Ronald Mcdonald House

So as you may or may not know, I am involved in a "tiny" little fundraiser for the Ronald Mcdonald House, and the time of year has again come upon us. So I have made a couple million phone calls begging for silent auction items, spent a couple dozen hours in meetings and finally dedicated an entire Saturday to the cause. And, it must be said it was a huge success. We had $220,000 made before the silent or live auctions, there were 780 items in the silent auction....we came home with a fishing pole for Nate and a golf club for Greg.....and 16 live auction items including a golden retreiver puppy that went for somewhere around $3000.
I spent all day Saturday setting things up and getting ready for the big event. I spent most of the evening with Mark Kolbel and Shauna Lake from channel 2 news. They are so very nice, I was the time nazi and kept things on schedule for the evening. My sweet husband spent the majority of the night chatting with my brother. I am so glad they are good friends. I am hoping we raised a chunk of change to help the families that have to stay at our houses this year. They are a special group who need RMDH so badly and I am so happy to be able to them. I hope that none of you, my dear friends and family, ever have to know the heartbreak of having a child in the hospital. I have take that path once in my life and with God's good graces I will never have to venture there again. I am involved with this charity, because I am the fortunate one....my son is growing up to be a strong and wonderful little boy. I did not have to go bankrupt from the $100,000 in medical bills we accrued, and I was able to come home to my own bed every night because we were a reasonablae distance from the hospital. I ask that if you do not have a charity you donate to regularly please consider the Ronald Mcdonald House in your area. They always need help, be it money or your time. My second favorite charity to give to is March of Dimes. I have had the premature baby, and if they had not done so much work and helped to create and test the drug given to Nathan for his lungs, I am not even going to consider the outcome. But because of my NICU experience, I met moms and dads who were not close to home and who were not able to be there everyday, like I was. And who's babies stayed a whole lot longer than the 21 days Nate did. They need places like Ronald Mcdonald House and I am happy to save a parent in that postion any stress I can.

http://www.marchofdimes.com

http://www.rmhc.com

I LOVE a deal...

As anyone who knows me will atest, I love a good deal. I clip coupons for the grocery store, I search for coupons before I order online, my credit cards all have rewards attached to them. I enjoy the hunt for a bargin, but one that had alluded me to this point was deals on hair care products. I am pretty finike about my hair....it is naturally curly and I have a TON of it, so taking good care of it is a must. One of my dearest friends has introduced me to a wicked cool website and I am soooooo excited. It is Salonsavings.com and the deals are immense. They carry a bunch of brands and I am nearly giddy at the prices. So please check it out.

The other way I love to save money on the internet is to go to EBATES.COM. They are a rebate site and it is awesome. I got $21 back on Alex's crib bedding. All you have to do is click thru the site to order and then watch the $$ come back to you. It is amazing. They have all the major retailers and the you can't hardly beat getting anywhere from 2-26% back.

Oh, the deals, the deals!

Six Questions

My girlfriend email this to me, so i decided to share my answers.

1) Four places I go over and over: Macey's, Target, My Mom's house, Greg's Mom's house
2) Four people who e-mail me regularly: Amy, my Mom, Katie, Ebates
3) Four of my favorite places to eat: Cheesecake Factory, Kneaders, Cracker Barrel, Tres Hombres
4) Four places I would rather be right now: at home, on a sunny sandy beach, disneyland with my kiddies, a quiet place with my hubby
5) Four people I think will respond: N/A
6) Four TV shows I watch over and over: Good Things Utah, News, One Tree Hill, Dancing with the Stars

St. George, Utah

So we are in St. George for a wok convention. The weather has turned out to be amazing, I can handle the 80's when you consider that when we left home it was snowing. I am a serious lover of winter, but I am so ready for spring. I think it has something to do with a three year old who is tired of being cooped up in the house all winter and just wants to run around outside. But anyway........

We walked over to the Cracker Barrel resturant for lunch today with Greg's technician Josh, his wife Carerra and their little boy Braxton. We are sitting having lunch and it is no big deal, so we are trying to figure out why people keep walking over to the table next to ours and having their picture taken with one of the guys sitting there. Turns out...after we asked our waitress....that he is one of the guys in the Nickeloden show Drake and Josh. None of us knew him, but he seemed like a nice enough kid. He signed a few autographs and had his picture taken with a few people. He was cool about the whole thing, especially since most of those fawning over the poor guy were adults, We did see one young girl approach him with her dad and have her photo taken, she was quite enamored, it was cute. I said we should go get this leftover food and sell it on ebay......but it was just too gross to even think about following thru with.

The land of should be....

So , I should be cleaning my house since we are hosting my husband's staff for a BBQ tonight, but instead I am playing in the computer and trying to do anything but tackle the mess in my kitchen. I was once so organized and could put things away, my down fall seems to be my children (God bless them). I guess since I can hardly finish a sentence I should not expect to be able to get the dishes done or the mail read thru and disposed of properly, but really it is beginning to damage my poor little brain. I just want to start and finish a project, really too much to ask? So, I will go and tackle the disaster that is my countertop........

Finally..........

