Hair Vacation

Just so everyone knows, I'm taking a little vacation. I'm not doing ANY hair whatsoever as of this Monday until April 15th.....or I possibly might, very easily go absolutely mental. I'm not even joking. But I'd LOVE to do it April 15th or after!!! :) Much love to everyone!

Fun pics of the kids!

My mother-in-law, Pat, always wants to have pictures done of her grandkids together and it never happens when the grandkids (Damon & Destiny) from Vegas are in town so I took the kids out today and just did it myself! I think they turned out pretty cute, considering my camera has a scratch on the lense. (We don't have good luck w/cameras...) It was actually a really fast and fun shoot! Less than 15 minutes! Here are my favorites of the bunch:


I was tickling them in this one, can you tell? ;)

My eternal family....

I've been achingly missing my family in Southern Utah for the past month. We were planning on coming down next weekend but due to school and work, we will have to wait until conference weekend. I hope we get to see you then! I just wanted all of you to know I love you more than you'll ever know and I miss you! See you soon!

Mom is the best pillow there is...

I remember loving to fall asleep in my mom's lap, she was always so soft and comfy! I remember her always joking, "I'm not a pillow!" Even now when I visit, I love snuggling with my Mom and I don't get to do it often enough. Looks like Jaakson feels the same....he definetely found the most padded spot, didn't he?

"Cuz I'm thrifty!!!"

I am a sucker for good deals! Like, REALLY good deals! Not, "they're having a really good sale at Pottery Barn!" I'm talking KSL, Savers, Ross, Craig's List, Ebay, Amazon, etc. It almost makes the item even more VALUABLE because I got it for such a good deal! I've been looking for a cute dresser that's bigger with more room so I can fit both Jaakson AND Shae's clothes in it. I found this adorable, huge dresser in great condition on ksl.com for $30! It'd only been online for an hour, lucky me!

I've been trying to organize my house room by room. Last week I went to Ross to find some type of deep baskets to put in their dresser nook as well as in their closet. I found 6 sturdy, fabric-lined brown baskets for $30. Now their room is completely organized!

Two days ago, I was bored from being at home with my 2 sick kids and they were dying to get out so we went to the Dollar Tree in Orem. I usually only drop by there to get candy for the theatre or batteries for my kid's toys. But this time I walked around the entire store, thru every aisle and was so suprised at the things I found! I bought a Universal Remote for my TV and VCR (usually $5-9), it works great! I bought Robitussin (usually $4)for the kids, (Jaakson's allergist wanted me to start giving it to him). Works great! I bought press-on lights for our closets, $1/each! I bought a pack of different colored Playdough (usually $3), HUGE bottle of bubbles, 8-pack of AA batteries (over $3), Chex snackbars ($2.50 or more), spring "Welcome" wire wreath, cleaning wipes ($3-4), mulitple cans/jars of fruit, and the list goes on. I ended up spending $30 for $30 items! Not too bad for a shopping/grocery spree!

At Savers a week or so ago, they were having their semi-annual 1/2 off EVERYTHING sale! I don't like D.I. very much but I like Savers for the kids clothes and lil' things like movies, books, etc. because the quality and condition always seems better plus their racks are organized better so you don't have to look as hard.

I LOVE saving money on things so if anyone has any tips that have helped them, let me know!

Looking for some kindred spirits....

I love softball. I've played on organized teams from 5th grade thru my senior year. Last year was the first year since I moved up here in 2001 that I was able to play again. I wasn't in night school anymore and finally knew enough people to get a co-ed team together. I am DYING to find some girls that know how to play and can hang with the boys!!! Can anyone help me out? I am having the hardest time finding girls! :( The only reason I'm being picky about who plays with us is that it's not a recreational league, it's a competetive co-ed league. And any of you that have played with competetive men know how much they hate to lose and it's usually the girls that can make or break a team in co-ed. If any of you played ball in school or college or have played in co-ed leagues and can HANG, PLEASE PLEASE give me a call or email?! I'm looking for 1 or 2 more girls. If you don't play, maybe you have family or friends that do? I would be SOOO appreciative! The league starts on April and is every Thursday night in the evenings for one hour. OH, and it's SLOW-PITCH (a.k.a. super easy and fun to hit off of). Holla atcha girl! ;)


P.S. That's my Dad, the coach! He was the best! I loved playing on this team, we had so much fun. Guess which awkward tween is me......

Are the weekends cursed or something?!

EVERYTIME my kids get really sick it's on a weekend! What is going on here?! I don't like my kids to get sick at all, be it weekday or weekend, but I have been seeing a pattern in the past few years since I've had kids....when they get REALLY sick, beyond the seasonal cold, it always falls on a weekend; whether we're out of town or sitting at home. Why is this? Is it a fluke or is there a factual reason why this happens? The most frustrating thing about the weekends is that the Dr offices are closed and the on-call doctors aren't always available. If it's really serious, I end up taking them to Urgent Care or the ER, which are both a little more expensive than the general pracitioner. I'm sure you've already figured out that this entry is coming off of a long weekend. Jaakson was up until 5 am on Saturday morning, did better Sunday morning, and then late last night/EARLY this morning with a really bad cough/breathing problems. For those of you that don't know, Jaakson is HIGHLY allergic to cats/dogs or any pets with dander. *Note: your pet has dander no matter how much hair they do/don't have. Jaakson's allergic reactions are so bad that he could possibly die from it because his breathing is affected so severely. This weekend was particluarly bad because in addition to him having an allergic reaction, he already was JUST getting over a cold. His allergic reactions are even worse if he already has any type of illness that affects his respiration, cold/flu/cough/etc. I feel so bad for him because I can't make him better without using medicine or going to a doctor. I feel bad because he loves dogs and cats, as do Klint and I. Anyone who really knows me knows that my family has had a German Shepard our whole life. When I moved out of my parent's house I took a cat home to my apartment where I wasn't supposed to have pets much to my roommats suprise(*Sorry Nat and Jaycee, haha!). In the past, I would gauge a person's character partly on whether they liked dogs and animals. One friend stated she hated dogs and I almost disowned her as my friend. (Not really, but I considered it for a SECOND....or two). I feel bad because anyone who even has DANDER on their CLOTHES can cause Jaakson to have a severe allergic reaction. Sometimes I have to pass on playdates, visits from friends/family, family occasions, and etc. I feel bad because many get offended or hurt when I tell them they can't come over or we can't go to their house because of Jaakson's allergies, no matter how much we'd LOVE to see them. Many of you may say, you can give him allergy medicine before you go somewhere with cat/dogs so he won't have a reaction. Sometimes the medicine doesn't always work and some dander is worse than others and I have no way of knowing which times will be worse. The more I expose Jaakson to his allergic triggers, the worse his reactions will get. NOT BETTER. Jaakson's allergist has stressed to me that if I don't want to put Jaakson thru misery, I shouldn't gamble his health/life for a visit with loved ones and if our loved ones VALUED Jaakson's health/life, then they would respect and understand that and take his allergies seriously. So if you have pets and I tell you we can't come over or vice versa because of Jaakson's allergies PLEASE don't get offended and take it personally because I don't want him to be up coughing/throwing up until 5 am and possibly having to be hospitalized, okay? It has nothing to do with you or your cute pets. It has to do with my son being healthy and happy.