatoes, Matrix

5 places I've lived...boring...... Morgan, Ogden, Richville (does that count as somewhere different?), North Morgan :), Milton (haha)

5 songs I love...Check out the songs on this blog. They are some of my favorites !

5 jobs I've had...waitress (Jay's Drive Inn & Round Valley Resort), meat-wrapper (Ray's Meats), Distributor (Trichem painting), Data Entry (Internal Revenue Service & Browning), Assessor/Appraiser (Morgan County)

5 things most people don't know about me...I hate bees (wait a minute - everyone KNOWS that), I have all my babies C-section, I was (am?) very smart (I got 4.0's in school),I've always wanted to be a nurse (dream, dream), I have kept a journal faithfully for many years

5 things in my virtual shopping bag...I don't really LIKE to shop, but I do love Ross's. If I could go in there ALONE - with tons of money, time, and have it not be crowded, I would be in HEAVEN.

5 books I love to death...Baby Island (I read this over 100 times when I was little), The Book of Mormon, Work & the Glory series, my brains tired.....I like ALOT of different books, but can't seem to come up with more that I LOVE TO DEATH.

5 things that are out of place in my house...Too many to count - Newspaper, books, water bottle, phone, camera, the list goes on and on... I'm a messy, cluttered, person.

5 films I want to see...(That I haven't already?) - that's hard, there is SO MUCH junk out there now. But I would like to see the Spiderwick Chronicles (is that what it's called?) Maybe the Bucket List (I love Jack Nicholsen), Secondhand Lions (I've never seen it), Cloverfield (if it's not rated R), and Mr. Magorium's Magical Emporium (I know that's not NOW you say it, but that's how it comes out of Cam's mouth :)

5 things I love to eat...Salmon (something new I found at Sam's Club), blueberries & bananas & 9-grain cooked cereal (every morning for breakfast!), Pizza (veggie), Shrimp Steak at Maddox (Bret & Gaylene turned me on to this - scrumptious !!)I've given up the WHITE BREAD - YEAH!!! But put a plate of warm (or cold) spaghetti pasta in front of me (I don't even need the sauce!) and a little cheese, and salt, and................

5 destinations I'm dying to see...Dying? Puhleeeze..... Peru, Europe, Carribean, Washington DC, New York

5 scents I love...Lilacs, Vanilla, Orange Ginger Energizer lotion (Thanks Annette!), baking cookies, hay that has just been cut in the summer

5 people (non-related) who have had a positive impact on my life...Annette, Lynelle, Susan, Penny, Amanda, Lorraine, Anna, Amy, and the list goes on and on...........

Take the Traveler IQ Challenge

This is my new favorite site

Where have YOU been?

Are you more traveled than me?
If you can't see further EAST than Illinois, don't worry. I haven't been there !

Camryn and Dax

We went over to my brother's home to visit, and Cam was quite taken with her cousin Dax who is 1 year old.


Dax was quite taken with Cam's baby !!


They had a fun time, and it was cute to see how Camryn treated him. As a 4 year old, she is old enough to understand the sharing, and all that goes with a smaller child.

Sucky Babies

Camryn loves her babies. Two pink "girls" and one blue "boy". She calls them her "sucky" babies, because she sucks her two fingers while she strokes their silky bows. She only does this when she is tired. The other night she went to bed in Manda's bed, and a little while later she called out to her mom in the living room, "Mom my fingers taste bad!" When Manda went in to see what was going on, she was met at her doorway with a HUGE WAFT of PERFUME !! Cam spent the night in HER BED - bad tasting fingers, babies, and all. She still smelled nice the next day, even after a bath !

Our House is Haunted

I walked into my computer room - and there was a GHOST sitting on my chair !

Frankly? I forgot about Thankful Thursday !

I went over to Zac and CJ's during lunch today, to watch the boys while CJ ran to the bank. First thing when I walk in, Treyson starts checking out my shirt for SNAKES !! Why, you ask? Well last week, I wore a shirt with "paisley" designs on it, and he was fascinated, and kept looking for the snake on my shirt. Wouldn't leave it alone :) The next day, I happened to have ANOTHER paisley shirt on, and the same thing happened. So I guess now I'm the grandma with SNAKES on her shirt. I thought it was pretty funny.

