Tooth Fairies & 72 hr Kits!!

Ok, so we have had an incomplete 72 hr kit in a very large tub stored out in the garage for several years now!!! I have recently sensed that I should put the items into back packs, update them, and complete the kits. I took the opportunity yesterday, (because I was bored, Hannah's at school now.....ALL DAY!!!) to pull out all of the stuff that we've stashed here or there, for the 72 hr kit, along with the huge incomplete tub from the garage. I was amazed at how much stuff we really had, though it wouldn't have done us any good in an emergency, since it was spread throughout the house, basement, and garage. I have spent the past two days doing a checklist and packing the items into the nifty new backpacks we ordered through our Stake. I am happy to say that we just need some light-weight clothing and a few other odds & ends and we will have a COMPLETE 72 HR KIT!!! YIPPEE!!!! We are going out tonight and getting the rest of the items, so if there's an emergency tomorrow, we will be SO ready for it!! This is a major accomplishment for me because I am always worried about there being an emergency and not being prepared. There, for sure, will be a major sense of peace that will come by having the kit finally complete!!

Hannah lost her 8th tooth 2 nights ago! She was bound and determined to get that tooth out. She was up in the bathroom just wiggling, tugging, and twisting away!! And, as I knew she would, she got it out!! She was so proud!! Her last tooth she lost last month, while on vacation. Our friend's family tooth fairy visited her but didn't take the tooth because their family's tooth fairy leaves the teeth for the kids. So, Hannah got to keep her last tooth. So with this one she left a note saying that she would not only like to keep this tooth but that she would like her other teeth back!! Seemed simple enough, right? Well, the tooth fairy forgot to come (which I'm sad to say has happened in that past. Good thing that last time, Greg had seen on the news that the Tooth Fairy was sick that night..........uuuuuummmmm........OK, whatever works!!) which made for a rather heart-breaking, attitude-filled, temper-tantruming morning!!! After some swift maneuvering on my part, she "miraculously" found her dollar bill mixed up in her comforter, while making her bed!! Shwoo, that was a close one!!! So the Miller family tooth fairy returned last night again and left all of Hannah's other teeth for her. Mission accomplished!!

Our Summer Vacation!

this is really old post. I'm thinking maybe since I never finished it and never posted it, it's stopping me from being able to upload my blog....we'll see!





I just thought I would do a quick post about our really fun vacation this summer. I will have to condense it quite a bit because the kids and I were gone for a month and a lot of pics are taken within a month. I will pick my favorites and share them with you.




Our vacation started in Tequesta, Florida where my father lives. We flew in and spent a few days with him before heading to Disney World. We mostly just hung out and enjoyed one-another's company. We did go to the beach so here's a few photos from that fun trip...

Daddy and son just hanging out in the water. This was Gabe's first time to the beach!

Hannah and Grandpa Matthew.

After hanging out in Tequesta, we headed to Disney World. Grandpa Matthew came with us for one day and then Grandma Lulu (JoAnn) came and spent the rest of the time with us. Our friends, the Hubniks, who live in Tomball, Texas, also met us at Disney. We had a lot of fun!! I think we were there about a week. Here are some highlights from that fun adventure.

Swimming at the pool.

Meeting the Characters

First Day of 1st Grade!!!

Hannah started 1st grade today!! I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She was up bright and early this morning and already doing her chores before I crawled out of bed. I was just laying there and I could hear her sneaking around the house doing stuff. I was proud of her and I was happy that she was so excited to go to school. We walked to school and things went well. Gabe & I went over for her first lunch, in the lunchroom, and of course, took a picture. I really enjoyed putting her lunch bag together, this morning. That may sound weird but that is one of the things that I have been looking forward to with her starting school. When I picked her up from school, her first question was if she could go to her friend's house and play. So, I didn't get an "I missed you" or "I'm so happy to see you" or anything like that. But I could see excitement on her face so I agreed but it turned out that Alexcia's parents weren't home so Hannah didn't get to play. Maybe next time!

Here are some photos from the BIG day....

Hannah just before walking to school.

Hannah with her new teacher, Miss Chappell.

Hannah eating in the lunchroom, for the first time.

You've Got To Be Kidding Me!!!

