Trying out a new service for BzzAgent

I'm trying a new service as a BzzAgent called about.me. Looks pretty interesting so far and I even get a free email address. You can get a free pack of business cards too!
Here is my page http://about.me/amyu

Our life for the past 2 months....

Well, we've been lazy and haven't updated in way too long. So here is a bit about our life over the last few months.

• Carter is getting really big! He just turned 3 months and is getting the chubbiness I love!
• Cameron started potty training...I hate potty training, can't they come with a switch that you just flip so it isn't so difficult and frustrating??? He's doing ok with it though.
• Contessa & Collin are out of school for the summer. They both had really high reading scores and are way above grade level for it. Both are doing great in school and seem to love learning.
• Amy got an A & a B in here 2 spring semester classes.
• Devin has been working like crazy
• Contessa earned several badges in Girl Scouts, which she was presented with on Tuesday.

What our plans are...

• We are going to Washington DC in July for 6 days. We are really excited. The kids can't wait to see the places that were in the second Night at the Museum movie. Collin suggested it for our family vacation this year. Hopefully everything goes well, the plane rides are making me nervous...4 kids on a plane with layovers! I know people do it all the time, but I don't!
• Hopefully we will be able to take a few days to see Dave & Lexi when they are taking their trip (if they still plan on it) in August/September. I love visiting family!

Well, that is a brief update on us. I'm too lazy to post pictures right now, so sorry about that!

Clarissa's wedding

I thought I would post a few pictures that I took yesterday morning of Clarissa & Hunter for everyone to see, in case you didn't. Hope you like them.

Teaching Children About Money

I just found this really cool site for teaching children about money. There are is a fun quiz to show "My family IQ" about money. Pretty fun. They also have a really cool workbook you can download to help you teach your children about money. The site is designed for not just parents and children, but educators as well.

You search or cirriculum based on state and what grade level. They currently offer grades 3-5. You can also look through the parents tab to get the workbook. There is also a board game that can be bought for about $20 to make the learning and teaching even more fun. Pretty cool site for anyone trying to teach their kids about finances and handling money early on in life. Teaching children about money isn't always easy, but this site looks pretty cool to give some great tips.

Carter

Here are a few pictures of Carter (day he was born and shortly after). Been really busy but thought I should really get this done!

Vegas

We just spent a few days in Las Vegas with some family and had a great time. Devin was able to relax some when he wasn't worried about me and just enjoy the time together. Even when I was hurting from sore muscles I enjoyed it. The guys (well, most of them, sorry Scott!) did well at the craps tables which definately brought up their moods! A few of us girls were able to take some time to get our nails done which was very relaxing and entertaining. There were a few girls there that were obviously high, so we had our entertainment while watching and listening to them.

The kids had a great time as well. They were enjoying seeing their cousins and staying up late. Cameron didn't go to sleep before 11pm either night, and after not getting naps you would think he would have crashed but he is stubborn!

It was a great trip and we are both glad we were able to do it. Thanks for hanging with us guys!

Thoughts on a difficult day...

February 4th holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons. First off, 9 years ago, I married the person who means the most to me in this life and in the life to come, Amy. We picked this day because I guess we thought there was something special in the numerical date (2-4-00, two for eternity if you imagine the zero's as that sideways 8 symbol that means infinity in math). My sister, Jerri Lynn, know affecinetly as Sis, was also born of February 4th. Today, it takes on a new meaning, though maybe not as happy as the others. Since I seem to be having a touch of the flu or whatever other germ is going around, I laid back down to bed after I had gotten up. About 2pm, as I was still asleep, Amy brought the phone into me, my mother had called. While it may not be unusual for a mother to talk to her son, my mom knows that first, I'm not a great coversationalist. I am a very get to the point person on the phone, and second, if it's something important, it's best to tell Amy as I will forget some detail. After saying hello, I could tell immedietly from my mother's voice what she had to tell me. My Grammie (the name we always called my father's mother) had passed away. The event was not unexpected, but as these things allway do, it came as a shock. It took me a moment to compose my thoughts on what to say next. I felt the immedient comfort of the Holy Spirit which calmed me. My thoughts then turned to my family. I was happy to hear my father was doing well, or at least as well as you can be when faced with that situation. I began to think about the many memories I had of my grandmother. Her and my Aunt Pricilla listening to my stupid impressions as a kid. Warm apricot empenatas cooling on the stove right after they got out of the oven. Stopping to see her at her house on the edge of Thatcher after visiting Grandma Gibbons in Safford. I am greatful for the woman she was, and her strength, especially thru her last few year as she battled kidney disease and complications for diabetes. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to see her in Thatcher last year, and that Amy and the kids were with me. I was amazed how much chinese food a little woman who might have been 5 foot in her shoes with a inch or two of heel could put away. She put me to shame that day. I am especially greatful for my Aunt Pricilla who gave so much of herself these last few years to help Grammie with her doctors appointments and shopping and household chores. I hope she is comforted and that she may know that death isn't the end of life, and that families can continue for all eternity. I pray for that comforting spirit to be with all my family, wherever they may be. I wish I could be there for each of you, and want you to know you are in my thoughts and prayers.

This evening, while thinking of things entirely different, I came across a short story recorded by a favorite musician of mine, Sam Payne. It turnes out he does a brief weekly thought for a internet radio station he is involved with. This week, he told of a dream he had years ago sitting with his deceased grandfather and grandmother as they reminiced about life over a glass of lemonade. It seemed to some up so many of my thougts exactly, and I wanted to share it. I hope that each of us can someday share an experience like Sam dreampt with our loved ones when the time comes for us to leave this mortal life and cross the veil to the next.

I am greatful for the blessings of the temple, that families can be together forever. I am greatful for the great sacrifice of Christ, that through his atonement, we can all return to the presence of God someday. I hope someday I have the opportunity to sit with Grammie and my loved ones over some lemonade and talk about the memories we share.

Excited!

YEAH! After too long not seeing some of my favorite people (Dave, Lexi & Family) we finally get to see them soon! I was a bit bummed that we weren't going to be able to take a trip to AZ to see them while they are there in Feb being too close to my due date. Traveling that long really takes its toll on me. But, fortunately we are all meeting up in Las Vegas (much shorter distance for me!) to have a bit of fun. We even get to hang out with Mark & Jess and Scott & Miss! I am way too excited that they could come too. It should be so much fun.

We are going just a few days after our anniversary, so we can celebrate that (our honeymoon was in Vegas) as well as Valentines day too. So many things to celebrate and not enough time! Maybe I will splurge and finally get the massage I've always wanted. Perhaps the other ladies would join me?? A few hours at a spa sounds so relaxing. Of course, it probably sounds like a year of torture for the guys to have to watch all the kids for a few hours!

Pictures I took for my photography class

I had my first assignment for my photography class and was supposed to take photos of anything outdoors. So I spent a while outside taking pictures of the kids and various snow covered items. Most of the pictures of the kids weren't my "best" so I didn't send them in for my assignment, but here are a few of those plus what I turned in for a grade.

New Callings

Devin was called to be a ward mission leader. I was called to be a ward librarian. So we both have new callings and while we expected Devin's, mine came as quite a surprise! Devin will probably pretty busy, but I think he will really enjoy it. He will be working with one of our friends so that will definately make it nice for him.

Girl Scout Cookies!

Today was the day that Contessa was able to start taking orders for Girl Scout cookies. After getting her order forms this morning we went around and she asked a few of our friends. We also headed to the hospital to see Devin and were able to sell quite a few to the nurses there. So in just 3 hours she sold more than 40 boxes!

I am going to take pictures of her in her new vest so everyone can see how cute she is in it. She is really excited and had set a goal to sell 65 boxes, but I think she will be able to sell even more than that if she keeps it up.

If anyone wants some, just let us know and we can order them before Jan 27th. They are delivered the end of February and that is when the money is due. I can mail them to you or can save them until we see you again.

Being the Cookie Manager will have me busy for the next 2 months. I just hope my house can handle the number of boxes that it will be holding until all the parents come pick up the orders for their girls. I guess I have some rearranging to do!

Scott and Miss' Wedding!

Sorry, it's late and I've got to work in the morning, so I'm not writing much, but the wedding is hands down the best event I've been to so far in 2009! OK, enough smart assing. Here are the pics for those interested and those unable to attend. If anyone wants the originals, let me know and I'll rar them together and put it on rapidshare or something.

