Blog it, then Publish it!

I have been thinking about this for awhile now, but since I lost almost all of my pictures from when my hard drive crashed a few months ago it has become something that I REALLY want! It is this:

You can make your blog into a book! I can not begin to tell you how happy it would make me if I was able to get back some of those pictures that are here on my blog! Not only that, but since I have always been bad about writing in a journal but not too bad about posting on my blog, I could releive some guilt.

One day maybe, but don't you agree how cool this is? Go check out the site if you are interested.

My new friend

I have a new friend! Her daughter and my daughter are in the same pre-school class and they talk about eachother all the time. So we thought it would be fun to have a play date. We spent the afternoon at their house and I enjoyed myself so much. It is so much fun to meet people that you have so much in common with!

She is a blogger too so run over and say hi! What a fun family they have!

The Barking Sea Lion and Drinks from a Coconut

Me: "I brought 'my little man' here to see you (Doctor) because I was concerned about his recent cough and hoarse voice. He was up all night long and it sounded like he was just gasping for air."

Doctor: "Does it sound like a barking sea lion?"

Me: That isn't exactly what came to mind first but come to think of it "Yea, it actually does sound like that."

Doctor: " Your poor little guy has the croup. Unfortunately he has it pretty bad so we will have to give him a dose of steroid before he leaves. Other things you might want to try is run hot water in the shower to steam up the bathroom. Sit in there with him and let him breath in the steam. Or you can bundle up and sit on the front porch and let him breath the cold air. Since it is supposed to be like 3 degrees tonight, I personally would sit in the bathroom with my swimming suit on and pretend I am on a vacation. Turn on the Beach Boys, get a nice drink and just hang out."

Little Princess pipes up and sings: "You put the lime in the coconut...."

The doctor thought that was SO funny that when he sent in the nurse, he told her to ask my little princess where you put the lime. They all got a kick out of it!

In case you are wondering that was REALLY what the doctor said. Have I told anyone how much I like this doctor? He is totally cool! Unfortunately my little man sounds terrible. I hope that he starts to feel better soon because 1) I feel like I am in the zoo watching the sea lions and 2) He is just too little to be so sick.

10 Months Old!

Little Man is now 10 months old. What a fun 10 months we have had too! He has been able to experience almost every holiday, every season, tons of family get together's, swimming, swinging on the swings, jumping or should I say bouncing on the tramp, rolling down the steep driveway in his stroller TWICE, falling out of his high chair, and not to mention the joys of being the youngest of 3 kids!

He scoots all over the place backwards and is pretty dang accurate in where he is going. He loves to eat almost anything, and is still learning to drink from a sippy cup. He has two teeth that just makes my heart melt when he smiles. (there is just something so cute about an almost toothless smile) He can say "Mama" "Dada" "Hi" and as of today "UH OH". He has the funniest little side to side wave that I just can't get enough of either.

Of all my kids he has been the biggest Mama's Boy. If it were up to him he would be in my arms all day. When I leave the room he gets grumpy, and I swear he wakes up some nights just to play with me. I really don't mind at all, because in return he is the calmest little guy with such a mellow attitude.

His big brother and big sister LOVE to play with him and love to help me out with him. Tonight they fought over who was going to feed him dinner. I am surprised about how good of helpers they can be to him though, they will be great babysitters some day!

He loves to play peek a boo and be tickled by his daddy! (Man, that LAUGH! It is just too funny!) He HAS to have his fuzzy blanket and his binky when he is tired. He really likes to take a bath and splash the water. As of last week he noticed that he can see himself in the lever that drains the bath tub and he thinks it is pretty dang cool! He actually laughs when he sees our remote or our phone (he could care less about the toy ones we have given him) and do ANYTHING he can to get a hold of them. But best of all, he just fits right in to our crazy family. I couldn't be more grateful for him and his spirit in our home. I can't believe that in 2 months he will have a birthday! Time goes by way too fast!

Gordan B. Hinckley

What a great work you have done! You will be missed!

It is so humbling to think about the reunion he had with our Father in Heaven and his dear wife today. I am so grateful for this man, or the way he touched my life! I am sad that he is gone, but I am grateful for the principles in which we believe that he is with his wife again, and that the church will continue to move forward.

Surprise Mommy!

The other day I had been doing laundry. I had folded the clothes and put each pile on the dryer to then be put away. As I always do, I make a trip to each room with the clothes that belong in that room. I came back into the bathroom/laundry room and the dryer door opens and I hear "Surprise Mommy!" My Little Princess had climbed into the dryer while I was putting the clothes away. What a surprise it was too! It has been a while since I had jumped like that!

Too Little for Mischief?

He is almost 10 months old. He doesn't crawl yet, but he sure can scoot (well backwards anyway)! And apparently he can open the door to to cabinet now too. Is he too young to figure this out yet? Is one year and 2 months too soon for seeing the signs of the terrible two's?

Actually he is the funniest little guy! He was pretty proud of himself that he got this far on his journey. So much so, I thought that I would just let him sit there for a bit. He ended up emptying almost the entire cabinet of DVDs. We are pretty lucky that he hasn't tried to do it again. What a silly kid!