So, today we went over to the school so that Hannah could meet her new teacher, Miss Chappell, and see which "track" she would be on. I was happy when I saw that she was on "B" track which meant she'd be going to school at 9:15 am instead of 8:15 am. So it started out great!! Then we went on the hunt to find her classroom which ended up being one of the portables (we have about 10, I think) that are located outside on the school grounds. I was a bit upset about that but felt some relief when we found out that by early next year they would have an actual classroom. They are adding onto the school and that's when the other rooms are projected to be finished. So, I let that go because I didn't want to stress about something that didn't need to be stressed about and I gave myself a pat on the back because that's hard for me to do!!! So, Hannah's teacher seemed nice enough and she ended up having several kids in her class that she knew. She even ended up with the girls she had pre-school with & carpooled with last year for Kindergarten. I was happy and she seemed happy so it was going to turn out to be a "happy" day, right?!?! That may have been the case until I asked Hannah's teacher when she would be going to lunch so that I could come eat with her sometime. I knew I wasn't going to like the answer when she hesitated before answering. When she finally told me that Hannah would be eating lunch at 10:45 am, I about died!!!!! "You've got to be kidding me!!!" I said, but she wasn't!!! I didn't know what to do! If she was going to school at 9:15 and then eats lunch not even 2 hours later, she's not even going to eat at all because she's not going to be hungry!!!! And then come 1 pm she's going to be starving!!!! Who runs these schools, anyway?!?! It's obvious that they don't have kids in 1st grade, that's for sure!! I, of course, was beside myself and didn't know what to do. I went and stood in the never-ending line at the office to see if there was anything I could do. When I finally got to inquire about the situation, all I pretty much got was "Sorry, there's nothing we can do" in a not-so-caring manner. I then went back to Hannah's teacher and asked if Hannah would be allowed to eat a snack during her 2nd recess. Her teacher already knew that there was going to be a problem so she had already alotted a period for "snack time" and was planning on giving the kids pretzel's, crackers, etc. I went on to say that I would like to send Hannah with something that's a little more filling and nutricious because she doesn't want to deal with Hannah when she has low-blood sugar! Her teacher was fearful that the other kids would feel bad and left out if some kids had something other than the pretzels, etc. So, I then encouraged her to inform the other mothers about the completely insane lunchtime and maybe they too, would like to send their child with something to eat, that isn't pure carbs. I did get her to agree with me and I will be sending Hannah with 2 snacks, one for lunch (because she won't really be hungry) and one for snacktime.

I swear, I should have just home schooled!!! That thought continues to cross my mind but I will try this out and see if I need to take control or not! Hannah's excited about her friends so I don't want to take that from her unless I feel it is for sure needed!!

Tomorrow is the first day of school and I will have photos to post so check back!!!

Shailee, My New Arrival, Major Disappointments & a CTR Cash Update

So, this weekend we went down to Price to see my neice, Shailee, sing at the local fair. It was great to see them because I haven't in over 4 months. Shailee did a wonderful job singing a Charlette Church song. She received tons of applause after her performance. I was so proud!! Here's a picture of her just after she performed, she was just beaming!! Isn't she beautiful?!?!

My new fridge arrived on time this past Wednesday, and I was so excited!! I have to say that I love it more now than I did at Bestbuy!! It is just so perfect for me. Those drawers on the bottom hold SO MUCH!! It is totally unbelievable!!! I had a "saying goodbye" luncheon for a friend of mine the day after my fridge arrived. I received many compliments on my family's new addition!! Now the one downfall of my obsessions delivery is that the salesman told me it came with the stuff to hook up the water/ice with, BUT it DIDN'T!! So, I went out today and purchased a "so-called" ice maker kit but I was totally clueless on how to get it together. I am usually really good at figuring stuff like that out but I couldn't. I think I may have purchased that wrong thing or something because it wasn't about to work the way it said it was suppose to!! Anyway, I put it back in the packaging and I will be returning that puppy first thing tomorrow. Then I will head out to Home Depot and walk around the isles like I'm totally clueless so that I nice male worker will come over and save me!! I will have the worker explain every step for me and maybe even make him write it down. But no matter what, I am going to have that thing up and running before Greg gets home from Denver (thurs). He will be so impressed that I did it all by myself that he won't care that I'm thinking that I need to get a new stove, dish washer, and microwave to match my shiny, new, stainless steel refrigerator with running water & ice!! :)

