Sunday Primary Program

The girls had their Primary Program today & I'm happy to say that I'm glad 'IT'S OVER!!'  Hahahaha. . . . . .And I honestly say that for all of us parents that had participating children in it.  LOL!!  It's been a stressful week.  But in the end, it always pays off.  :D  The girls memorized their parts, but for some reason. . . .when Polu Marie got up to say hers, she went blank & just froze.  Thank goodness for the helpers up @ the podium that were able to help her.  They were rewarded with a bag of treats for each individual child afterwards.  Here are some pictures of the girls 'ALL DRESSED IN WHITE'

My brother took us out to dinner tonight.  We love to try new places so we went to this Brazillian Steakhouse in Jordan Landing!!  And I'm happy to say that it was definitely a SUCCESS!!  :D  The food was great & the COMPANY was even BETTER!!  :D  You know what they say, "You can't go wrong with GOOD food & GREAT company!!"  It was a blast!!  Life gets so busy & I swear time flies that it's nice to slow things down a bit & just catch up with the ones you LOVE!!  I'm very very VERY grateful for loving PARENTS that made the most IMPORTANT & most CRITICAL decision in their lives when deciding to be baptized into the church.  The Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints.  It has provided blessings for generations to come & most importantly. . . .it's given us a chance to be bonded together as an ETERNAL family.  The most CRUCIAL part of being here on earth.  

The girls will be participating in their primary program tomorrow.  It's definitely been a busy weekend & I'll be throwing down in the kitchen, BETTY CROCKER STYLE, to whip something up for them for all their hard work.  I love them so much!!  And yes yes, I finally bought myself a camera!!  LOL!!  So the pictures will be coming by the dozens!!  Those of you who know me, know that I love to take pictures!!  LOL!!  

Another Fun Dinner Out With My Siblings. . . . .

FIRST TIME TO THE PUMPKIN PATCH. . . .

So we finally made our way to the pumpkin patch for the first time.  :D  I t was definitely exciting. . . . .The kids picked out their pumpkins & are feeling ECSTATIC to be carving them for family home evening on Monday.  Here's some pics from there.  You can tell they had a BLAST!!  

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"Sometimes the greatest love is not found in the DRAMATIC SCENES that poets and writers immortalize. Often, the greatest manifestations of love are the SIMPLE ACTS OF KINDNESS & CARING we extend to those we meet along the path of life. TRUE LOVE LASTS FOREVER. It is eternally patient and forgiving. It BELIEVES, HOPES, and ENDURES all things. That is the love our HEAVENLY FATHER bears for us."

I live by these daily gems that I subscribe to daily. They're such great reminders to not get caught up in a WORLD so full of loneliness & sorrow. 'BE IN THE WORLD, NOT OF IT' is one of my favorite scriptures. What a WORLD of meaning in such a short sentence.

MY 'DAILY GEM' FOR TODAY

"People need to know something of our faith as committed Christians with strong traditional values. Along with the Articles of Faith, we need to emphasize that:"We believe in the eternity of the soul, that God is the Father of our spirits, and that we can return to Him after death."We believe that Jesus Christ is our personal Savior, and we try to model our lives after Him and His teachings. We commemorate Christ's atoning sacrifice in our Sunday worship services, similar to taking communion in other churches. We accept as fellow Christians all who believe Jesus Christ to be the Son of God and the Savior of all mankind. . . . Joseph Smith taught that Jesus Christ is the core of our belief, and everything else is an appendage to it. The name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints."We believe the original church that Jesus established was lost and has been restored again in our day. The priesthood, the authority given to man to act in the name of God, with apostles and a prophet to lead us, has been restored as have all necessary ordinances of salvation."We believe in and we use the Holy Bible, both the Old and New Testaments."And we believe in the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture which support and authenticate the Bible and testify of the ministry and divinity of Christ and of God's ongoing revelation to man. Indeed, the Book of Mormon is 'Another Testament of Jesus Christ.' "

-Elder Russell M. Ballard

Another hectic day is coming to an end & I'm definitely happy to say that we are half way thru done with getting the kids costumes. We have 4 girls so they are going to be the 'CHEETAH GIRLS'. I know I know. . . .there's only 3 of them now, but we've decided to include Raven on this one. LOL!! I'm happy to say that everything's coming together so well. :D It's been great watching our kids grow over the years & it just seems like time flies by so fast. Since I've started coupon'ing, I have so much extra $$ to be able to splurge a little bit here & there. And when I say SPLURGE, I mean pick up a magazine that I love to read up on or buy some decorations for the house & so forth. Nothing MAJOR.

My first paper route was a SUCCESS. It took us about 2 hrs to do 200+ homes. It was a blast since all the while long my manager doing the training kept us laughing the whole time!! My mom comes with me on my route & I'm so grateful to her for even wanting to get up @ 1:30 am and head out the door with me. It seriously is so much faster & easier to do a route with 2 people, instead of 1. But hey, if you don't have anyone to go with, it's doable flying SOLO. Don't be discouraged. :D

The girls came home today & just can't stop talking about how much they love SCHOOL. It's so great!! I'll savor every moment of this because I know it won't last long. LOL!! My son says new words on a daily basis & it's just AMAZING to watch!! He was talking on the phone with his dad tonight for 5 min straight. That's definitely a record for him. His dad didn't understand a word he said, but it didn't matter @ all. I love being a mother to my kids & couldn't be more GRATEFUL for the many blessings they bring into our family. I don't know what the future holds for me & my family, but we're definitely EXCITED about the present. These were my thoughts for today.

