Just A Quick Update

The last few weeks have been very crazy. We got moved into our other place and I'm still trying to get everything organized. Todd was layed off from work and is still trying to find another job. Since he got layed off we have been blessed with me getting calls to babysit so I have been busy with that and it explains why I am just barely updating my blog. We also got word that our foster care classes start January 13th and will go once a week for 10 weeks. We also went to our new ward and we like it so far. Anyways just incase I don't get a chance to update again before Christmas we wish all of you a merry christmas and a happy new year

WE'RE MOVING

Yes we are moving to a nicer and bigger trailer on the other side of Show Low at the end of November.

Quick Update

Sorry its been a while since I've posted. The last month I have been babysitting a little one year old she is so fun to watch and has a very cute personality. So since I've been doing that I've put most everything else on the back burner for awhile.

Wednesday we decided last minute to take a break for the day and go to the valley. We were able to see our new niece for the first time she is a very pretty baby, and has more hair on her head than I do. ( Well in the long run she will have tons more than me).

I found out two weeks ago that we are set up for Foster Care classes starting in January so we are excited for that to happen.

Embarrassing Moments but funny

So Saturday we went to walmart to get a few things. After we checked out Todd insisted on carrying the 2 10 lb bags of potatoes in one hand and a gallon of milk with a bag of cheese in the other hand. So we are walking out to the car half way to the car he stops where they have the carts and decides to put all the stuff in a cart cause they were getting heavy. Well the next thing I saw was he put the milk in the cart and started pulling it away from the other carts it was attached to then the back of the cart comes up the milk slides out the back he tries to catch it and it falls with the cap side down and milk goes every where. Right when it happened we were the only ones right there besides the lady that greets customers, she told Todd to go get another gallon of milk so he did and I stood by the cart with the other stuff, All of a sudden a huge rush of people came wanting a cart and there was milk all over the place and the worker lady was going crazy that the mop guy wasn't coming fast enough and I was going crazy cause it seemed like an eternity waiting for Todd to get back with the milk. Finally the mess was cleaned up and we got out of there.

Another funny. Saturday I made out some bills and mailed them off. Sunday I went to get the tithing check to pay it and it wasn't there, then I realized that I mailed the wrong checks to the wrong people.

Darn Stumbling Blocks

So a few weeks ago the mother board in the computer died. For Todds birthday his parents gave him one of theirs that they didn't want anymore. Todd has had trouble getting our hard drive to open instead of the other one when we turn it on. We decided to disconnect the internet and save the money that we spent for it and put it in savings and save a new computer. Last night the power supply to the computer died. So we are back at square one again. So now I have to use my dad's office computer for my primary stuff and the internet.

Since May I have known that a doctors office up here would be needing help come August. Last month I took my resume in and applied for the part time front office positions. Last Friday I went in for an interview with the manager and she hired me on the spot and gave me the tax papers to fill out. I was so excited to finally have a job doing what I love to do, I called Todd and told him, I called my mom and I also told Todds parents. Thirty minutes later I got a voicemail on my phone and it was the manager calling to tell me that she called my references and they said that I was a hard worker but I worked slow so because of that she told me that she changed her mind and wasn't going to hire me. After listening to that it crushed me, I called her back and asked her if I could still work and prove myself that I wasn't slow and she said no. That crushed me even more that she wouldn't even give me a chance to prove myself since at first she chose me over 60 other applicants cause I worked there before. Thats just very very poor business if you ask me.

Right now I'm completely done looking for a job any where because of the way I have been treated by employers. Theres more that I could say but I'm not going to just so it can be confidential.

A lady that I'm friends with is a Foster Parent and she was explaining to me about foster care and shes got me wanting to try it. Of course before we can do it we will have to get licensed and we would need to find a better place to live. It wouldn't cost anything to take the class to get licensed so that is really good. I realize it can be hard at times but for some reason all of a sudden I was thinking since I didn't get the job that we would get more money for doing foster care than me working in that office so I feel like its what we need to try and see if it will work out for us. Wish us luck!

