Easter 2015

The girls and I colored eggs Friday. I love that they're at an age where they can color the eggs by themselves AND not make much of a mess!

 The Easter Bunny came! I love that I still have 2 little believers.

 Natalee was a tad excited about her Tsum Tsums! Haylee was too!

And Kona waited patiently for her basket. Yes our dog gets a basket and yes our dog has her own egg hunt! She's one of the kids. And a daily reminder of how much she's just like Jackson.

Sadly, I didn't get pictures of the girls doing their egg hunts, just a video. Well except for this egg Josh hid in Natalee's cup. He's a nut! The girls love looking for eggs and they do an awesome job finding them.

 And then it was time for church. And I must say these 2 girls are absolutely beautiful!

Of course during the Easter Service when the Pastor was explaining Jesus' body was missing from the tomb saying "and do you know what happened?" Natalee shouts out "I know what happened!". And everyone started laughing and looking at us. We're talking hundreds of people. And let's not forget when Josh came out of the bedroom and Natalee saw him and said "wow Dad, you look famous!" She cracks us up!

We had a wonderful day celebrating the real meaning of Easter and spending time as a family!

March 2015

Here it is March and I haven't blogged once this year!! I have a good excuse though, life has been crazy busy!!! With GS cookie season behind us, things will hopefully calm down now. This is what we've been up to since Christmas-

Right after Christmas we went to Flagstaff to do the North Pole Experience.

We had fun but it's definitely a one time thing.

They helped the elves make toys in the workshop, ate cookies and drank snowman soup, attended Elf University and wrote letters to Santa.

Josh, the girls and I went up a night earlier and stayed in Sedona. Although it was cold, there wasn't any snow on the ground which was kind of a bummer!

Sam had the girls on December 30th. Rose weighed 4 lbs. 8 oz. and Faith weighed 4 lbs. 9 oz. They were born 5 weeks early and stayed in the NICU for a week.

 

The next day Dakota turned ONE!

We rang in the new year with the Pava's. It actually snowed little flakes at our house but we were still able to launch a couple floating lanterns. The kids played upstairs while us adults played Cards Against Humanity, ate yummy food and drank some yummy drinks!

Josh and I had a few date nights and went to see Unbroken and American Sniper. Both awesome movies! We also took the girls to see Paddington which was adorable.

Haylee was awarded Principal's Pride for both the 3rd and 4th grading periods. That means she got straights A's! She's my little smarty pants! She also finished up the Service Club and is now in the Jump N Jive Club. She is loving the after school clubs!

And then cookie season started.....Our troop of 7 girls sold 3,173 boxes of cookies. Haylee was top seller in her troop and sold 734 boxes (519 booth sales,  215 personal sales). She worked 11 booths totaling 25 hours.

When she first picked her goal of 650 boxes I honestly didn't think she'd reach it. All of my moms orders were going to be split between Haylee & Hannah this year and we were only doing booths the first 3 weeks of sales. Well working her butt off at the booths paid off and she didn't even have to split sales. She actually gave some of her sales to other girls to help them reach their goals. I am so proud of Haylee and can't wait to go to Sunsplash with her again this year.

Haylee took a break from selling cookies to attend the Father Daughter dance with her Daddy at her school. They had a blast!

Natalee started a gymnastics class on Wednesday mornings at Suzy Irwin's house and she really likes it. She gets to spend time with her preschool friends and burn off some energy.

Haylee & Natalee both had Valentine's Day parties and were so excited to come home and look at all the goodies they got. That is one of my favorite memories from elementary school!

We spent a week cruising the Caribbean with my Mom, Dustin and Hannah aboard the Carnival Valor. We got to explore San Juan, St Thomas, Barbados, St Lucia, St Kitts and St Maarten. I will do an entire post about our cruise, because there are a lot of fun things I want to remember.

In celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday earlier this week, Haylee's class was writing their own wacky word problem. Haylee didn't understand why I was dying laughing when I read hers!

