Things I've learned...

**I've learned...that I've really been neglecting my blog. Things have been so busy lately, but I know we all feel that way about our lives. No matter where we live, no matter how many kids we have, no matter how big our house is, no matter if we work or not...life is crazy! I find myself wondering how to fit all the "most important" things into each day...I have yet to find the answer.

**I've learned that when you're out at 6:00 in the morning jogging with your hubby you need to keep an eye out for rattle snakes that might be sitting right on the side of the trail. You might not even know they're there until they start shaking their rattler at you. Just when you think you can't jog another step...somehow you muster up the strength to do it :)

**I've learned that it's probably not the best idea to try and cut your own children's hair just to save a few dollars. There is a reason that people go to school to do this. Also, if it doesn't look quite right, stop...and drive to the nearest salon...DON'T KEEP CUTTING!

**I've learned that this is the reason I love Sunday afternoons...

**I've learned that just because your kids save up their very own money to buy hermit crabs that you just might leave the pet store with something totally different. You just might wonder what your hubby will say when he gets home to find these very different looking "hermit crabs"... (meet Sunshine & Sky)

**I've learned that pet birds are actually pretty fun to have around. They weren't that fun hanging out in the kitchen, but they're perfect in the front room where we can see them and hear them but it's not quite as loud as the kitchen.

**I've learned (especially over the last year) how grateful I am for my dad & Dan's dad. Sometimes when you're feeling a little lost it's such an amazing, reassuring blessing to know that there is always someone you can call. Even if he's in the middle of something at work, he always seems to have a minute right when you need him to. To quote Elder Ballard: "Some of life's most meaningful teachings come from those who have gone before you. They have walked where you are walking & have experienced many of the things you are experiencing. If you listen & respond to their counsel, they can guide you toward choices that will be for your benefit & blessing & steer you away from decisions that can destroy you. As you look to your parents & others who have gone before you, you will find examples of faith, commitment, hard work, dedication, & sacrifice that you should strive to duplicate." Dan said as we were driving away from church on Sunday, "My dad & your dad are two of the best people I know. They are true examples of hard work, dedication and total honesty." Dad & Lanny...we love you and consider you and your beautiful wives some of our very, very greatest blessings.

(I stole your picture Rach...I hope you don't mind :)

**I've also learned that I love this guy A LOT! Sometimes struggles bring you way closer than you were before. Sometimes working together makes you proud of your hubby for what he does and how he does it. Sometimes you need someone to make you laugh when you're really not in the mood. Sometimes your kids miss him a lot when he's gone late at night and it's a very touching experience hearing them sincerely pray for him. Happy Father's Day!

**And last but not least...I've learned that even when it's 102 degrees outside the hot tub still fills good after a swim in the pool! Come visit me and see for yourself! Happy Tuesday :)

Another day at the office...

Let me begin by apologizing for the poor quality of these pictures. They were taken with Dan's 'office' camera which is specialized for intra-oral pictures and you can tell! But it was the only camera around so I took them anyway! Also...Photobucket's site was out on maintenance so they're little too!

Anyway...just thought you'd like to know what my girls do on Saturday mornings at the office. They shut the door to the break room, tell us not to come in and find ways to entertain themselves. As you can tell from the extremely proud expressions on their faces, they are pretty thrilled with their work of art!!!

Their "castle" had a store inside, just in case you wanted to buy a rice krispie treat :)



Then they migrated to the waiting room. We only had one patient left and he is in his 70's and he thought the girls were adorable and he was fascinated with their "projects". Syd's castle...

Kallie's castle complete with a flag and everything. Wait a minute (you say) what IS Syd doing in that picture???

Let's zoom in for a closer look! We all laughed & laughed and laughed some more over this one. (Don't tell her I put it on my blog)


Here is Syd laughing at herself over the whole "captured on film" moment!
Word to the wise...don't drink out of the cups at our office!

You need a...

BUDGET!

Keep reading...don't give up on this post just because I said the "B" word!