COUPON 'EXCITEMENT'

I have started coupon'ing as of yesterday & LOVE IT!! I went to Albertson's & got 9 bottles of Garnier Shampoo/Conditioner as well as 9 bottles of Pert Plus 2in1 Shampoo/Conditioner. And they were all FREE!! I had to pay a couple of cents in taxes, but that was it. I also hit up Smiths to get my REVLON makeup. I got $90 worth for only $28. WOO HOO!! I love it. To make my EXCITEMENT go to a WHOLE 'nother level, my sister surprised me this morning & stopped by to take me coupon shopping. . . . .with her coupons that are expiring soon. It's been such a HEAVENLY experience. We bought a bunch of AIR WICK starter kits that are normally $7.99 for only $2.00 a piece. And then we got the gel plug-ins for .82 cents each & the carpet fresh for .97 cents each. It's so great. I can't believe how much money I'm saving. I'm HOOKED for life. Never going back to paying full price!! :D

I'll be sure to post some pictures once I get my camera this weekend. We're still pretty new in our house so that's what I was doing all night. Unpacking & figuring out where to put things. We're back here in South Jordan. Love being back. I also start my paper route tonight. I'm so EXCITED!! He's giving me 250 homes. He'll be coming with me tonight for my first time to train me. Then I'll be on my own. The extra money around now definitely helps & is exciting!! But I'll stick to it even after the holiday season. We're pretty serious about getting our savings/welfare/storage in order. We have wayyyy too much on the line not to be. I really am just grateful to live here in America where there's so much opportunity available to whomever is willing to take advantage of it. Those were my thoughts for today.

Here are some pics from our boating trip in Frisco, Co. We had such a great time. It was so peaceful & the kids had so much fun!! Since this was a first for our WHOLE family!! It brought us so much closer together. Especially me & my girls. I have changed a lot of my ways in order to better see what they need from me. Emotionally, that is. I LOVE IT!! They confide in me about everything. Secret crushes @ the age of 7 & 6. It's hillarious!! And they've tried to make me promise not to tell their dad. LOL!! But they know that their father & I are ONE & one of us can't know something without sharing it with the other.

I started realizing something just recently. That I better start really working hard on my relationship with my kids so that they know that I'm here for them no matter what & in every aspect of their lives. I want to be the best friend to them that they have throughout their lives without having to feel the emptiness of it & searching for it out in the world. I want them to know that HOME is their refuge where they can forget about the WORLD & just be secure in our LOVE for them. So that when times DO get hard for them. . . .they have that SECURITY to carry them through the hard times. Things like peer pressure & so forth. It's definitely scary times right now & I just want my kids to have a STRONG FOUNDATION upon which I know 'FAMILY' is the heart of.

Children are our FUTURE & I'm so excited to watch them grow. A lot of times when life gets so hectic & stressful, it seems the remedy to it is to just 'become as a child' & just let loose & enjoy being in the moment. I try very hard to remember that by having slumber parties & one on one dates with my kids. It's the best!! They're TRULY inspirations & continue to be so. . . . .these were just my thoughts for the past couple of days.

We have been spending a lot of time here in 'COLORFUL COLORADO!!' It's great!! I never would've thought that we'd ever come out here, but here we are. Visiting my hardworking husband. He was working in Frisco, CO first & just got transferred down here to Creede, CO. It's definitely been a big change. City wise. Frisco is very comparable to Park City. Very pretty & pricey with tons & tons of shopping!! It's a beautiful city!! Creede is the TOTAL opposite!! LOL!! It's very very VERY small. I can literally jog from one end of the town to the other without getting tired @ all.

We had a chance today to drive up to Hoko's work site. They're working up in the mines here. It was so beautiful up there. The mountains have tons of different colors in it. Just wish I had a camera to capture the scenery. But I'll be getting one soon enough. LOL!! We're definitely grateful to be able to come out here & visit him. He works so hard & sacrifices being away from HOME to support our family so that I don't have to work & I can just focus on our kids & school. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HOKO TUAKOI!!

We head back home tomorrow & I can't wait to start coupon'ing!! I'm so EXCITED!! My sister's helping me start. I've been really focusing on starting on our welfare food storage. I bought an emergency supply kit from Costco for $69.99. It has 200 adult servings in it. It's about a ONE month supply for my growing family. When I get back, I'll be heading back to Costco to get a 45 lb. bucket of wheat for $24.99. They both have a 20 yr shelf life. I'm totally psyched to be finally getting going with my family's welfare storage. It's helping me feel more prepared as well. We are also starting on our emergency savings fund. Dave Ramsey, financial analyst for LDS Living, says to do whatever you can to get $1000 into your emergency starter fund. I'm glad to say that we are on our way to that emergency starter fund. . . . .