Bullock Broadcast

Christmas!!

2012-01-01T14:14:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. My pictures loaded backwards but oh well. So I guess I will tell Christmas Backwards too:)

I have been wanting these dishes from Dillards call Twas the night before Christmas for 3 years now. They come out every year and sometimes add a new piece or two. So since I couldn't think of what to ask for for Chrismas I decided on these and I love them. Mom and Scott got me some and also bought me a couple serving dishes for my birthday but I got them on Christmas. Donny also bought me some so I got a pretty good start!

These are my favorite the bottom of the three is the first one then goes up from there. This is Italia seeing what Santa brought her for the first time.

This is all my dishes I got 9 total sets of Dinner dish, salad plate, and soup bowl, I also got three tea cups and saucers, a covered serving dish and a large serving plater. I also got a gravy boat and salt and pepper shakers
Christmas Eve Jammies. We all got into pjs and drove around looking at lights. We got to have Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell sleep over and be with us all day Christmas eve and Christmas
The candle light Bethlehem Dinner we had on Christmas Eve
Our Bethlehem food :) Food that Jesus might have ate. It wasn't 100% authentic but it gaves us a good idea. This is definatly a new tradition even if we can't have it on Christmas Eve we will have it sometime around Christmas.
We all dressed up and Grandma told us about all the characters in the Nativity and we talked about the true meaning. We had Mary (me) Joseph (Donny), Shepard (Grandpa) complete with a lamb. A wisegirl as Italia called her (grandma) and our Angel(Italia) we also had a horse playing the Donkey:)
The loot

Halloween

2011-11-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

A couple months ago Italia decided she wanted to be the blue bird from Rio (Jewel) but she wanted it in the Carnival style at the end of the show. So I started looking. And I think I did a pretty good job at creating the look. :) Luckily Donny was home and so we did a bunch of stuff.
The tuesday before Italia got to wear her costume or at least a modified version to dance. Then on Friday we went to Trick or Treat Street. It was fun. Everyone new who Italia was (the bird from Rio) so that was good. And we got lots of compliments. On Saturday we went to Boo at the Zoo and Italia won First prize in the 4-6 yr old costume contest. There was probably 30 or so kids.
It was really cute because we had to explain what a contest was. Then she said she wanted to win but I told her she had to clap and be happy for who ever won. She stood on stage and held her wings out then she even twirled. They called the 3rd place winner and she was like "oh man I wanted to win" so i told her that there was still more to win but she needed to be happy and clap for who ever won. I personally thought we had a good chance but I was a little biased:) Then she did the same for 2nd place and then they called her for 1st place and she was so excited and kept saying things like " I won the contest!" "I am the best"
Then on Halloween she got to wear her costume to school and then went Trick or Treating with Dad and Grandpa. She didn't go to many houses though cause she would jump through all the leaves and talk to everyone and want to pet all the dogs:) But the important thing is for her to have fun I can go buy a bag of candy thats not the point:)

Preschool

2011-09-13T10:12:00.000-07:00

Italia is a preschooler! This will be her only year of preschool. She was so excited the first day she just ran right in. No hug or anything. We are having a few struggles with it but I think in a few weeks we should be good. Hopefully!
The preschool she goes to is practically down the road. It only takes a couple mins to get there. That is the main reason I picked. It i at a ladies home with only 10 kids and Italia needs more one on one time. One of the little neighbor girls is going too so she has a friend.

Fair Time

2011-09-13T09:59:00.000-07:00

Went to the fair last tuesday and it was great. Scott was able to come to. We went in the morning so it wouldn't be crowded and I would say it was just right. Italia loves farm animals so we looked at those. She milked a "cow" and they gave free milk. Gossner milk our fav:) She also rode the mechanical bull which she wanted to last year but we didn't let her. She also got to pick one ride. So Grandpa, Dad, and Italia rode the Farris wheel. We ate yummy food. I had a prime rib sandwich so good !

August Spokane Trip

2011-09-13T07:22:00.000-07:00

Since my sister recently moved somewhere that is a little more reasonable to drive to:) we decided to take a little road trip. The trip takes 7-9 hours depending on how many stops you make. I was a little worried about this length of trip because the longest we have done with Italia is about 3 hours and we don't do it very often...and we all get car sick...Italia the worst:)
So we loaded up on Dramamine and were on our way. I drove the first half stopped for a few minutes then Donny drove the last half since it is curvy. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to driving but I think i can make it by myself if I wanted too.
We went to a cat zoo and this is the only area I took my camera:( It was neat because the cats where right there but kind of lame at the same time since it was small. We then went downtown and meet Spencer and had P.F. Changs Yum. We also did the wagon slide and carousel.
Saturday we went to a little swimming park and had fun. Then we left on Sunday. It was a short trip but fun. I am sure we will be going back again...if they will let us.

Dancing and Fishing....

2011-08-10T13:50:00.001-07:00

So Italia and I finally made it up to Challis to check out Donny's other home:). We all headed up there on Monday and we first went to the hot springs there. It was a little rustic in the dressing rooms and such but I survived:) Then we slept in the camper. The trailer park that he is in is really nice but it is really remote luckily part of it is a gas station that also has a grill that has some decent food. Donny brings up most of his food but its nice that there is that option. Sleeping we had a few issues but once Italia was asleep it was fine:) I didn't sleep great but that was mostly due to the very loud thunderstorm. Then the next day we woke up and headed fishing Italia caught three fish. This is the first "real" experience. Last summer we went a couple times but only caught a tiny one that was sent back to his mommy:) We had to fish between storms but it was fun.
We then headed back to the camper and cooked the fish then Italia headed out leaving Donny there to work.

Italia did a little summer dance class. She ended up in the bigger class because the other little girl never ended up showing. So she got to do tap too and she liked it. When she wasn't being a stinker:) She was kind of sad that she didn't get to go on stage so I let her wear make up and did her hair fancy on the last day

We have also been doing some more swimming lessons and she is turning into a little fish:)

Princess Dance Camp!

2011-07-27T18:54:00.000-07:00

Italia's dance studio was having a princess dance camp while Addison and Emma where in town so we decided it would be fun for them all to go. It was for three days and I think they all had lots of fun. They did little princess games and activites and read stories and learned a princess dance. On the last day they preformed it for us and had a tea party.

swimmimg lessons

2011-07-27T18:36:00.000-07:00

Italia has been taking swimming lessons this week. She has done really well. She has a fear of putting her head under water due to some not so nice experiences going under on accident. And by the third day we have conquered it:) She has two days left.

Maybe I should Update:)

2011-05-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

We've had a lot going on lately and even though I have had intentions to blog it just hasn't happened:) We had Easter, Mother Day, Dance Recital, and lots in between. I also helped sew a bit of the costumes:)

Italia and Grandma and the ballerina doll Grandma gave her.

After the show
This is actually dress rehearsal because you can't take flash photos during the recital
Her other dance. On recital night she did excelant.

More Fun!

2011-04-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

More pics from the party as requested. I don't feel like typing any more details:)

This picture just cracks me up. Its not from her party but still. We were getting ready for dance pics and she was posing(which she didn't do at the actual pics) and this is what we got:)

Underwater Adventure

2011-04-11T17:01:00.001-07:00

We had to wait till this last Saturday to have Italias party since Donny was gone. But it was sure fun. I made a pretty awesome cake:) then she had little friends and we played starfish ring toss, we had a fish pond, and then we did a cake walk but then earned chocolate fish suckers that I made. I think Everyone had fun and all the kids were way cute.
I drew mermaids from Italias shirt and blew them up so we had large mermaids everywhere. I also hung up fish net and hung pics of shells and crabs and such. I also found some vinyl dolphins in the clearance section so we hung up those. Each kid got a sand pail and got prizes at each game.

Thanks everyone for making it a fun birthday for Italia!
I may put more pics up later because there were a bunch

Happy Birthday Italia...and other stuff

2011-04-02T09:55:00.001-07:00

Italia turned 4 yesterday:) She is getting so big and way to smart for your age:) I love her more and more everyday even when she drives me crazy! We kept her actual birthday low key because Donny was gone so we will do her party next week. Plus conference weekend is always hard to have a party during.
Italia is all about cake on your birthday. We even had to do an emergency cake run on my bday because she was so traumatized by not having a cake:) So since I am making the big cake for her party I figured we could do some quick cupcakes. We took them to dance class to share. Then we visited Grandpa Dance at the airport since he was stuck. Then We headed to "Hop" the movie with Grandma Mitchell. She opened "Tangled" then she got a few things from Grandma Mitchell the Repunzel dress up, rain boots, and some little lambs for her doll house. Also Grandma Dance sewed her some tutus, leotards, and a cute bag and she has been wearing them a lot already.

We decided to have a little fun with her hair today since we are just bumming. So we did lots of little braids on her and her horse.
The second cardigan I knitted this one fits much better:) They don't take too long so if you want one let me know and we can work something out. I can't decide how much I want to charge for them. Also this is the biggest it gets right now so.

on St. patty's day we had a party. I was going to do a few fun little things on the tuesday before so that Donny could participate but we turned it into a big party since the Sautters were here visiting.

This is my clock wall I have been working on. I have been thinking about it for over a year and now it is finally hung up. I will probably add a couple more little things and things will hang from the hooks

Quick update

2011-02-09T11:33:00.001-08:00

thought I would do a quick update.

School is going pretty well. I am finally done with clinicals. We had our first test and I did well. Now I just need to catch up on my workbook and I will be sitting pretty. I signed up to take a phlebotomy class this weekend. I am trying to get a job at a docs office and they recommended taking it.

Italia on the other hand it not doing to well. She had decided she doesn't like me gone so much and doing homework when at home. I do still spend a lot of time with her but not up to her standards:) She has been doing some naughty things for attention and is also very clingy and whiny. She has also been having major drama queen melt downs with full fledge crying all this behavior is very abnormal. She has issues but normally it is over quickly but not lately.

On Sunday she told me "No Homework" I didn't even have it out!

I am hoping it is getting better I only have 3 1/2 weeks left.

Saved by the Bell!