For the last few months I've been on the hunt for the perfect budgeting software. Up to this point I've been using (you guessed it) a good old pen and paper. And while there's nothing wrong with this method, I figured I might as well take advantage of the ease and accuracy of modern technology.

The only problem was that after I asked a bunch of people what program they used, I didn't find anyone who LOVED their current system. I found people who were using Microsoft Money, Quicken etc...but everybody I talked to had certain concerns about the various programs they were using.

So I got online and Googled "Microsoft Money" and began a search for a budget program that would work for my little family and our oh-so-tight budget.

I quickly came across a program called "YNAB" or You Need a Budget. I got on their website and read about it, watched a bunch of the tutorials, read the testimonials etc, I even sent an email to my mom so she could check it out and give me her opinion.

Anyway...I ended up spending the $50 to buy the YNAB Pro software, downloaded it immediately and I have been LOVING it ever since. No, I am not being paid for this advertisement, I just know how great this has been for Dan and I over the last few months and I wanted to share. I know there are a lot of us out there who are having to be really careful with our finances right now and this program is very user friendly, the tutorials are very helpful and I've even emailed a few questions and have gotten a reply very quickly.

If you already have a system that is working great for you then ignore this post, but if not I would go check this website out:

youneedabudget.com

I wanted to use it for a while before I felt comfortable recommending it to others, but now I can safely say that I love it and it has made my life so much easier!

Wait for it...

A few months ago I heard the announcement that Taylor Swift was coming in concert to Mandalay Bay on May 23rd. I thought to myself, "Oh man...would my little girls love to go to that concert!" As soon as the tickets went on sale I got online 'just to check'. But when I saw the ticket prices, even for the nose bleed section, I knew it wasn't going to happen. Poor us...

Last week I even got an email from Amanda telling me that someone was advertising 2 Taylor Swift tickets in the Mt. Express. I checked it out...$175 for 2 tickets. My response was, "I'm sure my girls would love to go, but I'm buying two weeks of groceries with that money instead."

However, for the past couple of days I've been a Craig's List stalker...just checking to see if anyone got desperate to dump their tickets. Last night the prices started to drop, I even woke Dan up from the dead of sleep to tell him how low the prices were and to beg him to agree to going. He said, "I love you honey, but we can't afford it." (name the conference talk)

All day the prices dropped, but I kept getting the "NO" from my wise hubby. Then at 7:15 (the show started at 7:30) I saw a posting that said 'cheap, make an offer'. So I called. I asked, "How much?" He said, "$55 a ticket". I said, "Ok, no thank you." He said, "Hold on...it's late make me an offer. $100 for all four tickets and they're yours." I said, "I already found some for $100 and my hubby said no." He said, "Name a price." So I did, and he declined and I hung up and gave up. Two minutes later my phone rang and he said, "We'll take it. I'm emailing you the tickets right now."

Ha! Yay! So we ALL went to Taylor Swift for the original price of ONE ticket! Can you tell I'm a little proud of myself. True we shouldn't have spent any money on the tickets at all, but I will just "borrow" it out of my grocery budget next month. Who needs to eat anyway? Besides...memories last WAY longer than food! If you could have seen my girlies faces (and I must admit mine too) you would have agreed with me that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT! If we look a little thinner next month you'll know why :)

Even though we were making the mad dash...we had to stop in front of the bus for one photo!

My girls are a little....shall we say, 'sound sensitive'. Ears were plugged for the ENTIRE concert!

But they were happily plugged that's for sure!

Pretty darn good seats for 15 mins before show time...

And low and behold in the middle of the concert, who should appear right at our sections entrace?!? I know it's a bad picture..but we couldn't believe she was singing right in front of us.

Lesson learned...never pay full price for tickets. What a great show, we loved every minute of it! How fun that we can all enjoy a concert together...will we be able to say the same thing when the girls are teenagers???

Yoo Hoo...

We're still alive and well, just a little too much coming and going and not enough time to blog it. My girls are off track and we've been here a little and there a little...just wanted to let you know we were still kickin'.

The happenings that I haven't blogged about (yet)...