So after years of waiting, it has finally happened, two of my best friends now live within a half an hour of me!!! Heather now joins Katie in the homes I can get to with out having to stop for gas. I could tell you of my excitement, but the words are just too hard to come by. Now if I should just get my sista-cousin up to my neck of the woods, my little world would be complete.

Heather and Loren and Mari now live in Woods Cross and we are so excited. After much stress and frustration (on Heather's part) the move has been made and Yahooo! So how many boxes are left to unpack, a whole bunch, and now that we have the fridge taken care of....good grief what an ordeal that was! They are left to spend the first of many nights in their new home. May their home be filled with much love.

My 2 Monkeys

Alex is now 10 weeks old, weighs a little over 12 pounds and still is suffering from reflux....so the book that says it should let up after the baby weighs more than 11 pounds is a big fat liar. We took her to the doctor this past friday and I am still just as frustrated as when I walked in the door, maybe even more so. The zantac doesn't last but 6 hours (not the twelve it is supposed to) and the prevacid creates a much larger problem in the lower GI tract that leads to awful bloating and gas for her. So after chatting with her Dr. (I think the world of him) the decision was made that maybe I should remove all dairy from my diet...now this may not seem like much, but one must consider that a good bowl of cereal is the last bit of joy that was left in my life. I have already given up soda-pop (all of it not just the caffinated kind, if it fizzes it is out), coffee, and chocolate, so now no milk, cheese, yogurt, nada nothing..........it will be grand. I know that we make sacrifices for our children, but if I have to give up powedered donuts, I quit. I give up and throw my hands up in the air.
Nathan is a crazy three year old. He doesn't just like things, he is crazy for them. We have only had two obsessions at this point, but they run true and deep. His first love was Thomas the Tank Engine. It started when he was about 18 months old, and is still going strong, with the exception being that it has grown to include all trains. Put the kid where he can watch trains go by and he will watch for hours on end. It doesn't matter if it is along side highway 6 in the canyon, or at Aunt Heather's house sitting on the playground. He is mesmerized. Our second great obsession is STAR WARS, and not just the movies...mind you he has seen all 6 (and really watched them)... he loves the toys, calls his baby sister LEIA and himself Luke. And if it ended there it would be a child who enjoys a movie, but he has sheets for his bed....they are close to thirty years old and were once my cousins and brothers.....and has assigned characters to half my family. He calls me Chewbaca, his dad is Han Solo, his gran switches between OB wan Kanobi and R2D2, Papa in a "nice" general, Uncle Pete is Jaba the Hut (we all laughed so hard at that one) and Aunt KeAnne is Padme. and he will call you by your character instead of your name or title. You should see the looks we get in the grocery store when he yells out "Chewy..can we have (whatever)" and I actually answer. It is so funny and pretty darn cute.

Recipes

Since I am always being asked if people can have my recipes or if I have a recipes for a certain item, I am creating a blog just for the land of cooking and baking. I am going to post my favorites on it, and feel free to pass them on. I will let you know if I have made changes to the original recipe....and if so what they are. So, enjoy and spend some time in the kitchen.

http://whateverrecipes.blogspot.com/

Working Girl (not THAT kind)

Okay, so Amy asked me to list the jobs I have working in my lifetime..........this is going to be soooo pitiful. Alright from the most recent right on down the line.....

1. Mom
2. Pharmacy Tech
3. Eddie Bauer
4. Blimpie Sandwich Maker
5. Mervyn's shoe department and stocker
6. Taco Bell
7. Kitchen staff at a retirement communtiy
8. Joann Fabrics
9. Plant Waterer at a nursery (not kids)

That is the list of real paying jobs I have had in my days. I could live without ever working fast food again, which is ironic seeing how much I enjoy preparing and serving food. I loved working at Eddie Bauer, not so crazy about the politics of the store I worked at. Mervyn's was a short time in college and I was good at it, but I really hated the office politics there.

I am really happy with my jobs I have right now. I am a full time Mom to my 2 children and get the pleasure of being a part time pharmacy tech. It is a really nice mix for me.

My Guys

This picture of Greg and Nathan was taken on Nathan's third birthday. They are so cute. I wish I could even begin to explain the attachment Nate has for his daddy. But there is just no way, it began before Nate was even born......he would get very restless and moving about in my belly from the time Greg got off work until he walked in the door and then Nathan was done and to this day nothing has changed.

10 things about me

So, I again was inspired by my crazy cousin, but i am not about to try to come up with 100 things about myself. I figures that 10 would be plenty for now.......

1. I could really use to sleep for a week. The whole sleep when the baby sleeps thing is only effective for the first child.

2. I love to bake and cook.

3. I am up to my eyeballs in Ronald Mcdonald House Gala stuff.

4. I do believe that my husbands days off go by much too quickly.

5. I have the best little family on the planet.

6. I wish I had more time to read.

7. I am in love with Kool-aid and Cranberry juice (since i can't have soda-pop)

8. I once was organized and could complete a sentence without fading off.

9. Everyone in my little family of four has a name that can be shortened. (even me!)

10. I wear a size 11 shoe.