28

1. I LOVE the smell of a shoe store.
2. I paid my first mortgage payment today. Only 359 more to go.
3. I'm a major milk drinker. Thankfully I switched to skim a few years back.
4. I always have a million project I'm in the middle of at once.
5. Once I start a book, all I do is read til it's done. I hate being in the middle of a book.
6. I've never been skiing. Don't really care if I ever do go.
7. I love going to the zoo. (Preferably something better than Hogle here in Utah.)
8. I've milked a cow a few times. Never more than a few minutes though.
9. I wish I was better at the piano. I took 4 years as a kid, but quit when we moved to Utah.
10. I sprayed my husband with the hose last night. He got me back way more than I got him.
11. I miss the coast. I haven't been since before getting married.
12. I freak out when my kids get a fever.
13. I have a hard time getting to bed at a decent hour. I like the quiet "me" time too much.
14. Cheesecake is probably my favorite desert.
15. I have way too many sweets in my house.
16. I have a hard time spending money on myself. I can go to a store in hopes of buying some new clothes, but all I come back with is deals for everyone else. Dan is thrilled when I actually get something for myself.
17. Hearing my kids and my husband laugh is my favorite sound in the world.
18. I've been in the Celestial Room for two temple dedications.
19. I absolutely love trees.
20. Some days I want a big family, other days I think 2 kids is plenty.
21 . FRIENDS is my favorite sitcom of all time. I own all 10 seasons and have watched them multiple times.
22. I don't like being early or late, but I'm usually the latter.
23. Wish I could have a nap every day.
24. I don't have the amount of patience I used to.
25. I love being with friends even if it means nothing gets done.
26. I really want to go to England someday.
27. Today is my birthday
28. I have two more years to adjust to the thought of turning 30. I'll need it.

Thankful Thursday

1. Tylenol.

2. Heating Pack.

3. Surviving the day.

4. Modern day feminine items. (Seriously? Just rags before???)


Such good times.

House Warming

We're having a little house warming this coming Saturday from 2-4 PM. It's just a simple open house so our friends can come celebrate with us, see the house, enjoy good company, and have some light refreshments (including some birthday cake for moi though my birthday isn't for a couple days after. Why not kill 2 birds with one stone, right?)

If you're friends with us, live in the area and are interested in coming, leave a comment with your e-mail address (I promise not to publish it) and I'll e-mail you the house address. This is my sneaky way of getting something of an RSVP out of people so that I can figure out food. Mwa ha ha!! ;)

Angels and Groceries

The last few days have been very long and tiring. I've spent 2.5 days in the sun working in the yard alongside family who had come to help. I'm a little sunburned and extremely exhausted. I finally got the chance for a nap this afternoon, then decided to take the kids to the store so Dan could sleep.

We went to Smith's even though we didn't need much. We spent most of the time just wandering isles to kill time so Dan could sleep more. The kids and I left the store with just 2 little bags of groceries and a gallon of milk. We put our stuff in the trunk, walked to put the shopping carts away (Matty had his own) and headed back to the car.

We were just unlocking our doors as several (probably around 8) people approached us, their arms full of grocery bags. The one closest to me said, "Excuse me, but we'd like to give these to you. It's food to make a large thanksgiving turkey type meal. Would you mind taking them?" I stared at her, then looked at the other faces, trying to figure out if this was a joke or had some kind of catch. They were all beaming. I stammered for a minute trying to think, then said, "Are you sure you don't want to give them to someone who needs them more? I mean, I'll be so grateful for it, but I just wonder if someone else could use it more." She said, "No, we'd be thankful if you'd just take them. We want YOU to have them. We feel like you should have them." I wiped the tears from under my sunglasses and told them they were making me cry, I must have PMS. (One of those random things you say to strangers that you wish you hadn't.)

They loaded up my trunk, talking to and admiring my kids. They kept telling me what a precious mom I was with two sweet little ones. I kept crying and telling them how amazing they all were for doing something like this. I asked if they do this often to which one of them responded, "No, but we will now." One lady probably in her 60's asked if I went to Ricks. I realized then I was wearing a 10-year-old t-shirt, no makeup, crazy hair and had a sunburned face from all the yard work. I must've looked a mess! I told her I did go to Ricks, and she said so had she as well as two other women there. They each gave me gigantic hugs, not the type you'd give a stranger. One lady then came forward carrying 3 chocolate oranges and said she'd put them in the front seat with me so they wouldn't melt in back. I started crying again because chocolate oranges are a total favorite of mine! Another person gave me a little over $1, saying it was leftover to their spending and I should use it to buy some ice cream for dessert. More hugs, more adoring my children, then on their way they went.

