I Know I'll Miss This - Bows & All

Today, while walking into church, I had one of those moments. I have them fairly often. Its sort of hard to explain, but it feels like I'm stepping outside of myself and seeing the moment as though it was already the past. It's like I'm given a little gift - just a few quick moments - to forget the stress, and chaos, and logistics of life....and I get to see clearly what really matters.

What overwhelmed me today is how much I will miss this - I know someday I really will. For just a few short years, I don't have to worry about where my girls are, or if they are going to church or making good choices in life....I only have to worry about if their tummies are full and if their hair-bows are straight. Watching my three little girls, marching to church with enthusiasm, loudly whispering through the service and begging for more snacks - I know I am incredibly blessed. Amidst the never-ending "to do" list of life, I am exactly where I want to be and feel simultaneously overwhelmed and blessed to have these precious girls by my side.

Summer Swimming

I've neglected to post some our fun swimming pictures from this summer! These were a few weeks ago, but are definitely worthy of a post!

We had cousin Alyson in town for a few weeks in July, which was great for the cousins! There are six grandkids on my side of the family. Alyson is the oldest grandchild, and she lives in Utah so we don't get to see her as often. Thanks to my mom & dad sharing their pool, the girls made lots of poolside memories while she was here!

Lexi, Alyson, Jordyn and Lyric

This summer, everyone conquered any fears of the diving board, and that is where they spent most of their time!

Jordyn has some serious skills. I wonder if she'll take after her Uncle Derek in her stunt-diving skills!

Even little Lyric had no-fear at 3 years old!

Paxton made Lindy crazy by crawling around the pool for hours and hours.....but eventually he turned into a fish too! He'd kick and dunk his head with much maturity for a little 1 year old!

I should win an award for keeping this kid sunburn-free! She is the fairest child in the land, for sure. And I felt better once I forced her to keep this floatie on because she thinks she's a big girl too (not at 21 months)!

Lexi's got the pencil down perfectly! She can even pose while jumping in!

And check it out, Alyson looks like she's floating halfway out of the water! She's also got a great pencil jump!!

Fun times. We never had a pool growing up, but it's been so fun that my parents have one now for our kids to spend the hot, lazy days of summer in!

Reason #356: Why Not to Yell

I really, really try not to yell at my kids.

Believe me, I've tried it lots of times. But it honestly doesn't work. And by that I mean, it doesn't get my kids to listen to me more often or to respect what I'm saying. It might work for that second of shock, but in the long run it seems to make my kids actually act worse. I can see Jordyn totally shut out when I get loud or mad and as she gets older that scares me.

So I've tried to do it less.

But it gets really hard sometimes because it's such a release of my OWN frustration! It takes so much self control to not yell when I am literally at my wits end. Like today, Lexi was testing my nerves. She does NOT drop a topic - ever. She wanted a snack, but she hadn't eaten any of her lunch. So she was annoyingly persistent for almost an hour.

(And then I lost it and discovered yet another reason not to yell when I'm mad....)

I could not stand it anymore and started yelling at her, all the reasons why she could NOT have a snack.

And guess who stared at me.......soaked it all in.........and then quickly started copying me? Yep, little Peyton put one hand on her hip, one finger up in the air and started yelling at Lexi, right in her face!

That stopped me right in my tracks and I just said "oooooh no". And right then and there I reset my goal to not yell!

Hands Free

I just have to say that in all honesty, I am much less safe of a driver when I am trying to figure out my headsets (I have two - a bluetooth and a corded one) than I am actually holding my phone to my ear.

I cannot get used to this California law!!!

How Do People Do It?

I think 5 years is a magical point in home-owning where you start to crave an overhaul. By that point, you've become a little TOO settled in and overcrowded. Especially in the childbearing years - when there is a constant shift in clothing, bedding, beds, toys, etc.

We have definitely hit that point.

I feel cluttered, disorganized, and like I'm not using our space the best way I could. I wish I just had $10,000 to hire someone to do some organization and slight re-decoration. Yeah right.

The problem is, I have so many thoughts running around in my head of what I should do and want to do.....but my body is totally unmotivated to do any of it. I look around at every single (messy) room, and I just want to walk back to this computer and be lazy with it all day. Poor kids of mine.

