A little Scared

Ok I am really scared!

This economy crap really keeps me awake at night. I feel that I have missed my opportunity to be prepared. We have been warned so many times before to be financially prepared and to have a food storage ready for any time of need. We have been living for almost 4 months without an income (well much of one anyway) and the end isn't looking bright. Not really the job thing, I have faith that it will work out somehow (if anyone knows of anyone that is hiring email me!) but it is more of the getting back on our feet that I am worried about.

Everyone says you need to be putting away money, that you need to pay off debt, that you need to protect your credit score in order to not be totally effected by this financial crisis. Well when you are in a position where you don't have hardly any money coming in this isn't as easily done. When my hubby does get a job I am really, really, really afraid that it is going to be too late.

I am kicking myself that I didn't heed to the council that has been given.

Count this as lesson learned!

Call us CRAZY!

It doesn't come to a surprise to most of you that at our house we "live life by the seat of our pants" sometimes. We have always been a little too willing to break the rules for something fun because well, we like to have fun. I think that there has always been a little "lets try something new" in our bones too.

With the crappy economy that we are living in and the "grand" presidential candidates that we have (saying that with all the sarcasm that I can muster) things are not going to get better for awhile. This combined with the fact that my hubby doesn't have a job and we are as poor as poor can get we have a new look on being prepared or even being more self sufficient. The new "look" that we have is the importance on being self sufficient and being prepared.

With all that said we have been trying to find ways that all this can become so with the resources that we have. We were blessed with an awesome harvest this year with resulted in TONS on canned goods and lots of frozen bags of fruits and veggies. This will be helpful and is a nice feeling to have that.

Well, the opportunity came up the other day that we could also have some chickens. When at first I said no thanks for fear that it would just creep me out and be too much work, my hubby surprisingly had different thoughts. We talked about it and thought that this might be a good thing for us right now.

So we are going to pick up our two chickens today.

We have a place for them already and I believe that everything else that we need is going to be taken care of. The upkeep is going to be very little and we are hoping the the benefits are going to out weigh that. So stay tuned for starting today we are officially farmers.

"Banky"

At any given time this Little Man has his "Banky" and his Binky. When he says either one of those words they sound the same. Only his dad and I can tell the difference most times. Either way though, this kid LOVES them both! He is very particular with his blankets, they have to be "fuzzy" not just soft. When he rubs his face, plays with his hair and sucks on his Binky you know he is tired.

He has been like this for the entire 18 months he has been alive. I am really surprised I haven't gotten more pictures of him with them. But here are a few that I took the other day just to get the idea.


The funny thing is that you will almost always see him with his blanket and his Binky, but if not then you see him like this. Getting into something.
But my most favorite way to see him is like this..........
Playing with Daddy.

Man I love this kid!

Keeping the kids entertained

Since school has started my kids have been pretty bored in the afternoon's before their friends get home from school. TV is just not an option for them anymore. I don't want them to get into too many bad habits.

The other day they were really bugging me to do something. I had a thought that I think worked out really well. We had a big roll of paper that I thought would be fun for them to paint on. We didn't have any tape to tape it to something so I got magnets and stuck it up on the garage door. We didn't have any paint brushes for the paint, so we used q-tips. It really worked out nice to have them entertained and to use their creativity.

Take a Hike IKE!

Remember my cute Sister in law and her awesome family from Texas? Well they are running from a little storm named Ike. They live in Bay City, a little Southwest of Galveston and only about 15 miles from Matagorda Beach. They got the notice to evacuate yesterday and were in a panic trying to find where to go. They found one of the last hotel rooms they could find and headed to San Antonio.

While watching the weather channel tonight my little dude got a little worried about Kaycie and Shannon and asked me if they were dying because of the hurricane. I explained that they were safe, but asked if he wanted me to call her. So midnight her time I called Kaycie so he could talk to her. It was a sweet moment and I am glad he was able to hear from her that she is ok.

While talking to her she had just happened to mention something that I think is just too funny to not blog about. Here is kind of what was said....

Kaycie- I talked to the Manager of my apartments and he said that it is getting really bad. I can't believe that I forgot all my family pictures, birth certificates, marriage licences everything like that. But we are safe and have a roof over our heads.

Me- Yea a roof that won't blow off too. That is always nice.

Kaycie- But I did grab my griddle and my crockpot.

Me- You grabbed your what?

Kaycie- My griddle and my crockpot.

Me- Are you meaning to tell me that when you where told to evacuate the city NOW the first things you thought to get where your GRIDDLE and your CROCKPOT? (I was laughing so hard. This is just something that I can't seem to get over!)

Kaycie- Well, Shannon's mom brought her deep fryer!

After she said that I was laughing so hard I was crying! Am I the only person in this world that thinks this is funny?

When life throws you a storm you can always make pancakes, chili, and fried chicken!