2011-01-23T10:18:00.000-08:00

Well school is back in session for me. I am not sure if it is saving me or killing me:) oh well.

Last time I took college courses was when I was prego with Italia so more than 4 years ago. So I was a little rusty. All the school and the homework is wearing me out. I hope my body will kick in and get use to it soon. I know it is a little hard for Italia too.
The actual classes aren't too bad it is twice a week 1-5pm but in between each class we have to read 4 chapters and do the end of chapter reviews to hand in then we have a work book which will be handed in at the end of the class. This takes about 6 hours. We also have to gather 10 vital signs of people to turn in each week. We also have to practice and memorize the procedures we have to do. Which actually doing them isn't that big of a deal but we have certain steps that have to be done for the test so it is more than just doing them. We also have 3 10hr clinical saturdays. And this is what has killed me:)
Yesterday was our first one. The actual working at the nursing home was not to bad. However, yesterday was the worse day to have it. Both Donny and my mom were out of town. And I had to be there by 530 am. This means I needed a babysitter from 5am to 5pm not many people would willingly do that. Luckily my friend Natalie did. And of course friday night it decided to snow. So I would have to leave earlier. And I could not sleep the night before. I was nervous that my alarm wouldn't go off.
My instructor is a strict one and we were told that if we were one second late we wouldn't get credit. It would have taken me 45 mins on good roads to drive into town and drop Italia off and then get to the place. And if we didn't get there on time then we have a 1% chance of coming during another class but most likely not and if we can't then we have to pay an RN to do it at $30 for 10 hours! yeah $300 bucks. And if you don't make it up you can't get certified so it was a must.
So because I have been worn thin this week then not sleeping at all the night before and the 11 hours on the floor I was so tired. I was asleep close to 9pm. I slept pretty good but I feel like a truck ran me over today. So I am taking it easy today to rest.

Santa Sledding and Sunbeams

2011-01-05T09:40:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas and holiday! Christmas Eve evening Grandpa and Grandma Mitchell came over for dinner and we opened Pjs and she got a gingerbread doll. She would not pose for the camera:) For Christmas she got a new bed and was quite excited about it. It took work of five adults and a little sawing to get it in her room and if it comes out it will probably be chopped up to get out!
I was having to much excitement to take pics but Christmas afternoon Grandma and Grandpa came back and the Chad Amber and the kids came over. I made Prime Rib and I think it turned out pretty good for my first time and the fact that my meat thermometer wasn't working. On Sunday we headed to Twin Falls for a Bullock get together. We went Sledding on the Tuesday after Christmas with Chad and Amber and it was cold but fun. Then this past Sunday Italia was a Sunbeam and I think it went as good as it could:)

Santa Visit and Snowflakes.

2010-12-11T18:22:00.000-08:00

We had Santa visit our house. Italia got him all to her self for about an hour and then some friends and neighbors stopped by all at once to get their turns:) It was fun. Italia had a hard time sharing Santa with all the others since she had him so long to herself. She talked to him and told him all she wanted for Christmas and asked him lots of questions.
Later this evening I decided we needed another activity since someone was a little whiny. So we made snowflakes it was fun:)

Thanksgiving/ Knitting

2010-11-29T08:41:00.000-08:00

Make sure to checkout my knitting blog. Melodeesknitknacks.blogspot.com. This is my latest knit. I really like it.

Thanksgiving was good. However I forgot to take pics so these are the only pics I took. It was me, Donny, Italia, Scott. and then Scott's bro Mark, Scott's friend Chris and Chris' son Matt came down from Colorado. I cooked the whole thing and even though it wasn't perfect and I would do things differently I think it turned out well.

And then there was SNOW!

2010-11-23T16:54:00.000-08:00

Well my car is out there since I couldn't get it back in. On Monday morning I had to dig out the drive way enough to get out. I am sure glad I did my errands than because today would have been impossible so we can have Thanksgiving! When I got back later in the afternoon I couldn't go any farther up my driveway without getting stuck and I didn't want to try and succeed to go barreling through my garage door. So I park and hiked many loads of groceries through 2 feet of snow. I really wanted to shovel enough today to at least get my car in but it was horribly windy so I opted to stay inside however, at about 5 it cleared up a little so I did what I could but I am not even close to being able to bring my car in. Maybe tomorro.

Halloween at last:)

2010-11-10T09:24:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun. Italia was Merleigha from the Barbie Mermaid Tale movie. I was a spider. On Friday She got to dress up for her dance class. Then later we went to Trick or Treat Street then that night we went to my mom's ward Halloween party. That night Donny and I got to go to the Straight no Chasers concert. It was great you should search for them on Youtube. Than Saturday we had friends over for a halloween lunch and I made Jack o lanterns stuffed with worms. Right as I took the pic of lunch my camera died and I had to charge the battery. That night Donny took Italia trick or treating and I handed out candy. It was a great couple of days:)

Pumpkins

2010-10-25T11:59:00.000-07:00

Okay so I really dislike the fact that blogger doesn't actually show my pics anymore when I upload them until I publish it.

Homemade Lanudry Soap!

2010-10-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

I just washed my first batch of laundry with my homemade soap. this recipe is floating around on a lot of different blogs. My clothes smelled and looked clean and a chocolate milk stain even came out.

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap. For top or front load washing machines.

4 Cups Hot tap water
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap ($1.00 a bar)
1 c Arm and Hammer Super Washing soda ( it was about $3.00 for the whole box)
1/2 C borax (about $3.00 a box)

grate soap and add to sauce pan with water. Melt over medium-low heat stirring often.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half way with hot tap water. Add soap, borax, and washing soda. Stir until dissolved. Then fill the bucket up the rest of the way with hot water and stir well. Cover and let sit overnight to thicken and gel up.

Stir then using a used cleaned laundry soap bottle fill it up half way with soap and the other half with more water. Shake then use:)

Makes 10 gallons.

Top load washing machines use 5/8 c per load (about 180 loads)

Front load washing machines use 1/4 c per load (about 640 loads)

Make sure to shake before each use.

*must use washing soda. Baking soda will not work.

If you had to buy a bucket and everything you can get everything for under $20. The box of soda and borax will probably make 5 recipes. I bought a couple extra bars of soap so I have everything on hand when I need it. I also used a gamma lid on my bucket to make it more convenient.

okay here is a post.

2010-10-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

Okay my only excuse is those darn knitting needles get glued to my hands:) I have given up okay just limited my bloging/computer using. I usually just do a quick check from my phone and hardly ever spend time on the computer. I am addicted to knitting. I am also trying to knit a lot of christmas gifts. I am taking some knitting classes. Plus all the other projects I want to do.

Donny had a bday he turned 31.

We decided against sending Italia to preschool this year but I do some "school" at home with her so I made a big deal about the first day and got her up and and ready and took pics.
Donny's cake
Earwarmer/headband with out the flower that is coming.
Italia modeling a hat I made

Nursery Mishap

2010-08-16T11:37:00.000-07:00

Italia had a little accident in Nursery yesterday. I got brought bloody mouth little girl. The nursery leaders hand was also covered in blood. I don't really know what happened, neither does the nursery leader because Italia didn't cry instantly she just turned around and had a bloody mouth. I think that she was playing outside with a couple other kids and was probably running up and down the steps like I constantly tell her not to do and tripped. Her teeth bit into her bottom lip and then her top 3 teeth where bleeding all around and where a little loose. I ended up calling a dentist emergency number because I didn't know how concerned I needed to be since I over react to everthing:) And I had no one else to help me decide. I did what he told me and she has an appointment on Wednesday just so a dentist can look at them and tell me if anything is going to happen to them permantly.

This morning I was trying to get a pic of her upper lip because she woke up with it swollen she looks like a mouse. Or one of the Who people from " The Grinch"

This is after church

Catch up.

2010-08-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

So it has been pretty busy around here hopefully I can remember everything.

Amber, Carter, and Addie were here visiting so we hung with them here and there. Than on wednesday night Donny came home from work and he came home early because he had an ear infection and needed to get into the dr. so we headed to the community care in town. He got two antibiotics pills and drops but we decided we would get them in the morning since we had lots to do and we were heading out of town in the morning.

