Grinchy Christmas

I'm not gonna lie, I feel like a Grinch this Christmas.  I am totally having a pity party, so if you decide not to read this post, I understand. 

It has not felt like Christmas at all to me this year.  I have been working so much I have not had time or energy for anything Christmas.  I haven't been involved in ANY music this season and that is really what makes it feel like Christmas to me.  I love singing the Messiah, going to Holiday Dinner, conducting the ward Christmas program, preparing a piece to sing for a recital that is Christmas related.  It makes me so sad that I have not sung really at all this season.

All my kids, and husband, have talked about have been gifts.  What we are going to give and what they want to get.  To be honest, I don't even really want anything.  I take that back, what I want this year is to be able to rest and relax, be with my family, make Christmas goodies for our friends, go caroling and revel in the goodness of my Savior.  I feel like our Christmas has become too commercial.  It has not been Christ-centered.  Maybe that is my fault.  I just want to feel the joy of the season.  I hope that happens when I go down to San Diego to spend Christmas with my family.

Okay, I'm done now. 

A grateful heart!

I am writing this post in the hopes that I will stop focusing on all that is wrong in my life and realize that I am so blessed.  It takes a consious effort!  So here goes!

#1 We went through a tornado that damaged one of the windows in our home that needed to be replaced and because of the broken glass our carpet had to be ripped out.  Blessing:  We have hated our carpet and have been wanting to replace it and now we can do it for free.  We were able to replace the carpet in our dining area with beautiful ceramic tile thanks to Jake and his brothers.  They did the install and it turned out awesome!

#2 My growing baby has a single umbilical artery.  It can cause developmental problems.  Blessing:  Lord has blessed this baby to be growing the way he should so far.  I am grateful he is healthy so far.

#3 We needed a bigger car and refuse to have a payment(thank you Dave Ramsey).  Blessing:  We found a minivan with 88,000 miles on it that might work.  So we tried to sell our Sorento.  We placed an ad and it sold in 24 hours for $5500.  Exactly what we had been hoping for.  We went to the dealership with the minivan we were considering and offered $5000 total all taxes/fees for the van.  They countered with $5610, I countered with $5500 and they accepted!  New car with tons of room, no car payment!

#4  As of Monday the 22nd we will have spent over $2000 repairing our vehicles.  Blessing: Because we have been doing the Dave Ramsey Total Money Make Over, we have had the cash to pay for those repairs.

#5  Three days after we bought our van the check engine light went on!  Blessing:  It is under warranty still so we can take it in to find out what is wrong and, hopefully, get it fixed for free.

Additional blessings in my life are many, but I will name a few.  I have a good job that allows me to be very flexible with my schedule.  My MS is under control right now.  I have 2 beautiful boys that I adore and that give me so much love in return.  I have a husband who gives so much to me and who loves me despite all my faults.  He is always looking for ways to serve me and make me feel loved and valued.  He is the perfect eternal companion for me.  I have the best brothers, sisters, in-laws, parents(step and natural), step-siblings(although I think of them as my real siblings), nephews, nieces, cousins, uncles, aunts, grandparents and friends!  I am so blessed with so many wonderful people in my life!  Great, now I'm crying!  Well what do you expect from a hormonal pregnant woman?! 

I think my grateful heart grew a few sizes today!  What are you grateful for?

And you thought your week was bad.

Wednesday morning I awoke to the sound of high winds and heavy rain and hail.  It was about 5:15am.  Jake was at work, Sean was asleep in bed with me and Kurtis was asleep in his room.  The wind was becoming more intense and the house groaned in protest.  Then the whole house started shaking.  Being a California native, I thought "earthquake", but I knew that was not what it was.  I sat up in bed and pulled Sean close to me, ready to run for it.  It sounded like a roaring train and I thought our roof was about to be ripped off.  The power went out and, being in Bellemont, it became pitch black.  The shaking stopped, but the wind, rain and hail continued.  Kurtis burst into my room crying, shaking and saying that his window had broken.  I hugged my boys and reassured them we were safe.  The first thing Kurtis asked was if we could say a prayer.  Of course.  We had a prayer. 