Other than all of these stumbling blocks that are getting our way we are doing really good.

July A Busy Month

To start off the week of the 12th thru the 18th. Todd's family got together this whole week to spend time with each other. Monday thru Wednesday they went camping up by greenspeak and had lots of fun. Todd had to work but we were able to spend the evenings with them. Thursday since Todd decided to do payroll that night so he could take all day friday off we didn't go to Taylor. Friday the girls did a baby shower for Marielle and then that afternoon we went fishing for crawdads. My sister bought us Wicked tickets for saturday so we missed the celebrations in Snowflake this year, but Wicked was awesome. I loved phantom of the opera but liked Wicked alot more.

Saturday the 25th was the big perkins reunion. It was good to get together and see each other. My uncles decided to rebuild the cabin that their dad brothers and sisters grew up in. Since they did that they decided to invite all the cousins that could come and see how they redid it. The cabin looks really cute and they did an awesome job with it.

July 28th is my birthday but on Monday the 27th I got suprised. My cousins Shannon and Sharilyn and my sister Cynthia came and brought me a dozen roses, some balloons, took me to lunch and to Dairy Queen. That night Todd's parents took us to dinner since they were going out of town on my birthday. We went to El rancho and of course I got sang to and they gave me fried ice cream, it was to good but I took 2 bites and had enough i was too full.

Yesterday for my birthday my mom took me and bought me some new shoes that I need. That evening I wanted Papa John's pizza so we ordered pizza and then went to the G Force movie the one with the ginny pigs

Frustration and needing Help

Todd has figured out what he wants to go to school for. Todd has decided to go to a art school, he talked with a recruiter and its for online or the closest campus is in Phoenix. Todd found out that it would take him 5 years full time to finish, they told him that the tuition for full time would be 18,000 a year and financial aid would only cover 10,000 a year so we would have to come up with the other 8,000. Although if he did it part time they would cover the full tuition but then it would take longer and he is looking for something that won't take too long to finish. He was told that since it was online that they wouldn't cover living expenses. We have talked about going to the campus and finding out what they would tell us. The same guy called Todd this morning and said that the tuition is the same if he went to the campus and for living expenses they would only give 18,000 a year thats how much we are living off of right now and barely making it living in a crapie trailer. We are greatful for a place to live, but we don't want to stay here forever and ever and ever and ever. Right now I just feel like we are digging a deeper hole and not getting anywhere. If any of you know of art schools in the Phoenix/Mesa area and no of what we could apply for financially so that Todd can go back to school please let us know. Todd also said he doesn't qualify for pell grants

Another thing to worry about

We have had a stackable washer and dryer since we got married. Well 6 months ago the dryer was acting up and then quit, so I've been having to haul wet laundry to my mom's dryer and no money to have someone to come fix the dryer. Then a week ago I after I did laundry I noticed the day after there was water in the washer tub, well I've continued to use the washer and it works fine but I just get water in the tub after I'm done. This morning I woke up and theres water all over the bathroom floor. That means that the pump has gone out in it and no money to buy a new pump.
The good news is when I lived in mesa 6 years ago I got a side by side washer and dryer that I used. Well when I moved back home I didn't need it anymore but my sister needed a set so she took them. Well she moved back home and didn't need them so my other sister took them. Now that sister doesn't need them anymore so they are back here in Show Low. The other thing is theres only room for the washer in my trailer so I get to haul laundry back and forth even longer. It is interesting how things work out sometimes but I will be greatfull for the washer.

