Brooke & Amberlyn

Questions for Ambry

2010-01-11T20:25:00.000-08:00

I was going through some pictures tonight of Ambry's earlier days. I can't believe how much she has grown through the years! She has been my GREATEST blessing in life and I can't possibly imagine life without her. She really is my little sunshine when skies are gray!

Every night after we get all ready for bed, I like to lay down in bed with her and ask questions about her day. It gives me the chance to really get involved in her life plus it usually helps her fall asleep quickly. Tonight, to throw in some variety from the usual, I found a cute little survey for her. Some of her answers were just adorable. Hope you enjoy!

1. What is something mom always says to you? "Hurry! "

2. What makes mom happy? “When I clean up the house.
3. What makes mom sad? “When I not do what mommy says.”

4. How does your mom make you laugh? “Tickle me.”

5. What was your mom like as a child? “Liked to color.”

6. How old is your mom? “4”

7. How tall is your mom? “Big"

8. What is her favorite thing to do? "Take baths."

9. What does your mom do when you're not around? "Work and watch a movie."

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? "Playing with kitty cats."

11. What is your mom really good at? "Coloring."

12. What is your mom not very good at? “I don't know.”

13. What does your mom do for her job? “Make money for the house.”

14. What is your mom's favorite food? "Apples."

15. What makes you proud of your mom? "She makes cookies."

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? "Cinderella "
17. What do you and your mom do together? “Go shopping.”

18. How are you and your mom the same? "We like to play"

19. How are you and your mom different? “You’re big”

20. How do you know your mom loves you? "When mommy’s happy and gives me hugs.”

Ambry's New Bed

2009-09-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Ambry has been needing a new bed for a while now, but I have been putting it off mainly due to the expense of it all. Recently I got a call from my old job saying that they forgot to pay me for 60 hours of unused PTO time. And what a blessing that was! We were so glad to have that money come in so we could get Ambry's big girl bed all ready. Everywhere we went, we seemed to find incredible deals on the mattress, sheets, etc.

After much trial and error, here's how we finally ended up arranging the room.

Everything seems to be perfect so far. There's only one problem...I think Ambry just might have a nicer mattress than me now! :)

Five Years Ago Today...

2009-08-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

It would have been my 5th year anniversary today. The last few years, this day has come and gone and hasn’t affected me much at all, but for some reason this year really hit me hard. I don’t miss my ex at all, but I miss being married. I miss coming home after work and getting a kiss and a hug, I miss having date nights, I miss talking out little spats, I miss cuddling at bedtime, I miss doing the dishes together, etc. I hate coming home to a dark house, I hate going to bed alone…I hate the loneliness!

It’s now been 4-1/2 years that I’ve been single. To make it worse, I haven’t had a date that got past the first one for 3 years. To be blunt, I’m sick and tired of this single mom business. I feel like I do so much, if not it all, on my own. First of all I’m a mother, I’m the breadwinner (and I don’t receive any child support), I make a house payment and pay all the bills, I work full-time, I cook all the meals, I mow the lawn and do the yard work, I clean and scrub the house, do the laundry, do the shopping, am the home mechanic, attend to church callings, so on and so forth, and it completely drains me! A lot of the times when I turn my computer on to start working for the day, I feel so guilty about not being there for Ambry like she needs me. I feel like she doesn’t have a mom in addition to a dad, and I start to feel like a failure as a mom. Unless she has her grandma or friends come over, she ends up watching TV for 6-8 hours most every day. Luckily my mom has helped me so much with her, but I feel so guilty about that. I feel like my mom who has basically raised her children should enjoy being a grandma instead of being a babysitter and raising my child for me.

I have to admit there’s a tiny little ounce of jealousy in me. I long to have the thing so many others have: Companionship. I long for Ambry to have a daddy and know what that actually means. I long to have another baby someday. I long to actually attend the temple with the man of my dreams instead of going there alone all the time and seeing all the happy couples there. I long to have my own real family!

I’m sure I would give up right now if it weren’t for Ambry. There are many days I’m absolutely falling apart in my room thinking I just can’t do it anymore, and in comes my sweet daughter, not saying anything, but just giving me her best bear hug and kisses and lets me hold her and cry. There’s a talk that President Hinckley gave in 2003 called “To the Women of the Church”. It’s my favorite church talk and I have it printed out and read it often. I won’t quote the whole thing here, but here's one part that really jumped out at me:

"Now I speak to you single mothers whose burdens are so heavy because you have been abandoned or have been widowed. Yours is a terrible load. Bear it well. Seek the blessings of the Lord. Be grateful for any assistance that may come out of the quorums of the priesthood to help you in your home or with other matters. Pray silently in your closet, and let the tears flow if they must come. But put a smile on your face whenever you are before your children or others."

I really suggest you read it…it’s a wonderful talk and gives me great comfort.

I know that Heavenly Father loves me. I know that He knows what I’m going through and the struggles I face, and that He knows what is best for me. I’ve learned, and am still learning, to put my trust in His will. I just hope that everything will work out in the end.

Thanks for reading.

Our St. George House

2009-07-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

My parents and sister have been building a house down in lovely St. George. It just got finished a few weeks ago, and I just thought the house looked so cool I wanted to share some pictures of it. The best thing is, it's wired for Internet and so I can take my computer and just do all my work from down there.

So we don't melt on those hot summer days, we put in a pool with a hot tub for cool evenings. The bundle of rocks in the corner is actually a waterfall.

I haven't been down there yet, but I'm so excited to go and hang out with the fam! It's going to be great!

I Love Lagoon!!!

2009-07-13T16:38:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to go to Lagoon so bad this summer, and it just hasn't been able to work out so far. It's either raining or I can't find a babysitter for Ambry, but today was the day I finally got to go! It was tons of fun! I'm just like a little kid when it comes to Lagoon...almost running from ride to ride, getting as dizzy as possible, etc. Ambry, however, does not share my love of Lagoon sadly. Most all the kiddie rides scare her to death and she even screams on the Merry Go Round. Kinda sad, but hopefully she'll grow out of this stage.

