Fire Station with Novalee

This happened months ago. I kind of haven't really been doing much these last few weeks or maybe 15 weeks... :)

But it was a fun experience. Novalee kept telling me she was going to go to the fire station. On the day that she was going to go she said, "Mom today I'm going to go to the fire station." Which I'm sure I just said, "That's nice honey." But didn't really listen since she is four and still struggles with the concept of time. Yesterday is tomorrow, last year was a couple of months ago, you get the idea. :)

In my defense can I just say I never got any information about a field trip? I guess that is what happens when your kid misses the Friday before.

Then I got a text from a mom of one of the other girls at school asking me if it was okay if she drove Novalee to the station.

Holy freak out! I guess Novalee was right. So I told her that it was fine and I should probably come too since it was her first field trip.

So I quickly got myself ready and Sadie and drove the couple minutes over to the station. Anyways, crisis diverted. :) I made it, even if I had stank breath.

They first had a meeting and talked about fire safety. At one point Novalee raised her hand to ask a question and of course when all eyes were on her she took the opportunity to tattle on her brother. "Did you know my brother the other day played with matches?" Great... I'm definitely not winning the "Mommy of the Year" award.





After the trip through the fire truck they gave everyone a chance to hold the fire hose. Novalee did what she does best and upped the fun a little and tried to make the water go back and forth instead of just straight which quickly brought her turn to an end.


I guess fire stations disgust Sadie? Here she is gagging herself??? :)

Novie with some of her friends.

Jared's Soccer Season

We signed Jared up for Soccer this year. We thought it would be a fun outlet for him and he would enjoy getting outside, doing something physical.

I had no idea that he would learn so much.

He is our firstborn and so life has been a little catered to him. He struggles with not getting what he wants, when he wants and when he has a grand idea (like going to China for the day on an archaeological dig) he has a hard time understanding why a family with limited means and four other people in it would have a hard time dropping everything to just do it.

It was really very cool to see Jared have to learn through soccer that it wasn't ALL about him. The coach didn't play favorites and when Jared had a side ache or came late, the coach still expected him to warm up with or without the team. He expected him to work hard and play as a team member.

It was pretty cool. I think a lot of what he learned carried over to family life as well.

Plus he had the added benefit of picking up the soccer skills fairly quickly thus building up his self esteem. It was really just a great experience and I look forward to him doing more sports.

Here are pictures of him throughout the session.

Relaxing during a break at the last game, eating his baby sister's snack. I'm not sure about that face. :)



A friend from another team he played that he goes to school with.


Jared getting his award for being a team player. :)





Good Job Buddy we are proud of you!

Gratitude (Day 24)

Day 24-

Happy Thanksgiving. Wes says I should be done with this gratitude posting business since today is technically the day that we celebrate being grateful and not the last day of the month.

I couldn't agree more, mainly because this posting everyday business hasn't really been my favorite thing.

But just to cover all options, I'm just going to list things on this post for the next 7 days.

Day 24- I'm grateful that it is Thanksgiving and I get to practice gluttony once more. Wes was more loving and said I should write that I'm grateful to spend the day with family.

Day-25-30 in advance).

Day 25- I'm grateful to fun deals on Black Friday that I get to go spend money on. :) Wes has all these ideas for electronics to buy but really I'm just excited about JoAnns $1.49 per yard for flannel sale. :)

Day 26- I'm grateful for my wedding ring. I know that is silly but it happens to be the only piece of jewelry that I own that I'm not allergic to. It makes me glad that I can even wear it.

Day 27- I'm grateful that even though it rains and rains this time of year that we live in such a green and beautiful area.

Day 28-I'm grateful to be and to know that I am a daughter of our Heavenly Father.

Day 29- I'm grateful for this day because it means I get to go hear the baby's heartbeat again. :)

Day 30- This will be Jared's birthday. I'm grateful for him in so many ways. I'm grateful that he was my first born and that he broke me into parenting in the "sink or swim" type fashion. I love listening to his ideas, I love hearing him share his testimony and hearing him talk nicely about others. He is getting so big and I'm just grateful for all the time I've had with him so far.

Gratitude (Day 23)

Day 23-

My first job (where I actually earned money) was my most favorite job I've ever had. I worked at a video store as a cashier. It was fun and easy. It didn't really require a whole lot of effort.