*Dan's 35th b-day
*Mother's Day
*Quick visit from Diane and family
*Girls trip to Phoenix
*Dan & I trip to Phoenix to pick up girls
*Iowa friends passing through town :)

And right now...I'm in Utah for a few short days for Dan's brother's wedding. (Poor, poor Dan had to stay in Vegas and work :(

I'll update (with photos) soon!

Turned 9 in '2009'!

Kallie did it. Without permission from her mother, she went and got another year older. Why? Why must these little ones grow up too fast? Can we please just freeze this moment in time forever? I probably won't say that when they're teenagers...but for now I wish time could just stand still.

So the festivities went as follows (in chronological order):

Friday (May 1st) we skipped out of work a little early (after a major chemical spill at the office courtesy of Syndey- but that is a WHOLE other story for another day...or not). At Kallie's request we packed up the car and headed for a 1 1/2 day, 1 night mini get-a-way to St. George! I must admit we were all ready for a fun change of scenery.

Here is Kallie opening her present that Grandma Patti & Grandpa Charlie mailed her. She was too excited to wait until her birthday and grandma gave in and told her she could open it early.

'BOLT'...yay! A new movie to watch during the drive :)

We were so excited to have Sam & Maci come stay in the hotel with us for the birthday celebration. By the time we made it through Vegas traffic and visited with Nate and Jeni for a while, we were too late to go swimming on Friday night. We walked across the parking lot to Wendy's and got frosties instead. But first thing Saturday morning, you can bet what was on these girls' mind! They swam and swam until we had to check out of the hotel :(

For lunch Kallie picked Pizza Factory and I wasn't complaining! Yum! Had to get a picture of their matching hair do's! (courtesy of the hair blog once again)

This one's for you Amy...a picture of beeeeeautiful Jeni 29 weeks pregnant with little girl #3.

Next we were off to Fiesta Fun for a little minature golf (look online...buy one get one free coupons, hooray)!

Dan being the golf "bumper". Let's just say we didn't necessarily play by the rules :)

Last stop at Fiesta Fun...the bumper boats! These were hilarious, they shot water out the front and by the end everyone was SOAKED! I wish you all could have witnessed them in person.

Look at Syd's face, she has been taken over by the bumper boat demon :)

Sunday, as is tradition, breakfast in bed! This was tough to make on fast Sunday (we decided the b-day girl didn't have to fast on her b-day).

Sydney was the honored guest at the breakfast in bed party!

Sunday night we invited a few friends over for cake & presents. Don't ask me what's wrong with me...I forgot to get pictures of the whole crew. Here is Kallie working hard on her barbie cake. No comments from those of you out there who are professional cake decorators (you know who you are), Kallie had tons of fun with the frosting.

Finished product...Kallie was thrilled to say the least! And if she's happy...I'm happy!

Happy Birthday dear Kallie...Happy Birthday to you!

Can't help but think about life exactly one year ago, it feels like a whole lifetime ago. Kallie got baptized, we put our house up for sale and we were preparing for the big move. What a crazy year... Oh how we love you Kallie Ann!!!

Tea Time...

Today I was lucky enough to be invited by my sweet little kindergartner to "Tea Time with Mom" for Mother's Day. The celebration came a little early because starting Monday my girls are off track until the end of May. Lucky them, this is pretty much the only summer break they get. They will be spending the majority of it at the local rec center's "KidZone" program. We'll see how it goes!

Their teacher really tried to prep them on manners and how you treat special guests. They pulled out our chairs and made sure to serve us before themselves.

The beverage choices were of course tea and Dunkin' Donuts coffee. I was the ONLY mother who opted for apple juice :)

Sydney drinking her apple juice w/ an entire little packet of artificial sweetener mixed in...hey everyone else was doing it!

Syd's teacher that she adores...Mrs. Rodriguez.

Saturday we had to take a picture of the two of us for the place mats that were at our assigned seats. So after giving blood at the church to support the latest Eagle Scout project, Syd and I ducked into some bushes for a few self portraits. Oh how I love this little girl...my life would be so sad and boring (and clean) without her!

