We're in the money!

I don't want you all to think that we have won the lottery or have come into a windfall or anything like that! But after a year of school and doing odd jobs, it was nice to finally have a REAL PAYCHECK this week! Wahooo! We celebrated the special ocassion by giving Dave a dino cupcake (Hailey picked it out at the Bakery) with this note:

Dad-

We think you are "dino"-mite! Thanks for bring us home some serious "bones"! We love you!

--H and P

So looking forward to being able to save some money this summer instead of just spending it! It is the icing on the cake (no pun intended) to have the savings balance increase. It makes Dave being gone all the time, a little more tolerable! So now Fridays are the best, Dave only works 8 hours and he gets paid every other! YES!! (Never thought I'd be saying he "only works 8 hours" as a good thing!)

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we spent part of the day with the Allen's. Our girls just love each other and we have a blast when we get together. We went to Boondocks, afraid of the crowds, but there were relatively few people, we timed it perfectly. Erica and I took our girls on bumper boats and got all wet. Hailey tried to steer, but she didn't quite "get" it so she stuck to the water squirter! We played on the playground and just hung out. Then the guys took the girls on the race track. Hailey liked it, but looked a bit stunned the whole time. All in all, it was a great day to just be our family. Now that Dave is doing 2 jobs and night school twice a week, I feel a bit like a single mom, so I cherish our together time! From Monday night when the kids go to bed to Thursday when Dave gets off work, the kids don't see Dave at all. He does go in at night and watch them sleep, but that is it. I just keep telling myself that school is halfway over and it won't be like this for long. In the mean time I am trying to hold it all together and looking for ways to get out of the house to make the time go by faster! I am so grateful for the warm weather!

Note to self: Don't leave the dryer open

Preston getting stuck under the table, he was trying to climb onto the table, but this time failed to pull out the chair first!

Preston is my curious boy, he always loves to explore and get into everything....at 13 months he is still a bit limited, and as soon as he starts walking I know I am REALLY in trouble! He is such a cute, happy baby, it is hard to get mad at that dimple face! (Even when he has decided that 6:30AM is the new 8 o'clock and I am getting a lot less sleep these days!)

Toddler Cooking Class

My mom and I go to cooking class about 3 times a month and Hailey always cries when we leave and begs us to let her go! I am pretty good friends with the lady in charge, Lacey, and asked her if she would do a toddler class for my little girl, she graciously agreed! Hailey and Deon (her little friend) had a blast! The menu was catered to them--mini pepperoni pizza and candy pizza for dessert! The girls had a great time making it, and I was impressed how long their attention spans were for cooking. Lacey was so good to them, she had special measuring cups that were easier for them to pour, had them take turns adding ingredients, mini-rolling pins to roll out the cookie dough, and even let them lick their spatulas when they were done. We love Ace Hardware Cooking classes! :)

Staging

Living Room Before (they had a weight set where the kitchen table goes...not pictured)

Dining After!

Living room after

Bedroom before...

Bedroom after!

Our condo in Pleasant Grove is for sale. (click here for more info and to see the house...)http://utahrealestate.com/872056

We currently have young renters occupying it that really don't have that much stuff to set up house. We knew we needed some help to get the condo to be more "showable". We didn't feel we could mess with Landlord/Tenant relationship so we hired Danny to stage our house. Can I just tell you I am soo impressed! He has an eye for decorating (hence he stages houses!) and made it look amazing! If any of you have the need to stage your home, I would recommend hiring one! Here are some before and after pics so you can see Dann'y work! :)

Life is good

Mother's Day helped me to reflect on how grateful I am to be a mom. When I was a little girl I remember rocking my dollies in my pint-sized rocking chair and gazing down at their little plastic face, wanting to have a REAL baby one day. And now I am doubly blessed! Here are some pics of our daily happenings....enjoy!

Preston and Hailey hugging, they love each other.(most of the time)

Hailey loves dressing up and gazing at herself in the mirror.
In the kitchen with my two little helpers making oatmeal cookies. Yum!

Hailey and cousins (Davis, Luke, and Brookie) riding on Brookie's purple mo-ped.

Playing at the park with AJ and Becca, finally a nice day to picnic!

Preston eating a cookie at our picnic. (I think the spikey hair makes him look different.)

Grammy B with Preston and Logan, they are a week apart to the day.

St.George Part II

We must be crazy, I seem to remember in the last post from our vacation to St.George talking about not wanting to do a long drive with the kids again...and yet here we are! We got smarter this time and left after Dave's end of year MBA party at night when the kids would be sleeping. It was a very enjoyable drive, until about the last 45 mins when we were both so tired and just wanted to go to bed! We rolled in at 1:30AM and both the kids woke up when we treid to put them in their new beds. They had just had a 4 1/2 hour nap and were ready to play!

The next day we were still a bit tired, but had fun touring the Brigham Young home and playing in the fountains at a park in town. That night Dave and I went to Brain Regan, he is a national comedian who is both hilarious AND clean! I was thinking his live stand-up may be a little roanchy or dirty, but there was NOTHING. Not so much as even a swear word. Dave and I laughed so much our cheeks hurt! My face hasn't hurt like this since our wedding day when I just smiled all day! If you ever get the opportunity to see him live, do it!

The next day we met my trainer from my mission, Bonnie, and her baby Kyle to hike Snow Canyon. It was really warm, but I am happy to say none of us got sunburned. I was impressed hiking over rocks, through tight crevases and sliding down rocks, we all made it with a kid strapped on. Go us! After hiking it was haircuts from Bonnie, she is the best! I love my trimmed hair, I feel cooler and lighter already. (Thanks a million Batey!) Then out to Marv's for amazing food. That night we met my old roommate and her hubby, Carrie and Chris, for dinner and games. The restaurant we went to had a grease fire in the kitchen and it stunk and was very smokey. They gave us a discount, but it was awful. Dave took the baby and left, the smoke was too much! We survived dinner and had a good time playing games after the kids went to bed.

Then it was Mother's day--Hailey painted me a picture and Dave gave me an iTunes gift card. I gave my mom the quilt that my Grandma and I had made, she was surprised and excited to have a quilt for her bed. (I also made a quilt for my MIL, the same pattern and I did for Dave. It looks like it must be a quilt year!) The most eventful thing about the day was going to church and having the toddler girl in front of us lose the lid to her sippy full of milk as she tipped it up for a drink.It went all over Dave and I, our shoes and legs were milky! I felt bad for that little girl, the mom was pretty embarassed too! Then packing and home again, home again jiggity, jig! The kids luckily slept a lot of the way home and the drive was very nice. I am still not considering doing it anytime again soon though!

WARNING! This may be TMI for some of you!

I generally don't publish anything too personal, but I am trying not to freak out and hoping for some feedback (whether positive or negative) from all of you in my blogging world.
I went today to get an IUD (I told you this may be too much for some of you). I had to sign a consent form that said I understand by getting an IUD that I may NEVER be able to have children again! WHAT!!!??? At that point I am sitting on the exam table, un-clothed from the waist down covered in only a sheet and thinking, "I never read that one as a side effect before!" And yet here I am signing my name on the black line! So my question to all of you is: Is this one of those, you may die on a ride at Disneyland things, or is it a you could slip on ice and break your arm? (the latter being a bit more probable, but not too likely.) I am now questioning my decision and tempted to go into the Dr tomorrow and have it taken out! I want to have more kids, just DEFINITELY not now. I have heard a lot of good things about them, it is definitely more cost effective, but NEVER get pregnant again?? AHHHHH!!!! Help!

St. George Vacation with the Allen's

I posted about St. George, but it ended up below our Anniversary post, scroll down!