So Thursday morning we headed into town to meet my dad and Sams Club and we did that then headed to Walgreens. After about 20 mins wait we were called back and told that our insurance wasn't working. Great. We weren't about to pay $100+ for something when is should be closer to $15. So we left. We headed off to Utah. As we were traveling Donny called his company and eventually got the right insurance info, apparently we never received the new card when it was issued. So we figured we would stop at the first convient pharmacy. We stopped in Tremonton and had lunch and then were on our way to Ogden to see the Dinosaur park. I was pretty impressed with it for the price we paid and if it wasn't so stinking hot we could have stayed longer since it had a lot of play areas. After that we headed to Angel's House in Hyrum. We hung out there for a while and visited with her and her new baby Evey. When it was time to go meet her hubby at the dairy we left and swung by a pharmacy missing the closing time by 10 mins. Then grabbed dinner and headed to the barn. Italia has been asking to go see Angel's cows for a while now so we did. She got to see how they milk the cows and feed the babies. She also got to pet and feed the horsed, here favorite. We then headed to Angel's grandparents house they were kind enough to let us stay the night.
The next morning we got up and went to breakfast then finally found a pharmacy. Then we headed back to the barn then back to Angel's to hang out for a few more minutes. We then hit Gossners for our milk run and swung by My Aunt Shelly's house. After a stop for gas and one for lunch we finally were on our way.
Right as we went through Preston Italia decided to throw up so we stopped to clean that up. Now we were on our way. We had quite a few slow downs which wouldn't be quite so bad but we were on a time schedule. We had to be back in time to get ready to go to my Step bros wedding and we had to be on time since I was the photographer. We made it in time barely:). The wedding was nice and I got some good photos.
The next day Saturday Lexie, Emma, and Aiden where flying in but Donny, Italia, and I had a funeral to go to. Donny's grandma died. It seemed like a nice service I wouldn't know since I was in the hall with Italia since she was being a pill. After the funeral Donny headed off with his brother to ride dirt bikes. And Italia and I meet up with Lexie and the kids.
Sunday was church and then Mom, Scott, Lexie,and the kids headed to our house for the evening.
Monday we stayed around home to get some much needed chores done, I grocery shopped, did dishes, cleaned up, Shampooed carpets. Plus lots more. Then that evening we meet up for dinner At Destinees.
Tuesday Donny, my dad, Lexie, Emma, Aiden, Italia, Dreadyn, and I went fishing. It was fun. The kids played in the water and they all had a chance to "catch" a fish. Reel one in that my Dad caught. Italia and I actually caught one. It was a funny story we had just started and I had just figured out how to cast Italia's new princess pole and did the first real cast and I felt a little something but it was breezy so I figured it was the wake so I asked Italia if she caught a fish and she said yes so I told her to reel it in and when the hook came out of the water there was a fish on it! All the fish that were caught were just babies that we let go. Also the kids saw "sharks" and would all come screaming and running out of the water.
Wednesday Donny left for work. Emma and my mom got sick.
Thrusday we hung out with Lexie and kids and then went to a play. Italia loved it.
Friday my mom brought the kids out to my house for the afternoon to play.
Saturday was an adventure.
Italia and I woke up early and got ready to go garage selling. I felt a little queasy but that happens when I wake up early. We weren't even driving for 5 mins when Italia threw up in the car. So we turned around and came back home I called my mom to tell her we weren't coming. Right after I got her cleaned up she said she was feeling better and wanted to go garage selling. So off we went again. I should have known better(even though Italia throws up all the time so it wasn't really an indicator) but there were a couple garage sells that I really wanted to go to:)
We weren't even there very long when Italia was saying her tummy hurt so we headed to the bathroom. She threw up and I caught it in the bowl and all the sudden I was going to throw up so I yelled at my mom to come in and she thought I was just gagging because Italia was throwing up so she was quite surprised when I turned around and threw up:).
So Italia and I hurried and left so we could get home hopefully without any more puke.
We were sick the rest of the day and into the next.
It is hard being sick when you are a mom but even more so when you are sick at the same time as your child because they need you to take care of them and you can barely take care of your self.

Summer Fun

2010-07-15T19:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an update of some fun we have been having the past couple weeks. Since Donny was up at work for the fourth we didn't do to many of the fourth activities because we were going to celebrate the next week when he was home.

Amber, Carter, and Addison came up to visit on the 4th we went to gameworld and played and had lunch.

Then the following Saturday we had a BBQ at our house
Italia was in her swimsuit all day for about 2 or 3 days
The new grill.
Before our firework show.
Carter dancing in the strobe lights
Italia had to too. It sure made for some interesting pics.

just a little cutie

2010-07-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

Why must everyone ask? The answer to the big question.

2010-06-12T02:25:00.000-07:00

So this is my 3am rambling so it maybe long and rambled.

Why must every one ask me when I am having another child. This question PISSES me off. If it was just well meaning family or friends I would probably just brush it off as caring curiosity and slightly annoying, but it is more than just family and friends. It is them asking every time they see my and it is people I barely know or don't know at all. I know everyone is just curious but it rubs me the wrong way. So this post is to answer all your questions.

First off I know that I am not the only woman who gets bugged by these questions. From talking to other ladies I know that I am not alone. And even though this is not my case there are tons of couples out there struggling with infertility and this question just rubs salt in the wound.
Here are some better ways to phrase it because even I want to know about other people.
If the couple has no children word it something like this. "So are you guys wanting to have children in the future?" this way you are not making it sound like they should be having children right now. Not everyone wants 2o kids 9 months apart. Not everyone wants kids, some just want one. Some might not be able to have kids or any more kids. These things are usually not public knowledge.

If the couple has one or more children and you want to know if they are having more phrase it something like this, "How many children do you want to have?" Maybe they have all they want.

My thing is it is not like Italia is 15 years old or something, she is only 3. What is wrong with having children 5 years apart? Or more?

So here is my answer and I am even going to explain said answer with out going into way to much personal details.

Maybe, Someday.

I am not opposed to having more than one child I just don't know my plans right now other than its not going to happen tomorrow.

Just so everyone knows I am a stubborn person and the more you ask it will not make me do it any faster if anything I might wait longer.

I also hate it when people ask if we are trying. Do you know what "trying"means yep that is like asking if we are having sex and I would rather not everyone know how many times that happens:)

Here are some of my reasons even if it is nobodies business:) (I am not doing this to be mean or single anyone out but hundreds of people ask me, and I get asked on a daily basis so I figure there is interest. Maybe I won't get asked as much)
1. I love Italia so much I can't imagine loving anyone else as much.

2. I kind of like just having one and giving her all the attention and time I can, not as much as she wants since I still have to shower and do dishes occasionally.

3. The timing just isn't right.

4. Italia is not very found of babies, it is getting better since she has gotten to hold a few real ones lately.

5. I don't really want to have Italia helping me the way she takes care of her dolls, by throwing them down the stairs or running them over with her car.

6. I am afraid I would neglect Italia or vice verse.

On to the more serious ones

7. I know not every pregnancy/delivery/postpartum period is the same with every child but I don't think I am ready for that.

8. Pregnancy wasn't to bad, it was actually kind of fun, I just had your normal stuff some morning sickness, lots of heartburn, And I puffed up like Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons. Delivery left lots to be desired. I had lots of complications during postpartum.

9. My complications ranged from Physical to mental, emotional, and spiritual. I don't like to talk about it much even though it is getting easier now that it is not so fresh. My family never said they noticed something was wrong and I am sure if they noticed something they probably just thought I wasn't quite normal and possibly blamed it on lack of sleep most new parents get. However, lack of sleep was the least of my concerns.

10. I am afraid I might not make through again. By "make it" I don't mean I might need to hire a cook, housekeeper, babysitter to have degree of normalcy. I mean that I have valid real reason to believe I might DIE. I don't know about you but I am not ready to die and death is something most people don't have much control over.

All that being said. I am not opposed to another or more than that. I will stop before I stop being the kind of mom I want to be though. And even though now is not the time and yes I could change tomorrow but probably not I am doing what I can to make things easier and prepared. I am trying to exercise, be more active, eat better because the healthier I am the easier it will be. I am trying to read up on different delivery options. For one birth fascinates me two I know I will not have another epidural because I would rather deal with the 24+ hrs of contractions and pushing then with the 8+ months of disabling back pain I had.

So I will let you all know when we decide to have another baby (if we do) by posting pics of such baby until then...
And that will happen when I feel ready which I don't now or when Heavenly Father puts a strong desire in my heart to have one any way. But I believe he knows me and my heart and will give me time.

I am going to wait until morning to proof read this to make sure I at least wrote it in English:)

My Giraffe

2010-06-02T11:56:00.001-07:00

I have been working on this giraffe for a little while now. I actually finished a little while ago. The reason it took so long, Italia liked it a little too much so I had to fight against her or knit while she was not around. I think it turned out pretty good. It is for a friends baby.

About time!...an update

2010-05-24T14:33:00.000-07:00

No excuses except that I am lazy:) at least for blogging. My camera and computer like to fight against each other so it can be a pain to upload photos.
We have a zoo pass this year so we will be frequenting ofter we have gone 3 times 2 times in rain:)

Italia got these blocks for her bday and she loves getting a tower built around her then she knocks it down
This is what happens to my kitchen when I organize my pantry. My kitchen was clean before I started this. Everything on the counters and table came out of my pantry.

We have been trying to do some learning around here:) this was one of my projects.

dance Recital

2010-05-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so the pics aren't in order and I am to tired to move them:) Italia had her dance recital on Saturday. On thursday we had the rehersal. Most of the pics of her dancing are from the rehearsal since no flash photography was allowed at the recital. I did get some pics but apparently 3 years old dancing are to fast for my camera when the flash is not on. Plus I wan't used to the setting.
Italia did so well on Thursday and Saturday and to be honest I was a little worried since Italia is the "naughty" one in class. She is just the youngest and gets to excited sometimes she forgets to listen. I knew she knew the dances as well if not better because we do them at home but it seems to go out the window for dance class.

Final Bow

Her baby doll dance she is the one on the far right( she kind of blends into the poster)
Recital night. Grandma got her flowers

This is the reahersal

I am so proud of how well she did. She also did very well back stage. I was more worried about that then what she did dancing since she doesn't go to people she doesn't know very well.

One funny thing is during the Rag doll dance the one in the blue and red costume. The girls don't know it that well because there are two many formation changes and it gets them confused. So all the girls were just standing there and Italia and another girl where chasing each other in circles. The whole crowd was just laughing. Oh Well.

Kitchen Appliances

2010-04-27T15:16:00.000-07:00

What are your favorite?

Mine are:

Rice Cooker(fairly new)

Bosch

Electric Wheat Grinder

Crockpot

These are Probably the appliance that get used the most

ruffle skirt

2010-04-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a project I made. Cute! it was fun to make and pretty easy too.

Birthday/Easter

2010-04-04T17:05:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of fun at our house these last couple days. On Thursday Italias actual birthday we went and got a cheeseburger for lunch then Donny and Italia went to the "how to train your dragon" movie ( i went grocery shopping in the blizzard)

This is the cake I spent all day Friday making.
Our theme(if you can't tell) was Princess and the frog. Most of the games where frog related because of boys coming. We had a lot of fun even if a lot of people couldn't make it due to it being Conference, Easter, Spring Break weekend and also people having babies and getting sick
Royal Family
Hannah and Italia( Italia just loves Hannah)
Grandma, Papa, Princess Italia
Playing Kiss the frog
Playing the big kid way. After Italia saw Hannah do it blind folded she wanted to.
Italias new dresses up from Grandma Dance and her new table and chair
Getting ready to sing
She had trouble blowing out the candle because she was pointing her lips up not down, she had so much fun we had to do a double take on singing and candle blowing.
Frog Glasses
After the party we dyed eggs. Italia had so much fun she was grabbing the eggs as fast as she could so that she could dye them and no one else.
Another new toy. Probably one of her favs

Easter Egg hunt

trying to fly...random update

2010-03-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

So I started doing the flylady cleaning system. It is awesome. I am far from perfect in all the cleaning yet because I have a lot of bad habits to overcome, but I am way better than I was. So if any of you have trouble keeping your house clean or just need someone to tell you when to clean what than it is great. It keeps you organized and clean without feeling like you spend all day everyday cleaning with no results.

