Life.

So I had a request to share a little more about what happening with Bruce and I. I haven't shared much because I feel like nothing really has changed. We are still living with my parents. We are slowly getting out of debt from the last 6 months of not having a job. Bruce got hired on full time at the job hes been at and is working in a new hotel (which he doesn't like as much as the other one he was at). He also commutes longer to get to this new hotel. He drives 120 miles to and from work instead of 60! The hard part also is that he didn't get a raise so even though he is working full time we still can't afford to live on our own, which is kind of sad. Also, even though he is full time he doesn't get guaranteed hours, so it makes it hard to rely on a job when that is the case. On some good notes we now have really good benefits (even though it's costing us) we are SOOO relieved to have them again! Also I finally took the plunge and quit my paper route! I cannot express the difference in the way I feel as a person. I'm not as tired, I can hangout at night and not stress about the time. If Bruces works in the morning poor Savanah doesn't get to watch Dora for an hour while I sleep a little longer!!=) I know she miss that!=) It's been nice being able to hang with Bruce at night without Savanah around.

We had an awesome Christmas this year too. For the past 3 years our Christmas budget was 30.00 each. While Christmas means more to me than getting presents...it was hard to watch all the other families open gifts that were exciting to get. I'm saying it's hard in the sense that I couldn't get Bruce something really nice that hes been wanting not sad that I didn't get anything. This year however we both were able to spend a little more. So the only cool thing about doing a paper route is getting Christmas tips every year. This year I made around 850.00!! I secretly hid all our tips and gave it to Bruce for Christmas to FINALLY be able to buy a new surf board and wet suite. We have been through so much and have sacrificed so much nothing will replace that moment of seeing him open that present.=) He got a little teary eyed. It was sweet. The best part is that it was basically a free gift, no out of pocket expense and yet it was something he's been wanting for quite some time now.

Bruce got me my record player!!! I've been wanting one since I was in high school and have been collecting records for many years now for the when I'd finally get one. I was super excited to open that! I guess he got a REALLY good deal on it. My family all chipped in and got me a new camera it's the canon 7D. I LOOOVVEEE it and was so SHOCKED when I opened it. I can't believe they all sacrificed so much to get it for me.

So over all life is good we LOVE our new ward. We have a place to live. Bruce has a job for now. Life is as good as it can be for us and we are trying to have a positive attitude about it.

           "What screws us up most in life is the picture in our head of how it's supposed to be."

My new motto for the 2012 year.

Sabrina

Here are some pictures with my 7D canon camera.

Dear Sweet Cheeks.

My you are all grown up! I now have to watch myself and stop calling you "my baby". You such a little girl! You are currently in LOVE with Dora. It is the only show you could just sit and watch for hours if we let you! You got lots of Dora presents this year for Christmas and LOVED all of them. Words cannot express how much fun it was to be a parent and watch you open your presents. You took your time opening and playing, opening and playing. You even said, "tank yuuu mum" a couple of times. =)

These days you love to carry around as many things you can get into your hands and have even adopted carrying around buckets, bags, baskets or even your stroller (because you can get more things in them). It's been quite the challenge to go places sometimes. Like this morning when you found out we were going shopping you got your little stroller and fit 4 babies, one Dora, a Thomas train, your Dora backpack (which also had items in it) and 3 blocks in, you refused to leave the house without it...so it sat in the seat next to you the whole trip. =) LOL you are so funny sometimes. You are speaking SO well now and speaking while sentences that I can actually understand. It amazes me how fast you pick up on things. Like this week you switched from saying ya (for yes) to actually pronouncing perfectly YES. We didn't teach you that but you just started saying it all of a sudden.
You can count to 15 and even count your toys and usually get the number right if it is between 1-3.
You have your favorite books memorized ( if I pause at a certain spot you can fill in the word). Your favorite books to read are Little Bear (which is a little kid chapter book. We read one chapter a night), Dora, Thomas and this dog book...I for got the name.
You are going through a eating faze where you wont eat anything. If we tell you how many bites you need to take before you can leave the table it helps to get you to eat something.
You are growing so tall and I feel as though I'm having the hardest time keeping you clothed and shoed!!

You are quite the little tom boy! Yet quite the little girly girl! You LOVE your babies and purses yet you would be the first to hand off your girl toy to the boy next to you at church for one of his cars! I've started getting you some cars because you love playing with them so much.

Thomas is also a new love for you! You wont watch the TV show but LOVE the toys and LOVE the books.

You still love playing with your babies and watching you with them makes me excited for you to be a sister. You are so soft with them and love on them all the time. It's really cute.
I love you little peanut! To the moon and back! You bring so much life and joy to mine and your daddy's life! You keep me on my toes. At the end of the day when I'm tired from chasing you around the house, changing your diaper, picking up after you putting up with the tantrums.... I put you to bed and am just so glad to be your mom! You are so bright and so loving. We are so blessed you are in our family!!
Love you to the moon and back little.

