Party on June 9th!!!

From Because Life Should Never Be Ordinary

I am having a Shelf Reliance Party on June 9th at 7:00pm and it is open to anyone who wants to come. I have started loving Shelf Reliance and actually wished I'd heard aboutd it earlier. Here are 3 main reasons why I love it and think it's worth your time to start checking it out.

***You can have food storage items delivered to your door. It's important to have food storage built up in case of emergencies. You can join the Shelf Reliance "Q" and have items shipped to your home for whatever amount you budget for (anywhere from $25 a month on up). I have $60 of food storage items shipped to my home each month. The money comes from my grocery budget and I'm slowly building up my food supply.

***They have great organizing shelves from small units to fit in your pantry to large units to fit in your garage (or utility closet). Click here to see mine.

***The food is healthy and good and helps save money. A can of powdered eggs can be used while baking, the powdered milk is yummy and can help lower your milk budget, etc.

Here is the website *prices are much lower if purchased through my party ; )
Shelf Reliance
If you like it and would like to make an order online, please go to my friend Shelbi's website HERE and let her know that you are ordering through my party when you make the order. There is a PDF file available with the most current party prices available that I can email to you if you would like!

Good News!!!

Tony has been approved to return to work!!!! He will start back next Tuesday. We are so happy. He still needs to go to physical therapy twice a week but he has a great boss who has been so patient and accomodating. I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief. We had some reimbursement checks just come in (like after insurance ended up paying more for his teeth implants, etc.) so we have squeaked by but just barely. It's a huge blessing that we've been able to make it through this period of little income and a blessing that he is finally able to return. Of course we will be sad to not see so much of him but this is the sacrifice we signed up for when he decided to do the airplane mechanic program. The boys get soooo excited when he comes home from school. I guess we can just say we're lucky to have had this extra time with him while he's been recovering from his surgery. He only has about one more year of school. We've already made it this far!

"Pray without ceasing"

1 Thessalonians 5:17

I just have to share so Max can always know how his faith began at such a young age. Today he came up to me and said, "I said a prayer all by myself today". I told him that's wonderful and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are happy that he prays and shows his faith. He said, "I want to say a prayer right now". Since Ryan was making noise I asked him to wait until we could all be quiet and reverent together. He said he wanted to pray by himself. Okay. So he went in the other room, knelt down and prayed. I asked him how he felt. He said he felt good inside and he his faith in God is strong. Then he wanted to say another prayer and so he went and knelt by himself and asked him he would be able to ride his bike today (it rained hard yesterday). I love the faith of this little boy. What an example he is.

Max is a Two-Wheelin' Crazy Boy and Tony is Too!

Today while I dealt with day 2 of sickness and feeling better by this evening, daddy took Max outside after he got home from school. Max kept asking him to take off his training wheels so he did. A couple of weeks ago when he did this, Max wanted them back on, but this time...


And while this is very exciting, it's also very exciting to be able to say that Tony can ride his bike again. On May 17th after physical therapy, he got on his bike and took it for a spin. Then he got the trailer out and took the boys for a ride too. He's gone about 17 miles since then. Last summer he rode a bike for maybe a block but never very far so we are so excited that he can take it out and ride on a daily basis.

Seattle Day Trip

Two of my favorite Beckys came up for a visit with a new friend, Sasha. We basked in the beautiful sights of Seattle on a gorgeous day. People were sun bathing at Gas Works Park it was so nice.
We paid a visit to the troll (happened to drive right by)

From May 2011

That's right Tony, I'm holding his hand ; )

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We visited Theo's Chocolate Gift Shop. Yummy, but no pics.
Gas Works park and the city line were gorgeous

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We didn't even watch the fish throwers this time (gasp) but still got a picture

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And more pictures

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Afterwards we stopped by the house so the Beckys could see Tony and the boys before they headed back down to Oregon. And Ryan LOVED cousin Becky. Ryan is less likely to warm up to someone off the bat. He'll cling to mama, but with Becky, he wanted to be on her lap and reading a book. So cute!