I love zumba but I can only go when Donny is home so I go about 6 times a month. I am not losing weight though I am stuck. I think I am still losing some inches slowly. So I am going to try to kick it up a notch at home. I did a work out video this morning. I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked since I had my own personal trainer. For example there was a part where they were doing things on the ground so I was watching the first one then I was going to do it. She told me to lay down and exercise ( she says this very cute okensize) but then she proceeded to get on my back for a horsy ride causing me not to be able to do the move. Or she would crawl in between my legs as I am trying to jog in place or jump. I want to become a zumba instructor but I am sure I would be the first overweight Zumba instructor. I may still do it though:)

ITalia turns 3 on thrusday and I can't believe it. She is getting quite grown up. We are having a party on Saturday and hopefully people will show up:) We have some fun things planned and she is so excited about it. The party gets talked about on a daily basis.

6 YEARS!

2010-03-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Okay just so you know I did try to get this up Sunday night but I was having tech issues.

Donny and I had our 6 year anniversary on Saturday. We were lucky enough to go on a mini vacation. We headed up to Victor on Friday night while Italia staying with Grandma and Papa. We were able to have use of a condo in victor and then on Saturday we headed up to Jackson Hole. We mainly just walked around and enjoyed the day.

This is Big Foot with Donny.
This is what Donny got. Lots of Powerade:) Donny loves this stuff and I got a great deal so I loaded up for him.

This entertainment center is my presant:) We have actually been looking around and contemplating this purchase for a while and Donny said since I need a present to we might as well go get it:)

Too Cute for Words!

2010-03-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Italia got her 3 yr pics today. Here is a little taste.

Garlic

2010-03-12T08:06:00.001-08:00

So here is my knitted garlic. I know it is hard to tell but it actually does have the little bumps of garlic.

Finally Finished

2010-03-09T16:19:00.000-08:00

Our living room in complete:)
Pics are hung all misc stuff is out of there.

Fire place mantel built. Thanks Brandon. I just have to decorate the mantel!

some more projects

2010-03-06T15:20:00.000-08:00

I have been bit by the knitting bug. :) I love it that is all I want to do but I don't get to do it as much as I want. Here is a tomato and two dishrags.

A Little Project>>>

2010-02-28T16:24:00.000-08:00

I knitted this dress. It was really my first time really knitting. I have started many dishclothes and finished maybe 3. I had a lot of fun learning and will attempt again plus other stuff.

Italia loves the dress a little too much. She has been waiting for it for a month now and so she has been wearing it all day however she has been taking it off and on all day and so the straps are already stretched out I am hoping I can steal it back tonight and get it to shrink back up. I am glad she loves it but at the same time because I worked so hard on it I kind of don't want her to use it:) Oh well.

hopscotch

2010-02-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

these winter days sometimes catch up to us. So I got some yarn and tape and made a hopscotch game. Barney was on the TV and they were playing hopscotch and that is what gave me the idea. Italia enjoyed it.

Arizona Trip

2010-02-12T17:31:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday we headed out to Arizona. We drove to Salt Lake then flew to Phoenix. Italia did very well the whole way. Grandpa Dance met us at the airport. On the way to his house we stopped at an orchard and bought some oranges, yummy grapefruit, and some chocolates. Grandpa started putting a few chocolates in a bag so Italia reached in and started adding her own to his bag:)
Italia fell asleep about 10 minutes from their house. After awhile we tried to wake her up to go to dinner but she wasn't interested, until we got to the car. We went to a place called Trophy's for dinner. They have a bunch of stuffed and mounted bears, elk, buffalo, etc. Italia loved it and walked around looking at everything several times.

On Friday morning Italia discovered they had a pool. She really wanted to get in but since it was so "cold" there they don't have their pool heated so we didn't bring our suits. While Rakay and I ran an errand the men where in charge and so Italia managed to get in:)

She played in the water forever. The water was probably only about 55○.We went to an olive mill where they grow olives and make olive oil. We went on a tour and it was interesting. Then had lunch there and we all had yummy Italian sandwiches. Italia's sandwich was a Nutella Banana sandwich:)

That night Chad, Amber, Carter, and Addison came over for dinner. Italia just loves playing with them.

Saturday we went to a Renaissance Fair. It was fun and interesting. The above picture is of the Royal Court. However probably 50% of people there where dress up. Not us:)

Italia got her eyes on this Swan Swing and kept asking for a ride during out lunch. I told her to ask Grandpa ☺ So Daddy and Italia rode the "duck swing" ask Italia called it. Lunch was pretty good too.
Grandpa and Grandma Dance watching a bird show with Italia
We watched this comedy show. I think it was called "Hey Nunny Nunny" it was funny.

On Sunday we had a Super Bowl Party with Chad, Amber, and the kids again. Good fun and good food.
Monday we came home.

Behind on Miracles!

2010-01-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

SO I obviously haven't been keeping up. But I have been thinking about them I just am lazy:)
Today's Miracle. Italia in her bed asleep by herself by 10:15 that is the earliest in a long time. I am hoping she will start going to bed better soon. Once she is asleep its great and she has even got herself back to sleep in the middle of the night but it takes awhile to get her to go to sleep because it is just to fun:)

GNO is tomorrow don't forget!

We went to the library today for story time. I am really surprised at how good it is.

This little town of mine is starting to grow on me a little more.

I still have a hard time having to drive so "far" to the big city:)

Luckily this little town (which it still takes a few minutes to get to it) has the basics. Grocery store, gas station, fast food (not the best selection), rental movies, kings.

I can't wait to garden this year.

I can't wait to have a fence to keep that old neighbor dog out. And to keep Italia in so maybe she can play outside for a few minutes without me right there. Hopefully I will be there in my garden.

I am taking these wonderful free garden classes that are giving lots of info and getting me ready to go.

On Tuesday I am going to a knitting class.

I have lost some more weight.
wish I could go to Zumba way more than I do. Still trying to figure out babysitting.

Maybe I should try harder:) I just hate to be a burden to people or mess up their schedules.

Donny is back on a set schedule. Not the best one but a set one.

We are going to Arizona in a week.

Today's Miracle

2010-01-20T20:40:00.000-08:00

Today's miracle Italia fell asleep a bit earlier than she has lately...we have been transitioning to big girl bed. Also that I didn't break anything when I fell on the ice.

Miracles.

2010-01-19T20:22:00.000-08:00

So I believe that even small things can be miracles. I know I tend not to notice a lot of them. I think to make me a happier person (which is something I have been struggling with lately) I need to be more aware and more thankful for all things big and small in my life. More aware then anything. So I am going to try and post small or large miracles that happen every day. I think it is the small things that I am going to concentrate on because those are the things I need to pay more attention to.

Todays Miracle. That I was relatively happy all day even if I was dreading the day.:)

Birthday

2010-01-19T20:12:00.000-08:00

Well I made it through my birthday:) Last night we found out Donny had to go out of town this morning so my bday didn't start off good. It seemed this morning was pretty rocky Donny woke up at 5am and was out the door about 20 mins later I heard him pull back in. He forgot his boots. Then I get a call at 6:30am that I still had his credit cards. Whoops. I had them to get redbox movies. So he is in Challis for three days with no debit cards and $7. I told him if something came up and he needed to use something we could give them the number over the phone. So then Italia was a little crabby this morning. The rest of the day went good though ran some errands and went to a yummy dinner with Mom and Italia at Jakers and got me some prime rib. Everything is good now. Thanks for all the messages and phone calls.

The Price is Right

2010-01-18T14:53:00.001-08:00

Everyone needs to tune into the Price is Right on Thursday the 21st to see me in the audience. I am wearing a black shirt and my hair is blonde, straight to my shoulders. I am sitting in front of the orange group of girls and the to the left of the yellow shirt family. Girls from both of these groups get called up so I think you might be able to see me.

Birthday Blues

2010-01-13T11:58:00.001-08:00

For some strange reason this birthday is hard on me. I mean 25 is not that old and I have a lot of good things in my life so why am I feeling so blue this birthday? It has been a couple months anytime I think about my bday I get a little blue. Is it because it is so up in the air about being able to celebrate it. I wanted to throw myself a party but I have no idea when Donny is going to be gone or home so I can't plan anything unless it is last minute. I would do a little something this Saturday because it is looking promising that Donny will be home but that could change today. There is a chance today we will find out his schedule but then again we may not. Oh well I guess I will get through it.

On to happier things. I am going to be putting together a Girls Night Out. I will do them once a month or every other month. I don't have any official dates or times yet so if you live around me and want to be invited let me know. Right now I am just getting ideas ready and getting a list of people that would like to be invited. I don't care who you are as long as you are a female 18 yrs or older.:) The GNOs would consist of things such as craft night, movie night, maybe cooking something fun. Occasionally going out to eat or to a movie. I will try to keep everything on the cheaper side so we won't do those things very ofter. If there is a cost to it you might be asked to contribute. for example if we were making cards I might say it costs a $.50 a card or something. So let me know if you are interested and I will invite you when I get things figured out.

Early Birthday Gift

2010-01-09T20:46:00.000-08:00

So I have been wanting a can organizer for a while now. There is a place in town that makes awesome ones and the starter kit was about $200 and ultimately I would have like 2 or 3 kits. I almost bought one when we were moving in but since we had so many others things to do I decided not to. I have almost bought it a couple times then I decided I could wait for Christmas/Birthday for a combined gift. So a couple weeks ago Donny and I went and looked and after we left Donny said he thought he could build one. ( honestly I was a little skeptical, he can build our house but I doubt his a ability to build a can organizer, go figure.:)) So here it is before hanging it in the pantry so far it seems to work:)and he made this single unit which is close to what a starter kit is for $30 but we already had some of the stuff

Change of Plans

2010-01-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

So I think I jumped the gun saying I am going back to school. I have been trying to figure out what to do. I know being a stay at home mom is the most important job I can do right now but I have been having the feeling that I am not accomplishing anything even though I know I am . Also I need outlets to do that give my mommy brain a break from two year old conversation. But after much thinking and praying I don't think the accounting is the way to go. Most likely I wouldn't enjoy it that much and you have to pay for the three year program up front so if I hated it or life came up and I couldn't finish it you are out the money and the classes.

