The Joys of Being a Mommy

Shelby's Carnival Party

2012-02-06T20:55:00.001-08:00

Once Kadence's 'Pinkalicious' party was over I started thinking of what I could do for Shelbys birthday party. It was hard because she doesn't eat many foods and I tend to focus a party around food or sweets. I tried to think of her favorite sugar item which happened to be cotton candy. I then thought of her other favorite things which brought me to the idea to have a carnival. She LOVES popcorn! She will devour more than me every time. We thought of having hot dogs to go along with the party to give people a meal, but she doesn't like hot dogs so we threw that idea out really quick. I try really hard to make sure that each party is what the GIRL wants, not what I want or what I think others will want. Shelby had so much fun helping me out with all the little details. Every time we put something together she would say, "Sank you, Sank you Mommy!" (Thank you) She was so thrilled with it all. I tried to think of some games that were a 3-4 age level. I tried not to care if the older kids would enjoy so long as I knew Shelby would. Surprisingly, it seemed as though all the kids enjoyed it all. Shelby LOVED it all and I loved watching her, and everyone else, enjoy it. It gets stressful to carryout the plan, but its SO worth it! I have tons of pictures, but I did leave out a ton too. :)

I started out the morning by setting up for a Relief Society visiting teaching brunch. I then stayed to eat before coming home. Once home, David immediately left to get the bounce house while I tried to get Shelby bathed and ready for her big day. I do have to admit that I was a bit impatient and I may have yelled while blow drying her hair. I also may have said the phrase, "We don't have time for you to...." about a million times. When David got home and all of us were ready we headed to get the cupcakes and quickly grabbed some gas station food for lunch. I only ate half my pizza stick because we only had an hour to set up entirely before guests would arrive. YIKES! I wasn't sure we could pull it off, but we did with time to spare. A HUGE thanks to Jeffy for helping so much. SIDE STORY: While we were setting up each girl needed to go potty. I asked Jeff to take them and when it was Shelbys turn he asked if she needed help getting on the potty. She then replied, "No, just make sure I don't poop on the floor." What?! Luckily she didn't make any messes.

Here's the birthday girl excited for her friends to come!

Here are the goodies:Shelby didn't know about the bounce house and we surprised her with it the day of the party. She was STOKED!I asked my family members to run all the different games and am very thankful they were willing to so that I could enjoy watching Shelby. Here is Ring Toss and Bean Bag TossHere is the Face Painting (Temporary Tattoos) and Can the CanAnd finally, the Fish PondDespite how excited both girls were, they wouldn't go inside until David went in first.Once in, they loved it! They didn't even mind going in when all their friends were in there too.I hate that I am never in any of the pictures so I asked Jeff to take a picture of David and I. I hate pictures, but if something were to ever happen to me I would want the girls to know I was at all the fun activities so I'm trying to get better about having pictures of myself.This may have been Shelbys favorite part. She had two tattoos before the party even started.Kylah got a tattoo too!See mommy!Kadence always seems so unamused by my picture taking.Shelby fishing for a prize!This is Shelbys buddy, Davisson scooping himself some popcorn.Shelby dumped out her goodie back to check it out and here she is cleaning it up.Silly girl!This might be my favorite picture of the whole day. For those who know Grandma Neal, know how rare it is that she was participating in the games. I HAD to get a picture.A few of the friends.Grandma Green and KylahTravis and BrileeMake a Wish!She licked the frosting, then asked me to take the frosting off. She ate one bite of the cupcake and was done. She is very particular about what sweet treats she'll actually eat.Telling daddy what present she wants to open firstBaby RykerOpening Mom and Dads giftBaby Tyler playing with the balloonsGrandma Green got a tattoo too.I need to try to save this picture (I'm just too lazy right now) Grandma and Grandpa Green and Grandpa Joy.Immediately after the party we had to clean up for a funeral luncheon that was going to be at the church. After cleaning we rushed out to Layton to help Jeff get his classroom ready since he only had about 4 hours to completely set up for his first day of school as the new teacher. The old teacher was kind enough to leave almost all of his junk all over so we had a lot to do in a short amount of time. All in all it was a busy busy day, but a great day!

Friday Confessional

2012-02-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS....I am getting sick of Facebook a little. I can't stand the few people who ONLY post negative things and refuse to think life is any better than dreadful. It seems like some people just aren't happy unless they are miserable. I understand that sometimes life does indeed suck, but a more positive outlook can make it a little less miserable. I have been through some crappy times and I don't think I have ever been as negative as some folks are over some seemingly minor things. I can't stand when people post vague comments like "Well that didn't go as planned" or "Hopefully this will all get better", etc. THEN when you ask about it they don't answer. I get that it may not be my business, but when you make me worry by posting on a very public site I feel that you should be courteous enough to at least share. I also don't enjoy seeing all the fantastic things other moms do with their kids and all the glorious meals they prepare day in and day out. Don't get me wrong, I post fun things I do sometimes. I just don't enjoy when every single day you are flaunting the fact that you are the ideal, picture perfect mom. In reality, you aren't. You are like me in many ways and just don't share the things you aren't great at. I don't think it does anyone a service by being half honest. It just makes them feel that they are inadequate and should be doing more. AHHH....glad I got that off my chest.

I CONFESS....I forgot to give my kids lunch today. I gave them breakfast and a snack, but then forgot completely about lunch. Good thing the snack was kind of filling!

I CONFESS....I have the most positive happy kid ever. No matter what is going on in Kadence's little world, she is SO happy. Nothing gets her down for long. She currently has pneumonia and has been coughing pretty consistently for 3 days now. You would think she would be complaining but nope! She just says "I don't feel very well" and goes on with her day. You can only even tell she's sick if you know her really well....or you hear her cough. She is a little less happy than usual, which is still pretty darn happy. She is a little less spunky and energetic, but that means she isn't jumping and spinning constantly. I am one lucky mommy to have such a great kid like her!

I CONFESS....This is going to seem like I am picking favorites after the last confession, but just know that I love BOTH my girls to death. BUT Shelby has been driving me absolutely crazy lately!! If she gets dressed she leaves her clothes on the floor wherever instead of putting them where they go, if you ask both girls to clean up Shelby puts one thing away and lets Kadence finish, she won't stop touching things she shouldn't, she is whiny, she won't listen.....the kid is driving me nuts! It honestly has just been this week, it must be something about turning 4. I'm hoping we can change all of that real quick before I lose my mind!

Happy Birthday Shelby!!!

2012-01-29T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today was Shelby's 4th Birthday and she was SO excited. She woke up a half hour earlier than usual and came in to wake me up by saying, "Do you know what today is?!" She has been waiting for this day for weeks now and was thrilled it had finally come. We had our usual birthday breakfast of donuts which was more tasty than usual because we got Krispy Kremes. After breakfast it was time to get ready for church. I put her favorite black tank top on her so she could wear her favorite color. I stopped real quick to grab a picture of her with her balloons.

After church we let her open a few more gifts from mom and dad. She was thrilled to see she got the Captain America movie! And she's excited to take a bath tomorrow with her Captain America loofas.
She also loved the gift that I felt she HAD to have. Luckily for us it went on clearance after Christmas so we saved over 50%.

They are seriously the best sisters I know! Kadence has spent the whole day being just as excited for her sister as she is for her own birthday. She has tried to be extra nice you can tell without us even prompting her to be.

After presents we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Joys for her birthday dinner. She chose: Grilled Cheese and 3 kinds of ice cream (Also known as Neapolitan) Grandma and Grandpa elaborated a little and added strawberries, carrots and celery because they knew she would be excited. Grandpa also made her a cake. She had a great time with family, opened a few more presents, and immediately after leaving decided we needed to watch her new movie. She didn't make it to far into the movie before she was completely OUT. Kadence on the other hand was disappointed that we had to turn it off so she could get to bed at a decent time.

I love Shelby so much and can't imagine life without her. She was definitely supposed to be here because David and I weren't planning on me having another pregnancy. I'm glad God had a different plan because she brings so much energy and excitement to our home. I constantly say that if I didn't have a boy, at least I have a Shelby. She loves most things that would be classified as a 'boy' thing, loves the color black, she's adventurous, doesn't mind getting hurt if it was fun, likes bugs, monsters, and all things creepy. On the other side, she is definitely girly. She looks best in bright pink, is very tender hearted, loves to snuggle with her mommy, loves to help me cook.....well, she loves to help with anything really, loves to make people happy and loves her sister very much! She is such a sweet girl. The phrases she says most are "Guess What? CHICKEN BUTT!", "Sank you Sank you!" (thank you), "Can I help?" and "Why?" She is so incredibly smart and LOVES knowing different facts about things, especially animals. She likes to know why and how things work and she remembers some of the most random information she's heard or seen on tv. I love her so much and she will always be my Shelby Delby Doo.

Friday Confessional

2012-01-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS....I love how excited my kids get for their birthdays. David and I decided that they will get a birthday party every year before the girls were born. I'll admit, its stressful at times getting things ready. In fact, right now I am kind of freaking out because Shelbys party is tomorrow and I still don't have everything ready yet. Despite it being stressful, I love doing it! I love the excitement and anticipation before the parties. The girls help me throughout the planning process and are always on cloud nine when we talk about their parties. That's not all! I LOVE watching them at their party. They are always the perfect definition of happy, I don't think they can get any happier! I sure love them!

I CONFESS....I have a hard time coming up with things to confess. I sit here and think "What weird or unknown thing do I want my kids to know about me in the future" Well the only answer to that is that I love them very much....but that's kind of cheesy.

I CONFESS....I love take out! I don't know which is more appealing, the fact that I don't have to cook or the fact that I don't have to clean up afterwards. It isn't great on the budget, or the waistline so we try to cut it back to once a week. Sometimes it works out, other times we can't resist. :)

I CONFESS....I am really picky about the way my pants and the girls pants fit. They have to touch the floor. Or at least the bottom of the shoes. If they don't, it makes me feel like we are wearing floods. It honestly drives me absolutely crazy. Having said that, Kadence often times has pants that are too short. (By my definition) She has such crazy long legs and then her brace makes them sit a little higher than normal too. Oh well, I try!

Videos

2012-01-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

I had the privilege of watching my sweet little niece Brylee yesterday. She was a little fussy so I was holding her.....Shelby also wanted my attention RIGHT that second. I told her that I needed to hold Brylee and if she kept being so needy I would have Brylee get her! I then lunged toward her with Brylee down close to her. Shelby squealed as expected, but then something fabulous happened....Brylee laughed hysterically. We chased Shelby for about 5 minutes and we all laughed and laughed. Then I sat down figuring Brylee had probably laughed enough and I didn't want it to turn into a scream. Shelby started walking toward us so Brylee started laughing. We did it a few times before I decided to grab my camera. Then I captured her cute little laugh on camera. Shelby and I loved having Brylee come play with us!

I keep thinking that I need to record Kadence reading. She brings home different colored books from Kindergarten to read along with doing her homework. She started out needing to sound out every word, and now she is able to just read it by sounding it out in her head. I think its cute so I wanted to capture it so I can listen to it when she's 16 and SCREAMING at me. Hopefully cute videos and pictures will help my kids survive through the teenage years. :)

Friday Confessional

2012-01-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS...I absolutely can NOT stand when the bottom of my pants gets wet. I would rather fold my pant up and look ridiculous while walking outside than have my pants get wet. (I do unfold them when I get into a building) It just annoys me so bad! Both of my girls hate wet pants too so when their pants are wet they promptly change into PJ pants. They have such a nice daddy who has on occasion gotten the blow dryer out to dry their pants for them. (Pampered princesses!)

I CONFESS....I have struggled lately to find motivation. I have ideas of things I could do that would be fun with Shelby, or to organize, or new recipes to try, etc. None of my ideas are difficult, but I find it extremely difficult to ACTUALLY do it. This isn't really like me and it drives me crazy.

I CONFESS....I am really liking going to the gym. I don't do much because I am really out of shape and my knee isn't strong enough, but I enjoy going. I exercise for 10-15 minutes each time and go 3 times a week. I'm hoping to get up to a half an hour work out 3 times a week though. It has helped my knee, kept my resolution AND made me feel a little better about myself. I am not someone who enjoys working out, but I do like how I feel after. And if I make it to the end of the year still working out 10 minutes a few times a week, that is still better than I have done the past few years.

I CONFESS....Disney Channel shows that aren't cartoons drive me up the wall! My girls are in between the older shows and the cartoons right now and I am sad to see the cartoons starting to go. I think the older shows are absolutely annoying....but they like them so I just put up with it. Although there are a few shows that I change the channel.

Friday Confessional

2012-01-13T15:56:00.001-08:00

I confess....I am so incredibly proud of Davids brother, Jeff! He was just hired as a 4th grade teacher in Davis District. He barely graduated in December so getting a job in January is an incredible thing. I was so excited and happy that I almost cried. He's like part of our family....ok, I realize that he IS part of our family but I mean part of our immediate family. I am so excited for him, for the school that gets him, and for the students. He will be a great teacher!

I confess....I have watched Alice in Wonderland 3 times already today. Once Shelby gets hooked on a movie, she really gets hooked! I am not one who hates watching the same movie over and over so it doesn't really bother me at all.

I confess....I don't really mind grocery shopping, but I hate putting the groceries away. I honestly put away anything perishable and leave the rest in the trunk until David can get to it. I figure if I do the shopping (which he hates) he can put it all away. :)

I confess....I am getting really excited about the possibility of Disneyland. We have been saving all our change and now that we are past the holidays we are saving our weekly budget left overs too. In a few short weeks we have saved about $200 and I am hoping we can keep the momentum going so we can FINALLY make it back to the magical kingdom. I say "finally" but I think that is just the addictive quality of Disneyland talking. I didn't go to Disneyland until I was 25 years old and my girls both went before they were even 5 years old so they are spoiled rotten! (Or has Kadence says, they are "rotten eggs")

Really Random...

2012-01-08T21:38:00.001-08:00

Today I have had a bunch of really random thoughts that normally would have made it to the Facebook status but since I am trying to FB less, I figured I'd put them on here. It seems that once I get my thoughts out I can finally relax.

First of all...Something someone said in Sunday School today drove me crazy. The fact nobody (myself included) said anything about it also drove me crazy. Someone said, "Paying your tithing is a way to secure your status with the church." To me tithing is between yourself, the bishop and the Lord, so how does it affect your "status" with the church? Secondly, there is no "status" in the church. We aren't compared to one another, we are only judged on our own actions, efforts and struggles. It REALLY bothered me. Luckily, that was one persons opinion and this is simply my opinion. (This would have NEVER been a FB status by the way)

Next, I absolutely feel that I have the best kids ever! My kids clear their plates from the table without being asked, throw away their own garbage without being asked, say sorry when they bump into you, usually use their manners, love each other, play well together, are best friends, and so much more! If they get a privilege taken away the don't cry about it, they simply understand that it was a consequence of their actions. For example: Shelby kept shoving 2 feet into one slipper today. David told her that she couldn't wear her slippers for the rest of the day. This is a huge deal because she absolutely loves her slippers. She simply went and put them where shoes go and went on with her day. No biggie, it's crazy. Then later tonight she went to put them on and I reminded her she couldn't wear them and all she said was "oh yeah" and went on playing. I honestly love my kids to death!

Having said that I love my kids to death and they are amazing doesn't mean they don't push my buttons. I get to the point that I just want to scream or lock myself in my room. Time away is fantastic and always much needed. I sometimes feel that I am too honest with my Love/annoyed/Love relationship with my kids. I am pretty blunt and straight forward about sometimes wanting to smack their mouths, lock them in their room, etc. (For the record I haven't ever spanked or smacked my kids) I am honest because I KNOW I am not alone. I don't think we do anyone a service by hiding the fact that we get frustrated with our kids. I think it is so helpful when someone else says "I've had days like that too." Just to know you aren't alone is such a nice thing. So if you ever hear me being brutaly honest just know that I DO indeed love my girls very much. I don't know what I would do without them, they are my world!

Almost every Sunday David and I are able to take about an hour nap. The girls just go in Kadences room and play. Its fantastic!

I may have bought a few too many prizes for Shelbys carnival birthday party. I went down to organize all of her birthday things since her birthday is 3 weeks away and I said "Oops!" Oh well, the more the merrier! THEN I went to decide what would be given as prizes for games and what would already be in their goodie bags. I finally figured it all out and then I couldn't find the bags I had bought. I am freaking out and hoping that I can find them because they were the perfect size for a day at the carnival and I got them for a steal of a deal. I'm a tad bit stressed by the whole thing.

Lastly, I am so happy that I have such a fantastic husband. He treats me well, helps with the house, helps cook, and is the best dad ever! The best part is that the girls see his example of how a man should treat a woman and hopefully they will have high standards when they start dating.

Friday Confessional

2012-01-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS....I usually don't make New Years Resolutions. Don't get me wrong, I make positive changes to my life. I just feel that if a change is needed its worth changing no matter what the time of year is. This year I did make two somewhat general resolutions though: to Facebook less and to be more active. They are kind of vague but that works for me. I am mostly going to focus on being more active. This doesn't mean hit the gym every day, just to do a little more this year compared to my almost sedentary lifestyle I have been living.

I CONFESS....My kids make me crazy, but they also make me laugh daily so it cancels out the crazy. For example: Kadence ruins just about everything I put on her. (coats, shirts, pants, shoes, bows) BUT then when I am busy being mad she'll say something like 'I want to wear a meatloaf dress like Lady Gaga.' Shes completely joking and is referring to when Lady Gaga wore a dress made out of meat but it makes me laugh all the same. I think humor can change any mood.

I CONFESS...I check my own butt out in the mirror on a daily basis. I feel it's my best asset and try to only buy pants that flatter my butt.

I CONFESS....I love tucking my girls into bed at night. There's something that seems absolutely perfect about chatting for a minute, singing a song, and kissing your babies goodnight. David and I switch off which girl we take and they get our undivided attention for a few peaceful....and sometimes silly....moments. I sure love my family!

Christmas Lights

2011-12-28T15:26:00.000-08:00

As a youngin' I used to go to Temple Square to see the lights. David doesn't remember ever going before meeting me. (Doesn't mean he didn't though) I want to make it a tradition to go with the girls every year. What better way to enjoy the season than walking around and admiring beautiful lights and seeing the different nativities. We went down on a Sunday evening because it was the best day to fit it in and Jeff came along with us. It was fun to see the girls get excited about all the different things.

During our visit, Kadence decided it would be funny to stick her tongue out in almost every picture.
Here's the family....and Kadence's tongue.
The girls admiring the nativity.
It took a while but I got a tongue-free picture

Then we FINALLY went and saw "Big Jesus" as Shelby calls it. Shelby has been absolutely dying to go see "Big Jesus" and repeatedly told us "You promised we would go!" It was so cute because you could tell it was everything she hoped it would be.

I didn't bring my camera, but we also went to Christmas Village which was a tradition for both David and I. Again, it was fun to watch the girls get so excited looking at all the lights and displays. Jeff joined us again too which always makes the girls excited! This was the first year that the girls didn't have to hold our hand the whole time and were able to run to each display. We skip Santa every year because the line is long and its a cold wait. I'd rather see him at the mall. (Which we did two or three times) After Christmas Village it is our new tradition to go to Starbucks and get a white chocolate hot chocolate with peppermint added in. YUM! This year I had gotten a gift card for free from entering codes from our Huggies so it worked out great! The girls haven't like hot chocolate before, but they LOVED the white chocolate. (Although they didn't want any peppermint added in) I love going to both places for lights, and I hope that the girls will continue to love it as they grow up.

Confessional

2011-12-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS....I am overwhelmed by the idea of blogging our Christmas. It isn't that difficult, but it just seems like a lot of work. I do this so that I can have a more permanent way of keeping our memories so I'm sure I will get to it.

I CONFESS....I am so happy to be able to go back to school this semester. I am excited, yet nervous. I haven't had to balance being a mom, taking care of the house, school AND school drop offs/pick ups all at once before. I'm hoping I can balance it all and do well this next semester!

I CONFESS....Our basement used to just be a giant storage shed. I honestly just ignored the fact that it was part of the house to be honest. Our food storage room and laundry room were basically the only rooms that I used in the basement and I shoved anything semi crafty or decorative in my "craft room." That all changed this winter break! I had been slowly clearing out what would be a family room the past month and with David home, the holidays over, and two pretty cooperative kids we finally cleaned the room out....well, mostly. There are still a few things in there that don't go in there, but the girls can go down and play in there now. Because the girls now have somewhere to play downstairs, David and I have been able to spend more time cleaning other areas of our basement. I now have a downstairs bathroom. The girls were so surprised we even had another bathroom. (I'm telling ya, it was bad!) David and I are continuing to work on our respective rooms and are hoping to have them drastically improved before the new year. Of course my craft room and his office will never be clean, they will actually have a function now which is fantastic. This is an embarrassing little confession, but I'm glad I am working on fixing it. :)

Graduation and Gingerbread Men

2011-12-17T21:28:00.000-08:00

We were SO incredibly proud to see Davids brother, Jeff, graduate with his Bachelors! I got Kadence out of school so that we could all be there to support him. I thought of getting the girls in their fancy Christmas dresses but then I realized that would leave me fighting them all day to keep their dress down, keep their legs closed, etc. That seemed like a few fights I would like to avoid so I decided to just put them in purple shirts for Weber State. The girls were so excited to see Jeffy graduate and Shelby even told me "I'm so proud of him." Kadence is excited to graduate Kindergarten now so she can be like Jeff.

Here's Shelby waiting for the ceremony to start

Here's Kadence waiting
Here are Dale, Connie, Elaine, and Judy

Shelby was a little bored by the graduation speeches.

Jeff getting ready to walk

I got a picture of what family was still there at the end

We are so excited to watch Jeff become the amazing teacher we know he will be and are so proud of this accomplishment.

After the graduation we were going to go to decorate gingerbread houses with the Joys. They do this every year and we love going. Unfortunately David wasn't feeling great all day so we didn't end up making it. His pain meds made him feel really woozy and disconnected. He didn't think that he would have a good time. He started feeling a little better toward the end of the night so we decided to decorate gingerbread men at our house. I was sad to miss the family decorating party, but was happy that our girls didn't miss out.

My finished gingerbread man

The girls decorating

Shelbys finished gingerbread man

Kadences finished gingerbread man

Jeff came to decorate too

Jason and Sage came to keep us company...and Brylee slept the whole time in Kadences room

Here's Davids finished project. Its Gingy, chained up, eating Santa (Did I mention he was on pain meds?)

Here is Jeffs finished project

We all had fun, but I'm hoping we can do it with the whole family next year.

A Day Later Than Friday Confessional

2011-12-17T21:14:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS....I absolutely love my kids to death, BUT a great way to rejuvenate this mommy is to get a babysitter and take me on a date! David planned a date for me tonight and it is exactly what I needed in order to be able to show my kids that I do in fact love them. (I get a bit crabby)

I CONFESS....I really really don't like being in front of people. I don't know what it is. I can spill my guts to anyone about anything. I am NOT shy in that sense but I don't like being up there in front of people. It doesn't matter if I'm by myself or with other people, I just don't like it. Some people laugh at me because I was a cheerleader and that's kind of what we had to do...and I did...and I have no idea how I did it. Hmmm, its a mystery. If you want to get me completely embarrassed and uncomfortable just make people look at me. (But please don't because it seriously causes me anxiety!)

I CONFESS....I can't stand shoes/boots! I only like sandals and flip flops. I don't like when my feet are covered up, it freaks me out. I wear flip flops year round rain, snow or shine. People think I'm crazy and my feet DO get ice cold but I would rather that than wear shoes. Because I broke my knee I have been trying to figure out a shoe or boot that will work for me in the snow. I don't want to slip and re injure my knee so I understand that something more than a flip flop IS necessary. I have bought and returned boots because I just can't stand them and I have slipped twice already. Hopefully I can figure something out to get me through the season.

I CONFESS....I wear a tank top under every shirt I own. I like that it sucks in a little of the loose baby belly (YES, I have a yucky mommy tummy) and it also tends to make my boobs look more perky! Both of these reasons for wearing a tank top are thanks to having kids, and I think its a fair exchange. I can manage to wear a tank top for the rest of my life if I get to hug and kiss them every night.

Davids Boo Boo GRAPHIC

2011-12-06T21:24:00.000-08:00

So yesterday while I was helping in Kadences classroom I received a call from David. He told me that he cut the end of his finger with a paper cutter at work. I collected the papers I was cutting at the time for Kadences class and headed out to be with him. Luckily Kadence's teacher is also our Aunt and was willing to keep both girls as long as she needed. (I'm SO grateful for that!) After being confused about where I was supposed to go, I finally arrived at Workmed. David was a little behind me. (The school cop drove him) We arrived and they got us RIGHT back to a room so he could lay down. The looked at him and decided they needed an xray because David thought he had gone through the bone. We could hear him stitching up the guy next to us, who happened to fall off a roof and opened his face pretty good as well as his arm. (GROSS) David was in quite a bit of pain, and all workmed is allowed to give is ibuprofen. David can't have ibuprofen because of his stomach, he had to just manage without anything. (I felt TERRIBLE!) After the xray the dr confirmed that David did indeed go straight through the bone, but that the piece on the other side was small. He wasn't sure what to do and sent us to the ER. (After a pee test of course) The ER did another xray and found the same thing. The piece of bone he cut off was too small to pin so the dr figured they'd just sew it up as well as they could hoping to leave David with a normal-ish looking thumb. Now here comes the graphic pictures....

Sort of self explanatory, but this is his hurt thumb

It cut the bottom part of his thumb, but it also cut almost through quite a bit more of his thumb
Thumbs up!

Here's the thumb unwrapped. You can see how he has thumbnail on either side of the cut.

Here they are cleaning out the blood clots and gauze fragments. Still have nail on each side of the Q-tip...Super gross!

Still cleaning but this is the angle from the tip of his finger

Cleaning it out...

Here's his thumb all cleaned and ready to be stitched.

Here it is after the stitches. 5 inside and 15 outside

After this picture they actually cut a piece of foil to the shape of his nail and put the foil in his nail bed. This will hopefully make it so that he can grow a new fingernail. All in all it was disgusting to watch. I felt terrible for him because he was in so much pain. Luckily the ER was able to give him pain meds and they numbed the whole thumb with a shot. He still hasn't been in much pain at all and can mostly only feel pressure. Now we just wait. Anytime you cut bone you are at an added risk of infection so they have him on antibiotics (also gave him some in his IV) and we will follow up with a hand surgeon on Friday. The hand surgeon will check for infection and will give his advice on the healing process.

David is such a stubborn guy that he insisted on going to work today. Not only that, but I didn't realize that his car was still at work and so he rode his bike. Not that I wouldn't have driven him, he simply didn't tell me. (UGH!) Kadence was already on her way to school, Shelby and I were both awake YET he rode his bike! I think I'm going to kill him before he heals!

Christmas Trees!

2011-11-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

We bought the girls their very own trees a year ago and today was the day we put them up! The girls get SO excited to have thier very own tree in their room. Last year we put Kadence's up first and so this year we started with Shelby. Here she is helping daddy fluff her tree.

We bought each girl a Nutcracker ornament since they went to the Nutcracker for the first time this year, here is Shelbys

Then it was time to decorate it
Ta Da! Happy girl with her tree!
Here's Kadence helping fluff her tree

Here's Kadence's 'Nutcracker' ornament
Decorating her tree

Admiring her work

Another tree finished...Another happy girl!

Silly Girls

2011-11-27T19:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight Shelby decided to take all our Christmas toys out and make a game with them. She laid them in a circle with some Santa pillows through the middle and called it her "Christmas Round-up" game. There were lots of rules involved in this game. First, you had to pet Rudolph before starting. Then, you had to pick up a stuffed animal and hop across the pillows while saying "Ho...Ho...Ho!" Then once you made it to the other side you had to pet the moose, cup your hands around your mouth and say "Merry Christmas to all!" Here are a few pictures of Shelby playing her game. David and I played with her, but Kadence wasn't into it.

Next, Shelby made another game called the Pajama Twist. (Courtesy of the new jammies Grandma and Grandpa Joy gave them) She put everything in a line and would dive from the starting line as far as she could.

She convinced Kadence to try this game with her, but David and I politely declined. :)

I love that we have such silly girls that use their imaginations constantly to make things more fun.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T20:33:00.001-08:00

This year we started our year off by making rice krispie treats. My family has a tradition of having them for breakfast on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I usually make them the night before, but I didn't feel like it so we made them Thanksgiving morning. I let Shelby help me make the ones to send to Grandma and Grandpa Green's house and Kadence helped me make the ones for our house. I of course had to let the girls lick the spoon when they were done helping.

David and I decided to try something else for breakfast. On pinterest a while ago I saw a way to make your own egg mcmuffin at home. I tried, but they didn't taste very good. At least we had rice krispie treats!

Right after breakfast we turned on the Macys Thanksgiving Parade. The girls loved dancing to the music and watching all the floats and balloons.

Then we got ready to head to the Joys for dinner.

We enjoyed dinner with the Joys and then we went to my moms house for desserts with my sisters. We enjoyed all the family time and the yummy food and best of all....NO family drama!

We went home and started our Christmas countdown. I decided that I would make my girls a countdown instead of buying them one. The one I wanted was Littlest Pet Shop and cost $50. I wanted each girl to get their own, so we would have been into it $100. Upon looking closer I realized that it only had THREE pets in the whole countdown and the rest of the days had accessories. (Which get lost or thrown away anyways) I figured I could make a great one for much less than the cost of one. I had already bought princess squinkies for the girls stockings so I figured that would be good toward the countdown. Then I bought a big pack of Littlest Pet Shop for $18 and it has 15 pets. Then we bought some Barbie squinkies, a few more pets and then some Walkable pets. WALA! I made some countdown blocks and each time we change it, they each get a prize! Totally worth the excitement!

As we sat there, David and Jeff were talking about great deals on the xbox 360. David decided to go see if he could get one from Hastings with some of the Christmas money his parents gave us and some money we decided we could live without....hopefully. :) Well when they got to Hastings at 9 they had just given out the last one. DANG! They then headed over to Walmart figuring it would be the same, but nope....they got a ticket! We thought David would have to sit and wait until midnight because that was when they were supposed to start the electronic deals, but they let them go at 10pm which was awesome considering I was keeping the girls up until he got home. The girls and I snuggled up on the couch and watched a few Christmas movies. I asked each girl their favorite part of the day and Kadence said, "Everything we have" and Shelby said, "The Pie!" David had another hour wait in the checkout, but still got home and got the girls in bed before midnight so it was better than we thought. Here he is with his prize...

Today we decided we would decorate a little more and cook my parents a Thanksgiving dinner. The girls LOVED seeing all our "new" Christmas toys. Each one made them squeal and it was so fun!

We enjoyed our 2nd Thanksgiving dinner and the girls were so excited to watch Frosty with Grandma. I told them that they had to wait because thats my moms favorite Christmas cartoon. After Frosty we watched the Lady Gaga Thanksgiving special. Kadence idolizes Lady Gaga. She asks constantly if she can change her name to Lady Gaga when she gets older. She tells me "I want to BE her" and loves to sing along to her songs. Well, Kadences grandpa also likes Lady Gaga so it was perfect. Kadence preformed the whole time and was so funny to watch. She pretended to have a mic and sang and danced along. It was a good little evening.

Thanksgiving is such a great time to remind us to show gratitude for the things we have been blessed with. We try to do it year round, but during November we make it a bigger priority. Remembering how fortunate we are is a great way to go into the Christmas season. It is so important for us to teach our girls to give to those who are less fortunate. My girls seem to genuinely appreciate what they have and I hope that they maintain their gracious attitude as they get older.

The Nutcracker

2011-11-25T19:51:00.000-08:00

Two years ago David and I attended the Nutcracker together. I needed to attend concerts for my music class and the Nutcracker counted because it has a live symphony. I used to go with my sister, Amanda, and was excited to go with David. He liked it, but was DYING to take our girls the following year. I still felt they were too young to sit through a 2 hour ballet and so we didn't go last year. This year we didn't have the money to go, so we figured we would try for next year. Well as luck would have it, Davids Aunt Barb called last week and offered tickets for our family. Our only stipulation was that we would need to take the girls 7 year old cousin Maddie. That sounded great to us because the girls love being around Maddie.

We got the girls all dressed up in their new Christmas dresses so that they could go see their very first ballet.

ALL of the girls were absolutely amazing! They were quiet and well behaved despite their excitement. Unfortunately the people behind us weren't. I am someone who HATES when people are noisy, kick my chair, etc. The people behind us had 3 kids ranging from (I'm guessing) 9-12. The mom and one daughter talked through the whole show......and I'm not talking whispered, they talked in a normal voice. "Look there is a feather on his head, oh he's waving, wow, oh I love her pink, etc" It was ridiculous! Then there was a constant kicking to the back of my chair that only stopped when the feet were placed on the top of my seat back. (I thought people only did that to vacant seats) Then for the second half the kids kept switching seats which meant we got hit in the back of the head as they did. Needless to say, I left with a headache and a great appreciation for our girls. We ended the adventure with ice cream which made me nervous because they were in their dresses, but you're only little once. It was a fantastic experience and I'm so grateful that Barb allowed us to use her tickets. The kids loved it and I loved watching them.

Friday Confessional

2011-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

I CONFESS....I have been avoiding blogging because there are SO many things I feel I need to blog that it is overwhelming. I had a friend that asked me to start my confessions again, so I figured that would be a good start. I don't think I'm going to "catch up" on blogging, but I will try to keep a little more up to date from here on out.

I CONFESS....I really really like the smell of turkey cooking in the oven. I don't know why it seems to smell better than anything else. I think that and the smell of rolls are two of my favorite smells. It makes me feel like I am somewhere warm, cozy and full of love.

I CONFESS....I struggle at times knowing that others DO have their trials. Just because there life looks AMAZING to me, doesn't mean that it is. And just because they don't have the same struggles as I do, doesn't mean they don't struggle. It just sometimes seems like the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, but I know its just spray painted. I LOVE my life and I wouldn't trade it with anyone. I know that I am never given more than I can handle and I have a great support system to help me through.

I CONFESS....I am so VERY excited for the Christmas season! I love watching my girls get excited as we have started to put up decorations. Every item we pull out they say "We've never seen that before" even though we've had it every year they've been alive. I love the movies, the spirit of giving, watching my girls play with their nativity and act it out, the lights, the music, teaching the girls to give to others, buying presents, and the anticipation of SANTA.

Stake Conference

2011-10-30T21:34:00.000-07:00

Today was our Stake Conference....which I dread! It is just SO hard to entertain young kids for 2 hours without a break. We didn't go to the last Stake Conference because it seemed too stressful. Now its even more difficult because we can't meet at the tabernacle since its not in use due to construction. I like the tabernacle because when the kids get rowdy you just take them to the back to wander and maybe take a walk around the temple. Its a good peaceful way to still keep the spirit (As best you can while frustrated) during the long 2 hour meeting.

So this conference was held in our stake center which to me sounded like a nightmare. It doesn't fit the same amount of people comfortably. I knew right away that if we went, I wanted a bench! I didn't care what it took, I really really wanted a bench. With a bench it is easier to keep the kids entertained without dropping crayons off the back of the chair. So we went to bed Saturday with a game plan: David would wake up, get ready, and go save us a bench. I would then get myself and the girls ready and go meet him there.

Everything went smoothly. David got a bench! Even better, he got a bench behind Barb, Crista, Brian and Janis! AWESOME! I was able to get the girls ready without any tears and we arrived 10 minutes early. (I hate being late) The girls wanted to sit by Barb so I allowed. They were a little back and forth between the two benches but not so much that they were a distraction. They may have chatted to Barb and made her miss bits and pieces of the talks, but overall they were absolutely AMAZING! I didn't think we would make it without me leaving completely frustrated. I packed a good bag, we had great family who helped and supplied many treats, and I was able to enjoy and listen to most of every talk. SUCCESS! I am so happy to have my kids at an age where they are able to sit through a long (boring to them) meeting and behave well the whole time.

I enjoyed the talks very much. All of them had lessons to be learned and taught me things I could improve on. I left feeling like I was able to make some positive changes in my life. One thing that stuck with me is something President Monson said. It wasn't exactly the topic of his talk, but he said it and I liked it. " A friend is more focused on helping others than getting credit." This is something that I try to do. I grew up with a mom who taught me how important service is. I don't know how many times I heard the phrase "Service with a smile" (which sometimes made me want to scream) I enjoyed serving others and I loved knowing that I helped those who needed it. From things like charity donations to simple things like babysitting for free. I have always had a love of helping others. My mom always taught me that when you serve others you will be blessed in return. THOSE blessing are your recognition from God and you need no other recognition. If I received a "thank you" I was thrilled because you could always tell by the tone of voice that it was sincere and the person appreciated what you did. If I did something anonymously, I knew that they would be happy when they were surprised with my little act of service. All in all, service has been a big part of my life. The biggest lesson I learned was that you need no thanks or recognition for the things you do for others. Simply do it because you were inspired to do it, asked to do, or even told to do it. And yes.....you should do it willfully and happily and even with a smile. :)

When President Monson said that "A friend is more focused on helping others than getting credit" I thought of times where people seem to flaunt or brag about the fact that they went out of their way to help someone. To me when you do this, you are serving for the wrong reason. You should not serve to feel superior or to get everybody's applause, you should do it because you care deeply about the welfare of others. To me when you boast about doing service, the attention you get from those complimenting you IS your blessing. I know that none of this is necessarily the teachings of the church and simply my OWN opinion, but hey it is MY blog after all. I just figured I would share a little thought that has been on my mind all day.

I am so glad that my mom taught me to serve. I am also very glad that Davids parents taught him the same. Service is so important and you never know how hard of a time someone may be having. A simple smile, phone call, note or treat may be the one thing that keeps someone going for the week. I hope that I can teach my girls the same as mine and David's parents taught us. And I hope that somehow I can teach them that allowing someone to serve you is just as important. My mom is a stubborn ol' bird and it took her a very long time to learn that lesson. I have just recently started to allow others to serve me and am still quite stubborn about it. (But getting better) I hope that through each generation we will get less stubborn....but I won't hold my breath!

Red Ribbon Week

2011-10-27T21:39:00.000-07:00

So this week is red ribbon week in Ogden School District. (And everywhere else I'm pretty sure) Kadence's school wears red bracelets instead of actual ribbons. They are waterproof and kind of like a hospital bracelet. When I picked her up from school she was tugging at it like it was bugging her. Then this is the conversation we had:

Me: Kadence you need to leave that on for 5 days and then we'll cut it off.

Kadence: NO, I can't cut it off until I'm a mom

Me: You only have to wear it for a week, we'll cut it off before Halloween.

Kadence: No mom, Mrs. Joy told me that only moms and dads can cut it off so I have to wait until I'm a mom.

I just about died laughing, she just doesn't catch on to things too quickly sometimes. I told her that I could cut it off of her at the end of the week. I figured that would be a funny enough thing to remember, but then the day just got better. Barb (Mrs Joy) came up to me and told me that she was teaching them that they shouldn't drink or do drugs but that when they are older they can make whatever decision they choose. (Ya have to be sensitive to kids who may have parents that do) Then Kadence said, "I will tell my sister Shelby that we can NOT drink any more of Grandpas beer!" Well Barb happens to be this particular Grandpas sister and she knew darn well that Kadence was confused. THANK heavens because had it been anyone else they may have been seriously concerned. (For good reason) So not only did Kadence think she needed to be a mom before she could cut off her bracelet, but now she thinks the bracelet is to remind her not to drink Grandpas non existent beer.

The whole way home she would NOT let it go. She talked about it the whole 10 minute drive home. She told me how she can't drink grandpas beer, Shelby shouldn't either, and that when grandpa asks she will tell him NO! She also told me that some of her friends drink beer and it makes her sad. (WHAT?!) I didn't correct her because I wanted her to tell David. Then it was too funny not to catch on video so I got out the camera. ENJOY!

So right after this we explained that grandpa doesn't have beer. He drinks Pepsi which is kind of like Coke. We also told her that she could drink root beer. We think that is really what she is talking about so we figured we'd clear that up as well. Even though we keep telling her that she can drink what Grandpa gives her and that Grandpa doesn't drink beer she STILL 4 days later talks about not drinking grandpas beer. This will be something I will never forget. What a silly girl!

A Few Videos

2011-10-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

So I figured it had been a while since I had posted videos of some of my kids, so here it goes!

This first video is of Shelby telling the 5 little pumpkin poem. She loves this and it is so cute to me when she does it. ENJOY!

Here is Kadence singing one verse of Going on a Bear hunt. Try to ignore that she starts out going through a jello swamp and ends up saying its hard to get through peanut butter. Also try to ignore the fact that its sideways. :)

New Brace!

2011-10-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

This morning we headed down to Shriners to get Kadence's new brace. We were a little worried because the last brace didn't come back the same pattern as she had chosen. We were HOPING that this time they would get it right. We woke up bright and early to head down to our 9am appointment. When I woke Shelby up she looked at me and said, "But mom, the sun is still down." I felt the same way. It was so hard to roll my sorry butt out of bed because it was cold out. We got out on time so we stopped to get free breakfast sandwiches at McDonalds....thank you Monopoly game pieces!

We got back to our room and before the girls could even unpack their backpacks of things to entertain them the orthopedist came in with the RIGHT brace! She was so excited and kept telling him "Thank you for getting the right one!" We got it adjusted and adjusted some more and then it was time to head to x-ray. Even though we had been there for more than two hours the girls behaved so well that I didn't even need to give them their new toy I purchased to distract from the long day. (AWESOME!) We got done with xrays at a little after 11 and weren't supposed to be to the clinic to see our Dr until 1:30. We knew there would be about 2 hours between appointments and just planned on eating lunch during that time. We lucked out because our orthopedist went and asked the Dr if he would just take us then. He said yes and I was so happy!

The Dr analyzed the brace, compare the new xrays to past xrays and then discussed everything with us. We expected for her curve to be a higher degree because of two reasons. First, she hasn't gone brace to brace ever and her back used to regress even while in a brace. Second, when she was molded for this new brace she was awake and it wasn't in traction. (They always mold her in traction, under anesthesia before they apply her new casts) In my head I had prepared to hear her curve went from 50 degrees up to 60 or so degrees. Imagine my delight when the Dr told us that her new brace is holding her at 47 degrees. WHAT?! That is so amazing! He then said that he doesn't think that there is any reason why we shouldn't continue going brace to brace. We will watch her curve with continued xrays to make sure she doesn't get drastically worse and if she does we would just apply a cast to re correct the curve. We will go back in 6 months to chat with the Dr in clinic and also to mold her for another brace. (Unless there is a problem and then we go in sooner) I am so happy that the decision we made was the right one and that things are going so well.

We headed back to orthopedics to give her brace a few more tweaks based on what the Dr wanted. I'm thrilled with one of the tweaks. She used to have a part of the brace that went pretty high on her back, but didn't really even touch her back. One of the pads puts it too far away so it didn't seem to do anything. I just figured I wasn't a dr and didn't understand what it was there for. The Dr said it wasn't doing anything and asked the orthopedist to cut it off. YAY! It makes it less noticeable that she even has a brace on and makes it so she can finally put her own shirt on.