But today I'm thankful for my least favorite job that I've ever had. Which was as an apartment manager. I was actually crazy enough to do it twice. There were a lot of things I really enjoyed about the job but I'm a get it done and be done kind of girl and an apartment managers job is never done.

But I'm grateful for it because it taught me a great deal about being a handywoman (my spell checker says that's not a word but handyman is a word. Something's wrong with that).

Anyways, my handiness came into play yesterday. Since we've moved in we've had a toilet that runs and runs. Wes was going to replace the flapper and other things in the tank but then he just cleaned it and said he felt it was running less. Which it did seem to help for about a day...

So I finally took a look. A little adjustment and a couple of prideful comments to my husband and the toilet works like new. :)

Man it's great being a capable woman. :)

Gratitude (Day 22)

Day 22- I'm grateful for Family Home Evening. It's something that we try to do without fail every week. It's very important to us as parents. The kids sometimes are into it and sometimes they just want to jump around and be crazy but I think they are always glad at the end of the lesson that we took time to spend just as a family, focus on each other.

Last nights lesson was about Thanksgiving and being grateful.

First we read a summary about how Thanksgiving came about.

Then we opened our gratitude bag. (We have been adding pieces of paper with things we are grateful for into a bag throughout this year during family home evening). So we read them and had some good laughs deciding who wrote what. Jared wrote on one, "I'm grateful for this egg." We are guessing it must have been Easter when he wrote it.

Then we sat in a circle and passed a stuffed animal around and took turns saying something nice about another person in the family and then giving them a turn.

It was pretty great last night. Jared got super sincere and was really getting into telling Wes and I how much he appreciates the things we do for him. (And I thought the kids didn't notice). Of course Novalee was just bouncing off the walls. But I think even Sadie could feel the extra special feelings of love in the room because she started going around giving everyone hugs and kisses. It was pretty great.

I'm grateful we take that time each week to try and strengthen our family and our testimonies. :)

Gratitude (Day 21)

Day 21- Today I'm grateful for laughter. Especially when Wes and I can laugh about the crazy things that go on in our house.

Last night, for example, Sadie wet on the floor not once but twice when Wes was changing her. Really I might have been laughing harder than Wes but it was pretty funny.

For whatever reason Wes lets Sadie escape sometimes during changings. When he is wrapping up the diaper she takes off. Last night Wes was just wrapping up the first stinky diaper that leaked on the floor when Sadie stood up and peed right in front of him. :) So great! :) I'm also grateful he is a good sport.

Gratitude (Day 20)

Day 20- The other day we hung up Christmas lights outside. Wes thinks I might have gone crazy this year since I'm so excited about Christmas and last year I was a little reluctant to begin the season of nonstop Christmas cheer.

I'm grateful that one, I feel excited about the Christmas season this year and two, that our lights turned out almost exactly how I imagined. Now Wes and I just need to agree on a lawn decoration to put in our front yard! We have a front yard! At Christmas! Maybe that's why I'm excited, this is the first year we could actually put lights up outside.

On another note: When I asked Wes what I should be grateful for, he said, "A sexy husband." :) Then he told me I didn't need to write that but alas here it is. :)

Gratitude (Day 19)

All "strawberry" packages of gushers are disappointing. Just sayin.

Day 19- I'm grateful that even though Wes' truck and my car are older they haven't had large out of pocket costs this WHOLE year! Woohoo!

Gratitude (Day 18)

Day 18-

Holy moly is this month over yet. This month has flown by in all aspects but this gratitude posting business. :)

I'm running out of things to be grateful for, that sounds bad, I know. Time to start using my noggin and really think of things that aren't super obvious that I'm grateful for.

Only 12 more days... I can do this. :)

Can I just say that I'm already planning on NOT doing this next year? :)

Okay enough staling. Today I'm grateful for literature. I'm not an avid reader, there are enough of those in my family already, "cough cough Adrianna, Grandma and Grandpa" but I go through phases.

