New job!!!

So I am happy to say I have been offered and have accepted a new job...I will be starting at Banner Ironwood in October as an EDT (emergency dept tech) and it is a FT position, with FT hours and GREAT benefits. And the best part is, it's days and only a mile from the house!!! So exciting and I get to help open a new hospital, again! What an opportunity!

Marcus' first trip in the dentist chair!

So a few weeks ago I noticed something weird looking on one of Marcus' eye teeth, so I made an appt the next day at the dentist...we couldn't go to our normal dentist since he doesn't take our insurance right now but will again in November when we switch to Banner's insurance. So I was very reluctant the moment I walked into the door of the new dentist. But Marcus did an awesome job, he let them take x-rays and also clean his teeth, he did an awesome job. But come to find out he has a few cavities that need to be taken care of, I take him back a week later and he would not sit still long enough, even with nitrous, for them to take care of his teeth and they wouldn't let me back to help him to hold still. Let's just say, I will never go back there especially when you have a 3 yr old you are trying to fill cavities on, who wouldn't let the parents go back? Crazy office! So we are getting a 2nd opinion with our normal dentist in the mean time before we proceed in hopes we can wait till November for our normal dentist to fix them!!! Now I make sure every night that the kids' teeth are brushed and bright and shinning!

Another fabulous shopping trip!!!

So here is another fabulous shopping trip at Fry's using my Coupon Sense...

Here is what I bought:

1 - gallon of milk

6 - gallons of Sunny D orange juice (free)

1 - package of chicken

1 - package of baby carrots (free)

1 - bunch of bananas

2 - cucumbers

3 - tomatoes

2 - packages of lettuce (1 of them free)

16 - lunchables

2 - packages of cinnamon rolls

8 - boxes of cereal (trix & coco puffs)

12 - boxes of toaster struddles

3 - cans of olives

6 - cans of El Paso refried beans (free)

8 - cans of peaches

6 - boxes of fruit by the foot

16 - powerade

1 - package of hamburger buns

1 - packages of hotdog buns

1 - loaf of bread

I saved $154 using coupons/value card...but I only paid $70!!! What a steal!

2 weeks down and counting!!!

Madison is back in school! She is in 7th grade this year...boy that makes me feel so old! :) But she has enjoyed the two weeks in so far and she looks fabulous I must say!!! I can't believe how big/old she is getting! And she starting wearing make-up this year too, WOW!Matt as of today, has officially 53 days of school left and man I can't wait! It has gone by fast but not fast, if that makes any sense.

And Marcus, we are going to put him in pre-school this year and see how it goes, he will go on Tues and Thurs from 9a-11:30p and then have a play date with lunch after. He is getting so big I can't believe it, and he thinks every morning that he is getting dressed for pre-school, lets just hope he actually likes it! Although he doesn't start until Sept 7th!

Marcus and Jillian after naps, Marcus is ready to go but Jillian is still trying to wake up!

Jillian and her new find...

Jillian lately loves to get into the 'junk drawer' and grab anything and everything that she can get her hands on, I will admit, I would much rather have her exploring in the junk drawer then grabbing forks or knives. Well her new find was the head phones (that are broken) that go to the DVD player in the car. She'll grow into them don't you think?

Boys will be boys!!!

So I get home from work and I'm eating dinner and just as I finish Marcus comes up to me and for what ever reason he decides to spit on my plate. So I then tell him that is gross and he needs to go throw my plate in the garbage. He takes my plate, looks at the spit and decides to lick up the spit...GROSS!!! Boys will be boys...

Swim Lessons!!!

So again this summer Marcus is taking swim lessons and so is Jillian. The 1st day all Jillian did was cry. Matt said, "Do you think she'll cry the whole time?" And sure enough, Jillian cried the whole time...he was upset, he didn't want his little girl to be the crier. But in the 1st session there were 3 little girls and Marcus, the good thing is all 3 little girls cried, not just Jillian but all 3! One little girl screamed the whole time. Now we just finished session 2 and all the girls are still in the same class with no crying and Marcus moved up a class and they both are doing really well, I am so impressed with them. We are going to do one more session and then swimming lessons will be done, I am sad and it has given the little ones something to do and they have done really well. The pics and video were taken the 2nd week of lessons and you can hear one of the little girls crying still...so cute! Here are some photos and video!!!

Girls Camp!!!