We loved that things went better than we were planning on, the appointment was shorter than we planned for, and most importantly that Kadence LOVES her new brace and can't wait to show it to everyone.

Joys of Being a Mommy

2011-10-12T23:20:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this blog was created to take you on not just the "ups" but also the "downs" of being a mommy and the joy in the journey along the way. So here is another honest post.

David and I haven't been the best at attending all of our meetings at church. Since I injured my knee we basically didn't attend church at all. We managed to make it to church the Sunday before conference, but missed the first class. (Better late than never I guess) We discussed it on Saturday evening and there was no reason we couldn't make it to church by 9:00 am if I could get the girls up and ready to get Kadence to school by 8:40. SO, we had a great game plan that sounded pretty easy to accomplish. WRONG! We woke up, got the girls up and it seems like everything started going wrong after that. It was cold and I hadn't thought about that yet so all we had were summer dresses. I finally found some skirts I could make work if I just added tights. Well one the skirt was too short on Kadence but at this point we didn't have enough time to change her. Then the tights were too small, but again we had to go with what we had. So Kadence had the tights seam hanging midway to her knees which also happened to mean it was hanging out her skirt. Luckily I had some church shoes that I had bought a while back that fit them. (That was nice!) David started getting a bag ready for church, but it was the wrong bag....according to me. :) It was time to leave and I was still in my underwear and the girls hair was less than fantastic. I sent David and the girls on their way and stayed home to get dressed. UGH! There went our plan to attend all our meetings. I finally got to church and by this time I had a big headache so I wasn't even able to listen too well to the lesson. Then we went to get our girls from class and the constant "Kadence keep your legs closed" began. It was almost impossible to keep her legs closed and that's even with tights that were too small. My poor girls probably looked like orphans. At the end of sacrament we noticed Kadence felt a little warm but we figured it was because she is warm and clammy by nature. My goodness! If this isn't "One of those days" as a mom I don't know what is! When we got home Kadence's cough started to sound pretty bad and she got a fever. My kids don't get fevers too often so I knew she was sick. I took her to the Dr the next day and we found out she had walking pneumonia. Needless to say we are still going to try to make it to ALL of our meetings and I will try to be better prepared this Sunday. I don't know why getting kids ready on Sunday is more difficult than any other day, but it just is!

A Little Venting...

2011-10-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

I've always been told its better to write things down and get them out of your system vs holding it all in. Well, I don't plan on writing anything because it makes my hands hurt, so blogging it is the second best thing. A while ago I decided that I wanted to get out of the house for a while at least once a month. It makes me a better mom when I can spend some time away. David mentioned possible going out to eat with some of the ladies in the neighborhood....BRILLIANT! Or at least I thought. I messaged all the ladies in my ward and asked them if it was something they would be interested in. I also let them know that it would be a consistent date each month so they could plan around it. I got an overwhelming reply of YES and that it was something they needed as well. I was so excited to know that I wasn't the only one who wanted to leave my family for a few hours each month. It also was great to know that people wanted to join me. I have a hard time making friends and so this was huge for me to put myself out there and invite people. The first month was approaching and so I set up an "event" on facebook. Most people ignored it, a few declined and when it came down to it only myself and one other person went to eat. I didn't so much mind because things come up, people get busy, etc and most people said that they would still love to go next month. I also liked having time to catch up with Amy since we hadn't seen each other in quite some time. She's an amazing gal and we've had some similar experiences that make me feel close to her. We enjoyed our dinner, our chatting, and most importantly the time without kids smacking our leg for attention. :) The designated date was approaching again for this month so I again set up an "event." More people ignored than last time. Actually only about 5 people even acknowledged the event this time. I really appreciate those who decline and I don't even care if they give me a reason. It allows me to know who saw the event and I think its respectful to RSVP. I mean, seriously....back 100 years ago if you didn't RSVP you were looked down upon. It was very rude. Now people just come....or don't come....or maybe will show up for a few minutes, but you never have a good idea on how many to plan for. Anyways, it was back to being just Amy and I again which I was kind of excited about. Amy got sick and needed to stay home to rest so unfortunately she wasn't going to be meeting me for dinner. So basically out of about 20 or more people not a single person decided it would be a good idea to join me for dinner. It's kind of hard not to take it personally. I didn't know how people would feel about it in the first place which is why I sent out a message asking who would want to go before hand. I don't understand why everyone was so excited and eager to join me and each month I get one person or nobody who will join me. This is exactly why I don't put myself out there and why I don't go out of my way to get to know people. It usually just ends in disappointment. Today I could have really used a friend. It's my brothers birthday today. He passed away in 1992 and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of him. Probably more so now that I am older, married, have kids, etc. I wonder what role he would have played in my life and the life of my kids. Would he have come to visit often? Would he have lived close to us? Would he be proud of me? His birthday is very emotional for me and I just wish her were here. I wish the girls could have made him cupcakes and put handfuls of sprinkles on top. I wish he were here to keep me company when nobody else would. Needless to say, I could have really used a friend and some company today. This will probably go down as the toughest birthday because David will be gone to parent teacher conferences all night long. Oh well, it makes me appreciate the VERY few but very good friends that I do have and makes me appreciate my loved ones who are still here. I love them all so much!

Friday Confessional

2011-09-23T14:58:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS......I love that Shelby and Kadence are so different from each other. Shelby likes catching grasshoppers while Kadence only likes to look. Kadence loves princesses and fairies while Shelby likes villains. Shelby will tell me all about what she did at school and Kadence always says, 'I don't remember.' They have a lot of similarities, but I'm so glad they are two completely different kids who approach things in a different way.

I CONFESS......I only shave my legs about once a week at best. I just don't have enough time to. I mostly just try to make it through my entire shower without a kid coming in to interrupt. It grosses me out considering I used to shave my legs daily and sometimes even twice a day. Poor David!

I CONFESS.....I don't think I ever miss an episode of Ellen. Sometimes I'm 10 episodes behind, but eventually I get through them all. I sure love that show!

I CONFESS.....I get stressed everytime we go anywhere so I usually start our adventures in a pretty crabby mood. Not only to I get to get myself ready, but the girls as well. David gets himself and his bag (if necessary) packed and then he's done. I'm left scrambling to get everything else ready. Ah well, he can't be great at everything right?

BIG Decision!

2011-09-22T11:48:00.000-07:00

Over the past two weeks David and I have been trying to make a decision on where to go next with Kadence's treatment for scoliosis. It has been very stressful and very difficult.

Lets rewind to almost two weeks ago. It was a great Saturday afternoon and we received a letter in the mail from Shriners. As I opened it up, my heart sank. It was a letter telling us that we would now be responsible for all copays and deductibles and anything in excess of what our insurance pays. Well, this is a huge deal because our insurance doesn't cover ANYTHING done at Shriners. So basically we had to start thinking of what we could do. Since it was a Saturday we tried to push it out of our minds until Monday when we could call the number on the bottom of the letter to see what was going on. We hoped it was just a letter sent by accident or something....although we knew that wasn't the case. We were in a little denial.

Monday came quickly and I was in charge of making the call. I called and asked what we would do since our insurance doesn't cover any of the visits. The woman told me that they would try to work with us based on our income, but basically it was the same as any other hospital. You can get them to write off an amount and you pay the remaining balance. This was not good because Kadence's care costs well over $20,000 a year. We had no idea what to do.

I quickly got my mind brainstorming EVERY possibility. We could:

Stay at Shriners and try to pay- almost impossible

Stay for one last cast, then leave- meaning we would pay over $4,000

Go to Primary Childrens-We hated the Dr we had before

So with each one of these decisions also came other decisions. It was beyond stressful. When I called to get an appointment with Primary Childrens I mentioned that I didn't want the same Dr as before. Luckily there is one more Scoliosis Dr there so we could try him. I wanted to set up a consultation to try to help us make a good decision. Kadences back was too bad for them to really handle well, but that was 3 years ago and she has made some improvements since then. Unfortunately the soonest they could get us in was Nov. 3. This posed another problem because Kadence is growing out of her brace already and its starting to cause bruising. SO we were again faced with another decision. Do we wait until then and talk to the Dr....OR do we go get a brace from the orthotic company in the meantime and then go to the new Dr?

We decided on getting a new brace while we waited and then going to visit with the new Dr. The orthotic company explained they would need a prescription from Shriners stating that she was outgrowing her brace so they could get pre-authorization from our insurance. Oh goodness, this was becoming a headache!

David decided to call the care coordinator to ask for the prescription. He then explained why we would need to leave Shriners. Our care coordinator, Angie, said that we didn't have to leave. We could take a "means test" that would qualify us to still receive free care. WHAT?! We are days later, tons of prayers later, I got very little sleep for days and it could be back to normal?! Why didn't the other lady tell us that?! David did the means test over the phone and we are able to go to Shriners like nothing had happened before.

Great, right? NOPE. I immediately got a terrible feeling about going on with the casting as scheduled. During all our decision making we tried to weigh the pros and cons of every situation and in fact we were never listing getting a cast as a good thing. The past 3 casts have done the same exact thing and the brace she currently is in is holding her in a better spot than the last cast did. David and I had already decided that at her next casting we would ask the Dr if it was effective any more and if we could try going from brace to brace. Kadence has been super positive through all of this UNTIL this summer. She hates it and has a little bit of a hard time now. It is effecting her emotionally and mentally and we were told that would usually happen at 5 anyways. They try to make the smallest impact socially on the child so when it becomes a problem they stop casting. (We were just hoping we could go longer with her positive happy attitude.) I had received many blessings about the decision and basically one told me that David would be there to help me weigh the options and to give his input, but I would know what was the best thing for Kadence. (What a huge weight on my shoulders) They also said that I would feel calm and be confident in whatever decision I made.

Because I wasn't feeling calm or confident in resuming with Shriners as usual we decided not to. We called up the care coordinator and asked if we would be able to go from brace to brace there. She said she would ask Kadence's Dr's and let us know. After days of the Drs being in the OR all day, she finally caught up with them. Today we found out Kadence's Dr's gave the go ahead to go from brace to brace. HALLELUJAH! It is a decision I am very confident in, we have prayed about, and we are so comfortable with the staff that takes care of Kadence at Shriners.

Of course there could always be the need to go back to the castings, but we're going to try this out and see how it goes. Luckily the orthotics is inside of the hospital so they always do xrays the same day to make sure the brace is fitting in a way that is beneficial. I think that Shriners will keep a much better eye on her progress and help us make the best decision for her. Thank you all so much for your prayers and concern and most importantly your support and love. We couldn't do this without loving family and friends backing us up!

FUNNY GIRLS!

2011-09-14T21:42:00.000-07:00

So Shelby has been struggling to poop....on the potty. Now she is so nervous about pooping her pants that she will sit on the toilet until I make her come off. (I made her clean herself up once and she did NOT like it) While she was sitting there tonight, she started investigating her body a little. She started yelling something at me so I went into the bathroom. We then had this conversation:

Shelby: MOM, it has a hole in it! (As she is touching herself to show me!)

Me: Honey that is so your pee can come out. It's your vagina. (OK, I know that it isn't her vagina, but I didn't know what else to call it.)

Shelby: My Bagina? I'm scared of Baginas!!!

Me: Honey it's ok, girls have vagina's and daddy has a penis.

Shelby: A Penis? I want to see it!

Me: No honey, you don't look at anyone else's naked body. Then I re-explained only Dr's, mom, dad, and herself can look at her naked body.

Shelby: I don't like Baginas. (She said this like she was so disgusted)

It was so hard not to laugh at her because she was really concerned, kind of freaked out, and VERY serious. Oh I'm so happy to have such a funny story to tell my future son in law!

Another hilarious thing happened tonight. Kadence was invited to a birthday party directly following school. I was a little nervous because Kadence needs a little rest time before doing anything because she is so exhausted when she gets home. I went over some party etiquette on the drive over. (Use your manners, don't throw fits, not everyone can win games, etc) She seemed like she was in a pretty good mood so I left her to have fun. When I went to pick her up the mom then apologized for traumatizing my child. I knew that there was nothing that she could have done to traumatize Kadence, but I was curious. She then explained that Kadence went to the bathroom and everyone went to open presents and sing Happy Birthday. She then realized that Kadence was still gone and went to find her in the bathroom....bawling. Their bathroom door sticks and Kadence couldn't get it open. She got stuck in the bathroom!!! HA HA HA! It makes me laugh so hard! She obviously wasn't too traumatized because she was so happy when I showed up. Even when she told us about the party she never once mentioned getting stuck in the bathroom. When I told her to tell daddy about getting stuck in the bathroom she said, "I got stuck and I freaked out!"

Its days like today that I'm so happy to be a mom because having kids makes your life so entertaining.

Friday Confessional

2011-09-10T09:56:00.000-07:00

Oops, after weeks of remembering I forgot to post this yesterday. Better late than never I guess.

I CONFESS.....I am not a spontaneous person. It causes me anxiety if things aren't planned....and over planned. I have been making a big effort to try and realize things are sometimes more fun if they aren't planned. You get lost, stores might not even be open like you thought, and you are forced to make instant decisions sometimes. All of those things add to the excitement. When you plan things out you tend to get more frustrated when things don't go just right. I hope I can keep making an effort because the whole family has more fun when mom isn't stressing over things not going perfectly.

I CONFESS.....I am terrified of puke! It's an actual full blown phobia. I know that few, if any, are ok with vomit but mine is extreme. I can't function if someone in our house is sick....or someone I was around within a week get sick. It's ridiculous! I even have blacked out and almost passed out when our kids have gotten sick. I simply don't do well with it, but I am getting a tiny bit better. Kadence was sick last night and I didn't cover our entire house with Lysol. Usually I go through an entire big can in two days. I know I'm crazy, but I can't help it!

I CONFESS.....even though j miss the baby/toddler stages, I love the stage we're at now. We can go just about anywhere with our kids and 9/10 times they behave pretty well. When we promise them we'll go somewhere and something happens to where we can't, they understand and don't get too upset. They are fun to play with in a different way than a baby. Their imaginations are amazing and they come up with some hilarious scenarios. They explore in a different way and I love it. I'm not saying I wouldn't take another baby if one was offered to me, but I am realizing I'm happy with where we are currently. Our family has changed, but in a good way.

Things To Remember

2011-09-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

So my kids say and do things that I think I will never forget, but I'm learning I will forget most of it. I occasionally write a bit of it down so here it goes!

As part of Kadences 'homework time' I have her spell words on the fridge with our magnet letters. Writing isnt her strong point so this makes it easier for her to keep going in an area she is great at. She's to the point she can spell most 2 and 3 letter words that have phonetic sounds. (run, ox, ten, fan, etc) While we were doing this the other day I asked her to try 'sand.' (We've started into 4 letters but it's a little tough) She got the S and the A put together and said the sounds to figure out what came next. "ssssssaaaaa.....MOM, we have a Sebastian at my school and he's NOT a crab!" I laughed so hard! We never finished spelling sand but at least I got a good laugh!

Today as I was getting Shelby ready for Preschool, she dropped to the floor, face down, hands behind her back and said 'Mom the Smurfs tied me up so I can't get ready for preschool!' it took some talking into but I finally talked the Smurfs into letting her go to school.

Tonight we talked with the girls about Temples and why they are so important. We will be visiting the Logan Temple tomorrow as a family to celebrate the anniversary of our sealing. It's a little difficult to explain to a 3 year old but I think they really started to understand. As we knelt for family prayer Kadence volunteered. She included 'Thank you for everyone who got sealed and for Shelby, me, mommy and daddy being sealed.' It was done without any prompting, and it made me so happy. I'm glad she's so grateful at such a young age.

We went on a walk around the neighborhood the other day and as we started up our hill Shelby asked, 'Are we going to the mountains?! I
want to go to the top of the mountains so I can catch scary spiders....and KILL them!' (That's my Shelby!)

Today when Barb dropped Kadence off after school she was very excited to show me a bug in a little plastic case. According to Kadence....It started out as a live bug that crawled on her and a girl in her class helped catch it. Then a boy that's not in her class gave her the plastic container to keep it in. As the day went on, the bug died. That didnt bother Kadence one bit! She just talked about her dead pet and showed many of the teachers at school. I feel bad that Barb had to admit she was related to the girl who was thrilled she had a dead pet! She showed everyone, took it out and asked people to touch it, and lost it a few times at home before we put a ban on taking it out of the case.

Not only did Kadence come home with a dead pet, but a stick in her pants! I asked David to take her brace off and as he pulled her pants down a stick came out! Now I'm not talking a wood chip from the playground, but a 5 or 6 inch stick!

I love my girls so much and I love the way they can make me laugh. I just can't get enough of my family. They mean so much to me and I am happy to have them forever!

As If Kindergarten Wasn't Bad Enough...

2011-09-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

My BABY started Preschool today! Isn't there a rule about having such big milestones too close together? First Kindergarten and now preschool? Ugh, I don't like this part of being a mommy. Shelby has been super excited to start school and has waited as patient as she could the past week while Kadence was in school. Today was her turn! We set out her clothes last night and she was able to pick the new shirt of her choice. We had it all laid out....backpack and all. She was a little bit nervous but for the most part extremely excited. This morning she had a VERY hard time being patient. 11:30 couldn't have come fast enough for her. I took some pictures and we loaded into the car. As we were backing out of the driveway, this is how our conversation went:

Shelby: I'm not going to cry mom

Me: Oh good, that makes me happy

Shelby: And I don't want you to cry either because you have pictures.

Seriously? I just can't get enough of her! Here she is all ready to go!

Again, David finds any way possible to be there for the very first day of school. I love that he is such an amazing dad! (The sun was a little bright)
My friend Megan's son was able to get in to the preschool even though it didn't look like he was going to be able to. I was SO excited. Megan and I grew up together, our moms were super close, and so now I am looking forward to spending some 'mom time' with Megan and having our kids grow up together too.

Shelby came out happy, tired and full of stories. Unlike Kadence, she tells me all about her day. They read a story about Monsters. Happy monsters, sad monsters, scary monsters.....but the happy ones were her favorite. She was so excited about the foam visor she made and when we went outside she made sure to wear it. She is such a funny, interesting little girl and I am so happy she enjoys school.

Hard Stuff

2011-09-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

I don't think that it is ever easy to lose somebody you love, but unfortunately it does happen. I keep wishing David could have met my brother, David, and my Grandpa Sartor. I also wish that I would have had the opportunity to meet Davids Grandpa Neal, Great Grandma Neal, and Grandma Joy. All of which he talks about often. I know they must have been amazing people, but I wish I could have sat down and had a conversation with them. I wish they could have watched David become a father and see how he's an amazing dad. I know they are super proud of him and all he has accomplished!

The hardest part for me is that I don't have tons of stories of my brother. I can't explain much to David because I was so little when he died. I know that he was really caring, and was an amazing big brother. He had an enormous heart. He was really smart, but didn't like school. He didn't attend school regularly and often was in trouble at school. I know he loved the outdoors. I know he loved all his siblings very much and took us all under his wing when my parents divorced. I remember camping with him, I remember him teaching me to head bang and having me demonstrate for his friends. I remember him eating toast with chili. I remember really odd things about him but not much. I try to teach the girls that they have an Uncle named David that lives with Heavenly Father, but they don't understand. We have taken them to his grave, and try to teach them but they don't quite get it. I don't have any pictures of him which is the worst part. I am a picture kind of person. I take pictures of EVERYTHING. Unfortunately 19 years ago pictures were taken here and there because things weren't digital and so it was expensive to take pictures and then who knows if they would even turn out. Especially because my family is good at cutting people out of pictures on accident. (Thank goodness for digital!) I wish I could remember my brother well enough to tell David all about him, but I just can't. I wish that I had pictures to hang in the girls rooms so they could grow up knowing they have another uncle, but I just can't. Unfortunately life is short, and we aren't able to keep everyone here forever.

Sorry for the sappy, depressing post......It's honest and vulnerable and how I have been feeling lately. Don't take life for granted, don't take time you have with those who mean the most to you for granted, and live each day remembering what REALLY matters. And lastly....take too many pictures regardless of who makes fun of you! :)

First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-09-05T20:52:00.000-07:00

I can NOT believe my baby is old enough to go to Kindergarten! She has been so excited to go and I have been excited for her. The night before the big day she had added a little more stress to her already stressed out mommy. Her retainer of fake teeth that she has had for over a year started falling out. Really? The day before her elementary premiere her teeth have to fall out? She couldn't go to her first day without her front teeth. I was so freaked out! Luckily we have an amazing dentist who was able to sneak us in to the office in the morning so we could still get her to school on time. I wasn't thrilled that I had to get up even earlier, but at least my baby had all her teeth secure!

Here are the girls on our way out for our busy morning

She was seriously BEAMING with excitement on the way to the dentist
Dentist Cam got us back quick and re-cemented her retainer in. We can NOT say enough nice things about him so if you need a pediatric dentist let me know and I'll get you his info!

After the dentist we left for school. It was pretty busy so we parked a little bit away and walked....but not before pictures.

I look really awkward in this picture because I can't completely squat down to their level, but hey that's what happens when you break your knee. And yes, I DO indeed drop my kids off to school in my PJ's. I would whether I had a broken knee or not so don't judge me!

The best part of the first day of school for us is that no matter how difficult it is, David always finds a way to be there. He had another teacher watch his class so that he could be there for the all important first day of Kindergarten. I'm glad he knows how important it is that he be there and that he goes to great lengths to make sure he can be there to send them off on their big day.

