Six things not commonly known to most...

Man, I am pretty much a "what you see is what you get" type of person, so I will have to get super creative for this one...Thanks Lara for tagging me!!!! Whoever of my fellow blogger friends that read this... you are officially tagged!

1. As Joel loves to point out that I have fingers for toes... I do. They are super long and GORGEOUS!! J/K. But on occasions where I am holding Allegra and need to get something off the ground, I just grab it with my toes and kick my leg back and grab it. It works well. I know, kind of freakish!

2. My Idaho friends and family probably know this but it is true, I am a RED NECK at heart! I had a mullet in kindergarten (see attached picture), I road dirt bikes and 4-wheelers, I love country music (although I have branched out a great deal), and I did have a sweet pair of cowboy boots and wranglers that I would wear to all of the country concerts I went to w/ my friends and family!

3. I have always wanted to be a counselor of some sort because I love to help people and listen to them. I don't know when this will ever happen because I to scared to take the G-Met (don't even know how to spell it!) because I hate math so much!

4. I can speak Spanish fairly well. I don't like to, but I can. I think my family thinks I don't know what's going on when Joel and his family speak Spanish, but I do. I took 2 year of it in high school and three years in college. I just think I sound dumb, so I don't use that skill is often as I should. Actually I feel more comfortable talking to complete strangers in Spanish than I do Joel's family. I have no idea why. Yo Puedo hablar en Espanol People!!!

5. I used to really want to be a back up dance for some hip hop singer. Kind of like the fly girls on "In Living Color". Unfortunately, having children has made me completely loose my groove. I used to be one of the first ones on the dance floor, and now I feel like I have two left feet. I guess I should just take up drinking in order to dance again. Actually, I dance pretty good for myself in the bathroom mirror... doors locked! J/K!

6. I LOVE to cook!!! I guess I got my inspiration from my father-in-law, Norberto. He is an amazing cook and even owned his own restaurant. I love being creative and making up my own recipes. I love making gourmet meals and lots of Italian foods. My favorite shows for inspiration are "Take Home Chef" and "Everyday Italian". What I don't love about cooking is having two little ones hanging on me while I'm doing it. I also hate cleaning up the mess!!!



I'm sorry family, this incriminates you too! But it's all I had. I am the youngest one. Like the bowl-cut mullet look I'm sporting! This is child abuse! I was what... 4 or 5? I had no say in this look!

Thanksgiving Montage

Here are the rest of the pictures from our eventful trip back to Idaho and Utah. Heidi and Brandon's wedding was beautiful! They are a neat couple with a lot to offer! Congratulations you guys! We are so happy we could make it! It was a lot of fun to see the family as well. Joel hadn't been back for two years! The older nephews (Brandon, Cody, Tyson, and Zach) have grown so much and even Brandon is taller than Joel! It gave Joel the opportunity to be a boy again and play lots of video games! We also got sick. Joel and Allegra both got strep throat... Thanks Ra Ra! Allegra was also getting in her molars, so lets just say that sleeping was pretty much non-existent. She got used to sleeping with us too, and now she doesn't want to sleep in her crib. I don't know what to do about these kids and their sleep problems! Gianluca... I rarely saw him. He had a blast with all of his cousins and now that we are home, he is bored out of his mind! I am not as much fun as them... go figure. We had a blast seeing all of you! We love and miss you very much!
P.S. Make sure to click the pause button on "my music" down on the right hand side before you watch the montage.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Part of Heidi's Wedding...

I'll be posting more, but here are some of Heidi's wedding when we were at the temple. Of course the dude just decided to defile the Holy Temple grounds and pee!!!

My Baby is Walking!!!

 

I wasn't expecting my sweet girl to start walking today, but she just decided to. It's so cute. She looks like a little old lady that needs a walker. Her legs are wide apart and she walks really slow, but she's doing it! At 16 months, but I am so happy for her! Now she can start to keep up with her friends. She is also talking up a storm. She tries to repeat what you say and it is adorable. She says: hi, bye bye, daddy, ma ma, ba ba, more, no, it's hot, what's this, this, that, bankey (blankey),ball, kick, yummy. She just is figuring things out this week! We are proud parents! When I get a chance, I'll put a video up of her walking.

