Happiness is a state of mind...

Jury Duty December 21, 2011

2011-12-27T20:58:00.000-08:00

So for Jury Duty here in our county we are assigned days that we have to call in to see if we have to go to court. I had the lucky numbers of 7, 21, and 28. Called in on the evening of the 6th and I did not have to go in on the 7th. Called in on the 20th hoping to not have to go in because Heather was leaving that day for Utah to see her dad for Christmas. Of course I have to go in on the 21st so Todd took Heather, Devon, and Charity to the airport with him. Of course this is also the same time my voice decides to take a bitter vacation. So here I go off to Jury Duty with everybody else in Spokane and me in Ephrata. We sit in the Multipurpose room for about a half an hour, check in, watch a video, are given our juror #'s. For being there for just over 3 hours I didn't get much out of this one. Possession case, hopefully it was pretty cut and dry. Because I was not chosen for the jury. Do you think it has something to do with the fact that my husband works in the jail where this person currently resides. Yes, I think so. But I still stayed and answered the questions and then was finally released. We had all been up since 3 AM because Heather's flight, chosen by her father and grandmother, left Spokane at 6:45. So needless to say we took naps that afternoon. :) What a joyous experience. I called in tonight and I do not have to go tomorrow. Thank you, until the next summons appears.

2011-12-23T05:10:00.001-08:00

Oh my I can't believe that finally worked. I have been trying for months to post on here and nothing has worked. I guess I just had to wait until Christmas. :) I will post some catch up things later.

2011-12-23T05:08:00.001-08:00

Hello Hello

Todd's Promotion

2011-10-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Todd was promoted to Sergeant on Oct 11th 2011. That should be an easy day to remember. :) I so wanted to get some really great pictures of him on this day. But I somehow ended up behind him and to the side. So no great pictures from me. But Officer Kriete and Officer Jones took some good pictures so hopefully we'll get to see them soon. It's funny how things seem to take so long and in reality it is only a few minutes. In all it took between 10 and 15 minutes to have two people signed into their new positions. Congratulations to my wonderful husband on a job well done, you deserve it!!

Help Whip Cancer

2011-06-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

In May I had a Help Whip Cancer with the Pampered Chef show. Fun times!!

Freebie from Target!!

2011-04-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

I got this cute little freebie in the mail today from Target. Cute little bag with 2 samples of shampoo, a sample of conditioner, lip balm, lotion, a lip color sample, and over$25 in coupons. Not bad!!

Charity and her GRASS flowers

2011-04-05T17:58:00.001-07:00

Charity was so excited to come home from preschool with grass flower seeds. (This is what she told me they were) Grass seeds that were going to grow flowers. Well as you can see, they grew grass, and Charity decided it was time for them to get a haircut, so we cut her grass.

DiGiorno House Party!!

2011-04-03T20:35:00.000-07:00

I signed up for House Party a few months ago and have been appying to be a host and was finally chosen as a host for a pizza party. I sent out invitations via email and posted about the party on facebook. House party sent me a box of goodies. And the best part was we got free pizza. Only a few people showed up, it was a very busy weekend for most, but we had a great time and I hope the people who did come had a good time too!!

I won a $30 gift card to Office Depot!

2011-04-03T20:33:00.001-07:00

I always take horrible pictures, so don't mind me, but I was sure excited to get the gift card!!

Devon's Glasses

2011-04-03T20:29:00.001-07:00

I just realized I never posted pictures of Devon. Silly me.

I am TERRIBLE!!

2010-12-23T19:32:00.000-08:00

I am so bad at this whole blogging thing. But I wanted to catch up since I haven't written anything in FOREVER. Things in our house are going pretty good. In September I started working at the daycare, and it has it's ups and downs but for the most part it is working out well. My Pampered Chef business has not taken off, but I have had a few shows and catalog shows, so we'll see how it ends up. I am looking forward to a Spring Launch that they are doing in Portland in February, sounds like it will be fun and informative. Heather has been doing okay in school, but she fluctuates from day to day. Nothing is ever consistant with her, unless it's something she is obsessing over, which right now is The Hunger Games. I got them from the library for her and she has read them and re-read them, and now she is drawing pictures of the characters. Mainly she draws Katniss with her bow and arrow. And she will be getting them for Christmas, she is that obsessed. Devon has been having a pretty good year at school, I am too strict with him. Todd says I need to ease up a bit. He doesn't have to get 100% all the time, but I sure like it when he does. He just started complaining about not being able to see the board at school so we took him, myself, and Charity in for eye exams. Devon and Charity's first times going in. Devon is severely near sighted, thanks Todd, so he had to get glasses, and Charity is far sighted like me, so she didn't need glasses. She was disappointed. I got sunglasses, yay me. After they come in I will have to post pictures of Devon in his glasses. He is so excited. Charity is my stubborn little thing. She doesn't want to listen to me at all. I know nothing, I'm just the mom. But she loves me and I dearly love her, so we will deal. Kindergarten is slowly creeping up on us and she will be gone a good portion of the day, so she will have to be more dependent on others. And we have been working on that, she doesn't scream her head off when I go to work without her, or go somewhere else without her. That has been nice. We traded in both of our cars the day before Thanksgiving, we had just had a blizzard and Todd's car was getting old and unreliable and my car just bugged me, so I looked online and found 2 vehicles to go look at and drug Todd to go check them out with me. I already knew what I wanted before I talked to anyone on the lot, so I made his job easy. But we got both cars for the same car payment as my one car, so we were happy with that. Then we got to spend Thanksgiving with the Taylor's over in Tri-cities, so that was a fun weekend. Val gave a great talk in church that Sunday, and Brian, Alex, and Alicia all got to see him do it. On the 10th of December we took the kids and went to Sandpoint, ID. Very pretty, but unfortunately we could not find a thing to do. We watched a movie, ate pizza, and went swimming in the hotel whirlpool. But we did have a great drive there. On the way back we stopped at Kohl's in Hayden and did some shopping. Then we went to Spokane and did some more shopping, and we got to see Tangled in 3D. The kids loved that and it was a very cute movie. Another one for our collection. lol. This past weekend Todd's cousin Josett got married and I had Todd take the time off to go to her wedding luncheon and reception. She was such the radiant bride, I am so happy for her and Scott, they will be very happy together. I don't know what else to say. We love everyone, and Christmas is coming in just a few days, so Merry Christmas and have a very Joyous New Year!!

More changes...good ones?...We can only hope so.

2010-09-06T14:24:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday school started. Yay!! Aren't the kids so cute!! The kids had such a great first day. Devon loves being over at Discover and has made some new friends along with his old ones. Although he does miss a few kids from his old school. So we will just have to set up some play dates with those kids. Heather even seems to like her teachers this year, better than last year. And she seems to actually be liking it so far, big cry from last year. Charity starts tomorrow and is SO excited.

Changes for me will be that I am going to start working in a daycare at a gym a few days a week, and I am going to be signing up to sell Pampered Chef sometime this week. Not super big changes but I hope that they will be good changes for us. There is so much that we want to do with the house and pay off a few things, Todd HATES being in debt whatsoever. Not that I particularly care for that either. So I am hoping that this will give me the opportunity to help out with that.

Changes...

2010-08-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

With the new school year starting next week I really didn't think much about Devon still being on the waiting list for Discover Elementary. Someone told us last year he was pretty much a shoe in and he didn't get in. So we dealt with that and didn't even think about it for this year.