Check out his chubby tummy! Gotta love it!

I am SO Lucky!

I am so lucky because I have an awesome husband and dad that got my bathroom ALL done! You can see the pictures of the shower and the bathtub here, but the floor is all done now too! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! It couldn't be any better! Well, I guess it will be better after some touch up paint, and new base boards. To be honest I don't even notice it when I walk in because LOOK AT THIS TILE WORK! I really do feel like I walk into luxury!

Just a little info about this picture, my hubby built that step into the tub. It really needed one, and it is so nice to have. Also the vanity was just looking old and yucky with all this new tile. So he decided to paint it and stain it. I matches so much better. He is pretty dang creative it I must say so myself!

My Brown Bag

Last night at our Young Women's activity we had a "Brown Bag" activity. Everyone was to bring a brown bag full of things that represent who we are. It was so much fun getting to know all the girls and even the leaders more.

I really struggled with what I was going to put in my bag though. I don't really know why, but talking about myself sometimes stresses me out. I feel that I come across as a rebel, and I am totally uninteresting. I realized though, I am who I am and it doesn't really matter what I put in my bag. I also realized that even though I may be a rebel, I am a rebel that has been contained. So here is what I put in my bag:

1- My bike helmet. I we used to go mountain biking all the time, and it is something that I really enjoyed. It is also something that I wish I did more.

2- My snowboarding goggles. I also used to do this all the time too, but haven't been in years. It just costs too much money to go now.

3- My apron. I really do like to cook, except when I have to. I like to try new recipes.

4- My portfolio. Photography is a big part of my life. I love it, and love to be able to share my talents with others.

5- A screen shot of my blog. Believe it or not, I love to post things here. I love to think of new things to post, and I love to make new friends through blogging. The best part is to get comments and see what people are thinking too.

6- A little race car. I like to watch drag racing, and I like cars.

7- My personal progress book. I didn't finish my personal progress when I was in Young Women's so I have made it a goal to work on it while I serving in the presidency.

8- My Guitar Hero game. I am addicted to playing guitar hero! I also have played the guitar since I was little. I even used to teach lessons.

What would you put in your brown bag?

It's not funny!

In a balmy 9 degree weather this morning I went outside to scrape the snow and ice off the windows of my jeep. Before I went out here I left strict instructions to get shoes, socks and coats on. Little Dude met me out there. He was ready for school. Little Princess and the baby were still inside. When i went in to get them my Little Princess was so kind enough to lock me out of the house.

I rang the doorbell furiously. She unlocked and opened one of the doors. She peeked around the corner and gave me a giggle. I DID NOT THINK THIS WAS AT ALL FUNNY! I yelled at her that she need to open the screen door NOW! She tried a few times "I can't do it mommy."

I wanted to swear! But that wouldn't be setting a very good example. Instead I just yelled (not so the neighbors could hear me, although I figured they could, but so she knew I meant business) "Mommy doesn't have a way to open the door! You HAVE to keep trying! You should NEVER lock the door when Mommy is outside!!!"

We stood there, me in my coat but still freezing outside, her inside still WITHOUT her shoes and her coat on just laughing. She kept trying but couldn't get the door open. 5 minutes went by and she finally got it open! Little Dude was late for school, she still thinks it was no big deal. ME, on the other hand am still mad that my 3 year old would DO SUCH A THING!

In all reality though, this is the least of the things that she has done in her short little life. Remember that strong will? Everyone keeps saying that it will be a good trait for her to have some day. I will believe it when I see it!

Poor Little Dude! *updated*

***Notice: This post might be a little gross for some people. If it is too much, don't watch the video.

My Little Dude has had a wart on his thumb forever now. We have had it frozen off I think 3 times now. Every time it gets bigger, and more nasty. One time it got really infected while trying to heal after it was frozen off and had to go on medication. It has been a very traumatic experience for him. I feel so bad for him!Every time it grows back he gets really disappointed. The last time I had the Doctor look at it had recommended that we go to see a Dermatologist. I had talked to Little Dude about this and he is really excited to see if the new doctor can get it off. Gross I know.

The other day I was flipping through the channels on TV and was this show called "Half Man, Half Tree" on TLC and I just had to stop and watch what it was all about. When the show came on I was thrown back by what I saw. It was intriguing, yet sad. The kids were playing and it wasn't really graphic so I just watched it for a bit. Well actually a bit turned into the entire show, I was glued to the TV. They were trying to explain what was wrong with this man and apparently little dude heard that part.

After he heard what they said about why this man looked like and that it was caused because of warts, Little Dude looked at me and asked if he was going to look like that because of his wart. IT BROKE MY HEART! I told him no because he had more problems than just a wart, and that I will call and make an appointment to get his taken off AGAIN. So we are heading to the Dermatologist this afternoon to see what he can do. Next time I will save shows like this for when the kids are in bed!