I had some coupons for Lagoon from Deseret Book, but I figured before I went I would check KSL if there were any better deals out there. I found one that was a season pass that some lady's daughter got for her birthday but apparently hates Lagoon. So, I now have a season pass that I got for VERY cheap and I can go whenever I want...YAY!!! Currently I'm going by myself as my family really doesn't like Lagoon, so if anybody would like to join me or maybe plan a day down there with each other, let me know. I would love someone to go with!

Happy Birthday Ambry!!!

2009-06-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Today was Ambry's 4th birthday. I can't believe she's this old already! This year I decided to bake her own cake. I saw how cute my neighbors were doing some of their birthday cakes for their kids, and being a right-brainer, I just couldn't pass up a creative opportunity.

Ambry said she wanted a swimming pool cake, since she loves to swim, so this is what I came up with... It was actually really fun to do!

(Had to give the bears some swimming attire) :)

She was definitely impressed!

We went and had a nice dinner at my parents with shrimp and chicken kabobs. All in all a good day! Seeing your kids excitement over their birthday is so fun to watch. I think being a mom is the best thing in the world. Happy Birthday my little Linny-Lou, I love you!

Anybody have a coupon?

2009-06-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Just a little request...I was doing laundry today and washing my sheets, and when they came out, my bottom sheet had a 12" x 12" hole right in the middle with thinning all around the rest of it. So I guess they wore out. Does anyone have one of those Bed Bath and Beyond 20% off coupons they will not be using? If so, let me know! My bed will thank you!

Ambry Singing

2009-06-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ambry LOVES to sing...especially primary songs! I caught this cute video of her doing one and I just had to share...

Ahh...a child's faith! :)

Four New Things

2009-06-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

Just an update on what has been going on with our lives recently...

1. New Flowers!

Our little island in our front yard had been pretty much overtaken wtih grass. I tried pulling the grass blades out one by one, but that was so tedious and frustrating. I told my mom I wanted something completely new, and that is pretty much what she did. She came over and planted all sorts of fun flowers in lots of different colors. It looks so pretty and it's so fun to watch it all grow. I really think the size of the flowers has doubled since this picture was taken. Ambry definitely likes to help water them! This week, I have noticed my daisies are about to start blooming and I also have a few roses popping out too. I love this time of year!

2. New Wii!

I'm probably a video game geek, but since I played with the Wii system at a few friend's houses, I always wanted one. So, a few months ago, I set out a plan to get one for myself. I scoured the house and found a few things to sell on eBay and KSL, which came to about $300, and then started saving every penny I could. I found some great deals, and I got an entire Wii package with 12 games, accessories, and all that (a $550 retail value) for only $197.37 out of pocket. It's been a lot of fun so far!

3. Ambry's done with preschool!

Let's just say Ambry and I are kinda sad about this one. Every morning without fail, she always comes in and wakes me up and says, "School today?" When I tell her no, she gets SO disappointed. Then she gets hopeful and says, "Aubree's house?" Aubree and Sydney have been such a joy to her and to me. I am so glad she has friends and that they love to play together. I'm also glad that she has 1 year left of preschool next year, so hopefully that comes fast.

4. New haircut!

My hair was getting super long again and needed a cut. My mom's been bugging me about going darker, and I finally agreed. I don't think I expected it to go as dark as it did. I'm really not sure about my new look yet, and it's hard to recognize myself. As such, I've been avoiding mirrors as much as possible. I miss my blonde, but hopefully I'll get used to this. It really is very dark, but hopefully it'll fade a bit with time. I do like the length though.

Our Disneyland Vacation

2009-05-24T19:19:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our wonderful, long awaited trip to Disneyland! I love Disney and am a fan of all amusement parks, and I'm glad my parents went along with us. Even though it wasn't their happiest place on earth, it sure was mine.

When we first arrived, we weren't sure what to do first. We saw what seemed to be close, which was the Matterhorn Bobsleds. Terrible Mistake!!! Ambry screamed the whole way and was just shaking the whole time. We decided to tone things down after that and tried It's a Small World, but she cried through all of that too. I was thinking right then we had totally ruined her day.

Ambry not too happy getting off "It's a Small World".

My mom was nice enough after that to tend her while my dad and I caught some of the thrill rides.

By about 3:00 that day, after hours of begging, I finally got Ambry to try the Carousel, and she fell in love. Life was good again for her, and I was relieved! We got in Dumbo a few times too.

We actually didn't have that much luck with Disney characters on our trip. I really wanted Ambry to meet the Princesses, but the line to see them was 2 hours. Oh well. We did catch one character though...although I'm not exactly sure who he is...

Ambry and I in our first Mickey Ears hats!

(She was happy...just tired after a long day)

We spent a fun 2 days in Disneyland and California Adventure, and then we headed off to the beach. It was fabulous!!! We walked down a pier, got some ice cream, then walked on the sand on the beach and got our feet a little wet. Ultimate relaxation! Ambry loved to watch all the seagulls and try to chase them.

All in all a wonderful trip, even though I didn't find my Prince Charming! :) I was sad to leave and wished we could've stayed longer, but I was ready to get back home too. I hope we will be able to have many more fun vacations like this soon!

First Haircut

2009-05-04T22:19:00.000-07:00

I was bathing Ambry the other night, and as I was combing out her straight hair, I noticed it was getting pretty close to her waist. I figured it was definitely time for a haircut.

When Ambry was born, she had pretty much no hair. She was the baldest baby forever. She was always wearing stretchy headbands to let people know she was a girl. Even at her first birthday, she didn't have very much except for this tiny fuzz. When her hair finally came in, it was really red and straight curls, so I figured it was worth the wait for that.

As soon as I noticed it was getting way too long, we headed over to my cute neighbor Tiffany's house.

Ambry was surprisingly good for her first ever haircut at almost 4 years old. I went expecting a tantrum and lots of tears, but she was a little angel.

This was the look on her face the entire time.

I was so happy with the end product. Tiffany did such a good job! I think Ambry likes it too. She likes to see it bounce, so she's jumping around a lot so she can see that. I'm so proud of my little girl!

