Here are a few pics of the girls from our trip to Laramie, WY over Mother's Day Weekend. Brian's sister graduated with her Masters from U of W. We are so proud of her. She has been faced with many challenges and never gave up on what was important to her!

The girls did really well in the car. Hopefully, we will have a repeat performance when we leave this weekend for our drive to TX!

Hadn't Heard

Today Avery and Delaney were running around beating each other up. I was getting tired of one or the other coming to me crying about what the other one did. I told Avery to slow down and to keep the noise level down.

Avery says, "but mom we are playing HIT!"

I told Avery we don't hit and that is not a game.

So, she responds with, "we are playing PUSH!"

What fun games!

Delaneysim

I haven't posted any funny stuff that Delaney has been saying, mainly because she is just now talking in sentences.

I thought this was too funny not to document.

The other morning I was getting dressed and putting on my bra. She comes up and points up at me and say's,

"Fasten seatbelt?"

Yep, that is exactly what I am doing. Strapping myself in!

I am loving this age.

And, seriously, whoever said that it Terrible Two's was seriously mistaken. 3 is ROUGH! Avery is giving us a run for our money! She is turning four in July and I am hoping it is a better age.

Domestic Diva

One of the many things that always needs to get done, is LAUNDRY! I hate laundry, I feel that I am always doing laundry. I probably am. I have two little girls that change clothes multiple times a day and a 2 yr that empties all the drawers of clean clothes. No telling how much clean laundry I am re-washing. It gets old. I am tempted to not even have a dresser in their room!

One of my biggest irritation is that with two little girls, clothes get ruined by stains. I might be a little overly OCD about their clothes getting dirty, but mainly because I have not found a stain remover that in my opinion works! Matter of fact, I just ruined a brand new shirt of mine after treating it with OxyClean. The stain is gone, but so is the color of the shirt.

I need your help. What do you use for stain remover? What works for those pesky little stains that kids always manage to get on their clothes?

Tell me what works for you. I want to cut down on the amount of time I spend doing laundry, and washing and rewashing clothes to get those stains out would help!

Blessed

I have been blessed with some really amazing people in my life. Today, was a bittersweet day. I thought we were going to play group this morning, but showed up to a surprise going away party with some of the sisters in our relief society. I was so surprised and overwhelmed with emotion. I know there was a reason we moved into the area we did, it was to be in the ward that we are in right now. When we moved in, there weren't many young families. It was more of an established family neighborhood. I was more shocked to find out that there wasn't a play group or any of those fun activities within the ward. When I was called to be in the Enrichment Board more than a year ago, I started up a book review, recipe exchange, play group and a few others that were a flop. I am not trying to toot my own horn, but I have always tried to have the attitude that you get out what you put in. I wanted, no I needed, friends. I am a social being. It was my way of forcing people to hang out with me:) HAHA! I am glad I did, I have met some wonderful ladies that I wouldn't have gotten to know other wise. I hope that when I leave that they will continue to do these groups, which I think they will. I hope that the sisters enjoy them as much as I have. Thank you, Holly! What you did for me today did more for me than you will ever know.

Moving is bittersweet. I hate change and moving out of my comfort zone. I hate leaving my great friends who have been nothing but a support system for me and a blessing in my life. I know this is what needs to happen and I am sure I will love our new itty bitty town. After all, it is what you make of it.

Product Review

Tortillaland Uncooked Tortillas!

A friend told me to try these, so we did! Usually, on Saturday's Brian makes homemade breakfast burritos and the girls love quesadillas, so we always have tortillas in stock.

Last time I was at Costco, I picked up a pack. The come in a two pack, 44 count, package. I don't remember how much I paid for them, sorry.

PROS:

They are really yummy! They taste hot and fresh. If you know what Betos or Cafe Rio tortillas taste like..they are close! That says a lot!

Versatile: Make crepes or burritos with them, just depending on the level of doneness (is that a word?) when you cook them changes the texture and what you can do with them.

Take a package and use them and then put the other pack in the freezer until ready to use. The open pack is good for 3 weeks in the fridge.

CONS:

They take some work, not much but still more than just opening a package and using right away. Heat a pan and cook on 30 seconds or so on each side and they are done.

Not as cheap. I don't remember the price but I know they are more than 5 dollars. But you do get 44 of them?!

So, if you are a tortilla eating family, try them! They will not disappoint.

