In 2009...

We wont have a DIME!

I made the mistake of saying this was going to be our theme for the year "In 2009, We wont have a dime!" I said it only half joking. My mom and I had been talking about all of the things we had spent money on in 2008, we finished our basement and my poor parents had to replace every appliance in their house except their fridge and the trusty old Intrepid died. (So they win!) So my mom said "We had everything break in 2008" and i said so "we wont have a dime in 2009." Well there is some truth and I'm sure some of you can relate with a kick "A" economy :( and so many jobs being lost, I feel like it might just come true. But I have already decided I need to take it back cause its bringing bad luck. Let me explain...

My poor little boo had a bad cough that just wouldn't go away we got a nebulizer and that helped her for a bit but as soon as we stopped it that nasty little cough returned. So my Doc thought she might have asthma, I fought him on it a little bit but eventually realized I wasn't the one with MD after my name. So he prescribed an inhaler and an "aerochamber" for my girl."

The aerochamber looks just like this. So I go to the pharmacy to pick up these two items and the sweet lady behind the counter informs me that my total is $123. I said huh? She says the inhaler has a $60 copay and your insurance doesn't cover the aerochamber. Awesome I say. How did they expect me to get the medicine into my kid without it! When is the last time you saw a 15mo old put and inhaler in her mouth and breath in the medication. The lady laughed a agreed with me. My next response was how do you say no to something the doc says will help your babe. So i pay the lady and as I'm leaving the pharmacy I hear my theme echo in my mind

"In 2009, we wont have a dime!"

Needless to say the inhaler did help my sweet Blakeley very much and her cough was better in no time so it was worth the $$. Now we have it if we need it in the future. (as a side note if this happens to you, please just call me and borrow mine instead of buying one yourself :))

Moving to last Monday I am headed to work for my weekly day of fun. Im wishing on the way that I worked at a bank or school so that Martin Luther King Jr day meant something. Anyhow I get to the parking lot and Im collecting my purse, coat, phone, etc. to head into work. And i do something stupid-surprise. I lock my car using the keyless entry. Place my keys inside my purse. Get out of my car placing my purse on my seat. Put on my coat and close the door to my car! Oh Karah you are something special. I have now locked everything buy myself and my coat in my car! My stomach drops because here is the kicker-we don't own a spare. Before you judge me for not having a spare let me explain (if your still reading that is.) I have tried to have a spare made 2 times and have been talked out of it or told to go to the Nissan dealer to do it. Well I was 2 cheap to go to the dealer and pay $100 bucks for one and the guy at Lowes told me a spare wouldn't work in my car because the key had a microchip in it or some crap.. and whatever I have just never done it okay so give me a break i feel bad enough. Also the only way you can lock my keys in my car is this way. If they are in the ignition it wont let you lock it-so I'm really awesome! Anyway so I try hospital security and south ogden police no one can help me so I call around for the cheapest locksmith I can find. Vic's it was called and Rich is the man they sent to help me. I was slightly scared for my life cause this guy was spooky he had googly eyes and a rapist van so thank heavens I wasn't alone when he came. Despite all of this he was a nice guy and got me into my car which is what matters. But of course my Theme came into my mind as I handed him the $$.

So the moral of my story is that I am officially declaring that this is no longer my theme. I think it is bringing bad luck! So I'm putting out the good vibe maybe I will just go with "Everything will be fine in 2009!" Honestly though I just feel like the economy is so unstable anyway why would I want to add any negativity to it. My cute mom said the other day "it is sad that I have been counting appliances I have replaced this year instead of blessings!" She is right, I don't want to doom myself with my theme so we are gonna be positive and look at the positive too. So if your feeling like you don't have a dime try to focus on the positive. Your family, friends, and health. Thanks for letting me rant!

A Holly Jolly Christmas!

Blakeley in front of our Charlie Brown tree!
Christmas Eve 2008

Blakeley made Christmas so fun this year. She was so excited to see what Santa had brought her Christmas morning! She went right over and started playing with her Clipo Table. She loved pulling all the prizes out of her stocking. We went to the Costley's house first and Blakeley got so spoiled by her grannie. She gave Blake a cute little TV chair and Colby and Mindy gave her a Ginormous teddy bear. The stinkin thing is bigger that her and she loves to tackle him. Watching her open it was hillarious the box was huge! Christmas afternoon we had lots of fun with the Brian cousins. Blakeley got a darling 25th anniversary Cabbage Patch. She is so cute and Blake just loves her. We had such a fun time watching Blakeley enjoy her Christmas she is always such a ham! Hope everyone had a great Christmas too. I can't believe it is already over, time flies.