***UPDATE***

We went to his appointment and got a crazy new treatment. Hopefully it will work, but I felt a little strange carrying a bottle labeled POISON wrapped up in a rubber glove (they say if it broke it would be contained and not infect anyone) in my purse. My hubby will have to apply said poison every night for weeks up to months until it is gone. I can not touch it though. Too dangerous for a nursing mom I guess. He is resting peacefully now, knowing that he will not turn into a tree. :)

The Battle of the Wills

When I was a kid I remember my parents making me sit at the dinner table until my dinner was all gone. I hated it, but I eventually learned to eat what was given to me, and not waste too much food. Well, my Little Princess has such a hard time eating any meal. It takes her FOREVER to eat anything, and usually ends up wasting a good portion of food. Unless is has peanut butter, jelly and bread in it or if it comes from Grandma's house she won't have much to do with it.

Going back to my roots, I decided to put my foot down and do what my parents used to do. Tonight we all ate dinner, and she was just playing around. I told her that she CAN NOT get down until her food was all gone. She tried a few times, but I kept putting her back to her plate. (Have I mentioned anything about the AMAZING strong will this girl has?) This truly became a battle of the wills while she just sat there staring at her food, crying and protesting. I wasn't going to give in though. Neither was she.

2 hours go by and she is still sitting at the dinner table. I gave the baby a bath, and came back to see that she had pulled another chair up next to her, laid down and was SOUND asleep. She hadn't even touched her food.

What can I say? She won!

Peeing Asleep - Again

I have been bragging about my potty training techniques, they work don't get me wrong, but my kids are still kids. They do have an occasional accident. Little Princess just has those problems with not being able to get her panties down fast enough. Little Dude though has a much bigger problem. There is the time that we had to stop on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere to let him go. He thought that was pretty cool so once it got warm outside he thought that it was ok to do that in the back yard all the time.



There was another time that he snuck out to the jeep just before we were going to leave somewhere. I couldn't find him for awhile, but I happened to walk by the jeep and hear him and his sister in there. I opened the door and his sister told me that he had peed in the car. He had done what I like to call "Fire Hosed" it ALL OVER MY JEEP. You can read about the entire story here. Apparently he had to go but had locked himself in the jeep.



There was this time that he got up to pee during the night and he ended up peeing while he was asleep. Lucky for all of us he made it into the toilet, but the fact that he forgot to turn on the light while he was going then turned it on when he was leaving we pretty funny to us.



Unfortunately a few nights after that he got up to go pee in the night again and ended up peeing in the garbage can next to the toilet. If I could just get him to WAKE up while he pees I don't think there would even be a problem.



But I have come to realize that there may be a little problem. The other night he had been asleep for hours. I hear him get up and walk around for a bit, then nothing. I thought that he just went back to bed. A little bit later he came into me crying because some how he had wet the bed. He has actually never had a problem with that so I felt really bad for him. Until I investigated the scene then I felt even worse for him. I really am not sure what happened but this is my theory:



He must have gotten out of bed to go.

Then walked around his room thinking he was heading into the bathroom.

Again thinking he was in the bathroom turned to his bed and dropped his drawers.

Then I think that he walked around a bit more and climbed into bed.



His clothes were not really all that wet. His bed, sheets, floor, pillow, night table, and comforter were SOAKED!!!! He doesn't remember anything about it. What he will never forget is that while we cleaned his bed and mattress and stuff he had to sleep with his sister in her bed. He does NOT like that at all.

She loves her Daddy!

For those of you that don't care about reading my potty training tips, here is a little something that my Princess said tonight.

Her daddy loves to paint her nails. It is SUPER cute! You can actually see a post here of him doing it a few years ago. It really is so cute!

Tonight he was going ALL out with bling and custom details and everything. They were in the bathroom for over an hour. When she came out and showed them to me she loved them and was so proud. In her cute voice she said "When I get big and the day I get married, daddy is going to paint my nails."

I am totally going to hold her to it! I think that her daddy would be so proud to paint her nails on her wedding day. Too bad in 20 years or so she probably won't let him do it any more!

Potty Training is a Crappy Job!

I feel for Moosh in Indy and trying to potty train the Moosh! That is crappy job! LOL

I hated that job of motherhood too, but I hate having to change diapers more! In fact if anyone has ever wondered why my blog's name is Mommy Going Crazy it is because I started this blog when I was in the middle or trying to potty train my little dude. Well, actually I had potty trained him in 4 days. He did awesome! Then 2 weeks later he regressed and was pooping everywhere! You can go back to my very first post and read it here. FUN TIMES! Well I actually nipped that in the butt (HA HA HA) with another chart and a little threat and poof there you have it, I wasn't cleaning up the floors like I had a new puppy anymore.

My little princess was not that way. It took her 2 days and she was potty trained and we have never looked back. Now, I just have one more and I will hopefully be able to cross that off the mommy list of things to do.

Some of you have asked me how I did it. I will tell all of you now. This will be a REALLY long post, but I swear it works if you are interested. If you don't care I will post something cute my little princess said tonight about 2 minutes after I post this crazy post. So here we go. (Oh yea, Cassie, I just copied and pasted the email that I sent you earlier.)

Little Dude was almost 3 (a little old actually, I would recommend with boys starting at about 18 months. I have a theory on this. If you have a boy and want to know what that is email me, I will make another post dedicated to that.) Little Princess was also almost 3 as well. We could have started earlier with her too, but I got lazy after we moved.