Wicked

2009-04-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity on Saturday to go to the Broadway production of Wicked. One word...WOW!!! It was so cool!! I can easily see why it was voted the best musical of the year. Some songs just were so amazing that tears almost started flowing. I've already downloaded the CD and that's all I listen to anymore.

I've always been a Broadway geek and I love musicals. In addition, I've always been obsessed with Wizard of Oz. I have lots of doo-dads around the house of Wizard of Oz memoribilia and such from the original movie, so I was more than ectastic when my dad said he had tickets for me and him to go. It was just fun to see someone's interpretation of what happened behind the scenes of the original movie. They had some really fun and cute souvenirs from the show, but I just couldn't justify $40 for a simple shirt. Maybe someday...

What I noticed at the show was there were quite a few kids there...young kids (below 6). I can't quite understand why some parents would spend so much on their children to see it, but to each their own I guess.

Anyway, if Wicked ever comes back to Utah, it is WAY worth it and I recommend it for all to see. I know I'll be there again.

My Love Languages

2009-04-25T11:29:00.000-07:00

Last night, my mom and I got to go to a workshop that my ward put on. It was so much fun! I've always been fascinated by the Five Love Languages and figured this would be a good opportunity to teach my mom in the subject. I learned a lot, ate a really yummy dinner, and just generally had good times! My mom didn't seem too excited to go at first, but after it was over, she said she was glad she went and it was much better than she expected.

They had a little quiz on the back of a handout for us to take to figure out our top love languages. Mine are:

Words of Affirmation: 12 (The highest possible score on any language)
Receiving Gifts: 7
Quality Time: 6
Physical Touch: 5
Acts of Service: 0 (Ouch!)

What was funny is my mom's top one is Acts of Service, which pretty much does nothing for me, so we'll just have to try and get out of our comfort zones with each other and start speaking the other's language! :)

One thing I did learn was there are 2 other books centered around the Love Languages that are based on Apology and Children. They both sound interesting, but I am really interested in reading the Five Love Languages of Children Book, so I'll have to get that soon.

Overall, it was a super fun night. It'd be interesting to see other people's love languages, too!

Little Biker Babe

2009-04-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ambry loves being outside! She is always begging me to take her out, especially to ride her bike, so to make it fun for both of us, I had been working with her on learning to pedal her bike herself.

Ambry has been doing so well with speech lately and is able to talk and express her feelings so much more and actually tell me what she does at school every day. So, after she came home from school one day, Ambry said, "I can ride bike. Pink bike." I learned that Ambry's teacher had been working on teaching the kids in the class to ride a bike. So, between our efforts, Ambry has turned into quite a good little biker.

Aubree, our next door neighbor, is a favorite of Ambry's. They get together and chase each other down the sidewalk, occasionally bumping their bikes together and laughing hysterically. It's so fun to watch and I'm so glad they're friends.

Since I was getting quite a few pictures of Ambry, Aubree didn't want to be left out. :)

She sure gets big fast!

Learning Lessons

2009-03-25T12:10:00.001-07:00

I generally like to always have music on in my house to get rid of the quiet. Ambry loves it too. She actually can sing along to most songs now too. It's way cute!

Anyway, we were getting ready this morning. I have always told Ambry that anything hot, be it a straightener or a curling iron, is "danger" and to never touch it, and she pretty much never has. She even goes so far as to tell me it's danger to me and to never touch it myself. :) Well, a song came up on my iPod that we really liked and we both started singing along to it. Ambry started dancing a little bit to it too. Suddenly, Ambry stopped and as I looked down, her hand was literally resting on the hot part of the curling iron. It took a while for my reaction time to setttle in and realize what happened. I quickly removed it. Ambry has never been burned before, so I'm not sure she knew what to think. About a minute went by, and I was really wondering why she was being so quiet. Finally, she let out a big huge wail and I was relieved by that, but I felt so bad!

The burn didn't turn out as bad as I expected, but her fingers are still so very red. Needless to say, she has definitely been a mama's girl today and has been very spoiled because of it. I guess sometimes you do get burned learning tough lessons.

A Few Personal Touches

2009-03-20T09:21:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, we have been doing a little home decorating. It's been fun, but I'm glad that we're finished and we get to enjoy the finished product.

In our kitchen, I'd heard this saying that I really, really liked, saw a blank spot on the wall that looked a little lonely, called an artist, and wa-laa!

It's situated perfectly over the kitchen table, and it's the first thing I notice as I'm coming down the stairs. I love it!

As for my bedroom, I wanted something a bit more fancy. This same artist that I had do all this was the same one I used before Ambry was born. She came to my parent's house and painted a garden mural in the nursery. I was sad to leave that, but I exchanged for a just as cute room that Ambry has now.

Anywho, I wanted twigs going around my whole bedroom and some ivy dangling off of that. Here's what my talented gal came up with.

(My attempts at a panoramic view)

Just to show you the detail...

Did I mention I absolutely LOVE my house!! :)

Catching Up

2009-03-14T18:32:00.001-07:00

I've got a bit of blog catching up to do. Life has definitely been crazy the last few weeks!

Firstly, I have a new job! YAY!!!! It only took 3 months of job hunting and about 50+ applications...brings new meaning to a tough economy! It's actually the exact same job I was doing in 2007, and I love it! Doctors are decent, and I'm able to make more than I thought possible doing medical transcription. It's nice not to feel like I'm married to my job. I've been able to spend so much more time with Ambry, and I'm sure she's grateful to have her mom back.

Secondly, as part of my new job, I had to be at the hospital for a few weeks of training. I do want to say thanks so much to all the neighbors for pitching in and helping me get through that. I am so blessed to live among such wonderful people!

Lastly, I have loved the AWESOME weather we have been having! I actually spent some time outside and pulled a few weeds today. Almost all the snow is off of the ground too, and I'm actually excited to start mowing my lawn again. (Ask me the same thing a few weeks after and I'm sure you'll get a different response.) It just seemed we got a bit pounded with snow this year!

I also was able to put the swings back up on the swingset today. I don't have a ladder, so I just used a kitchen chair...a bit scary, but it got the job done. Next thing I need to conquer is teach Ambry how to pump her legs so I don't have to push her all the time. I'm usually lazy though and put her on my lap so we can both swing at the same time.