This year I made a goal to someday finish all of Georgette Heyer's books. I know, not the best goal since she mainly writes regency romance novels. But they are clean and I enjoy the headstrong leading female characters. I've read 18 since the start of the summer. I've read a couple in the past. She wrote somewhere between 50-60 books. Some were mysteries and historical novels. Ugh, I'm stuck on one historical novel right now call "My Lord John" I feel bad saying this since it was supposed to be her crowning work but I don't really like it. She died before she could finish it and her husband added notes to the end. I'm pretty close to finishing it but I couldn't wait and I read the end just to see if the book was going to go anywhere. I'm afraid it doesn't...

But I'm determined to finish it.

Turning back to the main point. I am grateful for well written literature. I enjoy historical works (which is probably surprising since I just slammed Georgette Heyer's book), church works and I love reading biographies, especially ones about the wives of leading men in history.

Gratitude (Day 17)

Day 17-

I'm the kind of girl that likes a good deal and I love whatever I get on sale or for a good price even more if the item lasts a long time.

So since my sewing machine was a very good price back when I got it 4 or 5 years ago and it still runs great I'm very grateful for it.

I love it. Yes, there are times when I think a more capable machine would be better for the projects I want to do but this one works well.

Before I got this one I went through two or three machines in a matter of a year or two. :(

Thank you my inexpensive Brother for being reliable. :)

Disappointment & Delight

I'm disappointed to find out that the pajamas that I've been wanting FOREVER aren't my husbands favorite.

After making them and giggling in excitement about finally having the PJs I've always wanted I put them on and showed my husband.

His response, "They look like something my grandma would wear."

My reply, "Your grandma wouldn't wear purple with butterflies!"

Wes, "I'm actually pretty sure the pajamas of hers I'm thinking of ARE purple."

Me: (Pouty face).

Wes then tried to recover by saying, "Don't get me wrong you do good work. You can't even tell you made them but I just wouldn't say they are cute."

My response: (Pouty face all night). :)

When I had him take a picture of them on me he said, "You aren't going to post that on the blog are you?"

I'm pretty sure he is embarrassed to let people know that he might be going to bed with a wife dressed like his grandma...whatever.

Here are the pictures.

What it's supposed to look like. (View C without lace)



How it looks in reality with a baby bump.


I think there is no hope for it. Granted I didn't get the idea for it from a young person, it was someone older that I knew that used to where things like this that made me want one.

I've worn it once, that first night when I finished it, but after the response I got unless I can come up with an alteration to make it more modern it will probably just hang out in the PJ drawer. :( (Pouty face).

Can I just add that I'm not entirely convinced that the design is flawed. I kind of think if I got a softer material like a silky one it would fall better and not look so frumpy.

But after making myself one and having it fail I'm delighted to say that a similar design on Novalee is adorable.





Buying a pattern with the right sizes in it is helpful...Novalee is a size 5 for this pattern and I bought sizes 1-3. That wasn't very smart... :)

Baby Hair

This is unaltered baby morning hair. She wakes up with all sorts of styles. Daddy keeps warning her that mohawks aren't allowed but she just doesn't listen. :)

Gratitude (Day 16)

Day 16-

Today I'm grateful for my education.

I am grateful for the public schools I went to. Back then they still had full art, music and P.E. programs which of course made school super fun. I'm grateful for the teachers that stood out as really interested in who I was and not just getting paid. Here are a few; Mr. Miller, Mrs. Klein, Mr. Wyndham, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Ruecker, and last but not least Bro Maurer.

I was kind of a rebel my first few years in high school. I used to brag about how many absences I had combined my freshman and sophomore year (because that really makes you cool, right ;)).

But my junior year I really got focused and realized I really liked the learning part of school.

Mid junior year I went into see my academic counselor and I showed her a plan on how I was going to graduate early. She laughed at me and told me that there was no way that was going to happen. Rude. But of course that made me want to try that much harder to prove her wrong...I graduated my junior year. I got to graduate with my brother which made graduating even more special for us since growing up we did everything together. Somehow he arranged it so he could walk with me to my seat even though that wasn't in the program. He had everyone at that school, including teachers, wrapped around his little finger.

From then on I just loved school. I got my associates of arts at Portland Community College which I couldn't have done without the support from my Step-Grandmother Kathi and her husband David. Thank you.

Then I went onto Portland State University to get my graduates degree. I graduated with a 3.84 GPA. (Yes I'm bragging a little. But come on that's pretty good for a single mother taking care of two kids). I have to thank my mom who was such a support to me.