She had a fantastic day and was VERY tired when I picked her up. Being at school all day will be an adjustment, but it will be great for her. Plus she happens to have one of the most amazing teachers EVER....her most favorite Aunt Barb! (Miss Joy)

Friday Confessional

2011-09-02T19:21:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I'm really really proud of my incredibly smart husband. He does so well in school. He recently lost his 4.0, but after 5 semesters he still has a 3.9 GPA. I just think it's amazing that he does so well considering he has a job and family as well. I'm hoping the girls got his brains because I'm not great at school. Proud of ya David, love you!

I CONFESS....I haven't really ever been crafty but I have been attempting it lately. Although I am not great, I am improving. Tasks others found easy used to be super hard for me but now I manage to get it done. Hopefully I will continue to get better because it really boosts my self esteem when I finish a project. It doesn't always look perfect....and to be honest sometimes it doesn't even look good....but it's mine and something I did myself.

I CONFESS....I have realized after a few posts whining that I don't have a super, great, amazing friend.....that I actually do. Not just one but a few. There are a few people that I can be 100% myself around and I know they won't go running for the hills. I'm grateful for their friendship and for them letting me into their lives and taking such great care of me and my family.

I CONFESS.....I love Halloween. It might be my favorite holiday. If not my favorite a close second to Christmas. I'm so happy that Shelby loves it as much as David and I do. It's not even all about the candy for her, she loves the spiders, witches, pumpkins, and of course 'Nightmare Before Christmas.' she went shopping for Halloween crafts with me and has helped me paint a few and she keeps insisting we finish them and display them. I tell her not for a while because it isn't Halloween time yet, but it's hard for me not to take her excitement and run with it. I can't wait until we can go to pumpkin walks, carve pumpkins, go to corn mazes, and dress our girls up in their costumes and take them trick-or-treating. I'm excited already!

New Room

2011-08-29T22:14:00.000-07:00

So we decided we shouldn't spend the money to go to Disneyland this October....BOOO!! We just have other places the money should go. Because of this, I still wanted to do something nice for the girls. I have been dying to remove the Sesame Street mural off of Kadence's wall. It was kind of cute when we moved in and she was 14 months old. Now, it's far from cute. My girls don't even watch Sesame Street anymore so I wanted this giant ugly thing gone and a more age appropriate room for Kadence. Here's a picture of the lovely wall:

We started the day after Shelby got her tonsils removed. Probably not the best idea, but hey who said we thought it out? The girls LOVE to help in this kind of situation so we bought two little rollers for them so they could help prime the wall. (After hours of sanding the goopy nasty paint-thanks David!)

There was something else that was really bothering me in her room. There is an intercom that is probably from the 70's. When David went to remove it we found out that it didn't even have any wires connected to anything. Basically it was just there to fill the space. I figured I could fill the space with something better looking. There is now a picture that hangs over this big gaping hole.

After Kadence was born there was an enrichment night in my ward in Logan. You could make your own custom vinyl lettering and do what you want with it. (This was before Cricut) I decided this would be perfect for Kadence. We hung it originally in Logan but it hasn't been hanging since we moved to Ogden 4 years ago.

I have been looking for a way to make the stuffed animals look a little nicer. we used to have them in a tote in the corner that was stacked about 2 feet above the tote and constantly overflowed onto the floor. We have 3 BIG bags of stuffed animals in our basement too. I realized that I should just put an animal hammock in the corner of Kadence's room. Wa La! Much better!

Not only did we have a tote for the stuffed animals, but we had a tote as a toy box. Anything that didn't go in a set or have a specific place....went into the toy box. It too was overflowing and constantly a mess. Not to mention it looked terrible! I decided to look for a way to make the toys look better and keep them more discrete. I thought this was perfect:

The only thing I wish was different about it was the drawers were supposed to be pink, green and yellow. As you can see the drawers don't look yellow at all. Even the picture on the package looked yellow! Oh well, we will replace them down the road I guess.

I had my neighbor do a painting for each girl almost a year ago. I absolutely loved the way they turned out, but haven't hung them up yet. I even bought a shelf that I meant to hang above the picture. So months later I finally painted the shelf and we hung them both up. I will be making "Kadence" to go on top of the shelf out of wood letters.

I didn't take a picture of one of my favorite parts of the whole room, Kadence's new bookcase. It is seriously the cutest thing ever! I am going to decorate it with cute little girly things and have books on one shelf. I will take a picture of it when I do Shelbys room. Everything in Shelbys room will be basically the same, just a few minor differences. I'm so happy with the way things turned out and its weird to see a more girly room. She loves it which is the best part!

Back to School

2011-08-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

Kadence was incredibly excited to go to her schools Back to School Night. The girls were both able to wear new shirts and their new favorite thing in this world, their Twinkle Toes! We didn't stay long because David could come with us but only for 15 minutes before he would need to leave for his own Back to School Night at Highland. It didn't matter to Kadence, she is SO excited to go to Kindergarten and this just intensified the excitement. (Sorry for the crappy picture, it was taken with my phone)

No More Tonsils!

2011-08-26T22:52:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, August 19th, Shelby had her tonsils and adenoids removed. She suffered from severe sleep apnea as well as multiple sinus infections. When we took her to the ENT, he said the exact same thing as when we took Kadence to him, "WOW, have you seen these?!" He had me take a look and pointed out how her tonsils were squishing her uvula from each side. He said they were pretty big and they needed to be removed for sure. I was pretty nervous because Shelby hasn't really had anything done before. The only time she was put under anesthesia was for dental work and she woke up very very angry. I also was nervous about how well she would go back since we couldn't go with her.

I spent the next 2 weeks between the appointment and the surgery talking it over with her. I explained that we couldn't go with her but that she could take a stuffed animal to keep her company. (She chose her hippo, named Hippo) I also explained how she would wear a gown, how they would use a mask to put her to sleep, and after she woke up that they would get us. She seemed like she understood it all very well. Kadence kept reassuring her that the Dr's and nurses were all very nice and would take good care of her.

We arrived at the hospital and Shelby didn't seem nervous at all. She liked the gown because it had tigers on it.

She absolutely loved the slipper socks and kept testing the non-slip bottom to see if she would slip.
She went back to surgery without a single tear. The surgery went well and the Dr told us that she had a large amount of adenoid tissue and the already mentioned large tonsils. He said she didn't bleed much and was recovering just fine. I was sure that when they brought her to her room she would be hysterical, but she wasn't at all. She was just sitting up in the bed looking around as she took her ride through the hospital. She was in a daze, but overall doing really well. She was excited to get her prize for being brave and ate a popsicle so they sent us home.

At home she did great! She played and played and if you didn't know she had surgery you would have thought it was just a normal day for her. She even asked to eat a cheese sandwich! (And did!) She had a restless night, but never fully woke up. I slept her in our bed anyways because she kept moaning in her sleep and I couldn't leave her. The next day and night were almost completely normal. The 3rd and 4th day were rough. She didn't want to drink much and was just kind of sad all day. After day 4 she started to improve and improves a little more each day. Two night ago she woke up completely freaking out. We never did figure out what was going on, but it was really scary. She was hyperventilating for about 10 minutes and we thought we were going to need to take her to the hospital because she just couldn't breath and nothing we did would calm her down. We finally got her calmed and she was restless the rest of the night, but woke up completely fine. It was scary and kind of weird. Today (Day 8) she randomly will start crying so I know she still isn't healed, but she is about 85% of normal. She really wants to eat "crunchy things" and can't wait to "use a straw." She makes me laugh! I can't wait to have my Shelby back to 100%. I am however grateful that we never have to have another tonsillectomy again in our household. Oddly enough we have all had our tonsils removed by the same Dr.

Friday Confessional

2011-08-26T22:37:00.001-07:00

I CONFESS....Today was by far one of the most interesting Dr appointments I have had. I had to go for my yearly exam.....YIPEE....and my Dr is always scheduled pretty far out unless you are pregnant. I refuse to change Drs because when you find someone you trust completely, why change? Because of this, I drive to Logan. I did it through my entire pregnancy with Shelby which was high risk so it had more appointments than usual and most of them were in the winter. I just can't say enough good about him. Because of him we have Kadence and that is the best gift EVER. He didn't deliver her, but before heading home after a long night of deliveries he trusted his instincts and ordered a precautionary ultrasound, which resulted in us knowing our baby was in danger. If he hadn't taken the time to send us for an ultrasound...if he had been in a hurry to get home for a few hours sleep before his wife left him with 5 kids while she went to Girls Camp....if he wasn't thorough, we wouldn't have our Kadence here today. Every minute made a difference and I won't ever be able to express my thanks to him. Anyways, back to the Dr appointment......I didn't have a broken knee when the appointment was made so I had no idea that I would be in a knee brace with limited mobility for my appointment. I was so worried about how it was going to go and mentioned it to the assistant. She was funny and said, "If things aren't working out well, I'll just come over and hold your leg up." It made me laugh and calmed my nerves a bit. Needless to say, the appointment went fine, but I wouldn't recommend a yearly physical in a knee brace. (Ha, that was probably more information that anyone wanted to know)

I CONFESS....I LOVE Logan. I didn't always love it when I was there, but I sure do miss it now. Just driving back through the canyon and entering the valley was AMAZING! David and I talked about different memories the whole way up. It was a nice little adventure and we secretly hope to live in Logan one day and have David be a professor at Utah State. That's our little dream anyways.

I CONFESS....I'm not a huge ice cream fan. When I am in the mood for ice cream, I can devour it, but I'm not usually in the mood. I don't know why, I LOVE sweets so you would think I would love ice cream....but NOPE!

I CONFESS.....I can NOT believe that Kadence is starting Kindergarten this year. She's still so little and I'm sure she will be the smallest in her class. She is so excited which makes me excited for her. I love watching her get excited about meeting new friends and learning new things. Her happiness is definitely contagious! I just don't feel old enough to have a Kindergartner.

I CONFESS....I am one heck of a cranky mommy when I don't get enough sleep! If one of the kids has me up all night I am not a nice person the next day. David has learned to let me sneak a 10 minute power nap and I am a much nicer person after the fact. Being a mom isn't always the easiest job, but it is the best job out there!

Our Healthy Family Celebration!

2011-08-26T22:24:00.000-07:00

Every year since 2006 we try to celebrate August 5th. Not only because it is Grandpa Joys birthday, but because it is the day we took our sweet fragile little Kadence home from the hospital. She was a day shy of a month old and we were thrilled she was coming home so soon. Ya Ya, we have all heard my sappy story and me gush about how grateful we are to the many Dr's who helped our precious girl beat the odds. ANYWAYS....we decided that every year we would celebrate her homecoming. After having Shelby we realized that it wasn't very fair to celebrate Kadence's homecoming and not Shelbys because both were significant. We decided we would still celebrate every year on the 5th, but we would instead celebrate being together, being happy, and being alive.

This year I was having a rotten, crumby, no good sort of day on the 5th. I didn't really feel like doing anything. I was feeling sorry for myself because I wasn't able to do very much with my knee. I was down in the dumps and just couldn't snap out of it. Then it made me so frustrated because I am so very blessed and have so much to be grateful for. For goodness sakes, that's what we were celebrating today after all.....being alive! Even still I couldn't snap out of it and that just seemed to make me more frustrated.

We finally decided to head off on our adventure. We decided to go to The Oaks and sit outside to eat fries, onion rings and of course ice cream. This is one of our favorite things to do. We love sitting out by the river and enjoying some ice cream. The girls were so cute and loved every second of it. It was amazing how quickly I was able to stop my pity party when I was with the people I love, and we were all alive and healthy.

I love my girls so much and am so grateful to have both of them in our lives. I'm not saying things don't get frustrating, but we always end the day with giggles, hugs, and stories. I love being a mommy to them and can't imagine my life without them.

Here are a few pictures taken with my phone.

Just Random Things...

2011-08-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

So tonight as we were getting ready to read scriptures we were trying to tell Kadence she needs to be nice to everyone in Kindergarten. We tried to stress being nice even when others aren't and being nice to those who might not be nice to her. Then she tried to explain a scenario to us. 'I'll be nice even if someone punches me like this (demonstrated punching her leg)' we told her that if that happened she should tell Miss Joy but, yes she should still be nice. Then another scenario, 'I'll be nice even if someone punches me in the mouth because I'm talking.' it was SO hard for David and I not to laugh historically because she was being very serious. Where did she even learn about punching? I can't remember ever talking about it or hearing the girls talk about it before. Oh well, I'm just happy she'll be nice to everyone.

I think it's funny to go in public and continuously be sked if the girls are twins. They aren't which I feel is obvious, but then again I'm their mom. You wouldn't believe how many times a day we get asked, 'Are they twins?' It's to the point that sometimes when people say Hi to the girls, Shelby says 'We're not twins.' it makes me laugh. The thing I find a little weird is that some people don't believe me when I tell them they aren't twins. Why would I lie? It's just silly.

I love having my girls so close in age. I was nervous when I was pregnant and strangers didn't help that at all. Throughout my pregnancy with Shelby people constantly told me how hard it would be and how tough it would be to have two girls SO close in age. Really?! Why tell an already pregnant woman that she's going to regret having two kids so close. It hasn't been super easy all the time but I really love how close they are. They are best friends and care so much about each other. I don't know if they would be as close had they been further apart on age.

Friday Confessional

2011-08-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS......I don't like most leftovers. I don't know what it is about them, but they just don't taste real delicious to me. There are a few things I eat the next day but past a day I don't eat anything. I'm super picky, I know.

I CONFESS.....my husband makes the most delicious scrambled eggs ever! They are so moist (not soggy kind of moist) light, and fluffy. I don't know how he does it, but he makes awesome eggs everytime!!

I CONFESS.....I can make an amazing grilled cheese. I get the cheese all melty in the middle and make sure every piece of bread has cheese on it. Then I get the outside a nice golden brown. It's one of our families favorite meals.

I CONFESS.....I have food on my mind. I am waiting for Shelby to go back for surgery and can't eat in front of her since she can't eat. I don't know why, but when you CAN'T eat is when you feel like you are starving! When the Dr comes to get her we'll be rushing to the cafeteria that's for sure!

Shoes!

2011-08-13T22:53:00.000-07:00

Its no secret that my girls watch a lot of tv. Part of that includes commercials. They hadn't really ever asked for anything they saw on a commercial until they saw one for "Twinkle Toes Skechers." They talked about them constantly for over a month. They asked repeatedly if they could save money to buy them. It was kind of cute, but the shoes are....not as cute. Daddy couldn't resist and so he asked if we could get them for back to school shoes. Why not? Well, I'll tell you why not. They are not the cutest shoes, they are bright, ugly, ridiculously over the top, and they light up! I hate light up shoes! I researched online and I found a few pairs that were Twinkle Toes, but didn't light up. Perfect! I got both pairs for a pretty good deal and was excited to see the girls reactions. They were SO happy and SO incredibly excited. I tried them on and....they didn't fit! Of course! For some reason they were too big on both of them. We decided to return them, and hunt for new shoes that might not be the coveted Twinkle Toes. The girls understood and didn't throw a fit which surprised me. We headed out to Famous Footwear because they had their Buy one Get one half off deal going PLUS we printed a coupon for an extra 20% off. AMAZING! We got there and they didn't have a great selection, but the only ones the girls had eyes for was.....the stinkin' Twinkle Toes! They only had two different styles so that gave us little to no options. The girls tried on the exact same size as I had ordered and somehow they fit. You're kidding me! Here are the terrible shoes that make my babies so happy!

Here is the worst part about the shoes!

Kadence left with a lecture on when it was ok to tell people about her shoes and stomp her feet and when it wasn't after she said, "I'm going to yell 'Hey friends my shoes light up!'" We will be making a call to Aunt Barb to apologize in advance for the disruption this may cause to her Kindergarten class. We told her she could only do it at recess, but she is so excited I don't know if we can contain it! Lesson learned throughout all of this? The girls have their daddy wrapped around their finger!

Absolutely DISGUSTING!

2011-08-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

Most days I love that when I stand in my backyard I get a great view of the sunset bouncing off of the mountains.....

Yesterday and today I wish I was much further from the mountains. We found out we had a mouse! DISGUSTING! I went to put a cookie sheet away and found poop in our cabinet.....with our pans, really?!! I told David, he cleaned it up, and we knew we had a house guest.

We weren't quite sure what we were up against until at night Davids brother, Jeff, went in to get a drink. He came out in a hurry saying, "Eww, grosss....Eww, grosss!" He then explained that a mouse ran right by him. Again, DISGUSTING!

I sent the boys down to buy traps immediately and was so freaked out all night. I was hoping that we would have a dead mouse, but no luck. The mouse ate the bait and escaped the traps. David reset the traps, added more bait, and we left to exchange some shoes. When we came home we found this.....

DISGUSTING!!! He was bigger than the trap! I'm shocked the trap even killed it to be honest. Either way we caught our friend! Now I'm hoping its the only one. We'll be thoroughly cleaning each cabinet and checking for any spot it could have entered our house and then checking outside. I want to put an end to our house guests because I was terrified!

Weber County Fair

2011-08-13T21:56:00.001-07:00

Since David and I started dating we have gone to the fair together every year....minus the year Kadence was born, but now that I think about it I think we actually did go. We have been entering things in the fair for the past few years too. Its something Davids family has always done and its fun. This year I entered a wooden bird that my neighbor helped me make. She does a craft night once a month and I liked the way it turned out. David entered a vase he made me out of clay and glazed. Both won blue ribbons. Jeff entered a vase, and our cousin Amanda entered photos. All of which won blue ribbons. (Good year for the Joys!)

Another favorite since having kids is to stop at the games the Library sponsors. The tickets are cheap, help the library and you win a prize. Awesome!

This year we let the girls get their faces painted. Kadence picked a lady bug almost right away and Shelby picked just as quickly and chose a.....spider. Yes, a spider. We made sure she saw the strawberry, hippos, and butterfly because she likes those too but she was set on a spider. Thats my Shelby!

I really love this picture for two reasons. First, I love how happy Shelby is while seeing her spider for the first time. Second, I love how tender David is as he pulls her hair aside so she can get a glimpse. He's such a good daddy!

The finished products!

Both girls were given bookmarks and Shelbys was a winning bookmark so she was able to pick a book. Jeff tried to talk her into getting a book the librarian used to read to him and David, but Shelby wanted this one and as usual there was no changing her mind.

We then headed over to see the animals in the stalls.

When we were walking past the sheep, a sheep started baa'ing at Kadence. Kadence went and pet the sheep and then came back to us. As she walked away the sheep baa'd at her again and jumped up on the fence. Poor Kadence was startled nearly to death, but then started laughing pretty hard. It was hilarious.

We promised them a sno-cone after we saw some animals. They are really into slushes, sno-cones, slurpees and icees right now. (Perfect timing for Shelby to get her tonsils out) David was just as excited for his favorite lemonade as the girls were for their sno-cones.

We went inside and watched a pony judging while the girls finished their treats.

Then we headed toward the petting zoo. On the way there, Jeff offered to pay for them to ride on the pony. There's no way I was going to pay $5 a girl to ride in a circle, so they are lucky to be spoiled by their uncle! Thanks Jeffy! The girls were in heaven!! Because we had let Kadence have her few hour break from her brace while we were at the fair, she kept slouching over. The guy running the ride walked over and sat her back up because it looked like she was going to fall off. She immediately said, "Thanks for helping me sit up!" Then she had to yell to David how nice the guy was for helping her. She makes me laugh. As you can tell, they definitely thought this was pretty awesome!

We then went to the petting zoo. The first stop was the baby goats. As the girls were petting the babies, two babies climbing all over two of the moms. It made me laugh so hard so I took a picture of one of them.

This was probably their favorite part of the whole fair!

Anyone who has seen my girls near animals, knows they are terrified of them. We try to coax them into liking them but it just doesn't work out. For some reason they didn't mind walking right up to two different cows and brushing them. The other cow was much larger than this and they didn't hesitate at all. Go figure!

At the end of the day they had won many prizes and were so worn out, but it was well worth it! Next year we are going to help the girls make something to enter so they can see the ribbons. They were so excited "we won" and were so proud of us. I want them to take pride in their own creations....plus the kids win money and they will be ecstatic!

North Shore

2011-08-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

A while back I had purchased a few Groupons to North Shore Aquatic Center. My girls loved it last year so we figured we would go a few times this summer. Unfortunately I broke my knee and haven't been able to walk well enough to watch them play. Not to mention my brace is really hot. I wanted to take them at least once so I bucked up and we went. (And I sold the other passes so I could spread the great deal!)

The girls loved it just like last year, only Shelby loved it a little more. She loves to swim and I'm thinking lessons will be a must next year. We were able to bring Uncle Jeff along with us because the Groupon got in 5 people. It was actually his birthday so it worked out nicely. The girls loved having him there with us and Shelby loved showing him how she could swim.

We were able to see the girls friend Emi there too!

Kadence hates the sun in her eyes, and if you've been to North Shore you understand why she is covering her eyes. It is SO bright there and I always forget our sunglasses.

The girls and I during the designated "time out of the pool" to test the water.

Since I wasn't able to be in the water and REALLY enjoy playing with the girls I went back and forth between the side of the pool and the pavilion. I treated myself to some nachos. I LOVE disgustingly fake cheese over crunchy, almost stale chips. I don't know what it is but I love it! I partnered it with a Diet Coke and that was my entertainment!

At first the girls didn't want to play in the splash pad area. I had decided there were too many nachos for me so I told David he could go watch them. It was too hard for me to watch the girls from the side of the pool so I told them they needed to go to daddy or go play at the splash pad. They made the best decision....splash pad. They loved it!

We all had a great time and we were able to end the night with some birthday gelatas from Zeppes. Delicious!

