The New Do

I finally did it...I buzzed the fro!!! I must admit that I took away Josh's look but his hair was out of control and really bugged me. Here is the before and after pics of Josh:

BEFORE
and...

AFTER

AND...Josh took a couple steps on his own today!!!!!!!!

We Survived!!

Sammy had her first day of kindergarten today! She LOVED it and can't wait to go back!!!!! I am so happy with her teacher. I am also really happy that her teacher took the time last week to meet with us to help calm Sammy's fears...it obviously worked. There were no tears from Sammy...no tears from Mommy...but there were tears from Andrea because she wanted to go inside Sammy's class with her! I am so happy that she is going to kindergarten where she can make new friends and have lots of new experiences.

Waiting outside her classroom.

Ready for class to start.

Waving Goodbye (she looks a little scared but it is just because she was looking around wondering why I was calling her name)!!

The Good, The Bad, and The UGLY

For those of you that know what we did this weekend you will think that you know what the UGLY part of this post is. Let me assure you that you are WRONG! You will see...

We had an exciting adventure this weekend...we went on our first family camping trip. Yes, we have never been camping with our family before. Jeff did not have pleasant experiences camping when he was younger so he hates camping. By some miracle, he agreed to go camping with some our friends this weekend. He tried to get out of it but I wouldn't let him. I loved going camping when I was younger and have had really great experiences with my family. We didn't get up to the campground until 8:45 PM because the girls had their last swimming lesson on Friday night. Our friends, Brandon and Lynne, offered to take our tent up and set it up for us. That was a HUGE help.

The girls brought up marshmallows to roast over the fire so they had fun doing that. I am actually surprised that Josh did so well. I think it helped that the weather was really nice on Friday night so we weren't freezing. He slept lots better than I thought he would. Unfortunately, Jeff said the girls didn't sleep very well. Josh and I got up at 6:00 AM and were the only ones out of the tents at the time. I was able to look around for a little bit at the beauty in the mountains. I LOVE the mountains. It is so peaceful and beautiful up there. I really have missed doing things in the outdoors. My sisters and I used to go hiking and snowshoeing all the time. Ever since getting married that has all ended as Jeff doesn't like to do any of it!

We had a great time and I hope that we are able to go camping again sometime soon. Obviously that is the good part of my post. On to the bad and the ugly...

When we got home from camping we fed the kids lunch, played outside for a bit, and put them all in the tub. I had them all cleaned so I thought I could relax for a little bit while I fed Josh. Ha Ha Ha...that's where it all went wrong!! I was downstairs contemplating whether or not I should just take a little nap with Josh when disaster struck. Andrea started crying and was coming down the stairs. I was trying not to do much since Josh was asleep on me. Andrea came around the corner covered in poop...yes....covered in poop. It was all over her (I know if I were Maggie I would have grabbed the camera and the thought crossed my mind but I just couldn't do it)! I immediately screamed for Jeff to come quick (which he doesn't do very well). He came down and picked up Andrea by the armpits and put her in the tub. I dreaded going upstairs to see how much damage there was. I went upstairs to find a few handprints on the stair well...poo all over a corner in Josh's room along with a towel she tried to use to clean it up...and a poopy handprint on my door frame. DISGUSTING!!! I got the Clorox wipes and wiped all the walls and door down, put the towel in a bag to be thrown away, and got out the carpet steamer. I made sure that the water was nice and hot for the steamer and proceeded to clean the carpet in Josh's room. I was out of soap for the carpet cleaner but I wanted to get it all up as fast as I could. I steamed the carpets the best I could and then got ready to go to the store. In the process of getting ready to go buy soap I found the thing that made me even more upset. There was poop on my bedroom floor (by Jeff's side of the bed) and some on my sheets. Apparently, Jeff was asleep and didn't wake up when Andrea tried to get some help! SERIOUSLY...don't you think you should wake up if your daughter is a foot away from you, smelling horribly, and crying????? Needless to say I was just a little upset!

I am going to let you decide where to but the bad and ugly parts of the post but it is all the same in the end!! After shampooing and steaming the carpets a couple times I felt like we had it all cleaned up. And I was able to work out some of my frustration with my daughter and my husband in the process!! To all those out there who think this will never be your child...watch out...I was one of those and look what happened to me!

So...how was your Saturday?????

More bows added

I added more bows to my bow blog last night. I had fun creating more bugs!! Also, I need your help figuring out what price to charge for the bows. Please vote in my poll and let me know what you think is a fair price for my bows.

Going Crafty

I have a really talented friend that is trying to get rid of some of her craft supplies so she is going to host a Christmas Boutique (click here to find details). Maggie is her name. She can stay up late and design things in her head. Thanks to Maggie I have the craft bug. I have spend too many hours in the last week searching the internet to find different things I can make with all my stuff. I just have ribbon and paper so my plans are not as big as Maggie's but my dreams are just as big as hers!!! Maggie and I have both had fun calling each other multiple times a day when we find something that we must try to make because it is amazing! If any of you are crafty and want to make something to try to barter/sell with our boutique, let me know and I will help you with more information. If you want to see all the amazing things that I am dreaming of making, go here (there is a list on the right hand side with links to all the crafts I have found). I really wish that I had a week with no kids and no husband so that I can spend a week crafting!!! I think Maggie and I are just going to have to have a lot of craft nights on weekends to get everything done we want to do! I will post pictures of all my stuff when I get it done.