After the prayer, I said, "I think that was a tornado." I couldn't see anything outside it was so dark.  I took the boys night light downstairs to get another flashlight.  I heard voices that sounded closer and clearer than they should have been coming from our dining room window.  As I moved closer I saw all the glass.  I put shoes on and went into our backyard.  Both fences were severely bowed and one almost completely torn down.  I then saw the roof of our shed on the ground in front of our window.  The tornado had ripped the roof off the shed and thrown it against the window.  I went around the house with the flashlight to make sure everything else was still intact.  Other than the window and fences our house was okay.  Many of our neighbors; however, were not as fortunate.  I will post pictures of where we were soon, but this is the destruction from the tornado in another part of the development.

Both houses in this photo had almost all their windows blown out by the tornado and part of the roof ripped off.

This is our friend's boat that was catapulted into another friend's house above her son's bedroom.  They got out in time before the ceiling collapsed over all three bedrooms.

This is another friend's home.  They must have been in the eye of the storm at one point.  From what their daughter relayed to me.  Everyone in that home was lucky to be alive.

I know without a doubt God was watching over the families of Bellemont.  There were no major injuries, not even the woman who was picked up and thrown 5 houses down by the tornado!  There were a few broken bones and some needed stitches, but that was it.  I will post more photos soon.  We just praise the Lord that we were held in the hallow of His hand that fateful morning.

Halloween, an excuse to dress slutty. UGH!

Why is it that whenever Halloween comes around all the costumes for women are slutty?  Or at least the ones you find in the store.  You have to make it if you want a modest costume.  It's cheaper anyway.  I just took a peek at the costumes on the walmart website and so many have titles with the word "sassy" in it.  I'm sorry, but call it what it is, SLUTTY!  It makes me really grateful that I am having all boys.  I won't ever have to tell my daughter no when she wants to wear a "sassy" costume because all her friends are and because it's "really cute".

As for me, I am going to be Minnie Mouse, a pregnant Minnie.  Oh no Mickey!  I have a black maternity skirt that I am going to attach a tail and poka dots to and then where a red shirt and my Minnie ears.  Cost, $10 for the red shirt.  And I can wear the red shirt again.  So, no thank you walmart, you can keep your "sassy"(SLUTTY) Minnie costume.

This year we will have one Indiana Jones, one Woody, one pregnant Minnie, and if I can get Jake to cooperate, one Mickey.  It's a Disney Halloween for us this year.  How about you?  What are you going to be?

I Feel 8 Again!

We are going to Disneyland in 5 days!  I haven't been there in over 4 years!  It has always been a favorite place for me.  I remember my parents never told us when we were going because that was all we would talk about until we went.  We would wake up in the morning and our parents would tell us we were going somewhere special.  Then once we were in the car the mystery would be revealed!  Oh my gosh we are going to the Happiest Place On Earth!

I have literally been visiting the Disneyland website every day this week looking at all the rides, shows and places we will eat and I just become more excited by the moment!  We will be there for 5 days!  My kids are so excited!  I think I might be more excited than them though!  I am the kind of excited when you feel like you can't contain it and you start to giggle because the excitement has to come out some way or another! 

I have to buy a memory card for my camera so I can bombard everyone with pictures when we get back!  Just in case you weren't sure, I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it!

 

Music Lessons

I finally think I found a way to make money doing music.  I know amazing!  I want you to tell everyone you know about this program and join if you can.  It's called, "Let's Play Music".  My sister in law Allison does it and loves it!  I am really looking forward to getting started.  Click on this link to watch a video about the program.  http://letsplaymusicsite.com/video/ If you live in the Flagstaff, Bellemont, Parks or Williams area and have children ages 4-6 and would like to take a FREE sample class please e-mail me at: jbarnum921@msn.com to secure you spot in one of my FREE sample classes.

Thanks for the love!

I have the greatest people in my life that I call friends.  I vent and they post beautiful things to help me up out of my stoop and help me see that what I do is important!  Thank you to all of you!

Now time for a funny story.

Last night I had to drive a friend down to Phoenix.  She had a super early flight this morning and needed to stay overnight and be taken to the airport at 4:30am.  She is my best friend and is moving to Iowa(boo!).  She had to go to look for a house and apply for jobs.  So I volunteered for the job so we could spend some time together before she leaves in 3 weeks.