Friday Confessional

2011-08-12T14:46:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I have days where nothing seems to fit right and doesn't look too flattering on me. I usually end up in tears, but today I didn't! I sucked it up and figured 'To hell with trying.' it was much nicer for me, and David too I'm sure, to avoid the fit and just move on. Here's to hoping tomorrow I feel good in whatever I decide to wear.

I CONFESS...I get super sad to see Shelby grow up. I was thrilled when Kadence went to preschool. I knew she would learn and love every second of it. She was so excited and I was excited for her. Now it's the same way with Kindergarten. Although with Kindergarten I am struggling a little knowing she'll be gone all day everyday. BUT she'll be in great hands, learn tons, and make friends. For some reason I just don't get happy when I think of sending Shelby away to preschool. I think it finalizes that my youngest baby is growing up. I really have a hard time knowing that I will have 4 hours every week without either kid. I'm sure it will be nice to devote that time to homework, errands, or lunch out, but I'd rather spend it with my kids.

I CONFESS...I'm really bummed I'm so white! For the past 3 years I have been hoping that it would be the year I got a tan. My skin looks much more healthy when tan...and a bit sexier. I get overheated easily and it makes me sick, but I have been trying to build a little tolerance to the heat. For some reason things keep coming up and I remain very pale and pasty. I thought for sure this year would be the year for a tan, but then I've been stuck in a brace. Oh well, maybe next year will be the year!

I CONFESS...I'm still really bummed I had to drop my photography class this year. I have tried to teach myself how to use all the different functions so I can use manual settings. I'm improving, but I still have a long way to go that's for sure. I get so frustrated sometimes when I can't get it adjusted right, so I switch it to auto. I'm hoping one day I can either take the class or get the hang of things. I'm not really good at people telling me how to do things and actually get frustrated when they do. I like general information and suggestions and then I like to just figure it out on my own. It's the same with photography. I just like experimenting and learning by making mistakes.

Friday Confessional

2011-08-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...That I am having a hard time thinking of good confessions. Sometimes they come easily, and days like today I draw a blank and struggle to find anything to confess.

I CONFESS...Doing the girls hair is when you will find me at my worst. I can't stand it! If they could just hold still for 2 minutes...tops...I could completely do their hair. Of course not! They move and wiggle. We've had tears from all 3 of us over their hair. I don't even know why I put any effort into it at all because ten minutes later it's a mess!

I CONFESS...I don't always feel like a great mom. I make mistakes, lose my temper, forget breakfast...sometimes lunch (never both in the same day), I'm not always the best example, and I don't always spend enough quality time throughout the day with my girls. I am not a perfect mom by any means, but I actually think I'm a normal mom. I struggle to figure out the best way to handle the day to day privilege of being a mom.

I CONFESS...I don't like to eat food with chunks. Like tomatoe chunks, yogurt with fruit, any kind of sauce with chunks, etc. I know it sounds strange, but I just dont like it. I have started getting better and will eat a few of the chunks in fresh salsa and I eat a black bean salsa that's to die for and it's full of chunks.

I CONFESS... I cringe when I write spaghetti on our menu. Having been poor college students, then poor parent college students we have eaten so much pasta! We now can afford to go a week without pasta, but it's one of the only meals Shelby will eat. She's super picky but can devour an entire bowl of plain pasta. We eat it about one lunch a week, and one dinner per week. It's not my favorite that's for sure!

Trampoline Fun!

2011-08-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

Tonight while the girls were jumping on the trampoline I took a few pictures because they get the most sincere and genuine smiles and giggles. It is PURE happiness! Some of the pictures look like a disastrous injury will result from it, but they are just nimble and care free!

Shelby barely missed stepping right on Kadence's face....but she missed!

They stopped for a minute to watch a plane go by and giggled the entire time

This picture screams neck injury, but like I said, they are nimble!

S'mores!

2011-08-03T20:24:00.000-07:00

We decided that we have neglected our fire pit for far too long. It was definitely time for some s'mores! Here's my cute little Shelby!

Here's my silly Kadence

Daddy and his girls

When the fire started getting hot enough, tons of grasshoppers started coming out of the fire pit. It was crazy to see how many came out! Here are two on the rock ring around the fire pit.

Mommy roasting a marshmallow

YUM!

Shelby decided she didn't like the marshmallow because it made her sticky so she wanted a plain cookie.

She shoved her entire cookie into her mouth so she could get another one.

Kadence thought her marshmallow mustache was hilarious!

YUMMY!

We all had a great time and I'm sure it will be something we do often from here on out.

Welcome Brylee Pyper

2011-08-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

Today Davids brother, Jason, and his wife Sage welcomed their first baby into their family. She made her appearance at 11:15 am and she weighed in at 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20 inches long. She is such a cute girl and I can tell she will be VERY loved. They decided to name her Brylee Pyper Joy.

I always knew I wanted to be a mommy, but second only to being a mom myself I LOVE being an aunt. I love watching my nieces and nephews grow up and love being a part of their life. I will always be there for them no matter what they need no matter when they need it.

It was fun to see her little personality already starting to show in the short time we saw her during our visit today. She will cry and cry (probably the cutest little cry) and then suddenly just stop. She doesn't wind down, just simply stops. She likes to have her back rubbed too which is cute. I can tell Jason is already a very hands on daddy and will be such an amazing dad. Brylee seemed so comfortable in Sage's arms, and I know that being a mother will come very natural to her. I'm so proud of them both, and so happy and excited to be able to watch Brylee grow up. I love her already! Congratulations Jason and Sage!

Friday Confessional

2011-07-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I have done TONS better with David gone than I thought I would. We have been away from each other overnight, but only if someone was in the hospital. Plus it was literally only overnight and we saw each other first thing in the morning. This is all after almost 6 years of marriage. Now you can sense why I was anxious to have him gone for 3 nights and 4 days! Originally I wanted us all to go and make trips to the San Diego Zoo and Legoland but his work ended up making them share a room instead of getting their own. We just didn't have enough money for the hotel, our tickets, food and the difference in gas. I was SO upset. I was terrified when I thought I would have both legs working, but when David left I still had my brace and was relying on one crutch to get around. Luckily the girls have been great and I was able to ditch my crutches all together Wednesday. It has made getting around much easier, but the best part is being able to carry things by myself. We have missed our daddy and are excited for him to come home tonight. I'm just really proud of all 3 of us girls for surviving and doing really well too!

I CONFESS...Besides lying I have another big pet peeve. (I guess it goes along with lying) I can't stand when people lie about their kids ages to save a few dollars. Not only is it lying, but it's teaching your kids it's ok to lie in some circumstances. I think parents need to lead by example so if you tell your kids to lie sometimes to get something you want (a cheaper price) how are they supposed to know not to lie to get something they want. Plus the difference is usually less than $5. Is $5 really worth your integrity? I have people who are close to me who do this and although it drives me crazy, I still love them.

I CONFESS...I STILL am having a hard time finding that amazing friend who I can be myself around. I want someone who doesn't mind my messy house, my uncut lawn, my kids messy undone hair. Someone who I can make all the off color jokes I want, who I can be semi offensive...ok probably quite offensive at times, who understands my insecurities and fears and who loves me despite it all. I think those kind of friends are few and far between. I have a few who ate close to this description, but I'm so afraid of offending them and pushing them away that I don't give 100% of me. I'm working on changing this because I shouldn't care. They either like me or they don't.

I CONFESS...I am not an animal lover. I'm really not even an animal liker. People are always shocked and almost offended that I don't enjoy animals. David loves animals so we'll probably get one in the not far future and I will help show it affection and feed it, but I won't love it. I can have an animal and care for it, but if it was gone the next day I wouldn't care. I'm definitely a minority because just about everyone loves some sort of animal and treats it as a member of their family, but I still am not a fan.

Friday Confessional

2011-07-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I love my kids and I love my husband, but being stuck in the house with them non stop is driving me CRAZY! I need to get away every now and again to have some "ME" time. It makes me a much better mom and an even better wife. The worst part is, I feel guilty for needing me time. Shouldn't I LOVE spending time with the people who mean the most to me? I should be grateful for every minute we have together. I am more grateful and enjoy the time together more if I have had an hour to myself. It doesn't even have to be daily, but weekly or bi weekly works out too. I am so happy I will be getting my brace off in a week so that I can venture out on my own away from everyone....so that I can enjoy the chaos at home and laugh about the little things instead of letting them frustrate me.

I CONFESS....I hate hate hate when people lie. I explained a situation to my sister last night so that I could vent and get over it. When I was done talking she said, "great, your biggest pet peeve" because the story had to deal with someone who wasn't truthful. I HATE when people lie. I just don't get the point. I'm not saying I'm always happy with the truth, because lets face it the truth can hurt. I'm just saying that if you lie and I find out I am not only hurt, but I am angry too. It takes me a lot longer to get over things when people lie than when they are truthful and then I have a hard time trusting them. When I catch people in lies I don't always confront them or ask them why because I hate hearing the denial and excuses. It just makes me more angry. I'm not saying I haven't ever lied because I think we all have, but I make a huge effort to avoid it at all costs.

I CONFESS....I am really intrigued by people with addictions. I have always been interested in why people do what they do and always try to see things from every point of view. I feel people with addictions do reach a point in which they can no longer control their actions, and they need help. Well in all honesty I think that everyone who has overcome addiction has needed help. It might not be a treatment center or group meetings, but help and support from those around them. I love shows like Celebrity Rehab because it gives you a little peek into the minds of those who are trying to overcome their addictions. I have a strange sense of compassion because you can tell they are in so much pain emotionally. It doesn't excuse their behavior, but you can still love them and have hope for them. I don't have addictive tendencies. I haven't ever been addicted to anything really. If I did a behavior I could basically make the conscious decision to stop and that was that. I think that's part of why I am so interested in learning more about it. I feel I need to give a shout out to one of my very best friends for being sober for a year! I love you so very much and am more proud than you will ever know.

I CONFESS....That I feel I need a lighter confession because all of these have kind of been downers. Ummmm.....I love the way my girls laugh when they are so terrified, but so happy. It's that high pitch squeal that turns into a giggle when you push them a little higher on the swing, or when you chase them and they know you are getting closer, or when they know you are coming to tickle them. That is my very favorite noise.

Evening at the Park

2011-07-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

This week the girls have been going stir crazy which has made their behavior....less than ideal. I have been going stir crazy AND have been trying to still enforce some basic rules while trying to understand its not completely their fault. Yesterday was particularly bad. We decided to bribe the girls with a trip to the park. IF they could behave well (meaning relatively well for the circumstances) we would take them to the park after dinner. If they didn't behave well they wouldn't go. They both know we mean it when we say it because Kadence had to stay home from the park last time. It was a nice little learning experience for them both. They weren't super amazing before lunch and I thought neither one would be going. Luckily after a few reminders they were really pretty good. They both ate dinner and totally forgot about their reward. When I reminded them, they lit up!

It wasn't the easiest thing for me to go to the park or to use crutches in the sand, but it was totally worth it and the girls needed it so much! Right when we approached the play area we were approached by a couple who was there with their grandkids. They asked what happened to our family. I LOVE when people just ask instead of staring and guessing. I explained that Kadence had scoliosis and that I was in a car accident. They were relieved to know she wasn't in the car accident with me, yet felt for both of us. We kept busy chatting while the kids played. It was so nice, it was like what I imagine things used to be years ago. It was just a friendly neighborly chat and was nice.

At one point one of the grandsons was throwing sand. They asked him not to and he continued. The grandma excused herself to go handle the situation and as she was leaving the grandpa said, "Be Kind." That really hit me. If it was me in that situation I doubt I would be very kind. Of course my kids would get a warning or two, but after that I get my mommy game face and mean voice. Do I need to be mean in that situation? Absolutely not. You can be kind while still getting the point across most of the time. It reminded me of something else that has stuck with me for over a year now. While in the waiting area of the temple for David's cousin Ali's sealing Davids uncle, Brian, made a comment that has stuck with me. He was talking about some dating fun his son, Andrew, was having and his new girlfriend. (Who is now his wife) He had mentioned that Andrew handled things very kindly. He then said, "Kindness in all things." That has stuck with me since then and I think about it often. (That whole story probably doesn't make absolute sense to everyone, but it does to me) I am so glad that I have periodic reminders to handle situations with kindness and especially be kind with my children. They are the most precious things to me in this life and I need to treat them with kindness. They need to know without any doubt that their mommy loves them and will always be here when they need me.

All in all in was a great trip to the park, the girls were SO tired when we got home and we had a few tired meltdowns from Shelby which doesn't happen too often.

Vegas Day 3

2011-07-21T21:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, we have been back from Vegas for almost 2 months and I still haven't finished blogging the trip. When we left for Vegas Kadence woke up with a tiny cough. On our 3rd day in Vegas she woke up SO sick. She was completely miserable! I thought we were going to have to stay in the hotel the whole day because she just kept breaking down in tears. The poor girl. Shelby hated seeing her sick. She just kept bringing her different toys and snacks to try and cheer her up.

Luckily, she started feeling a little better and we headed out for lunch at the Harley Davidson Cafe. It was a really hot walk, but the girls did great! We stopped for pictures on the Harley out front.

Inside they had actual bikes that were on a track and went over your head and around the whole cafe...upstairs and down. The flag was made entirely from chains hanging from the ceiling that were pained. It was really neat.

She really did enjoy the meal and coloring, but was just so miserable from her cold.

Shelby loved it!

On our way back to the hotel we saw the green M&M which is the girls favorite M&M.

We headed back to the hotel to go swimming again with the family. We stopped in the lobby to get some towels, and saw this sign. It is for the hotels library...we laughed so hard! Then we realized it was a "leave a book, take a book" sort of thing which then became a really great idea!

This time we were able to swim with both Amanda and Rachel's families as well as Grandma and Grandpa Gerry.

After we were done swimming we went to Amanda's room to mingle one last time before all of our trips home.....and Rachels trip to Disneyland. (SO jealous)

Here is the whole family, minus my brother Jason and his family and my brother Jonathan and his family. Luckily Jeff still hadn't left for Phantom of the Opera yet so we were able to get everyone in the picture and surprisingly I think everyone is looking at the camera!

And here is our family with Grandma and Grandpa Gerry

After we dropped Jeff of at the Venetian to watch his amazing show, we went to McDonalds and then home to watch Gnomeo and Juliet. It was a nice relaxing few hours. When we picked Jeff up he offered to watch the girls for a bit so we could go out together without kids. We got the girls settled down and in their PJ's and headed out to gamble! We had been watching a Deal or No Deal machine all day and had tried it and lost about $15 and won about $14 so we were almost even. We decided to play smart instead of with greed and we actually won $40! It is my all time favorite machine now because I don't understand the ones that turn like slot machines and match rows and diagonals...they just don't make any sense. $40 was enough for us and we headed out because we knew the girls must be getting tired. We text and Jeff told us that Kadence was crying so we REALLY tried to hurry. If we weren't leaving in the morning we would have just cashed out in the morning, but we wouldn't have time and we didn't want to lose our winnings. We went to the machine that pays out and it was broken, then we were directed to another machine...and another machine. Then finally someone told us that none of them were working and we'd have to go to the actual cashier. When we finally got back Kadence was still crying and I felt TERRIBLE for making Jeff deal with it. I picked her up in my arms and she immediately stopped. That happens at home and it is so frustrating for David. Sometimes they just simply want their mommy I guess.

We went to bed and again Kadence woke up crying off and on. We figured it was going to be a loooong plane ride, but she did really well. I even did better this time. The flight was a lot more smooth and landing and take off were great! The only hang up was that the little boy behind us kept crying "owie owie" I felt so bad for him and his very pregnant mom. He eventually puked everywhere. I handled it so much better than I thought I would and even handed back some wipes and sanitizer.

We had a great trip and it was so nice to have my girls meet my dad and my step mom. Now they have a face to put with the grandparents who send cards. I'm so happy we made the effort to go down.

Personal Space

2011-07-18T09:19:00.000-07:00

Last night we took the girls to the Weber State fireworks. It's one of our traditions, and we haven't gone to any firework shows yet this year because of my knee. It was exhausting, but completely worth it to hear the girls excitement. While there I realized I have huge issues when people don't respect your personal space. We went Saturday to set out sheets. We needed to be close to the road so David could drop me off and pick me up. We put out 4 sheets so our neighbor could join us. Sadly our neighbors grandma passed away and she wasn't up for fireworks. Now the irritation. I can't stand when parents watch their kids run all over your (claimed) space. Don't get me wrong, I loved the toddler who kept coming up to us and growling. It's the 9 year olds that know better, and if they don't their parents should. I have no idea why it bugs me so much....but it does. Then during the fireworks a grown man laid mostly on our sheet. It was so irritating because his kids were trying so hard to stay on their own blanket, yet dad couldn't help but lay on our sheet. Not only that, but when the fireworks were over and we were trying to clean up he stayed there. David removed 2 corners from the grass and then had to ask if he could get the rest of the sheet. SO annoying! Then the most irritating part...I was sitting in a chair while David and Jeff cleaned up and the group of Young men kept backing in closer and closer. They were so close to the back of my chair I think I would have felt it if they farted! I kept getting an elbow swung right next to my head and was anticipating the moment I got hit and would probably freak out. Luckily David could tell how irritated I was and asked them nicely if they could scoot a little since it would be difficult for me to move. They were so nice and did move. All in all I was frustrated with what I felt were invasions of my personal space. I feel so silly about it too, kind of like a 5 year old who's upset someone's touching their toy. Oh well, that's me and this is an honest, slightly embarrassing post.

Sprinkler Fun!

2011-07-16T17:36:00.001-07:00

Quite a while ago we put the sprinklers on out back for the girls. They loved it! I was even told I was the best mommy in the whole world. :) Here are a few pictures from our fun.

Here is an embarrassing one of David and myself. He knew I was about to take a picture so he did this:

This was a priceless picture, and even though it looked painful in the end nobody cried. They just jumped up and went again!

Kadence's Birthday Party

2011-07-16T16:16:00.000-07:00

So after my car accident I was quickly forced to learn to let others help me and to give up control. I was in my car accident on Monday and Kadence's birthday party was on the following Friday. Four days isn't quite long enough to heal I learned. I had all sorts of plans for Kadence's Pinkalicious party. Some were put into action, others were scrapped, and some were just plain ol' forgotten. In the end, Kadence was a very happy Birthday girl and that's what matters!

I had purchased pink gift bags and put a few pink items in them, and then put the rest of the party favors out for kids to pick and choose. I didn't know that the boys would want all of the pink things and this way they were able to decide for themselves.

I made bags full of "green food" and put a label on them that I found on another blog. (Sorry my picture is the wrong direction, I am struggling with blogger today) They had green M&M's, green Jelly Belly's, green licorice, green Airhead, Haribo frogs, green Laffy Taffy, and a carmel apple sucker. It said, "True Blue Cure For Pinkititis is Green Food." on the label and on the other side it thanked friends for coming.

I also found a printable label that I could put on bottles of water. I then bought "pink pop" to put labels on too.

Davids cousin, Amanda, made the cupcakes for her party. I knew she would do a great job, and although David was willing to do the cupcakes I knew it would look like dad made them. :) Amanda made them exactly as I wanted! (I owe her BIG time!)

The big attraction for the party was an inflatable slide. All the kids had a blast on it, and besides a few bumps, nobody got hurt. I was able to get a great deal online and only ended up paying $35 for it....SCORE!

We figured that not ALL of our friends would know the Pinkalicious story so we had Aunt Barb read it to the kids. I didn't want to because I'm terrified of adults, but Barb is used to it since she teaches Kindergarten. (Thanks Barb!)

Kadence ended up opening a few presents while everyone was busy sliding. She would walk up to the gift table, grab a present, walk away, and sneakily open it. Watch the progression of the friends. At first they sit nice and watch....

Then about half stand, half sit....

Then everyone EXCEPT Emilee has moved right up close and a few more are standing. I LOVE this picture, Emi is such a cutie! By the end everyone, except Emilee, is standing VERY close to Kadence. I love it!!

Time for cake!

Make a wish!

Things left out of the party included a "pink bracelet" making table for the kids to make their own bracelets, pink M&M's to go with the Pink Jelly Bellys, framed pages of the Pinkalicious book as decorations, pink tissue paper pom poms, and I'm sure there are more things I just haven't found them yet.

Despite not having it go the way I planned, I am so very thankful for the help I was given and the many offers to help. Jeff spent his entire day getting balloons, picking up and dropping off the slide, and trying to get the tables the way I wanted. I'm one picky gal and he didn't complain once, thanks Jeff! Curtis also came and helped set up...thanks!

Just like last year there was a bit of family drama, but Kadence again didn't notice and told me "it was the best party in the whole world." That's all that matters to me in the end. Happy Birthday my sweet princess I'm so happy you are such a smart, energetic, caring, spunky, crazy girl!

Friday Confessional

2011-07-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

FINALLY a Friday Confessional on a Friday!

I CONFESS...when getting dressed it sometimes turns into a crying fit. Especially lately. I know I wear PJ's all day, but when I leave the house I'm usually able to put some jeans on. With the brace it's more difficult and less comfortable so my only option is PJ's. I tried jeans, but I have to do squats basically to get them up, zipped, and buttoned. Since I can't bend my leg I can't wear them. I do have looser jeans, but then they get bunched up and wrinkled in the brace. I have always thrown fits over the way my clothes fit. A shirt can fit great one day and the next day, drive me absolutely crazy. I have gotten SO much better over the past few years, but lately I've resorted to my old fit throwing ways. (Wow that's an embarrassing confession)

I CONFESS...I feel terrible for anyone who is in a wheelchair who wants to go to the movies. I seriously struggled like crazy to get past people and get to my seat. THEN I had to go potty! Luckily the people in my row weren't there yet so I didn't have to clear the whole row. When I got to the bathroom there was a nice lady who held the door open for me. So sweet! On the way out I wasn't as fortunate. I'm sure it was quite the show seeing me try to open the door and get through it. I have always been mindful of those with disabilities, but I think I will go out of my way to be more helpful in the future.