I have decided that I still will go back to school and I will get everything set up so I can start either this summer or fall and still go towards my education degree. this way I might actually enjoy it:) also if I do part time we should be able to pay for it and not have to get a student loan to cover the whole amount at one time. Yes I will probably have to have someone watch Italia but I need to get over the guilt I have every time I leave her. And in the mean time to give something useful to do that gives me a break and doesn't involve shopping:) I am going to take some free gardening classes and I think I am going to take some knitting/crocheting classes.

School

2010-01-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

So I am going to go to school to become an Accountant. I know right anyone who knows me is probably think WHAT! accounting that is not you. I know but I think it is my best option right now.

I have been wanting to go back to school for awhile now. We moved and built a house so that wasn't the right time. Then we have been here and I have been thinking about it. I have been tossing the idea around as to if I wanted to go to ISU or BYU-I but I just didn't know what I wanted.

I was having trouble coming around to the idea of having Italia in daycare or babysat for a while now. I didn't want to do full time so it would probably take me 4 yrs or longer to complete my degree while going part time. I was never to do more than one class at a time as well since it has been awhile since going to school and I didn't want to overwhelm myself at the beginning. Also I am not very good with being very busy. Also I have always wanted to be a teacher and I still do but I am not sure what kind anymore. I use to want to do elementry but lately I haven't had the same desire to be around a lot of kids as I use to. So I have been toying with the idea of being a history teacher. But I just haven't been committed even to do anything about it.

So I have been seeing these commercials about Steven-Henerger college. They just opened a office in town and I just felt like I should look into them. I didn't for awhile. Some things that happened last week has left with a overwhelming desire to do something else for me and my sanity that was more constructive. So today I got online and looked around and decided to call and I had an appointment today. It is all online classes so I can do it from home. The accounting program is 36months but some of my generals mights transfer over so that would make it shorter. I also felt accounting gave me the most flexiblity and the possibility of working from home. So if I can get everything set up in time I will be starting January 18th

Merry Christmas!!!

2009-12-25T19:30:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas. I want to start by saying we are very blessed and thankful for the blessings and the place we are in right now.

This year because we were so blessed I wanted to help others out. We were able to "adopt" three children from an angel tree and get them a Christmas. I hope it made there lives a little happier. I also was able to be an LDS Angel for a LDS mom group I am in on CafeMom and sent a Visa giftcard to a lady whose family was struggling. However she probably won't get it until Monday or Tuesday since I didn't get the address until Tuesday night.

On Thursday Grandma and Papa Mitchell came over then Paul, Margaret, Margaret's mom, Kimra, Tony, and Devon came over for a big dinner. I must say I was pretty proud of my self for it:) I made my first turkey and it turned out yummy and juicy. I made mash potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, rolls, and a relish tray. Mom brought a cheese ball and stuffing. Then the others brought drinks. It was all yummy.

Our family picture.

Then we made graham cracker houses. Donny and Italia took the stucko approach. With a tropical flair. Italia kept saying that her house needed more bananas.
Christmas morning I was too excited so I woke everyone up at 8. Then we waited to go downstair.

This is Italia walking in the room checking out her loot.You can't see them but on the floor are Zhu Zhu pets and she was intently watching them move around their little play house.

Donny and Italia got a joint gift....The Wii. This is them boxing. Don't mind the toys scattered around, we had a wonderful Christmas.

saving money on groceries

2009-12-20T19:48:00.000-08:00

Earlier today when I started this post I thought of a lot more ideas. By the time I got done writing all the fluff I couldn't think of as many. If I think of them I will post more later. This is long but the ideas are at the bottom and if you do anything to save money on food let me know.

When people find out I coupon they always say, "Man I need you to teach me how to do that." Which is great. However, saving money on food and groceries takes more than couponing. And even though couponing is grea to fully get the effect of coupong it takes planning, time, research, patience, and practice. So if you don't want to or can't do those things it may feel you have no hope in saving money on grocery shopping.

Wrong. There are many tricks to saving money on groceries that don't take coupons. So here is my list of tricks. ( after some background) I try to do these things but I am not perfect and sometimes I get in a rut and have to get myself back on the money saving train.

I want to give you a little background of what I use to do and how far I have come. when Donny and I first were married I usually went groacery shopping every other week. I would spend about $150-200 every time. Plus we went out to eat a decent amount as well. I usually bought my lunch at work because my store was in the mall's food court and it was just way to easy to buy to much. Donny usually took leftovers or frozen type food to work.

I like to cook and try new things so it was very common for my grocery list to be a mile long and many of the recipes I tried I had to buy every ingredient even spices so my home cooked meals where not very price effective.

When I was prego we grabbed a burger way too much because after work or school I was usually to tired to cook. After Italia was born the eatingout for lunch stopped because I was no longer working. I probably only went grocery shopping about every 2 to 3 weeks spending about $200 each time. Also I would usually hit Costco when I was out and pick up some grocery items there, which I don't know if I have ever left that store without spending $100. the burgers continued though:)

When we moved into my parents house while we where building I spent a lot. We didin't literally pay rent so I bought the groceries. I was buying for 5 people and doing a lot of specialty buying. I was not caring what we bought or how much. I didn't have to. I was buying stuff for Donny to take up to the mine and then buying stuff for everyone at the house. I started coupong here and got some great deals but those were seperate trips not the normal grocery shopping and most of it was toiletry not food items. I was shopping every week and spending $200+. so once we moved into our house I couldn't do that anymore.

Now I go on a big grocery shopping trip $200+ about every three months. I do maybe $50 dollars a week on fresh produce and coupon shopping. Every now and gain I do a bigger food storage purchase but those aren't set. My pantry is never empty and my freezer is always full, th eonly thing that goes empty is the fridge. I can always make a dinner if I tr. Italia might not like it but she never likes anything I fix lately. We could live off our food propbably close to a year. We could eat well for 3 months.

Somethings I do to help food stretch.

I really try not to go tot the store for one item that I am missing. I have made meals missing an ingredient or improvising it. I use to not make the meal unless I had everything perfect. Now even if itwould be better with sour cream I will still make the tacos or what ever it is because if I ran to the store I am sure it would be at least a $20 trip.

I rarely by food specially for Donny to take to the mine. He takes leftovers and things I got on a good deal with couponing.

Even if it seems we are out of food aka the fridge is low I will try to creat something from what we have even if it wasn't a planned meal.

I try to do a food storage recipe every couple days they are usually cheap and it is important to know how to use your food storage other wise what is the point in having it.

Donny is out of town a lot so what I tend to do is make one meal for me and eat it for a couple of days. When Donny is home that is when I try my food storage recipes and any other recipes that I want to try.

When I do try new things that I have to buy a lot for, especially if you have to buy a whole package for a small amout, I try to find other recipes that call for that ingredient and try them to so I kill two birds with one stone.

One common thing I do is make breakfast burritos. Eggs, flour tortillas, and cheese are the most important ingredients and the cheapest, I usually have them in my fridge.

Shop the sales. Buy in bulk if you can that way you can take advantage of things on sale longer than when they are on sale.

I am not brand loyal. I buywhatever is cheapest even if that means not using a coupon. there are some things that the brand makes a difference but most things are about the same.

2009-12-20T13:53:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewmy_8AKkZw

Okay so I can't figure out how to post the actual video here but you have to watch this.

It is hillary weeks singing a song about a Mom's day it is great.

a fun christmas song

2009-12-20T11:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28GUU1YbP_E

watch this it is great

Santa Visit

2009-12-16T20:06:00.000-08:00

So last Saturday was Grandmas work breakfast with Santa so we went. Italia went upstairs with Grandma to find Santa to bring him down to breakfast. And when Santa walked in the door he greated her with "hi Italia" she was quite shocked at how he knew her name.:) If you can't tell Santa is Uncle Paul
She held his hand the whole way down then was the first on his lap. She didn't really like him when all the other kids where around but loved him when she was by herself.

Christmas Eve

2009-12-15T13:28:00.000-08:00

Just to let everyone know if anyone wants or needs a place to go for Christmas Eve dinner and/or activities is invited over. Lots of good food for sure. Dinner probably around 5 oclock.

Exercising....

2009-12-02T18:46:00.000-08:00

So I am trying to change my exercise philosophy.

Before I felt if I can't do it all the way all the time for the right amount of minutes then why do it.

But now I realize that unless I completely stop eating or only eat lettuce I am not going to lose weight with just diet.
I can do a very restrictive diet for a short amount of time but I can't keep it up.

I just like food to much I also like cooking and baking so its not easy to totally avoid it.

I came to the conclusion I have to exercise. I have no choice in the matter if I want to lose weight and be healthy.
I also know most likely I won't be exercising 4 times a week for an hour. But I can try to do more than I did before.
I hate exercising when I feel pressured I can enjoy exercising but I have to get past all that past emotional issues I have against exercise.

So what have I done?
I signed up for an adult dance class. It is once a week for an hour and they provide the babysitter.
Some days I get a good workout. Somedays mainly just good stretching.

I also try to go to zumba...a latin style dance aerobics.
I love zumba, even if I feel like I can't walk afterwards :)
I am never sore in the morning though.
I really stretches my bad hips and that is why I feel like I can't walk.
The class is offered Monday and Thursday nights at 8pm.
I go when Donny is home. I seriously would go every night if I could.
I really need to find a babysitter for when he is not home.

Anyone know a babysitter in my area.
I have lost weight.
I am not exactly sure how much because I don't know for sure what I was at when I started.
I believe I have lost more inches than weight
I am in a size smaller pants.
I notice all my clothes feeling looser or fitting better.
I have even worn some clothes that haven't seen the light of day for more than three years.
I am not trying to get skinny over night.
I am trying to change my views and life style to a more healthy active one.
I also want my weight loss to remain with me not just to gain it back as soon as I stop thinking about it so I am doing it slow and stead...thats what wins the race right!

