Bits and Pieces

I hope everyone had a good valentines day. Mine was great. I was treated to breakfast in bed by Lexi and Josh. Lexi had said to me "Mom, I am not going to tell you what I am doing for you on Valentines day, but I will give you a clue. Stay in bed longer than you normally do." I knew right then that she was bringing me breakfast. When I told Josh what she told me he said that she had told him that he needed to wake up early and help her. What a sweet little girl to plan it all by herself. I was such a slacker and didn't get anybody anything for Valentines day. Not even my husband. Wait, I did get Lexi a necklace and a charm bracelet and she though that was really cool. I did get Josh something for our anniversary that is coming up next week.

Koy has been cutting teeth and has been quite the ornery one around our house, but with Tylenol and Motrin we pretty much have it under control. Alexis has developed an ear infection and the most healthy one in our house seems to be the one that is immune compromised.

We have decided to start working on teaching the kids about saving money and paying tithing. As a family we have decided to save up money for a Nintendo Wii. I bought a big glass cookie jar and we will be putting the money in there and saving the money for the Wii. I am the type of person where if I can see it growing and actually see it, then I am more prone to saving it rather than having it sit in a bank account. I do pretty good with it in a bank account and it is a large sum of money and it grows but to put a few dollars in at a time, it just takes too dang long and then I get frustrated and spend the money. I have also put together a chore chart so that Lexi and even Kayden can earn some allowance by doing some chores.

I am really craving sugar cookies but I don't have the energy to make them right now. I do have some issues with making cookies though. I enjoy making them but the bad part comes in having to clean up the mess and then the most horrible part ever and that is the FROSTING of the cookies. I love the frosting that I make for the cookies, but if the cookies are pretty detailed then I hate frosting them. So I searched high and low and I found the perfect cookie cutter that I won't get frustrated with when I frost. It is a plain old circle cookie cutter. No arms or legs that have to get frosted just a plain old simple circle. I am o.k. with a heart too, but still it has those humps that can be difficult to frost and time consuming and with a circle or a heart even Lexi could frost some and not ruin the cookie.

It snowed off and on all day today. I was so excited because the past few days have been pretty warm and then it got cold today:( I am really wanting to get out of the house and exercise, but I don't want to go running/walking out in the cold. I may just have to get up and go to the "gym" (if that is what you want to call it, we go to my cousins physical therapy office and use his equipment). I just don't want to get up in the mornings. I hate mornings but when I get up and get going I feel so much better. It might also get me to look better and feel better about myself. Stupid dang eating habits.

We are working on getting things together so that we can move up to North in the upcoming months. Josh needs to get some things taken care of down here before we go anywhere. He has to get an evalution done with his psychiatrist (which is what he was supposedly suppose to get getting at the diagnostics unit at the point of the mountain but our judicial system just uses it as a scare tactic and there really is no diagnosing going on in that place at all), and he has to make sure that he understands the ins and outs of the probation program. We are also going to be meeting with Vocational Rehab which is a program that the state offers to help people who meet certain guidelines to go to school and receive a 2 year certificate of their choosing and the state will pay for all expenses. Josh has been approved for this we just have to meet with them and find out what we do now. We have heard that they may help pay for housing during the time that Josh is in school. That would be great. But this is what I am getting at: if any of you out there know of any good places to rent at a decent price please let me know. It doesn't need to be very big but I am needing at least 3 bedrooms. We don't even have a preference. We have lived in Utah County and Salt Lake County but I don't want to go too far north. Thanks in advance.

I had to attend a Girls State meeting tonight to take pictures and get information for my work. It made me think back to the time that I attended Girls State and how much fun it was. If you don't know what Girls State is, it is a week where girls who are going to be seniors in high school get the opportunity to fill out an application with their local American Legion Auxilary to go and spend at week at SUU and learn about government. They are separated into Cities which are named after previous Utah Governors and they get to run for offices of City Mayor, City Council, County Commission, State Senate, State Legislator and other office all the way up to State Governor. It is a week of 315 girls learning about themselves, having fun, learning about government, and creating the most wonderful memories of a lifetime. I loved my Girls State experience. I lived in the City of Spry (pronounced with an I at the end) and I learned tonight that they no longer have that city anymore so I am very proud to be a former member. I can honestly say that it is because of Girls State that I learned about my responsibility as a member of this great nation. It is my duty to VOTE.

I am off now to get some sleep.