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Front Bathroom Redo

Before:

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After:

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Just need to touch up paint around new lights

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The basic changes are that when we moved in the towel holders didn't match, it badly needed new paint and I really wanted to change out the gold lights. So we have lights and towel holders that match, new paint and a new shower curtain/towels to boot.

Guy's Night, Girl's Night and a trip to the beach

Max and Tony went on a father/son campout to Ensign Ranch and they had a great time. Of course. Marshmallows, campfire and rock throwing equal a good time for Max. While they were gone, I had some friends over for pizza. We all had our littlest littles with us so we watched, "Tangled". So cute. Good times.

This afternoon, Tony rested his ankle while Max, Ryan and I explored Seahurst park with friends. The gorgeous sun was hiding behind clouds by the time we got there, but it was still gorgeous on the Puget Sound.
Max and Elena were being brave log walkers.

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And Ryan was too.

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Max and Elena were being pirates (and scuba divers and Ariel) and Courtney and I got to be sea monsters.

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Here's Ryan taking his turn at the helm.

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And here's the group shot, including Ryan's belly.

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And we beat the rain home!

Tony News!

I sometimes forget to write about things if there are no pictures attached, but...Tony doesn't have to wear the walking boot anymore. He continues with physical therapy twice a week and walks with an ankle brace and a cane. Things continue to get better for him. He will hopefully, hopefully, hopefully be cleared to go back to work on light duty sometime next week. It's just paperwork processing at this point (we hope).

Can we just say how grateful we are for our current property management situation that allows us to cut down on so much of our monthly cost? And we're so grateful for my other employment opportunity where I make reminder phone calls for a therapist. We've barely touched our savings and Tony hasn't worked since March 8th. We're really ready for some more income though at this point so lots of prayers are being said that they will finally clear him for light duty.

Enjoying the Outdoors

Here are the boys and a friend enjoying the great outdoors. We spent at least 3 hours outside yesterday. it was nice. Max has the imagination. He used tiles that came off our roof that we can't fit into the garbage can yet and made them part of his race track.

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Cutie pie!

Joy School-All the Small Things

Today we talked about seeds and looked at different kinds of seeds in fruit. We talked about what seeds we can eat and what seeds we don't eat. We read this book which is adorable:

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Grandma Kate got us into Audrey and Don Wood's books.
We made seed art. Note to self--do not use alfalfa seeds. They are small and get everywhere!

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Then we read Thumbelina, which the kids loved loved. In fact, this cutie loved it so much that she wanted me read it again during free time.

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The boys were on to building airplanes.

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Then we made fairy houses (Thumbelina became a fairy, right?) Only we were supposed to have good weather and dry plants so we cold make the houses out of nature. That didn't happen and ew made indoor fairy houses out of some craft supplies. They look really comfortable though. Any fairy will be quite appreciative, I'm sure.

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Mother's Day 2011

5 blog entries in one day. That might be my record.

I didn't think about taking pictures with the boys on Mother's Day. Next year! I do have wonderful memories though! Every year at church, the primary-age children (3-12) sing to the mothers. It's a pretty big understatement to say that I was excited to have a child in primary that would be singing to me. Max walked up there with his teacher and stood in the front of all the kids and sang, "Mother Dear, I Love You So". He smiled so big and was looking right at me. Yes, I cried. Then they sang, "I Often Go Walking" which he didn't really know so he joined in on the last word. He had the biggest grin. That was a memory that I will never forget. In the car later I told Max again how happy it made me that he sang for me. He told me that it made Jesus happy too. I told him that I had cried because it touched my heart. He said that they were tears of joy. I love that boy.
Ryan and his teachers made this is nursery

From May 2011

And later, Grandma and Grandpa were able to do the Easter egg hunt with the boys that didn't happen when we couldn't go to Montana on Easter weekend.

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Thank you Tony for making dinner and for trying to incorporate help so that I didn't have to do all the cooking and cleaning on Mother's Day. I love that you do so much for me even when I know it isn't easy with your ankle pain and maneuvering around on a cane. You are a helpful, wonderful husband!