A little bonus to the swingset this year...we added a slide. It is awesome and is a very fast slide, made for both adults and children. (Yes, I'm young at heart and will probably play on it more than Ambry.) It's just sitting in the garage now until the weather gets a little warmer, then it'll definitely be put to good use.

As of right now, I'm doing a little bit of home decorating. I've bought a few pieces of art and some garland to put around the house, and I'm having an artist come in a couple weeks to paint some designs on the walls. I'll definitely post pictures when it's all done.

Best Sandwich Ever!

2009-02-23T18:45:00.000-08:00

We are going to Disneyland in May, and we are so excited for our trip!!! It will actually be Ambry's 4th time at Disney...I know, very spoiled! :) I got our tickets on eBay for a super great deal. We are going to visit both parks for 2 days at $25 a day. Not too bad considering the sky-rocketing prices their tickets are. I have always been very young at heart, and enjoy doing most things the average kid does, and amusement parks have to be one of my most favorite things ever! I'm lucky and I don't get motion sickness at all, so I hope it stays that way for many more years.

For those of you that have been to Disneyland, there is a fancy restaurant called the Blue Bayou (inside Pirates of the Caribbean). One of their specialities is called the Monte Cristo sandwich. It is sooooooo good! It's also any diet's spoiler, so it's not exactly the healthiest thing out there. So, in my excitement for the trip, I found a recipe for it. I figured why pay $15 for it in the park when you can make it at home yourself? So, if you think it sounds good, or if you've never had the opportunity to have it, here's the recipe you've gotta try.

(This makes 4 sandwiches)

BATTER:
- 2/3 cup water

- 1 small egg

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/8 teaspoon pepper

- 2/3 cup flour

- 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

SANDWICHES:
- 8 slices white bread

- 4 slices roasted cooked turkey (1 ounce each sandwich)

- 4 slices Tillamook swiss cheese (1 ounce each sandwich)

- 4 slices smoked ham (1 ounce each sandwich)

- Vegetable oil, for frying

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place water, egg, salt, and pepper in a bowl and using an electric mixer, mix well at low speed. Add flour and baking powder and mix until batter is smooth. Chill.

2. Make 4 sandwiches, putting cheese between ham and turkey. Cut into fourths and put a toothpick through each quarter.

3. Heat about 1/4" of oil to 340 degrees in a frypan. Dip sandwiches in batter to cover all surfaces. Deep fry sandwiches until golden brown, turning as needed.

4. Remove from oil and take out toothpicks. Drain on paper towel to remove excess oil. Sprinkle sandwiches with powdered sugar and serve with jelly for dipping.

Would the Snow Just STOP!!!?!?!!?

2009-02-17T14:38:00.000-08:00

I'M SOOOO READY FOR SPRING!!! I was telling my neighbor Becky that I would rather mow the lawn any day than shovel snow. Heck, I'd even weed! I spent a good 2 hours this morning trying to snowblow/shovel snow. When I came back in, all my clothes were just soaked and I was freezing. Looking back now, 2 hours later, it doesn't look like I even made a dent in the driveway. At the time, it was literally impossible to keep up with no matter how fast I went. The most awful thing though was when I just cleared out the snow from the end of my driveway and the city snowplow came not a minute later and left all the crud. GRRR!!! It's a never-ending battle.

To escape this "winter wonderland", here's a nice spring picture for all to enjoy......

Ahhhhh, if only...

Time with Grandmas

2009-02-11T15:12:00.000-08:00

I had another job interview today. Not wanting to bother anybody with watching Ambry for that time, I decided to take Ambry to my mom's work so she could watch her. My mom works at Crestwood Care Center in hospitality. My dad's mom is a resident there, and Ambry got to play with her while my mom worked. Grandma raved about how much fun they had together. They shared lunch, and grandma said that she especially liked to hold hands with Ambry. Luckily, my mom got a darling picture to capture the moment.

Good news is, I think I might have passed this interview...so, we'll just have to see!

Lil' Ski Bunny

2009-02-07T16:08:00.001-08:00

Today, Ambry had her first experience skiing! Generally, in my family, we like to get the kids up on skis by the time they are walking. We obviously were a little late on that with Ambry, but were excited anyway to finally take her up this year. I had to work (what a surprise), so my mom and sister took her up for me with instructions to take lots of pictures! :)

She was so excited to get into her new ski outfit this morning and was all smiles.

First time on skis! Lookin' pretty snazzy!!!

Here we go....I was told the chair lift was one of her favorite things.

She loves it! Smiles and laughs the whole way down!

This picture made me laugh. "I can't see, but I love to ski!" Haha...

"Soon I'll be as good as my cousin Brightyn." (Brightyn is only 4, and already skiing intermediate stuff.)

A fun day! Thank you Aunt Sydney!

I'm so glad that Ambry had a good time. She has already told me that she would like to ski again very soon. It'll be good to have another skier in the family. Let's just hope someday she doesn't out-ski me. :)

Desperate Times

2009-01-30T21:02:00.000-08:00

***Warning: Vent Post***

As some of you know, my job has been the pits lately. I have been literally working myself to the bone these last few weeks with not much to show for it.

My job was actually really bearable until right before Christmas. Since then, I have had nothing but foreign doctors who talk so fast they sound like an overgrown chipmunk. These doctors also don't speak English very well at all (putting it nicely), so I end up having to try to interpret and fill in the blanks with what they say to make the medical report look halfway decent. During the first few days, I didn't think anything of it...just figured they were some bad days. Then, those bad days just kept getting worse and worse, up until where I am now. So, as of this time, I am working 12:00 p.m. to 4 a.m. (16 hours) 5 days a week to claim 40 hours of work at pretty low pay, just enough to keep my head above water and all the bills paid. If I get too tired to do 16 hours a day, I usually work both my days off with a 3-hour break for church to make the time up. Oh, on top of that, I try to be a good mom too. Anyway, I feel like I am just going crazy!!