Anyway, here is how I did it. First you have to teach them the difference between wet and dry. Take the panties and show her and let her feel them when they are dry. Then get them wet and let her feel them when they are wet. Explain that you are going to teach her how to keep them dry. Wet panties are not good. Then I made a chart before hand. One side of the chart had a little happy face to put up a little happy faces every time her panties were dry. Then on the other side were sad water drop faces to put up a sad face every time her panties were wet. I explained the chart the night before we started. I told her that by the end of the week if she had more happy faces than sad we will take her to the store and she can pick one toy. The morning we started the ENTIRE day was for potty training. I actually took Little Dude to a babysitter for the entire day. We started by saying there was no more diapers. And mean it! No matter how bad it gets DON'T EVER PUT A DIAPER BACK ON HER! It really is just too confusing.

So then the fun starts. You have to start off taking her to the potty about every 15 minutes or so. If her panties are dry, let her put up a happy face on her chart. If they are wet then she has to have a sad face. If she sits there for a few minutes and doesn't go, don't make her sit there. You will be taking her frequent enough that there isn't a need to make her sit there forever. Really, 2-5 minutes is enough. So for the first hour or so set a timer to remind you to take her every 15 minutes. Then after that you can make it to 20 or even 25 minutes. By the evening, you will still increase the time every couple of hours. You will eventually get her to go in the potty and just give her TONS of praise. We had a little dance that we would do. Make it a so she gets so much praise that she will WANT to go to the potty and not on her bedroom floor. And every time make sure to put her happy face on the chart.

During the night let her wear panties or even a pull up BUT NOT A DIAPER! I didn't even bother with pull ups actually. I just put TONS of towels on the bed (I have fears of pee stained mattresses) just in case. You can even put a garbage bag under her sheets for extra protection. I even got up to check on her in the middle of the night just to make sure she didn't sleep through an accident. But she was having dry diapers at night by this time that she slept through the night and stayed dry!

The next day is just about the same. I can guess that she won't go poop the first day, but she will the second day. So you will want to pick up where you left off. If you were taking her potty every 45 minutes or so make sure you do that the next morning. She will have the pee thing down pretty well, but if she has an accident start to get a little annoyed and let her see is. The next day will be harsh when she has an accident so you need to lead up to it a little, so let her know how disappointed you are. Still lots of praise though for going in the potty. Through day two you will see that she is getting the hang of it (hopefully) and will start to tell you when she needs to go. You won't need to be as routine (still do it though if she needs it) as the day before.

By day 3 you will have to be more tough. This is something that some people didn't agree with me on, but it TOTALLY worked. So you decide, but you need to punish them for having an accident. In our house if you have an accident after the 3 day you have to take a cold bath. Both of my kids actually had it pretty much down by then though. We had a few accidents with Little Dude after about 2 weeks, but I went back to a chart with him and it fixed it. I know that this is really long, but it kind of has to be detailed to make it work.

If anyone gives it a try let me know, it would be fun to see if I helped anyone. Or if anyone has any questions email me!

Blog-Worthy Comments From the Kids.

#1 - I had a review with JetBlue today for a job interview. Daddy was in charge of getting Little Princess from Preschool. On they way home she asked if Mommy was going to be home to have lunch with them. Here is how the conversation went:

Princess: "Is Mommy going to have lunch with us?"

Daddy: "No, Mommy is at work." (well an interview, but whatever.)

Kids: "Where does Mommy work?" (want to work?)

Daddy: "At a place that flies airplanes."

Kids: "Mommy is going to fly airplanes!?!"

Daddy: "No, Mommy doesn't know how to fly an airplane. But Mommy wants to work at a place that would take us on an airplane."

Little Princess: "That makes me so happy! I think that I will stop picking my nose because I am so happy!"

HA! HA! HA! This is so funny to me. We have been having a bit of a time trying to get her stop picking her nose. Gross, I know! But hey I will take what I can get.

#2 - This one takes the cake. No pun intended.

I was cleaning out my closet today to donate a few things. My hubby was keeping me company. I happened to mention that I have an entire box of clothes back in the corner of my closet that I am not even going to touch. It is filled with clothes that I am hoping to fit in again some day. The last time that I tried them on I was pretty disappointed. I am still trying to loose the extra baby weight, and I didn't think that I was ready to try them on just yet.

I honestly don't know how or what inspired me to open the box, but once I did, I thought that I would just try on one pair of pants. To my surprise they actually fit. I was SUPER excited. My excitement had drawn a crowd. The entire family was now watching me try on more of the pants. I tried on one pair though that didn't quite fit. They would button and zip, but I still have a little too much fluff for them right now. My hubby said "Hey, I learned what that is the other day. Do you know what it is called?" Well I am a girl and of course I know what it is called, a Muffin Top! (I swear his intentions were good. He just learned what it was called, he wasn't trying to be mean.) I took them off and kept trying on more pants. The kids were in and out at this point and I was almost done.

I tried on one more and I had to same problem with the fluff. Little dude walked in and said:

"Mom, I can see your muffin!"