 Aside from all of that, we enjoyed some rainy days and naps on rainy days!

And now Spring Break has begun and the girls and I plan on doing a lot of fun things! We're going to someplace on our POGO pass almost everyday! Happy Spring!

Recapping 2014

Not sure why this never posted. Better late than never!

Is it just me or did we fly right through 2014? It seems like we just watched the ball drop and rang in the new year and now it's over!! This year has been crazy busy but I am so thankful to have the life I have. I am able to work from home (2 jobs) and make enough money to fund all the trips we take and extra fun stuff we do. I'm also a co-leader of Haylee's Girl Scout troop and I've made new friends this year that I can't imagine not having in my life. It's been a wonderful year for our family and for the most part we've all be healthy and extremely blessed. Here's a monthly recap-

January- Disney on Ice, GS Cookie Sales began, Mama Mia at Gammage and family dinner/game night.

February- Haircuts for us girls, Wizard of Oz at Gammage, a lot of cookie booths, Renaissance Festival, Cruise- Grand Turk, Grand Cayman & Ochos Rios Jamaica. This was the girls' and my Moms first cruise and we all had a blast!

March- Cookie booths, Danielle's gender reveal, Ostrich Festival and family dinner/game night.

April- Natalee turned 4!, Disney on Ice, Easter and Burt & Me at Broadway Palm.

May- Haylee bridged from a Daisy to a Brownie in GS, Sunsplash with the GS, Introduced to doTERRA essential oils, Josh turned 32 & we celebrated our 11th Wedding Anniversary in Vegas without kids, back problems, last day of school, the girls had a Frozen B-day (friend) Party, Flat Stanley at Broadway Palms, Summer Movie Fun starts & swim party for GS.

June- Girls started summer camp, playdates, Full Monty, Summer Movie Fun, Vegas with Mom, Timmy and the girls, I turned 31, Haylee turned 7, Skateland, Camping and the Circus.

July- Staycation at Legacy Golf Resort, Fireworks at Gainey Ranch, playdates, went to see Maleficant, Danielle's baby shower, Gilbert 23 event with Sheriff Joe, Big Surf, I became a WA with doTERRA, lots of swimming, back to school haircuts and school started!

August- Natalee started her 2nd year in preschool, Camping, doTERRA classes, Nevaeh was born, GS started back up and I'm a co-leader, celebrated my Mom's 59th b-day and Mother-Daughter trip to San Diego!

September-Dentist appointments, doTERRA classes, Haylee starts Young Chef club, Enchanted Island with GS, Disney Live and Josh joins the gym.

October- Spent fall break in Lake Arrowhead and went to Mickey's Halloween Party, Mother Nature's Farm, doTERRA classes, 2nd Anniversary of losing Jackson, Luke Bryan concert, boutique season started, Schnepf Farms with the GS, Run For Your Wife at The Palms and Halloween.

November- The fair, Haylee starts Craft Club at school, teaching (with Rebecca) lots of doTERRA classes, boutiques and Caught in the Net at The Palms.

December- Elves and the Shoemaker at The Palms, 1st doTERRA booth, Celebration of Christmas, Christmas Lights, teaching (with Crystal) doTERRA classes, Baking Day, RAK day, Christmas with Josh's family,  Christmas Eve at Life Point, Sedona, North Pole Experience and Goodbye 2014!

I have gotten horrible at blogging. I am hoping to blog regularly this new year to document our crazy lives!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Blog Break

I can't believe it's been 3 months since I have blogged! I thought about giving up on my poor blog since it's been so long, but I love having this blog as a reference and I also turn it into a blog book which holds wonderful memories. So with that being said, I'm going to try to catch up on what we've been doing the past couple months! Let the ramblings begin!

*School started back up! Haylee has been doing awesome in school so far. She received straight A's for the first grading period and 1 B, the rest A's for her second grading period. She loves her teacher Ms. Nelon and I really like her too! She just finished her first club, Young Chef Club and started her new club, Craft Club. She's making new friends and likes having Jake at school with her.