This past week, Hannah started her new dance class. She has been waiting for this to start since school ended. She had a hard time with the fact that she wouldn't have the same teacher this year in school and she had an even harder time when she realized that her teacher wasn't even going to be teaching anymore (she had a baby in July). She wasn't going to be able to see Mrs. Kamauu again. Devastation!! Well, we found out that Mrs. Kamauu was going to be teaching at a local dance academy, so of course, we quickly signed up and Hannah was thrilled!!! So, the day finally came and Hannah talked about how excited she was the whole way there. When we arrived I realized that Mrs. Kamauu wasn't there but I assumed that since she just had her baby, she had someone subbing for her. Well, I asked the dreadful question (if the lady was subbing for Mrs. Kamauu) and she informed us that she is the teacher of this class and that she would be Hannah's teacher for the year. Hannah about lost it!! I felt so bad for her!! I was so mad at the owner who insisted Mrs. Kamauu was teaching the dance class that I signed Hannah up for. Hannah cried quite a bit during the class but afterwards she decided that she would keep coming even though she was very disappointed and sad!!! I think she made a brave choice. Here she is just moments before the devastation hit!! Isn't she adorable!?!

Quick update on the CTR cash...........it's working WONDERFULLY!!!! In fact, Hannah was able to purchase her first item from "Miller's Market" this evening. She had gone back and forth between the tooth fairy, the Webkin, and the Peter Pan toys. Well, she ended up purchasing the Peter Pan toys for 3 CTR dollars!!! She was so excited and so proud!! She did a great job of saving her CTR cash. She didn't even once spend it on TV, or computer, or on an item that was less than $3. She was a little girl on a mission to get the item she wanted and I'm so proud and happy that we was able to succeed in doing so!!! Here's a photo of her with a couple of the Peter Pan figures....

Well, that's about it for now! TTFN!

"Family Emergencies, Old Friends, & Something Cool"

So this week has been filled with a bit of drama. We received a call informing us that my brother was in the hospital due to a minor heart attack. My brother is only 36 yrs old, so the news was very shocking! So the couple days following the phone call were filled with trips to airports & phone calls from relatives. Very stressful!! But it turns out that the Dr in the ER was incorrect because the testing stated that it actually wasn't a heart attack but some sort of digestion issue. I couldn't understand the medical "jargon" but the issue is obviously not as severe as a heart attack would have been. So, it was quite dramatic and emotional BUT it all turned out OK!!

After taking my mom to the airport (she was heading to Arizona) I decided to go to Kohl's to use my "Kohl's Cash" that I earned while shopping with Karie, in Texas! (Ok, we were just running to Wal Mart for a couple things but we chose to take "the scenic route", that's what we told Ken, which just so happened to take us to Kohl's.) Anyway, while shopping I ran into a friend from high school. It had easily been 7 or 8 years since I had seen her. It was funny how this "coincidence" happened on the day that I was cleaning my house (hair pulled back/no make-up on) and I had to leave just to run my mom to the airport!! You know me, I'm not too caught up in the "look my best every second of the day" scene but in this situation I really wish I could have looked at least presentable!! Anyway, I know that sounds vain but it's true.

Now for the EXCITING news!!!! I purchased a new refrigerator today!!! Ok, now to those of you who have a normal sized fridge, this may not seem like a big event but to those of us, with a teeny-tiny one, it's a BIG day!! I have been doing some research the past couple of days and I wanted to compare two that I had narrowed it down to. I went to Bestbuy to show Greg one of the refrigerators I was thinking about. I was talking with the sales associate who was explaining to me that they didn't have it out on display, when I noticed that Greg was looking at a very different looking fridge. I was curious, so I walked over to where he was. Let's just say that it took a whole 3 seconds for me to fall in love with that fridge!! Greg's eyes got HUGE because he knew I wasn't going to be happy with anything else. It's kind-of like the "ignorance is happiness" thing. If I wouldn't have known that fridge had existed, then I would've been perfectly happy with one of the other two I had been looking at BUT there was no turning back!! To make him smile, I turned to him and said, "Just like on Napoleon Dynamite, when the lady sees the bonus with the Tupperware set..........I WANT THAT!!" Greg laughed and I got my fridge!!! They are delivering it on Wednesday and I just can't wait!! I am so so excited!! Here's a couple of pictures of it.....



Notice the four-door feature. It's really cool because the bottom two drawers can be either a freezer or a refrigerator!!! Can you believe that?!?! I always have issues with too much produce and not enough space!! This way I can actually have the top-right side as a refrigerator and BOTH bottom drawers as refrigerators!!! Totally cool!!! We have a freezer out in our garage so cutting a little of the freezer space is just fine with me! I must say that the pictures don't do it justice, so you'll all just have to take a trip to my house to come see my new, amazing fridge!!! When you arrive, I'll be hanging out in the kitchen, just staring at my new "golden calf" :)

Oh, one more thing, if it were up to Greg we would have came home having purchased a refrigerator that had a built in TV on the front of it. And not only that, it had another screen where you could store all your recipes, family pictures, or if you want you could access the local weather on it!!! Hello!?!?! When did the manufacturers of refrigerators decide to target the MEN market?!? Totally unbelievable!!