I got in my car and wondered the whole way home what had just happened. I didn't even know what was really in the bags yet. I told Matty to go wake up his daddy and tell him we had a surprise in the kitchen. I set my groceries to one side and the other sacks near the fridge. I showed Dan the groceries I had bought, then said "but I also came home with all this." He was completely confused. I explained, totally tearing up again. We sat on the floor and unpacked the groceries.

Included was a box of frozen turkey cutlets, turkey luncheon meat, a pack of frozen veggies, 2 cans of corn, 2 cans of beans, 1 can of yams, 1 can of cranberry sauce, 2 cake mixes, a sack of potatoes, 2 boxes of scalloped potatoes, 1 box of stuffing mix, 3 cans chicken noodle soup, 2 cans cream of broccoli, 1 can cream of chicken soup, 3 chocolate oranges, a bag of marshmallows, a box of hot chocolate packs, a box of crackers, a dozen rolls, and a loaf of cinnamon bread from Kneaders.


We spent the next 20 minutes sitting on the floor just trying to figure out why us?? There are so many around us more in need of these things. It's like that time back in college when we were given $100 but there were others who had more need of it. The only thing we can ever come up with is that we should pass the goodness on.

The whole thing feels so surreal. Things like this happen to other people, not yourself, you know? I'm hoping that blogging about this will encourage others to do something similar. Then I'll be able to feel like me being on the receiving end this time was to help inspire others.

So please do what you can to be an angel to another, whether the act is big or small! You can bet we'll be doing our best to do the same. :)

Thankful Thursday

1. Two little monkeys jumping on the bed. Okay, so I'm not too happy that they were jumping on the bed, but I loved the laughter that came from it. I went downstairs to get Jossy's blanky and when I was coming back up I heard the two laughing their heads off together. I wasn't thrilled to find the source of their laughter, but just to hear them laughing and playing well together was music to my ears. They haven't been so good together lately.

2. HELP! My cousin and my mom were over today to help with all the work that still needs done in the yard, and one of my sisters is planning on coming tomorrow. I'm so thankful! It's definitely all so much more than we can do ourselves.

3. An actual bit of food storage! Very thankful for all the great deals that have been out there. We've never had much storage because we had nowhere to put it in our overcrowded apartment, but now we've got some space!

4. Affordable power bill. I was a little freaked out about how high that first power bill would be in the house, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared. Phew!

5. RAID or other bug killers. A must for me. I really hate bugs.

6. A supportive husband. I know I've mentioned this before and how he costs us a fortune because he's so dang supportive of my hobbies, but I need someone who believes in me when I'm not sure I believe in myself. His support is a huge source of strength to me.

Are you feeling thankful today? Please share!

Death of the Orange Wall

When we first walked through this house back in January, the orange wall in the upstairs hall immediately jumped out at us, begging to be painted. It went fine with the other walls which were two-toned brown, giving the space a bit of Tuscan feel. Unfortunately, that's just not our style. We swore we'd paint it before we moved in, but time never permitted. A month has gone by since we've closed on the house, and we finally got around to painting it this weekend. I was just going to paint it another color as an accent wall again but decided instead just to make the whole space uniform. So we painted it all buttercream.

Here's the before and afters:

It feels much brighter and more open. Just need to get some pictures on the walls.

Now our only painting project left is the master bathroom. Ugg. I just want to get it done so we can finally be finished painting. Then I never want to see another paint roller again! (Or at least for a few months.)

My First Wedding

No, I don't mean as the bride. I mean as a photographer! My dad had been asked to be the photographer at my 2nd cousin's wedding yesterday, so I got to follow along and try my hand at it as well as his #2. Between the temple and the reception I quickly picked out a few of my favorite images, enhanced them, printed them off, and framed them to display at the reception.

Here are the ones that were on display last night:
(The first one is my personal favorite.)

I'm really happy with how they turned out for my first time. Now I get to spend the next week going over the 600+ my dad and I took between us to decide which to edit and give to the couple. Good thing I have no life or kids to take care of or anything. ;)

Family Pictures

We desperately needed a new family picture taken, so this past Sunday after church we decided on the spur of the moment to go to a park and take some ourselves. With only a tripod and a remote for the camera, we did the best we could. I haven't had much time to work on editing them, but if I don't just post them now I may never get around to it. So here are a few favorites:


Hope that's not too many to share. So many other cute ones of the kids I could've shared, but maybe another time. It's late and the next few days are super busy for me!