Of course this morning I got THE CALL from the principal saying that Devon was chosen for a spot in their first grade class. So I told him I had to talk to my husband and he said I could call him back. I really didn't think he and Devon were going to go for him changing schools, but they both said yes very quickly that he would go to Discover. So I called the principal back and he will be starting with everyone next week. He is very excited. That also means that next year when Charity goes to Kindergarten she can go there too. Woo hoo.

Heather is also excited to be starting 8th grade, and I just hope and pray that she can make it through and keep her grades up.

2010-08-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

Well summer is almost over and I have just been lurking on here for the past few months. Checking out everyone else's blogs and not doing a thing with mine. School ended of course and Heather went right off to Girl's Camp. She had a great time as a second year, different Ward this year. We saw quite a few free movies at the theater. Went swimming. Had our first visit from Todd's sister to our house. Had sprinklers, dirt, and sod put in. Saw Paula Cole in concert at our little amphitheater. I am not having any luck this year when I enter contests. I did win an overnight stay to a hotel in Idaho, so I guess that would be one thing I've won. But I have put in MANY entries into other things and come up empty. School starts up again next week and the kids are excited. I have had many talks with Heather about doing the right thing this next year and keeping her grades up. I think Devon thinks it will be just like Kindergarten all over again. But it won't. We will find out who his teacher is on Friday and go from there. Charity will be going to Preschool Express again this year, she is excited but wants to start on the 1st like Heather and Devon. She has a Well Child visit on the 8th, so I'm sure she will be mad at me when we come away from that visit. Last weekend we went to Walla Walla and got to see some of Todd's cousins and Aunts and Uncle Kent. We had a good time, his Grandma was able to sneak away for a bit and we all got to go to the nursing home and see Grandpa Edvalson. Todd felt better after that, we haven't been down to see them enough these last few years. I will try to do bettter, but I usually don't. I'm considering a new venture of selling Pampered Chef, we shall see if that turns into anything. Until next time.

Schools Almost Out!!

2010-06-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

Only 8 more days of school and the kids will be out for the summer. What to do, what to do. So far we have planned to go swimming, if it ever gets nice and warm. Go bowling. Work on our nonexistent yard. Clean out our garage, now seriously should we have to do this already? Yes!! I hate having the garage all cluttered up. Todd has all his workout things out and he doesn't use them, he goes to the gym. Hoping we can get rid of that stuff. Pay for the gym membership?! I'm hoping they will have the Free Movies at the theater this summer, but haven't found anyone who can tell me yes or no. But they do have the free movies in the park, so we'll have to go to a few of those. I want to take a trip to Forks, but still have to plan out all the details. Heather has Girls Camp with church. Later in the summer she will probably be taking a trip with my mom to Utah. Don't know what else to do yet.

I don't know what we are going to do when all the kids are home all day long. I hate to admit that I like having them gone for a few hours a day. I sent off for a book from the library on how to become a real estate agent. I think that is what I want to do when I finally grow up. And the kids are all in school all day.

Todd's cousin Natalee isn't doing too well. We have now been told she has terminal cancer. If we can all keep her and her family in our thoughts and prayers that would be appreciated.

Much love to everyone. Try and stay positive. Sometimes it's hard, but it's worth it.

SO happy for mediocrity!!

2010-04-28T21:48:00.000-07:00

I never would have thought I would be so happy to have mediocrity come and visit at my house. But today Heather has made that achievement and has all C's in her classes!! And I am not complaining. It has taken a lot to get her grades up these meiocre C's and I am ecstatic. And for some unknown reason my spellcheck isn't working so I hope I spelled the words correctly. Anyway, I'm happy.

Time. Time. Time. Look what's become of me.

2010-04-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Starting out with a Bangles tune can not be good. Showing my age a little? That's a good thing. I am getting up there in age we know. At least I didn't say it was just another manic Monday, with it being Tuesday and all.

As usual not too much happens in the house of Taylor. We have had two more Birthdays, Spring Break (we went to Triple Play Funpark, again), Heather continues to let her grades slide away, Devon continues to accell and loves school, Charity continues to be herself, loving everything and everyone one moment and the next moment she wants nothing to do with you and wants you to go AWAY.

We continue to debate about our yard and what to put in it. I should just let him do whatever he wants but we have to have the whole discussion first. We know we want a deck, but not yet. We have to get the rocks and junk out of the yard, bring in soil to go over the sand, put in the sprinklers, the sod, and get a fence. I just wish our yard didn't slant so much, because that kind of defeats the purpose of putting up the trampline. That and the fact that the outside cover blew two blocks away in our last wind storm and is now shredded. Kids love the trampoline. I was never too happy that the net never got put on it, which was the main reason I bought this particular trampoline.

My brakes were acting weird at the end of March, so we took the van into Les Schwab and had them looked at. Had new brake pads put on, and now my brakes pop. I went in today and they had me there for over an hour and couldn't figure it out. So I have an appointment for tomorrow so they can tear into it and see what the deal is.

Kindergarteners had to have two days off this week for conferences. SO glad school starts again tomorrow. Devon of course is happy too. That kid could play video games all day and watch movies, and be so happy. Poor him, I still make him write letters and his name, and read.

Nothing else I can think to report at the moment, so until next time.

Just catching up again...

2010-02-08T17:29:00.000-08:00

So I went to the Surgeon and scheduled my surgery for the 21st of January. It appears that I was too healthy and someone who needed surgery more got my spot and I was bumped to the 25th. We had to be there at 6 am. So thankfully my friend Debbie was able to watch the kids for me in the morning until my mom could get off work and pick them up and take them to school. Surgery was scheduled for 7:30. Hospital staff was great. Surgery went well. I guess they found some more gall stones that were trying to pass, so that took a little longer to get them out. We left the hospital after 11, so only about 5 hours or so at the hospital. Not too bad. I spent the first day kind of drugged up. Todd made sure I had everything that I needed and that I took my meds on time. Recovery has been going well, I had my post op check up and everything seems to be going okay. I'm still not suppose to lift anything too heavy, or work out my stomach muscles for another month or so. The Dr doesn't want to have to repair a herniated bellybutton. And I really don't want to have surgery again. Life has continued to go on. Heather was able to bring up her bad grade in Math and at the same time let all of her other grades drop. Devon is excelling in school, and loves it, he even wants to go when he is sick. Charity had a few off days at Preschool after my surgery but seems more adjusted again. She is having pajama day tomorrow and a field trip on Thursday. I get to make soup for a luncheon tomorrow. Make cookies for Devon's Valentine's Day party at school on Friday. And Todd lovingly volunteered for me to make a dessert for a Valentine's Dance for our ward. Along with everything else it seems like we will have a busy week. Todd had his Birthday on Sunday and turned 32, so I am next in March and then Charity will turn 4. She is looking forward to it very much.

Today

2010-01-17T17:32:00.000-08:00

Today I got called into my new calling as the Primary Secretary, and while it has only been a few years since I was last in the Primary Presidency they have changed things up a bit. Tomorrow, as there is no school, we will have our first meeting together. Later that afternoon I will get to have lunch with my old visiting teaching companion and 2 of the people that I used to visit teach, because we also had those routes changed today too. So now I have a new partner and people we visit. Then at 4 pm tomorrow I get to go in for my surgical consult about my gall bladder surgery. After the ultrasound on Friday the ultrasound tech told me I should hear from my Dr by the afternoon and if he didn't call me to call his office, so I wasn't waiting around all weekend wondering. So I waited, no call. Called them a little after 3 and it was as I suspected, gall bladder has stones. So I will go into the Dr tomorrow and see from there when we can schedule everything out. As I will still have to do everything as I normally do. Get kids to school and all those little things. My only concern was picking up things. Namely Charity. We shall see how this goes. Until next time.