Friday the 12th but it was actually Friday the 13th

Friday morning I got up and started getting ready to go to the valley my cousin's wedding reception. I turned the water on to take a shower and there was no water pressure, so I called Todd to come get me so I could shower at my mom's house. When Todd dropped me off he said he was going to work for 30 minutes and then come back and get me. Well I got showered but I left my curling iron on at my house so I couldn't comb my hair until he came to pick me up. About 20 minutes passed and Todd called and said the car wouldn't start or even turn over, so at that point I got in my dad's truck went to the office got the key to our house came home combed my hair and packed our stuff. While I was home my sister called and told me where the spare key was to their car so we could have a car to go down in. In the meantime todd is trying to jump the car and after an hour it still wouldn't start. I went back to my parents house traded cars and went to get Todd. I had the thought to call the place that my family takes their cars to get worked on and have them look at it while we were gone. On our way home we stopped at the place and told them what was going on and they said they would go get it and look at it. We came home packed the car and headed out. About an hour later we got a call from them telling us that all it was, was croated cables and it running fine now. The good news is since all they did was clean the cables they didn't charge us for that, but we have to pay them for a towing fee. We made it to Mesa fine we had a few minutes to relax and then we changed our clothes and went to Tempe for the reception. My cousin looked really happy and like a princess. Right after we got there they did the first dance and they started out dancing slow and then they had a whole bunch of different songs put on one cd that they did all the moves to it was cute watching them. After the reception we went back to Marielles and played wii with her and Drew.

Saturday we woke up ate breakfast then played the wii some more then we decided to go swimming for a little while. We swam for about an hour and then we had lunch and then Todd and I went to the mall and then we went back to Marielles packed our stuff in the car. Todd was wanting Red Robin so we went there ate some dinner and then headed back home to Show Low

Strike One, Strike Two

A month ago Todd's parents called us and told that the place next door to them was for sale for $50,000 but the people would take $25,ooo just to get out from under them. Todd and I went to Taylor a few days later to look at the trailer. The trailer is a older trailer but its a double wide so it would give us alot more room than the trailer we are in right now. We made a decision to go to the bank and see if we could get financing for it. A week later we found out that if the Trailer was older than 1976 as of june 1st the banks wouldn't give us a lone. We found out that it is a 1973 so at that point we kind of gave up on the idea but we still hadn't heard from the bank. Finally we heard from the bank, to our surprise they told us that they could loan us $30,000 and thats what we were hoping to get to offer them the 25 and then keep 5 to fix it up a little, then they told us since its an old modular home that we had to put $6,000 down well we don't have that and it would take a while to get that much, but we were still keeping our fingers crossed that we could some how get into it. A week later we heard from the owners and they said that they wanted no less than $40,000, so at that point we were bummed and decided there was no way we could do it.

The other day we decided to go to the low income appartments that are a block away from where we are living to see if we could qualify to move into those. We were there for about ten minutes and then they called us up and told us that we don't qualify because Todd makes a few hundred too much for two people. So we walked out of there feeling down and depressed about that. So we are greatful for a roof over our heads even though its not the best we are glad we are not homeless and hopefully there will come a time that we can move out of this fall apart trailer into something with atleast sheetrock on the walls.

Surprises

Monday I was talking to a friend on the phone and was telling her about Johnny and that I might not see him again. When I got off the phone with her I had a voicemail so I checked it and it was Johnny's mom calling to tell me that they were in town. I was so excited to see him and how much he has grown in the last 2 months. Tuesday Jamie brought him over for me to watch while she did some packing and other stuff. Johnny is the cutest little boy, he wasn't sure of everything at first but hes getting used to it now. today will be the third day I've had him and its been fun watching him again for a few days.

