Cheap or Free

I'm actually copying this from my friend's blog. But if things continue to be tight for us, I'm going to need the idea to stay sane too. Steve and I have had a date night almost EVERY weekend of our married life. We miss maybe 4 or 5 a year. We've always had a consistent babysitter to rely on and we enjoy our nights out! Hoping to get lots of ideas (that I'll share with my friend too). I know not many people read my blog, but I am requesting ideas from all who do read for cheap/free entertainment for a date night or family activity.

Here are some of her ideas with mine comments too -

1. Go to the park and swing on the swings or play frisbee
2. Game night with friends
3. A stay home date after the kids are in bed - movie and popcorn (we do this A LOT)
4. Go for a walk or bike ride (although the COLD today eliminates this)
5. Sledding (I can say that today because it is snowing in the mountains!!!!)
6. Play catch/soccer in the backyard
7. Go to museums

Got any to add? I'd love any/all ideas.

Not much new to tell ...

Can you tell that the stress of all this has shut me down creatively? I was doing so good, but just haven't been in the mood since last Wed. Thought about it tonight, but not happening ... so you get text about my life instead of scrapbooked pages. :) Here's another explosion of thoughts dumped into my blog. Sorry! I've never been one to be short on words ... writing helps me think and analyze and accept what is going on.

Update: Steve's day job has not found a new investor yet. And honestly, things aren't looking really promising anymore. They do still have a few more potentials, but the most promising one has rejected the terms of the investment/buyout. It seems that the previous investor/owner of the company, isn't really interested in selling the company without a BIG profit. I'm frustrated with him. To me, it feels greedy to not be willing to get your investment back plus a small profit in order to keep the company going. It also seems very self-centered to not pay your employees for their work and to leave them in such a chaotic situation. So, I'm fighting anger and frustration. :) But I'm also very proud of Steve for handling things so well. The resumes started rolling out today to head-hunters, contacts that he has and for several openings he has found.

I'm just having faith right now! Faith in Steve and faith in my Savior, Jesus Christ that everything will be ok and I'll have the strength and patience and guidance to get through this.
We'll make it, I know that. But, I also think we're in this for the long process and that it isn't going to be easy. I'm just taking it a day at a time and most of the time I feel peace in just moving forward that way (and when I don't feel peace, that's when I VENT to my friends - I love you guys, thanks for everything - from shopping on a budget and coupon advice, listening ears, prayers and friendship!). I know my Heavenly Father is watching over me and my family. I know He will guide us in the right direction and make us strong enough to handle this trial. I know my patience will be tested. And as long as I remember that He won't give me more than I can handle, I can keep going. :) I am truly grateful to feel His love and strength so much as we face this trial. And I am truly grateful for all the prayers and kind words.

I do hope this topic isn't the main topic on my blog for very long!! :)

Employment update ...

Not really much new to report. Steve and his team are still working to get new funding. We view this not as a "layoff" but as the company just not being able to pay him ... so the employees are working to get the company funded again. The lawyers were a little slower on some paperwork this week than they had hoped, but things are moving forward for a possible investor/buyout situation. Key word in that sentence: POSSIBLE. Prayers right now that the major shareholder (previous investor) and the potential investor can work out the terms.

Steve has had a great attitude through all of this so far and I'm very proud of his determination and faith. I've been a basket case, and he has been a pillar of strength! As my brother said earlier this week, Steve always seems to have a plan and a dream, and he has drive and willingness to pursue the dream despite risks. I fully agree and I'm proud that he has that entrepreneurial spirit. I'm very proud of all that Steve and his team at I3 have accomplished and created in the last 3 years, despite "professionals" in the field scoffing at them and ignoring their ideas. I look forward to seeing that dream realized! I know they will find a way to overcome this bump in the road and that we'll be ok!

Thanks Steve for your faith and strength! I learn so much from you and I truly love you! Thanks to everyone else for your love and prayers. We're not out of the woods yet, but we still see light at the end of the tunnel and have hope that all will be ok soon. THANKS!

Free spirited kids!

I don't feel great this morning so I'm taking some more "me" time and scrapbooking. :) I already posted about Jess and her mess, but these two pages go together so I'm posting both. Enjoy!