I CONFESS...I am terrible at decorating my house. I try, but I definitely don't do a great job. I'm working on this skill bit by bit and hope one day I can be a grandma with a cute house full of decorations for my grandkids to break!

I CONFESS...I love Salt Water taffy. I like almost all flavers, but it has to be 'Sweets' brand. Luckily that's the more common brand in Utah. It reminds me of hiking when I was little. My mom would put treats and snacks in fanny packs for each of us kids and I remember taffy was always one of the treats. It often came with the instruction 'make sure you don't drop your wrapper.' My mom was always a strong advocate for leaving nature cleaner than you found it. That's a skill I hope to teach my kids.

I CONFESS...I am always worried about what people think of me. I NEVER was until I became a mom. I figured people could like me...or not, but it didn't really bother me. I was able to be 100% ME all the time. I'm working hard to get back to that place because that's when I was truly happy. I don't exactly try to be someone I'm not, but I don't give 100% of myself in any situation and have gotten more reserved. I'm hoping to change this soon because I like me.

Heartbreaking Prayer

2011-07-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

Tonight as Kadence knelt beside me I had to choke back the tears as she said the most heartbreaking prayer. I can't remember the EXACT words, but this is the basic idea:

'Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for helping mommy to get better and not have a hurt on her leg. Thank you for helping her be strong. Thank you for helping our family all be strong and not have to wear casts...except me because my back is crooked and I want to grow up. Even though a cast is frustrating sometimes. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.'

Seriously?! I hate that she has to go through so much, I wish she didn't have to. I hate seeing her struggle. Although she is such an amazing example to me and such a tough girl. Right when she was finished Shelby walked over and gave her the biggest hug and said, 'That was a good prayer.' I am so truly blessed to have such awesome kids, but I never thought I would look up to them both at such young ages.

More Things Our Kids Have Said...

2011-07-10T00:02:00.000-07:00

So Shelby is a really strange little girl. She LOVES all things villains. She loves anything creepy or twisted. She likes fire. Tonight we were able to add another thing to the list of things that separate her from other little girls. We were playing Kadence's new Pinkalicious game that we gave her for her birthday. Things were going well until David rolled Pinkalicious's little brother Peter. When you roll "Peter", Peter comes and eats one of your cupcakes. Since the object of the game is to get your cupcake pan full of cupcakes this is not a good thing. After that, Shelby was dying to roll "Peter." I explained to her that if she rolled "Peter" she wouldn't win. She then said, "I like to lose, I really want Peter so I can lose" She seriously is one of the most unique little girls I have ever met. She keeps us laughing that's for sure.

Another thing said tonight came from Kadence. David was brushing her teeth when she told him, "Since you and mom aren't having any more babies you need to pick some out so you can name them." This really caught him off guard because we haven't really discussed us not having any more babies with the girls. David and I don't want to have any more biological babies because it isn't really good for my health, but we haven't really explained any of that to the girls. I figured there would come a time when Kadence or Shelby would ask us to have another baby, or tell us they wanted a little brother or sister. It was like Kadence just knew somehow and it will be interesting to see what our future holds. I have wanted to adopt another child, but it is far too expensive for us to do so I just put it to the back of my mind. It's one of my "when I get rich and famous, I'm going to..." I know the girls would be great helpers and would love another sibling to death. They love babies! I am a little worried because she is so incredibly in tune with the spirit and it freaks me out that she may know more than we do. I wanted one more not "some more." We'll see how our life turns out I guess.

Kadence LOVES to pray. She says almost every family prayer and we just let her do it herself. Sometimes she says things that are funny, like mentioning Disneyland, but usually all she does is show thanks. She doesn't really ask for much, and the only thing I can remember her asking for is that we can "not be sick." It's really strange how mature her little mind is. She has thanked our Heavenly Father for hospitals, and Dr's that can help people to feel better. She has thanked Him for letting Jesus help the kids in heaven. She has also thanked Him for helping kids to not be scared. It's so strange to me because we haven't ever said those things in our prayers, yet somehow she knows. She is one spiritual little girl and she has big things in store for her I'm sure of it!

Shelby is such a sweetheart...despite her interest in villains. She tells David when he gets home from work, "Mommy's leg still has a hurt." It's like when she wakes up she hopes to see me walking as usual around the house and then is disappointed when she realizes I am still in a brace. Every time I get up to go somewhere she completely clears the way for me. She is so mindful and aware, and is so super sweet. When her and Kadence play with their toys, one of them tends to have a hurt leg now. It's crazy to me that these past two weeks have been such an impact on them as well. Both her and Kadence are always so willing to do anything I ask of them lately, all I have to do is start my sentence with "Can you girls be mommy's helpers?" and they both jump up to help immediately. They have even fought over who gets to help me. I am so lucky to have a husband who leads by example. He thanked them for helping me while he was at the store tonight and Kadence immediately replied with, "Thank you dad for helping mommy." I have some of the most caring kids in the world. (Not that they are always super sweet or easy to deal with)

Friday Confessional

2011-07-09T22:44:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it's Saturday but I figured it's better late than never. I already feel bad enough about missing the past two weeks. David was in the hospital and then I was struggling with getting everything ready for Kadence's Birthday party. I am really going to try my hardest to continue doing a weekly confessional.

I CONFESS...You should NEVER EVER let your car insurance....or any insurance for that matter...lapse because who knows, maybe that is the exact moment you will get in a car accident. We now have our car insurance on auto pay to keep this from EVER happening again in the future.

I CONFESS...I am really good at helping people, but really crappy at letting people help me. I have absolutely amazing friends and the best family a girl could ask for but for some reason I don't like anyone helping me. I don't even like letting David help me. Having been in a car accident and being couch ridden for 2 weeks has given me no choice. I have learned to humble myself, admit I need help, AND let people help me. I have let people bring me dinner, put together Kadence's birthday party, buy groceries for me, and lots of other things in between. Probably the most humbling thing is needing David's help in order to get dressed, put my brace on, or even just get a drink. I am so truly blessed to have such amazing people in my life who are willing to help me at the drop of a dime and I am slowly trying to learn that it's ok to let those people help me.

I CONFESS...I have the best husband in the ENTIRE world. Yes ladies, you may think you snagged the perfect man, but I snagged the perfect one for me. Never once has he complained or made me feel like he would rather not help me. He is so patient with me and tries his hardest to get things just the way I want them. He has kept up on laundry better than I do, and has made sure our meals are all taken care of. He even puts the girls breakfast on the table before leaving for work in the morning so they can just grab it. He not only bathes our girls, but then blow dries and straightens their hair. He adjusts, and readjusts my pillows and blankets every few minutes until I'm finally somewhat comfortable. Most of all he does it all willingly and I have no idea how I got so lucky. Love you David, and I am so glad you finally got off your butt to marry me!

I CONFESS....July has never been a great month for me, and I would love to break that cycle. Luckily enough, August tends to be a really good month for me so I'm counting down the days. :) David and I miscarried our first baby in July 2005, we had our first live birth that resulted in two life flights and an ambulance ride in July 2006, and my car accident July 2011. It seems little things always seem to go wrong during the month of July even though there isn't anything real noteworthy between 2006 and 2011. In August 2005 we were married, we were able to take our first baby home from the hospital which was a shock to us all, and we always seem to have a lot of family adventures in August. I really enjoy August and try to remind myself that July will be over soon. :)

I CONFESS...I am picky about the way my blanket is on me. I can not stand the blanket hanging off the edge of the couch or bed AT ALL. It seems to pull at me and I can't stand it. The other thing is that the blanket can't be too heavy. I prefer light blankets that can keep me just as warm as a heavy blanket otherwise I feel trapped. Lastly I absolutely can't stand having a tag by my face. The tag of the blanket has to be at my feet because I snuggle the blanket by my face and the tag just irritates me. Ya, David had to deal with fixing my blanket many times over these past two weeks.

Making Root Beer With Daddy!

2011-07-09T22:27:00.001-07:00

So as if David wasn't amazing enough, tonight he decided to include the girls in making root beer. He loves root beer and decided to make his own with yeast vs dry ice. It takes 6-10 days, but hopefully the wait will be so worth it. The girls both LOVE being in the kitchen helping, but usually I'm the one who initiates it. I was very surprised when David thought of including them. He was so patient and let them help in each step.

Here the girls are waiting to stir in the sugar

Here Shelby is pouring in some water

Kadence finished off the jug of water

Here they are doing their favorite part....stirring!

I even helped by filling a few of the empty water jugs with the root beer mixture

Here's the finished product, I'll have to let you know how it turns out next week!

Friday Confessional

2011-06-17T18:18:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I am super jealous of all my crafty friends. They are so clever with their simple crafts and I can't even begin to try some of their more difficult crafts. I try to pretend I can do things and the more I try the better I actually get. Here's to hoping I'm not craft illiterate for the rest of my life! When you see my seemingly easy crafts, just know it was really hard and I'm usually very proud despite the imperfections because it means that I am trying hard at something that doesn't come naturally to me.

I CONFESS...I might have made a bad decision when I decided that we should make the cupcakes for Kadence's birthday party VS buying them. I thought it would mean more if mom made the cupcakes and it would be a nice little talent to have. After the first attempt at frosting cupcakes I am thinking that I'm not cut out to be a frosting expert. It wasn't terrible, but not quite as good as I would like. I bought a new frosting tip...the right one...and will try again tonight. I'm hoping it goes much better this time and if it doesn't and you happen to see my not so perfect cupcakes....don't judge me, I'm doing my best!

I CONFESS...Staying to a budget is REALLY hard. You don't realize all the little expenses until you go to an all cash budget. We went and got drinks from the gas station and it cost $4. We used to do this almost daily. Lesson learned! It is a treat now not a normal everyday event. (Although Bug Juice will continue to be my girls favorite bribe!)

I CONFESS...I am so very grateful for my step dad. He is the one who helped raise me since my dad has lived out of state since I was little. He and my mom were married when I was 6 years old and he has been with me through many things. He took us camping, hiking and biking. He has shared his love of photography. He has been an amazing handy man and always seemed to find a way to make things work. He has been there through deaths, illnesses, and many other trials. He has been there when I started my own family, and has inspired me to be a better parent. I often refer to him as my dad and love him VERY much! He is such an amazing man and I hope that David is as amazing to our girls throughout their happiness, trials, and adventures. I hope he encourages them to be the best they can and supports them with love when they fall short. Thank you Doug, we love you very much!

Budget Update

2011-06-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, we made it through our first week of our new budget. I think it will take another week to know if it's working well or not. The biggest pro was that each day we were saving about $2.00 in change from using cash vs debit. The girls loved helping save and they knew they were saving for the zoo. Once we saved enough for a membership we would go. They got excited everytime we gave them our change and I'm hoping that by involving them we can teach them to save and be patient when you want something vs getting everything instantly through credit. Another big pro was that we were forced to cook our meals at home. We ate out once...which we have $20 each week set aside for and then we ate out again with money we had saved. All in all that was a HUGE accomplishment for us. One of the problems we immediately ran into was that I spend money helping others. We initially used our $20 MISC on a neighbor who's children needed dinner after dad was brought to the hospital in an ambulance. I needed to go help with a RS dinner so we ordered them pizza. We were ok sacrificing our MISC money, but then there was another neighbor to help. We then decided that like gas and bills, any money spent to help others wouldn't come from our budget. We then replenished our MISC money. We were able to enjoy ourselves and not feel such a tight squeeze, all while cutting back on the spending.

After our trip to Vegas...that we budgeted out with cash...we had a few hundred left over. David asked me if he could have it so he could surprise me with something. After MUCH hesitation, I agreed. I hate spending money on myself at all but that's a lot! He surprised me a few days ago with a new iPod touch. I live on my iPod, and am actually doing this post from it! I had bought my iPod used from ksl and he wanted me to have a new better version. Awesome! I then sold my old one for pretty cheap for what it was, but I just wanted enough to get the invisashield on my new iPod and buy our zoo pass. I misjudged how much the invisashield cost, but we got all but $11 of our zoo pass. At the end of the week, we had enough for the difference for our zoo pass, enough for a trip to McDonalds after the zoo, a punch pass for the train/carousel at the zoo, and two $4 prizes from the zoo gift shop. We still put some money back in the jar and are saving toward a few camping trips.

This next week will be the real test because it's hard for us to avoid eating out, especially on days when David is at school until the evening. This week he has class EVERY night and it's even later than usual. Needless to say, I bet our MISC money AND our shopping money might be going toward take out. :)

Fun Outside!

2011-06-06T10:42:00.000-07:00

Here is an honest blog since I haven't done one in a while. My kids watch a lot of TV....A LOT! Our TV is always on from the time my kids wake up to the time they get ready for bed. In fact, 3 hours a day is mandatory. (2 hours for rest time, a half hour when they wake up and a half hour before bed.) The thing is that I don't even feel guilty for it. I see people who restrict their childrens TV watching and kudos to them. I'm sure it is a great thing for their family, but for mine....its TV and lots of it! Now don't get me wrong, my kids don't sit all day watching TV. They play with toys, use their imaginations, help me cook, read books, and go in their rooms to play. In between activities it seems like they stop for a few minutes and watch some TV, then head right into another activity. My kids have great imaginations, can share (although they don't always), and can entertain themselves well. Here is how David and I have decided to gauge if they are addicted: If they get upset when we change the channel or turn the TV off, and if they no longer want to go outside, but would rather stay in and watch TV. As for now we don't see too much wrong with them watching TV, I watched it tons when I was little and I seem to have turned out alright.

Now that the weather is better, the girls are loving the outside play time that they are getting. I can't wait for hikes, camping (although we bring a DVD player) and picnics. It's not that my girls can't stand being away from TV, they just enjoy a few down times watching throughout their day. Here are a few pictures from last night when we had the TV off for hours!

Doesn't Shelby look SO old here?

Kadence wasn't so much in the mood for pictures. She just wanted to play!

Of course, I had to make them kiss!

Vegas Day 2

2011-06-06T09:51:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention on the last post that when we got off the plane and were gathering our strollers and car seats, we noticed that the handle was broken off of one of our strollers. So just realize that we had a one handled stroller throughout our whole trip. :)

On the second day it was time for the girls to meet my dad and step mom. This was the whole reason for the trip actually. My dad was in Vegas for my stepbrothers wedding and so my sisters and I took our families down so the kids could see their grandma and grandpa Gerry. I was a little nervous that the girls wouldn't warm up to them, but they did right away! We met them in the hotel lobby for breakfast and Kadence just chatted away at her Grandma Gerry.

The day before, David and I had decided that we wanted to take the girls to Mandalay Bay's Shark Reef. Rachel and her family, Jeff, Grandma and Grandpa Gerry and us all headed out after breakfast.

Here's our family with Grandma and Grandpa Gerry

The girls LOVE maps and carried around the map of the aquarium the whole time.

Happy little family!

We saw some people cleaning the tanks and one actually stopped to wave!

Had to get Jeff in the crotch of a statue!

The girls got to touch sting rays. Shelby loved this and Kadence wasn't as much a fan. She didn't like having to dangle over the water and was afraid she was going to fall in.

The girls loved playing inside of a ship that had all sorts of fish, turtles and sharks all around.

After the aquarium, we of course stopped at the gift shop. David got a really cool glow in the dark jelly fish. The girls got a few smaller things. We then headed home to get our car so that we could go to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. This was a big debate. Last time we parked in Ceasars Palace, it took FOREVER to get out. David wanted to walk, but I insisted on driving....and of course, I won. :)

The food was great, and we took home 6 pieces of cheesecake. 2 for me, 2 for David, and 2 for Jeff. The girls both ate well and earned themselves some ice cream. They did great in the restaurant considering there weren't any crayons or coloring sheets and I came very unprepared. I didn't take much of anything anywhere because I was afraid of losing it.

We went back to the hotel and leaving the parking garage was much easier this time...I KNEW IT! We changed into our swimming suits and headed to the pool. Amanda and her family had swam and left, but Rachels family and my dad were still there. We didn't swim too long because the plan was to meet in Amandas room for dinner.

Shelby loved swimming without holding onto anything. Kadence let go for a few minutes, but then decided she would rather someone hold her.

After dinner with the family, we decided to head out to Houdini's Magic shop. The last time Jeff was in Vegas it was too busy to even look around and David LOVES the store. Right at the entrance of NYNY there was a giant candy store. We let the girls each pick a candy so they could munch on it while we shopped. They were amazing for how tired they were and on our walk home they were down for the count!

It was a great day full of fun and I'm so glad that the meeting of their Grandma and pa Gerry went so well. Kadence actually was pretty attached to Grandma Gerry throughout the day and enjoyed holding her hand and telling her stories.

My New Budget

2011-06-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

David and I are noticing that we are needing to adjust our grocery budget. We used to spend about $100 a week on groceries, and it seems that no matter how hard I try we just can't seem to spend less than $130-$140. I don't know what it is. I try my darndest, but it just doesn't seem to work. I know there are some extreme couponers out there that could feed their family a month with that budget, but I am not that good. :) Since we were already adjusting the budget, I decided to google a little to try and find a good way to do a budget. I came upon one that I think will work for my family over at couponingtodisney.com. I had remembered hearing about the site a long time ago and well....David and I are dying to go back to Disney. Her budget seemed to make the most sense although she spends less on her groceries because she's a great couponer. Here's how it works: Each week you take out your weekly budget in cash. This budget is NOT for gas, bills, or things like clothes. This is how our budget will look:

$140 for Food/Non Food Grocery Items

$20 for Dining Out

$20 Shopping

$20 MISC

The $20 Shopping will most likely be put toward snacks for picnics, and deals online like groupon. If you go over in one area, you suffer in another area...and have less to save. At the end of the week any money not spent (Plus all the change from using cash) goes into a savings jar. So here is a scenario: Spend $130 on groceries, $18 on Dining out, $15 on Shopping, and $18 of MISC and at the end of one week we would have $19 in our savings!!

I am SO excited to try this out and see if we can start saving toward family adventures. First I would love to buy a pass to the zoo, David would like to save for a few camping trips, and then we will start saving for Disneyland. We would love to try and go during Spring Break if we can save fast enough, but most likely it will be next summer.

I think even if we aren't saving money toward anything this budget will save money overall. We tend to buy food for cooking meals and get lazy and get take out. If we are using cash only we are more likely to stay under our budget because we will have no other choice. Every time we vacation I set our money aside and we use cash the whole time. I haven't ever gone over and actually end up saving money usually. It helps cut down on major impulses. Now it's time to start applying that same plan to our everyday expenses. I'm excited to see how it will work and will update in a week or two and let you know how it's going for us!

Memorable Vegas Quotes

2011-06-03T20:48:00.000-07:00

So while on our vacation in Vegas a few things were said that just make me laugh and I don't want to forget them.

Kadence and Shelby are obsessed with praying, Jesus, and Heavenly Father. When I say obsessed I really mean it! They are constantly telling me that they miss Jesus or their Heavenly Father and they are just barely getting into praying without help. (Which is funny in itself) While we were walking to the strip one night, Kadence told me..."Mom, I miss Jesus so I'm going to say a prayer." I of course told her "OK" She started off, "Heavenly Father, thank you for our day, thank you for Vegas, help Heavenly Father not miss me and Jesus not miss me, thank you for not making me wear shorty short shorts, name of Jesus Christ Amen." I just about DIED laughing!!! I don't know where she would get that from but it sure did make me laugh!

While walking across the bridge from New York New York to MGM after going to Houdini's magic shop there was a begger who asked if our girls were twins. David told him no to which he replied, "Ya, twins!" I guess the begger knows our girls a little better than we do!

Another time we were walking to the strip, a bus stop drunk who was there every time we passed I think said something funny....to the girls! He looked directly at them and said, "Mortgages are won and lost here." I was confused and thought I for sure heard him wrong because he looked RIGHT at the girls while he said it, but nope David and Jeff both heard the same thing! Man I love Vegas!

Girls Night In

2011-06-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

David was going to be out tonight for our friend, Jeff's, bachelor party so I decided to have a little fun night with the girls. I have a nasty cold so I didn't feel up to much. I decided to let the girls pick a movie and a few snacks and have a movie night. We went to get snacks and we got the girls favorite....fruit and yogurt dip. (I use strawberry gogurt because it tastes the same) They love fruit and to get a plate full WITH yogurt dip is a real treat for them. We also got some candy, chips, and drinks. I was SO thrilled when I got my total for all of this...

$4.68!!! I don't coupon and deal hunt all the time, but when I do I really try to make it worth my time. I was super excited and thought $5.68 for a night with the girls is so much cheaper than what I thought we were going to spend! ($1 for the Redbox)

Here's the delicious treat my girls LOVE!

I decided to drag Kadence's mattress into the front room to make it a little different than our usual movie night. The girls were having a hard time waiting to eat their fruit so I could take a quick picture. They have watched Yogi Bear better than I thought they would and I've been able to blog a bit. We miss our daddy, but I sure do love time together with my girls.

Vegas Day 1

2011-06-03T19:39:00.000-07:00

When we woke up on the day we were supposed to leave, Kadence had a random cough. Of course! I get worried about when she has a cough so I threw our thermometer and pulse oximeter in our bags and away we went! We were very excited to start off with a short plane ride instead of a loooooong car ride. The girls do pretty good in the car, but David and I start whining around 2 1/2 hours. :) Although I was nervous and getting through security was interesting it seemed well worth it. (Explaining to a 4 yr old why she needs to take her shoes off and walk through a metal detector with her arms up is quite the trick!) Here we are watching them get our plane ready for flight.