Wednesday

2010-01-15T06:21:00.000-08:00

Wednesday night I went ice skating with the Activity Day girls from church and the Primary presidency. I was kind of apprehensive to be on the ice, since I haven't ice skated for about 15 years, and I was afraid of falling because of Eve's post about her ice skating experiences this year. But the girls talked me into renting skates and I told them I might fall so just to be forewarned. But amazingly, I did not fall. I was going fairly slowly but stiil. We all seemed to have a good time, so the night for me was a success.

Catching up

2010-01-13T17:17:00.000-08:00

Okay so right around New Years I was having pains and finally have figured out that it is my gall bladder. I went to my Dr's office the next Monday to make an appointment. Could not get in for 6 weeks. No good for me. So I switched Dr's and went to the Dr yesterday. Friday I now have an appointment to get an ultrasound to see if I need to have surgery. Then if I do we will have to plan for that. New Dr's office seems nice enough. Hopefully I will not have to go much, as I don't like going to the Dr for one, and I'm really not sick too often. While I was there yesterday I also got my H1N1 shot and had blood drawn. Today at school Devon told everyone that I had a nail put in my arm. So that was interesting to have to explain to his teacher when I picked him up from school. That in reality I had only had a shot and blood drawn, she said she was glad that was all it was and I didn't get a tetanus shot or have a broken arm or something.

I'm the non winner

2010-01-03T19:47:00.000-08:00

Okay so I'm the non winner. I don't want to use the L word to state what I am, but I have not been on here posting about anything for two months. I posted about the house forever and then when we got in I just kind of got in a funk. Since my last post we have had Thanksgiving, twice. Once down in Tri-cities with Todd's family and the second one here the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Both were big successes with just the right amount of food and company. We have since had Devon's Christmas program, Charity's Nativity program, Christmas twice and New Years. We have got to be the most boring people in the world. We spend a lot of time with just our immediate little family. Not completely intentionally but that just seems to be what happens. Todd works so much and no one understands his schedule, he has worked the same schedule for over three years and the same people ask us his schedule every time we see them. I know that they just don't get it, but come on, every time. He works twelve hour shifts, and no his schedule does not rotate. He works the same times every time. Okay, so now it is a new year, we are starting new goals. I will write on here when I can if something happens to be interesting, so I can't promise much because our life isn't interesting. Heather's dad is going off for his, I believe, third tour of duty so supposedly we won't see him again until late 2011. Not unhappy there. Lots of issues going on between him and Heather right now, so he can just be gone for a while. I'm sure this is a weird blog post, seems like most of mine are. But I hope everyone is doing well, being happy in this new year, and that we can all make it into the next.

Halloween

2009-11-01T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well I had Cinderella and Ang (from Avatar) as my little Halloween kids this year. I thought Heather was too old to dress up for Halloween, but I guess I am just out of the loop because SO many people were dressed up. Good to know for next time I guess. I think Dad had fun shaving Devon's head and then I got to paint the arrows on him. He was so good not to get the paint on the seat of the car. An extra star for Devon!!

Pics at Mariners Game

2009-11-01T14:46:00.000-08:00

Pics at Mariners Game

2009-11-01T14:41:00.000-08:00

Pics of Mariners game and first day of school

2009-11-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

2009-10-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Well another week has gone by and I don't really know what to post about. Devon had his sixth Birthday party at McDonald's and he had such a good time being able to have his friends there to play with and have food and cake with. That weekend was General Conference weekend so we spent that time over at my mom's watching conference. We of course have had more house issues, but I think it will just be that way for a while. 9 Black widows so far, I'm sure it's not a record but I don't like the thought of even one. Just the basics of school and running around with the kids. I'm sure people must think I'm crazy sometimes, and I probably am, so I hope it doesn't rub off on the kids.

Slightly catching up

2009-09-27T17:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it has been over a month since I last posted on this thing. Partially because of the move and partially because for what seems like the longest time we did not have internet service for me to be able to post anything. So to catch up first and foremost, WE MOVED!! Yeah!! We are in our new lovely home in our lovely sand, and we are very happy to be here. But the weekend that we moved we also went to a Mariners game. First game the kids have ever been to. We had so much fun. I picked the day when they give out the back packs and the kids had a blast getting to run the bases after the game. I could not believe how many people were out there with their kids to let them run the bases. So pictures of that to come. That was our before school hurrah. Then of course we came back from Seattle and finished moving the rest of our things on Monday. Fun, fun. That was a long weekend. School started for Heather on Wednesday so we had her ready for that and Devon started Kindergarten on slow start. So some of the kids in his class went to school on Wednesday, he went to school with the other kids on Thursday, and then on Friday all of the kids went to school together. Weird to me but I guess it works.

Aug 25, 2009

2009-08-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow we finally get to sign papers on the house and then start moving in. Yeah!! It seems like I have been waiting for this forever. We put money down on building this house just over a year ago. It seems like such a long time coming. They still have a few little issues that are going to have to be addressed but for the most part everything is ready to go. We still had no stove as of a few hours ago, so that is going to have to be put in soon. Very soon. Almost done with this, then what will I blog about? Back to talking about our lives and our cute kids.

Still no home, but getting closer

2009-08-22T00:29:00.000-07:00

Okay so on the 11th of August I was happy to see that they had finally taken my stove out of the box and I thought that meant I would have the stove installed in the next few days. I came back the next day and my stove was gone. My first thoughts were, Oh no the stove didn't work, something was wrong with it and they have to replace it. My second thought was, Oh no someone finally got in and stole something. So I keep expecting the stove to be put in and still no stove. I went over this week while the ladies were "cleaning" the house to see if the stove had materialized. They were like, oh no there's not a stove yet, is it a white one? Odd, since all of my appliances are stainless steel. No, I replied, it's stainless steel too. Oh no haven't seen one of those. They told me I could go ask the foreman, because he was over at another house. Didn't really want to bother him at the other house, so I continued to wait. Until Tuesday when we went to talk to the AHO lady and asked her when we were getting a stove. She said, Oh it's on order it should be here soon. So I asked her what happened to the other one? Um, it was stolen, we think over the weekend. So I got out my camera and showed her the picture of the stove and the date, does it really take that long for someone to notice that something has been stolen. Then to top it off they didn't only steal the stove, they stole carpet padding and carpet. Nice people we have in this world. Supposedly we will have a stove tomorrow. I need the house to get done so we can close. We need to move next week. We have too many other things going on. My friend is going to have her baby this week, we think. School registration for Heather, checking at Discover for Devon. Going to the Mariners game next week. Our plan for tomorrow is to go swimming and hopefully make it to the fair for a bit. Hope that all comes together. Especially since I can't sleep and I should be in bed right now. We'll make it work, seems like we somehow always do.
So happy for the cousins and all the new babies that they are bringing to the family. Too bad that we usually have to find out about it on blogs or facebook, but at least we finally find out.

Nothing new

2009-08-16T20:43:00.001-07:00

While I am really not surprised that our house is not done yet, it is getting closer to being completed. I don't know why they told Todd it would be done tomorrow. They will have to be working extremely quickly if that is the case. We do now have carpet and granite countertops and mirrors in the bathrooms. SO yeah for some progress. Still no stove yet, don't know what really happened to that. One day it was in the garage and the next day it was gone. Still can't wait to move though. Top priority, I just need a date.

Done in a week?