Mom.

Samuel and Kelly's maternity pics.

My little brother is going to be a daddy!! Yikes that really makes me feel old!!

Here are some pics we got the day before she was due!! Doesn't she look great?!

It's Been A While.

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I've almost forgotten about my blog.

So much has been going on with our family. We have moved two more times since moving out of Bruce's parents house and I think we are finally in a little more permeant place. Due to Bruce's parents leaving for a mission we moved into my parents house. It was fine not as cramped as I thought it was going to be... but my brother Samuel and his expecting wife wanted to save money and move in as well. So we all searched for a bigger house to rent. This was not an easy task. Most homes in the Oceanside/carlsbad area do not have quite so many rooms nor desirable floor plans to accommodate three different families. We found the perfect house though, we are now out by the back gate in a really nice home. It has a loft area that has two bedrooms (for Samuel and Kelly) perfect for them, they didn't have to put anything in storage. Plus they have a room for the baby. They also have a full bath up there too!

We live in the front room of the house. It's pretty big so we have enough room for Savanah's things as well as ours. We also have a full bath right off our room.
My three sisters and parents rooms are down this hallway in the middle of the house (perfect for blocking   off with a gate to keep Savanah out!)  master bedroom (full bath) plus two more rooms for the three girls to share and another full bath for them.
YES WE have FOUR FULL BATHS in this house! Crazy right?! The backyard is perfect for Savanah and she LOVES playing outside without me constantly worrying about her dying from some dangerous thing.

We pay cheap rent my brother pays cheap rent and my parents are able to save for a bit before my dad retires so they can save for a house.

Although the house is perfect our lives the past month have been busy and stressful. I finally feel like I am able to spend some one on one time with Savanah and noticed today just how big she is getting! She is such a quick learner. In the car I started counting over and over again to 10...she loves it I don't know why. If you know her you'll know she has trouble being happy in her car seat so I have to distract her. Anyways today I heard her sitting on the floor talking to her baby and she counted to 10 all on her own! I went over and made her do it again and she did. She also get's her favorite books that we have read to her about a 1000 times and "reads" them to her babies. She does pretty good remembering what is happening on each page. Her new book love is, "NO DAVID". I have no idea why, but she walks around the house saying, "NO, David, NO, NO.... Quite David..... Stop that David." She cracks me up sometimes.

Life is as good as it can be right now. I love my little tom girl who often will surprise me with girly ways!
Here is a picture of our halloween outfits. I would have gone out a little more in the whole costume area but we kept it simple and just went around our neighborhood as a family. It was perfect and we loved our comfy costumes. We didn't have a ton of kids, but enough to keep it fun. It was nice being our own family. Savanah enjoyed people giving her candy as well! But was scared and even screamed and ran away from a spooky house.=)

Oma's Pumpkin Patch... So much fun!

Savanah trick or treating.

Happy November!! I LOVE this month.

Sabrina

getting prepared.

For a while now I've been wanting to get our 72 hour kits together so we can be more prepared for any kind of disaster. The more I researched on what you should have in your 72 hour kits the more daunting of a task it became. Then I went to a Thrive Party hosted by my sister in law Holly and was introduced to Thrive.



Maybe it sounds dumb but I love this product. It's not too expensive and I know to use it! Thrive also has a website that even has a section for 72 hour kits. You can buy the premade packs or buy things separate to create your own pack.


My friend Misty who is a consultant has just made getting your 72 kit together SO much easier. By having giveaways every week and by breaking it down week by week. I'm so excited for this I can't even tell you. The things she has suggested so far are brilliant. If you would like to follow along here is her site.

I'm defiantly going to try and do this so that at the end of 26 weeks I should have most of my 72 hour kit together without breaking bank.=)

Sabrina

Best Buddies

We just got back from a LONG road trip to Utah and northern California. It was LONG but it was worth it! We got to shop, see family and Savanah got to hang with her cousin and best bud Joshua. At the end of our stay my sister decided to come home with us so we got to hang with them for about 3 weeks. It was a lot of fun and as always reminded me how much i love hanging with my sister. Although Savanah and Joshua both had moments when it looked like they wanted to kill one another, for the most part Savanah loved hanging with her bud and even started picking up on some of the things he did. For instance... Joshua when he gets excited will say things a lot of times in a row, like "yea, yea, yea, yea" Savanah started doing that with my name, "mom, mom,mom,mom" and with other words as well. It's pretty funny.

 Ever since Joshua has left Savanah has been walking around the house saying "Joshie, Joshie, where is Joshie?" It's really cute. The last day they were here we got the two kids together for another photoshoot...I love em. We love spending time with my sister and her son and we can't wait to see them again!

Best Buds: