It's been a long time...

Wow. Life goes by so quickly.

Update on us...
Mike is working for K-Designers as a marketing director and it's going well.
I'm working for SensaLearn as a reading specialist for a charter school in Lehi four days a week.
Little Miss P goes to a Montessori preschool while I'm at work and is adjusting pretty well.

We've had some challenges as we've adjusted to living only based on commission (hence my having a job), but we've survived by the skin of our teeth.

At some point, we went through a miscarriage, which was interesting and sad. I've had some pretty sad days in the last few years, but going to the doctor expecting to see a moving, beating little heart on the sonogram and seeing no movement was one of the top saddest days of my life. Then, having to wait for the miscarriage to happen made for a looooong week. I also realized that just like a lot of tragedy, until you've experienced it yourself, you don't fully appreciate the depth of feelings that accompany it.

In July we spent a week camping in Sequoia National Park with Mike's family.

One of the best parts for me was walking through the Giant Forest with the biggest trees I have ever seen in my life. It is impossible to describe what it's like to feel so absolutely tiny in the midst of huge trees.

This school year has been challenging with the older kids being in two different schools. B got into a charter school and H didn't get in. Now, we spend 50-70 min morning and afternoon doing drop offs and pick ups. We always knew we'd have to deal with different schools when B was in Jr High but having school start/end times close together has been crazy. And, to top it off, the schools are in different districts, so we also have different days off for them. Example, this week H is off on Friday and B has next Friday off. Lame.

The best event so far has probably been P turning 1! We threw her a watermelon themed party at a park near our house.

Survey Savvy

In my never ending quest to earn cash on the side, I found a website where you get paid to take surveys: SurveySavvy. Every so often, they send you a link to take a survey and tell you how long it will take and how much you can get for it. So far, I've taken a survey and earned just $1 for about 5 minute of my time and I've taken a survey and earned $5 for about 15 minutes.

If you're interested, follow this link (and I get referral points!) https://www.surveysavvy.com/?m=6241716

I found out about this from Money Saving Mom on Facebook.

someone loves ice cream

For family night last week, Hubby, Paige and I stopped at Macy's to get a Kong Kone- a ridiculously large ice cream cone that is easier to eat once it's put in a huge cup. We knew Paige liked ice cream, but we underestimated how much she LOVES it! She even threw a tantrum when it was gone and time to go:

she has red cheeks and mouth from spending too much time
trying to eat 

seriously? 8 months old and throwing a tantrum when
no more ice cream was offered up. silly girl.

a blog to share

I know I haven't been on here in a loooooong time. Life has been pretty hectic (we moved, hubby found a job, I officially quit teaching, etc).

I wanted the share a blog a woman in my old ward is writing about her life in Iraq. Her husband works over there and she's living there to be with him for the next few years.

http://kurdishsaunders.blogspot.com/

Meanwhile, I am blogging once a week on http://momwouldlovethis.com/ and my sisters blog on the other week days. We're trying to stay connected, share things we do and *hush* earn some money with ad placements and the easy one button action readers have to do to help with that.

6 months

Do we look alike, my daughter and me?

Happy New Year!

My sisters and I have started a blog together that we are calling http://momwouldlovethis.com/

I will still use this blog for more personal family stories, but the other blog will have some more practical posts, like recipes, crafts, sewing projects, etc. Please visit! My sisters and I will each take a day a week to post a new item, so there should be something new to read almost everyday.

Doing my job as a step-mom?

At dinner tonight:

Me: H, elbows.

H: Oh, I forgot.

B: When we're at our mom's we try to remind each other to eat the right way and set the table the right way.

H: Yeah, I've been practicing putting the fork on the left.

B: No one at our mom's knows how to do that.

Me: I can tell you've been practicing because you set the table perfectly tonight. I just want us to practice eating well so that if we ever end up at a fancy restaurant, we feel comfortable and we don't have to worry about not fitting in.

H: Some families don't care about that, right? Like at our mom's. No one cares about stuff like that at her house.