So in early June Madison had the opportunity to attend Girls' Camp with church. I was so excited for her to go as I knew she would have a great time. Well she went and sure enough, she had a great time. I was so glad for her and we sure did miss her while she was gone.

Coupon Sense Club!!!

So I have to say I am very proud of myself and our grocery bill...I have been trying so hard to try and save as much as we can on our groceries, especially since my hours at work have been cut. Well after all the nurses at work kept talking about the Coupon Sense Club and how much they save I decided I would sign up and give it a try. Since I have joined on April 10th, I have been successful at saving 50% of our grocery bill. I can't believe the amount of savings and how helpful the website is. It helps you save money by telling you where the sales are, what coupon to use so you end up getting your items for dirt cheap or even free. Not to mention that I get 6 papers each Sunday so that helps with the amount of coupons and items you can get. Since I have joined I can't tell you how much stuff we have gotten free or let alone dirt cheap. Here is a great pic/example of the savings I just made on Friday shopping at Fry's...I saved $203 on all of this and only spent $68...can you believe it? I don't know if I'll ever go back to not using coupons again...Below I bought...

7 bottles of All detergent at .99 each

7 boxes of Surf detergent at .99 each

6 rolls of Bounty paper towls at .19 each

4 flats of Nestle water (24 bottles each) at 1.58 each

13 boxes of Huggies wipes (64 count each) at .61 each

1 box of Huggies diapers (70 count) at $11

6 packages of Huggies diapers (26 count each) at 4.49 each

and...6 bottles of Ketchup, FREE! yep, free!!!

School!!!

So, Madison has done it...she has finished school and officially on summer break. Out of anyone I don't think anyone was as excited as she was to have summer break finally here, but I can't believe she will be going into 7th grade in Augut... And...Matt has officially made it through half way too! He has made it just past day 100 out 200 days. He has been doing the count down since the 70's and finally made it to 100...he is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel and can't wait to be finished!

Cow, cow and more cow!!!

So I don't know if any one remembers that back in June 2009 we had bought some cows with a few friends...well a few weeks ago it was time to take them in...we had raised them just under a year. We went in on the 2 cows with Bruce, Todd and the Gunnels so we would all get half a cow. Well we received our half of the cow and boy is it a lot of meat...we are so excited and now don't have much more room in our freezer, but that is ok. We have made spaghetti and had steaks two different nights and it is really good. I would have to say I would definitely do it again, and the pic below isn't even all of the cow!

New niece!!!

On April 3rd my little sister Katie and her hubby Josh had theri baby girl, baby Brooklyn was born at 1:08 pm and weighed 8 lbs 9 oz. She is so beautiful!!! Here she is...

Grandma got married!!!

On May 8th grandma got married!!! He is the sweetest person and so nice to her. He is so good to her and treats her the way she deserves to be treated and she is so happy, we love you both and wish you the best! Welcome to the family Robert!!! It was such a pretty wedding too!

Matt's birthday!!!

So Matt had a birthday! His birthday was April 18th and it was a big one...the B-I-G 40! :) Since it was such a mile stone I decided we needed to have a big bash...so for his birthday with the help of Daryl, I was able to plan a surprise birthday party, which I started planning end of February and was able to pull it off up until the week of his birthday. He figured it out but was very excited about the party. I had planned an 80's theme party at Skate Land! It was lots of fun and couldn't have worked out any better!!! We even rented out all of Skate Land so it was all family and friends! I had lots of fun dressing up and thanks to Sara White and her craftiness she made great skirts for Jillian and I to wear and then I did the shirts for me, Jillian and Madison. Marcus wasn't all that into dressing up but that is ok, it was still lots of fun. Happy Birthday Matt!

Jillian, Jillian, Jillan...

This morning while I was unloading the dishwasher Jillian comes up from behind me and as I turn around this is what I find...

Jillian is crazy...

So on Wednesday I was sent home early from work because it was slow...after the kids got up from naps we headed outside to play. While the kids were playing Jillian had come around the corner from in between the two houses and had a dead bird in her hand! It was gross...she was holding it upright in her hand and turning her hand side to side and here is the poor dead bird and its head flopping back and forth. I picked her up and took her over to the garbage to throw the bird away and she would not let it go so I'm trying to shake it out of her hand and the birds head is just flopping back and forth, I felt so bad and it was so disgusting...so Chris our neighbor had to come over and help me get it out of her hand so we could throw it away!

Phoenix Zoo!!!