I don't really use my education much now and sometimes I feel like Mommy Brain has permanently taken over. But I think about my experience in college often and how much I loved learning new things. I look forward to when I'm old and my kids are grown and I can go back and take more classes just for fun. :)

Gratitude (Day 15)

Day 15-

This morning I left the front door open just a little by accident. A few minutes later I noticed it and went to close it. It was so cold in the entry way. Brrrr.

It just made me so grateful that our family has some place warm and safe to be during the winter.

Which of course made me think of everyone out there that isn't so blessed. My heart goes out to them and my prayers...I wish I could do more.

Gratitude (Day 14)

Day 14-

I'm so very grateful for my vacuum.

Last year around this time I plugged my old and reliable vacuum into the wall and sparks flew out of the socket and the vacuum flickered to life and then died.

I was kind of really upset about it, I had had the vacuum for going on 7 years. We had a hairy beast of a dog at the time and the carpets had just gotten to "my" point of unbearable and they really needed to be vacuumed.

We happened to be beyond poor at the time, since we had just moved from Arizona to Utah, paid our first months rent and a pet deposit on top of the regular deposit.

So thankfully my mom agreed to give us our Christmas "gift" early.

After doing some research I had two vacuums in mind that I wanted to get when I headed to the store.

Of course both were out of stock so I got this one:

I know. Nothing special. I got it at Walmart, the guy on the floor actually knew about the vacuums and was super sure I would be happiest with this one.

I wasn't so convinced but when I got home I read the reviews and it actually had good ratings.

I was so impressed and surprised the first time I vacuumed with it. The container part that holds the dirt had to be emptied twice. It was so gross and yet so nice to see that the vacuum was so powerful.

I still love vacuuming with it. Even now, after vacuuming, the container is almost halfway full. It's just so satisfying to know your carpets are super clean. (I know what you may be thinking but don't worry we really do vacuum on a regular basis.)

It says on the vacuum that it is better than a Dyson...I'm not experienced with Dyson's but I love this one! Love, Love, Love it!

Gratitude (Day 13)

Day 13-

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We have a large number of members, more than 13 million, all over the world.

So naturally we can't all meet in the same location and in the same building.

So the members are collected into smaller groups throughout the world based on location. These smaller groups are called wards or branches.

Our family goes to the Forest Grove 2nd ward.

Today I'm grateful for our ward. We are relatively new to the ward since we just moved into the area about 4 months ago and we really don't know many people but I'm grateful for the kindness everyone in the ward has shown us.

I love seeing everyone's smiling faces and hearing their stories and testimonies.

Really it seems no matter where we've moved all the wards we've been to share those same characteristics; smiles, kindness and people making an effort to make you feel welcome.

So I'm grateful for our ward for that and I'm just grateful to be a member of this great church.

Gratitude (Day 12)

Day 12-

I'm grateful for those rare full nights of sleep when none of the children wake us up. In fact I could use another one soon.

Last night wasn't one, Sadie woke up three times. That is more than normal but she also has what looks like a canker sore (the largest one I've ever seen) under her tongue, poor thing.

In fact we haven't had a full nights sleep in probably coming on two weeks.

But I know someday it will happen again. And I will remember what it feels like not to wake up tired and half ready for the day.

Gratitude (Day 11)

Day 11-

Today I'm grateful for where we live. I know I should be grateful for Veterans. I am grateful for them too.

But today I woke up and there was this beautiful low hanging mist outside and it has stuck around all day. It's the perfect background for all the trees and their changing leaves. I love thinking that snow might be on it's way (I've actually already busted out the Christmas music).

I love that we live in a small town and it is quiet most of the time. I'm grateful that the elementary school that we are in the boundaries for, is a very good school and that Jared's teacher is super understanding and is perfect for helping Jared feel motivated and enthusiastic about school!

In regards to the house we live in, this is the nicest place we've ever rented. Yes, sometimes we get all high and mighty and complain that we don't have a garage or a yard large enough to put a trampoline in (I measured, it would be about a foot away from our house and a foot away from the opposite fence) and sometimes we declare that we are moving to the woods so that we don't have to hear any neighbors or the cars pass by but really we have it good.

This is the first time that we have paid rent for something other than an apartment (it's a duplex). It has rounded bullnose corners on the walls which I love and the heaters are actually placed in decent spots (like not under the window), the floor plan is pretty great, it has decent storage, best of all, the place has been pet free and is pet free! I love that, it's nice to lay on the carpet and not have fleas from the previous renters pet jump on you (totally has happened to us) or have the toilet over flow and have kitty litter come out from under the baseboard heater (this has happened to us too).

Wesley and I always talk about how it will be so nice when we can landscape our own yard, paint the walls any crazy color we want or even just see the kids damage things on accident without internally freaking out and thinking about deposits.

But really for now this is not a bad place to live, in fact it might be great!

Gratitude (Day 10)

Day 10-

Today I'm 13 weeks! I'm officially out of the 1st trimester! I'm so so grateful for that!

While this pregnancy hasn't been super hard the first trimester is never fun.

This time I was just mostly tired and crabby (Wes can attest to that). I have also had a pretty constant headache and eye twitch.

I don't know if it is the placebo effect or what (probably) but today I woke up more energetic and ready for the day than I have been in a LONG time. I even put on makeup and did my hair! :)

Yay for 13 weeks!

Gratitude (Day 9)

Day 9-

Today I'm grateful for my make up remover. :)

I'm not the type of girl that wears makeup all the time though maybe I should.

I usually wear it every Sunday and maybe once about mid week so my husband feels like maybe I'm more than just a mom. :)

Wes was shocked and maybe a little grossed out to find out recently that the concealer I have was purchased about 9 years ago. Well, thinking about it that is pretty gross...maybe I should get some new stuff.

Anyways, I made a mistake last time I bought mascara, I bought water proof.

Well I knew that out there in the world of make up they sell stuff to remove makeup.

But spending money on it seemed a little frivolous but after months of trying to remove the mascara with good old fashioned bar soap and realizing I was losing A LOT of eyelashes in the process I finally broke down and bought some .

Oh HEAVEN! The stuff I bought is so amazing! :)

I love you makeup remover, thanks for saving my eyelashes! :)

Good Lookin

I just got Jared's class picture back today.

His soccer picture this year.

I know I'm his mom but he is such a cute boy! :)

Gratitude (Day 8)

Day 8-

I think I'm running out of things to write about that I'm grateful for...or at least I'm not motivated to write about the big things.

We're all kind of sick. I keep getting sick after I get better for a few days. My head cold and a constant headache, that I've had everyday since we've found out that I was pregnant except two days, makes me not really want to do anything or to think. :)

I guess I will just be grateful for being healthy, usually. This is the first time this year that I've been sick or that I can remember being sick, so it doesn't happen often and sicknesses usually don't hit me too hard.

That is true for Wes and the kids as well. We generally enjoy good health. So I am grateful for that.

Gratitude (Day 7)

Day 7-

Today I am grateful for our entertainment center. Not only is it probably the nicest thing we have it our house at the moment (quickly becoming just another thing as the kids scratch it and ding it, "Thank you children") BUT it also means something more.

Our little entertainment center is the BIGGEST purchase Wes and I have ever made together!!!

WOW!

Pretty cool!

I think before that it would have been our washing machine and before that our Wii.

How wonderful, we're growing up. :)

It's so fun...and expensive. ;)

Gratitude (Day 6)

Day 6-

Today I'm grateful to be pregnant with baby number four which in May...maybe June will turn our family into a family of six. Family of six...day 6, I thought it was fitting.

I have a little confession, if you are interested. If not, you know what I'm grateful for and you can be done reading. :)

I'm SUPER impatient. I bet most of my family knows that about me. I'm the type of person that gets an idea into my head and am totally dead set on that idea until I either get it or finish what I had planned.

Finding out whether or not I'm pregnant when I "think" I might be is no different.

I may or may not have taken 5 or 6 tests BEFORE it would technically have been the time when you for sure can get a positive test. Who does that? I mean seriously. ;)

It's just so frustrating to have to wait TWO WHOLE WEEKS to know for sure. That's like forever in Brandy time.

Besides, not that you really want to know but I kept getting "maybe" positives (when the line is almost not visible unless practically under a microscope) and then I would get a negative. Frustrating. :) Luckily I have a patient husband who lovingly would just remind that me if I didn't want to be frustrated I could just wait until the right time and then I would know for sure.