"CTR Cash" & White Chocolate Covered Pretzels!!

So we started our CTR Cash on Monday evening. I did a Family Home Evening on "obedience" where I explained that when we obey we get blessings. I had Hannah find her favorite scripture story about obedience and asked her to share it with the family. She chose "Joseph Smith's First Vision" and the rest of the story leading up to the printing of the Book of Mormon. I asked her questions about what could have happened if Joseph Smith chose not to obey Jesus and the angel Moroni. She seemed very moved by the lesson and opted to promise to obey her parents "from now on". At the end I explained to Hannah what the new chore/incentive program would be. I told her that she could earn CTR cash for being obedient to her parents. The program is very simple, there are "basic chores", "daily chores", and "extra chores". The basic chores include the things like making bed, brushing teeth, saying prayers, reading scriptures, etc. There are "morning" and "before bedtime" basic chores. These chores when completed AS A WHOLE (abt 5 items each) will earn Hannah 5 CTR cents. Which means she can earn 10 CTR cents by just doing the basics (which may change because I'm not too fond of the idea of paying Hannah for the stuff she has to do anyway, but that's why it's only 5 CTR cents each). Then there are "daily" chores, which is a chore that is expected to be completed on a specific day, (i.e) Monday: clean your bathroom Tuesday: clean kitchen table and counters, etc. These chores earn her 10 CTR cents. Then if she has completed her "basic" and "daily" chores, she has the chance to do an "extra" chore. These can earn her an extra 15-25 CTR cents each day. She also can earn CTR cash for good behavior especially "obeying with exactness" (Stripling warrior story! Got to love it!!) which she would get an extra 50 CTR cents. Now, of course, she can lose CTR Cash for bad behavior such as throwing a fit, whining, getting out of bed once she's been put to bed (that's a bad one!!). The ways in which she is able to spend her CTR cash are for TV time & computer time which is 10 CTR cents for 30 min. and there's always good old "Miller's Market" which is a tub full of toys, movies, etc that she wants, which she can purchase with her CTR cash for the priced marked!!! She's very excited about Miller's Market and today at the store she kept showing me things that she would like me to put in there!!! She has opted to not watch any TV today because she's saving up to purchase the "other toothfairy" ( a stuffed fairy with pink wings & dress) which is going to be a friend to her current "toothfairy". I have to say that I am excited that she's excited about it!!! If she wasn't, it wouldn't do any good!!! So I will keep you posted on how things progress in that area!! But as for now, SO FAR SO GOOD!!!!

So on Sunday night I had a MAJOR craving for, of course, White Chocolate Covered Pretzels!!!! And I had gone to the store the night before and didn't grab any!!! What was I thinking!?!?!? And I think it may have been me putting my ox in the meyer (spelling) if I went to the store and purchased some. Anyway, I began rummaging through the cupboards looking for something to take their place but it wasn't happening!!! Then out of no-where an "angel" appeared and told me where I could find some "mickey mouse white chocolate covered pretzels"!!! Ok, for those of you who haven't tasted those, they are the BEST!!!! I had to pinch myself a few times to make sure I understood what the "angel" way trying to tell me. Could it be that she knew where to find them?!? I inquired futher and she told me that they were out in her "angel car". I was speechless!!! So then the "angel" floated out to her "angel car" and came back in with an almost empty, slightly melted bag of Mickey Mouse Choc. covered pretzels!!! I have never been so happy in my life!!! So, I'm sure you've guessed that the angel was my mom and she had purchased some the day before we left Disney World and still hadn't finished them. Which I do believe is almost humanly-impossible!!!!

So first thing Monday morning I was off to purchase some more choc. pretzels. You are not going to believe what I found!!!!! They had them on sale at Smiths (our local grocery store in Utah) for, are you ready for this??!!??..................10 bags for $10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I totally purchased 10 bags and I am seriously contemplating going back for another 10!!! That's just a crazy price!!! I could seriously get some for my food storage, right?!? I couldn't imagine going through a disaster without my pretzels!!! So, for the time being I am supplied with the necessities of life!!