Since I was young, I had an intense interest in the medical field and wanted to make my job out of it somehow, and with my typing ability, medical transcription sounded great! I loved it at first and made really good money. What's better is it gave me the opportunity to raise my daughter and stay at home with her, and I have loved that.

Well, as soon as things started getting remotely bad, I started putting some job applications and resumes out there with everyone and anyone that I could think of. I got a call back from only one, who I went down for an interview with on Tuesday, and apparently I wasn't what they were looking for. I just put in my 17th and 18th job applications in today. Hopefully I'll have luck with at least one of them...and if anybody knows of any job opportunities out there, please, please, please let me know.

So, it's been an incredibly trying last few weeks. I am just really hoping and keeping my fingers crossed for a normal job that I can go to and get paid for actually being there, then be able to go home, be the best mom I can be, and be off for the rest of the night...wow, that'd be nice! I've been pouring my heart out and pleading with the Lord to help me in this endeavor and that He'd lead me to the job that is right for me. I know that with faith, all things are possible...it's just a matter of having trust and patience in His will.

Anyway, thank you for hearing me out and letting me vent...it's good to get it out. Now, back to work.....

Identity Theft

2009-01-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I got a really bad surprise today...I found out my credit card number had been stolen!!! Yuck! Thousands of dollars have been used on the card, so I guess someone had quite a shopping spree. I've been on the phone all day getting things taken care of, getting the card canceled, and putting a fraud alert out with the credit companies. If any one else has experience with identity theft, just to make sure I have done everything and all my bases are covered, let me know.

Got Cereal?

2009-01-23T14:13:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago, my sister got the "food storage fever". She was all about emergency preparedness and helping others accumulate things in case something drastic ever happened. In fact, she gave all of the family members 72-hour kits for Christmas. Well, lately, I seem to have fallen into the fever too...

What you are looking at is about half of our inventory of cereal. To be exact, we are up to 46 boxes of cereal!! Wow, that's a lot! My sister showed me this awesome site (http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/), which involves cutting out coupons from the paper or wherever else, and combing them with store sales. So, by using this site, on average, each box of cereal I have gotten was around 50 cents to 75 cents. I've started to work a bit on other things, like canned food and such, but haven't been able to find super screaming deals yet.

So, as of right now, we'd be surviving on cereal for a quite a while if anything happened. Hopefully I can keep the fever and keep working on getting everything I need.

My 10 Ugly Truths

2009-01-14T19:58:00.000-08:00

My friend Bonnie had a great blog post today, and I decided to steal her idea. She said that a lot of the time, we tend to blog about all the things wonderful about us, thus portraying our lives as perfect and sweet. So, I decided to do the exact opposite of that today. Here are 10 of my nasty habits...my not-so-pretty side. I hope that you won't look down on me for them, but instead, possibly they will make me easier to understand and maybe even relate to. And, hopefully by listing them, I can start working on them too. So here goes...

#1. I'm Possessive. Although I do love giving gifts and service away to others, it bugs me like no other when people take my own stuff without my permission (for example, when I open my closet and my favorite dress has mysteriously disappeared because my mom happened to borrow it or something without asking)...but, when people do ask, I really don't have any problem with giving anything I have away.

#2. Always in a hurry. I have to admit, I'm probably one of the most fastest and aggressive drivers I know. I have actually never gotten a speeding ticket, thank goodness. (Total knock on wood there!) Utah drivers that don't at least go 5 mph over the speed limit tend to get on my nerves. In addition to being a fast driver, I'm a very fast walker and a lot of people have a hard time keeping up with me sometimes. Good thing though is I've definitely toned it down in my years.

#3. I pick my nails/acne. Going for the physical side here. I really doubt my nails have ever gotten decently long before. They're always very short. What's worse is I'm not really aware that I'm picking them sometimes. I'll get lost deep in thought and the next thing I know, they're all gone. Another thing is I have always had oily skin. I wash my face like crazy, and the little buggers just keep coming back. I was quite the zit-face in my teenage years and was on the nasty Accutane for a while, but they've seemed to make quite the relapse these last few years.

#4. I'm shy. Before I go into detail here, I've come a LONG way. I'm actually not one bit surprised seeing Ambry a bit on the quiet side now. Back when I was a little girl, I went to a birthday party, and when it was time to go home, I wouldn't speak to the lady driving me home, and she didn't have a clue where to take me. I was quite the shy child all through school, and don't have the best memories of it. I've definitely opened up a lot better now and life is much better this way!

#5. Spoiled. Grew up in a wealthy family, wealthy neighborhood...put simply, I'd rather have something done for me than to do that same thing myself. By the way, this bad habit has for the most part completely dissolved since owning a home myself.

#6. Obsessive-Compulsive/ADD. These are AWFUL! My house has to be perfectly straight 24/7, the vacuum lines have to be perfectly parallel to each other, I check my house locks and lights about 10 times a day, I rearrange and count Ambry's toys many times a day so they're just how they "need" to be, and many, many other things...and if someone tries to do them for me, I need to go and redo it all... I do also have a hard time sitting still and keeping focused too...something I really struggled through school with.

#7. Pride. When I was younger, about 3 or 4 years old, my older sister was in piano lessons. She would practice so long and hard, and after about an hour of getting it just right, I would walk right in and play it right back smoothly and perfectly. We made the rule in our house then that I could NOT play my sister's music. :) I eventually went through 5 piano teachers, and I finally stopped taking lessons and began teaching lessons myself. So here's my big pride issue...when I hear others play the piano and perhaps struggle through a piece, although I love hearing others play and would NEVER say anything mean, inside I get those bad pride thoughts, thinking I could do it better.

#8. I eat junk food...a lot! Let's face it...I'm a big fan of junk and fast food. Considering I've had 3 family members die of heart disease, and my dad had a heart attack himself a few years back, I do really need improvement in this area!

#9. Procrastinator. I am quite the Queen of Procrastination! I seem to always put things off, sometimes until it's too late.

#10. Deep sleeper. I can sleep through really anything. I don't even want to count how many alarm clocks I have "outgrown". I actually learn to sleep through them. I have one now that actually shakes my whole bed in addition to having an alarm that sounds as loud as a jackhammer. Although, on occasion, I happen to sleep through that, too!

