About Time

I think it is about time I blog again. On my Aunt's blog she has a link to other blogs which say how long it has been since the author posted. It said mine was 1 month ago, I thought it had been AGES, so I guess I'm not doing too badly!

We have been in our house almost 2 months now. It has been great; I really enjoy living on our own again! I think it has helped our marriage immensely! We are definitely not fighting as much and we are generally more happy. With the happiness comes hardship though. We basically doubled our rent payment by moving here, but we have found a way to make it work so far. I'm thankful we have been able to find the money for that at least.

I need to get motivated to make a budget and stick to it! I have everything I need in order to do it, and I also have plenty of reason... I will sit down one of these days and do it. I know for a fact a budget would help us!

Last Saturday the 21st, Amber, Jade and her family moved back up here from Arizona! They were coming up to visit for Thanksgiving, then they decided to just move up here instead! I have been soo thrilled to finally have my whole family (well, immediate) back in the valley.

Jade and her family are staying in my Grandma's basement until they get jobs and find a place to live. Amber is staying in our second bedroom until she gets a job and an apartment. It has been really fun having Amber live with us. Devin is being a good sport; our bathroom has been a total disaster because of all the hair products and makeup we leave around.. We are definitely going to have to do better about that! lol

This last week has been crazy but fun! We have had family over almost everyday and have been going to bed around 2-5 in the morning! I am ready for life to get back to a normal schedule so I'm not so tired!

This was the first year we have started the rotation for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I don't like to have to split our time between our families for each holiday. It isn't fun when you are having a great time and then you have to leave to go to a different house. We felt it would be better to just spend Thanksgiving with one family and Christmas with the other, then switch the next year. Right now we don't have kids so it isn't really a big deal, but I wanted to start now so we could all get in the groove of things.. So this year we did Thanksgiving with my side of the family and we're doing Christmas with Devin's side of the family.. Although, I messed up the years because my aunt switches too, and this year was with her family, so we'll have to adjust so we can all be together when it is for my family.. I think next year we'll do both with each and then the next year start switching.. just to make it fair... I don't know...

I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time! My house had the biggest entertaining area out of my grandma's and parents houses. It was really fun! My Grandma and Uncle Mike raised turkeys last year so we had a 52 lb turkey for Thanksgiving this year! It was so big so they dug a pit in the backyard and cooked the turkey underground like a Hawaiian pig! Amber and I made mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, candied yams, pumpkin pie, and 7 layer salad. My mom made funeral potatoes, rolls, and gravy. Jade and Grandma made deviled eggs, and a veggie tray, and brought the drinks. It was super yummy!

Paul and Di's plans fell through at the last minute so we invited them to come to our house for Thanksgiving. We were only planning on 9 people so with their family and our neighbor, Paul we ended up having 17 people there! We had PLENTY of food! It was great to visit with them because we haven't been together in a LONG time! After dinner we had desert (Di brought an Oreo cream pie, and Mike brought ice cream! to go along with our pie)

Then we all sat around to play Contract Rummy! It was really fun!

After everyone was gone and the kitchen was cleaned up we decided to go to Victoria's Secret for Black Friday. IT was about 2:30 am when we got there. It was awesome though because they had a buy one get one half off sale on their bras! And, if you spent over $60 you would get a free tote with a body spray, lip gloss, and perfume inside. It was great!

Sorry I don't have pictures! We took pictures of the whole turkey process so I will get them from my mom and make a digipage about it to show the process!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I will try to post again before Christmas but I can't make any promises!
Love you all!

Six plus One is SEVEN

Okay, so we have moved SEVEN times in the last 3 years (almost) since we have been married. When we were first married we lived in Herriman, we moved to Arizona, then to Devin's parents, then to Ephriam, then to Devin's parents, then to Quinn's basement... and now...

We have moved into a duplex townhome in Sandy! We have been here a week today! I don't have any pictures yet; I'm waiting to take them until I have everything unpacked. We only have to do the downstairs now and we will be be unpacked. It is a great place though; it is about 1400 sq ft; our biggest place yet. It has 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, 2 car garage, and a yard. I will actually be able to have a small (really small) garden next spring; I can't wait! We are going to have a "House Warming Party" once everything is unpacked. I would love for everyone to come who can; stay posted for day and time.