Here's the girls and I before the plane left the ground....Notice I still seem happy.

Here's Jeff and David, ready to take off!

Ok, the plane made me extremely nauseous and I was sort of in a panic so once we reached our altitude we had David and Kadence switch seats. I don't know what it is, but just having David near me calms me down quite a bit. I was able to make it through the rest of the flight, and then the landing almost scared me to death. It was more than rough.

We got to the hotel and unloaded our rental car and then headed straight for the strip. I had purchased several restaurant.com gift certificates for different places to eat while we were in Vegas. I thought it would be fun to go out to eat for most of our meals, but why not save money while doing it? We headed off to Gameworks which is a big arcade that also has a place to eat. The girls were excited because they love going to restaurants. The food was pretty crappy, kind of like ChuckECheese. As we were about to leave I put my coat on grabbed the girls hands and we left for the arcade. Not even 3 minutes later I went to call my sister, Rachel, and realized I didn't have my phone. I left it on the table! No biggie, I'm sure it would still be there. NOPE! I'm pretty positive that our waitress took it. She didn't seemed to concerned and just said, "All that was on the table was crayons and napkins." I know it was on the table toward the edge, Jeff saw it there and thought he should grab it, and so did David. We tried to ask if they would check security tapes but they told us that LP and security weren't there. (On a Sunday evening) and they would leave a note and have them check in the morning. We left and I was very upset. It would cost $300 to replace my phone and we just don't have that amount of money right now. We decided to try and continue on with our great night anyways. We headed over to M&M World. I was so excited because the girls LOVE this store. We let them pick their M&M's, David and I picked ours, and then I got some green and pink ones for Kadence's birthday. We also got a few other little things. Then we went and watched the 3D movie upstairs. It kind of scared both girls a little, but they said they really liked it. It was about Red losing his M in Vegas and trying to get it back. I thought it was cute. We ended the night with a trip to Walmart to buy a few things we needed like snacks and drinks. By the end of the day we were all SO tired and ready for bed!

New Dress...New Deal!

2011-06-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

Our friends are getting married tomorrow and their colors are black and red. I will be at the luncheon, ceremony, and reception and am nervous that if I'm in pictures what I already have will clash with everyone. I decided that I needed to go buy a new outfit. I set out looking for a fancy dressy shirt to go with some black pants I already have. I am not a fan of dresses...especially if I have to wear them all day. I had a shirt to return to JCPenney's so I started my hunt there. I HATE shopping for myself and it always takes forever to find something that I don't absolutely hate. I had bought the shirt for David with a spend $10 get $10 off coupon that I got in the mail. The shirt ended up being to short and so we returned it for $14 store credit! (I couldn't find the receipt) It didn't seem like anything was going to work and anything that was red seemed to have a pink tone to it. I figured that after 5 more stores we might find something that would work. Then I found a dress! It is black and white and since it scoops down low I got a red tank top to go under it. I really feel comfortable in it and am excited to wear it! The price tags kind of scared me a bit...

I just don't like spending a ton of money on myself. Everything I bought was on sale, and then at the register they took an extra 15% off. After sale, extra % off, and my store credit I only paid $40.65 AFTER tax!! That's a savings of over $71.35. Here is a picture of the dress. I am not feeling good and not in any mood to take a picture, but my sister wanted to see it. :)

Friday Confessional

2011-06-03T13:53:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I love going on vacation, but I love coming home even more. I love walking in and setting my bags down and it feels like "home". I love knowing that I have everything I might need at my fingertips, knowing how to get places, and knowing that there aren't super crazy taxi drivers. I always clean before we leave so that we can come home to a clean house and I LOVE it. I know that I can come sit on the couch and relax if I wanted. (Even though I get right to putting our suitcase stuff away instead) My girls are well behaved while we are away from home, but they are even better behaved here at home. We all sleep better at home and more sleep means happier family.

I CONFESS...I don't really like flying on airplanes. I hadn't flown since I was 8, and was anxious about the flight. We got on and I thought I was fine until the plane started moving. I immediately got nauseous. I get motion sick just swimming in a pool so this was NOT good. It was a very bumpy ride to the runway, a really crappy take off, a really turbulent ride, and an even worse landing. When we landed it tipped the plane clear to the right and everyone gasped. It was definitely not my idea of fun. I had 10x the anxiety for the flight home, but it actually went much better. I didn't like the take off, but everything else went much better. On the way home the seat belt light actually went off for a little bit so it was much better flying conditions. Despite the better flight, there was a little boy behind me who kept crying "OWIE...OWIE" I felt terrible for him and his very pregnant mom. I then felt worse when he threw up everywhere. I have a sever vomit phobia, but I still did ok and would call it a successful flight home.

I CONFESS...I absolutely love my girls and the way they can make me laugh. They take joy in the littlest things and are so grateful for everything. We went swimming at the pool at our hotel and on the way in Shelby said, "Thank you so much mommy, that was my best adventure in the whole wide world." I get thanked for things like putting a new shirt on them, helping them get dressed, getting them a cup of milk, and feeding them dinner. I seriously think I have the best kids in town! (Sorry to my neighbors who read my blog.)

Friday Confessional

2011-05-27T22:38:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I LOVE airheads. They are so delicious. I have loved them since I was little and I just recently started eating them again. I like watermelon best and when I was pregnant I used to send David off to look for watermelon airheads. YUM!

I CONFESS...My hair drives me absolutely crazy. I can't stand leaving it down and usually I can't even make it through a whole day before I put my hair up into a pony tail. I don't know what it is. I hate that it gets staticky and sticks to my face. I hate that it gets tangled and gross fast. I just simply hate leaving my hair down.....but it looks much better down than in a pony tail so I do leave it down occasionally.

I CONFESS...I am really nervous to fly on an airplane on Sunday. I don't know what it is about flying that makes me anxious either. I feel flying is safe, and usually things go as planned. I just think I feel more in control on the ground in a car. I haven't been on a plane since I was 8 and so I think I'm a little hesitant because I don't remember flying. (All I really remember is watching Casper on the plane) Luckily we are only going to Las Vegas so we won't be in the plane too long. The girls are really excited so I hope their excitement rubs off on me. What I am excited about is not having to drive all the way to Vegas. I hate long car rides!

I CONFESS...I am really really excited for my college class that starts at the end of June. I am taking a photography class. I am excited to learn how to actually use my dream camera I got for Christmas and how to edit pictures. I don' t know that I will ever take pictures for money, because I enjoy doing it as a hobby. I'm afraid that if I do it for money it will no longer be something I love doing. Either way I will take my families pictures and get to learn and explore all the features of my camera and have fun editing them.

I CONFESS...I am SO angry at Ogden City Schools. I can't stand that they feel they have the right to treat teachers the way they do. I complain mostly about the fact that the teachers have gone without their "step increases" for 2 years in a row. "Steps" are their yearly raise they get because each year they are more experienced. David is a 4th year teacher getting paid as a 2nd year teacher and it makes me mad. I get that the economy has forced the state to take cuts in many different areas, and that doesn't exactly make me angry. It sucks, but what do ya do? What really gets me fired up is that every other district was able to give a $2000 bonus to their teachers in lieu of this years step. The other districts received this bonus months ago. Ogden Schools just decided they would give a $900 bonus to their teachers...in June. Ogden is the only district that went the ENTIRE school year without a contract. That is a really big deal. They still don't have a contract and are fighting to come to a compromise so they can have a contract for next year. Another thing that makes me mad is that the administrators are still increasing in pay and just recently got new Ipad 2's. The UEA actually hired an independent, unbiased company called "fact finding" to go in and take a look at the districts funds to see if the teachers were wanting money that simply was not available. NOPE! The fact finding company said there is no reason why the teachers can't be given their appropriate steps. If David were to leave the district and get hired...even in the same district....he would be put back on his steps, yet the district refuses to do it. So frustrating!!!

Pink Pink Pink!

2011-05-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

Kadence has been telling me just about every idea she has had for her birthday party theme since December. Since her birthday isn't until July I just would tell her that the ideas sounded fun. It has now come time to let her pick a theme. I went through the list she has come up with: Hello Kitty, Strawberry Shortcake, Toy Story, Unicorns, Pony, etc. I even added Rapunzel and Pinkalicious. When it came down to it, she decided on Pinkalicious. It is one of her favorite books and well, she also loves pink. (I'm not a huge fan of pink) I started brainstorming and we have gone shopping a few times to get "pink things." We have different colored pink utensils, pink plates, pink napkins, pink cups, pink tablecloths, pinkalicious cups, pinkalicious napkins, and pinkalicious tablecloth. We have pink candies, pink sprinkles, pink cake and cake that I will dye pink. I just ordered different pink patterned cupcake liners for her cupcakes too. I ordered the hardcover Pinkalicious book since we only had the paperback that came in her book order. I am then going to display it on the table and cut up the paperback book and frame a few pages as table decorations. The only thing I have really struggled with are the party favors. Goodie bags are my FAVORITE little hobby. I LOVE putting them together and love watching the kids excitement when they open or receive them. I didn't want to hand out pinkalicious party bags to all of the attending children because she has cousins and friends who are boys that will be attending. I also didn't want to go through the effort and cost to do a boy alternative when it's HER party and she wants pink! I decided that I will set out the different pink party favors and have pink bags that all the kids can collect which favors they want. If the boys don't want pink things, they don't have to take anything. We will have pink bubbles, pink wands, pink balloons, pink candy bracelets, pink pencils that say "Happy Birthday Kadence", and the assorted pink candy. I'm also going to have a little craft station where the kids can make pink bracelets with the little plastic beads if they decide to. All in all we are going to be absolutely pinked out and Kadence is going to absolutely LOVE it!

From The Mouth of Kadence...

2011-05-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

Kadence is such a crack up, and says some of the most hilarious things. I can't ever remember them so I figured I better write this one down. The other day when I needed to drive David up to the hospital Davids mom and brother came over to watch the girls. David's mom is blind and hasn't ever been able to really picture in her mind what all the Disney characters look like. We have almost every set of the plastic Disney playsets and so his mom decided to feel them to see what the characters were like. She was looking at Jasmine, who happens to be Kadence's favorite right now, and said "Does she have pants?" Kadence said "Ya she has pants, but she doesn't have a shirt. Her belly shows so it's not a shirt, but she has a boob thing to cover her boobies." Man that girl sure can make me laugh at the end of a bad day!

Friday Confessional

2011-05-21T14:59:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I am afraid of germs. Some places are worse than others. For example I will let my kids play on public toys, but once we get to the car I sanitize their hands. I prefer to sanitize their hands before they eat anything...unless we are home. I know that germs are good for them and actually help them get sick less often by building their immune system but I can't help it. I guess that as long as it is only sanitizing a few times a day it's just good hygiene, right? At least that's what I'm going to keep telling myself anyways.

I CONFESS...I watch a lot of reality TV. I don't even really care half the time about it, but once I watch one episode I'm hooked until the season ends. I try to avoid watching ANY Bachelor and Big Brother because I get SO into it and it bugs me that I even care. I have even roped David into watching Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant with me. Ha Ha!

I CONFESS...I have some of the best kids in the world. They drive me insane and I get to where I just want to have 10 minutes BY MYSELF but when I get away I just miss them like crazy. I hate being away from them and no matter who has my kids I always worry how things are going. The other great thing is that if David or I don't feel well they seem to completely understand and don't really bother us much. They play nicer, whine less, and just are really really good. I am so blessed to have kids that are so amazing!

I CONFESS...I absolutely HATE having David in the hospital. I thought having him leave to San Diego was going to be bad but at least I would know he was comfortable and be able to call him up for anything while he's gone. I hate having a kid in the hospital, but a husband seems worse in a way. I never want to see my children in pain or sick enough to need a hospital, but when they are in I know I can always lean on David. When David is in the hospital I can't lean on my kids so its just really hard. I had a little break down last night because I didn't want to leave my sick husband, but I wanted to be with my girls. Since I can't be at two places at once I had to choose. That was a terrible feeling! I feel I made the right decision because I was able to keep the night time routine with them and do scriptures, prayer, story, a song and tuck them in bed. I also was able to talk with them about their daddy and answer their questions. Kadence got a little upset about her dad having to be gone, but when I told her that we would get him flowers and bring them to him she was able to calm down and go right to sleep. I'm hoping that David gets better quick and doesn't EVER have another hospital visit again!

I CONFESS...I have amazing friends and family. Since this hospital fun all began on Thursday I have been overwhelmed with the amount of people who are willing to help. I had a friend who literally had surgery Thursday bring us over some yummy dessert and a prize for the girls from her recent trip to Disneyland. How amazing, thanks Andrea!! I also had a pregnant neighbor who is having a hard time keeping her baby from coming early bring me dinner. Thank you Jessica!! Beyond that I have had amazing in laws who have been so willing to take care of my girls while I am with David. I haven't had to worry once about what to do with them and it is incredibly nice. I have possibly the best brother in law EVER who puts so much effort into making sure the girls are ready for bed, in their PJ's and calmed down (That alone is a big task) so that they are ready when I get home. He then goes home and sleeps for a few hours and comes back to the house so I can get to the hospital before the Dr does rounds. I have had many neighbors, friends and family who have been so willing to help and it means more to me than I could ever express. I am so blessed to have all of you in my life and feel your overwhelming love and support for my family. Thank you all!

We Can Only Try Our Best

2011-05-07T17:15:00.001-07:00

Since it is Mothers Day weekend, I have tried to enjoy all the little surprises David has planned for me. In our house we try to make a weekend of holidays, not just one day. I usually LOVE Mothers Day, but this year I am finding it a little more difficult. I know as moms all we can do is try our very best, but I feel like I am falling short. (I'm not looking for comments telling me what a great mom I am by the way) I never really wanted to be much in life, but I did know that I wanted to be a mom. That's the only thing that stayed steady. I wanted to be a Psychiatrist, but then realized I care too much about people to have that as my job. I am in the WORST mood as David and the girls are out very lovingly cleaning my car. I love a clean car, and this is an amazing gift for me but I am unable to enjoy it because I feel undeserving. David planned a great Steak and Potato dinner complete with corn on the cob, but again I just don't feel like I deserve it. People tell me all the time what a great mom I am and how amazing my kids are but at the same time I have a constant humming in the background telling me that I am not doing a great job. I have been told that I am "too hard on the girls, too strict, unfair," I have been told that I should do everything for Kadence because she has special needs. I have been told that I push her too hard to do things that she struggles with. I have been told that I alone am the one that is hard on the girls and force David to be too. I have even had our decisions that we have made for Kadences medical treatment questioned. I know that if any of this was true that our girls wouldn't be as happy as they are. If you were to ask people to describe Kadence in one word they would tell you one of three options: Energetic, Strong, or HAPPY. I am always told how happy my girls are. You don't get happy girls by being "too hard" on them. They would be incredibly insecure. Even though I know these judgments are wrong and unfair, they still hurt more than anyone could understand. The only person I wanted to be in life was a mom and I feel like I am not doing a great job at it. I know that every mom can only do the best they can and that no particular parenting technique is perfect for all children or all households. I know that I am raising great kids who have manners, can do what I ask, don't throw tantrums, listen in public, are kind to others, and are just plain ol' HAPPY. I wish that certain people who like to pass judgement on my parenting would just take a look at all the positive things that we have done. Not just the before mentioned, but we have a special needs daughter who demands a lot of time and patience. She didn't get where she is now overnight, nor did she get here by herself. It took our loving guidance and constant encouragement. She used to not be able to even get on the couch by herself and now she can do SO many things. She is one tough girl, but she could only get there with LOVE. I think it will take a while for me to just be able to know that their opinions don't matter, but the hard part is that even though they don't matter and their perceptions aren't true it still hurts. It hurts so much that I don't even feel that I deserve to be celebrated as a mother. I have spent most of my day in tears because I know David has tried so hard to make my day a perfect one and I just simply don't feel like I have earned it. I'm hoping that now that I have vented my silly little woes I will be able to move on, be happy, and enjoy my family who loves me. In the end that is all that should matter. My girls are so excited for all of the secrets they have and have been so cute. They were so proud of themselves when they cleaned my car and they are proud of the "treasure box" they are making. (Even though that was supposed to be a surprise until tomorrow) I love them with all of my heart and will always do whatever it takes to make sure they are happy and well taken care of. Sorry you had to endure my little pity party.

On a better note, thank you to all the people who have been mothers to me. My own mom, my sisters, and many other women have invested time in me and showed me things that I wanted to do...and things I didn't. Either way they have helped mold me into the mother I am today and I am so grateful for that. I may not be the very best mom, but I am trying my very best to be and that's what matters.

Oh, Kadence just ran up to me and said, "HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOMMY!" and gave me a great big hug. I told her that Mothers Day isn't until tomorrow and she said, "I know, I'm just practicing." Man I love my kids. Thank you David for doing such a great job at being a good dad and an amazing husband. Thank you for putting so much effort into my special day. I appreciate it and love seeing how happy the girls are to help you show me that I am loved.

Friday Confessional

2011-05-06T21:57:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I have an obsession with the way my toenails are painted. I try hard (although being a mom it doesn't always happen) to keep them from looking as though they have grown out. Chipped toenail polish drives me absolutely crazy! Even while pregnant I would paint my toenails. It was QUITE the process too. Those who saw how gigantic I was know what a task it was. My belly grows straight out when I am pregnant and I literally look like I have a basketball under my shirt. It was a 6 step process. I would remove the polish from one foot, take a break, remove polish from the other foot, take a break, then apply polish to each foot with a break in the middle and finally I would add sparkles to each foot with a break in the middle. It took me FOREVER but it drove me insane if they went too long. David even offered to paint them for me, but I politely (AND not so politely) declined numerous times.

I CONFESS...I have two of the most amazing kids I know. They are SO well behaved most of the time and get along so great together. I can go shopping without wondering if they will behave, we can go to eat without wondering if we will be asking for to-go boxes at the same time as when they bring our food, I can go mow the lawn and come back to them playing nicely together, and usually I can shower without a disruption. They have their moments, but they are seriously the best kids. I don't know how we got so lucky, but I am sure glad we got the girls we did!

I CONFESS...That today I have really been struggling with Kadence's trials. I sometimes feel bad for myself for having to go through it, but most of the time I just feel bad for her. Today has been one of those days. As if having her get a brace she doesn't love wasn't bad enough, today when I gave her a bath I realized it was rubbing a huge sore on her leg that was bruised and gross. Did she complain? Not a single time. I feel terrible. She is such a tough little thing and just takes each trial with a smile. As I dropped her off at school I told the teacher she wouldn't be there on Monday because we had to schedule a quick visit to Orthotics to try and fix her brace. She then explained to me that Kadence told her all about getting her cast off and then said, "Then they put this brace on and it hurts REALLY bad." Mrs. Jill said, "You don't like your brace very much?" Kadence said, "I LOVE my brace!" I just about lost it. She never ever complains about the pain, and just has the most positive little outlook on life. I think anyone who has met Kadence can see her true genuine happiness. I don't know why she never complains about her pain, but it seriously breaks my heart. I often wonder why she has to go through all of this, and as most mothers I wish I could trade her places. I hate seeing all her bruises that are left all over her from her cast, all the broken down skin, all the scars, and the horrible rash she always gets after her cast is removed. I hate seeing my baby go through such a trial, but I am so grateful she is so strong. It makes it a little easier for me to see her strength and I hope one day I can have half as much strength and happiness as her. She's my rock who keeps me grounded and Shelby is my firecracker who keeps me on my toes. (My painted toes)

I CONFESS...I like driving in the car by myself. I turn the radio up really loud and sing my little heart out. I'm sure I look ridiculous, but its almost therapeutic for me. The music changes depending on my mood, but I love it. I try to do it when the girls are in the car, but they either tell me I'm giving them a headache or beg for the Tangled soundtrack.

New Brace And A Family Adventure

2011-05-04T16:24:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday we had an appointment to get Kadence's cast taken off and get her new brace fitted and adjusted. We then were supposed to go back down on Wednesday to talk to her Dr and talk about the xrays. On Monday, David decided that he would just take 2 complete days off rather than a whole day and a half day. Because of this we decided to head to Park City for a night and make it a little family adventure. Our girls LOVE adventures and we go on them often. An adventure can be anything from going and getting an ice cream cone to Disneyland. Either way they have loved every one we've been on. Staying at Park City would also save drive time since we wouldn't have to drive back and forth to Ogden. I was really excited, except we decided so late Monday night that I couldn't pack until Tuesday morning. It was spontaneous which usually isn't me at all. I like to plan and re plan everything.

I forgot my camera...OF COURSE so all the pictures are off of my phone and aren't the best quality.

We headed down to Shriners Tuesday morning and geared up for our LONG appointment. Last time it took 6 hours. This time was much shorter, thankfully. We had decided a long time ago to bring Shelby with us. I absolutely hate leaving her behind all the time while we care for Kadence and since this isn't a "sick" hospital we figured it would be fine to bring her. We also were thinking the girls could entertain each other. It worked!

We first got Kadence's cast cut off. Here she is happy as can be to have it off.

You can tell on the above picture that her belly is irritated, but I am giving you a close up anyways. (below) For the past 3 weeks or so Kadence had a big bulge from where her cast stopped to where her crotch started. At first we thought it was just that she had a full bladder, but it wasn't. We contacted Shriners and they weren't too concerned with it at all. They figured that she wasn't having bladder control problems and she wasn't complaining of pain. Her Care coordinator did add that she didn't trust Kadence to tell us if she's in pain because of her last little infected incident. After taking the cast off we could see that if we would have gone much longer her entire belly area would have gotten a pressure sore because she grew too much while in the cast. (On a side note, I just HATE seeing how deformed she always looks. I hope it all goes away eventually)

GROSS ALERT:

Ok, so the reason for the smell was because a piece of bark from the playground went down Kadence's cast and started getting an infected area. Luckily it seems as though it was pretty recent and so it hadn't quite gotten to the terrible point of the last nasty sore. I took a picture of the bark in her shirt surrounded by the nasty infection/puss/nasty. I broke the piece because at first we weren't sure what it was.

