Happy Paczki Day

Today is the day that Polish people eat Paczki (pronounced pnchk) in vast quantites.  Unforunately, as I am diabetic and I have a feeling that the local bakeries would have no idea what I am talking about, I don't think I will be partaking this year ;-) Those of you in more metropolitain areas, (or places with polish bakeries)  have a fun day!

House for Sale!

Well, our house if officially for sale.  If anyone knows of anybody who needs one, let us know.  We are in negotiations for a house we like but there are several steps that need to happen before it is ours...like selling this house.  It is in better shape than it has ever been, but it is full of clutter so we have rented a storage unit and we are probably going to move a bunch of stuff.  The sooner we can sell, the more likely we can get the house we want.  I am also hoping for a good price too, of course.  We will see...I don't know if you can get both quick sell and good price in this market.  Our agent did say we have a desirable home, so that is encouraging....we are not using an agent to sell though.  We think we can do it on our own so we can avoid the $10,000 it would cost us to use an agent.  (What a gig, eh?) We have an ad starting in tomorrow's paper in both Cedar City and St. George...it runs for 30 days...hopefully by the time that runs, it will be sold.  We will keep everyone informed.  Pray for us (especially that I don't die of stress) and we will post again soon.

House Hunting!

I can't believe it but we have been doing some serious house hunting lately.  We feel like it is the right time to upgrade our house, but it is hard to find exactly what we want...I am beginning to believe that I will never have my dream bathroom! 

We have found a house that is amazing, huge, and possibly affordable...it's in the same price range as what we want but it's so big, I'm concerned about the costs of keeping it heated and/or cool.  I need to research.  It's on a Cul-de-sac way outside of town in the Washington Fields area, so that's a concern too.  Taylor would have one more year of elementary school and then she would have to be bussed clear out to Bloomington Hills for Intermediate.   Nothing would be close to us though. 

Also, we have to start getting our place ready to sell now.  I've been putting it off, but we need to get top dollar.  We've had the realtor give us a market value estimate and it's hard to believe (again) that it could be worth so much....We missed the 'seller's market" by about six months so it may take a while to sell...but I'm hopeful that everything will work out.  We've never sold a house before, so if anybody has any advice for us...please let us know. 

It's an exciting time, but scary too!  Scott's given me the final veto power so I just have to decide if I want to hold out for my bathroom or not.  Our love to everyone...enjoy your President's Day...hope to hear from you soon.

Happy Valentine's Day

For my valentine:

 

Thinking of you always

Taylor WON!!!!!

Taylor took first place in her age division and won a trophy! We ran as hard as we could and did really well. Taylor and I finished together with a time of 16:39.  I guess all the running paid off.  Unfortunately for me, my age division was full of real good runners so I finished in fifth place in my division.

Update

Update....Shaylie bounced back quickly from her sickness, I think mostly because she gave it to me.  I called the school today to see if they are thinking of firing me yet, but they sounded semi-sympathetic, so I guess I'll still have a job after I recover...Scott & I (and Taylor from the bathroom after she was supposed to be all tucked in and sleeping) watched Biggest Loser finale last night, wondering when I'll hear from them, no word yet...sending Shaylie to school and trying to sleep off my stupid sickness.  That's right, I said the S word!  I hate being sick.

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone who ordered Girl Scout Cookies....Taylor met her final goal of selling over 500 boxes....Grand Total 506! Yay, Taylor! This was her best year ever...and we just signed her up for the Odyssey High Adventure camp. It will either be the week of July 16 or July 22. She worked hard to be able to meet her goal and we are so proud of her...

Shaylie has developed a hacking cough so I am keeping her home from school today. I feel it coming on too, so hopefully we'll both get some rest and back to healthy. She really wants to go to school, so she is not very happy with me.

This is a busy week! Taylor has a choir concert tonight, and Girl Scouts tomorrow. They both have dance tonight...which I think they miss because of sickness and concert. I have a PTA Meeting Thursday and Scott and I have Temple Night friday...plus Einstein Race on Saturday...the training kind of petered out since they changed from a 5K to a PiK, but I think they are both prepared to run the shorter distance. Later Saturday, a Leadership Training at the church for Mom and Dad, Sunday I teach. I am realizing right now that I could probably keep going indefinitely.....so I'll just stop. Sheesh, just wait until soccer gets going...both of the girls are signed up this year....I'm excited that Shaylie is starting to be old enough to play.

Anyway, love to all. We are sorry that we aren't going to be able to see Mike and Erin when they are up helping the ABCD Strongs move to Colorado...we are sad that the ABCD Strongs are moving to Colorado as it means that we will see even less of them than we do now, but we are happy for them too!...we are sending Mike and Erin's Christmas Present with Mom since we have been big slackers and haven't sent it yet...and finally, please let us know how you are all doing...we love to hear from you!

MDDD Redux

Taylor and Tonya went out to dinner at Applebee's and then went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Shaylie and I were going to go play minature golf at Fiesta Fun, but we had some car issues so we got a pizza and stayed home and played board games together. We'll go out some other night to make up for it.

Cookie Sales

Taylor (my very busy daughter) wanted me to let all the family know that she is currently taking Cookie orders. She keeps telling us that she is going to call you all, but with everything she has going on in her life, plus selling to the neighborhood, she keeps running into bedtime before we think of it. If you would like to support Taylor by ordering cookies, please either email your order or call us...or wait for us to call, because it we will eventually get to it. Sales end Saturday and we turn the order in on Monday.

Happy February! I, for one, am glad to have January behind us. February through May is my favorite time of year down here. I love the temperatures and trees blooming...it is awesome. I am very ready to put winter behind me. I feel like some of my energy is returning after the "after-christmas blahs" I've had this year. It helps that I have been having some fun things happening in my life...i.e. ClubMom, Biggest Loser application sent in (no word yet), I won a $25.00 gift card at the District Health Fair, I sang my first solo in church, and I am loving my calling to work with the Young Women. I am even feeling better about Taylor and her hair pulling issues. We finally went to see a counselor about it and I think it will be good for her to learn some strategies. The counselor did refer us to a Child Psychiatrist, but I don't know if I am ready for that yet. She is doing much better and has her eyebrows back, but I know she is still struggling with it and probably will forever more. Scott has given her a blessing and I know that she will be better for it.

Shaylie and Scott are bonding over the whole train thing. Scott is thinking of getting the girls their own little "Thomas" engine that they can run on his layout. I am glad that they are having fun with it. Shaylie is also after me to give her a surprise party, like Taylor had at Halloween. She thinks it is only fair and it has to be her friends not Taylor's. We'll see, maybe for Valentine's or St. Patrick's Day.

We are trying to think of something creative (cheap) and fun to do for Spring Break this year. Our break is from March 13-17 this year. If anyone has any good ideas, let us know. We haven't been out of town in a good long time and I would love to pack our bags and head out somewhere.

Please post us a message...it seems like everyone has really backed off the whole blog thing, I know you all are reading it, would it kill you to say HI? Really, we love to hear from you and I check in on the other sites almost everyday, so keep those up too....I know I can't talk since I haven't posted in quite a while, but "do what I say, not what I do"...right? Anyway, length of entry must count for something. Love ya! T:)