2009-08-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Okay so I guess while I was out and about today the mortgage people called and told Todd that there is some sort of letter that I have to write, he doesn't know what, I guess I will have to call and find out tomorrow. And that they say the house is suppose to be done in 1 week. I'm at a loss for the week. Because while I am totally thrilled that we will be able to actually move into our new house, it just doesn't seem like it will be done in a week. I almost feel like going over and leaving sticky notes on things that still need to be done. But they always assure me that it will all get done and I will love it. We shall see.

As for other things going on in our lives, Heather will be back on the evening of the 19th. Yeah!! She will be coming home just in time for our big move. Then at the beginning of September she will start 7th grade and crazy little Devon will start Kindergarten. So fun for everyone, except Charity who will be stuck at home with me.

The kids are cute as always, and I can't turn the pictures for some reason. Can't wait to pack some more and move. We had a yard sale this last weekend to get rid of some of the things that we didn't want in our new house, we'll see if we find more and have to do another one.

Bathrooms and Laundry room, 8-1-2009

2009-08-02T18:40:00.000-07:00

I went over on Friday and the sinks and toilets weren't in, much to my surprise Saturday afternoon, there they were. Yeah!!

Cherry?

2009-07-28T21:21:00.001-07:00

Does this look cherry to you? I'm having a hard time with this one.

More house

2009-07-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Oh my gosh we went over to the house this evening and the kids just had to go inside. It was almost too dark to see anything, but Todd looked in the garage. And there were appliances, cabinets, paint, and some kind of sub floor. Yeah!! I'm excited, but not so excited that it is just sitting in there for anybody. But I'm sure they will get in there and get everything installed and we will be good to go. Love watching it all come together, just wish we were already in it.

Utah trip continued...

2009-07-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

So we went to the zoo the next morning, which was Monday. We met up with Candice and Alarashay, they are too cute together. I think we had a pretty good time. They had the Fusa from Madagascar, so that was pretty fun for the kids. They had a pregnant elephant, which was fun. We had a good day at the zoo. Right when we were about to leave to go swimming in Kearns my other neice Tanja called and wanted us to meet up with her in Sandy, but I felt bad because we had already made plans in Kearns. But she said that was okay and we would try and meet up when we all got done swimming. So we met up with my sister Tami in Kearns and the kids had a blast at the swimming pool. Todd even jumped off of the platform diving, and got yelled at by the lifeguard, but he heard nothing because he is deaf. We went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant, that used to be a Pizza place the last time we were there. We got back to our hotel in SLC and finally got to see my brother and his family. We had a good time talking and laughing, and the kids had fun playing in our room. Scaring me to death looking over the top of the bed at us!! Ahh!! Silly kids.

Saturday July 25, 2009

2009-07-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday there was a cousin Birthday party in Pasco. We had such a good time. There was a picnic lunch, swimming, game playing, movie watching, gun shooting, Birthday cake eating, and so much more. My kids are so the little city dwellers. But we finally got Charity on a horse, and we have proof!!

House pictures from yesterday

2009-07-16T20:41:00.001-07:00

I'm sure everyone is tired of seeing pictures of our house. I just need to keep up with what's going on though. I want so bad to be able to go inside and take pictures, but every time we get over to the house there are people there working on it, which is good. But then I don't want to go inside and take pictures with them there. I wanted to go tonight but no one wants to stop playing Star Wars on the XBOX 360. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.

Utah trip continued

2009-07-15T22:42:00.000-07:00

So the journey to Utah was a long one, as usual. We drove down through Idaho and then into Utah. It was 3 PM when we finally got to the Chase Suites in Salt Lake City, but it seemed like it took forever. We tried to get a hold of Heather's step mom Ellen but couldn't reach her, so we went to dinner at Subway, which was really close by. Then we went back to the hotel and tried to get a hold of my niece Tanja, no such luck. I called and talked to my niece Candice at my sister Tami's and she called me back and let me know what they were doing, and we were more than welcome to come see them. So I told her something like we'd see and if we were going to come we'd call. We called but they were busy and so we just kind of showed up. They were having a family bar-b-que. I'm not really one to crash a party but we had a good time. We got to see Candice and Alarashay, Terry, Aaron, Breanne, Tami, and meet Edward, Candice's significant for the moment. They are very good people, and I'm not just saying that because they are family. We stayed for a while and talked about going to the Zoo the next day with Candice and Alarashay, Tami had to work but was going to try and get over to see us there. Breanne works at the Zoo so she got us the best deal ever, FREE!! And I love free. I felt bad that Candice brought us our lunch though, she was let go from her job and at the time she offered to bring food I did not know that. Breanne also let us use her discount for the gift shop, which was really nice. And we could ride the train and carousel as many times as we wanted, but I will get to that in the next post. So anyway, we left for the night and made plans to go to the Zoo in the morning. to be continued...

Mini vacation and taking Heather to Utah

2009-07-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, so in taking Heather to her dad's this year we decided we would make a little mini vacation out of it. We had thought it would be the time we would be able to go to the Hansen reunion on Todd's grandmas side of the family, but we missed that by a couple of days because Heather went to Girl's Camp and had a blast. So we left the Saturday after she got home from Girls Camp and headed to Boise, as that would be our stop over for the night. The trip to Boise was fairly easy, as the kids are getting older, and Charity didn't say she had to go to the bathroom every half an hour like she usually does on trips. We stayed at the Shilo Inns Riverside, we have stayed here quite a few times it seems like. But this stay will forever be memorable because we got there, put our things in our room, looked in the phone book for somewhere to eat, and left. When we came back to the room we had to use the restroom, 3 of the 5 of us, and by the time it was my turn being #3 there were maybe 4 squares of toilet paper left. No problem, so I think, we'll just ask them down at the lobby for some toilet paper. We went swimming, had a good time, and then asked at the front desk. They didn't have any, someone would bring us some soon. Okay. So we get a knock on the door and the maintenance lady has a half used roll of toilet paper and a box of facial tissue, they were out of toilet paper and she had to get these items from a different room. She came back a second and last time at almost 11 with another roll from another room and MORE facial tissue. I left all of the facial tissue boxes on the counter when we left, how much did they think we were going to go through in one night?! But that will be in my memory forever that the Shilo Inn did not have toilet paper. The next day was the Continental Breakfast that Todd loves, waffles, cereal, omelet's, muffins, pastries, biscuits and gravy, juices, etc. So the kids ate their fill and we checked out and away we went on our way to Utah. to be continued...

2009-07-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Here is the latest picture of our house. We went through on Monday night and swept out some of the sand. Not sure why, it will just come back inside. But we did clean out under the stairs and such, so that is good. I need to update more from our trip last week. I will do that soon.

Houston, we have a roof!!

2009-06-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

No Sickness

2009-06-21T17:57:00.001-07:00

I am so happy to report that since we have moved out of our other rental we are not sick, Charity has not been sneezing her tiny brains out. No pink eye in sight. Just altogether we are doing well in the wellness category. I was just thinking about it today at church. I don't know if it was just from the previous people having pets or what but we sure were sick a lot at that house.

I am very disappointed that we have not received our deposit back yet. They said they sent it out over a week ago. Strange things are going on. We are going to find out tomorrow what the deal is.

Today

2009-06-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

What a difference a day makes. So happy for all of the work that goes into making our new home. Gotta love it!!

House picture 6-16

2009-06-18T07:51:00.000-07:00

This is the last picture I took, two days ago. Yesterday they were working on the roof of another house. I guess they can't always be working on our house, but the kids sure think they should. Charity was very upset that they were working on someone elses house and yelled at them through the car window to go work on ours and have someone else work at the other house. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way, but hopefully today it is our turn again.