Well of course I didn't listen to those words of wisdom and on Sadie's birthday (one day BEFORE the right time) we found out that for sure we were pregnant!

Of course we were so excited! It was kind of a fun day to find out, one at least we won't forget.

On my birthday I had an ultrasound and got to see the baby and hear its little heartbeat. I consider that to be a pretty great birthday present.

And that is all. Between moments of wondering how I am going to handle being a mom of four children and extreme fatigue, I have felt very grateful to have this opportunity.

Gratitude (Day 5)

Day 5-

So I have about a minute before my little girl is going to kick me off the computer so she can play Disney games.

So here it is, I'm grateful for a full sized washer and dryer. I'm sure you can guess why.

It is a new thing in this household and changes the things from a "laundry day" where I do laundry all day long to three to four loads.

You have to be grateful for that!

Gratitude (Day 4)

Day 4-

Today since it is Friday, I'm grateful for paydays.

And not because of what you may be thinking, that I look forward to them because then I get to go and spend a ton of money, though that can be fun too. :)

I am grateful for paydays because they are relatively new in our household. Since Wesley has only been done with school since May and started working the first week in July we haven't had many. (Can I add that we are both super grateful that he has a job? We are, it is a huge blessing and I wouldn't want to leave that out.)

I really, really like them because they remind me that my husband is awesome! That he is super consistent and usually when he decides to do something he is very focused and sticks to it. Gratefully that includes optometry school and being a provider for our family.

Payday also reminds me of what a hard worker he is. I love that he gets up everyday, rain or shine, sick or healthy and gets to work. Even on his days off, he still likes to be busy with projects. He's a good man.

I am also grateful for payday because I am actually one of those sick people that like to balance our accounts and figure out how much money can go where and I LOVE paying the bills, so payday gives me a chance to do that. :)

That's all, now you know what I will be doing with the rest of my morning...

Gratitude (Day 3)

Day 3-

I'm grateful for my can opener.

I'm being serious. All the things I have chosen for this month I have given serious thought about. They are all things that I am grateful for on a regular basis.

Here's a little bit of a sad story.

When I was single and the mother of two very adorable children I was pretty poor. I was a full time student living off of student loans. I didn't have much but I was very grateful that I had the opportunity to go to school (mostly online) and still afford to stay home with my little ones and watch them grow and change everyday. I was and am very grateful that I didn't have to go to work and put my kids in daycare.

Anyways, back to the story, I was pretty poor. We still had all our basic needs met and some extras for fun but not much for luxuries.

One of those luxuries I did without was a can opener that actually worked.

At the beginning I had one but it eventually got old and wouldn't spin anymore (who knew a little household oil probably would have solved that) so I threw it away. And because I really couldn't justify spending almost $10! on a can opener I bought one at the Dollar Store. (I know, you get what you pay for).

Well it broke, almost right away. Probably after the third can. (It wouldn't rotate around the can anymore.) But I couldn't afford to spend more money on another one so I made do. I would just clamp it down on the can rim which does break through the can and I would open it up, move it a little and clamp down again, over and over until the lid broke off. Sad right? It kind of made cooking take longer but it worked.

Looking back I'm sure I probably could have asked my mom if I could borrow $10 and get one but it never occurred to me. I probably even had a spare $10 at points but I probably always spent it on things I felt were more important. Basically I just justified that I had something that did the job and I could make do.

I did eventually remember that I had an old one in my camping gear and pulled it out but it was super hard to cut with and spin. I generally hurt my hand or finger every time I used it.

When Wes and I got married someone WONDERFUL (I'm honestly not sure who but they are loved) got us a gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond! I totally knew what I was going to do with it!

When I opened the first can with my new can opener I'm pretty sure I did a little dance and laughed out loud. The thing was so dang smooth! And easy to use and the handles didn't dig into my hand because they were soft and I didn't have to use all my strength to keep the can rotating!

It was the BEST day ever! I even had Wes come out and give it a try! It was so, so, so wonderful!

And that is all. My sad little story had a very happy ending and I'm pleased to say that my awesome can opener still works and is wonderful and fills me with happiness every time I use it.

