If I Had...

I saw this on another blog and thought it was cute, so I decided to do it too! It was actually a lot harder than I thought it would be and it took me a while to decide what I'd do with certain amounts of money.

If I Had...

$1: I would give it to Taylor to put in his piggy bank.
$5: I would go to the Dollar Store and buy some random craft supplies.
$10: I would buy a couple books from Amazon that I've been wanting.
$25: I would take Taylor to the Living Planet Aquarium.
$50: I would go to Pei Wei with my hubby for some nummy sweet 'n sour tofu.
$75: I would buy some new winter clothes at Ross.
$100: I would put it toward paying off the Neon (yep, still paying that dang car off).
$200: I would go on a shopping spree at Roberts.
$500: I would take a spontaneous trip with my hubby to St. George/Zion National Park.
$1000: I would cancel our lease and move to a 3 bedroom townhome.
$5000: I would pay for Sean to get Lasik surgery.
$10,000: I would pay off the majority of my student loan.
$25,000: I would pay off all my debt and open an IRA.
$50,000: I would put a huge down payment on a house and invest the rest.
$1,000,000: I would buy a house, invest $500,000 for retirement, take my family on an amazing European vacation, and donate the rest to charity.

What would you do?

Halloween 2009

This was one of the best Halloweens I've had in a long time, mostly because my little bug was so excited about it this time around. For months he's talked about pumpkins and dressing up like "Leo-ardo" the ninja turtle (completely his idea; Sean surprisingly had nothing to do with this decision).

We started our Halloween festivities with carving pumpkins and decorated the porch. Tay loved pointing out to our visitors which jack-o-lantern was his.

Then later last week we baked a TON of Halloween sugar cookies for the neighbors (and ourselves). Taylor helped with the cookie cutters, and then when it came time to decorate he was in charge of sprinkles. He thought it was super fun, but very quickly started demanding a sample of our cookie creations.





On Friday night we went to our ward's trunk-or-treat. Sean and I dressed in our Doba Day garb as the Mad Hatter and March Hare. We both got lots of compliments on our costumes and it was nice to wear them again since we put so much work into them. Taylor had lots of fun during the trunk-or-treat, but, "Trick or Treat" quickly turned into, "Gimme some candy!" We had to have a little chat about the proper trick-or-treat etiquette.

On the big night Tay was super excited about going trick-or-treating, but we had a hard time convincing him to wear his costume. It was a bit frustrating that the kid who had talked for two months about how much he wanted to dress as a Ninja Turtle now didn't want to wear his costume for more than a couple of minutes. He was fine once we got to my aunt's brothers house and he got to see all the other kids dressed up too.



He had a blast trick-or-treating this year and was a little better able to keep up with the older kids. He had a hard time just saying "thank you" and continuing to the next house after he got candy though; he wanted to tell each homeowner his life story and thank them a million times over for their generous candy giving. He also had a hard time being assertive and at least once was lost in the back of the pack of kids and didn't get candy. It was so cute watching my little turtle run from house to house, and he got pooped out pretty quick.





It was a really great Halloween this year and now we're gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas! I love celebrating the holidays with my hubby and sweet boy!

Carving Punkins

When we went to Hee Haw Farms a two weekends ago we bought some pumpkins to bring home and carve. We got as far as drawing the faces on them, but then they just sat on our kitchen table while we worked feverishly on the craziness that was Doba Day (and unpacking boxes we shouldn't have packed in the first place. *sigh*).

Well, this last weekend we finally had a break from the mayhem and broke out the pumpkin carving kit. Taylor loved watching Daddy pull out the "punkin guts" while Mommy gagged a lot. I don't know what it is about that gooey pumpkin slime, but my poor stomach just can't take even the sight of it.




After our pumpkins were officially gut-less, we went to work cutting out the faces while Taylor looked on in amazement. We each had our own pumpkin this year and Tay Bug is so proud of his silly little jack-o-lantern. We had a bunch of fun and love that we can celebrate the festivities of Halloween with our little man!



Oh, and here's an idea I got from one of my favorite new blogs - take a baby pumpkin, cut it in half (like you're slicing a dinner roll), hollow out both sections, set a tea light in each one, and voila - you have a set of sweet and spooky Halloween candle holders!

Someday I Will...

- Keep up with my journaling.
- Accept myself exactly as I am.
- Not have an attitude about cleaning my house.
- Grow an amazing vegetable garden.
- Love myself enough to resist eating 3 fudge bars in a row.
- Become an amazing chef.
- Have a beautiful home filled with the sound of children's laugher.
- Go back to college.
- Write a novel.
- Truly accept the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
- Stop giving myself guilt trips.
- Stop letting others give me guilt trips.
- Allow myself to be surprised.
- Build a treehouse for my kids (and me).
- Travel to amazing places where I don't understand a word anyone is saying.
- Learn to play the piano. Or guitar. Or cello. Or all three.
- Read every page of the Holy Scriptures.
- Stop being afraid.
- Be amazingly, recklessly spontaneous.
- Let go of the past, stop worrying about the future, and LIVE.