Soooo....there ya have it. I really am a super nice gal and not as bad as these make me sound, and I REALLY hope I don't regret doing this, but now you can say you know all the nitty-gritty stuff about me.

New Carpet

2009-01-13T11:40:00.001-08:00

We finally have new carpet!!! I'm WAY excited about it! I keep looking at it and I can't believe that I have something this nice in my home. As you can see, it's a textured carpet. All the carpet in the squares is looped, so it's pretty stiff and hard, but the carpet outside the squares is plush soft, so it kinda feels like you're getting a foot massage everywhere you go, which is really super nice! We moved all our furniture on Saturday, and it actually all fit in our kitchen. We were really glad about that because we didn't want everything to be getting dirty in the garage. We then pulled all the carpet and pad up. Ambry and I both slept on our couch for 2 days. There was one night that Ambry had to go up to the bathroom. Being too tired to find our shoes to walk upstairs, I figured we would be okay since it wasn't that far. We got to the bathroom just fine, but coming down the stairs, I accidentally stepped on one of those nasty tack strips...OUCH! I definitely learned my lesson that shoes ARE required.

The installers came early Monday morning and they were done in 6 hours. With the help of my family, we were able to get all the furniture back in place by bedtime. So, big thanks to my family...you're awesome!

Here's a little home tour of what the carpet looks like in each of our rooms. I tried to take good pictures, but it still looks 100 times better in person. Enjoy!

Super Seller!!

2009-01-10T10:46:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things to do is sell on all those wonderful selling sites...eBay, KSL, and craigslist. Just about weekly, I go through the house seeing what I can sell. One easy thing is getting rid of Ambry's old toys. If she stops playing with them for a while, they're outta here! :) In fact, Ambry doesn't even have one baby toy/gear left except for her car seat now. I also have a little "clientelle" up in my sister's neighborhood that I charge 10% to sell their stuff for, which actually turns out to be a good little money maker. (By the way, if anyone down here wants me to sell their stuff for them, just let me know.)

As we all know, my car broke down, and I got really sad about that. When I called around one day for price quotes to fix it, no matter who I called, everyone was over $600. That just made me sick! Here I was, just finishing some home remodeling, putting deposits down on carpet, etc., and out of the blue this shows up. Luckily, we did find a relative that could do it for half price, so we were very thankful to get that.

Even though half price was great and all, it was still a lot of money! I then decided to put some things on KSL and craigslist. They all sold very quickly, and the last thing got picked up today. The wonderful news is with the car repair plus selling, I came out with $12 left over. Which means, I made money on my car breaking down...Go figure!! In fact, that's the same story with how we got our swingset in our backyard. I ended up selling some stuff, and I believe I got paid $75 to get that, so really not too shabby.

So, happily, my car is running perfectly again!!! Yesssssss! It's just like music to the ears to turn your key in the ignition and it starts the car...just an amazing concept! :)

Car-less

2009-01-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

I had a craving tonight for a cinnamon roll...freshly baked nonetheless, so I figured Papa Murphy's Cinnamon Wheel would come close enough. Well, I went and got one and I was so excited to come home and dig into it. I turned the key in my ignition, which started up just fine and dandy, then it slowly died. :( I tried to start it again, and it'd always start up, but then would die...over and over again. People are so nice in the holidays, and a few people asked if they could give me a jump, but it obviously wasn't the battery if it was starting up just fine. Well, my dad came to the rescue, and he thinks the likely problem is it needs a new fuel pump. Yay for another expense! :P

It's just an awful, helpless feeling to be without a car and stranded. Let's hope Papa Murphy's will give me my car back soon so it can be resting safely again in my garage. I already miss it!

A Whirlwind of Days

2009-01-01T14:45:00.001-08:00

Ambry with her new "pet horsey" (and she can't get enough of it) :)

Talk about the hustle and bustle of the holidays! I have been a terrible blogger lately, being so busy with the parties and get togethers and all the fun stuff the holidays bring. (I think I gained 5 pounds because of nonstop treats, too!) I guess Christmas gives me a nice excuse to bake all kinds of sweets, which I love to do anyway. I made these fun little fruit pizzas, and those had to be my favorite!

One of the things I have been working on this past month is potty training. I'm sure I have just about exhausted every method out there. First, we tried the potty training in a day method, which we spent basically the whole day getting on and off the potty, and that pretty much didn't seem to work. Then, we tried the Dr. Phil method. I got Ambry a little doll that really pees and poops for Christmas, and I think she's more scared of it than anything else. She has never really been a doll fan...surprising for a girl. Finally, there was one method I heard that might work, which is pretty much getting rid of diapers all together and for the money you would have spent on diapers, pay that to get the carpet cleaned. I figured, what the heck, we're replacing the carpet anyway, so we went ahead and tried it...and it's just what Ambry needed! Sure, the carpet looks like a total disaster now and I've spent every other minute spot cleaning the carpet, but in this last week, Ambry has went from having about 15 accidents a day to only 2. She does not want to go #2 in the toilet yet; in fact, she is petrified of it, but I'm sure we will get there. I'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of this long dark tunnel we like to call potty training. It definitely brings on a whole new level of patience.

Lastly, one HUGE project that I am not looking forward to at all...we're moving! Not away, just out to the garage and back. :) I got a call that our carpet finally came in and is ready to be laid, so we pretty much have to vacate the house of everything that touches the carpet, and then put it back again. What fun! :P I felt like I just had to do that not too many months ago. Here goes round 2...we'll see if we gained any experience the first time around.

So, that's what we're up to. After the carpet is installed, that marks the end of home projects and we'll be able to take a nice breather. Yay! Here's hoping next month is nice and slow! :)

Let It Snow!

2008-12-14T12:35:00.001-08:00

I was so glad to look out the window this morning and finally see some snow! To me, Christmas just isn't Christmas without snow. I also love to snow ski so it'll be good to get up and hit the slopes again this year.