THANKS.....A.......LOT! Still really funny! I have been laughing ALL DAY LONG about his comment! What would I do with out my crazy kids?

Pampered Chef Party

Everyone is invited to a Pampered Chef Party!

Where? Right here of course! Just click on this link and start shopping!

When? The party closes on Jan. 26th so you have a few weeks to shop around.

Why here? Because the Stoneware is 20% off!!!! And I wasn't able to host a party at my house, but I wanted to give everyone the opportunity to get this great deal! So if you decide to purchase anything make sure that it is under my catalog party so I get credit for it. You don't have to live in my area to purchase anything either!

Just to help you out a little, let me share with you a few essentials that I have in my kitchen. First there is thisI use it for everything! It is such a good size to have. I absolutely love it!

I have this too, and it is so fun to make homemade pizza, cinnamon rolls, or even cookies.

Then I have a few of these. I also use this all the time. With cookies, pies, cakes just about with everything really.

The last time I bought something from Pampered Chef I bought these, and I am really tempted to just throw away all the other spatulas and spoons that I have for cooking, because these are my favorite.

I have a few of these too!

Then there is this! I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT THESE! We have to actually have two in our house at all times. The kids love to mix up the punch, and to honest, before we had kids my hubby and I would fight over who got to mix it up. IT IS JUST THAT MUCH FUN!

AND THIS! I don't just use it for strawberries. I have used it for olives, eggs, fruit, water chestnuts, and anything else that needs to be sliced. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

I have MANY other things too, but these are just a few things to get you started.

I do have a wish list that has been growing over the last year or so. Things like this:

And this:This one is actually $15.50 now! WHAT A GREAT DEAL!

This is another thing I have wanted:

And This too:

There are many other things that I would love to have too, but I think that you get the point.

So if you are interested in anything here, go check out the site and place your order. Or if you want to host a party too let me know, and I will let my consultant know! They are so much fun and you get free stuff. Which is why I want to have a party, so shop, shop, shop my friends!

If you have any questions or have any problems ordering just email and let me know.

pittakgr@hotmail.com

Deep, Dark Secrets Reveled

My husband, he likes Hannah Montana.


He read Twilight, in 3 days.



There I said it. It is no longer a secret. Now you can all join me in making fun of him.

To his benefit though, this song by Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus is actually REALLY good, and I have been singing it all day.

Also he has always loved vampires. I knew the second that I heard about the Twilight series that he would love to read them. I just think that it is still fun to tease him about it.


Just because this is funny:
My Big Bro likes Hannah Montana too! He just isn't going to admit it yet.

House of Order

I have been taking these weekly classes on organizing you home and just about every aspect in life. It has been pretty helpful for me so far, and I look forward to the rest of the classes.

I thought that I would post the website for for anyone that feels they need a little help. You can read tons of ideas on here, and even purchase her book. I think she is pretty amazing!

http://www.houseoforder.com/index.htm

Check out part 4 of my Timeline.

I just posted part 4 of my Timeline. You can see it here. I am not totally sure why it was put clear down there. Oh well! Part 5 will be coming soon then I won't bore anyone with my history anymore.

Thanks for being patient though! I don't have any of this written down anywhere else.

I swear I didn't show ANY skin - just a cake!

I get SO many hits on my site for this Lightning McQueen birthday cake that I made for little dude last year. Really, it was cute but I never thought it would make me famous. Kind of anyway.

I thought that I would take a look at where all those hits are coming from. Mostly it is from a Google search, so I went and did a search to see what I could find. To my surprise I was number 7 when you search for Lightning McQueen birthday cake. See here is my proof.....

It is really hard to see, I know, but I am there! I showed it to my hubby and he had to ask me if I had to show some skin to be on the front page of a Google search. Nope just a cake!

If you must see the cake you can see it here.

2:00 am Ramblings from a Booger Covered Brain

Yes, it is 2:00 AM! No, I didn't take the job with the paper route. I am trying to get stuff done. The worst part about being sick all week and being lazy is that all the things that I had to get done by this Sunday didn't get done by it's self. Young Women Newsletter's, Calendars, and my lesson which I decided to MAKE UP A GAME (who does that?) doesn't automatically get done when your brain is gummed up with boogers.

I was on a roll an hour or so ago, getting it all wrapped up, then the baby woke up. TO PLAY, he wasn't tired, he wasn't hungry, he just wanted hang out I guess. Then the tv was left on to Rob and Big, (one of the funniest shows on the planet) and I just can't get into my groove again.

Why did I decide to blog all this right now? Who knows!

Master Bathroom Remodel

At the beginning of December my husband got a while hair to start remodeling our master bathroom. It REALLY needed it don't get me wrong. The tile was coming off and there was TONS of mildew and mold and bugs, and yuck under the tile so he decided that it needed to be done NOW. So my Super Awesome Talented Hardworking Husband and my Master Tile Craftsman Dad spend their Christmas break tiling my shower and bathtub. I thought that I would share with you the end result. Can I just say that I LOVE IT! I can't stop looking at it. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Now we are not done though. The floor has been torn out and the tile will be laid sometime. I think that boys need a bit of a break!

Oh and isn't that the COOLEST shower head ever?

