Landon loves the SNOW

But I don't...brrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Investing

I'm sure all of us try to make good investing decisions to maximize every dollar we have. Sometimes we make mistakes & sometimes we succeed. Today I discovered (why it took me this long to figure out, I don't know) how to maximize my money to the fullest!

FAMILY!!!!

The reason I came to this realization today was because of two items that came in the mail...I'll back up & begin with my first point.

About a month ago my sister Brittney that lives in Atlanta asked me to grab some items at the craft store here & mail them to her for a super Saturday. A whopping $13.87 later including shipping the items were on their way to Atlanta. Today, a check of $13.87 & a $10 gift card to Jamba Juice.

Last week my mom, Jenna, & I canned at my house. To avoid too many cooks in the kitchen my mom shampooed my house & Jenna's. Knowing my mom & the fact that she wouldn't let us pay for the shampooer (even though it didn't even clean her carpets) & I thought'd I'd outsmart her. If the shampooer is returned clean you get a $20 deposit back. So instead of giving my mom $20 in cash I gave her a $50 check for the shampooer; I was holding the $20 ransom in the check. Today, $30 cash came in the mail.

Then I started reflecting on how this is an ongoing occurance in my family. It even involves the in-laws. A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law Dianna argued on the phone about money. I photoshoped some stuff for her. She thought that I should be paid for my time...REALLY! I'm not professional...not even close. I'd be embarrassed to take money. We resolved this problem with her cutting a board for me.

And I think the best investments would be with my dad. I never invest any money & somehow it spews back out.

Sheesh...so my point is; invest with my family. The return is endless!!!

laughing all the way!

I realize I miss out on opportunities of documenting some of the funny things that Jaden says. Chris and I just laugh at the things he comes up with and I want to make sure I document all of them the best I can. I've realized that Jaden's mind never stops...he's constantly thinking about something and he has an amazing memory and recalls things from when he was very small. He doesn't pronunciate well and I sometimes wonder if it's because his mind is moving so fast that his mouth gets confused.

On Thursday morning we headed to Utah and here's some of the funny things he said on the drive & through out our stay.
-When we lived in Washington we took Jaden to chuckee cheese a couple of times. He was very young but he remembers & can I just say we passed about 5 of those in Utah and every time he shouted in excitement. Sadly, we didn't take him while we were there.
-He noticed ALL the letters on the mountains & wanted to know what they stood for.
-We told him we had to come home today because he had cousins coming to visit (Wyatt.) He really wanted to stay & play in Utah. When we told him that he was going to miss out playing with Gracie & Wyatt he said that Gracie needed to come to Utah to see her grandma Johnson & that he'd wait for her.
-He thinks his 15 year old cousin Anthony is his buddy & kept asking where his buddy was.
-Walking out of our hotel we passed an older couple. He went up to them & asked them if they lived there. He then asked them not to take his room....he loves hotel rooms.
-He loves CARDS & at every store he shopped in he had to get a gift card. He's now got a Nordstrom, Old Navy, and a room key.
-Re-entering Idaho we showed him the sign that showed we were in Idaho. A couple signs later he saw a sign and said "That sign says 'Idaho Falls, a long way away."
-Jaden really wanted to roll his window down on the way home. Chris told him that if we did it might suck Landon out of the car. Jaden said that Landon was buckled but Chris informed him he could still be sucked out of the car. Jaden then asked Chris if they could go home & drop Landon off so that they could roll the window down.
-Jaden loves the phrase "that's a good idea" or "I have a good idea." We heard that all weekend.
-Passing Lagoon he said "Grandma Murphy needs to come visit so that she can go to Lagoon with us".
-When we were pulling into town I called my mom to find out where all the family was (my brother Jeff & Cory plus families came into town this weekend) and Wyatt wanted to talk to Jaden on the phone. Wyatt insisted to Jaden that he was at his house but they were really at Jenna's. Jaden was so angry when we didn't go home & said that Wyatt said they were at his house. When we pulled up Wyatt & Jaden gave eachother a good tackle:)

I'm sure there are so many I'm forgetting but I've got to go play with family. Only took a short blogging break while my washer is going! Have a great weekend!

stalker....

So Chris recently got a gmail account. I didn't think anything of it until a lot of my posts are now signed with his name because it remains logged in. Sometimes I catch it and leave a follow up post telling them who I am, sometimes I don't....so you might find comments from a Chris and get nervous. It's not a stalker, it's just me hurrying to fast to notice the details:) I never sign my name but I'll try to make a conscious effort just in case. Hopefully no ones been rattling their brain to figure out who their new friend Chris is.

grandma DAY

My mom tries to do grandma days every so often. Landon typically doesn't get to go because she takes the kids for the full day (there's 3 of them) and Landon needs a nap plus that's a lot of kids to take to fun places by yourself.

Yesterday as our handyman started into our upstairs bathrooms I realized that Landon wouldn't be able to take a nap anyways & really didn't want to hang out with him all day so Landon and I decided to join them on their grandma day. (BTW, bathrooms are still not done...sheesh!)

We went to Bear World. I'm so glad that Landon got to go because he had the funnest although all the kids had a blast. We of course toured the park & the kids got to see lots of animals including the bears. Then afterwards we went & watched them feed the baby cubs & walked around & then they went on the rides. There were only a couple of other kids so they got to chose which rides to go on. Landon laughed so LOUD the entire time and screamed when I pulled him off a ride. He thought they were the greatest.

One quick little story...when we were driving & seeing the animals I of course had to tease everyone & tell them the bears were hungry and that we needed to feed them someone. As I listed everyones name someone would have a reason why they couldn't be the one fed to the bear. Finally they settled on me but of course Jaden said the bears couldn't eat his mom so I said "how about grandma." Jaden with his tender heart said, "mom, she's your mom, you don't want to feed her to the bears." So apparently we all loved each other to much to feed anyone of us to the bears.

I'm so grateful for such a fun grandma for my kids. The kids are already calling dibs on where they'd like to go next. Gracie votes for Leo's Place but Jaden informed them that they need to check out Blast Off.

picking a pumpkin

We hoped to grow our own pumpkin patch this year but our poor garden produced very little. We ended up with a small pumkin & I knew that wasn't going to do so last night we went to the pumpkin patch to let the boys pick out pumpkins.

I really didn't want to go...I should mention I should be named the BEST sister ever!!!! I cleaned out Jenna's spider room aka. storage room in her new house. The dust that I stirred up coated me & all I wanted to do was take a shower & curl up by the fire. I was at her house all day & figured I should make myself useful (getting new countertops in all my bathrooms, pictures to come soon...he's taking so long, I have to leave again today.)

So anyways I shook off my lack of desire to stay at home and I'm so glad I did. There was a chill in the air but they boys didn't seem to notice & they covered every inch of the pumpkin patch. They ran, laughed, Landon loved running down the little hills yelling "ready, set, go" although he did more of the voice influctions then actually saying the words. We all can understand our childrens languages:)

So the mud from the patch added to the dust that coated my body but it was a FUN night and it creates memories, right????