EASY Killer Deal!!

Here's a little heads up for those of you who care. Smith's is having a FANTASTIC deal right now. Buy 4 participating Kellogg or Kebler items (on sale 2 for $4) and get $4 off at checkout, which makes your items a buck a piece! (You must use your Smith's Fresh Values card.) You can get up to $8 off per transaction. So Just buy your items 8 at a time and you'll get the best deal. We did 4 separate transactions to get all our stuff this morning. They were out of the fruit snacks and waffles we wanted on sale but said they will restock tomorrow morning. I believe the sale is through the 18th. You can stock up on things like crackers, cereal (and not wimpy boxes either!), waffles, fruit snacks, and cookies.

Here's our haul from this morning:

I paid just $29.83 with tax!!
(Any manufacterer coupons you have make the deal even sweeter.)

If you ever come over for dinner, we might just be serving cereal. I've counted 18 unopened boxes in my storage.



Happy shopping!! :)

P.S.
If you're willing to send in for a rebate, Albertson's is practically giving away Kraft products! Check your local ad for details on the deal. If you live somewhere other than Utah, I have no idea if these deals apply to your local stores.

Just a Beginner

I wish I was as good at couponing (is that a word?) as some people, but for a beginner shopping with 2 kids and a husband yesterday I think I did okay.

I got all this:

And only paid $33.85!

That's 8 Lean Cuisines, 3 bottles of Ragu, 4 boxes of cake mix, 6 boxes of cereal, 2 containers of PB, 3 bottles of salad dressing, 2 rice/pasta sides, 1 sugar cookie mix, and a bag of Chex mix all for $33.85!

We would've done even better if the kids hadn't been so awful, I had understood the store policies better, and Dan had remembered to use the coupon I had given him (grrr.) Still, it's a starting place, and my cupboards are no longer bare. :)

Walk Through the Park

Dan needed a nap after church on Sunday so the kids and I went to check out a city park with a creek we had noticed recently. We had a good time playing on the bridges and walking down the trail. Next time we'll go when it's not Sunday so we can get our feet wet, too!

Cute Matty

Silly Matty

Poor J wasn't too happy to be stuck in the stroller.

I spotted this tree trunk as we were leaving to head back home. LOVE it! :)

Thankful Friday

Yesterday didn't end so well, so I was in no mood for gratitude. I'm feeling about 50% better today, and that's good enough to help me write this weeks list.

1. Keri's cinnamon rolls. My college friend Keri brought them over yesterday as my prize for a contest on her blog. They were sooooo yummy! And as an added bonus to her delivering the rolls, I got to chat with her for several hours while Matty and her girls played. Thanks for the fun, Keri!

2. Choosing to play over work. Lately it seems all I've done is work on getting this house in order. I needed to get some things done this morning (as usual) but chose to surprise the kids with a trip to Farm Country instead. We had a great time together and it was nice to relax a little. I'm glad we went. It was the perfect day for a buggy ride. :)

3. 3 hour nap. Not for me (though I wish it was!!), but for Jossy. That's how long her nap was yesterday. She's been cutting down from 2 naps to 1, but that one is getting longer. As long as she goes to bed easily at night, I try not to complain about losing a nap from her.

4. Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. Every once in a while when I'm outdoors it will hit me just how beautiful His creations are. Sometimes it's in odd places that I feel like that (like under a bridge off the freeway this week,) but we truly live in a beautiful and diverse world. I feel thankful for it.

Baptized Homeowners

Yes, we've been officially baptized as homeowners. Dan has the markings to prove it:
He got it from 6 hours of this:
We spent much of the day out in the sun yesterday trying to get this lawn and the flower beds back to something enjoyable. Thank goodness for my parents coming to help! They let us borrow their lawn mower since we haven't bought one yet. We're not even CLOSE to being done, but here are a few before and afters from our 6 hours of work:

Before

After


Before

After

Before

Before
After

Before

After
There was so much grass that had migrated into the flower beds and it's a PAIN to get out! We still have piles of uprooted grass since the dirt was too wet to shake much off, and a ton more grass that still needs taken out!

It is looking better. I just wish there wasn't still sooooo much to do! (We've barely touched that rock wall which is completely overtaken by weeds!) I think 2 family members are coming on Wednesday to help again.

If any of you have an itching for yard work, just give me a call!

Why do I have this funny feeling that my phone won't ring?? ;) ha ha