Swimming lessons = Tan mom

2009-06-17T15:36:00.000-07:00

Okay, so this week we started swim lessons with Devon. He is at level 2 this year. So of course you go to swim lessons and stay for a bit afterwards. We had been going the last week and a half but usually not until after 4 PM. So the sun isn't so bad then. But not this week. We go at 10:10 for swim lessons and don't leave until about 1 PM. So needless to say we have gotten some sun. Yesterday we didn't stay to swim and went to a play date at the park, and I even burned a little bit then. But today everyone was pointing out that my chest was really red. What do you expect when your chest has not seen sun for months? Oh well, and I realize my hair looks terrible, I go in for my haircut tomorrow.

But Devon really likes his swim lessons, so it is all worth it.

More pics of our house #2

2009-06-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

All this went up in a span of five days. And the bathtub and shower were sitting next to the lot yesterday too. Yeah for my house FINALLY being started!!

More pics of our house

2009-06-10T09:22:00.000-07:00

I need to get over and take some new pictures, they have leveled out the dirt and are going to start the frame work this week. Yeah!! Our backyard is at a slight grade so we are still debating what we want to do about that. Good thing we have time to figure these things out.

Preschool Graduation

2009-06-10T09:16:00.001-07:00

Devon and his friends graduated from Preschool yesterday. They are such a cute little bunch of kids. It was Devon's second and final year of preschool. He has had so much fun going to Gaylene's house twice a week. He will miss it, but is super excited to be starting Kindergarten.

T-ball cutie

2009-06-02T19:37:00.000-07:00

Devon at T-ball. Too cute!!

Yeah!!

2009-06-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

Yeah!! Here is a picture of my moved dirt, and my part of the sidewalk for my driveway!! I am so excited. Next comes foundation!! I can hardly wait!! I know, I'm too excited. I can't help it.

Catch up

2009-05-30T19:36:00.001-07:00

Okay so it has been forever since I posted, almost a month. But a lot has happened in that month. We moved into a different, much larger, rental and we are loving the change. I could not take that house anymore. The kids are happier, Charity is out of our room and our bed, so we are happier. This last week after many months of nothing we got a call from AHO. They finally called us in to take some more money from us and start on the house. We should get our welcome letter and our move in date in about another week or two. I am so excited, but not too excited. I don't want my hopes dashed like all of the other times that the end has seemed near.

Our computer crashed on Monday, so that was an interesting few days for me. Working in Safe Mode. Finding out that my extended warranty ran out the day after I purchased it. Yeah!! Fun things for me. I got that straightened out and had to restore my computer to factory condition, which sucked because I tried to copy everything to the USB drive like they told me to and of course for me did not work. So I am basically starting over. Oh well, such is life.

Wednesday through Friday I babysat for my friend while she was away at graduations and such. Interesting times to say the least. Glad to be home.

Friday was Heather's 12th Birthday, and we went to the Cancer Walk at the High School. Todd and I only walked 3 miles but we were tired when we got home, but he stayed up until after 3 playing his newly restored XBOX 360. We had the red ring of death, so they had to fix it for free. Heather's Birthday party was at the Surf n Slide water park today. I think they had fun. She didn't want them to sing, so we didn't. All in all a good day and a good time.

Not much else to report, just happy and living life.

Forgot

2009-05-08T18:40:00.000-07:00

I forgot to say that today Todd got pink eye. I told him he can't give it to me, we shall see how that goes.

Weekly blogging

2009-05-08T18:18:00.000-07:00

I think weekly blogging will be easier. Otherwise things come and go and I don't remember when or what. Ya know the mommy brain comes and goes. Some days I'm really good and other days I can't remember peoples names, sorry Sister Hansen.

So last Saturday morning I got a call from the people we were trying to rent a house from. They were trying to sell their home with no luck and we were trying to leave this rental, but I was having issues, as usual trying to get that to happen. So he called and said that we could rent it. I was so happy. I think I danced around the house for a bit after I got off the phone. That same day we went to Tri-cities for Grandpa Taylors surprise 75th birthday party. What a treat that was. Scott and Donna flew up from California to surprise him and Grandma and it worked. Grandma's face was priceless. We had a good day with them but had to head back home since we have church early. But it still took us an hour to get out the door. This was also about the time that Charity got pink eye, from Devon. So Sunday she had a fever so she, Devon, and Todd stayed home from church. Very glad that they did, for other issues that went on that day. But by the time I got home they were up and jumping about, so feeling better. But I swear since we have been renting this house we have all just been so sick. I think it is the house. The people before us had birds and fish and I think dogs, plus there is a cat door on the garage, so at one time or another there have been cats. Anyway, so later Sunday evening we took something over to Todd's sisters house and all of the sudden I just felt dehydrated and had to have like three glasses of water, we went home and I had a fever. Start of the cold. Then Monday was a fairly good day. We started taking over some of the boxes from the garage over to the other house. Made a little dent that first day. Devon's first T-ball practice happened that night in the rain and just set off the rest of my cold. Tuesday Heather had pink eye, thankfully we know who she got it from. It is just gettting passed along in the family. Devon and Charity and Heather are all over it now. Tuesday was also early release from school so I only did one load to the house that day. We had fun at play group. Wednesday I didn't have to babysit and it was a dreary rainy day. We went to my moms for a while just to visit, since we hadn't seen her as much this week. Thursday we went and borrowed Bishops truck and moved a lot more things. This is the day I felt the worst. I couldn't hear, I couldn't talk- my voice just went on hiatus. We moved pretty much all day. We did take a break, but it didn't feel long enough. Todd said I would feel better if I just moved around instead of sitting around in pain. Then came Devon's second T-ball practice, and I didn't go. But he is liking it, I just hope he listens to his coach. Friday, today, my mom came over to watch the kids so we could get more moving done without them under our feet. She stayed over at the house and played with them and read to them. They all said they had fun. I feel a little better, I can hear, but my voice is still a little out there. I am so looking forward to being out of this house, I can hardly wait.

Interesting week

2009-05-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

We have had an interesting week. Starting with Monday, Devon got pink eye. No idea where or how, but he got it. I made Todd take him to the walk-in because I am sick of having to take the kids in every time they are sick at night. The walk-in is always crazy busy. So they found out he had pink eye and went to Walgreens to pick up the prescription. So glad their pharmacy was open that late, because the one we go to at Food Pavilion was not. Tuesday was interesting because usually Devon has preschool, but of course no preschool with the pink eye, so we kind of had him quarantined. I washed all of his bedding and had him sit in his room most of the day. He got to play video games with dad and watch movies, so it's not like he was too isolated. I just didn't want Charity to get it too. I guess the Dr had told Todd to expect her to get it and to expect it to spread to the other eye. It only slightly spread to the other eye and no one else has gotten it, thankfully. He was also suppose to have a dental appointment but we had to cancel and reschedule it for next week. Tuesday night was Kindergarten registration. So Todd and I first went over to Discover, where we have Devon on the waiting list to get in. We got to meet the principal and the secretary and see the Kindergarten teachers. Seems like a good school, I hope he gets in. Then we went and registered him at Peninsula, where he will go if he doesn't get into Discover. That is where Heather went, it's an okay school, but I hope he gets into Discover. Wednesday I went over to Debbie's to babysit so she could go and get her hair cut. Devon stayed home with dad, I wasn't chancing him with people still. Heather had her second meeting for Girls Camp that night. She had fun, but they sure like to go over in the time department. They got out almost a half an hour late. Thursday Devon was feeling good enough to go to preschool, I just told him not to touch anyone. Hopefully he listened to me. He had a good day, he likes going to preschool. While he was there I went to Debbie's to babysit for a bit again and then went and picked him up. Today we went and ran errands after dropping Heather off at school. We were at Wal-Mart for about an hour. Last night all of the sudden my turn signal started doing the quick flash to let me know that the bulb had gone out. So I went this morning to get a new one, and low and behold it started working again before I could get home to change the bulb. Crazy car, I know. We went over to a friends for a play date, that they have every Friday. Took the kids to lunch at Jack in the Box, Devon loves their grilled cheese sandwiches, I don't know why. We sat in line forever at the bank to deposit a check. Went and got the mail at my mom's house. Went and played at the Ashley park. Picked up Heather from school and took her for a hair cut. Came home and did a bit of yard work. Ate dinner. Went for a long walk and brought the kids home tired. After Heather, of course, almost got hit by a car. Fun times.