Obviously the weather is getting colder; which means Devin's job has slowed down. He will be able to mow a few more weeks, but then he will be only working weekly at Oakwood and plowing once the snow comes. (once again, praying for snow! lol sorry ya'll)

Since I can't really help Devin with anything anymore; I am now doing hair again. I'm excited to do hair again, but I'm not SUPER excited about the local. I'm at Smart Style; which is the salon inside Wal Mart. I'm at the one in the old Gravel Pit; so come see me to get your hair cut.. I'm actually enjoying myself there. The girls there are great to work with; and hang out with. It hasn't been busy though; I'm just glad we get a base pay as well as commission.. So anyways.. seriously, come and see me!

Not too much going on other than that.. I will gt pictures soon! Love ya'll!

What's for Dinner?

I have decided I am going to take pictures of dinner and post what we had. I'm not going to do it every night because Unfortunately, I don't get to cook fancy meals every night. I have been "plating" food for Quinn. (She is a food photographer. She doesn't love platting the food but she is a GREAT photographer!, check out her food blog) I am also going to be posting the recipe in case any of you would like to make the meal. I got that idea from my cousins; Emily, Leslie, and Kimberly. They have a blog called "Three Sisters Cooking" where they post recipes for fabulous food (here's a link for their site)..

So thank you ladies for your fabulous ideas; my photos are nowhere near as nice as Quinn's but they'll do until I have a better camera. lol..

Pork Tenderloin with Apple Chutney

Recipe:

I just bought the pre-marinated tenderloin from the store; any one works. Prepare with package instructions.

Apple Chutney:

4 tbsp butter
2 apples- chopped
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp lemon juice
1/3 cup red wine vinegar

Heat butter in a medium saucepan; add apple, brown sugar, spices, vinegar and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until apple is tender, and liquid has boiled away. If necessary, add a little more vinegar to keep the mixture from scorching. Serve warm or chilled with ham or pork.
Makes about 2 cups.

And let me tell you; it was FANTASTIC!!!

We went on two camping trips over the last two weeks.. I'll write about them later and post the photos as well. Right now I'm going to go to bed.
Love ya'll, have a great night!

Attitude Adjustment..

Hello everyone.. It's been about a month since I last wrote.. It has been a crazy month full of ups and downs; mostly downs.

I thought I was going to have a job starting August 3rd. Seneca, who works at the same company as Matthew, called me and offered me a receptionist job. She said it is really boring because no one else is there at the office and there aren't very many phone calls. So basically I would be paid to play on the computer all day. I said that would be fine; I need the money and I like the computer.

So, I have been working with Devin still and just counting down the days until I don't have to labor in the hot sun all day. Then Seneca emailed me to let me know I wont be able to start until the end of August because her sister didn't get the job she was going for and wouldn't be leaving to school until the end of August and still needed to work. I emailed Seneca back to let her know I would be looking for other work because we are 2 months behind on rent, a month behind on our truck payment, a month behind on insurance, we didn't get groceries for 2 months, we owe about 3 months on all our other bills, and not to mention what we owe both of our parents. I told her I still want the job if I'm still available.

I was really mad in the begining and Devin was pissed. I was very bitter because of all the money we owe to everyone in the world!!! I said some things I shouldn't have about not geting the job when I was counting on it. I do regret saying it, but hopefully nothing bad will come of it. I really do want the job and I do not wish anyone any bad fortune..

Before all this Devin and I got in a huge fight! It was very bad; Kenz and Amber were here (which was way fun to visit with them and see them for a week and a half!) so it was embarrassing on top of it because they had to see/hear it all. Devin ended up driving off and I threw my phone as hard as I could into the street because I was so angry. So now, everything is fine with Devin and me. We have worked out a lot of the stuff which was bothering us. But now I'm out a phone. It has really sucked; so if anyone is trying to get ahold of me you will have to email me until we can afford to buy a new phone for me.

So now, I have decided I can't do anything about all the crap happening in my life and I might as well try to be happy about it. I have decided to be happy and try not to stress too much. We are making good money on the lawns we do each week so we will be able to start paying people what we owe them. We also have good jobs lined up which will help pay for stuff as well. Things will look up; I'll still get the job; even though it was later than I thought it'd be (hopefully), Devin will stay busy and productive, and I'll end up preggo :) and everything will be fine.