And the Birthdays Never Stop

This time it was Uncle Doug! We got to celebrate his birthday this weekend!

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A Game of Camera Chicken

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Happy Birthday Doug!

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and Tony's Percoset is kicking in

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It's Official---My Son is Braver Than Me!

Tiffany Park Ward Talent Show--Presenting the Sunbeams

Max's class at church (all the three year-olds who turn 4 this year) is called the Sunbeams. he has the BEST teacher who is so sweet and supportive. Us moms decided to have them sing for the talent show and this sweet teacher helped them practice and went up there with them. So cute! Max gets a little less shy at the end of the song :)


And just in case my friend Shelbi didn't have her camera with her, I took these pics of her adorable little one rocking out with Michael Buble (I mean, Dick Desler).

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Oh, and check out this little stud

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A Night Out with the Girls

Some friends and I had a girl's night away for another friend's birthday and decided it was too fun to not repeat, but money-wise and schedule-wise, it's not feasible to do it for everyone's birthday, so...we spent a night away to celebrate three of our birthdays that are close together. I love these girls and I love the fact that I could get away from responsibilites just for a night. And I love that I have a supportive husband that doesn't mind holding down the fort so I can just go have fun! He got lucky and had his parents' visit fall on this weekend so he didn't have to do it alone, but he would have anyway.
We stayed up late playing games and talking and laughing. On Saturday the sun was out. At moments it was a little breezy, but overall it was a beautiful day for shopping, sight-seeing, taking in a movie and having the most wonderful mani-pedi.

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Just because I only have about 20 pics of the fish throwers (and I didn't even get the shot with the fish in the air)

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We ate lunch at a creperie at Pike's Place. YUM!

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I was trying to capture all the flowers in this shot

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so I took this shot too

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I'm not a great photographer anyways, but it's really hard with the bright sun out! I felt so relaxed after this day was over!

Confessions of a Birthday Diva

I've heard people say that sometimes people only put out the "good" in their blogs and don't create a realistic picture of their life. I think the fact that it's on the internet for anyone to happen upon makes it hard for a "real" picture to come out. There is something that I'm learning, that I want my children to learn someday too. Their mother is a closet birthday diva. I love birthdays and I love celebrating people's birthdays. I also have high expectations, unrealistic high expectations and it's kind of ridiculous. I read this quote and I thought it was great, "Perhaps the only expectations we should cling to are those having to do with our own moral and benevolent behavior. It is unlikely that we will ever get more out of a relationship than we are willing to invest to realize our expectations". Patricia Russell

So I was kind of down this birthday because some people didn't mark my birthday in red on their calender and remember (not literally, but you know what I mean). To me, it meant that I wasn't important to them instead of maybe they're busy, maybe birthdays aren't that big of a deal to them, they didn't know, etc., etc. So, even though I had a wonderful birthday, I still had this little rain cloud over my head that was thinking about the people who didn't remember my birthday. So, I decided that I would stop being self-centered and be grateful to all the wonderful people who did remember. I don't imagine that in the same situation, Jesus Christ would have felt the way I did or sorrowed like I did. I want to follow his example of love and charity and selflessness. I want to always be grateful for my blessings and not have a pity party in my head. I was blessed to have love shown to me by family and friends and I want to share that love.

Birthday Fun!

Cinco de Mayo came this year and it brought my birthday with it. I was able to go shopping by myself as a friend came to watch the boys for me. Tony had beautiful flowers delivered and we celebrated with Tony cooking dinner and creating a birthday-watermelon for me. I was kind of down about my birthday and not even the fact that I'm aging, but that I'll write about that my innter birthday diva next. Even though, I was kind of down, I appreciated so much that my friend came over so I could have "me-time". I also got some wonderful cards and that husband of mine is pretty sweet. Here are a few pics of the birthday singing.

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Pretty awesome!

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And then Tony mutilated our watermelon man

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