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