What would you take if you had to evacuate? Would you REALLY grab your pictures and stuff or would it really end up being something like a deep fryer?

LOL! I love it!

Man for Hire.

Don't worry I am not REALLY pimping out my husband. Only SORT OF.

Actually as many of you know my hubby lost his job at the beginning of the summer. It has been a really hard few months. There have been times that I just wanted to pack up my stuff, move to a cave, and not return until everything was all better. But we have been really blessed and I can honestly say though, this is the best time of my life. It sucks to be poor and to be stressed about what is next, but it has been great to have him home. We have been enjoying spending tons of time together as a family. We have ALL been learning and growing in many ways. The fun has to come to an end though (ok sooner than later would be nice) so here is where I am (not) pimping out my husband.

FOR WORK THAT IS! I would hope that you wouldn't think that it was anything else!

Right now his only income is helping a friend of ours with his window cleaning business. He has been busy with cleaning the windows of many businesses and homes all across the valley. He is quick and the price is pretty reasonable.

SO........

If after a long summer of having sprinklers spray your windows with hard water, or the dirt has been caked on for years and you need someone to come and clean them for you while you sit and read your Twilight books again, just let us know!

OR if you own a business and want someone to come once (or more) a month so you don't have to worry about it anymore, just let us know!

Also if you live in Draper where that big fire was and the entire neighborhood has grime on their windows they can do that too!

Seriously people, this could help us all out! You get to see the world through cleaner windows at an awesome price, my hubby gets a little bit of an income (which would be extremely helpful) and our friend too would also be benefited. It's a win, win, win situation.

So really all begging aside, if you need your windows clean let Trev be your man.

More details to come soon.

Where it all began.

Trevor and I had been dating for almost a month when I knew I wanted to marry him. I know crazy! But this is kind of how I have always lived my life. We didn't make any plans that soon to get married though. We wanted to date for awhile and prepare ourselves to go to the temple first.

The summer of 1999 we really started thinking about marriage though. We had been dating for pretty close to a year now and we knew (or hoped) that the time would be soon that we could go to the temple and didn't want to wait too much longer after that. We had been looking at rings all summer and I was getting really antsy. What girl wouldn't though. We had picked out the ring and it was all about waiting for the right time I guess.

This was a busy summer for us. I had just bought my little red race car and was loving it! We were busy working at Snowbird and were loving it too. We were playing lots and just planning our future little bits at a time.

September 9, 1999 (9/9/99......9 years ago today) I had a friend that was getting married. I was supposed to go be his best man (This is a story for another time.) and I had planned on leaving work for a little while so I could go. I was all dressed up and quietly working at my desk when the Canyon Police Officer (that I knew really well by the way) came to my desk and started asking me questions about my cute new car. Since I was obsessed about my car I was happy to answer every question he had. Here is kind of how the conversation went....

Officer - Hey so you just got a new car huh?

Me - Yea have you seen it? It's awesome!

Officer- I have seen it actually. When was the last time you saw it.

Me- A little confused- I drove it up here this morning. WHY?

Officer- Well, we have reports of a crashed car down the canyon that we believe that it was stolen. Two young men were seen running from the scene.

Me- My heart racing- That really sucks!

Officer- Well, we ran the plates and it is your car.

He is VERY lucky that I didn't pass out right then and there! (Or that he didn't hear me swear!) He told me he was there to take me to the scene and to make a report. I tried to find Trevor but he wasn't at his desk. I couldn't get a hold of him so I just left with Mr. Officer. I got in his truck just shaking! I was so scared for what I was going to find. He was trying to ask me questions and make me feel better as we drove down the canyon.

Half way down the canyon at White Pines Campground I see 2 ambulances, 2 fire trucks and 7 cop cars all scattered all over the place with their lights on. We parked a ways back and I couldn't really see what was going on. As we walked up there were people everywhere! I then turned to my right and there was my car. Crashed down in the trees and smoking. There were a few fireman hosing off my car so they wouldn't let me get close. I stood back and starred at my car. I couldn't see the front of it since it was down off the road and in the trees, and smoking like mad. I couldn't believe it! The officers and other people that were around were trying to have me answer questions. All I wanted to do was go check out my car. They finally said that the fire was out and I could go check to see if I could get anything out of it before they take it away.

I walked up to it and opened the door, when I saw the cups of dry ice on the ground making it really smoky, my mind started to race. Before I could put any thoughts together I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around. One of the fireman, in full fire gear was there behind me. Since he had a mask on I couldn't tell who it was or what he needed, Without saying anything at all he got down on one knee, took of his mask and pulled a ring out from his pocket.

I am not totally sure what he even said to me that day 9 years ago, but when he asked me to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him I knew with all my heart that is what I wanted. Everyone cheered and clapped, it was quite the moment.