I won!!!

2009-11-30T11:27:00.000-08:00

I won a ZHU ZHU pet. I randomly found a blog giveaway for a zhu zhu pet and signed up and won. How crazy is that. These are like the hottest holiday toy. They are almost impossible to find. Go here to see what they are.

Tummy Ache!

2009-11-18T15:40:00.000-08:00

We have been having a lot of tummy aches in our house lately!

Its because this is what Italia uses to describe anything going on in her belly.

If she is hungry, full, needs to go number 2.

My favorite gassy, like when she drank a lot of rootbeer fast and didn't know how to make herself burp:)

My least favorite...apparently the word "nap" or "bed" causes tummy aches!

Trip to CA

2009-11-14T16:58:00.000-08:00

Monday night Donny got home from work around 4pm and I left and took the dogs to the kennels than came home and we finished packing. Donny and I got the opportunity to go to California for his work. We were leaving early tuesday morning so we decided to spend Monday night at my moms since she was watching Italia while we were gone and we figured it would be easier. Italia new something was up all day and so she didn't take a nap until we left around 6 and she fell asleep in the car. So bed time was a joke. She ended up falling asleep in Grandmas bed around 11pm that night. Needless to say I did not get much sleep that night since we woke up at 4:30am.

Our flight left at 11:30am but since you are suppose to be at the airport 2 hours early we figured we would be hitting SLC during a busy time and wanted to plan accordingly. Anyone who knows me also knows I have to be way early. We were also planning for it to take longer to get going in the morning with Italia. Needless to say we got to the airport freaking early. We stopped and got gas, stopped and got breakfast and saw probably the least amount of cars I have ever seen in SLC. We ot to the airport at 8:30. Which wouldn't have been to bad except we were flying JetBlue and they don't have anyone at the ticket counter until 10:00 so we had to wait in the front part of the airport for an hour and a half before we could check in then were finally able to get into the airport so that we could walk around for awhile.

After we got to the airport caught a cab and made it to the hotel we grabbed a quick burger and just relaxed until it was time to get ready for the dinner. That night the dinner was in the hotel ballroom and it was a nice buffet dinner with many different things to choose from. Then we headed back up to the room and went to bed because the day was long and I had an even longer day ahead of me.

One of the wives was bound and determined to go to the price is right so we left the hotel at 4:15am and were in line at 5:30 where we were handed an order of apperance then we had to be back at 8:15 to stand around until they decided to let us in. We pretty much stood in line and moved from benches to different benches until they finally let us in at noon. The actual show was fun but I could have done with out the early morning and waiting session. None of us won:( but we didn't really count on it. But the two girls who made it to the show case where both seated near us so we will probably be shown on TV so look for me on Jan 21 2010. Then we headed back and made it back to the hotel with just a few hiccups. Then I got ready and headed to Dinner.
This night the dinner was at the Richard Nixon Library it was beautiful and the food was very fancy and nice. They had different buffet areas set up with some of the past presidents favorite food. I was trying to be adventurous and brave and give new foods a chance and not pick through everything:) It was very hard but I was semi successful in my goal. I even tried oysters on a half shell...it ended up in my napkin:)

The above picture is of the gardens at the Library I really wish my brain wasn't already sleeping so that I could have looked around and learned some neat facts and not just look at everything because my brain was glazed over:) They had the original house were Nixon was born and he and his wife are buried there. They also have an old presidental chopper and bullet proof limo.

The following morning I was planning on sleeping in then heading to the exercise room then get ready and find something to fill the day. That did not happen. Donny woke me up t 730 asking if I wanted to go to breakfast with Katie (another wife) I was so confused and outof it I kept asking Donny what he was talking about. Since I didn't want to be rude I got up. After breakfast I went back to the room and laid down then was woken up again to go to a shop with Katie. So I got up and went. Later I went with Donna(Donny's bosses wife and co owner) to Cheesecake factory it was pretty good. We then went to another mall. That night one of the Idaho Falls sales reps took us out to dinner to Roys. It is a hawaian fushion resturant. I decided to try sushi. I have always wanted to try it but was a little worried about trying it at some random place I figured this would be a good place. I have mixed feelings on it. Mainly it would be the textures I would have to get use to. Some I liked better then others. Donny had a yummy fish. Afterward we ran next store to Cheesecake factory I grabbed a red velvet cheesecake to take to our room. It was delish.
All the time I was off playing Donny was at an Automation Fair. He saw a lot of neat things for his trade and took a couple classes on controls and touch panels.

Friday morning we woke up at 5 to head to the airport. We got a limo to take us. We got to SLC around ten and headed home.

Halloween

2009-11-01T17:22:00.000-08:00

On Thursday we did our pumpkins. We decided to have Italia paint hers but I think her hands got more than the pumpkin. :) She also decided she needed to cut it so I gave her a butter knife.

Grandpa came to join the fun.

Donny getting in on the action.
This is at Grandma's ward truck or treat. This is Italia "helping"

Halloween night. Italia was mulan and this is Donny's finished product of his pumpkin and Donny's gargoyle that is our only decor:) Italia had fun going trick or treating with daddy and getting lots of treats then we went to a little neighborhood family halloween party. Overall I think we had lots of fun. Oh and Friday we took her to trick or treat street and got more candy and another chance to dress up. We met up with Ben, Destinee, and Dreadyn.

Pumpkin Pickin'

2009-10-24T08:35:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday everyone was in town at once and had no other plans so we headed to the pumpkin patch. We tried a new one by the zoo and I liked it a lot better. Italia had lots of fun and I will do a 2nd post my pics were having trouble so the train ride that she got to go on will have to be another post.

They had a little maze for the kids and tons of pumpkins Italia loved running and looking at all the pumpkins.

Horses.

2009-10-21T15:49:00.000-07:00

So Italia loves horses. Something she gets from her dad cause I sure don't like them. I don't know if I would say I hate them but its close they just scare me being so big and I always hear of people getting hurt on them so I just don't like them. Donny's parents have horses and Donny has been talking about taking Italia up to ride horses for awhile now but he has been so busy with working out of town that he just hasn't done it yet. So since he had a few days off in a row and we were no longer sick he decided to go and I tagged a long to make sure Italia was safe:) I am a big time worryer!

Wonderful DAY!!

2009-10-12T14:59:00.000-07:00

So there was some good coupons and sales on some stuff that we needed so I was determined to go today and get some good deals. Italia has been eating these quaker oat chewy granola bars that I picked up at Sam's for Donny's hunting trip but she only likes the peanut butter ones:) And the other day I was thinking that I really needed to keep my eye open for cheap pasta.

I got:
10 boxes Chewy Granola bars (mostly peanut butter)
4 boxes grownup granola bars:)
6 boxes instant oatmeal (Donny eats this most morings cause its fast easy and filling)
20 boxes pasta (smart taste and whole wheat)
1 hormel complete meal
2 packages bacon
some apples
some bananas
before sales and coupons total $145.92
after sales and couponstotal $18.05

Italia wanted her pic taken after I took the coupon pic
So have you seen the movie 7 brides for 7 brothers? If not I am sorry you have been deprived of one of the worlds best movies:) well on the movie there is a song that says "Wonderful, wonderful day" many times and so now Italia goes around singing "Wonderful DAY!" It is way cute except for when she is singing it in her crib when she should be sleeping. The other day she insisted that I take a "cheese" of "Wonderful Day". So these pics are of her singing and dancing to Wonderful Day.

Cookie Mess!

2009-10-11T08:49:00.001-07:00

Well since we have been sick me having the worst of it I have been laying around doing nothing. On Thursday Italia was feeling all the way better and I was very tired and feeling yucky and Italia was full of pent up naughty energy. I was to tired to do much about it so I just let her run a muck, destroying everything in sight. So Friday I was determined to give some things to help her get her energy out. I took her to dance class and she did so much better this time. Then she didn't take a nap which is really unusual for her after dance usually she is super tired but I guess because she had been lying around so much for the past week that she was not ready to take a nap:) So I was determined to make sugar cookies with her that day. Please don't mind my messy kitchen like I said I have been sick.

She had a lot of fun making the mess or should I say baking cookies.

been a while

2009-10-08T15:32:00.000-07:00

Iknow it has been awhile but I don't have anything good to post. Donny came home on tuesday last week a day early cause his back was hurting. He has been to the chiropractor a couple of times and is feeling better. He is now back in Challis. He was going to have a long weekend and we had a lot of stuff we were planning on getting done but then he hurt his back so we thought well maybe I can get some of the projects I want to do while he plays with Italia. Well then we all got sick it started wednesday night and by thursday we all had it. Luckily it is not the flu just a cold and I think I had the worst of it. I am still trying to get over it so we haven't done anything and both Italia and I missed our dance classes. I did go to this other work out class its Zumba it is pretty much latin style dance arobics I liked it I will be going as much as I can.

Donny's bday Big 30!

2009-09-22T16:05:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday Donny the big 30! You are a great Dad and Hubby We love you!

This picture has nothing to do with Donny's birthday. So Italia is obsessed with water if its in her sight she will find away to it, Donny has a problem with leaving his water where Italia can easily get it. So we were watching a movie and I notice Italia is over by the side table so I say "Donny I think Italia is in your water" Donny reached over to grab it and this is what he found.

Fabulous Friday Giveaway

2009-09-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

So over at Todays Creative Blog she is having her Fabulous Friday Giveaway go over and check it out. I love her blog she features other crafty blogs so its a great way to get inspired.

Okay so I know this is a horrible pic but it kindof shows my hair. This is the best I can do by myself Okay I have only tried a couple times:)

Fair Times

2009-09-09T12:42:00.000-07:00

On Monday we were able to go to the fair. Grandma came too. We all had a good time. Italia loved all the animals.