The last 10 year in a timeline. Part 4

Are we any closer yet? Don't worry, I will try not be as long winded as I have been in Part 1, Part 2 and in Part 3. So many things happened in 2004, I am not sure how well that will work out.



2004- I honestly don't remember much about the beginning of this year except for being pregnant, working, having a cute little boy, and my hubby was working and going to school. We were really just trying to stay afloat. I was also pretty busy with my church calling in the Relief Society Presidency. (Man I loved that calling)

In Feb. Little dude turned 1 then 2 months later on April 28th my Little Princess was born. I couldn't believe that I had two such small kids, one boy, one girl. I remember sitting in the hospital with her and really feeling blessed. I hadn't planned to be pregnant, but I knew without a doubt that she was a special gift to us and that she was meant to be here. She even today such a joy and I learn so much from her.

I went back to work full time again after having my Little Princess and it killed me every day to wake up at 4:30 every morning to then work 10 hour days. It took everything out of me. I was tired, stressed, and unhappy that I couldn't spend more time with my family. The summer went on though and it never really seemed to get better. While trying to figure out what I cold do to better myself I realized that maybe I had Post Partum Depression. I went and talked to a doctor and got some help. And what a help it was, I really started to feel better!

That was until the end of August. I have mentioned before here about my friend Kirsten. You can read the full story about her here. She was killed in a car accident on her way home from a family vacation. Her death effected me more than anyone will ever know. I truly did shut down. It made me evaluate myself as a mother, as a wife. I cried almost every day for almost 2 years, and even still when I think about her I cry. Following her death and my life evaluation I could see the importance of being a stay at home mom.

I knew I needed more faith that things would work out financially but that is so much easier said than done though. Finally, after much trouble with this decision, my Hubby and I decided that I would quit my job and stay at home. October 15, 2004 was the last day that I worked full time. Quitting my job was what I needed, what my family needed. I really felt more free and less weighed down. I am grateful that I have been able to stay at home ever since. I did get a part time job at the mall. It was mindless and not too much trouble.

On December 9th, 2004 my sweet little baby girl that was only 7 months old fell off my bed and got her leg stuck between the rail and the mattress and broke her femur. While at the hospital the doctors and nurses where drilling me for hours to see if I was harming my baby and abusing her. At one point they even took her away from me and said that they will bring her back when they knew she wasn't being abused. She was gone from us for almost 2 hours, and when they brought her back she was cold and necked. They gave her back to me and said that they couldn't tell that she had been abused. DUH! I had been telling them that all day! To top off my year of struggling with myself and my abilities as a mother I now had doctors and nurses thinking that possibly I was abusing my child. That was hard for me. REALLY REALLY hard for me. It did work out though. She had to have a little, pink cast that went all the way from the top of her hip down to her ankle. It was so sad, she was just too little for something like that.

2005- This year things started to get better. Little Dude turned 2 and Little Princess turned 1. We spent most of this year just being a family. We were a little less stressed. I was still working part time at the mall and I had even picked up a few students to teach guitar to. I also started working with Holly more at Reed Photographic shooting wedding and stuff. She was teaching me tons and every time I would go to a wedding with her I knew this was something that I wanted to do.

That summer was so much fun! Being with my kids and my hubby was just what I needed to get out of my rut! Even with my hubby working an hour and a half away and still in school we were a happier family. Don't get me wrong it was still really hard on him. He was getting worn down and was starting to have some problems with his work. It was time for a change for him. He just didn't know what yet.

The last 10 year in a timeline. Part 3

To post this every day didn't exactly work. I have been sick this last week so I haven't been feeling like doing much, but today I felt that I needed to post a few more years of my history. (Sorry for those that are bored. I will post something for you a little later today) For those that are not bored and need to catch up you can check out part 1 here and part 2 here.

2002- After we moved into our house, got some of our yard done and even dealt with our car being stolen we had a pretty interesting year the year before. We also found some family members that needed places to stay. At the end of 2001 and into 2002 we had family members living with us. It was a little more frustrating that I thought, but at times it was actually fun. At the beginning of 2002 I had started to think about starting our family. My hubby was not. He was still working at Snowbird and was also going to school as much as he could. Life was really busy. We talked about it for months and months sometimes even argued about it. He had his really good reasons to wait a little longer but I really felt that it was time. So we agreed that we would just both have to pray about it a little harder.

In the mean time my job was going through some interesting changes. I had worked at Muzak for a little while and had really grown to like it. Little did I know that one day when I showed up to work everything was going to change. I got to work a little early and noticed that all the "BIG" bosses had flown into town and were all sitting in the office waiting for people to show up. As soon as I got there they asked me to join them in the office. I really thought I was going to be fired! They had said to me that they were going to be making some really big changes and were going to have a big meeting about it as soon as everyone gets there. After the meeting though they wanted to meet with everyone together, but at that time they wanted me to leave the building for a few hours. I had NO IDEA what was going on. I didn't have a car at the time so one of them loaned me their Mustang to drive around for about 3 hours. Finally I got a call that I could return to the office. I showed up to find out that everyone had been fired BUT me. CRAZY! At that point I really didn't understand what was going on, but was totally grateful that I still had a job. They changed my position and I was to be "the office person and sales support." What a change.