I recently decided to buy a snowblower as the manual shoveling can get really tedious besides break your back. I'm really not a fan of my gas lawn mower, so I decided to go electric for my snowblower. Buying it was really scary as you can't really test one out on snow before you buy it and see if it's any good or if it has has any power. So, I gritted my teeth, took the plunge, and hoped I didn't completely waste a few hundred dollars.

Well, the snow came, and I was kind of nervous/excited to finally use the snowblower today. Let's say I was highly impressed with the little machine! It's actually really nice and quite powerful at only 25 pounds. It's nice not to worry about pouring gas or yanking any cord to start it up. The first few runs were a little iffy as snowblowing my own driveway was the first time I had ever snowblowed in my life, but once I had it down, it went rather quickly and I had the whole thing cleared in about 20 minutes. Plus, I thought it was rather fun! Now that I don't have to worry about digging myself out of all the snowstorms ahead, bring on the snow!

Help!

2008-12-11T12:03:00.000-08:00

Hey all. I just got a call this afternoon that some friends have tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert this weekend, and what's even greater is they asked me to go. However, my parents and sister (a.k.a. the usual designated babysitters) have been in Hawaii for the last 2-1/2 weeks and won't be back in time. I will be gone from about 5:30 - 10 p.m. on Saturday, and I am just wondering if any kind-hearted soul would be willing to let Ambry come over and play with their kids for that time. She doesn't require much at all and she loves to play with other kids! The only downside...I'm seriously short with money at the moment, trying to provide a decent Christmas for Ambry with home remodeling on top of that, so my payment to you would be providing service back to you (babysitting your kids free for a date night with the hubby, or pretty much anything else you'd like!). Anyway, just let me know if anyone is available. Thanks! :)

A Bit of Home Remodeling

2008-12-10T16:48:00.000-08:00

So, I am pretty sure we earned the title of the Noisy Neighbor today! I just had one of my Christmas gifts to myself early today. :)

Before I bought my house, I was originally looking at the gray town homes, thinking I could only afford one of those. In fact, I was almost all ready to buy one. My parents were totally opposed to the idea though and wanted Ambry to have a yard to play in and wanted me to be in a regular home. So, we went across the street to look and "just see what money could buy", really having no intention to buy anything, and the first thing we saw on the left side of the street was a little red 'for sale' sign in the front yard. We called Tiffany and Trevor and probably sent them into a frenzy, saying we were outside now and wanted to look at the house. Well, we walked in, and WE LOVED IT! It had been finished oh so well and was so very well taken care of. I loved pretty much everything about the house, but one little thing...the stairs!!

I am sure you're saying, what's wrong with that? Well, I am definitely a stair girl, and I like them to look beautiful with a pretty railing and such. I made a bargain with my dad that if he'd fix that one part, then I'd be completely and totally in love with the house, and we'd sign on the deal and buy the house. He agreed, and so the rest is history and I became a first-time homeowner.

However, pretty much as soon as I moved out, my parents decided to drastically remodel their entire house, and it was just too much stress on my dad to think about remodeling some other house at the same time. I wanted it done before Christmas, so I started looking around. I remembered my old neighbor was a carpenter, so I let him know what I planned to do. He gave me an estimate, the price was right, and he said he could have it done in 3 hours, so I was all for it.

Here is the completed project (almost). It just needs staining now.

(Little Munchkin wanted to get in on the picture, so she ran in at the last minute.)

I am SO excited about it!!! (Probably the reason this blog post is so very long...) I'm supposed to be working, but I can't quit going down and admiring it. It's gonna be great!

My other Christmas present to myself this year is we are actually re-carpeting the whole house! Yes, all 1260 square feet of carpet. (Ouch...just going to leave a little dent in the pocketbook...) We are going top of the line carpet and pad. It's this awesome pretty textured carpet and one of those pads you just sink into...really comfy. We are just waiting for it to be ordered and installed. Hopefully it's before Christmas, but we're in no hurry.

Anyway, that's my exciting news for the day!!! :) Hope everyone is well!

Christmas Decorating

2008-12-02T18:47:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Christmas Decorating!!! Especially when it's your own house! There's a big pride factor involved... :) I finished my indoor decorating on Monday, and I did a few little outdoorsy things on Tuesday. When I lived with my parents, my mom always did most of the decorating, but I was always responsible for decorating the tree. I had so much fun decorating my tree this year. I was actually up until 2 a.m. trying to get every ornament in the right place. Luckily, I didn't have to go shopping for a tree or anything as I already had most of my Christmas decorations from being married during the Christmas season. It was good to finally pull everything out of the closet after it'd been there for a good 4 years.

I put in a fireplace not too long ago, and figured it'd be a perfect touch for Christmas! It puts out a lot of heat, and it definitely makes the room nice and cozy. As soon as I put our stockings up, Ambry got excited and said, "Santa come!" She must have remembered what the stockings were for from last year. It was way cute!

One of my favorite things to do when I'm decorating for Christmas is pull out old ornaments and take in all the memories associated with that ornament. This is one of my favorite ones. It's actually a homemade ornament, and in case you can't figure it out, it's a melted snowman. It has a little quote attached to it, which reads, "Though Christmas will pass and your snowman might melt, may the warmth of the season always be felt." I think it's really cute and incredibly creative! May we all enjoy this special season ahead!

My New Haircut

2008-11-21T11:57:00.000-08:00

So, yesterday, I was trying to figure out things to do with my day. I started playing around with my hair...trying to figure out some cute different styles and such. My long hair had always been so thin and hard to do. I would try to do it nice and full, and then 5 minutes later, it would be flat as a pancake again. I could never really get much volume out of it. I had been growing it for about a good year, and it was just turning into a big headache. No matter how careful I'd be, it'd always end up being this huge, painful rats nest. So, at the spare of the moment, before I changed my mind, off to the salon we went!

I wish I had some before and after pictures, but this is the final product:

They ended up cutting off 5-6 inches of hair! Wow!! I didn't realize it had gotten that long. At first, I was like, "What have I done?", in a horrified sort of way. It's funny how you kind of get attached to long hair if you have it. But, now, I can officially say I love my new style! It's so easy and actually fun to do now. Here's to no more hair frustration!!! :)

My Little Girl

2008-11-12T16:37:00.000-08:00

I got this cute photo of Ambry the other day. Since she was 2 years old, she has been in Early Intervention for help on her speech as she has always been a little behind with that. This year, she actually gets to go to preschool. The school bus actually comes and picks her up right at the driveway 4 days a week, and she is gone for a good 3-4 hours (definite mommy-relaxation-time!) It gives her great socialization, structure, and best of all, it's free for as long as she needs it.