Another surprise and this isn't a very good one. Last week Todd was complaining about the bathroom smelling like sewer, well I had a stuffy nose so I couldn't smell it. A few days later I started smelling the smell so I cleaned the bathroom really good and that took it away for a little while well then I could smell it again and it kept getting stronger to me. We would leave and come back to a really strong stinky smell. So we got the maintenance guy to come over and he said overthing looked fine as far as toilet was concerned, but then he said it could be our pipes in all of our drains so he said to dump baking soda and vinegar down the drains for a few days and that should take care of the problem. We dumped that down the drains that day, well that night I was laying on the couch and all of a sudden the smell was really strong again so I got on the floor and smelled the central heating vent that right by the couch and that strong smell was coming from the vent, so I went to all the other vents in the trailer and the same smell was coming out of all the vents. Now we don't know if theres something dead (Like a Dead Skunk) or if its something else, or if the floor is rotting in the bathroom so the vent in the bathroom is picking up the smell and carrying it thru all the other vents who knows. So now we have that to take care of, it is better than the skunk smell but its still a grose stinky smell.

Conference/Easter

Conference weekend we spent in Taylor with Todd's Dad, grandma, and sister and her husband. It was nice to be able to relax and enjoy each others company for a few days and listen to the wonderful conference talks that were given. Monday I left Todd for a few days to go to Mesa to babysit my nieces and nephew. When Friday came I was so glad to see Todd. We were able to spend a few more days down there together we went shopping for a few things we needed. Saturday we got together with his mom's side of the family for easter. Since it was raining we got together at the church which made it nice. It was fun to see everyone that came.

Skunk Update/Wedding Anniversary

Well 4 days, 3 nights, and two skunks in a trap later, we are 85% back to normal. Occasionally we can still smell skunk that is coming up from underneath the trailer. Our landlord was kind enough to let us borrow a trap to catch the discusting creatures. Also she let us borrow a ozone machine that gets rid of the smell. That machine is still running and its been on since sunday. I just want to make sure that the smell is completely gone before I turn it off and give back. During all of this craziness we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. We spent most of the day in Taylor just hanging out together, since thats where we were staying for the time being. We did drive to Show Low to check on our house and then we went back down there to a Italian place thats really good for Dinner and thats pretty much all we did, it was just fun to spend time with each other

The Dreaded of the Dreaded of the Dreaded has Come This Morning

Todd and I woke up at 6:30 am, Todd went in the bathroom and came back to bed and said there was a SKUNK under our trailer and the bathroom reeks. I couldn't smell it at first cause I had a stuffy nose and then all of a sudden I could smell it. Our whole trailer smells like stinky, stinky , reeky, reeky skunk. I smelled our clothes and they don't smell but just being in the trailer theres going to be a stench of a smell so neither of us want to go to church smelling like skunk. Out of all the days why did the stupid animal pick today when we have church at 8:30 and not much time to spend the day outside to air out before going to church. I called my mom to tell her and she didn't feel sorry for us, she started busting up laughing and I told her if we aren't at church you know why. Seriously who would want to go anywhere smelling like a stupid skunks. Last week for about 4 nights in a row when I went to bed I would here something under our trailer, and then the noise would go away and then the next night it would come back. Well we decided that it was probably a cat under there or a mouse in the wall. The thought of a mouse in the house was not a good one. Now I don't know what would be worse the MOUSE or the SKUNK. The mouse definately doesn't stink as bad but they distroy things.

Valentines Day Weekend

This year was one of the better Valentines that I've had. Todd surprised me on Friday when he came home with a dozen red roses, a bag of sweetheart candy and a card. I love him so very much and he has always had a big romantic heart. That evening he helped me make cookies. On Saturday he got up and bought us doughnuts for breakfast. After we ate breakfast we frosted the cookies and then I took some to the Elders next door. Later on we took a rose to my mom and my grandma and then we took cookies to my sister that was in a car accident in mexico. That evening we went to Taylor to take a rose to his mom and his grandma. We decided to go to Eva's in Snowflake for dinner and his mom and dad joined us.

I Got Tagged

. Where is your phone? Desk

2. Where is your significant other? Working

3. Your hair color? Brown

4. Your Mother? best

5. Your Father? greatest

6. Your favorite thing? family

7. Your dream last night?nothing

8. Your dream/goal? savings

9. The room you're in? living

10. Your hobby?

11. Your fear? alone

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?

13. Where were you last night? inlaws

14. What you're not? creative

15. One of your wish-list items?

16. Love Someone?yes

17. The last thing you ate? yogurt

18. What are you wearing? clothes

19. Your TV? off

20. Your pet? gone

21. Your computer? on

22. Your mood? happy

23. Missing someone? YES

24. Your car? passport

25. Something you're not wearing? jacket

26. Favorite store? dollartree

27. Your Summer?warm

28. Where did you grow up? smalltown

29. Your favorite color? purple

30. When was the last time you laughed? yesterday

31. Last time you cried? sundaynight

32. Something you crave?

33. Why you blog? comments (you all know thats why we all blog!!!)

Now I tag....Marielle, Tiffany, Jessica, Shannon

Saying Goodbye

Today has been the dreaded day that Todd and I have not been looking forward to at all. When I started babysitting I had no idea how long I would be watching little Johnny. Three weeks after I started watching him, his dad came to pick him up one day and told us that he was joining basic training but his mom was going to stay here and work. I continued watching him Mon- Fri. I didn't know how long his dad would be at basic training so I was preparing myself to not have him after the end of the year and then I found out that i would have him til the middle of Jan and then it went this long, so I feel very lucky to have been able to watch him longer than I originally thought. Johnny has been a huge blessing in my life these past 5 months. I not only got to watch him grow from just rolling over to crawling to walking around furniture, I got to watch him bounce in this bouncer I found for him to play in bounce so fast that it looked like he could launch himself out of it. Since I haven't been able to have any of my own yet, watching him helped me relax and not think about it as much and that I was able to in my own way mother him like he could have been mine. He was the best baby he took his morning and afternoon naps and they weren't short ones either. He had the cutest smile, personality and was very determined. This last week he climed up my moms 15 stairs and then turned around with a huge smile ''like I did it and you can't stop me now'' and all proud of himself. Now he is going to spend time with family in Florida and then in a few months they can finally live with his dad. I'm excited for them to be able to be together as a family again but Johnny will be missed alot. I really don't know what I'm going to do now that I don't have him anymore, but I'm sure things will come along that needs to be done. Todd would come home for lunch and and after work and play with him so I got to see a side of Todd that I haven't seen before and its made me realize what a Father figure he will be someday to our kids. Todds mom asked us one time if we had thought about being foster parents, at that time we hadn't but we have thought now and there is no way too many tears to fight back.

Fun Time In Mesa

Friday Jan 23rd we left Show Low at 5:00 and headed to Mesa for the weekend. Saturday Drew and Marielle fed us breakfast and then they left to a commitment and then we got ready to go to my uncles 80th birthday party. When Drew and Marielle came home we left and played frisbee golf, I've never played it before and I'm really not that good at throwing a frisbee but is was alot of fun. When we finished playing we went to the party, there were alot of people there mostly family. My uncle wanted soups and rolls to serve at the party. There were about 10 - 15 diferent kinds of soups to eat. We stayed for about and hour and then we went back to Drew and Marielles and found out that they made reservations at Chiles so the time in between we went to Mills Mall and window shopped to kill time and then we went to eat dinner. After we got home from that we played the game CURSE and i do not like that game at all. Sunday we went to church and then we went to the Temple and walked around had dinner at Marielles and then headed home for Show low but neither of us wanted to leave yet but we had too.

Happy New Year

Just wanted to write and wish all of you a Happy New Year. For Christmas we spent Christmas Eve with Todd's parents and grandma. We also stayed the night in Taylor and then we woke up had breakfast and then loaded up and came back to Show Low to spend Christmas day with my family. We also went and watched Bedtime Stories we recommend that movie to everyone. It also snowed for Christmas which was fun to play in. It was also nice to be able to relax a little and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas how blessed we are even though the country is going through a hard time. For New Years Eve we spent it with Todds parents again. Anyways hope everyone is having a wonderful new year so far.