Sucking me dry.....

Okay so maybe really it's my electricity lol.



So last weekend I heard someone say they splurged and bought those compact florescent lights fo their whole house. They said it was kinda expensive but they last way longer and saved them about $50 bucks a month on their power bill! We had bought some at Costco awhile back and spent a bunch of money. Then Anthony replaced our kitchen lightbulb and I freaked out. This is how it looks....

UGLY WHITE FLORESCENT LIGHTBULB! UGH!!

Anthony and I were at Home Depot in Layton last night and saw a 4pk 60W for $1.85. I had heard that they didn't come in a tungsten color (like yellowish and warm). I was thinking "hmm save some money and help the environment, or keep the nice warm feeling of my home?" Well guess what? I can do both!! We found these!
Soft White light bulbs!!
The clerk says they are about half off right now until probably the end of the month. And this is how the lights look in my living room with regular light bulbs...

and now the soft white florescents....

There is not a huge difference. They are very bright and still have a warm feeling to them. I will be watching to see if it makes a difference in my power bill and even how long they last. I think we will definitely be putting more of them in the house.

Mommy Award

Ok so it's not like I really deserve a Mommy Award but this is a tag I saw on a friends blog and I couldn't pass it up.

Here are the rules:
1. Admit ONE thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are NO LONGER allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a great mom!
~ I hate that I have a short temper and I'm a YELLER! Patience is surely not one of my virtues and I think that has a lot to do with my temper (by the way, thanks DAD!)I really want to work on that with my kids, especially AJ. I'm sure the poor kid thinks he can't do anything right. And to any of my neighbors that read this, sorry for rattling your windows when I yell lol. Ok so maybe I'm not that bad but I'm sure they have heard me before, but I hope not.

2. To remind yourself that you ARE a good mom, list SEVEN things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself of EVERY DAY that you rock!
~1 I love that Brock is such a cuddler. He really is a tough brick of a kid but he's so lovey at the same time. What a great combination!
~2 I love it when AJ comes up and gives me surprise hugs and says "I love you mom". We are always in a power struggle so the sweet moments are oh so sweet!
~3 I love hearing my boys play. Brock wants to be just like his big brother. I adore their companionship and I'm so greatful they have each other.
~4 I love going to the park and having family activities. Last summer we had fun times going to Lagoon, parks, and the Raptors games.
~5 I love how smart AJ is and the talks we sometimes have (that is when he holds still long enough to listen lol).
~6 I love how tough Brock is, he just jumps, climbs, runs, falls and hardly ever cries about it. That kid has NO FEAR!!
~7 I love it when my kids become little artists. AJ likes to color nice pictures and Brock is my painter. That kid could paint for hours!

I award:
Stephanie Thompson
Mandy K
Kristin
Mandy C
Delia
Sara
Carrie
Melanie H
Melanie T
Raini

Penelope!!

If you have not seen this movie you need to! It's gonna be my newest favorite romantic comedy! Especially this scene that I'm posting, I hope I do not ruin the movie for anyone but, nah I don't really care. I love it too much! Let me just say this if you have not seen the movie don't watch the clip but I guarantee that once you do see the movie you will want to watch this clip over and over just like me!! LOL. I will warn you though this clip has the S word in it so if that offends you don't watch it. Also the score for this scene is very very well done.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PYG3HoWvug

Big weekend followed by a big week!

Wow so Anthony decided to take off this whole week since it's our anniversary. We had this idea in our heads of relaxing together all week and just being able to hang out. Hmm what's that saying where "when you make plans life makes different ones" or something like that.

Well Saturday we did sit around and do nothing all day. Wait, let me take that back. We did stay home all day but Anthony did several batches of laundry (go him!) and I sat down and ended up designing a custom birth announcement. My first one ever! I will change the info on it to make it more generic and then post it on here so ya'll can see what I will be adding to my photography business. I will also do highschool graduation announcements, baptism announcements, Christmas cards, etc and they will all be custom! That means you would tell me which pics from the session you wanted to use, what colors you liked, we would discuss a style and I would design it! Okay so enough with me selling myself.

That night we did get to sit down and have a date night after the kids were in bed. We rented Quarantine. I was quite impressed. I had heard it was actually scary but lately all the "scary" movies have been lame. This one was good enough that I made Anthony come with me downstairs afterwards to change the laundry! LOL. He thinks I'm silly.....okay me too ha ha.