Too bad I didn't take a picture of it. It is pretty amazing and I'm grateful for it! :)

I promise tomorrow won't be about kitchen stuff.

Gratitude is a Good Attitude (Day 2)

Day 2

I am grateful for my frying pans.

You might be thinking really, pans?

But I am.

Our three smaller frying pans have been in seriously sad, SAD shape for a long time.

They were all warped and so when I needed to cook with them (every night) I had to prop them up with something under their handle so that they would actually get warm in more than one place.

Also they originally were non-stick but after years of use they seemed to need almost half a can (little bit exaggerated) of cooking spray on every use.

Did I mention that the handles were loose on some of them and the screws were warped so they didn't actually truly tighten anymore? Yep. They were fancy.

With meals burning (because of the sticking issue not entirely because I'm a poor cook) and growing fear of the handles breaking off and the pans teetering on the hot elements they were starting to become almost unusable.

Anyways, this year for my birthday I used some of my birthday money and bought myself seriously needed new pans.

When I told my cooking guru of a sister that I got new pans she said, "There's nothing like QUALITY cookware."

I'm not sure my pans from Ross are "Quality" but they do sit flat on the heating elements and they are still non-sticking, non-stick pans!

Check out these beauties! Yes, they aren't even matching.

(See the two off white candles in the background that's what I used to use for props for the old pans. They can be retired now.) :)

Gratitude is a Good Attitude (Day 1)

I'm kind of excited that it is officially November!

I've been thinking about blogging about this for a while and now can finally start.

"Gratitude is a Good Attitude" is a saying we say all the time in our house to the kids. We want them to grow up being grateful for even the small things and not feel like they are entitled to things.

We say that phrase to them so often that I too should probably show some gratitude for all the things I've been blessed with.

So for each day of this month I'm going to write about something I'm grateful for.

This is going to be a good exercise for me, hopefully I can think of thirty things I am grateful for.

As a warning, some (okay most) of the things are going to be materialistic.

I'm not a ponderer by nature and honestly I'm probably not the deepest person you've ever met.

I like life, I like each day, I like to laugh and have fun but I don't really think too much about it. I just like to go and do and be done.

Basically I'm trying to explain that I probably won't be writing about being grateful for an amazing and profound thought I had and the different layers it had and how they somehow all connect to my life and mean something amazing and spectacular to me. :)

Hopefully that makes sense. If you know me this is probably not anything new to you. :)

Also these aren't in any particular order.

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Day 1

Since today is the first day of this little exercise I thought I would just get out of the way something that ranks high on my gratitude list.


I'm grateful for my family.

This one.


And these ones.


I'm grateful that we are all semi-normal and mostly drama free. I'm grateful that we like to get together and laugh and recall the silly things we did when we were younger. I am grateful for my new family that came with my sweet husband. I am beyond grateful that Wes and I both like our in-laws.

Yay for family!

Halloween Fun

Two weeks ago Wes and I decided we should try and branch out more and go participate in our ward Trunk or Treat.

But then we kind of struggled with costume ideas. We really wanted to dress up as Phineas and Ferb (sadly probably our favorite TV show) but we couldn't figure out how to make their heads so then we thought maybe we could be Dr. Doofensmirtz and Perry the Platypus but I vetoed it for two reasons, one it would be lame if no one recognized us for the Doctor and Perry, how many grown ups really watch that show? and two, I thought it would be pretty uncomfortable to be Perry all night. :)

So we decided to get back to our grass roots and we went as hippies!

Can I say that except for the drugs, partying and open love, oh and the no bra thing, I could probably be a hippy everyday. It was pretty fun for me.

For Wes' costume I picked out the brightest, rainbowiest material ever and laughed like an evil scientist the whole time I was making his costume just thinking about how far out it was going to be.
Frankly I'm surprised that he agreed to wear it.


But he did say that next year he gets to pick out the costumes...

Dear little Sadie was the cutest bunny EVER!



I kind of got her costume way before coming up with the hippie idea.

You can't really tell by this picture but we decked out Wes' truck to look like a Shag (Wes says I shouldn't call it that but I mean shag as in the carpet) mobile. It was pretty cool, we even made a groovin soundtrack to match our theme and played it in the truck.



I'm not sure what our ward members thought about us but we thought we were totally radical.