The kids love to do crazy things, sometimes I think its just to test my patience. Jessica and Taylor are our little munchkins. They are always getting into something. One day Jess and Tay are taking bikes UP the slide so they can have a garage in the playhouse. Another day, Jess is painting with sidewalk paint and gets some on her pants so decides to color the rest and then try to rinse it off all on her own. But says she doesn't know how it happened or who got her wet. Imaginations! Free Spirits! A little extra excitement in life! Things that make you smile and laugh! The Little Joys! Oh, and when it was time for the bikes to come DOWN the slide, they tried to walk it down, but that wasn't working so they just let them roll down on their own, right out into the grass!

Thanks to a friend!

A friend sent me a link to Miley Cyrus's video of The Climb. I think she just did it to make me cry (as if it takes much this week). :) But I really liked the words and appreciate her thoughtfulness. I wanted to share the words with you... and put it here mostly for me to be reminded of them.

Here is the video if you'd like to see the video/hear the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG2zyeVRcbs

The Climb
I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa


Its my time to lose right now, but its the climb! The journey we take! So I'll keep on moving, keep climbing and keep the faith. Thanks RJ!

Update ...

If you haven't read the post from yesterday, you might want to read it first. ...

So, today was another day. ... no major bad news, just another raging kidney infection for me. I noticed it a little last night but was hoping it wasn't really one (but it is a big part of why I didn't sleep). Today, it definitely is. Oh the joys. But after 2 hours at a dr office, I'm on meds so tonight should be much better.

Thanks to all of you who have left comments of love, support and friendship - both here and on facebook. I think I've had record number of comments! If I'd known it was so easy to get people to comment, I'd have announced a major crisis in my life earlier. :) Seriously, thanks for all the comments. It does make it easier to know that we have so many friends supporting us.

More details for those who want them: When Steve came home yesterday afternoon we discussed exactly what is going on at work and financially for us. We organized some things and are moving forward tentatively with no income. He's polished up his resume and sent it out to a couple of places. But, they are trying to salvage things AGAIN at the company he works for. The team at work is scrambling to find another investor. Their first priority is an investor very interested in putting a chunk of money in now for a share of the company if he can have the guaranteed option to buy the company outright in a year at a price determined now. They are putting together a letter of intent and hoping he will agree to the amounts. We expect to know an answer on that this week or early next week. If it is a yes, then it will include back pay for the employees and a guarantee of one year of work. If this deal doesn't happen, then their team can turn to a few other potentials with similar terms and hope someone else bites on it.

If the options don't work out, well then we're unemployed and we'll job search locally. Right now, we have some leads, but give us a week or two and we may be asking you to share your leads too. :)

We're doing ok. I'm a basket case, but that's not that unusual, right? :) We told the kids last night. Alyssa actually asked us. Steve and I were both rather grumpy and tired. We told her we'd had a bad day and she (with a sassy and sarcastic tone) asked "What? Did dad lose his job or something?" She changed her tune pretty quickly when neither of us answered right away. When I answered "Yes, he did," she offered to sell snow cones every day after school and give us the money. So sweet! We explained that its a little bigger than snowcones. Jess and Tay don't really get it, but Alyssa does. We asked them to respect us when we say no on things, to be patient with us because we're a little more stressed, to try to do what we ask of them and to keep us in their prayers for things to work out.

Thanks to all of you for all your support already. We really appreciate it. And we continue to ask for your prayers that we will be strong enough to withstand this trial, that we will be guided to make the right decisions, that things will work out as the Lord has planned and that we will be patient until then. Thanks!

When we don't learn ...

You always hear that when you don't learn your lesson, life repeats itself. Guess we didn't learn what we were supposed to learn last year because work trials have come our way again. The primary investor at Steve's day job pulled out again ... same exact day as last year, same way. No notice, no paycheck today, even to cover the last 2 weeks of work. We've been pretty nervous about it the last month or two. We've been trying to be very cautious at home, he's been working VERY hard and the team has been working to find another investor but nothing solid yet.

What did we not learn? There is definitely something we were supposed to learn that we REALLY need to learn. But I do know two things I learned last year that will help me this time:
1 - Rely on my faith in God and Jesus Christ because they love me and will help carry me through my trials.
2 - I learned to rely on and work together with Steve because together we'll get through this. We can be each other's greatest strength in our time of need when we talk and work together.