So then Sunday we had to get up really early and head down to West Jordan to see my newest little 1st cousin once removed get blessed! Ha ha that's a funny sentence. My cousin had a little boy and they were blessing him . He is soo adorable, I might be doing their family session soon and I'm hoping to be able to do a few shots just of him (hint hint Delia!!) After that we drove home, had a little bit of a nap, the home teachers came over, and then we went to my moms house for Brock and my niece Aubrey's bday parties. I was driving everyone nuts cause they were watching Grease 2 and I LOVE that movie!! Really, I'm weird cause I like it better than Grease. I'm a bigger Michelle Pfeifer fan than Olivia Newton John. And I think they made Olivia too slutty at the end of the movie. Anyways I was singing all the songs and my family was all pretending I was bad. Yes I can say pretending cause they really can't say I'm a bad singer.
So Monday came and I realized I had not done my drug testing so in the morning we took AJ to school, went to the chiropractor, I set up appts for drug testing and then after AJ got out of school we headed off. First to Ogden to hit a few clients there and then we drove up to Logan so I could test my clients up there. It was amazing cause for the first time everyone tested quite fast and I didn't have to do any waiting around. I had a few guys that said they had just gone so I told them drink 8oz water and sit for 20 minutes and you will have enough. Since we were that far north we headed up to Preston Idaho where my sis in law Jane lives and surprised them with a visit! The boys were really excited to see the horses and cows and rode in the tractor and brushed the horse. Anthony took me for a ride on the 4 wheeler and it was rainy and cold. Here I am dressed in my nice clothes from doing drug testing out on a dirty 4 wheeler and getting in a dirty truck to feed the horses. I love that kind of dirty work and getting my hands dirty. In a few weekends we will be spending the weekend up there while Anthony paints and I told my brother in law Wes I'm bringing my grungy clothes and I want to go out and work with him. He thinks I'm crazy I'm sure! Heck, now you all do! HA HA. So after that we had hamburgers for dinner, with beef that was right off their farm, man it was gooooood beef! And then we went into a town called Lewiston and they have this really awesome movie theatre that's either styled all old fashioned or has just never been redecorated! I'm talking, I was expecting a stage instead of a movie screen. It's only $2 per person and all treats and drinks are $1 or less! They play a family movie every monday night and we saw Marley and Me. Oh my awesomely sad movie! lol. I cried, Anthony cried, I think 90 % of the people there cried! If you haven't seen that movie you need to see it. I will warn you though it was a little less family oriented than I thought it was. I'm just waiting for AJ to ask me what sex is! lol. There wasn't any dirty scenes just a few of Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson making out, ya know that before hand stuff that always happens in movies but never in real life LOL. And then of course they said the word sex quite a few times. Cross my fingers and knocking on wood, he hasn't asked me yet!!
Today Anthony is out with a work buddy and one of our neighbors snowmobiling. When he gets back he is working a game tonight at Davis so I will be going with him.
Tomorrow we are gonna try to find a car to buy and we STILL do not have money from the insurance company! I finally called them today and they said they will send it out tomorrow and we should get it on Thursday. Thursday we will probably be car shopping again and then I am still working Thursday and Friday. So all I wanted for our anniversary (which is tomorrow) was to go Snowboarding....Well it's not gonna happen so I told Anthony he owes me big time. Today was the day we were gonna go cause Wolf Mountain (Nordic) has awesome deals! If you like to ski or snowboard and don't need to go somewhere fancy you should head up there. On Monday nights it's family night so a family of 4 can ski/board for $40!! And individuals are only $10 for night skiing. Tuesdays is buy one full price ($25) and get a 2nd for $10! That's why we were gonna go on a tuesday but I'm a super awesome wonderful kind generous supportive wife so I let him go snowmobiling instead. So maybe next week or who knows, we will go snowboarding. I'm just not good enough or experienced enough to go night skiing cause that's when the snow gets harder and more frozen and it makes it harder to snowboard. Maybe once I get better I would love to head up there more often and just do night skiing for cheap. And if anyone is interested we would totally love for someone to come with us! If you ski or board and want to try, Wolf Mountain is an awesome place to go!
Well that is about it for what has been/will be going on in our lives. Hope you enjoyed!

Love is in the air....

In light of it being February and the month of LOVE - I thought I would post these few fun works of art. As you know, not only did we just celebrate Valentines Day but on the 25th will be our 9th Wedding Anniversary! YAY we made it! Enjoy! ;)


Family Night, we played Jenga....... Like Brock's tattoo?

Photo Contest!!

In case you missed it on facebook, I'm doing a photo contest where you can win a FREE photo session! Go to my photography blog at www.everlasting-images.blogspot.com to see all the details! Hurry, it ends Feb 3!!

Good luck and get commenting!!

Happy Birthday Mama C

This is my beautiful mother in law MamaC.

She is an amazing person who is the best Nana to my kids. She is smart and caring and would do anything for the people that she loves. She is one of the strongest women I know. She has gone through a lot in her life and never let any of it get the best of her. She persevered and pushed through the tough times. She learned from everything in her life to help her be a better person. She is so humble. She works very hard. She is an amazing helper and a great example. She is a great wife, mother, sister, Nana, friend and neighbor.

Thank you for all you do. I love you MamaC.......