DEAL OR NO DEAL (Deal I hope!)

On April 5th, Mary, Melissa, Becky, Jamie and I all stood in line for 5 hours in a Salt Lake City RC Willey warehouse for our chance to audition for Deal or No Deal. It was a very interesting 5 hours to say the least. Who knew Salt Lake had so many "characters"! They gave us 20 seconds to make an impression on them. Mary and I made the first cut. Then I went thru two more cuts when the casting director reached under his table and gave me a yellow slip of paper. He said to be very descreit and to go to room C. Well in room C they scheduled me to come back on Tuesday with my supporters for a taping. They wanted to see us play a mini version of the game and tape it to show the producers.

Later I found out that there were 10,000 people who auditioned and they kept 100 of those! Well on Tueday me and my supporters (Mary, Melissa,Chris,Aunt Julie and Becky) went to the Hilton. They took me in the room first and interviewed me. Then my supporters came in and we had a blast playing the game. I won $500,000! Too bad it wasn't for real. The casting director said it can take up to a year to hear if we made it on or not. It was such a fun experience, now I just hope we get on!

Chris in New Mexico

I have been working in New Mexico now for 9 days straight. Blake and I first started in Cimarron, NM. We stayed at the haunted St. James Inn. I have a couple pictures, but I can't upload them yet as I don't have my USB cable. This picture is one I found on Google.

I learned about the haunted hotel and then walked all the way through it. However, they won't let anyone into room 18, as anyone who goes in there has serious problems that shortly follow. Either they are physically hurt or something goes terribly wrong for them. I'm personally fine with not going in there! Each room has a different theme and is really decorated very nice. The dining room has bullet holes in it from the likes of Billy the Kid and many others. Annie Oakley and many other well known cowboys stayed frequently at this hotel. It was alot of fun there, but there was no Internet and my cell phone wouldn't pick up a signal. AT&T would work, but not Verizon.

I worked in Cimarron, NM at the school district for four days and then traveled to Santa Rosa, New Mexico. I worked Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. I think I am done now, but I will be having a close out meeting with the Superintendent tomorrow morning to confirm. It has been a great trip and I cannot even count how many miles I have walked, going through all of their schools several times looking for equipment to gather and label.

One real cool thing about Santa Rosa is that there is a blue hole for scuba diving. It is about 85 feet deep, it is fresh water, and there are big fish in it. Alot of people come here for the scuba. It pushes 3,000 gallons per minute through there!

The only problem is that the water is 62 degrees! You also have to buy a permit to dive there. Well, next time I come back to Santa Rosa, I will bring my scuba gear and give it a shot. It looks like a ton of fun! Of course, Scuba is always fun! I am currently in a class to become certified as a DiveMaster. I told Michelle and my girls that once I earn that certification, they will have to call me Master Dad, or Master Chris (in Michelle's case)! They didn't like that idea very much, but we'll see if it sticks :)

Hannah Montana

Well, we did it. We got Hannah Montana tickets. She is coming to The Stadium of Fire in Provo for the 4th of July. I knew tickets would go fast, but I did not know they would sell out 10 minutes after opening. Anyway, I was able to buy 8 tickets and they are good seats. Now we need to listen to her so we know her music. (I've actually never heard her music)

The Blue Man Group and Glen Beck will also be there. Should be lots of fun!

Happy Easter

Mark and Julie and their girls came to St. George for Easter. We had tons of fun!! Dad heated his pool, so we did alot of swimming and BBQ. We also went to the Jumping Jacks (bounce house place) which was really fun. Madeline was so sad when they left. Melissa Sky ended up going back in the hospital for a couple days because her cathiter(?) from her surgery was all blood. Poor little thing, she missed Easter. She is doing really good now.
On Saturday we went to the city easter egg hunt in Hurricane and then to Justin and Melissa's house for an amazing breakfast.

The girls were so excited to wake up and go find their baskets!

Disneyland

This is a little late to be posting, but here it is anyway. We had such a fun trip to Disneyland the first part of March. Chris went lobster hunting and Melissa and I took the kids to Disneyland one day and then shopping the next. On Saturday night we picked up Chris and then went to Disneyland for 2 more days. The girls (Madeline, Olivia, Melissa Sky and Katie) looked so cute in their Minnie Mouse matching outfits. I pleaded with Chris to let us stay longer, but plans were plans and we had planned to leave Tuesday, so we did. I love my stable husband!

It was a great trip though. Sophia had her daily blowout so we ran out of clothing quick for her. I did wash in the bathtub everynight. I was really thankful for my washer when I got home.

Chris' Lobster Hunt

Chris went lobster diving in March 2008 off the coast of Santa Barbara island (northern most island in the channel islands - off California). This is the lobster that he caught and ate! Michelle, Madeline, and Olivia wouldn't eat any lobster because Chris had it crawling around the hotel room 30 minutes before he cooked it! It was plenty of food for a full meal and it was delicious! Chris also caught another lobster, but it was too small to keep.


There were also hundreds of sea lions that were quite aggressive. Several divers had their regulators pulled out of their mouths and their masks knocked off their heads! The sea lion in this video barked at Chris! Watch and see!

Do you like my lobster hat??

I'm goin' to Disneyland

This morning Melissa came over to sew with me. Mary, Melissa and I are taking our girls to Disneyland at the end of the week. We decided it would be fun to make the girls matching Minnie Mouse pants to wear there. Between taking care of kids and talking we did not get too much done, but we had a really fun day together. I am so thankful to live so close to my sisters, I don't know what I would do without them!

Tonight for FHE we cleaned the church. Madeline was amazing! She just walked right in and got to work. She cleaned two full bathrooms, toilets and all, and did a great job. When she gets on a roll she is such a determined hard little worker. It is so fun to experience her getting older. After we cleaned we came home and had pizza and root beer floats with Melissa and Justin.