The long waiting game

2009-04-28T15:33:00.001-07:00

While I should be posting about other things I am going to post about my frustration with our house situation, yet again. I'm sure as anyone has come to know I have very little patience. I was very happy when our house sold and we had picked out a house that we liked and kind of just figured when the house sold we would put in the offer on the other house and be able to move. The other house sold and we were kind of stuck, but thought, good opportunity to find what we want, have all the options that what we want, pick where we want to build, etc. So we talked with the builders picked out the lot and floor plan. Changed our mind about the lot, and then changed our mind about the floor plan. We have had the current lot and floor plan picked out for months. We seem to be in contact with the builders a lot, but try not to be too much. Still it is taking forever. They called us in March and said we could come and pick out all of our colors, tiles, granite, all the fun stuff. So we did, now it is almost May. Not one new thing has been done. I just want to see foundation, something. We are waiting on the city. I am so sick of waiting. I just want to be in my house. I want out of this house. Being in this house has not been fun, we have been sicker here then we ever have been. You can hear every little thing that goes on, and yet the kids still think they need to come tell on each other. We do have fun when we leave the house though. Anywhere but home is good. Too bad the weather has decided to take a turn for the weird and be all cold again. Just stay warm. Heather turns 12 in a little over a month and I hope it is warmer by then, or she won't be able to have her party at the Surf n Slide. Anyway, I'm just frustrated as usual. Hopefully we can have a good weekend away and no one will ask me about the house.

Charity's 3rd Birthday

2009-04-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Well our little Charity hit a milestone and turned 3 on the 26th of March. She has been so diligent about wanting to be a big girl and go to pre school this next year, that we have made a deal. If she will quit sucking her thumb we will let her go. She has been doing really well. As far as I know she has only snuck and done it a few times, and while she is asleep she drifts back into doing it, but all in all in the last few days she has done really well. She even figured out that she doesn't have to suck her thumb when she has her blanket, she can just rub the blanket on her face. But just today we decided that wasn't working either, so she gave up her blanket all together. I don't know how that is going to go. She has never been without her blanket or her thumb, so to have both of them gone she is destined for some big melt downs. But we will deal with them, and she will make it through.

March 14, 2009

2009-03-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

Well for all of my complaining we are still here in this tiny rental house. I have yet to find another semi-suitable and cost efficient home to rent. If I wanted to spend between $1400 and $2200 a month on rent I guess the pickings are a little better, but I don't. I want to save my money for my house. I want to be able to do the things that I want to in my house. Now if we could just get the AHO people to start on our house I would be so happy. We were only suppose to be here in this house until December, maybe March. And yet they haven't done a thing yet. We have had three out of the five of us have a Birthday here, and we are about to have another one. By the time summer hits we will all have had a Birthday here, unless of course they sell this place and we quickly have to find somewhere else to go. Oh that will be so much fun if and when that happens.

I did have my Birthday this last Wednesday and Todd let me pick where in town I wanted to have my Birthday dinner, so I picked Inca's. We had a good family dinner and I waited until Friday to do my present. I just wanted to get my hair done. I have finally broken down and am going to start actually going to someone, with an appointment, to get my hair done. After the last few scary haircuts from those walk-in places I am most definately done. So I had made an appointment and went on Friday. So I will have to post a picture of my hair next time, but I love it. The kids think it looks cool, and Todd likes it too. So good Birthday present for me.

All of the sickness is gone from our house and I get to teach my Primary class again tomorrow, so yeah for us. I hate being sick, as I'm sure everyone else does too.

They also are fixing the flooring problem we had so I am happy about that. The house was a mess for a few days with the construction, but at least now we have a floor again.

March 8, 2009

2009-03-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

This week has been a crazy one. I have been babysitting for my friend while she is in New Hampshire helping her sister out with her new baby. So we have been getting over to her house at 7:15 every morning to make sure I have time to vacuum and get everything ready for kids to start showing up between 7:30 and 8, depending on the day. Some days have been really long, but we are making it. Now we only have three days and she will be back. Unfortunately for my family this week has also been a week of sore throats and coughs and having to take Heather to the walk-in. She was fine, just a virus going around. Friday Charity got it and has had it all weekend, so we have spent the weekend home, and the two of us didn't go to church today. We sent everyone else on their way this morning and spent the morning home recuperating.

I still have not found a new place to rent. I know it is only bugging me. They got the water to stop dripping but have done nothing else to fix the problems here. I have still been looking, just haven't found anything yet.

This Crazy House

2009-02-18T19:21:00.000-08:00

Okay, so as the delay of the house keeps getting longer and longer I have been wanting to move. I know we are going to move again into the new house but I haven't been happy with this house for a while. When we first moved in the dishwasher didn't work, they had to replace it. The back screen door was broken, they took it to fix and never returned it. Less than a week before Thanksgiving the built in microwave quit working. They wouldn't replace that and said they would send out someone to take it out and put in an oven hood in it's place. No one ever showed up for that job, and I had to buy a mircrowave because our last house had a built in one as well. So needless to say Monday night after Todd had slept all day from work, got up and played with the kids, he then moved the fridge because we thought maybe our water connection was leaking, even though we had never seen any water. Needless to say he moved the fridge out and we saw a horrible stain on the wall. This wall just happens to be where all of the valve shut offs for the water are. The valves have had a slow leak for who knows how long and it has gone into the wall and into the floor. Todd called the rental company and they sent out a plumber on Tuesday morning. He tightened up all the valves that he could see were leaking and we have to have a fan on that wall until tomorrow. Who knows what they will do after that. They are going to have to replace sheetrock and probably part of the floor. So I have happily been looking for a new place to rent. I would rather be in a house but hopefully it won't be for too long, so even an apartment would do. And the only person that we know of that did anything with the valves was the guy who installed the dishwasher, and that was back in August, so that is a long time to be leaking if it was from then on. Anyway, wish me luck on the house/apartment hunt. Todd is not thrilled, but he did say we could move.

The Weekend

2009-02-08T17:43:00.000-08:00

Well we finally got to go to the temple again. We did the 7 am session, so we got about five hours of sleep before going. The night before we went to the Olive Garden, as I said in my previous post. We got there and there was a 45 minute wait so we went over to Target and did a little shopping, since we don't have one in Moses Lake, we have NOTHING. Went back and they had already called us but they let us be the next people to get a table, so it worked out. Todd wouldn't let me tell them it was his Birthday, so no singing from the Olive Garden people. But we did have the Brownie trifle and singing after we got back to his parents house. While we were there Todd fixed their cable problem they were having and I fixed their seat belt in the Explorer. They took the kids out to McDonald's for dinner and low and behold Charity actually went into the Play Land thing, which she refuses to do for us, so that was a good experience for her. Giving her some independence. We are still trying to figure out if we want to put her into Preschool for two years or just one. Todd wants her to have more independence. I'm kind of torn. We will see.