Lights at the Bay!

Heard of the lights at Willard Bay? We checked it out this year and it was so much fun. You can drive around and see the lights in your car or you can do a wagon ride. We opted for the warm car! My sweet parents treated us to all the fun. There are a ton of different lights to see and Christmas music playing. Blakeley LOVED it she was just so excited about all the lights, we all loved watching her, and I really loved that we could enjoy from the nice warm car. We had so much fun-Blakeley makes everything fun!

Blake with Grannie and

Blake with Kader

Don't mind her hat hair :)

Seeing the lights with Daddy!

Santa and I are trying to get Blake to say Ho, Ho, Ho!

She wouldn't perform though!

Willard Bay Santa!!

Blakeley did pretty good, when we walked toward Santa I felt her start to grip the back of my arm, she was a bit scared. She wasn't about to "go to" Santa so he said I could just sit on his lap with her! She wouldn't say Ho, Ho, Ho for him, but when he said it, it was funny to watch her face! She has heard us say it so many times and she will usually say it back, but when she heard him say it her eyes just got really big! Santa gave Blake a Candy Cane and as you can see she liked it!

Blake's latest photo shoot!

Here are a few of Blakes latest photos!

As usual Cathy did a great job on Blakes Pictures! She also had the darling idea for her leotard, leg warmers, and cute red tutu outfit!!

I think this picture is so cute, I love when Blake

pulls that face!

Kickin' off Christmas!!

We started off the season right by hosting my friend Christmas party last week. It was super crazy but a TON of fun. It was so fun to have all the babes here even though they probably were the reason it was crazy. It is always nice to get together with the hubbies and eat delicious food, laugh and play games. We always say we should do it more often than once a year! We had a great time here is a cute picture of all the kiddies, what a cute group huh!

Krew, Tripp, Stone, Grady, Lily, Blakeley.

Wow how we have grown!!!

This year we got to shower Jenna and Casey with some

fun things for their new little guy on the way!

Jenna had plenty of help from all the kids!



Sortly after I took these pictures Blakeley was begging to play with my camera, she does it all the time so I let her. After a minute I tried to take it back from her, she threw a fit so I gave up and let her play with it. Well hours later I found it on the playroom floor bRoKEn! Surprise I know , what did I expect. Im just pissed cuz I just barely bought it last December. I really wasn't wanting to buy a new one right now. Does anyone want to sell me their old one?????

I thought this was funny though, Blakeley took this picture with the camera...

right before she murdered it!!!

Extreme Makeover: Basement Edition

We started finishing our basement back in August and as much as I wish this really was Extreme Makeover the TV show it for sure wasn't. It took us twice as long as we thought, we ran into over a dozen problems, called on everyone for more favors than we deserve, and worked ourselves silly, but in the end it was definitely worth it!!! Here are some pics, I thought I had done much better at taking pictures than I did, so sorry there will also be no big reveal like Extreme Makeover or Oprah either!

The Demo and Framing.
The picture in the middle is a pile full of the old Basement we Demoed out!!!

These two pictures are of Rob and Blakeley's art work on the sheet rock.

Robs was so cute he wrote a time line of our kids. Starting with Blakeley and on down the line what he wants all our kids to be named
(I agreed with most of them :))

So then we let Blakeley Scribble too! She thought it was the best!!

Sheet Rocked, Tiled, and Blakeley in a box!

Move in day or is it Move down day?

Blakeley "helping" and enjoying her new playroom.

Although she seems to play on the stairs the most!

We are so grateful to everyone who helped us turn our basement into such a fun place to be. We love it and are so happy to have the space!! Thanks to everyone and to Rob for spending countless hours and late nights to make our home better, Love You All!!!

A Lot to be Thankful for!

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. It was our year to be with the Brian's and I got to learn how to make something new. I was in charge of bringing the Sweet Potatoes and the Pies. I did some pies a couple of years ago and thank heavens my mom helped me again this year with the crusts so those turned out great but this was my first attempt at the Sweet Potatoes. I used my moms recipe and can I tell you they were DeLiTEfuL! Basically we had to baste them every 15 min in butter and brown sugar, so no wonder they tasted so great huh! It was such a yummy dinner and we as usual ate WAY too much!