During spring break we went to the zoo with Stephanie, Halee, Austin and Sarah. It was lots of fun! It was also pretty hot that day so after about 3 hours we decided we had enough and headed home.

Madison!!!

So Madison as of late has been a bit of a challenge...we seem to argue almost every day about what she wears, how she wears her hair, why didn't she clean her room...bless her heart though...I can't imagine how hard things must be for her in this day and age. It seems kids are much meaner now and it's much harder to try and fit in. Not to mention PMS to go along with everything else...She does try so hard though. She also had a school dance on Friday. I like them...in a way. She enjoys them and it gives her a chance to hang out at a school function but boy am I not ready for all of this either, makes me feel so old! School dances...mutual! Will it ever stop?

Marcus, Marcus, Marcus...

So the other night Melanie Scott from our ward comes over...she is over Scouts and knocks on my door. I let her in and of course all the kids swarm the front room to see who is here. She tells me about the donations for Scouts and wants to know if I want to donate, of course. So I take the slip to the kitchen to get a pen and fill it out. Once I finish I take it back to Melanie and we are talking about the kids and she is telling me how good they are in church...then Marcus walks up behind me and slaps my butt...just like Matt does! I couldn't believe it! We both laughed and Melanie said, "Well on that note..." I told her he learned that from his dad...again monkey see - monkey do from my kids and at the most inconvenient times!

The MOST adorable hair ever!!!

Jillian has the same hair I did when I was her age...so cute! I had to be sly and attempt to take the picture before she noticed what I was doing...she loves anything electronic! And of course when I tried to take the pic with my camera, the battery died so I had to take it with my cell phone and of course I got caught and she wanted my phone. She has the cutest curls ever!!!

Can you say impossible!

So, on Monday...Jillian and I went to Ikea to purchase a new dresser for Marcus but I didn't get a chance to put it together until Thursday. Man was that the hardest thing ever! Marcus felt he had to help me when he wasn't climbing on, in or around my pieces or on, in or around the dresser as I was building it and since Jillian is in the monkey see - monkey do stage right now she was right there with him and mimicked ever thing he did. That was sure a challenge...then Marcus' new headboard for his bed came in so I picked that up Friday morning and dumb me, I attempted to put it together with the kids helping/playing in the midst of it all again...Glad that is done and I think next time I'll try and be a bit smarter and do it when the kids are sleeping!

Marcus had his tonsils out!

Back in December Marcus had his tonsils out. He was having lots of problems sleeping so the dr said he had sleep apnea since he snored so bad and he would wake up startled because he was struggle to breath. On Dec 3rd he went in for surgery that morning and they took his tonsils and adnoids out and it has made such a difference. He sleeps so quietly now! But the 2 weeks after were hard but well worth it. Even the hospital stay was hard. It was supposed to be a 23 hour observation after the surgery but because he got really dehydrated and his throat got really swollen it turned into an inpatient hosptial stay. So we checked in Thursday morning and finally left late Saturday afternoon. It was so hard seeing him that way but well worth it now. Here are the pics of him right out of surgery! He was so out of it after surgery too :(.

Madison had a birthday!!!

Our little girl is 12!!! I can't believe how fast it has gone and I guess I can't say she is little. She is now 12!!! She is in junior high and now is going to mutual. Her first night of mutual was last week on her actual birthday. She had lots and fun and I feel so old now. It hit me the hardest that night when I realized she is old enough for mutual, I can't believe it. She is the best and sweetest girl.

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Some random tidbits about Madison:

1. Nick names: baby (I used to call her that all the time when she was little), Maddy and Medicine

2. She is the sweetest and is such a big help

3. She loves her brother and sister (most of the time)

4. Loves Twilight, team Jacob and team Edward

5. Loves Star Wars and the such

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I remember the day she was born...I was at work when my water broke, I drove myself home while having contractions, called the doctor and family and then off we went. I was only in labor for 8 hours before she was born. I remember watching her take her first breath and how amazing it was. She has been such a sweetie and a blessing since. We love you and Happy Birthday!

Crazy kids!!!

So we signed Marcus up for soccer, that has been an adventure in itself. Some days he will play and most days he won't. I think he might be too young... Jillian decided to climb into the diaper box after our Costco trip and that it was the best thing ever! And Madison is busy with school and her science project! Whew...so busy (just to name a few!) Not to mention Matt busy being in school too. :)