As for the company Steve is a partner in, it has rounded a corner and is starting to see GREAT signs, but its not solid enough to employ him full-time yet. So right now, I'm just asking prayers that everything will be ok for us and we'll get through this and learn what the Lord would have us learn so we don't have to experience it again! Pray that audioShare (the company Steve is a partner in) will continue to do well. Pray that Steve will either find another job or that his day job will find another investor. And pray that we'll be strong together and get through all of this. Its going to be a tough time for us and we thank you for your thoughts and prayers. THANKS!

At this time, I don't know if or when we'll tell the kids what's going on. So, like last year, this isn't a PRIVATE matter and I don't care if you talk to others, but please don't discuss it in front of your kids if they might tell mine. THANKS!

Disappointment!

That is the word I use to describe the Cougars defense on Saturday. Plainly put, disappointing. They just aren't as good as we thought and the Florida State Seminoles deserved to beat us. They were faster and had more talent. Hats off to FSU! Good game. Cougars, back to the drawing board PLEASE before we see TCU and Utah! We want to go undefeated the rest of the season and we do believe that is possible!! Let's rise up again Cougars and get it done! Yeah ... then we can go to the Vegas Bowl AGAIN and play the #5 team in the PAC AGAIN. Excuse the sarcasm and disappointment at that thought! Steve and I were kind of hoping for a trip to New Orleans, Miami or even LA this year and with USC losing yesterday, that was looking even more hopeful, until we looked back down on the field and watched our own game! Mountain West Champs again Cougs. You can do it! (Just don't count on me to go to Vegas for the 4th year in a row - we're bored with Vegas!)

Steve and I discussed how frustrating being a Cougar fan can be. We love our BYU Cougars and we are BLUE! But sometimes, it gets discouraging cheering for a team that is always GOOD, but never GREAT. You take the team to the north of us (U of U) and they have MEDIOCRE years that I wouldn't even call GOOD but then they manage to pull off GREAT years. So much excitment and fun to watch that! Why can't the Cougars do the same? I've come to the conclusion that our team is too mature and split-focused for it. We have a mature team, many return missionaries and married guys - which means they are older and smarter than many teams which makes them consistently GOOD from season to season. And sometimes we catch a glimpse of greatness from them (like in Dallas against OU). But we have a team who has a lot of other priorities (school, church, wives even kids - and even coach admits those priorities are more important) but it means they aren't eating, breathing and sleeping football. They understand that football isn't the only important thing in life and that for most of them, it isn't the end-all. Most of them aren't at BYU JUST to play football. Many of them are there for their educations first and to play football too. Most of them will go on to have very successful careers in fields other than football and their above average GPAs show that. I think that for them as individuals, that's a good thing. However, I think that for the team it is their downfall ... because of all those other priorities and having a bigger understanding of their futures they are distracted and they continually lack the intensity, passion and fire to be GREAT. If they lose, its a bummer, but it doesn't change their futures. We need more players with big talent, more players whose entire future depends on getting drafted, more players whose ONLY focus is football, more players who have passion and fire to play the game GREAT. With players like that combined with our mature, smart players, the Cougars would EXCEL and be GREAT! Just my 2 cents worth!

But I still bleed BLUE and I'll still be at every game with the same expectation.... that we CAN win, if we have the passion today to do it!

Off my soapbox now!

Aloha!

I'm almost current on my blog and I'm doing it with scrapbook pages. Yeah!!

On Labor Day, we flew home from Dallas and then picked up the girls and took them to a Luau at Thanksgiving Point. The long lines moved quickly and the food was yummy - fresh fruit, salad, chicken, pulled pork, rice etc! It was crowded so our seats weren't the best, but the show was still great! They performed traditional dances from each Polynesian Island ending with fire twirling! The girls got to go on stage and learn to shake their hips too. Lots of fun! What a beautiful place for a luau too!

Dallas Trip ...