I think I'm still experiencing post-trip exhaustion.

One of my projects is to take our under-used office (aka junk room) and overhaul it into a kids playroom. I'm doing a decent job, but it is causing a domino effect. Closets are being re-done, toys are being moved, bedrooms are re-arranged. Whew!! As I see it take shape, I'm also seeing the light, but it is moving much slower than an impatient person like me would prefer.

All in all? I would actually love a slightly bigger house. Or at the very least, a storage basement. I feel so ungrateful saying that because there are plenty of people around the world who would give their right arm for our home. But our 1800 sq feet that used to feel huge, is starting to feel a little squishy. Just one extra bonus room is all I'd really want. But it just doesn't seem necessary to spend more $ on a house when I can just do some major re-arranging.

And as long as I'm rambling, I have to say what an addiction Craigslist furniture sales can be. It's like the best virtual garage sale ever! And everytime I refresh the page, people have posted new things. So yesterday, we bought a Broyhill pine armoire for the T.V. in the piano room for $250 from a lady who bought it for $700 just two years ago. It is in perfect condition. And even though I wasn't in the mood to spend $250, it will help clear up the clutter a LOT and I love that its a quality piece of furniture rather than some pressboard thing.

Please send me vibes of energy and organizational skills!

The Best Horsie!

Without exaggeration, I don't think I could have special-ordered a better Daddy for my girls than Tucker. On a constant basis, I learn so much from him. One of the things I most admire and appreciate about him is his ability to just BE with the girls. I am so task-oriented (which I think is common as a mother) that it is often hard for me to consciously just BE with the girls, and it comes so easy to Tucker. I love that about him and hope the girls know how priceless that is as they get older.

Babysitters

I feel so lucky to have a few babysitters around that I trust with my girls. Often times, my girls will beg me to get a babysitter and go somewhere! They babysitters must be more fun than mommy - especially when I come home to candy wrappers, empty Pringles containers and popcorn sprouting from every corner of my home. Hey, as long as the kids are safe and happy, that's all that matters!

One of their favorite is Silvina. Silvina lives down the street from us and also goes to church with us. She is almost 15 and is ALWAYS available. She loves to babysit and always brings along one of her (many) siblings. The most common one is Flavio. The girls love to make Flavio laugh. We've had to have MANY MANY talks on what are the appropriate ways to make someone laugh. "We don't show someone our bottom to make them laugh, or our panties, or say potty words, right girls?". I certainly don't want any unneccessary problems just for the sake of a laugh!

I go through phases with getting babysitters. Sometimes I'm too cheap....and other times it just feels SO worth the money to have a little break and to run errands in peace! Plus, the girls usually have more fun playing at home than running around with mom (especially on my couponing escapades!).

Here's an Example and Some Sites

Here are a few sites that we use to find out the latest and greatest deals (but really Lindy should get the credit....I just follow her lead)...

www.hotcouponworld.com

http://forums.slickdeals.net/

http://scavengerhuntoncrack.blogspot.com/


And here is an example of one of the great deals from last night:
Oil of Olay body wash was 3 for $10 at Walgreens. Lindy bought coupons off eBay that gave $2 off per bottle (yes, people sell coupons!) for like $ .10 each. But then, if you bought six bottles, the register would spit out a $7 Register Rewards (which is like cash at Walgreens). So it would go like this:

$20 for 6 bottles of Oil of Olay
-$12 in manufacturer coupons = $8
-$7 in Register Rewards=
like paying $1 for six bottles of body wash!

In other examples:

• Pert Plus has a $4.99 rebate, so it's free!
• Oust candle on clearance for $2, then with a $2 rebate it's free!
• Loreal Shampoo, coupon for Buy One Get One Free, then coupon for $1 off, then rebate for $1 ea makes it $1 a bottle.
• One Touch Blood Glucose Monitor on sale for $29.99 (reg $70). I had a $20 off coupon, making it $10 out of my pocket. But then there was a rebate inside for the purchase price, so I will actually make $20 off this one.
• And then yesterday, all day long, Walgreens honored a coupon for $5 off a $20 purchase, so I did all of this in 5 transactions and used it every time....giving me a total of $25 off just for the heck of it.
• It really does make your brain hurt when you're there though, and you should really do it kid-less.