Donny getting ready for his elephant ear

Italia feeding the baby goat in the petting zoo. She is not afraid of animals which is good and bad.
Riding the tractor
She loved all the neighs aka horses

2009-09-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Okay so I joined this online class here on Sunday and school started on Monday and I forgot to go! So I am starting with today's assignment and may try to catch up:)

Homework: Pick one or the other, or be inspired.

~Read something on your book shelf for sheer pleasure.

~Blog about a book you've read over and over. Prompt: "I can rifle the pages of ____and easily find my favorite part about____."

"As the book finishes, I go as slow as I can.
I don't want to leave this book's world."

Well this was not hard for me. I read from my book shelf for sheer pleasure pretty much on a daily basis. But right now I am trying to read all the books on my shelf that I can not remember everything about to see if they are worth keeping around or if I should sell them. You see I have run into a dilemma...I have a lot of space on my built in bookshelves in my closet, however, it is already overflowing and I keep finding more books. So I need to make room for the books I truly enjoy plus I am sure I will constantly come into more books.

I can rifle the pages of __Work and the Glory, or the 1st book in the Boxcar Children series(my childhood favorite I reread it every couple years I had to buy a new one because my original is falling apart)__and easily find my favorite part about_I have a favorite part in each of the Work and the Glory Books and in the boxcar book it is when they go to the dump and find treasures.___."

Dedicated to shoes

2009-09-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

So any of you who know me well know I love shoes. I love them because they always fit and make you feel good unlike clothes:) Some of these shoes are horrible and if you own some I am sorry for offending you but please contact me for some shoe advice. Also these pics came from Zappos.com. And the shoes I like aren't necessarily the shoes I wear just wish I wore:)These are horrible even in pink and they came in about a hundred colors come on.

These lovely little things make me want to puke. Good new they are on sale for $450.00
These remind me of early 2000 late 1990's but bad.
These however I do enjoy!

And these beauties I have never seen in this color but own them in red and they make me drool everytime I see them in my closet. To bad I am not very good at walking in them
I have mixed emotion on these
I do like these with a cute black and white outfit a lady in my ward has similar ones but with bows and are way cute.
These last to I enjoy but I am not sure I would buy them they kind of remind me of lingerie

some randomness

2009-08-30T09:57:00.000-07:00

Well sorry for the small pics they are from my cell phone. This pic is from a bookstore in Logan during my girl get away with Angel. Warning "You have now entered the Twilight Zone"
My weekend with Angel was great up until the very end when we encountered a little more drama than expected but that is not a story for me to tell.
Yesterday we got the word the Papa Scott would be stopping in Pocatello for the night so we drove up to visit since he couldn't come home. Itaila enjoyed "Papa's big truck"
This Italia outside of Golden Corral after dinner looking cute well except for the hair that was from sleeping in the car.

cake giveaway

2009-08-26T08:51:00.001-07:00

There is a cake giveaway here. You have to live in Southeast Idaho to win since she doesn't ship or give your winnings to someone in Southeast Idaho (me).

About time....

2009-08-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I finally got my internet back and I was kind of lazy about downloading pics. We had my sister and her two kids here and played hard with them.

Italia concentrating on painting at the Youth Jam

Doing crafts with Grandma, Emma, Aiden, and Lexie
Italia loved Aiden maybe a little to much. She is a tough love kinda gal.

Internet Stinks

2009-08-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well my internet has been lacking lately. I have a bunch of pictures I want to post but most of the time I am lucky enough to load a page occasionally. So I am hoping to get something better this week.

Scentsy Giveaway

2009-08-03T07:20:00.001-07:00

My friend Jessica is having a giveaway on her blog. Check it out. But don't sign up cause I want to win:) Just kidding, kind of. So head over to here and enjoy.

Potty training...agh

2009-07-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

Well Italia is still not potty trained. Some of this is my fault and some is her. She was doing so good then we moved and kind of messed her up. Now somedays are better than others. She does know how to tell me she needs to go potty. Her favorite times to do this are usually as I put her in her crib for bed or nap. She also likes to tell us this in Sacrament.
Part of the problem is I am really nervous to put her in panties and let her run around. Soon after we moved in I tried this. I was so careful was around her all the time, took her potty a
bunch, and had lots of towels around. So she is sitting on my lap and I fell myself getting wet. She had peeded so much she didn't just soak herself, myself, but my brand new couch too. I was definately glad I got the stain protection. So we went up stairs I got her cleaned up and me cleaned up and while I changed my clothes (2 mins) she managed to pee twice in her room. How can someone so little pee so much.
We have had some success. The other night after bath she likes to run around in her towel for a few minutes. This time I didn't put a diaper on her right away, so she was running around naked. Then she goes "potty" so we go and sit on the potty. She wouldn't come off for ever and she ended up pooping. I was very happy. She got two chocolate treats ( she usually thinks she needs two chocolate treats just for looking at the potty)
I have been trying the timer thing, mainly for my benefit because I would get busy doing other things and forget to take her. So the first couple days doing it when the timer went off Italia would get all excited and yell "potty time" and run to the bathroom, now she yells"potty time, hide" and hides from me or crys, screams, kicks as I take her potty.????

Family Picture wall....and other ramblings

2009-07-27T18:49:00.000-07:00

Okay, so if I write above my first picture my type is bold and underlined and I can't get it off. So I will write everything down here. I have been working on my family picture wall...I am not a 100% happy with it but hopefully it will grow on me. I knew I wanted one but it took me forever to decide where and I kept changing my mind. finally I decided and I originally was going to use frames I already had or cheap ones I could find and possibly spray paint them all one color but I was able to get all the frames from Kohl's for a way good deal because I had coupons;) So I started filling in my pics...I can't find some of them that I want. They must be packed somewhere weird. So after many comments from other people about my on going project that still was not on the wall I decided I would hang them up with or with out the pics. Also I need to matte one pic because it doesn't fit right.
I cut out paper the size of all the frames and and taped them on the wall. Then I carefully measured where the hanging up things were on the back of the frame and marked it on the paper then nailed in my nails ( which were special hanging up pics nails with hooks) Then I ripped off the paper. They didn't work like I want them too. The pics are up on the walls but I think that I will get some sticky foam to stick on the corners to help straighten them up a bit and for a little more support. I don't trust my hanging job. That is what happens when project get left solely up to a novice. But if I want anything done inside before winter I will have to do it by myself. Donny has been working a ton of over time which is nice to fund all of are extra projects around the house. But it also makes it very hard to have time for those projects. He has also been working out of town more often then not. And the projects that he is concentrating on when home is out side ones.

On to the pink markers aren't they great! I love pink things. I also love office supplies two for one.

What a cutie

2009-07-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

I got this darling little dress with a matching doll dress. Italia loves it.
Her little pantaloons
Saying Cheese
I could not get her to smile cute when she was standing up to see the whole dress. this is her forced smile
Oh loves. Funny thing this girl likes her dollies, however get those babies away from her. She does not like babies. She will play with dollies, babies usually just get thrown. Occasionally she will play with a babies, She doesn't like real life babies either. She throws a huge tantrum if she sees me holding one.

Canning Apricot Jam

2009-07-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

So this morning I took 20lbs of apricots and turned them into 9 jars apricot syrup and 37 jars Low sugar apricot jam. I did it all by myself. I am proud of myself. I think it tastes more like fresh apricots then like 20 cups of sugar with a hint of apricot. All jars sealed:)

Deck!!!

2009-07-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

We started our deck today! Yeah, we are way excited. We have a large yard and so we made a large deck. It is 20x20. Once all the railing and chairs and tables get put out I am sure it won't seem quite so large but right now it reminds me of a dance floor. I love it:)

Getting started.

Italia testing it out to make sure it is sound
Italis posing with her tape measure. She was calling herself Italia the builder it was cute. She loved helping
Testing it out. When we opened the french doors for the first time since moving in and went out on the deck she got all excited. she had to bring out all these toys to play. The little worm ride on toy she decided it was a motor cycle and insisted on riding it on the deck. I did not like this very much because I am a major worry wart. We still have to stain it, add railings, and add stairs.

Random Pic

2009-07-13T07:34:00.001-07:00

In my attempts to do more blogging here is an old pic. I am going to shoot for the goal of a blog every other day. However I will have to work up to it;). This is Italia around 7mo old, such a cutie.
In other news Donny was able to get home yesterday instead of Tuesday so that is all good. We should be building our deck this week. Our grass is getting thicker. Italia is a cute as ever even when she is full of it. Or I should say over flowing with it. We are excited for visits from family over the next month or so.

Green Slim...update

2009-07-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

I am trying to do more fun things with Italia but also trying to be frugal and do things that are inexpensive or with things around the house. Here she is playing with green slim, cornstartch, water, and food coloring. the corn startch is about a $1 a box and next time I won't be quite so stingy with it. She had so much fun by the time we were done we were both covered and so was the patio. I also chose to do this before she got ready for the day so I could let her get messier without worrying.
After awhile she decided she needed to dump it out to get the full effect.:)

I did a new hair do not just piggies. I know the lines arent' to straight but this is what you get when she won't hold still for a second.

Top view
front view

We should be getting a deck in a week or two. We have grass growing in some areas. We are having fun. Donny has been out of town for work a lot which is a bummer but we knew that it was possible when he signed up for the job. I have got some great coupon deals lately I will be doing a coupon class for my aunts relief society and am working on a hand out so if any of you want a email of it let me know.

4th of July

2009-07-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

We went to the Balloon Launch in Driggs. It was way fun. I am trying to do more out the the norm things for our family, also on a budget. I am not very good at stepping out of the norm so we will see how I do with this goal. We started the day friday with running a few errands in IF then packed up and headed to Victor. I planned to drive during Italias nap because I knew she wouldn't take one when we got there. And she fell asleep on the way just as planned. I love when things go as planned:) We got there and then decided to go to the park and look at the craft/art fair and walked along main street to see what was there.

Italia loved every minute of them. We were able to stay in a condo in victor (for free) and we brought up sandwich stuff and munchies so we didn't have to spend a lot of money on food. We started the day at 4:30am. Italia did surprisingly well since we never wake her up early. She took a few minutes to wake up and be happy but she was ready go on time. She loved watching all the balloons. I am glad we decided to do this.