After praying about starting a family my hubby came to me and decided that now really was the right time. 2 weeks later I was pregnant. See I knew it was the right time! I knew that I had been blessed to not loose my job at such a life changing moment. We were super excited and I knew I was having a boy. What was even more fun about this is that my sister that got married 71 days after was going to have a baby 1 month before me! Fun times!

As winter came my hubby was getting excited to get out on the slopes and go boarding. They had opened the lifts but the terrain was still pretty crappy. He went anyway. He ended up catching an edge and falling on his shoulder and was pretty hurt. His friend rushed him to the emergency room then called me from there. I didn't have a car. My hubby's Jeep CJ5 had been having problems and had become impractical so we sold it. I got a ride to the ER with a friend. The doctors thought that he had broken his collar bone, but after many x-ray's they found out that he had just dislocated his sternum. He was in tons of pain! To be honest, to this day he still has problems with it hurting.

Life went on though with a pregnant wife and hurt hubby. Then New Years Eve came. Has anyone ever had the thought that how the very end of the year is is a sign to how the new year will be? Well, this was VERY true in our case that year. I had REALLY high blood pressure and was admitted to the hospital on New Years Eve and then started to go into pre-term labor. What a night. They got everything taken care of and I was released a little while before midnight.

2003- This year is ranked #2 for the year that I learned the most about myself. What a year! To start it off, the Jeep that we traded our car in for (that was a little less than a year old) was totaled when my hubby got rear ended in the fog by a huge truck. This was the beginning of January, by the end I was put on best rest for Toxemia.

On February 21 our first born child was born. Little dude was such a joy, but we were CLUELESS parents. It seemed that we fought all the time about little things because we were so tired and so stressed out. When I returned to work I REALLY DIDN'T WANT TO BE THERE! I hated sending him to a babysitter every day! Plus my job was just not fun anymore. My hubby was unhappy at his job too! Those were some really hard times.

Little Dude was a little over 3 months old when I got a call at work from my hubby. He had just been laid off from his job (for no reason) and was heading back home. As if things couldn't have gotten any worse! I knew I hated my job and I honestly didn't know how much longer that office was going to stay open, so I started to look around a bit. Luckily I found a really good job being an Accountant for the Residential Living at the U of U. My hubby still unemployed, still with one working car, a new baby that really didn't like to sleep at night, and being TOTALLY poor I was a little stressed out. We all where.

I got sick and went to the doctor. It was nothing major but I need to have some tests done so I had been in a few times over a week or so. Then I got a call one night from my doctor, it was late, like 9:00 or so. He tells me that he has something that he needs to tell me. He even wanted me to sit down. I was scared. I thought he was going to tell me that I had cancer or something. Nope! Just that I was pregnant again. He was working late and had a feeling that he needed to take some of the urine sample that he had taken that day and do a test. He had no reason other than a feeling and it turned out that he was right. He thought it was great to call and tell me that, Me on the other hand almost died! Good thing I was sitting down!

So with a new job, new insurance, a new baby still, one income, and one car we were going to have another baby. We didn't know what else to do that night other than sit on the couch, in the dark and cry. After about 4 hours of just crying we decided to make a few changes. We decided that we would attend the temple that next morning to figure a few things out.

By the beginning of November or so my hubby had found a new job. In Orem. Ugh! Well at least it was a job and I could complain too much. We ended that year REALLY poor and really stressed, but it was still better than the end of the year before, we had a cute little boy and another baby on the way and we were both employed. (Not that I was happy about working, but I knew I had to keep a happy face for the sake of our sanity.)

The last 10 year in a timeline. Part 2

To continue my look back on the last 10 years of my life. If you missed part one you can see it here.



2000- On Feb. 25, 2000 my hubby and I were married for time and all eternity in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. It was the very best day of my life! We had made it! Accomplished our goal and were the happiest couple on the planet. Despite me being really sick and sitting in an Instacare for hours the next day. We headed off to West Yellowstone to go snowmobiling for our honeymoon.




Once back from our honeymoon life would start as just the two of us in our tiny duplex apartment. (Even though his sister lived next door). We loved life! That was until I started having problems at work. My boss was actually giving me a hard time for being LDS and a few other things. It was really hard to work there even though my new hubby worked around the corner from my desk. I happened to mention to them that I was going to look and see what other job opportunities where out there. They were so kind to say "We will give you 30 days to find a new job. Then we will have to let you go." Being a newlywed this was a very hard thing. We had only been married for about 2 months. The 30 days came and I still didn't have a job. I spent my first day of unemployment crying most of the morning because I had put or new little family in a bind. Then the phone rang. I had a new job by the next day.




I started an accounts receivable position at a place called Muzak. It was hard not driving to work with my hubby every day, but this new job was refreshing for me. I loved it. I was even making more money and new friends. This was a better opportunity for me!




During the rest of this year we had moved into my sister in laws old duplex apartment that was next door to our first place. It was bigger and nicer. We were feeling restless though. We wanted to buy a house.