Here's my happy Kadence waiting for her Orthotic appointment. With her backpack of things to do. (I'm a well prepared mama!)

Her usual orthotic guy, Scott, is out for 6 weeks so we had someone different. He walked in with a BLUE brace that had planets all over it. I told him that I thought he had the wrong room and he said, "No, the brace has Kadence's name on it." I then explained to him that was NOT the brace she had picked out. I almost burst into tears. It was definitely a little boy pattern and not even close to the purple stars brace she had picked out. He went to adjust some of it and Kadence said, "Why do I get a boy brace?" It almost broke my heart. He came back in and told us that the note and order said "stars" and he has no idea why we got "planets." Ok, great now people will think I beat my child AND wonder why a little girl is wearing such a boy pattern. We then started trying to convince Kadence how awesome her brace was because there was nothing we could do about it.

We have some amazing friends who live in Salt Lake and invited us to lunch. It was such a nice thing to spend time with friends AND have our girls sit pretty well most of lunch. At one point Amy asked Kadence if she liked her brace and she said, "It's not my favorite." Ugh, I almost cried. It breaks my heart to know she not only will start Kindergarten with everyone looking at her because she's different but she won't even like her brace she has to wear.

After our yummy lunch we headed up for our "adventure." We got checked into the hotel and then headed out shopping. David and I got a few things and then we went to walmart to let the girls pick a prize. Kadence got a puzzle and Shelby got a fishing game.

We then decided it was time for dinner. I had a coupon for New York Pizza company so we decided we'd go try it out. Plus, it was open mic night! We started out with no idea where we were going, but then I remembered we could use the Navigation on our phones. We found the restaurant, walked to the door, and then realized it was closed Mondays and Tuesdays during the 'down season.' DANG! We got the girls some McDonalds and then we went swimming!

Here's Kadence all ready to go.

Here's Shelby checkin herself out in the mirror

It was so funny because when we got down to the pool Kadence said, "Daddy do I look sexy?" It made me laugh SO hard.

After swimming David gave the girls a bath and I gave them some new Spring PJ's. They LOVE pajamas and I had bought these a while ago. Now that the weather is warm enough for short sleeve PJ's I figured why not bring it on our adventure? Needless to say the girls enjoyed it.

David and I decided we were getting hungry, but it was late and not very many places were open. We finally figured out that Domino's was open so we placed an order online. I mapquested directions....but left them on our bed in the hotel. I though I could remember them alright so we headed out. We quickly realized that I could NOT remember them well enough so we stopped at a Chevron to ask for directions. Its the only Domino's in the area so we figured they would know what we were looking for. Unfortunately David said that they had no idea what he was saying and in broken English told him that they didn't know. He then asked where Ute Blvd was because we knew that was a direction and they said they didn't know where Ute Blvd was. Great, our pizza was probably ready and we had no idea how to get to it. Then I again remembered the Navigation on our phones. It sent us off on our way back to Ogden then looped us back toward Park City. We were sort of lost. Then the Navigation told us that we were there and we couldn't see a Domino's anywhere. We then realized that in a very normal building that blended in with all the others there was a simple very plain sign that said Domino's. What? Where was the red and blue? Anyways we got our pizza and then the Navigation gave us very simple directions home. We laughed because we couldn't figure out why it didn't send us to Domino's the way it sent us back to the hotel. We laughed even harder when we realized that the Chevron was ACTUALLY ON Ute Blvd!

We got home, ate, and tucked the girls in bed.

A while back I also ordered some fleece blankets that had Jack Skelington on them. The girls were so excited because they both also LOVE blankets. If you go in Kadence's room she literally has a stack of blankets from her dresser to the ceiling. I can't reach the top so David always has to get her blankets down.

The girls slept pretty well all night minus Kadence's 5 or 6 trips to the bathroom.

The next day we slept in, got ready, ate breakfast and headed back to Salt Lake. We figured we would let the girls play at a park for 45 minutes because we were early, but it was a little windy and chilly so instead we went to Temple Square to look at all the pretty flowers.

The girls ARE in the picture below, they are just really tiny.

We headed back up to Shriners and had a few adjustments done to Kadences brace. Then we talked with the new orthotic guy and he said that after he and Kadence's Dr looked at the xray they were very pleased. He said that they are about at the same curve as she was in her cast which is GREAT news. Usually you don't get anywhere near the same in cast as in brace. He then explained that her rotation that is in her lumbar was actually more corrected in her brace than it was in her cast. Even better news! We have never had a brace that has her at such a good spot to start off with. She tends to regress rapidly and I doubt this will be any different, but at least she is starting off at a good place. We waited almost an hour and a half past our appointment before the Dr came in and he only talked to us for about 5 minutes. It was sort of a waste of time because he didn't even tell us much other than we will do her next cast in the Fall. He sent us over to Orthotics for one more tiny adjustment and we were done!

We decided to add one more stop and go to Ben & Jerry's at the Gateway. None of us had ever eaten there before and again, I had a coupon. We all enjoyed our ice cream and headed back to reality. David has a summer class that started today at 4:30 so we could only stay and play for so long. I am so glad we were able to spend time together as a family. It was the best Mothers Day present I could have asked for. Plus we will get to do it again this month since I have another gift certificate for Best Western that expires at the end of the month.

Friday Confessional

2011-04-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS...I love almost any kind of gummy or fruity candy. I like chocolate, but not often. I LOVE Skittles, Starburst, Twizzlers, Haribo Frogs, Gummy Worms, Gummy Bears, etc. I will eat candy any day, any time of day, for any meal. I love candy.

I CONFESS...I don't really like most baked goods. I will eat a cookie or slice of cake here and there, but I don't eat them often. I struggle because I like the smell of cooking cakes, cookies and brownies but I don't like eating them. I hate making such a mess just to get to smell it baking in the oven. I have however found a good way to justify it. Shelby LOVES being my "little chef" and helping me bake and I can share with my neighbors.

I CONFESS...I am slowly realizing that when David goes to San Diego this summer that the girls and I will most likely be left home. We need to save money so that I can continue college and to do so, we can't afford the cost of San Diego. I am TERRIFIED! David and I haven't ever spent a night apart other than when a child has been in the hospital. The girls ask for daddy all day long and I don't know how they will take it when he doesn't come home....for FOUR days. This just makes me so much more grateful of those who have spouses or family members in the military. I am such a big baby when it comes to David leaving us. What can I say, I love the guy!

I CONFESS...I hate that I have 9am church. How are we supposed to do Easter baskets? I have to wake the girls up in order to get them ready so I am NOT waking them up even earlier in order to go through their Easter baskets. It makes me not want to go to church....but how terrible would that be?! I know we need to go hear the messages on Easter Sunday and really its the least we can do. I need to remember the importance of the holiday rather than what the Easter Bunny has left. I feel terrible for even confessing wanting to miss church on Easter.

I CONFESS...I'm not really into Harry Potter, but I go to the midnight showings anyways. I like the excitement of seeing a movie at the opening show and I like spending time with David doing something fun that he likes. I have even let Kadence stay up for a late night book release party when we were living in Logan. I think we were out past midnight and we drew a little lightning bolt on her little forehead. It was a fun night and a fun little memory.

Kadence's First Homework Poster

2011-04-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

I know this isn't a HUGE deal to most, but it is to me. Kadence had her first take home homework project. We could do the poster any way we liked. I asked her all her likes/dislikes and wrote them and I wrote her name. Everything else was her. She helped pick the pictures (I cut and glued them on) and she colored all the pictures. Some of the pictures weren't the greatest coloring job, but some of them were REALLY good for her. I was so proud that she was able to finish it without saying "I can't" a single time. It still makes me so grateful to see her doing things other kids her age are able to do. She's smart and on track and I'm so so grateful for that. This is what I have hoped and dreamed for since we were told she wouldn't ever be a normal functioning child. She's our little miracle and we remember how blessed we are daily.

Here's the top half

The bottom half

Here's the full poster

Our Coke Adventure

2011-04-21T14:02:00.000-07:00

I try to find simple cheap things to do with my girls to keep them busy and get us all out of the house. We all get REALLY cranky when we are couped up all day. I saw that Weber State University was selling bottled Cokes for a nickel for a few hours at lunch time today and tomorrow. I figured that would be the perfect thing to get us out of the house. I thought we would be parking at the meters, but they were full. So we paid $1.50 to park in the pay lot so we could get our nickel Cokes. Oh well, the girls were so excited that they got to carry their OWN Cokes from the bookstore to the car. Our total adventure cost us $1.66. Ya giving kids Coke might not be what some parents call a wholesome drink, but my girls like it!

Kadence absolutely loves Coke and gets so excited when we let her choose her own drink for Happy Meals because she gets to choose Coke instead of Sprite.

Shelby usually picks Sprite every time, but she really enjoyed her Coke!

If anyone sees this and wants to go get a few cokes, the Bookstore will be doing it again tomorrow from 11:30 to 1:30.

Resurrection Rolls

2011-04-19T20:08:00.000-07:00

We started doing Resurrection Rolls last year and will continue doing them every year. My girls LOVE them and so do I! I always forget all the symbolism so if you want you can head to http://homegrownmom.com/creating-family-times/resurrection-rolls-an-easy-easter-treat/1689 For the details. (Ya, I'm so awesome that I don't have any idea how to link over to another site.)

We have been talking to the girls about the last few days of Jesus' life since Sunday. They are really into it and ask a lot of questions. I went and got my picture of Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and showed it to them so they would understand it wasn't like a princess crown. They were both so sad. Shelby had her finger by her little eye (that's what she does when she's nervous or upset) the whole time and said, "Mommy, Jesus is crying....see his tear?" Then Kadence would just hold the picture in her lap almost like she was cradling Jesus and tell us how the mean people hit him LOTS and put thorns on his head....and it hurt him. She was very stuck on the part about the thorns. You could tell she was heartbroken. I almost felt like I should sugar coat it because they were getting so upset by the story. Then I realized it's a good thing for them to realize how much pain and suffering He went through for us.

Tonight we were able to talk about the happier part of the story and talk all about the Resurrection. The girls were very involved and excited about it. Uncle Jeff came over and did them with us too.

The girls wrapping Jesus in a sheet

Daddy putting Jesus in the tomb.

The girls stuffed animals and Jeff helped them guard the tomb.

I got in on it. (Notice how my family generally only gets dressed from the waist up)

Jesus is Risen! He is no longer in his sheet!

Shelby was kind of concerned about the fact that she KNEW she put the marshmallow in, and it wasn't there anymore. I'm so excited for the rest of the week when we color eggs, go on egg hunts, and the Easter Bunny comes but we always try to teach our girls the message behind the holiday.

Friday Confessional

2011-04-15T13:46:00.000-07:00

I CONFESS....that I am really sad about the fact that Kadence's Kindergarten Round Up was last night. I don't feel old enough to have a Kindergartner, nor do I feel like she is old enough for Kindergarten. I guess I need to embrace the fact that she is smart, healthy, personable, and OLD ENOUGH for Kindergarten.

I CONFESS....that I have taken my own advice and have tried to be a better friend to those around me. It is working out well and even though it isn't the most comfortable thing in the world for me, it has been nice.

I CONFESS....that I have a new obsession and that is doTerra Essential Oils. I feel like sharing these fantastic oils with everyone because they are safer than drugs we take for everyday ailments. I am debating becoming a consultant, but fear that if I do it will turn into me pressuring people to buy the oils rather than just sharing because I care. I really DO care and would LOVE to share my personal experiences with the oils with you if you are interested or if you have a symptom that you are wondering if there's an oil that can help. Feel free to Facebook message me, or send me an email leanne_joy@comcast.net and I'd be happy to answer any questions. I can place an order for you if you are interested whether I'm a consultant or not.

I CONFESS....I am beginning to HATE pasta. I eat it way too often and it doesn't taste as good anymore.

I CONFESS....that I have feared failing college since before I even started. Now after 4 semesters I have actually and literally failed. I will be failing 2 classes out of 3 this semester and I am devastated. School doesn't come easily for me and so I have been terrified of this since I started. I barely made it through high school...ok, I actually didn't make it through high school. I had to take Adult Ed in order to graduate. The worst part of all of this is that now I will lose my financial aid. We can't afford to send me to school so unless we find a way to make it happen, my college career is over. I seriously am devastated...that's the only word that can describe my feelings. I wanted to set a good example for my girls and show them that getting an education is important, but now I can't. David keeps telling me that we'll figure it out, but we'll see what happens.

My Favorite Part Of The Day

2011-04-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

I'm not a perfect mom, in fact I am FAR from it. I am also not the best example of an LDS mom to my girls. I'm not meaning, making five loaves of bread, doing 15 loads of laundry, and making first class meals. I mean that I don't always attend church regularly and I don't hold Family Home Evenings regularly. David and I did decide that something we needed to do everyday was family scripture and family prayer. We only read about a verse a night, but as our girls get older we will be able to increase it. The important part is that we make a habit of it while our kids are young. Every night after we make our last potty run, get our PJ's on, and brush teeth we start my favorite part of the whole day. David reads us a scripture, we kneel down to pray, and then I read the girls a story. On Sundays, I help the girls read the scriptures, and David reads the story. It is the one part of the day that is ABSOLUTELY perfect. Then we give hugs and kisses and take the girls to bed. We each take one and often rotate who takes who. (Lately they have both been wanting daddy to take them to bed.) When they are all snuggled in bed we sing them a song and kiss them goodnight. Kadence ALWAYS picks "I Am A Child Of God" and Shelby picks really random songs. Tonight, for instance, she asked me to sing a song about her "wild thing." Daddy read "Where The Wild Things Are" so she HAD to sleep with her wild thing stuffed animal. I then had to make up a song about her wild thing. No matter the song, and no matter what animal they choose to sleep with it is absolutely perfect. They both get this perfect, happy smile on their face as you leave and close the door. I know that I need to work on being a better example to them, but at least we have three VERY important things in our nighttime routine....Scripture, Prayer, and Story. I sure do love them and hope they let us tuck them in and sing to them FOREVER!

DoTerra Essential Oils

2011-04-05T14:15:00.001-07:00

Last night I went to a class that taught about the benefits and science of Essential Oils. I went not to become a believer, but to support a friend. I thought there was NO WAY in the world this could be serious. I figured it was like "Magic Elixirs" like on Sweeney Todd. I went in with a bad attitude and actually came out a believer. After listening to the way it touched their lives I couldn't help but believe. These were friends of mine and friends of my friend. I figure one of them might lie to me, but to have so many positive stories? I was convinced. I actually have been praying for quite some time that I can find relief for my anxiety. I have severe anxiety and the only thing that seems to help is xanax. Problem is, I don't function well and can't take care of my kids when on it so I just try to cope the best I can. I have had countless blessings during severe anxiety attacks and they usually say that I will know what to do, or I will know how to find relief. I can't help but think this might actually be an answer to my prayers. One lady had extreme anxiety and actually hasn't even been on medication for years now thanks to the Essential Oils. I wasn't going to be able to make this class because David had a college class to attend. Late in the afternoon he was kind of puzzled when he realized that his class would be online this week. Divine intervention....I think so, I HOPE so. I struggled at first with the cost of the oils. The kit of 10 oils is $170 after tax. Then I realized that I have always said I would do ANYTHING and pay anything to find relief. Our copays are $40 each so it adds up quickly. I figured that it is worth a try. The oils can help almost everything: Earaches, Asthma, Depression, Anxiety, Fevers, Infections, Bacterial Infections, Warts, Insomnia, Colds/Flu, etc. You name it, there's probably an oil that can help. I am really hoping that this is an answer to my prayers. I am hoping that this will finally give me the relief I have been seeking. I know that if my anxiety is cut down that I will be a much better mother and wife. We will also be using the oils on Kadence for her asthma and David for his extreme fatigue. I am hoping we get great results. I got a sample of the "breathe" oil last night and tried it on my girls. They both cough all night long. It is a lingering cough from a cold a while back, but it seriously keeps me up all night. We put it on them before bed and an hour later, I realized they hadn't been coughing. The coughing is the worst for them when they aren't fully asleep, but aren't fully awake so this is usually the worst time for them. I was made an instant 'hopeful' and I am hoping to become a believer soon. I am hoping that we will be able to start substituting our over the counter drugs with these all natural oils. It just seems safer to me than the chemical drugs everyone rushes to for the slightest ache or pain. Don't get me wrong, I will still take my girls to the Dr and will continue to use inahlers...but this will be an addition to our wellness plan.

My Best Friend

2011-04-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

I am somewhat mourning the loss of a friend....who is still alive. This person has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. She has been there with me through a lot. Our whole friendship is a giant inside joke. I have been in denial for a while that I'm not as important to her as she is (and always will be) to me. I love her dearly no matter where life takes her. I ignored the fact that my best friend wasn't there during my miscarriages, for my bridal shower, when I was in the hospital, when my baby was on life support, when I had my babies, when my grandma died, etc. I always made an excuse as to why she didn't come. (Not that it made it hurt any less) I realize I have missed just as many tough times in her life, but it wasn't because I didn't try. I have visited her at her house a few times, I tried to get in better touch with her after she entered rehab, I have tried sending messages, but they often go without a response. I don't care what she is doing as long as it makes her 100% happy. That's all I want for her. I'm beginning to realize that, at least for now, 100% happy means life without me. I have REALLY been struggling lately as I have come to realize and try to accept the fact that we just aren't the same "best friends." I have avoided making friends because I know that nobody can take her place. Nobody will remember shaving our legs with peanut butter, taking baths together, trying to pierce our belly buttons with a safety pin, making a "house" under the kitchen table, chasing cars in front of our house, making our own lotions, trying to tattoo ourselves...again with a safety pin. Nobody knows how to make nachos out of Doritos perfectly like her, how to make frosting for graham crackers, and the perfect cheese ratio for crackers and cheese. I still remember the day she found a positive pregnancy in her moms garbage which resulted in her little sister, holding her sister for the first time and thinking we would be the BEST big sisters ever. Everyone knew that if they wanted one of us to babysit, we would both be coming. We were there for each other for cheer tryouts and dance competitions. We both knew how bad her brothers soccer gloves would smell after a game. We even had sex for the first time the same week. We have made Sunday School and YW leaders cry (which now I feel bad for), neighbors dislike us, people in stores stare, and lots of people laugh. Nobody will understand the midnight Slurpee runs, Quarter pops, Wendys runs, our love for Otter Pops, Chicken Soft Taco runs, and chasing down the Ice Cream Man like her. I now have to face the hard reality that she is no longer needing me and has moved on, problem is...I still need her. After finding out through her ex boyfriend that he saw she was engaged...on facebook I realized I was no longer a priority to her. When I told her how much that sucked to find out in such a way she told me that they hadn't really told many people yet. Really? I think once you decide to post it on facebook you have decided to tell EVERYONE. I always had dreams of us growing old together and remain constant friends. I will never give up on her and will always be there for her at the drop of a dime. She is the one person I will drop everything for...even my family. (David knows and understands) I now have to face the reality that I need to put myself out there and make a new friend. This will be hard because nobody will ever replace her. I need a friend who won't judge me...NO MATTER WHAT I do or don't do. I need to feel totally comfortable. They need to be unjudgemental. They need to be able to come over when my house is in shambles, the girls aren't dressed, and I don't even have a bra on and not bat an eyelash. I need someone who I can be me around. Someone I don't have to prove myself to or try to impress. This is my little vent about the sadness and heartache I have been feeling the past little while. My heart aches and I hope that it's only a temporary loss of a best friend.

The Joys of Being a Mommy

Shelby's Carnival Party

Friday Confessional

Happy Birthday Shelby!!!

Friday Confessional

Videos

Friday Confessional

Friday Confessional

Really Random...

Friday Confessional

Christmas Lights

Confessional

Graduation and Gingerbread Men

A Day Later Than Friday Confessional

Davids Boo Boo *GRAPHIC*

Christmas Trees!

Silly Girls

Thanksgiving

The Nutcracker

Friday Confessional

Stake Conference

Red Ribbon Week

A Few Videos

New Brace!

Joys of Being a Mommy

A Little Venting...

Friday Confessional

BIG Decision!

FUNNY GIRLS!

Friday Confessional

Things To Remember

As If Kindergarten Wasn't Bad Enough...

Hard Stuff

First Day of Kindergarten!

Friday Confessional

New Room

Back to School

No More Tonsils!

Friday Confessional

Our Healthy Family Celebration!

Just Random Things...

Friday Confessional

Shoes!

Absolutely DISGUSTING!

Weber County Fair

North Shore

Friday Confessional

Friday Confessional

Trampoline Fun!

S'mores!

Welcome Brylee Pyper

Friday Confessional

Friday Confessional

Evening at the Park

Vegas Day 3

Personal Space

Sprinkler Fun!

Kadence's Birthday Party

Friday Confessional

Heartbreaking Prayer

More Things Our Kids Have Said...

Friday Confessional

Making Root Beer With Daddy!

Friday Confessional

Budget Update

Fun Outside!

Vegas Day 2

My New Budget

Memorable Vegas Quotes

Girls Night In

Vegas Day 1

New Dress...New Deal!

Friday Confessional

Friday Confessional

Pink Pink Pink!

From The Mouth of Kadence...

Friday Confessional

We Can Only Try Our Best

Friday Confessional

New Brace And A Family Adventure

Davids Boo Boo GRAPHIC