My Daily Sanity Saver

Being a stay-at-home mom can really stress you out. It's a wonderful blessing! But...it can really stress you out. Some days I feel like if I hear one more whiney voice, or have to do one more load of laundry, or change one more stinky diaper......well, it wouldn't be good. Luckily, I have my daily sanity saver.
Every day, after lunch, I lay my kids down for a nap. I time it so that all three of them will be laying down at the same time. Jayne and Lilly always fall asleep. Jonah doesn't usually, but he's good about laying quietly for at least a half hour or so.
When all is quiet, I make myself some lunch or a snack and head downstairs where I spend thirty minutes with my 'Friends'. No matter what kind of a day it has been, I always laugh out loud and feel more like me after an episode or two. So, I want to say thank you to Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey, & Phoebe for always being there when I need them. My husband and children thank you too, they just don't realize it. =)

The "Hair" & Now

Thanks to everyone for all of your input about my "hair-y" decision! After MUCH consideration and deliberation I decided to keep growing it out and keep the bangs. However, I was getting really bored with it the way it was, so I paid a visit to my favorite cosmetologist. My sister, Rachel, manages a Super Cuts in Sandy and always does a great job. Anyway, she came up with this cute new 'do. Thanks Sis!

Home Sweet Sauna

My house is too hot! It's making me grumpy, my kids are grumpy, and we're spending way too much money on eating out because I cannot stand to cook in my kitchen!(Besides, restaurants have air conditioning)
In case you haven't guessed it, we've been having issues with the swamp cooler. Our landlord put in a brand new one in May. It worked great, but was dripping water. So, he came over and fixed the drip. We didn't really have to use it too much in June because it was so rainy and not all that hot. But we REALLY need it now, especially last week with those triple digit days! Apparently the tubes are clogged or something and it's not getting enough water, so it just blows hot air. Our poor landlord, who is a great landlord by the way, was here yesterday to fix it. He unclogged everything and had it running right, but 45 minutes after he left it just started blowing in the hot air again. I felt so bad having to call him again this morning.
Here's hoping that this time it STAYS FIXED!!! Meanwhile, I'll just try to hibernate in the basement(which isn't much cooler than the rest of the house) and we'll live on ice cream and popsicles.

"Hair" Today, Gone Tomorrow? Tell me the truth...

should I cut it? I've been growing my hair out for a while. I haven't had long hair for a VERY long time and I don't have a scanner to put any of those pics on the computer, so you'll just have to imagine what it would look like. Anyway...Here are a few of the shorter hairstyles I've had over the last few years. I'm wondering if I should keep letting it grow, or give in and cut it short again. So I'm fishing for opinions. What do you think?

~Chin Length~

~ As short as I'll go~

~How it looks today~

Also, should I keep the bangs or grow them?

Please, Please, Please let me know what you think! I like the input of others!

Boys? Already???

the following conversation took place between Lilly and I just a little bit ago

Me: "Okay Lilly, are you going to go lay in your bed?"
Lilly: "I'm going to lay down in my dreaming place."
Me: "Your Dreaming place?"
Lilly: "Yes Mom, my dreaming place. It is where I lay down and dream about boys."
Me: "You dream about boys?"
Lilly: "Yes Mom, I always dream about boys when I am sleeping in my dreaming place."

Is it just me, or is 3 a little young to be dreaming about boys? I had an instant fast forward to the teen years and it scared me spitless!

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Last night we took Jonah & Lilly to see the new Ice Age movie. We don't take them to movies very often, but they've been asking to go see this one ever since they got an Ice Age toy in their happy meals a few weeks ago. Jonah kept asking if we could "borrow it from the movie store." I explained that it wouldn't be out to rent for a long time because it was in the theatres and he decided we should go see it. This was the kids' 3rd time seeing a movie at the theater.

We got a sitter for Jayne because we're big believers in NOT taking babies to the movies. We just went to our little local theater. The kids each got their own popcorn, airhead, and little drink. Lilly didn't want to sit on her own seat because she was afraid it would close up on her, so she sat on my lap.

The kids LOVED the movie! Nate and I enjoyed it too. It was really cute, kid appropriate(some "kid" movies aren't these days), and it was just the right length for little kids. Jonah really liked all the dinosaurs in the movie and as soon as we got home, Lilly started pretending to be the mama T-Rex. She was stomping around the house and growling. I even had to call her Mama T-Rex to get her to respond. It was so cute!