Living Providently

My friend, Maggie, gave a talk in sacrament meeting today that was really good. It was based on Elder Hales conference talk Being a Provident and Spiritual Provider. It was one of those talks that makes you re-evaluate how things are in your own life. One of the main points of the talk is living within your means, and doing it happily!! I think that we do really well in this. We do not have any consumer debt. We were lucky to make it through school without any student loans so the only debt we have is our house and our van. We pay off our credit cards every month so we are doing really well...or so it seems. After listening to Maggie talk about her own struggles and experiences with being a provident provider I think I am only doing about half of what I should be. We spend way more than we need to spend. I really think I am going to have to crack down on my own habits and try to break Jeff of some of his habits. The biggest area we can improve is eating out. Most people know that Jeff is addicted to Wendy's and eats there multiple times a week. We don't need to do that. It is just laziness on our part that drives us to go to Wendy's. I get really worn down some days and am too tired to cook so our solution is just to go get something. Jeff goes there for lunch during the week when he could be bringing a sandwich from home. I have been trying to figure out what our budget will be for everything so that we can become more financially independent. I am going to have to talk to Jeff tonight and see what he is willing to give up. Thanks for the nice kick in the pants Maggie! I will have to write later what we come up with but I am determined to cut our spending WAY back. This will only be more beneficial to us in the long run so it will be good.

My Little Fish

We finished our first session of swimming lessons tonight. Sammy was in the preschool class and Andrea was in the parent/tot class. We have them signed up for the next session of swimming too! Sammy and Andrea are so excited that they are swimming like Grandpa. Sammy was telling her teacher that she wanted to do the backstroke because that is her Grandpa's favorite way to swim. My dad is an excellent swimmer and still does swimming races especially in his best stroke...backstroke. Swimming has always been a big part of my family so I am so excited that my girls are doing so well in swimming. By the end of the lesson, Sammy and Andrea would jump in and go all the way under water!! Andrea is also floating on her back really well!! I am glad we did two sessions back to back so that they can keep building on everything they have already learned without having to get used to the water again.

Sammy trying to float on her back, she was having a hard time relaxing!

Sammy jumping in the water!!

Andrea swimming with Dad.


Sammy swimming across the pool.

Sammy kicking on her back. She had VERY straight legs while kicking!!

Andrea swimming in the water!

Andrea floating on her back! She did so good.

Andrea kicking on her back. She even got her arms going a little bit!

Andrea

Sammy swimming on her front. She is trying to get her arms going.

Sammy is doing a back float...notice that she still is having a hard time relaxing and putting her head in the water. She is getting better but still needs some work!!

Here is Sammy doing her backstroke. She kept doing both arms at the same time instead of alternating her arms!!

She finally put her head down and has alternative arms!!! YEAH!!

Sammy jumping in the pool.

Andrea getting ready to jump.

Sammy swimming.

We took the kids to Krispy Kreme after swimming to celebrate the end of this session of swimming. They love to watch the donuts go under the glaze!! Josh loved the bite of donut he got and kept trying to get more!!

My kids are great!! I love them and had so much fun watching their progress. And, Dad, if you are reading this...Andrea is waiting for you to come to her house and make her pancakes (she told me that this morning. She wanted Grandpa to make her pancakes for breakfast)!! I think I will have to grind wheat in the morning so I can make her some pancakes next week.

My New Blog

I have a lot of fun creating bows and clips for my girls so I decided to create a blog to showcase what I have made. Check it out at here.

Josh...Walking???

These pictures of Josh were taken today...

OK, so he isn't walking...yet...but look at how good he is getting at standing. Today he kept pulling himself up on things and then he would just stand there. Jeff thinks he will be walking in another month. I was skeptical a few days ago but now I don't know. His balance is getting really good...he just might do it!!

Sammy's Party

Sammy had her 5th birthday party today. She has been wanting a BYU Cheerleader party for a long time so I did my best. Her requests for the day were to watch a BYU Football Movie with her friends and have pizza. Let's think about this...6 five-year-olds (5 boys, 1 girl) sitting around watching a football game...I don't think so. Sammy doesn't even watch BYU games!!! We compromised with Bolt so that her friend Ethan didn't have to watch a princess movie. Sammy also decided that she wanted to play "pin the Y between the B and the U!" I thought that was funny!! The highlights of the party.....being asked "when is the party going to start?" 30 minutes into the movie (apparently movie parties aren't the best for 5-year-olds)....having one child ask me what other things I had for them to take home because they didn't want the pom-poms.....having all the kids bring me their half-eaten cupcakes to tell me they don't want it anymore (why would I want a half-eaten cupcake???)....I think that might be it!! We had a really fun time. I hope that it lived up to Sammy's expectations (she has been planning this for months). Here are a few pictures of the fun event!

Sammy wanted a cake with a big Y on it. I was planning on making a white cake with white and blue frosting. Sammy wanted a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting so this is what we came up with!

All her friends got a cupcake with a Y on it. I did have one girl ask me when she could have a piece of cake (after she ate the cupcake)!!! We saved the cake for Monday.

If we lived in the Provo area it might have been easier to find decorations, but we don't so we improvised. I glued Y's on the balloons and put Josh's blanket down as a table centerpiece!

Yes, I know that red is not one of BYU's colors but these were the pom-poms they had at the dollar store!! All the kids got to take home a set of pom-poms (except the above mentioned child who didn't want them)!!

Sammy in her BYU Cheerleader outfit standing in front of the pin the Y on BYU game.

Sammy trying to put her Y on the Y!

The start of the present opening!

Towards the end of present opening. I love how little kids tend to migrate toward the person opening presents until there is NO space around the birthday girl!!!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles.

Blowing out the candles