Here's the pics

PS-I know alot of them are of my kids, but I tried to get a little of everyone, but there are alot I missed. It doesn't mean I dont like you/your kids if I didn't get many pics of them. Besides, Autumn was the official photo person, mine are just very amature snapshots and it shows.

PPS-I just realized not all of them have uploaded. This should be rectified by the time most of you look at this.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends. We hope you are able to enjoy the time with loved ones on this beautiful day. We miss you all.

Much better day!

Today was a much better day for me. I signed up for 2 classes through a community college (clovis.edu) because I could get 6 credits for the same price as 3 and they offer a digital photogaphy class online! So I start 2 classes January 12th. I am pretty excited about them. Hopefully they will have my transcripts before the next semester so I can take more general ed classes like English/math without having to redo the ones I've already done.

I also attended the Girl Scout Cookie Coordinator training. That was a waste of time, but I am almost ready to get the girls started selling. They can start selling January 10th (preorders) so I just have a few more weeks to get completely organized and set up.

And another great thing for me today is the shoe blog I was writing for (haven't in many months while they revamped everything) contacted me again and set me up to blog twice a month so I start that the 29th. I really enjoyed that one.

So far it has been a good day. Tonight we are going to Contessa's Christmas concert. Each grade is singing 2 songs and then they sing a group one as well. She is excited about that concert. Hopefully the boys will be good and sit still during it. It is after their bed time so we just have to hope Cameron won't be too grumpy!

Complaints!

I am in a complaining mood. It hasn't been a good day. I admit that part of it is because I am cranky, but not everything! So my complaints for the day:

• Screaming kids
• fighting
• kids not listening
• broken lamps - seriously, can't I find a floor lamp that won't break within 6 months?
• dirty dishes - yes, I know it is my fault because I didn't wash them. However, do 3 kids REALLY need to use 10 different cups a day? 2 of them aren't even home all day!
• junk mail
• too many toys everywhere
• crumbs
• no naps - why Cameron thinks he can skip a nap is beyond me. Thus the reason for many of these complaints!

Okay, I admit getting them out there has lessened my stress a bit. So maybe I should make a list of things I am grateful for. Then I can feel even better:

• family
• friends
• cuddles
• clean diapers
• nice fitting jeans (don't have too many of those right now!)
• massages - I should really spend the money on a professional one some day. I think I would enjoy it! But, the homemade ones are nice too.
• clean cars
• clean house
• smell of fresh baked breads, cookies, etc.
• bubble baths
• books
• good music
• computers - I can keep up-to-date with some of my favorite people

I really do feel much better now. Thanks for listening. I guess I need to stop letting these dumb hormones take over!

And so my Christmas season begins, kinda...