I am still amazed the he got so many people to play along with his plan. It sure makes for a memory that I will never forget and a story that is really fun to tell. The only problem is he jinxed that car.

Two years later, almost to the day, my little red sports car was actually stolen. But it was by a bunch of scum bag kids. It was exciting too but in a much different way. Sadly I had to get rid if it after that.

Happy 9 year anniversary of our engagement Hubby!

Crazy Friday's

So having two kids in school at the same time in different schools has been a little more crazy than I thought. Especially on Fridays. Here is a little time frame of my Fridays.

7:15 am (Or later actually like most days) Wake up. I might get dressed, it really depends on how sleepy I am. I am not really a morning person.

7:40 Get kids up and try to get them ready with full tummys.

8:15 Pack up kids in the car and try to get Dude to school by 8:25.

8:30 Finish getting Princess and Little Man ready and maybe take a shower.

9:15 Pack kids in the car again and drive Princess to school. Since last year I was so bad about getting her to school ontime, we are really trying to make sure that we are better this year.

9:30 I am back home to put Little Man down for his morning nap and get a few things done. Not much though because........

10:10 It's time to wake up Little Man and pack him back in the car AGAIN to go get Dude. It's early day you know.

10:30 Heading home again just in time to go over homework, papers and Dude's day then.......

11:30 Pack the kids BACK in the car for another time and head to get Princess from school.

11:45 We are back in time to go over her day and get some lunch and other things done.

2:30 Take kids to sitter so I can work the rest of the day.

2:45 - 8:45 I work.......yuck. By the time that I am off the kids are ready for bed.

It has only been a few weeks of this but every day my hubby has been home to help me. Today he is helping a friend washing windows all day. I has been nice to have him home. What and I going to do when he finds a job????

It may not seem like much but I swear I have been packing the kids in and out of the car all day. Of course I haven't taken the kids to the sitter yet, or worked yet, but really what am I even going to get done in this short time? Lucky for me my awesome neighbor is watching the kids for me ALL night. (Love you Becky!) So I won't need to drive to her house.

I guess if I wanted to break the world record of most times to buckle 3 kids in the car in one day I could always pack them in, back down the street 2 houses them drive back.

I would think about that but it would cost my half my hourly pay in gas just to do that.

Harvest Happiness

I realized today that I have never mentioned how much my AWESOME Urban Farmer of a Husband likes gardening.

We have this GIGANTIC backyard where we have set aside a really big place for a garden. Since last year we tore out the entire yard and started all over with everything else but the garden area, it wasn't quite ready for anything to be planted in it this year. My hubby did, however, plant some things in the flower beds. He planted corn, green peppers, peas, cucumbers, green beans and pumpkins. All summer long he has been taking good care of them and it totally paid off! We have had a great harvest. The picture above is of just some of the hundreds of green beans that we got. Do you see how big it is? That is my hubby's hand (which is much bigger than mine) and the green bean is as long as his hand and his longest finger. This was quite possibly the biggest green bean I have ever seen!

Along with the 5 bags of greens beans in my freezer we have been able to preserve one large bag of corn, many many peas (the kids fave I think) enough green peppers for our family to enjoy all winter long (thanks grandma for telling me how to freeze those too!) and more cucumbers than I know what to do with. (It has actually become a tradition of sorts to sit down before bed and the family dips cucumber slices in ranch dressing as a snack before dinner.) I am very proud of my Urban Farmer! It makes me so excited to have a larger garden next year! (And hopefully be able to put his green house to use soon too!)

On top of all the we had in our garden we have had some nice family and friends share their abundance with us. We (and I use that term loosely) have been making peach and raspberry jelly for the last few days now, and we have many buckets of pears that are waiting to be canned. I can't forget to mention he annual Pick Grapes at Grandma and Grandpa's trip. We love making homemade grape juice!

We are very grateful to be able to grow some of the things that we need in our own yard, and to have others share with us! I personally am grateful for my hubby's green thumb and his love of canning!

Love you Hubbs!

Family Fishing Fun + a Friend

Last Monday we decided to go fishing as a family. Just to have a last little shindig before school started. Since Dude's bestest buddy is practically family we brought him along too! We took them to this pond on the side of the freeway and the Jordan River. It was so close and perfect for our little outing.

We got all set up and on the very first cast little dude caught a fish. Infact the entire time we were there he caught 6 fish. Total caught by everyone else......none. I don't know what he was doing any different, but he sure was proud.

It really was alot of fun! It was nice to spend time as a family plus one before things got crazy!

The Love of others

My family has been very blessed the last few months!

Someone left a HUGE plate of cookies on my front door step the other day that I have yet to find out who did it.

This little act, and MANY like them, have shown our family so much love! We appreciate it so much! Thank you to everyone that has helped us out! We will be able to pay it forward in some way, but thank you just the same.

It is amazing what a chocolate chip cookie can do for the soul!