Circus Circus!

 

Well, last Monday I took the kids to the Circus while Joel was out of town. It was fun and interesting. When we got there Gianluca got to ride a little pony. He loved it, but of course wanted to ride the Elephant and Camel when he saw them. Unfortunately for him, good for me, that we didn't have the money to let him. We had already spent it on popcorn and cotton candy. He and Allegra loved it for the most part. They really loved all of the animals. It was pretty amazing all of the tricks that they could do. I still wonder what attracts people to want to be in a circus. But it was a good show and most of the people in it were not from the U.S. So all in all, I'm glad we went, but I'm not going to be running back any time soon!

The Bane of My Existence!!!!

Okay, we all know that I hate... HATE mosquitoes! I am like a magnet for those blood suckers who love to feast on my sweet Idahoan blood! If there are 100 people around me, they will sniff me out and hunt me down. There is no running, no hiding from these angry beasts of prey! I also learned an interesting side note from Gianluca's "All About Bugs" book by Dr. Seuss, that only female mosquitoes bite. I don't know if it's true, but I don't doubt it. That is something a woman on a mission would do!!!! I always joke that my new favorite perfume since moving to Texas is "Off" bug spray. I put it on practically year round, every time I go outside. Just ask my girlfriends at the park, I never leave home without my bug spray!!! It is November-- NOVEMBER PEOPLE!!!! And I am still getting bit by these nasty low lives! So now I have another insect to add to my list of things that get under my skin... LITERALLY!!! FIRE ANTS.

Gianluca has been bit by these nasty things a trillion bazillion times. Last year he stuck his hand in one of their piles and got bit over 25 times on one hand. Of course his hand blimped up three times the side of the other hand and I had to dose him up w/ benadryl and cortizone cream. Well about a month ago, it happened again. I swear these things just draw him in w/ their mesmerizing ways. He loves to watch them crawl around and also try to kill them. He and a friend were running around at the park and ran into a giant ant hill covered up by pine needles. There were tons of these ants all over his little ankles just attacking him. His shoes were covered by these ants! I ran over and tossed off the shoes and socks and soaked his feet in the doggy water thingy. He was up for two nights because he couldn't sleep. He had over 46 bites on his poor little feet!!

So this week I felt his pain. We went to the circus, and I knelt down to talk to Gianluca (it was dark) and knelt on a bunch of ants. I got about 11 ant bites on my knees. They are still bothering me to this day. It is a burning itching feeling that just drives you bonkers! Even I had to get up and go take Benadryl so I could sleep. I can't imagine the poor dude with his 46 bites! He's a tough dude! So this week was my week of "attack of the killer insects" I had 11 ant bites, 5 mosquito bites, and three spider bites all on my legs. These are the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE!!!!


Here is a pic of Gianluca's hand. The ant bites form little blisters all over.


My camera has been really blury, but here is a pic of his legs. Poor Dude!

The Many Alter-Ego's of Joel

This is white trash, redneck, mullet-loving Joel. This is a very aggressive backwoods type of fellow you want to avoid! He will eat all of your Kentucky Fried chicken if you leave it unattended! Do not mess with the mullet! He has a very high MPSI (mulitude per square inch). After all he has the calm before the storm, or as some like to say "Buisness in the front, party in the back" DON'T MESS WITH THE MULLET! Actually this was Joel for Halloween last year. He found a facination w/ mullets while living in Idaho and Utah and of course seeing my kindergarten pictures w/ my sweet mullet. He will never let me live it down. I think he studied mulletsgalore.com for a year while we lived out west.



Meet Matt Foley, motivational speaker who "Lives in a van down by the river!!!" This was Joel's work costume this year. He even used Gianluca's pillow for the gut piece! (For those of you who don't know Matt Foley, it's a skit on Saturday Night Live).



Last but not least, here is a picture of Dr. Evil and Frou Fabrissima in the last Austin Power's movie "Goldmember". This is taken from the jail scene when Frou visited Dr. Evil. I guess a few people actually thought I was The Nanny, Fran Drecher. This was from a party we went to on Saturday night at our good friend's Eddie and Samantha (pictured below). I think we were the only one not drinking. We had our own special punch bowl. No one else was drinking out of it! It was a blast!