Have a great day ya'll. Love you..

No more baby...

As you can infer from my title, we are no longer pregnant. I had a miscarriage last night. We are sad but we are doing alright. For those of you who are interested, I am going to write what happened (that way I can have it for history's sake) but it will be a bit graphic so beware if you want to read it.

*GRAPHIC:

Since I last posted about worrying about bleeding; nothing has happened. The bleeding stopped and I thought everything would be alright. Then I started cramping pretty badly on Sunday night. I figured everything would be fine and that maybe it was just constipation. I went to bed, there was still no blood.

In the morning the cramping stopped and there was still no blood; and I had been able to go to the bathroom; so I figured I was good.

Quinn and I went to a hype party for the Mom's Who Make it conference (listed on my sidebar). Well, first we went to a tasting party for the food which will be at the conference. It was yummy! Anyways.. I felt some cramping once again but I wasn't too worried about it. When I went to the bathroom (around 6:15 pm or so) though there was quite a bit of blood. I didn't have a pad so I just used some toilet paper.

I was trying to be happy all night because it was a fun event but I knew something was wrong. I could tell I was bleeding but I didn't say anything to Quinn. There was nothing any of us could do. By the time we got home it was almost 11 pm. I went straight to the bathroom; cleaned up and went in my room to cry.

Devin came in a bit later because I didn't go to see him. I told him; he is definitely sad but he is being strong for me. So, right before we went to bed I went in to the bathroom one more time. (GRAPHIC) When I wiped I also checked for any tissue or anything, just to make sure. And there it was... our baby was on the toilet paper. i could tell because it looked exactly like all the 7 week pictures on the internet. It was smooth and shaped exactly right. You could tell where it's brain was developing and everything. I'm surprised I didn't freak out; I just called Devin in to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

It's ironic because I was thinking the other day it would be cool to see what a baby looks like for real at this stage.. I guess I shouldn't have thought that!



There are other things I'm thinking right now that I probably shouldn't be thinking right now either. I'm guessing it is pretty normal after miscarrying... I'm thinking I never want to get pregnant again because I'm just going to loose it again. I'm thinking, maybe I'm just not a good "house" for a baby to grow and develop in. Maybe we aren't meant to be parents yet... I'm sure it's pretty normal, but still very depressing and angering.

Sorry to those of you who read this all the way through. I hope it didn't gross you out too much!

Please feel free to comment, but please don't talk to me about it in "real" life. I'm fine to write about it, but I don't want to talk about it. If I do I'm sure I'll keep crying.

Thanks for all your support! It has really meant a lot to me!
Love you guys!

Chinese Birth Chart, Ages 18 to 24, June

Chinese Birth Chart, Ages 18 to 24, June

So, you pick your age range, then your month of conception, then you look at the chart for the exact age you are. (22) So, if this is correct (09-95%) we're going to have a GIRL! Which would be perfect because Devin said he wants a girl first. Lilly, here you come! lol

I think I'm farther along than I thought!...

Okay, so now that I'm thinking about it, I think I put the wrong information in for the "due date calculator". With the information I put in, (date of last period May 25th) I would be 4 weeks along. BUT, I just realised, May 25th was the day of my missed period, SO my last period was actually April 25th... making me 8 weeks along!

Our baby is the size of a kidney bean! I know it is weird, but I kind of feel bad for missing out on what was happening for those four weeks! I went back and read all about it, but it is fun finding out new things each week! I need to get myself to a doctor so I can really be sure.. no more guessing!

So anyways... I just thought I'd mention that little update.

Also, I started an online registry.. Probably a bit too early but I'm excited! The place is called MyRegistry.com. Basically it is a centralized registry for everyone on the net. I go to any site I want with any product I want and then I add it to my registry at MyRegistry.com and it puts it in one spot. To buy the item you just click on it and it takes you to the site the product is located on. So cool! So, you don't have to look at it right now, but if you are interested.. here is the link! (Also on my sidebar!)

Have a great day everyone!

Great news and not so great news!