We had parent/teacher conference today, and that was very surreal! I know it's only preschool, but going and talking to your child's teacher when you felt like you just brought her home for the first time from the hospital is, well...weird! Why do they have to grow up so fast? Ambry's teacher had nothing but compliments for us. Ambry has made such improvements with her talking in the few months she has been in preschool, and the teacher just praises her as a sweetheart.

After the conference, we were in luck since the school had their Book Fair the same day. Ambry goes wild over books! She would prefer books over toys, dolls, swings, etc. When we got there and I told her she could pick out any book she wanted, the look on her face was pure joy! (I was sorry I didn't have a camera with me!) She went crazy, and wanted, this one, that one, oh please this one, etc. etc. All she wanted to do when we got home was read her books, which was great because I had to get to work anyway.

I guess all of the excitement must have gotten to her after a while...

Overall, I am so very blessed to be able to have Ambry in my life. She is my driving force, and she definitely keeps me going. I think she's the cutest little girl ever, but I'm sure every mom would say the same thing about their own. Thank goodness families are forever! :)

Flu Bug Is Here

2008-11-10T11:21:00.001-08:00

The flu bug is officially here in the Peterson household. I've noticed with Ambry being in preschool, she tends to bring home every single bug out there, which in turn I end up getting from her. Yesterday, it was the worst. I felt awful for missing church. I absolutely LOVE my new calling in the primary, and it's so much fun to go to church for that, plus I missed a family missionary homecoming talk and dinner that same day.

I used to work at the hospital before I got an at-home job, and they gave us flu shots for free. I had always gotten one the last 3 years, and the one year I didn't, I ended up getting the flu. Maybe I took a bit of advantage of that extra benefit.

So, we are very much both hoping this will pass soon and be over with. Until then, Ambry and I will grin and bear it through all the fevers, aches, chills, and all that fun stuff.

All in a Day's Work

2008-11-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

I work full-time at home as a medical transcriptionist, which I really love doing. I end up being at the job 5 days a week, so my days off are Sunday and Monday. Sunday is great and all, actually my favorite day of the week, and I milk it for all it's worth. But, I am really, totally not a fan of Mondays as it is my official "git-er-done" day.

A little about me, I'm very OCD. I am definitely a perfectionist. I like things impeccably and meticulously clean, even down to organizing the closets and the sock drawer. So, every Monday, I will set out my list of what I need to do, which always includes scouring the bathrooms in their entirety, vacuuming, dusting, laundry, but sometimes more on top of that. That list used to include mowing the lawn and weeding, but I am SO glad that's done for the season. It definitely feels good after it's all done, that I don't have to think about nitty-gritty cleaning for the rest of the week, but I'm usually exhausted by the time it's over.

Shouldn't days off be more fun? I guess in a perfect world, maybe someday I'll get to enjoy BOTH my days off! :)

Halloween Fun

2008-11-01T17:59:00.000-07:00

We had so much fun on Halloween! It's a tradition for my family that we all go up to my sister's neighborhood in Mountain Green so we can all have a nice dinner and then do our trick-or-treating together. (That and they give out king-size candy bars...who can argue with that?) I left a big bowl of candy at the house so we had our bases covered.

Ambry really got into it this year. Last year, I felt like I had to drag her around to all the houses as she just wasn't quite grasping the concept of it all. This year, I had to run to keep up with her (a little bit hard in glass slippers), and she wanted to go up and ring the doorbell all by herself. In fact, if I tried to help her, she would say "Go Away!" Haha. I think it's great that she is becoming so independent. My baby girl is growing up way too fast!

Ambry came into me today with her costume and headband and said, "Costume on, please." I was wondering what was up, figured she wanted to play dress up or something, so I quickly put it on her. The next thing I know, she had her pumpkin bag for her treats, was pulling me to the door, and said, "More candy!", as if to go out trick-or-treating some more. Thus proceeded the long conversation about that Halloween, like Christmas, only comes once a year, but I thought her idea that we could just go out and do it all again was hilarious! :)

Sweet Tooth

2008-10-27T13:46:00.001-07:00

(Looks good, huh?) :)

I have always had the worst sweet tooth! I actually get it from my mom. Both my mom and I are known to hardly ever cook dinners and just cook sweets (cakes, cookies, pies, and the like). We had our ward's trunk or treat the other night. It was actually the first trunk or treat I had ever been to, and I was really impressed with it all. We had the yummiest chili and Olive Garden breadsticks, but best of all, there were LOTS and LOTS of treats there. As I had never been to a trunk or treat before, I made the mistake of parking my car the second row back in the parking lot. Most of the cars were lined up right next to the church, along the church's sidewalk...so anyway, nobody ended up going to our car. Now we have this over abundance of treats at our house, one batch that was supposed to be for trunk or treat and another for trick or treaters. Oops! I guess more for trick-or-treaters, right? I've set a limit so we don't go crazy with it all with just 5 treats a day, give or take a few. :)

Thank you so much Rowley's for getting this cute photo of us at the Trunk or Treat! We went as Cinderella and Snow White.

Oh, and I just ordered a camera for a super great deal on eBay, and I am so excited for it to get here!!

Ready, Set, Go...

2008-10-23T15:40:00.001-07:00

I think I'm ready to finally begin this blog now. I've seen how cute many of my neighbors and friends blogs are, and I kinda got bought into the idea of blogging. I'm actually without a camera at the moment aside from my cell phone camera (2 megapixels, WAHOO!!), but as soon as I discipline myself and my budget enough to get one, this page will soon be littered with fun pictures! See ya soon!

Our Very First Blog

2008-07-19T19:50:00.001-07:00

Alright, so we have officially started a blog. Just testing it out to see how this goes. More to come shortly! :)