Grateful to be POOR!

Because I have a lot of time to sit and contemplation I recently realized I'm grateful to be poor! I'm poor so I stay at home and play with my daughter, and come up with creative activities to do and not just buy expensive toys. Evelyn is so young she doesn't know the difference. Luckily, most of my friends are poor so we are all in the same boat. I have realized the miracles that happen when you pay tithing. I am learning the art of couponing and price matching. I am grateful for our Honda Accords that each have over 200,000 miles on them. I am learning that life is just as much fun in target, forever 21, and old navy clothes, as it is in Nordstoms clothes (who knew?) :)! I cook delicious meals for my family instead of going out to eat. We spend time with family when we have time off instead of going on vacation (okay, I would LOVE to go on a vacation but I'm trying to look at the glass half full). I appreciate things a WHOLE lot more. When we finally have money I will actually know what it's like to not have any! Obviously we are not living on the streets and living off of a dollar a day, and I know that there are people WAY worse off then we are. I'm just grateful that I'm learning some valuable lessons, I think everybody should struggle some time in life. You realize that you can be happy no matter what!

Also you gain an incredible testimony on how the Lord will provide for you when you are doing what he would have you do. Having Evelyn was the scariest thing, I didn't know how I was going to finish school, didn't know how we were going to pay the bills, we didn't know anything. However, we did know that we were not supposed to postpone having children so we went forward with faith. The miracles have poured in ever since. One of those miracles is being poor but still having every thing I need and being happier than I have ever been! In the end FAMILY, FRIENDS, and knowing WHY you are here and WHO brought you here is what will bring you true eternal happiness... even if your poor.

I like to BONK!

Evelyn has a tooth! Enough that I can finally snap a picture of it. I love that she is getting teeth FINALLY. However, I don't like that she falls she always cuts her upper mouth, she bled twice today. NOT FUN! She is pretty tough though.

My daughter LOVES violence so I accidently bonked my head and she thought it was the funniest thing ever. So of course like any mother would do I kept doing it, and she kept laughing. Evelyn discovered that she could BONK her head too, and OH BOY she thought that was even funnier. I love her so much. Evelyn is the one person that can smile and ALWAYS make me smile back.

Life would be easier if....

Lately I have been thinking about how much easier life would be if I didn't CONSTANTLY compare. I am a compare-aholic. I compare every thing. My husband, my daughter, and don't even get me started on myself. Is it just me? Does every one else compare this much?

I need to give you examples so you realize how crazy this is for me. I compare not only what other girls my age look like, but their weight, their legs, their hair, what they wear, their husbands, their life. I want you to understand I don't do it because I want to be better then them. I don't dislike some one if they are prettier, skinnier, more fashionable...etc, etc, etc. But I kind of beat myself up over it. Like why can't I be like that? Is it just me?

My new goal for myself is stop! stop! stop! Stop comparing not just me but my family. Thanks for the inspiration Elder Uchtdorf. "Don't compare your weaknesses to other peoples strengths." I need to be happy NOW, which I am don't get me wrong I'm very happy but I think if I stopped comparing I could be EVEN happier.

Walking!!!!! Well.... pretty close.

Evelyn is going to be moving in NO time. I thought she was still my 5 pound baby who slept all the time. Please notice that she will ONLY walk to Mommy.

The whole month of August!

I am so far behind that I'm going to do condense the last month so I can just be caught up! Jeff's mom Vivian came to help us move from Orem, to Vegas she was a huge help watching Evelyn, cleaning, and helping with packing. Also she drove one of our cars down to Vegas. When we arrived in Vegas Jeff's dad and brother, T.J. came to help unpack! My cousins Jason and Jessica came to help too. We had every thing out of the truck in an hour or so! Jeff's family stayed for 2 days and were a huge help, moving furniture and watching Evelyn so I could actually organize!

Jeff's parents left and we spent the next couple of days getting the house in order and getting things done that needed to: getting our NV drivers license, setting up internet, cleaning, cleaning, and more cleaning. Once we were all done with that we headed to California for a week and half long vacation! It was so nice to spend time with family. We spent a couple days at Jen's (Jeff's sister) we went to the beach a couple of times which Evelyn loved! We were also able to go to a couple of our close friend's weddings while we were in CA. The night before we left we had an early birthday party for Evelyn. Apparently she does not like cake!

Jeff had orientation the week before school started. It was a good way for him to meet the other guys in his class. There are a lot that came from Utah probably like 25 or so! There are a lot the students who have children and wives so I am sure we will become close friends. The school hosted a BBQ and I got to meet a lot of them!

Labor day weekend we had visitors! Our close friends Allan and Sandy came to visit from Provo. We went to the strip a couple of times and tried Serendipity! We looked at the casino's and enjoyed their company.

Finally, Jeff started school last Monday, it will be really hard, the first 2 years and especially this first year but Jeff is pretty confident that if he manages his time he will survive. He is taking like 14 classes which is like 25 credits or something ridiculous like that! Poor Jeff got sick on Saturday it was like a 24 hour stomach flu. We are just grateful that he got sick on the weekend and not during the actually week!

Well EVELYN IS 1!!! Her birthday was last Thursday and we had my aunt and uncle and my cousins over for her birthday I made her cookies and she wouldn't eat those either but she did eat a Chips A'hoy Cookie! She opened all her presents and was playing with them and had a great time! Evelyn has her first tooth, and she is now on formula! Going onto formula has been quite the process though. We tried whole milk every way imaginable chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, I added sugar, and even tried watering it down. None of it worked she would throw up or refuse to take it. So then I switched to formula which lasted for about a week and then she started throwing up every time she had it. When I say throw up, I mean throw up, not spit up! Finally we discovered Soy Formula and she is doing fine. We think her little body just can't handle it yet.

I have been staying busy cleaning this house! I also try and get out every day! I'm getting pretty good at knowing where things are around town. I have discovered that Las Vegas has incredible shopping. I just like to look! We are doing well and enjoying ourselves here!

I need to UPDATE

1. Evelyn is mobile! She crawls and scoots any where she wants to go.

2. She pulls her self up on every thing and walks along furniture.

3. She lost weight from 9 months to 10 months so she is now on a FAT diet. She weighs 14 pounds.

4. Evelyn laughs a lot more and is starting to understand the game of chase! SO FUN!

5. She loves going to the pool and we do it several times a week! (see picture above)

6. We are moving to Vegas 2 weeks from today!!!!!

7. We are now moving into a beautiful 3 bed 2 1/2 bath house!! A miracle in its self

8. Some of our best friends moved in next to us so we hang out with them all the time.

9. Jeff is so ready to be done with his job.

10. I have gotten sun burned several times this summer...don't worry I got all my moles checked and I'm fine!

11. For some reason I HATE cooking during the summer (I think it's the heat)

12. I discovered the Real House Wives of New York and I love it!

13. Jeff and I play bejeweled on Xbox together.

14. Evelyn loves LIFE cereal. It's her favorite snack by far!

15. Jeff has cannon ball contests at the pool with his bff.

16. We are having a fun summer!

I'm not very good at this...

I'm not very good at this whole blogging thing. I mean I just never think I have anything to blog about... I mean what do I write Evelyn pooped in the bath tub again! No one wants to hear that!?
And my life just consists of her pretty much so it's not like I have anything to report. Jeff has the most excitement but he is just working, working, working, playing Tiger Woods golf, and working!
I thought Evelyn had eating down. Apparently I was WRONG!!!!