I already blogged the game in Dallas, but wanted to post the pages I did. :)

The 6th Floor

Steve and I had the chance back in 1996 to go to the 6th Floor Museum in Dallas when the BYU Band went to the Cotton Bowl. Despite the fact that it was a rushed tour, we came home absolutely enthralled with JFK and all the theories surrounding his assassination. We read all we could and watched all the movies we could find on it. So, this time we took our time reading and seeing everything in the museum. President John F Kennedy was assassinated and despite the conspiracy theories, Lee Harvey Oswald is blamed as the lone gunman, firing 3 shots from the 6th floor window of the Book Depot. We weren't alive to experience that part of history, but we wanted to wanted to understand and feel the impact of that fateful trip to Dallas.

Jess and her most recent MESS!

Jessica just walked in and she was covered with BRIGHT PINK sidewalk paint ... and soaked with water. When I asked her WHAT HAPPENED? She told me she didn't know who did it. I told her I knew she had done it and not to make up a story about it. I asked her how she got all wet and she told me she wasn't sure. I asked her if she tried to wash off and she looked up at me with this innocent little face like she was waiting to see if I was going to get grumpy or not. :) She knows me too well! I didn't though! But I didn't think to take pics until after I had taken her in the laundry room and stipped her down... so here are the pics of the culprit, the project and the results!

Culprit: Crayola BRIGHT PINK sidewalk paint.

The Project: Decorating a rock in the backyard

The Result: Her khaki colored capris COVERED in PINK!

My Birthday!

"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that people who have the most, live the longest!!" - Father Larry Lorenzoni

My birthday was a Sunday this year and I was very anxious all day. The last 3 birthdays I've had have been marked by the loss of a pre-term nephew, a fatal accident to a teenager neighbor and a serious accident to a business partner. One can understand my worry. But Steve wanted to make it a happy day for me, so after church, he took me and the girls for a picnic up at Squaw Peak in Provo. When we got there, it was a bit windy but that proved to be a good thing because there were 4 paragliders waiting to take off. It was fun to watch them take off and fly around above us. I learned a lot about paragliding too. These guys were hoping the winds would carry them up to 17,000 feet and clear to the Point of the Mountain Flight Park! It was a fun treat. Then after our picnic we went for a little hike. When we got home, the kids played out back a bit and then they went with Steve over to visit the Taylors while I talked to my brother on the phone. When I went over to visit, the Taylors, Chilcotes and Hansons surprised me with a yummy chocolate cake and an ice cream grasshopper cake. A fun, happy, safe birthday.
YEAH!!

Capital Day

Not my favorite pages ... they are kind of crazy looking, but it was a fun day. The Utah State Capital hosts an annual Capital Day. They invite the public to come tour the Capital Building and participate in a variety of events - games and crafts for the kids, a scavenger hunt/Bingo game, a variety of vendors, concerts, etc. We wanted our girls to see the Capital Building so we thought we'd try Capital Day. The kids got small Liberty Bells for playing a game outside then we went in. The girls made towers out of toothpicks and gumdrops (supposed to be learning about how domes are made) and then we wandered around to see the different rooms and find all the items on our Bingo game. They thought the building was pretty cool, but I think only Alyssa understood what the Capital Building is and its significance It was a fun day.

One last day of water fun!

As summer came to a close, we ended by going to the Olympic Fountains at the Gateway in SLC. Steve and I love the history the fountains remind us of and all our memories of the Olympics. And the girls LOVE the fountains. This year was no different.

DigiScrapbooking

I've been able to do a lot of digital scrapbook pages recently and am really enjoying it. I'm not great at it yet, and it still takes me awhile to do a page, but I'm getting the hang of the software and getting a better grip on what elements and papers I have so I know what to use. :) Here are the pages I've done this past week or so. They are all from August ... and I've blogged about them already so they are kind of duplicates, but I wanted to share the pages. And of course, scroll to the next blog entry because that one is new and contains 2 pages I did for Jessica's 1st day of preschool. Sniff, sniff ...

The text in the scrapbook pages is basically what I blogged before ... so if you want to read it, just scroll down to the blog entry. :)

Preschool Kid!

Its official! With Jessica starting preschool at Eaglecrest Elementary this year, I'm home by myself 4 days a week for 3 hours! What to do with my time!? SMILE!! No wondering here! I'm always busy with work or scrapbooking. I'm really enjoying it and she LOVES preschool. Here are the pages I scrapbooked of her first day of preschool.