Please notice the purple egg that Syd found hidden in the bushes...complete with candy inside and everything! I'm sure it was missed a few weeks ago at the local primary egg hunt or something. But I'm not exaggerating when I say that you'd have thought she just won the lottery...her excitement was contagious!

Get a bowl of popcorn...

because this is going to be a really long post! Can you say {catch-up}...but you know me, I take WAY too many pictures and I don't want to miss a thing in my blog book (that I keep talking about). So...if you get bored and don't make it through this post, I won't be offended :)

Over Spring Break (as mentioned before) we took a quick trip to Utah. We had a really great time seeing everyone and staying at Papa's house.

On Friday (April 10th) we met KayLynn, Dave and the girls at the zoo. I mean really...who doesn't love the zoo?!? Syd came close to death, yet lived to tell about it...

What is it about self portraits...they crack me up! I love to do them (probably because it's the only time I'm in a picture). The funny thing is the little girls in front of us TOTALLY thought I was taking a picture of them...they had the biggest cheesiest grins on their faces. Too funny, big smiles for a stranger's camera! You can't tell we're sisters can you?!?

And I put this one on because sometimes we all need a good laugh....tell me (honestly) if you didn't know me, would you think I was handicapped! (I can't stop laughing...)

Everyone looks cute in this picture (besides me, but that's not the point)...but look at little Sadie in the front. That smile is a KEEPER!

They love to POSE!

This very well might be my favorite (except that Sadie was in the stroller and not in the photo).

I hope they're best friends with all their cousins forever...they sure love them ALL now!

We finally made it to the front of the line to ride the train...when they informed us that they were going to re-fuel and would be back in 20 minutes. What the heck! But these girls were VERY patient!

The next day we went to Grandma Sherry's house to have an Easter Egg hunt with all the Norris cousins. (Please excuse my girl's hair...I was trying to do a variation of the Easter Egg do off the hairstyles for girls blog, but alas, it went very wrong :).

We miss you Grandma & Grandpa...does this photo make you a little homesick?

Next we went to the Coombs' cousin Easter Egg hunt. I'm afraid I didn't get very good pictures AT ALL. My camera wasn't liking the indoor (thanks to the rain) kiddos running around finding their treasured eggs. But I thought this one was very cute of all of the girls showing off our new bracelets that Andrea made and hid in our eggs. I'm sad Kallie's hand got cut off, but trust me...her's is as cute as the rest!

Our Easter morning would never be complete without picking up all those jellybeans that silly Easter Bunny leaves laying all over the house (or Papa's house this year).

Wow! You're still reading...you must either really love us, or be really bored!

Back at home (on April 17th) Kallie had a Field Day at school that parents were invited to attend. I don't want to miss a thing, so I rescheduled a few patients and headed to school. It was so windy and cold I couldn't believe they were having the kids play in water...I think they were expecting warmer temps! Here is Kallie fishing marbles out of the pool with her toes...brrrr!

Running to dump her cup of water into the bucket. (please excuse her flood pants...we're saving our $$ for summer clothes).

Last weekend we were so happy that the Wheeler family drove down to see us for their spring break. I know what you're thinking...they must REALLY love us. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I think they do.

I'm afraid KayLynn & Dave did a lot of entertaining themselves and babysitting my children...thanks! We did pack a picnic on Saturday and took a small stroll up to the water tower. It is soooo windy here, I had no idea! And up at the top of the hill it's even worse, we almost blew away just like Dorothy!

Holly was telling me that Vegas has to be prettier than Albuquerque, I've never been to Albuquerque but seriously...is this the desert or what!

We let the kids play at the park after our walk and they had so much fun catching the ladybugs that were EVERYWHERE! I think they had over 30 in their little water bottle...

But in the end, they decided to set them all free so they didn't die. Not the best picture, but you get the idea!

And....THE GRAND FINALE...for any of you who made it to the end!

A little bonus picture of Syd that I found on my camera card. I told you...there is nothing better than a good self portrait! :)

HAPPY FRIDAY!