It was such a fun night out for us. Also, as a side note, I'm so grateful to have a husband who wants to spend his days off doing things with his family. No matter what he has to get done that day, from mowing someone's lawn to getting an allergy shot, he always wants us to come with him. They're my favorite days of the week because we always do something together. Thanks Babe!

Fun at the Pool

On Saturday Nate got off work a little early, so we thought it would be fun to take the kids swimming. Jonah has been asking to go all summer, but I don't dare try to handle all three kids in the pool by myself, so we hadn't gone yet. We took them over to the West Valley fitness center indoor pool because the outdoor ones were going to close in an hour. We haven't taken them to a big swimming pool since Jonah was a baby and the kids loved it! Jonah was so funny. He just ran right into the water and kept on going. I caught up to him just as he took one step too many into the deeper water. That kid has always been a water baby! Lilly was a little more cautious. She loved their little duckie slide and the waterfalls, but she hated the river current and didn't like to get more than her waist in the water.
They have a big waterslide and Jonah was so excited to go on it. Luckily, he was just barely tall enough. I think he would have cried if they told him he couldn't go. You can't go double on the slide, so I went down first and waited for him at the bottom. The water in the bottom pool is only 3 feet deep, but Jonah wouldn't put his feet down to touch it. As soon as he plopped into the water he went all the way under. I pulled him up and he was just spitting and wiping his eyes like crazy. He loved it though. He went on the slide again later with daddy.
Jayne had a fabulous time in the water! Nate strapped her in the snuggly and carried her around playing in the water falls and floating around the little river current. She absolutely loved it! She was kicking like crazy anytime her feet were in the water.
So, that was our little family activity. Sorry we didn't get any pictures, be we were all too wet and having too much fun to stop and pull out the camera.

faith, or the lack thereof...

This post is prompted by a blessing. Today is payday and, as usual, the first thing I did today was check the bank account and pay the bills. I almost always hate this task because we inevitably end up with hardly any money left. This has been the case for us our entire marriage. Whether because of poor planning, fewer work hours, unwise spending, or unexpected bills, we've always barely squeaked by. Sometimes we haven't squeaked by and have had to ask for help.
I've always been a stay at home mom. Sometimes I feel guilty, like I'm not contributing to our family's well being enough because I don't bring in any money. So many times I've thought about getting a job. I would think that if I worked, we could afford to save up some money, we could afford nicer things and a vacation once in a while. But every time that I've taken it to the Lord, He reassures me that home is where I'm needed the most and that we will be taken care of. It's so hard to watch my husband work so hard and come home exhausted and in pain every day and to see that his labors only just barely pay the bills. But I know that we're blessed. It's so easy to think of all the things we don't have and forget about the blessings that we do have. We're blessed with a place to live, food to eat, clothing to wear, vehicles to drive, each other, and three beautiful, healthy children.
I was nervous about the bills today because we had to pay our first payment on our recently purchased Jeep. The financing didn't turn out the way we had hoped and our payment ended up being about $100 more per month than we'd planned on. I've been dreading having to pay it. I've done the math over and over and over and it never worked. There was absolutely NO WAY we could afford this and still have money for the basics, like food and diapers. So, I said a prayer before starting the bi-monthly ritual and just went forward. I paid the tithing first, followed by all the other bills and saved the car payment for last. As I did the math, I was shocked to see that, after the car payment, we still would have enough in our account for groceries and gas. Just barely enough, but enough.
I'm humbled by how the Lord watches out for us, even when my faith isn't as strong as it should be.

The Incredible Shrinking Woman

That's me, by the way. Or at least that's what I tell myself. I hear that positive affirmations can make a HUGE difference. Anyway, thought I'd do a weight loss update. You're probably all getting sick of these, so I think I'll just make a little chart to go on the right side column of my blog and log my progress every week. I'm still not going to divulge my exact weight, just loss or gain for the week and total loss since November, which is when I started actively getting rid of the baby weight. I only have 10 more pounds to go until I'm at my 'pre-Jayne' weight. I'm still trying to work out at least 5 days a week, drink tons of water, and do my best to make good food choices. That last one is the toughest for me. I'm such an emotional eater! Just today I was feeling a bit needy and downed a king size Hershey bar and a McDonald's shake. I know... wrong choice. But, I've learned that as long as I'm good most of the time, it's okay to indulge once in a while. So, here are my stats as of today.....
Weight Lost this week= 3lbs! Yahoo!
Total Weight loss= 33lbs

There you have it! From now on I'll just post my stats on my sidebar once a week. Thanks to everyone for your continued support!