Text on the second page says: "Jessica started preschool a week after the other girls started school. She goes Tues-Fri from 9:10-12:00. Steve went with me to take Jessica to school. We walked her into class and waited until the teacher was ready to start class. The entire time I was choked up. I've never cried when I sent my kids to school ... but I did with Jessica this year. I was glad Steve was there because I would have really cried. We're moving to another new phase in our lives where I no longer have a little one home all day. Jessica was so excited to go and didn't look back when it was time for us to leave. All grown up!"

6 new tonight!

I posted 6 new blog entries tonight - plus this one! :) Love to blog. It truly is my therapy. It helps me enjoy the moments of my life and the fun times we have as a family. On nights when I'm just exhausted, worn out and even a little frustrated with my kids, I love to blog because it helps me unwind and it reminds me of those little moments that bring me so much joy. It also allows me record those moments. Then in the heat of the day when I just want to scream because they aren't listening to me I can stop and read my blog and smile a bit more - of course, that is usually after I've done my screaming. :) Anyway, enjoy the pictures and posts!

Birthdays at My Parents'

Its tradition ... celebrate birthdays at my parents' house on Sunday afternoon. In August, we had 3 birthdays - my neice ( Meghan) turned 15, my dad and me (remaining ageless!). :) Here's a few pics from our afternoon. Not sure why I don't have any of my dad getting hsi gift ... we all chipped in and helped my mom buy him a compost tumbler, something he's wanted for awhile. My dad is a BIG gardner and has been my whole life. He has always enjoyed gardening and done a good job at it!

This first picture is of Jess and Taylor with Meghan - using grandpa's new laptop! Its something they've wanted for a long time so my dad decided to buy it for himself the week before his bday (as his gift) - not knowing my mom had gotten the compost tumbler. :)
After dinner is present time!

I had serious red-eye in this picture but it was one of the only ones I liked of me.

My dad ...

The birthday people with the cake.

Hike to Cecret Lake

I have really fallen in love with the outdoors this last year or so. If I had my way, I would honestly hike or camp every weekend. I've just loved it. I love being outdoors. I love being active. And I love seeing the beauty of the place I live. I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful area with the mountains just a few minutes away, we have so many beautiful places to explore.

We had planned to do a bigger hike with my sister and brother-in-law the weekend school started (Aug 22nd) but they had scheduling conflicts so Steve found this one for just the two of us. Cecret Lake (pronounced Secret - we think - it was also spelled differently in several spots) is up above Alta. The campground and trailhead is down a dirt road. While we were hiking we were under the ski lifts of Alta part of the time. Its amazing to imagine how deep the snow is in the winter in this area. But the snow is what creates Cecret Lake. The lake is an isolated lake created from run-off water and has no other natural sources in or out. It has nothing living in it as it completely freezes every winter. Actually, there are salamanders that live in and out of the water, but that was it. Not a bad hike - probably just a mile or so each waybut Steve and I took a detour on the way in. We went looking for a couple of geocaches and probably added another mile to the hike, making it close to 3 for us.

On our way up, we saw some mooses (meese??). There were 3 of them not too far from the road, really cool. Unfortunately, my camera was in the back of the car. :( But we saw plenty of other beautiful things that I did capture on the camera. This is just a few of the pretty flowers we saw ... I told you I love the beauty of outdoors!

This wasn't long after we started - I thought it was a really pretty area just off the trail. I love how the rocks just jut up out of the growth of flowers, plants and trees. It provides such a cool contrast.

This was a BIG HUGE SLAB of rock. Steve thought it was the coolest thing on the hike. I wished I could have taken an aerial shot of him standing on it, but this was the best I could do! You can only see about 1/2 the slab in this picture.

More scenery ...

The view from the big slab.

The lake ...

Us by the lake - and look at the mountains in the background .. so pretty! For some reason when I look at this picture, I almost feel like Steve and I were digitally added, but we really were there - at an altitude of almost exactly 10,000 feet (we were actually above 10,000 for a little bit while looking for a geocache, but this was just below that). Have to say, it was my first hike to an altitude that high ... other than flying, I don't think I've ever been that high.

It really was a beautiful hike and great date night ... Thanks Steve for planning it!