Can you beat me?

89 words

Speed test

Being a Grandma and Grandpa is the BEST !

Happy Birthday Ambure

Our first baby, Ambure, would have been 30 years old today. Can't believe how the years have passed by so quickly. Families are forever, and we will be with her again someday.

My sister wrote about Ambure in her blog, and I liked it so much that I have copied it here. Thanks KUK ! Love ya !

I took a little break in my masters homework today to write a little about my very first niece, Ambure. Today is her birthday, and she would have been thirty years old! Ambure is the daughter of my sister, Gwen and her husband, Roger. She was born on March 8, 1978 and died in a car accident on December 30, 1978.

She was a cutie, with lots of dark, wavy hair. She had a special spirit about her, and she hated when there was contention. She would begin to cry whenever my siblings and I were arguing or physically fighting. (We would sometimes start "pretend fighting" just to get a reaction from her.) She loved to sit in a cardboard box and be pushed or pulled across the kitchen floor. She loved to play in Grandma Dickson's bottom junk drawer with the wooden spoons, plastic spatulas, etc. I loved to tend her and play with her and just be around her. Needless to say, I was very sad when she passed away.

Throughout the years, I have often thought of Ambure! Especially on her birthday, the anniversary of her death, and Memorial Day when we place flowers on her grave. I often wonder what she would have been like; undoubtedly a lot like her little sister, Amanda (cute, smart, and very precocious)if she would be married by now, where would she live, would she have children, etc.

Ambure still holds a special place in our hearts! She is my parents first grandchild, and one of only three granddaughters! Her picture still hangs in their living room, alongside the other eleven grandchildren. Through the years as other pictures have been added with each new grandchild, then change as they grow older, Ambure's picture stays the same. A little faded, nonetheless, but still the same, reminding us of our "little angel" up in heaven that we will someday get to hold and play with again because "Families Are Forever"!

Someday, it will be fun to see her, my brother (Lance), and the others that have gone on before! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMBURE!

Daughters of Faith - Laurel Retreat

I haven't told you all about my fun weekend last week ! I was able to go on a retreat with about 50 16-17 year-old girls, and about 20 leaders. We traveled up to Little Bear Lake Lodge in Paradise, Utah (Cache Valley) - it was a fantastic experience. Here I am with my good friend Marcie Terrell.



The food was great - Soup, potato bar, pancakes, chicken cordon bleu


Much of the time was spent listening to different talks. We had so many great speakers, it was amazing !


There were a lot of fun games, that were built around cooperating with each other. This one is called "Magic Carpet".


As we got ready to leave about 3pm - it starting snowing terribly. I was a nervous wreck coming home over Sardine Canyon - but we made it !! Thanks Marcie !!


We came back to the church and presented a program and dinner to all of the women over 80 in our stake. Everyone had a great time.

Wow - Thursday sneaks up on me !! This will have to be quick, cuz I'm out the door to water aerobics...........

Scriptures: I've been reading them faithfully every morning. Without fail my day goes better.

Exercise: I know, I know....... you can't believe it. But it's true, it gives me more energy, and makes me FEEL BETTER !!

My Job: I enjoy it, even though it is CRAZY at times.

Amy - My friend in Spokane Washington called last night, and it was so good to hear from her. We email regularly, but haven't spoken in quite awhile. It was good to hear her voice AND HER NEWS !! Daughter Lisa has been accepted into Physical Therapy School - Way to go Lisa !!

Roger D. - I sure love that guy. He's a great husband and father.

New "Project"

Well, I've started going to Water Aerobics four times a week. There is a family who has a pool in Enterprise (about 9 miles from our home), and they open it up for aerobics, scout troop activities, scuba diving, etc. It is a salt water pool, and very deep in the one end. I took my Laurels there a couple of years ago, for a scuba diving activity. They loved it. After only a few times at aerobics, I can feel a difference. I need to keep this up !