Reading With Daddy!

Thanksgiving 2008

Rob and I had to speak in church the Sunday before Thanksgiving and as usual I was so nervous but I am really so grateful that we were asked to speak because in preparing for and giving my talk I learned so much and realized I have so so much to be thankful for. Lately I have really been getting caught up in the future and what I want in the future (a new house, and new car, a vacation here, etc.) and I finally realized I just need to be grateful for what I have now and the other things will come in the future. I have a home and food to eat, I have a husband who is such a hard worker and has a good job, I have a beautiful daughter who is healthy and happy and makes me laugh everyday. I have family who love me and helps me out whenever I need it. I have friends who bring me joy, laughter, and friendship. I have so much that I need to focus on instead of just wishing for and wanting things I don't. There was a quote I found that said

"It is not happiness that makes us grateful, But gratefulness that makes us happy!"

Twilight Dorks, Don't Judge Me!

The Stars aligned for Tesh and I and we got to see the Twilight Premier first hand. Cute Amber that plays Dball with us had 2 extra tickets for the junction, what could be better than assigned seats on opening night, and after some coaxing Tesh gave in and said she would go with me. We got a little concerned when Tesh saw people arriving in the prom dresses on the news, she text me and asked me to pick up her wrist corsage for her and I said only if she will put my hair in an up-do with babies breath! But really it was a site, rob was concerned that I was really leaving the house in my "Team Edward" shirt but I figured Im going so I might as well! Besides the movie, the best part was leaving to go to the bathroom with Tesh and having the previews start when we were in the lobby. Tesha screamed and sprinted to the bathroom. Hollering out to me "I don't want to miss anything!" She is hilarious, up until that moment she was so embarrassed to be there-then needless to say I was a little embarrassed that she was sprinting to the bathroom. Seriously though the movie was great, I really want to see it again so I can enjoy it more. I was just so anxious to see how everything was going to play out that I didn't enjoy it like I should have. I thought Bella was perfect and Edward grew on me. It was a way fun night thanks to Amber again for doing all the hard work to get us the tickets, and thanks Tesha for all the fun memories!

Leggo-Ouch!

Poor Blake! We have officially named her accident prone. We went to Carters to buy her some jammies last night and she insisted on playing on the Leggo table. Rob sat with her while I looked around. But, she just thinks she is so big trying to get on and off the chair by herself and playing like a big kid. Well sure enough she lost her balance and fell over on a Leggo that was upside down. What luck huh! She was crying and Rob called me over. I wasn't all that concerned at first because she falls over about every five minutes, but Rob said it was bad. Her forehead looked horrible. I was nervous at first, but seconds later she was reaching back toward the table wanting to get down. So I put her down and she stopped crying and went right on her way playing again-like her forehead wasn't indented with a Leggo block! So I'm 95% sure people who see her think we are abusive and I can't blame them (it looks pretty bad.) I have been putting on neosporin and vitamin E like every 4 hours today so it will heal and not scar. Just log this in the book of "Blakeley's Accidents" I have a feeling there will probably be many more in her future... unfortunately! (these pictures really don't do it justice.)

This Morning

This Afternoon

Tonight

Poor Girl, I think it already looks better than it did this morning. I love all her faces in these pictures.

Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween showing off our little Flower girl Blake. I was racking my brain to come up with a fun tradition that we could do every Halloween. It isn't much but I decided last minute maybe Jack-O-Lantern Pancakes for breakfast would be a fun place to start. I colored the batter orange and then made the face out of chocolate chips. They were actually really good, Blakeley loved them and shoved them in getting totally messy. We had fun seeing family too. We went to Gr and Gr Hales for yummy soup and cousin fun, then to Grannie and Papa's to "trick or treat" and last we met up with the Brian cousins! We had a lot of fun and Blakeley was really good-she actually liked wearing her costume. She of course got scared a few times, and by somethings that weren't scary at all. She lost it when she saw Rowdy, the Brian's cat and Jan put her glasses on to read Blakeley a story and apparently she thought that was scary too! I hope she grows out of this fear by next year. She is just so tender hearted sometimes. We had a fun time with Blake and just can't believe how big she has gotten since last Halloween. She was a lot of fun this year.