2001- On our first year anniversary we found where we were going to build our new home. We had looked everywhere and really felt at home in the neighborhood that he had picked. We packed up all of our stuff and moved it all right into a storage unit. Then we stayed with my parents until our house was done. We lived there for 3 months and worked really hard on tile, paint, wiring and other small stuff to make sure that house was perfect. When move in day came I couldn't believe it! Married one year and we were able to build a new house! We couldn't have been more excited!



We were able to finish our front yard our first summer in our house. While working on it we had to park our cars in the driveway because the garage was so full of stuff for the yard. We woke up one Sunday morning and my little red Acura was stolen, our jeep had been broken in to and even our friends car that was parked there while he was in Oregon was broken in to. Tons of stuff gone or broken. We couldn't believe it!



After 4 days they found the guy that had taken my car driving it in Tooele. He was arrested and went to trial all to have the case dismissed. I am still annoyed by that to this day. Shortly after we got the car back we traded it in and got my Jeep Grand Cherokee. Too bad that Jeep was short lived.

The last 10 year in a timeline. Part 1

Happy New Years!

I am sure that this thought comes to everyone every now and then, "Boy time goes by so fast" With little kids I think that all the time! With this new year I have been thinking about my life in the last 10 years, and how fast the time has gone by. I have also been thinking a little about my personal history (which I have another idea for, come back Friday and you see what I have in store for this new year). In the last week or so I came up with the idea to write down what happened in the last 10 years and a few thoughts in a time line format. So sit back, grab some popcorn and be prepared for a little look into my life, well a little less than half of it anyway.

1998- This was probably one of the most difficult years in my life. I learned more about myself in this year that any other year in my life so far. I was in the middle of my Senior year of High School, and was caught between a battle of rebellion and what I knew was good for me. I was dating a guy named Kevin (I can see my entire family cringing now). He was in the Air Force and lived at Hill Air Force Base. To me, at the time, he was my outlet for the rebel in me. In the early Spring of 1998, before I graduated, I moved out of my parent's house and into a basement apartment with a friend. My parents made me promise one thing before I moved, that I would graduate from Seminary. They knew that would be something that I would never be able to go back and do and they knew that it would make a huge impact on my life. (later I realized that it really did). I did end up graduating from both Seminary and from High School.

I worked at Crossland Mortgage Corp. full time after graduation. I hated the job but with no plans of going to college there was nothing else that I could do that would pay my rent. I even took two weeks off unpaid so I could go to San Antonio, TX. with Kevin over Father's Day. To leave my dad on Father's Day was a decision that I have always regretted. Throughout the summer I spent my time going to clubs, spending time with Kevin, fighting with my roommate and working. With my boy friend's crappy influence I even got a tattoo that summer.

This was that year that I hit rock bottom. My relationship with Kevin was a horrible one and was getting even worse by the day. My friendship with my friend that I had moved in with was over. Her and I even got into a fist fight one morning. I was going nowhere fast. I moved back into my parents house with full intentions on being there a short time and moving back out after the Holidays.

There was one night late September that I had a conversation with my mom and a blessing from my dad (I will have to talk about this experience another time. It is a life changing one, but will take up too much time here.) I decided at that time that I was going to do two things. I was going to apply at Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort for a job. Any job, I didn't care, I wanted to snowboard all winter long. And I was going to give college a try.

I enrolled in one class, a history class, at the University of Utah. I even got a job at Snowbird and started on October 12, 1998. I hated both my first day of work and my history class. My mom convinced me to give my new job one more day. That next day this good looking guy started in the office next to me and I thought that I could give it a little longer (even though I was still dating Kevin.)

Shortly after starting at Snowbird I realized that I no longer wanted Kevin to apart of my life. We broke up and I started dating a few other people. One was that really cute guy that worked at Snowbird with me. We had our first date on December 9th, 1998. After two weeks he was spending Christmas with my family, and I knew I was in love with him.

1999- My new love and I had been dating a short while and were starting to realize the greater things in life. Like our future. This scared me a little. Even though I had been a rebel for most of my life and pretty much inactive from my church for awhile, I still wanted to picture perfect life of being married in the temple and raising my kids in the church. He wasn't active either and I didn't really think that it was something that he wanted. One day I decided to lay it all on the line. I called him up and said "I really like you, but I want to get married in the temple some day. If this isn't something that you want then we need to break up because I am wasting my time." To my surprise that WAS something that he wanted. He had always wanted it, but never had the influence around him to help encourage him.

So together we decided to break some bad habits and to work together to go to the temple some day. With a meeting with the Bishop and some heavy duty goals, our decision was made. We were starting to go to church together and really starting to change our lives. We needed to wait 1 year from the first of February to go through the temple.

The entire year of 1999 was dedicated to spending as much time with my love, and working all the goals that we had set. We did so many fun things together. Hiking, 4 wheeling in his Jeep CJ5, driving up the canyon with friend to have a hot dog roast, and working together. Still a little ruined from my previous relationship I was always on my guard. For no reason though, he was perfect!

9/9/1999 He proposed to me! We were to be married on Feb. 25, 2000. The rest of the year was for making wedding plans for me and for my sister that was going to be married 71 days after me. (my poor parents!)