You Won't Believe Me

A couple months ago, Lindy and I started discovering how amazing and fun it can be to really get into the whole couponing thing. See, up until this point, I've always thought it was annoying to save $ .35 cents on something and not really worth the effort of clipping the dang coupon.

But that's before I really got it. (well, really Lindy GETS it and tries her best to teach her older/dense sister)

It's so much better than that. But you DO have to want a hobby because it takes some major dedication. At least until you REALLY get it.

I'm not going to go really into it on this post because it would make your brain hurt, but lets just say that after 7 transactions and 5 hours....I came home with lots of free stuff. Lindy and I shopped for that many hours and MADE money! How could that not be fun?

Here's my loot in a nutshell:


(I went to Walgreens (most of it), SaveMart and Longs Drugstore):

Retail Value: $390
Savings: $403 (this includes weekly sales, manufacturer & store coupons, and rebates)
Out Of Pocket: +$13 (I actually MADE $13)

Does this seem possible? No, but it really is! Crazy, huh?

End of the Trip

We are finally home! As much as I loved our trip, I am so happy to be home. There really is no place like home - and definitely no place like your OWN bed!

But I still want to document the final few stops on our trip.

Before we drove out of town, we stopped by Tucker's (paternal) Grandma and Grandpa's home. They are near 90 and their days are numbered. Our visit was very short, but it was good to see them and get a picture with them.






Then, we took a detour and stopped to see Dane & Beth. It was so great to see them and talk and laugh with them. One of the highlights was swinging on Dane's latest creation, the tree swing!














And finally, we only made one stop on our 700 mile drive home. And we decided to make it a fun one and stopped to have dinner at the Las Vegas Hard Rock. Hard Rocks are always a little significant for Tucker and I since we met at the SLC Hard Rock.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my mom's 54th birthday! I love these pictures of her through the decades.

I love you mom!!!!!

Monday Fun

Today was a family day. We swam and ate and enjoyed the loud chaos that our family has grown into! There were like 16 kids here, and lots of adults. When we're all together, it's loud and hectic, but also full of fun and laughs.



Tiffany also stopped by with Eliza, and Carly stopped by for a bit with Alyson! It was a fun day. My girls were so tired tonight, Lexi actually asked me if she could go to bed in the middle of all the cousins playing! Poor girls - so wiped out! But also so much fun.

Sunday

This has been the most packed Utah trip we've had so far! Okay, so Sunday was another fun and full day.

First of all, we saw Creighton. Creighton and Tucker have been friends for like 12 years. Creighton was Tucker's "little brother" in their fraternity in college. They have one of those instant bonds and don't get to see eachother often, but when they do it's like no time has passed. Creighton is such a great guy and it was so fun to see him for a bit! He came to see us and then stole Tucker away for some lunch. Thanks Creighton!

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Next we went to visit our friend Aimie and her family. Aimie and I worked together at Siebel for a few years (from 2000-2003) and since then have both had three daughters! It was fun to see her, catch up and see her amazing new home!

Our second daughters: Addi and Lexi

The firstborns, Zoey taught Jordyn how to play Guitar Hero!! She loved it!

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Then we were so happy it worked out for Karli and Chris to come to see us at Tucker's parents' house! Karli is like family to me and I love how we connect and could literally talk for days and days (and used to when we lived together in college!) without tiring. She and Chris and Kaiya make such a beautiful family. Thanks guys!!

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And of course the rest of the night was family time. Playing games, kids playing, eating....all the usual great stuff!

Maren and Greg's House

We were able to spend Saturday evening at Maren's house. It was a spontaneous decision and was really fun. We ate and played games (nothing new!) and the kids ran wild. Besides Peyton tumbling down the stairs (she's okay) and Brock cutting his lip and getting two stiches (he's now okay), the night was fun!

Lexi is really starting to wonder why she doesn't have red hair. (Jaden, Jordyn, Taylor, Peyton, Lexi and Brock)

Peyton loved the slide, swing and trampoline out back

And so did River! (Lyndsy and James' little 2 1/2 year old cutie)

We tried to zone them all out to a movie (that lasted 20 minutes)

And the thumb suckers found solace in their favorite past time!