-- Journal entry from August 24, 2009

Doba Day 2009

Yesterday was Doba Day at Sean's work. It's a day Sean and I look forward to for months and is a crazy, zany day when all the employees go crazy celebrating the company's birthday. Last year we had a lot more prep time and Sean - dressed as the Doba Mad Scientist - came away as the 2008 Doba Day Champion.

This year we didn't decide to do anything for Doba Day until just a couple of days before, so it wasn't nearly as spectacular than what we pulled off last year, but it was still a ton of fun! This year Sean was the Doba Hatter. I spent hours and hours making his costume, and I don't think I've used so much spray paint and hot glue in my LIFE.

Here are a few pics from the big day.

The sign I made for the hall in front of Sean's office:


The Cheshire Cat banner I made:


The Doba Hatter and his March Hare wife:


Close up of Sean's costume:


Tay Bug and my cousin Laura eating dinner:


Sean got the unofficial "Best Costume" award from the company's CEO:


They made big cutouts of Doba winners in years past. Here's the cutout of Sean from last year as the Doba Mad Scientist:


Like father, like son:


Sean LOVED playing Rock Band. I'm glad we can't afford it because I'm pretty sure he'd play this all day every day if we had it. :)


It was a great day, and we're already brainstorming ideas for next year's Doba Day!

Hee Haw Farms

We've made it a tradition to go to Hee Haw Farms in Pleasant Grove every year since Tay was born. We just love celebrating the harvest season and it gets more fun each year as Taylor gets older. Yesterday was our annual trip to the farm and we had so much fun! Here are some highlights.

Taylor the cow:


Almost to the end of the haystack maze - he thought this was SO much fun:


Daddy and Tay on the tractor ride, just before Taylor threw a fit and decided he didn't want to ride it:


View of the cornfields and mountains from our seat on the hayride (have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE living in Utah County?):


Measuring up - I put the picture from this year side-by-side with the one from last year. My monkey has grown a TON!


In the pumpkin patch - this was by far Taylor's very favorite part. It was so fun!


Daddy pulling Taylor and the pumpkins in the wagon:


We had so much fun! We're planning to carve our pumpkins later tonight. I hope everyone else is enjoying the season as much as we are!


Oh, and I'll post pictures of Tay's Halloween costume soon - it's so stinkin' cute!

If you haven't already heard...

We are NOT moving anymore.

The last couple days have been a mess, but this is basically what happened. When we went to see the place for the first time it needed a LOT of work. The previous tenants pretty much trashed the place - there were holes and paint chipping from almost every wall in the house, the carpets were really dirty, and the kitchen appliances needed some SERIOUS scrubbing. The dishwasher door was completely bent and needed repair, and in one of the three bedrooms the carpet had been pulled off the carpet tacks. There was also no fridge in the kitchen but we saw one in the garage, so we just assumed she'd put it out there to replace the kitchen flooring (which she'd also promised us she'd do). She told us she would take care of all of this and the house would look great by the time we moved in.

On Friday it all went downhill. First, she called Sean Friday morning and said she was in town and needed us to hook up the utilities at the house. He was completely thrown off by this because we weren't planning on doing that until we moved in. I wasn't about to pay for two weeks worth of her using the utilities without us even living there.

THEN we met her in person to do a walk-through of the house. Most of what she said was only to me since Sean was in the backyard with a whiny toddler. She told me that she hoped the previous tenants would come back some time and clean the house, but if not then I would have to clean it. When we told her about the broken dishwasher she went over to it, pushed on the door a bit, and then insisted that it worked (it didn't). I asked her about getting the kitchen floor replaced and she got all flustered and said she'd have to talk to us about that later. She then looked at Sean and said, "So you can repair all the walls in the house, right?" I could understand if she would compensate us for doing all this work, but she had absolutely no intentions. The straw that broke the camels back was when she said, "Now I'm assuming you have your own fridge, right?" Um, no. We don't have our own fridge. Typically when you're renting a place your LANDLORD supplies the fridge, along with ensuring that you're moving into a place that is LIVABLE. Basically what we got from our meeting was that she won't be fixing anything in the house - now or ever - and we simply can't afford to do that. That's why we rent - so that if something breaks the landlord fixes it.

Am I being a snob about this? I don't know, but when Sean and I left the house on Friday we had some serious doubts. Those doubts were reinforced when she kept calling us over and over again yesterday after we'd told her we changed our minds. She's super pushy and to be honest every time I talk to her I'm happier that we won't be living in her house.

A lot of people have been really apologetic about this whole situation, but honestly we feel fine about it. Obviously it would have been better if we'd have just waited to see how our current manager handled the obnoxious people living below us (they got evicted last week) and didn't jump to the conclusion that the only answer was to move. That being said, the only feeling I have right now is thankfulness and relief.

So the plan (for now) is that we just stay put until our lease is up next summer. I think that things have worked out the way they should, and in the end my family is happy, healthy, and we have a roof over our heads. That's all that matters, right?