I make no secret of it. I am not a Christmas person. Personally, I have allways hated the commercialism of it. I really don't mind giving gifts, but I will not accept them for myself. Same with birthday gifts, but that's another day. I also don't really like the decorating, so Amy does it all herself. One thing I do look forward to each year, though, is a concert. We've kinda made it a family tradition each year (except for 2006 right after Cameron was born) to attend Peter Breinholt's Christmas concert. I first heard Peter's first Album, Songs About the Great Divide, as a missionary (don't give me that crap that I shouldn't have been listening because it wasn't hymns). He's a wonderful folk musicial from Salt Lake. Last year and this year, they added a couple of acts to the lineup. Peter was joined by Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band and Sam Payne. You may have heard some of RSATRB, they had a small hit a year or so ago call "Dream Big" that was used by NBC as the theme to some reality-type show that only lasted a couple of episodes. They play a wonderful mix of everything from folk to bluegrass to celtic and even calypso on a couple of songs with Ryan on the fiddle and an incredible group of musicians on acoustic and electric guitars, mandolin and another bigger mandolin looking thingy, bass and double bass, and percussion. Sam Payne is rapidly becoming a favorite of mine. He's a folk singer with an amazing gift for storytelling. He's also an accompished jazz musician. This year, the concert, called "The Gift", was the Christmas in the Canyons concert at Tuacahn Ampitheater in St. George, UT. The scenery was beautiful, the night brisk, but not too cold, and as allways, we had good seats, 3rd row right. Not as good as last year when we had front row center, but good none the less. Once again, all the guys put on an amazing show, from the Celtic inspired opening number done by everyone, I Saw Three Ships, Sam scatting on a number of songs (he's awesome at it), to the allways uplifting Dream Big, Sam's song All the Christmas they need (allways my favorite song of the night, brings me to tears), and they allways finish it off with Silent Night with the audience helping out (I've got a video of it I'll post, though I didnt have my phone ready and missed the first bit of it). I would love to post some pictures, but I couldn't bring the DSLR in because they had no video or photo posted outside the auditorium. We did bring in the little Canon, and I did get a few pics off without the flash, but I don't know how they turned out as I havent looked at them yet, but I'll post some if they turned out ok. Do yourself a favor and pick up their Christmas albums. I know they are avalible at Deseret Book and also from Amazon's MP3 store, or directly from the artits at their websites (If you pick they up, pick them up directly from the artists so they actually see the money from them). I may be reordering Sam Payne's Christmas album as I cant seem to find my copy and I didn't seem to rip it. Each of them also tours quite a bit and look for them to come to your areas. If anything, they are again doing next year's show in St. George again. Its not too bad of a drive (from Phoenix, easiest thing is go to Vegas, hop on I-15, and it's about 100 miles north). The scenery is beautiful (check out Snow Canyon just north of town, I've got some pics on Flickr I took there about a month ago) and hotel rooms are plentiful and usually pretty cheap.




Here's the video of Silent Night. Excuse the lousy quailty as I took it on my phone.

Here's a youtube video of Sam Payne singing All the Christmas They Need.



Peter Breinholt singing an original song, Christmas Eve Song, also from youtube



and Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband video for Dream Big

Shopping

I am proud to say that I am mostly done with Christmas shopping! I HATE waiting until after Thansgiving because it is nearly impossible to find what I want and then I stress over whether it will arrive on time if I ordered it online. I can't stand long lines and crazy crowds trying to buy the same items and being grumpy, so I just avoid it. Heck, if I could avoid food shopping from a week before Thanksgiving to a week after Christmas I would!

So I am pleased with myself this year. I bought all the kids presents & most stocking stuffers. Parents are taken care of as well. I even have everything except one item for our communities Christmas Elves program for needy families. I will buy that tomorrow to get that done too.

I even have gifts for Collin's birthday so we are doing great. Of course, I spent way too much in one month to get everything but that is to be expected. I always overspend! Thankfully Devin works a ton of overtime in the winter to cover it all. I sure love that man.

So how are you doing with preparing for the holiday?

I'm getting old

Devin and I were enjoying a relaxing afternoon together yesterday with Cameron taking a nap and Contessa and Collin at school. All of a sudden Devin tells me not to move and pulls out a piece of my hair. WHAT was he thinking?! Anyway, so it turns out that particular piece of hair was not any shade of brown or red like most of the others. No this one was white. Then he proceeds to pull out 7 more! I am officially getting old. I'm not even 30! Heck, I'm not even 29 so why am I going gray already?

I guess that's just the way things are. At least I'm not alone, Devin had much more gray than I do! HAHA!

For the love of shoes!

Cameron needed a new pair of shoes. Seriously, when don't kids need new shoes! So we took him to took for some. We eventually found a pair of Yo Gabba Gabba shoes in his size. He loved them. He loved them so much that he took them with him to bed last night! He set them on the edge of the bed and pulled the blanket over them. I'm assuming he wanted to keep them warm! It was really cute. He was so excited to have his new shoes. He's been wearing them since he woke up. Oh, for the love...of shoes.

(Of course, I "needed" new shoes too and ended up with 2 pairs of boots! I have never spent so much on shoes for me before. But I love them.)

It's a BOY!

So we didn't mean to find out what we were having, but we know now that we are having another boy. His due date is March 24 and so far everything looks great. He moves around alot and is constantly enjoying the bouncy-ness (is that a word?!) of my bladder. We will have to do some rearranging of rooms in the future, but we are excited to welcome him into the world in less than 19 weeks. YEA! Over 1/2 way through.