Natalee is in her 2nd year of preschool and loves it. She's doing awesome writing her name and learning letter/number recognitions. Her teachers say she is a wonderful student and they just love her! I haven't decided where she will be going to Kindergarten next year because I love the idea of her having Ms Brianne but I love Legacy. I have a few months to figure it out. Natalee loves her little friends at school, especially Lilly, Mattie and Azi and she loves having play dates with them.

*Girl Scouts started again and Haylee is now a Brownie. And I am officially a co-leader!!! We tend to meet twice month and have already earned several badges. We have been able to do some fun stuff so far this year since we have cookie money from last year. We've gone to Enchanted Island, participated in a Teddy Bear Ballet and we're going to see Elves and the Shoemaker at The Palms in December. We have a troop of 8 girls, 3 new girls this year, 2 of them happen to be Haylee's BF Molly, and Hannah (Haylee's cousin). We have a energetic group for sure! Fall Products sales just ended and Haylee was top seller selling 50 items. Go Haylee!!!

*I was introduced to doTERRA earlier this year but recently became more involved with it. I am loving the fact that I can turn to my oils first whenever something comes up. My girls are always asking me for oils for one reason or another and so far everything has been working great. I use the OnGuard immunity blend on them everyday and I think they've been a lot healthier. The oils definitely lessen the severity of the cold and duration. I'm using them more and more on a daily basis and I'm hoping we stay out of the doctors office this cold/flu season. I'm trying to get into the habit of taking their Life Long Vitality vitamins which have amazing benefits but it's such an adjustment remembering to take them everyday. Since I love the products so much it's hard not to share with everyone I know. I've been giving out samples, sharing with people about the amazing benefits of using essential oils and I have taught 2 classes with Crystal. I have 5 more classes in the next few weeks and I'm teaching 3 of them. I'm hoping the more classes I help Rebecca with and the more I teach the more confident I will be. I've never been one for public speaking, but the products are too amazing not to share and I love teaching others to take control of their health.

*Josh has been taking care of his health the past 3 months and has lost over 30 lbs. When he went to the Dr. in July he had extremely high blood pressure, high cholesterol, elevated liver enzymes and was dealing with sleep apnea. We were looking at $2500 just for a sleep study and then another $3-$5,000 for a CPAP machine. Instead, Josh joined the gym next door, quit drinking soda and eating fast food everyday for lunch and has changed his eating habits. In September alone he lost 28 lbs. and won a weight loss challenge at work. When he went to the Dr. last month the Dr. was very impressed with all the changes. His BP is normal, and Josh can stop his HBP medicine as long as he monitors it. His lab results were all normal and the sleep apnea is very rare so he doesn't have to bother with a sleep study or CPAP now. I rarely hear him snore and if he does it's a lot quieter. I am so proud of how disciplined he is!

*In August we went camping for my Dad's b-day and had a much better time.

We went on a walk down memory lane. Visited double log cabin where my Dad carved our names when we were little,

ate Payday candy bars; my Dad's favorite!

put some Chips Ahoy out for the chipmunks and splashed through water puddles.

And then we made s'mores!!!

I didn't stress myself out keeping Kona on a leash and she stayed at camp the entire time.

The girls had their own hideouts and played the entire time.

While we were gone (of course) Danielle had little Nevaeh Marie. She is absolutely adorable and has a head full of hair!

*We celebrated my mom's 59th b-day! Of course Crystal made her favorite turtle cupcakes!

*For Labor Day, my Mom and I went to San Diego for our annual Mother-Daughter trip.

We had a wonderful time and the weather was beautiful.

 We shopped, ate, went to the beach and drank!

While we were gone, Josh took the girls to Sedona so they could have their own mini vacation too!

When we got back my Mom got Willow, a sweet little lab mix.

Her and Kona are the bestest friends and they ADORE each other!

*We spent Fall Break in Lake Arrowhead with Dustin, Hannah and my Mom is an awesome chalet!

It was a little nerve wrecking seeing the "Beware of Bears" signs everywhere but thank God we never saw one.