We got to see Grandma and Grandpa and visit with them for a bit before we left. They are always a good source of information.

We just got a call from Heather's dad and he is having her come down this year for Spring Break, so now I have to make arrangements for that. Fun, fun. But she hasn't been to Utah since last summer, so it has been a few months since he has seen her. We are also trying to arrange the summer situation for this year.

Until next time.

Super Bowl Sunday and other things

2009-02-01T06:12:00.000-08:00

Okay so today is Super Bowl Sunday. I don't watch football, we don't have TV, and we usually go to the Gimmeson's for the little party they have, but they are out of town for a baby blessing. So this year seems kind of weird for the Super Bowl. I have no idea who really is even playing.

But I do get to teach the nine year olds today about Joseph Smith and his receiving the gold plates, so that should at least be fun. I have some cute kids in my class. Hopefully more are there today than last week, we only had four kids and two teachers last week.

I also got my hair cut this week, although I can't stand it. I hate it when I tell them what I want, show them a picture or whatever, and then in the middle they are like, oh I don't think your hair will do that. Ughh!! Then don't cut my hair and I will go someplace else. If anyone has seen Jon and Kate plus 8, I just want my hair like hers. I am going to have to go to the place that my mom gets her hair done and force myself to make an appointment. I think that is part of the problem I just go to those walk-in places, because who knows when I am going to get a chance to get my hair cut.

Anyway, Todd's Birthday is next Saturday. We are going to Tri-cities on Friday to go to Olive Garden while his parents watch the kids. Then we'll go back to their house for singing and cake. Then on Saturday we will do the 7 o'clock session at the temple. Yeah!! Sounds fun right? Who knows what he actually wants to do for his Birthday, he wanted to cancel it this year. But no such luck for him.

Until next time, we'll see what else happens in this thing we call life.

Nothing new, again.

2009-01-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while, but that is just because there is nothing new. We are still in the rental, still waiting for a sign that they are going to start our house, and still going about our same routine. School for the kids, work for Todd, and just the basic running around for me.

Charity's First Haircut

2008-12-27T19:01:00.000-08:00

Charity received her first haircut tonight. More like a bang trim, but oh well. She is too wiggly to get anything else cut yet. She was happy though and running around the house telling everybody how cute she is. She can be so funny.

2008-12-21T18:50:00.001-08:00

I just received this adorable picture of my kids from my sister-in-law. She takes some cute pictures. Good thing she has my cute kids to work with. Although I know Charity can be difficult to deal with. She was telling me earlier that while they were taking the pictures she just wanted me. Funny girl.

The snow has been pouring out of the sky today. I thought that they might cancel church, but they didn't. We had a good day at church. Only one more week and we get a new class of kids. Then there will be 3 teachers in my class, that will be a new experience for me.

The new neighborhood is still coming along, they have started working on the model home and so I am trying to see how long it will take them to be completely finished, so I will know a little better as to how long it will take them to get our house done when they finally start. I better love it when it's done or we're in trouble.

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

2008-12-12T20:22:00.000-08:00

Well today we got our first snow here in Moses Lake. Although I did not have to be out in it I did not like the ground being frozen before it happened. Oh that made for a cold morning. All else is going well, we don't have to make any long trips this Christmas season. Just over to Tri-cities for a few days, but nothing major. Heather is here for Christmas so we don't have to try and get her to an airport or worry about her dad driving her to Utah. Thank goodness. Still waiting on our house. But since I hate the one we are renting so much I better appreciate our nice new one when we finally get into it.

Devon Graduated from Speech!!

2008-12-03T13:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Everything

2008-12-02T21:10:00.000-08:00

Well I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. This year and next year Todd has to work on Thanksgiving, so we spent this Thanksgiving with our friends the Gimmeson's. We spent almost all day with them. I'm sure by the end they were happy to see us go. We had a really good time with them though. The men went out and did the Turkey Bowl. Not sure exactly how that turned out, since we didn't see it. We had to make a quick run to Wal-Mart to get some last minute necessities and got back in time to see some of the parade. But we all had a good time, had some good food, and no big family drama, so that is good.

Then on Friday we did the early morning shopping. Only got a few things and got out. Not too many more things I want to add to a rental house that always seems like it is closing in on you.

Saturday we did what the kids had been waiting all week for, went and saw Madagascar 2. Very cute movie, but that was also the day my cold started setting in. So by Sunday morning I wasn't feeling all too hot, but a couple of doses of Dayquil and a dose of Nyquil and some rest and I am feeling better.

Monday Devon graduated from his speech class. He was so excited. He got a little graduation diploma and he is so happy. I took a picture of him and his teacher that I will have to post. He has loved going and learning and playing the fun games but he is proud of himself that he has accomplished that and graduated. So now he will still just do Preschool and then next year he will start Kindergarten.

Todd went and talked to the construction people on Monday and now the subdivision will have all of the streets and sidewalks and things done by the end of January and then they should be able to start on our house. Yeah!! I can't wait. She even said we can make an appointment and come in and pick out our colors and cabinets and all the fun stuff. So the closer it gets I think the more excited I will be.

Anyway, hope everyone has a great holiday season. Don't forget to put the Christ in Christmas.

Nervous

2008-11-20T20:23:00.001-08:00

There are too many things going on this week. The nerves are setting in. Hopefully everything works out.

Gas Prices

2008-11-15T08:36:00.000-08:00

For anyone thinking that $1.89 the other day was a typo, it is not. And the prices are surprisingly still going down. I just hope they don't all of a sudden jump back up.

Monthly Tri-cities trip

2008-11-12T21:44:00.000-08:00

We we did our monthly Costco/Tri-cities trip yesterday. Left here a little before 9 and got gas at Chevron for $1.89 a gallon. Pretty good deals doing on. Hard to believe we were paying like $4 a gallon not too long ago. Anyway, headed out on our drive and got to the mall a little after 10. Took Charity to the bathroom, priority #1, and then took my rings to Zales for their bi-annual inspection. Everybody seemed to be busy for the morning part of the day so we took the kids and got them their Kidgits things from the mall and then went to Red Robin for lunch.

After that we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Taylor's and went for a nice swim with them and the kids and Val over at the Court Club. The kids had a great time, after prying Charity out of the hot tub and into the pool. After about an hour of that we got ready and went over to Val and Cheryl's for a bit. Talked, had pizza, caught up. Talked about what we will do for Christmas this year. They will all be down in California for Thanksgiving this year, so Christmas will be our Holiday to be together. The 26th anyway, it's Todd's year to work a ton of the holidays.

It gets so dark so much sooner now that we had to take Grandma and Grandpa back home so we could get our Costco shopping done and head back home. Charity of course fell asleep on the way to Costco. We shop a lot when we go to Costco, stock up for the month. I'm always surprised at how much money we spend there. But at least that way I'm not running to Wal-Mart for things all the time. We ran into The Larsen's while we were there and got to catch up on some of what is going on in their life. New baby boy on the way, so they are very excited. Their little boy has grown so much since they moved. Good to see friendly faces.

We had to let them go so they could shop and we could finish shopping and get home. Todd made me drive, I hate driving at night. But we made it home no worse for ware.

Heather had school today and Activity Day Girls tonight. Tomorrow Devon has Preschool and I'm going to talk to his teacher about how he is doing with his speech. He has been in Speech since April and his speech teacher thinks that he only needs about another month or less and he won't need to do it anymore. I'd just have to keep working with him, which is not a problem, I work with him anyway. Charity just wants to be big like everybody else. Next year she'll get to do Preschool and Devon will be in Kindergarten and Heather will be in 7th grade. They just keep growing and growing. Can't wait, they are great little kids.