Our family pic not the best of us but the best lighting. In the others they are to dark.
I love the lighting on this one. How Italia is in the shadow and the balloon is lite up.

She was pointing at all the different balloons. She did a lot of pointing today.

confussion

2009-07-02T17:36:00.000-07:00

Apparently Italia had a bit of confussion with who was suppose to go into the Barbie car. She usually gets it right or at least toys. This is the first time she has done this and it was to funny. She has really been into Barbies lately...a girl after my own heart;0

Couponing

2009-06-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

So I have not done a lot of couponing lately with us moving, unpacking, organizing, yard work etc. But today I went, I got a babysitter and it was extra nice I got all my errands ran in an amazing amount of time.
Albertson's I spent about $12.oo and had to do 5 transactions
I got:
10 packages Oscar Meyer hotdogs ( they freeze great and Italia eats lots of hot dogs lately)
5 bottles Kraft dressing
2 jars Nalley pickles
5 tubs of Huggies wipes
Not to shabby
I am going to try to post more often maybe even twice a week:0

Its coming...

2009-06-29T14:37:00.000-07:00

My herbs are growing nicely. I had to re seed my parsley because it never came up but now I have a few little sprouts.

Italia didn't take a nap the other day. that is happening more and more even though she still needs them and if she won't go down she will fall asleep in the car if we go anywhere or in this case on the floor in the middle of playing.

Random/Fathers Day

2009-06-24T07:21:00.001-07:00

So Here are some pics from Fathers day and a few random ones.

Part of Donny's Father's Day gift was a kite (from Italia) and Sunday was the perfect day for it. It had a steady light breeze and the kite would just float then go higher and higher.

Italia helping

This wheelbarrow was also part of his gift so Italia could help him in the yard. Don't worry he also got a car buffer thing and flash light and two new batteries that he wanted.
Look Ihave something besides dirt. Italia picked out all the flowers and helped me plant them
Italia enjoying a nice day.
My little indoor garden
I put curlers in my hair the other day and Italia needed some too.

2009-06-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

So I have created a new table centerpiece. I love it. And it smells really good I can smell it all the way up stairs.

The Runner is from Pampered Chef and it has sparkles on it and little beaded tassels on the ends. Don't mind the wrinkles I still have no idea where my iron or ironing board is at the moment. I first saw the wood holder and thought that would be really cute with pears or something. Since pears are kind of in right now but they don't really go with my kitchen. So I thought that would be cool if I can find pomegranates. And I did I was way excited when I saw them. I also thought that even though it would look okay to just put the fake fruit in it and leave it at that I thought it needed a bit more. I found this potpourri and I loved the smell then I thought hey I could put this in it. I think it looks great. I love being able to switch out a couple decor pieces in my house to give me a little something new so I don't fell to inclined to change the big things to often.

A Bit of Crazy

2009-06-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

So my computer/internet where acting up and I had some really cute pictures to post. Donny had to dump everything from the computer so now those pics are on a disc somewhere and now I will have to search for them. Donny has been up in Challis working. He went up last Thursday night and was able to come home Tuesday night (he arrived around midnight) just to turn around and leave again on Thursday evening. Hopefully he will come home on Tuesday but there is a chance of him staying longer. Hopefully not to long cause I am signed up the go to the cannery to get honey on Thursday.

I have been learning and working towards our one year food storage probably since we moved from Twin. We have been doing as good as possible but I couldn't get to much while at my moms. ( I probably got more then I should have ;)) So right now we have a little bit of a lot of stuff but the only thing I have a year of is powdered milk. So we are really going to concentrate on getting our years supply. Because I already have a little of most things I am going to pick a couple things every month/paycheck to go and buy a years supply. Some months we will be able to do more then others. I did go get a years supply of salt from Sam's club. They had a 4lb box for $.88. I do still want to get some rock salt, sea salt, light salt, etc.

I have been making bread like a mad women! We have decided that not only are we going to have a food storage but we are going to use it. Including the wheat:0 So I have been grinding my own wheat and making bread. It is healthier and cheaper. That is what most food storage food is, healthier and cheaper. I even had pics of the bread, cinnamon rolls, and cookies I have made. We also trying to eventually get away from premade food from the grocery store. They are not cheaper overall and are loaded with fat, salt, and preservatives. So my goals are to freeze a lot. When I am cooking I am going to try to make extra and freeze either in Family size or individual sizes. This way even if I am busy, tired, lazy, sick, or if Donny is in charge we always have a quick and healthy home made meal at our finger tips that just need reheated. I am also trying to be better about grocery shopping and I don't mean coupons. I use coupons they can be great when used correctly but you don't have a coupon for everything you need or want. I am trying to cut out so many "quick" trips to the grocery store that really aren't quick and I end up spending $50-75 even when I was planning on buying two things. I am trying to stretch the time in between trips by being more creative or making something even if I am lacking an ingredient (obviously not a main one)

I love to try new recipes wo I have a really bad habit of picking 7 meals and having to buy almost every ingredient for those meals and a lot of those ingredients you use a little of then have lots left over you don't know what to do with. So I am trying to make recipes that use some of the same ingredients so they go further. I think I am doing good so far. Obviously I am not perfect and I have a lot more to go but I am trying and that is how you accomplish goals is by starting them:)

House decor pics

2009-05-29T09:39:00.000-07:00

Here a few decor pics and pics of vinyl that I put up

This is above Italias bed

bigger pic
These are cool rod iron globe things this wall definatly needs more but its a good start
My chalk board with menu vinyl

More vinyl

2 year pics

2009-05-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of Italias two year pics.

Life has been pretty crazy. The first night at our new house was the night before Easter. A week later we left for our trip to Disneyland. We had lots of fun. We came home a week after that and have been attempting to finish all the little things, unpack, organize, clean, and attempt some yard work. Also Donny and I have new phone numbers so if anyone wants those leave me your email address also if you want my new address.
I am going to attempt to stay caught up now.

I'm Back!

2009-05-21T09:08:00.001-07:00

We finally got internet hooked up so I hope to get a update post up a little later today.

On our way

2009-05-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

I hope to have internet next week so stay tuned. We are in our house and back from vacation. We poured cement the other day and I am constantly trying to un pack boxes. I am haveing a hard time cause I can't decided where I want to put everything. We found a great deal on a bed it looks great and it is like sleeping on a cloud. As soon as I get internet I will post pics of how things are coming.

Outage

2009-04-14T18:21:00.000-07:00

I will be out of commission internet wise for awhile I probably won't post for over two weeks

Were Moving In!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-10T20:07:00.001-07:00

Yeah we are moving in tomorrow(saturday) it is going to be crazy for a while but a good crazy anyone in the rigby area and wants to visit give me a jingle!

Almost There

2009-04-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

We closed with the bank on Friday. We are now the proud owners of a mortgage:) We have to finish the last of the inspections this week and hopefully we will be sleeping there on Friday night.

Italia is 2

2009-04-01T07:00:00.000-07:00

My baby is really not a baby any more. Sorry in advanced for such a picture loaded long post. Italia was born April 1, 2007 at 7:11Am is 7lbs 9oz and 21in long. She was definitely no joke thou. We had been in the hospital since about 3pm the day before. She was born on Conference Sunday. One week before Easter. The labor wasn't to difficult besides the fact that my epidural wore off and they wouldn't believe me until after Italia was born and the doctor started stitching me up and I was wincing (wouldn't you wince) Then he said "oh your epidural did where off" duh but I won't go to much into the delivery cause this is mostly about Italia. The delivery not to tuff the recovery horrible. That is also another story. I could probably write a book on it.

Above: Isn't Italia the most beautiful baby in the world! I love this little smirk it is such her attitude from day one. Sweet but tough.

Above: first outing to the mall. about a week old.
Above: my little fairy. I have been trying to encourage her to like fairies and butterflies from day one however, she prefers cars and helicopters. I am not letting up yet though!
Above: first family pic

Above: I have had to do her hair since day one. Even during her bald stage when she had the comb over. (you will see later) also sorry for some lacking in times I had to get the baby ones form myspace and I don't have the in between pics available on this computer.

Above: About 3 mo old. just testing out the high chair. Not really eating yet.Above: about 4 mos. This time is her chubby bald phase but still oh so cute.

Above: So darling

Above: My little ladybug for Halloween. about 8 months old.Above: Daddy and Italia throwing rocks into the water is in about 14 months here
Above: Fourth of July. 15mo

Above: Kindermusik. about 18 mo
Above: Modeling (she really can be a girly girl when she wants to be)

Above: Family photo we had taken in Dec 20mo
Above: Helping scrap the sidewalk.

Above: Christmas 08

Above: Italia loves horses or as she calls them "neighs"

Above: Valentines Day.

Italia keeps us on her toes but we love her.

ten great things about Italia
1. When she laughs really hard it cracks me up
2. She can do somersaults all by herself
3.She loves animals (sometimes to much)
4.She loves to cook
5.She is talking more each day
6. she is very active
7. She is now a good sleeper (for the most part) it took me almost two years to get her to that point. I guess she was making up for it cause she slept really well as a new born for a couple months. ( she knew I needed it)
8. She goes potty in the toilet some times (IF I haven't been so busy lately with the house I am sure she would be potty trained hopefully soon)
9. She is a good helper, whether I want her to be or not
10. She is just so stinkin' cute

Closing!?!

2009-03-26T12:19:00.000-07:00

We are trying to close by next friday! I hope it all goes well. Donny has to go to Challis tonight until possibly next tuesday. This is not good timing. We are suppose to have people help us move our stuff from the storage room to the garage on saturday. Our bank guy says we need to finish the grout in our bathroom ( I will probably do this saturday night) hope I don't screw it up cause the tile looks awesome. Carpet comes monday. Our final bank inspection is hopefully thursday so hopefully I can arrange our other inspections so we can get our occupancy certificate by Wed. Our refigerator is in and working, dishwasher and microwave in and working, the heating guys are suppose to come and finish up today. I am getting a new couch delivered on Friday. AHH stress. I just need to breath and calm down a little. Its just hard making sure all the little important things are done.