The girls played so nicely with each other....

and us adults had so much fun playing Tripoly and dying laughing!

We brought everything pumpkin we could find to get us in the fall mood- bagels, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, donuts, you name it!! Oh and we stopped to get a few Pumpkin Spice Frappes!

We took the girls to Mickey's Halloween Party and had a wonderful time. For a fraction of the cost we were at the park 8 hours, went on 14 rides (or more), and trick or treated more than half the stations. We had more than enough candy and were able to walk up on most of the rides. We watched the fireworks and got pictures with a few characters. Definitely a fun and more affordable way to do Disney!

We had such a fun week. And we sure wore the girls out!

*With fall comes the traditional farms and the horrible memories of what we were going through last year when we visited those same places. I remember taking Haylee to Mother Nature's Farm when she was dealing with her sudden, uncontrollable OCD and getting the call from her pediatrician while we were there saying her ASO levels were elevated signaling she had PANDAS and that she would call in an antibiotic right away. That was such a relief to have a diagnosis and a reason for her radical behavior going on 3 weeks. This was hands down one of the hardest times of my life. Watching Haylee struggle and act the way she did was horrible. I cry thinking about how lucky she was to get a diagnosis and have a 100% recovery as fast as she did. She was extremely blessed and it was proof that the power of prayer is amazing. But this year I had to smile knowing it's been a whole year since we have seen those symptoms and even though she had strep once this year, the symptoms never returned. And I pray they never will! The girls had a wonderful time at Mother Nature's farm this year and loved decorating their pumpkins.

*October 12th also marked 2 years since we lost our sweet Jackson. Still such a hard subject for all of us. Not a day goes by he isn't talked about and missed dearly. The girls point out "Jackson's rainbow" often and let balloons go to Heaven for him. We sure miss his sweet face. Kona has helped to heal our broken hearts and really is a sweet girl. We've had her for a little bit over a year and I think it's safe to say she is out of her puppy stage.

*My Mom and I went to the Luke Bryan concert and had a wonderful time. That's the first concert I've been to in a few years. Totally worth every penny. He just recently won Entertainer of the Year and totally deserved it!

*Boutique season has started and my Mom and I have already been to a few. This year we went to 2 new ones and I loved them. So far my favorite was Grandma's Attic. It was kinda small but had the cutest stuff at awesome prices. I got Natalee a cute Christmas skirt and a Family Rules sign which I have been looking for for awhile. There were really cute aprons I wish I would have bought too! We're still going to a few more in the next few weeks so I can't wait to see what other fun stuff I find.

*We took the Girl Scouts (and Josh and Natalee) to Schnepf Farms for the Chili and Pumpkin Festival. Always a fun time! Haylee lost her 5th tooth eating corn on the cob!

*The week of Halloween we went to Chris's Haunted House. He always does an amazing job and I was totally scared the first time through. Once I saw that it was too bad I took the girls through. They are so brave and wanted to go through over and over. The "actors" we nice enough not to scare the crap out of us since we had kids and Natalee would just wave and say hi when she saw them. She's fearless! We made a cute little Haunted House, had candy corn science experiments and got free spooky pancakes at Ihop. For Halloween this year Natalee was Anna and Haylee was Rainbow Dash. They were both so adorable. They only walked around for about an hour and had more fun handing out candy to trick or treaters.

*My Mom and I got a season subscription to The Palms Theatre this year so we get a little girls night out about once a month. We went to see Run For Your Wife last month and then we saw Caught in the Net last week. Things have changed so much since I worked there 7 years ago, but I have great memories from my days there.

*So far this month we have went to the fair, I've been super busy with doTERRA stuff and Josh has been working on our backyard. He extended the patio on both sides with pavers and cleared out the mulch in the play area. He just started to extend the driveway with pavers and next up he'll start our bathroom remodel complete with jacuzzi tub!

Looking forward to the holidays and all of our family traditions. Hopefully I can keep up on my blog now!!!