It's Veterans Day

2008-11-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Veterans Day

No news is good news, right?

2008-11-09T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well slowly but surely they are getting the developing stages done on where our house will eventually be. But what that means for us is still unsure. We still have the lot on hold and are waiting for them to finish before we can even pick out the house, colors, granite, all of the fun stuff. I am not patient but oh well, it must mean I need to be more patient. We will just deal. It gets kind of hard though waiting. Seems like it has been forever, not just the few months. It was only suppose to be a few months. Now Todd says maybe next summer we'll be in!! Ahh!! I really would like to be in now. Oh well, enough of the rant. Other than the house things are good. No school on Tuesday so we are going out of town. I made Todd take two days off this week so he is off for seven. He works tonight and then doesn't go back until the next Monday. Yeah for him, he needs a break. He works so hard for us, he needs a break from all those bad people. Everyone seems to be getting in their colds for the season. I hate that, but it seems almost inevitable. Enough of me for now, gotta run.

Pre Halloween Stake Carnival

2008-10-31T07:11:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to the Pre-Halloween Carnival for the Stake. The kids had a blast, I on the other hand was going to die from the heat in the building. It felt good to get out into the cool air when it was time to go. My mom went with us and took us all to Dairy Queen for ice cream afterwards. The kids loved that. I'll have to take more pictures tonight when we do the actual trick-or-treating. Heather is Hannah Montana and Devon and Charity are my two little monkeys, either swinging from a tree or jumping on the bed, they'll do either.

Heather's Volleyball

2008-10-31T07:06:00.000-07:00

Heather had her last volleyball game on Wednesday night, and I finally remembered to bring the camera so I could take pictures. She does really well serving, and I hope that next year she can get onto the school team, because she does like it so much. They kind of keep the sixth graders segregated from the rest of the school. Which I guess is good, but not always fair. On these teams they play for fun and don't keep score, so hopefully next year she will be able to learn more.

New lot and house

2008-10-20T15:31:00.000-07:00

We have finally decided on this house. I hope everything goes according to plan. We are too excited. Now just more waiting, seems like we have been waiting forever already.

Not so good at blogging

2008-10-20T08:31:00.001-07:00

Well it seems I am not so good at this blogging deal. I just need to update it once a week I guess. We have switched our lot and have chosen to go with the 2705 plan so I will scan that and put it on here sometime this week. Running around with the kids to soccer and volleyball has been interesting this year. I really need to take some pictures of Heather from her volleyball games, it just seems we are always rushing and forget the camera. I will hopefully remember on Wednesday night. Not much else right now I will get on here and write more later.

House News

2008-10-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

We are considering going with a different plan for our house now. I totally fell for the 2658 plan back when we first put our house up for sale. I thought it would be great for our family, but now we are looking into the 2705 plan, and we think that may be the way to go. But in doing that we have to pick a different lot as well. I'll keep posting as to what we actually do. Todd only has a certain amount he wants to spend so we are trying to stick to that.

Devon and Soccer

2008-10-10T06:43:00.001-07:00

Devon is on a soccer team with the Parks and Rec group 4-6 year olds. He is having fun. He mostly runs up and down the field, but he likes the other kids and is learning. He had a shortened game last night, due to weather, so we didn't get any pictures of that.

Potato Farm Field Trip

2008-10-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

Devon and his class had their potato farm field trip on Tuesday. It was very windy, cold, and full of dirt. They mostly had a good time. Charity thankfully did not want to go on the tractor, so we didn't get as dirty as everyone else did.

Birthday fun.

2008-10-05T15:57:00.001-07:00

We had Devon's party at Lake Bowl this year. He was so excited. He invited twice as many people as he said he was going to. I think the list would have kept getting longer had I not cut him off.

Grandparents came, friends came. He had a blast. They only bowled one game but for kids who range in age from 3-11 I thought that was good. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turned out to be his theme this year. The cake was green with the turles on it, and a little brick wall decoration on the back. My first really ugly birthday cake. I was disappointed. Oh well. Next time.

Devon had his cake, opened presents, and kids starting going on there merry way home. I hope that they all enjoyed themselves. We sure enjoyed all of them being able to come and enjoy in Devon turning the big "5". His friends are all five and he has been waiting until he can say that he is five, too.

Devon's 5th Birthday

2008-10-03T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today is Devon's Birthday and he is so excited. He is having a party at the bowling alley with his friends. I will take pictures of that tonight and hopefully post them tomorrow in between conference, or before conference.

Bus Field Trip

2008-09-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

Devon's preschool had it's first field trip on Thursday. What a fun time those kids had just taking a ride on the bus. Thanks to all those who make those fun field trips happen.

Hannah Montana

2008-09-29T20:46:00.001-07:00

Heather really likes Hannah Montana right now and drew a picture for all of her friends the other day. She is going to be Hannah Montana for Halloween as well.

2008-09-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, and I'm sure no one is reading this, we are going to be building a new house and hopefully be moved in sometime next year. We have sold our old house and are renting a very temporary one. I am so looking forward to being in my own house again. Renting is not for us. I just want to be able to do what I want to do, and with someone else's house you just can't do that. Todd is great though, he just wants to be able to sleep better. Going from our house to a house that is half the size has been a challenge. I will try to keep up better on my postings.

2008-09-29T19:28:00.000-07:00

Charity can't be left out. She was excited for Devon's first day of Pre school too.

2008-09-29T19:25:00.000-07:00

Devon's first day of Pre school.

2008-09-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

This is Heather on her first day of Sixth grade.

Nothing new

2008-09-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

We are still waiting for our house. We have yet to even pick out anything for it yet. I hate waiting. I am not a patient person. I hope everything works out and they get going faster. I know they are working as fast as they can (I hope), but it just seems to go by so slowly.

First Day of Sixth Grade

2008-08-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Heather started her first day of sixth grade today. Devon, Charity, and I dropped her off just before 8 this morning. I hope she has a good day. It is only a half day of orientation for the newcoming sixth graders. I'll hopefully figure out this blogging thing and be able to put up pictures soon.

March 16, 2008

2008-03-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Well today was a fun day for us. We have 8:30 church and I am always the one having to get everyone up and ready to go. Today also I was subbing one of the Primary classes and could possibly end up having a dozen kids in my class, I only ended up with four, so not so bad. Todd had to work last night so he drove his car so he could leave after Sacrament meeting and get some more sleep in before heading back to work tonight. We made it through church, with Charity doing her Bibbidy Bobbidy Boo to some of the people around us, at least they thought it was cute. Church as I said wasn't bad, I actually had fun in Primary talking to the kids about prayer and getting to sit in on Sharing Time and Singing Time. I myself have had no calling in our ward since getting released last year from the Primary Presidency, Todd is over the 11 year old scouts. Anyway, I am rambling as usual. We get out of church at 11:30 so we headed home, got everyone lunch and got Charity down for her nap. I am trying to finish New Moon, so I read a little bit of that while she was napping. She is such a pretty little girl, our little Charity. She's sleeping in my arms right now so I can say that. Anyway, we had a fun day I thought even if the kids really want me to put up the trampoline and I haven't wanted to do it with it still raining. I also disassembled Devon's room tonight and took the queen bed out and put one of the twin beds back in. It just has made his room so small having that big bed in there. It was suppose to be more of a transitional thing anyway, give him our old bed since he has slept in it so long and maybe he would sleep in his own room without complaint. It usually works. But now he has been doing it so long that I think the little bed will be better for him. I will just close with the fact that I love my little family, they are great, I don't know what I would do without them. I just hope they know that.