Bountiful Baskets

This is what I got this morning! A friend of mine introduced me to Bountiful Baskets a few weeks ago. Can I just say I love it! I got all of the above for 15 dollars (plus $1.50 tax). It is a farmers co-op, so you get the wholesale price that restaurant and grocery stores receive. This morning I got 6 ears of corn, peaches, key limes, 5 mangos, bananas ( a little green, but they will ripen), tomatoes, romaine lettuce, brussel sprouts, 2 bags of mini carrots, 2 yellow squashes, a bag of apples, and a small seedless watermelon. Luckily, my girls love fresh fruits and veggies. You do not know before what you will get, each week it is different foods. After I get my basket, I plan our meals around using fresh fruits and veggies. Thanks again, Stephanie!

A friend of mine sent this of Avery and her daughter! Too cute!

Update

The last 6 and 1/2 months have been hard on our family. Brian was laid off from his job of almost 2 years, but was kept on as a consultant. But, that meant no insurance and couldn't really depend on a pay check. Some months he worked a lot and some months he worked maybe a day and a half of it. Luckily, Brian received a severance package that helped us put off from filing for unemployment.

When Brian told me about him being laid off, I can't tell you that I was nice to him about it. I was very angry. I certainly did not have the "everything will work out" attitude. Let's face it, the economy was only getting worse at that time. I screamed and cried with my sisters and did the whole "why me" pity party. We were a couple days from getting our approval on a FHA home loan and I finally felt that things were working out for our family. I definitely had what you would call a test of my faith. I didn't understand why I didn't have the huge home, new car, huge savings account, and so forth that I thought I would have at this age/time in my life. Do you notice, that I say I. It was all selfish.

I am reading a book by Sheri Dew, "God Wants a Powerful People" and a quote in her book that really put things in perspective for me during this time and basically told me to GET OVER IT was,

"EVERYTHING that's important- you can take with you"

She said that life can give you whiplash. How can you be obedient, have faith, have a testimony of Jesus Christ if you are not tested on these things! I definitely have been tested on my faith and prayer.

A couple hours after Brian called and told me about his job, I got a call from a staffing agency asking if I needed a job. At this point in time I was doing about a Saturday a month doing flu vaccines for a company out of AZ. This staffing agency was having me do H1N1 vaccines with the Health Dept. I was able to work more hours and make more money. Which was a answer to our prayers!

Brian was laid off Oct. 19th and I got a full time job at a long term acute care facility on Nov. 9th. Again, full time, more money but BENEFITED! Brian, if you aren't aware, has a seizure disorder and his medications are 200 dollars a month for 1 of the prescriptions, and that is generic. We needed insurance. I am grateful that I have an education that allows me to easily get a good paying job. Unfortunately, it was night shift. I have never worked nights before, but was willing to do whatever it took for us to survive as a family. Luckily, I love my job. I am not going to say their wasn't complaint, because there was much wailing, growling and nashing of teeth...and that was just on my part:) I hated working nights. I hated not being available to my kids. I am glad that Brian was able to be at home with them during the days and nights, but lets get real...dad's just aren't cut out to be a full time stay at home daddy! or at least our daddy!

I hated leaving them, I hated not being the one to comfort them, or tuck them in to be at night. I was the story time, playground, type of mom and now my kids were television watchers because Brian just didn't know what to do with them at times. We both learned to really appreciate what the other did to contribute to the family before. Avery would get to the point where she would just tell me to go to bed or go to work so she could keep watching her tv shows or do something that she knew mommy wouldn't always allow, but dad would. Ugh, that killed me to hear my 3 yr old talk to me that way!

I wish I could of been one of those moms who could have it and do it all. But, I quickly realized that something always was being sacrificed. Time with my girls, my husband, friends, my family, the laundry, my church calling, and the list goes on. I don't know how moms who work full time do it! It was rough!

I know we were not forgotten though. I know the Lord knew the "bigger" picture. We didn't have to worry about our bills being paid, we were able to pay off a lot of debts and provide for our needs. Brian was able to develop a strong bond with his daughters that he wouldn't of been able to do otherwise.

But, here is the good news! After, tons and tons of applications and job interviews, Brian got a JOB! Yippeee! Bad news, we have to move. I never thought I would live in Utah, but I have really grown to love it here and am going to miss many wonderful people that I have met. Even though I hated working nights, I really am going to miss my job and the wonderful people I worked with. Brian starts work tomorrow, so I will be a single mom during the week and then he will come home on the weekends. We are moving 3 hrs away to a small town in Idaho. He will look for a place and hopefully be up there by the beginning of June!

A lot of changes for our family. Now that I am not working, I will hopefully have more time to update our blog. Thank you for all of your prayers on our behalf. I know that we have been blessed and our prayers have been answered. I am not going to lie and say it was easy, because it wasn't, but we are alive. As, my wise baby sister said, this was just our "season" of trial and testing.