Hello everyone! A few of you already know the great news, because as we all know, news travels fast! Anyways...
Yay! Finally! We are both really excited and scared at the timing! But, with every good news, there must be bad news too..

We probably should have waited to tell people, after all I'm only about 3 weeks along... if the computer is right.. Like you know, I have been helping Devin out at work.. Well, I stopped befacuse I found out I was pregnant. Devin has been falling behind so I decided to help him a little bit the other day...
When I got home that day I had some "spots" so I was freaking out. Then next morning there was nothing there. Then later that night (yesterday) there was quite a bit of blood, not a ton though, just enough to scare the crap out of me.
I had to stay up most the night with Devin last night (I'll explain in a second) so I went to the bathroom quite a bit.. There was no more blood, and there still currently isnt..

I have heard this can happen during pregnancy so I am a little assured by that, but I'm still pretty freaked out. I have misscarried before, I definitely don't want to again! If anyone can offer some advise about what to do to prevent it, that would be great.. Kind of a tall order, I know!

Obviously I am being pretty candid about all this. I probably shouldn't have told everyone in case I do misscarry but so many people already know, I thought this would just be fair, and good notice..

Anyways.. so the OTHER bad news!

Devin was cleaning gutters yesterday for one of his jobs. He asked me to come over because he was up on the roof and it would be easier for me to turn on the hose on the ground rather then him climbing up and down... Anyways... He was almost done and was climbing up the ladder to get the hose back down from the roof... the ladder slipped out from under him and he fell and landed on his ankle. SO, his foot turned and then he landed on his ankle.

The good news, once again... opposites.. hehe.. We do not think it is broken. It is swollen and bruised but he can put all his weight on it and he can hobble around. Not for long, but he can. So last night he needed to change from heat to cold intermittently throughout the night. He couldn't do it very well by himself so I helped him. He stayed up watching movies in bed (he said he couldn't sleep because it hurt to much, even after taking Percaset) and I went to sleep between needing to change the heat or cold.

Hopefully he will be better soon because I'm still not working (although a few jobs are starting to present themseleves) and he is behind on work. Not to mention; today is Friday, which is his maintenance day. so he can't go mow lawns. He is hoping he is fine enough to at least drive the riding lawn mower around tomorrow and have one of his friends help him with the trimming and edging.

One crazy thing after another! Well everyone, I'm gonna go now.
Have a great weekend!

It's about time! *Allergies SUCK!*

Hello everyone! I have been meaning to write for a long time now. Every time I have come to my blog and decided to write I realized I had to change my background so then I got discouraged.. The other day I made my own background but did not have time to fix my blog after I made it. So, instead of messing with it I just downloaded the current background.. I then had to customize the fonts and borders anyway, but o well.. I may get to putting mine up soon; we'll see.

I have never had allergies my entire life. Now I have them almost constantly! I can't stand them! I'm sorry Jade for saying it wasn't a big deal and you had no reason to complain all those years; now I know! Yesterday was the worse; no matter what medicine I took there was no relief! I wear contacts so it makes it even worse! I was rubbing my eyes all day; so whenever I closed my eyes (like to blink) I could feel my contacts grating against my eyelids. When I finally took them out one of my blood vessels was so irritated, it was sticking up and grating against my eyelids.. so no relief there either! I don't know how people cope with allergies! Ahhhh

I have been super busy with CreatedByMom.com lately too. There is still a lot of interest in people wanting to join to become vendors! Which is good but there still aren't a lot of sales... Hopefully they will come soon! Quinn is hosting a conference in July. It is called "Mom's Who Make It", on July 16th. Some of the sponsors so far are Wasatch Women Magazine, Today's Mama, Startup Princess, and Noah's (which is where it will be held). It is going to be great! It is a business conference, so there will be classes on how to start your own business doing something you love, and many other classes. Also there will be speakers who tell their stories of how they were down and how they have pulled themselves and their families up by doing something they love! It will be really fun, I'm excited! For more information about it please visit http://momswhomakeit.wordpress.com/. Also, to buy tickets please visit CreatedByMom.com.
I know I just shamelessly plugged the event, but hey, I think it is going to be awesome, and I can't wait to go!

My Great Grandma Gibson died last week. I haven't seen her in years and I'm sad I wasn't able to see her before she passed away. It was always so fun when we went to her house as kids. She had Alzheimer's and was in a home for the last few years. If we were still in AZ I like to think I would have gone to see her a few times. I'm happy for her though; she is now in a better place. My parents went down for her viewing over this last weekend. I would have gone with them but since Jade will be having her babe soon I am going down for that because I wouldn't be able to go for both. They are doing the funeral sometime in June anyway (she wanted to be cremated) so maybe I'll be able to go to the funeral if the babe is born around the same time!

As you can infer, Jade hasn't had the baby yet! Her due date actually got moved back again! First it was June 2, then June 6 (I think), and now it is June 9. I'm not sure why they keep getting it wrong, but that baby of hers will come soon enough! lol. I can't wait to meet little Ethan Thomas Leonard! I can't wait to see little James and everyone else either! A few months is a long time!

I quit my job at the Sanctuary. I was tired of working one Sunday a month and also not making enough money. I was going to start a mobile salon where I go to my client's houses. I think it is an awesome idea, and I think I will do it sometime, but I have decided against it for right now. I don't have air conditioning in my car so I don't think it would be a great idea to show up at a client's house all sweaty and gross! lol Someday I'll get a bus/RV and gut it and turn it into a salon.. that would be the best option.

So I have just been helping Devin with his landscaping and yard maintenance. I can't do it much longer though because we need more money and my wrists are killing me. I'm going to help on Friday's with maintenance still, but I need to find a job for the other days of the week.. If anyone knows of anyone who is hiring, I'd love to hear about it! I know, kinda a bad time to quit in this economy, but o well!

Well there is more to say but this post is already too long so I'm gonna go now. I'm hoping I will write again before too long, it has been since January! That is horrible!

Anyways, thanks for reading. I love you all! Have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Just a quick update

Hello everyone! Just going to do a quick update because it has been quite awhile since my last post.

I am still a busy, busy girl! I am working at the Sanctuary Day Spa and Salon still. I am getting busier, which is good. I could still be busier.. I have started to commit to pre-booking my clients so I will be busy in the weeks to come. I am starting to get more and more requests as well. It is definitely encouraging.

While I'm not working at work, I am working for Quinn. If you haven't checked out her store in awhile you should again, we have about 40 vendors now; before we had around 13. There is a lot of good stuff on there! Anyone with new babies; hint, hint, jk.

I also just started school at The University of Phoenix. I am going for a Bachelors in Accounting. Devin wants me to be his accountant for The Yard Man so I wanted to get educated so I don't end up costing us more money. Plus, it is rumored his friend will be starting a business and wants me to be his account. And maybe for Quinn eventually down the road as well. It is a skill that will always be useful; I will be able to do our own taxes and actually understand them! Yay!

I go once a week on Tuesdays.. This Tuesday will be my second time going. I think I am going to enjoy it.. I should be doing homework now; but you know how it is.. lol...

Devin has been pretty slow lately as there is barely any snow.. What is going on with this crazy winter! I can't believe it is so warm!

Tomorrow is my 22'nd birthday; and the Super Bowl... lol, it's all good though. I don't want to make a big fuss over my birthday this year anyways. It should be fun though. We are going to go to Melanie's and Matthew's to have a fondue party for the Super Bowl. We are going to do the meats and cheese and desert fondues. It should be yummy. Who are ya'll rooting for to win? I don't really care personally; I still just watch it for the commercials. Devin was rooting for the Eagles, but they didn't make it this year unfortunately.. Better luck next time!

So anyways.. we got a new printer, and.. it has a card reader! So now I can load photos on here. Do you like my new hair? At the top in the header? It is blondish.. Althouh that picture is now outdated because I have colored my hair again and I'm about twice that blonde. I will get a new photo up soon so you can see my new hair! I love it.

The other photo is of us ice fishing. We went with some friends in our ward. It was freezing but fun! We went for Devin's birthday; he wants to make it a tradition every year. We had his birthday dinner at his parent's house. He made fabulous steaks! Yummy! He got a griddle for the stove and some nice gloves for his birthday. Thanks ya'll!

Well, thats about it. I will update you when there is more to write! Love ya'll! Congratulations Emily and David on your new addition. Zach is so cute! I wish I could see him in real life!