We didn't get on the road until about 6pm.  As we drove down we talked about where we would eat dinner and we decided on P.F. Changs because I've never been there.  Well we didn't know where the nearest one was and we didn't think of calling anyone about it until we were about 30 minutes from our hotel.  At this point, it was about 8:15 and we were hungry.  We called a friend and she looked up where we were and told us where the nearest P.F. Changs was.  About 30 minutes in the opposite direction of where we were going.  We thought, oh we'll go anyway.  So we turn around, get off the freeway at Bell Rd. and start heading west.  I see street lights, 33rd St., 38th St. and I realize we have to go all the way down to 83rd St.!!!  Brie and I look at each other and decide that it's not worth it and turn ourselves back around.  We decide to find somewhere by our hotel to eat.

We finally reach our off ramp and we can see the hotel from the freeway.  We know we are so close.  We didn't see the immediate street to get to it so we consult our directions from Mapquest.  The directions tell us to turn on a street that runs parallel to the hotel, so we do.  Next we are to turn left on 53rd. Ave.  One problem, we can't find 53rd Ave. and we are WAY past our hotel.  So we flip around and Brie states that we must have passed it.  You think?  We're looking and we still don't see it and we pass it yet again.  Turns out that 53rd Ave. is a very small, dark side street.  The third time around, we see it and turn in.  We pass through an open gate to a housing/apartment complex.  To say the complex looked shady would have been an understatement.

Our directions are telling us to turn left onto Wilimetta which is where our hotel SHOULD be, but instead it is a dead end of apartments.  Brie starts freaking out saying, "Get us out of here!"  I tell her to calm down and we start making our way back out when she jokes, "Maybe we should go ask someone for directions."  Yeah, like I'm getting out of the car.  There were plenty of tricked out cars lining the complex though.  Make of that what you will.

We get out of the complex and praise the Lord that the gate was still open.  Then Brie has the genius idea of actually calling the hotel to get directions.  Hmmmm, now why didn't I think of that?  At this point we are laughing at the hilarity of it all and still shaking from our "brush with death".  We finally get to the hotel and check in.

Food is the next item on the itinerary.  There are a few choices.  A McDonalds right across from the hotel with several questionable characters loitering outside, or an IHOP, Taco Bell and Carl's Jr. across the freeway.  So IHOP it is.  We get there and the first thing we see is a sign on the door that reads, "No Weapons Allowed".  Nice.  We get seated and order some food.  Then I notice there is a man a couple of booths away that keeps staring in our direction.  Not gonna lie, it was freakin me out!  A short while later the man starts taking to a couple of ladies in another booth about how he made so much more money when Bush was president and about politics.  He sounds Russian.  Then a couple of men in the booth behind us start  talking about their parole and what constitutes a violation, extra jail time and the like.  GET ME OUTTA HERE!  Thankfully we are done eating.  As we pay the bill, the manager says, "Come again." yeah, will do.  We get outside and almost RUN back to the car.

Once back at the hotel, we get into our room fasten all the bolts, get ready for bed and fall asleep about 10:50pm.  We awake at 3:50am and have just enough time to get Brie to the airport and for me to drive back home to Flag.  I get home at 7:15, just in time for Sean to wake up and for Jake to take Kurtis to the bus stop and for him to go to a training for work.

It's 11:40, I'm still in my jammies and I have 30 minutes to get ready to go to work for a few hours.  I can't wait.  All I have to say is, I had better sleep good tonight!

Frustrated!

Do you ever get the feeling that what you are trying to do is meaningless?  I am suddenly finding out all these things about myself that I don't necessarily like.  I am realizing that while I have good ideas, I rarely execute them or finish them if I do start.  Why is that?  I don't really know why I do that.

I wanted to write a cookbook, but haven't finished.  Why?  Maybe because I think, no one will be interested in "healthy recipes".  I have started several businesses, but never been successful.  Why?  Maybe it's because I am not good at the mundane aspects of the business and so I sabotage myself.  I would like to start a women's choir for LDS young women and relief society sisters, but can't seem to do so because I don't know where to start.  Why do I not seem to be going anywhere or doing ANYTHING!  I write blogs that few people read, sell products that few people want, work jobs that hold no meaning for me, have a diseased body that won't let me do all I want to do and I have a music education degree that I can't use.

I just feel so FRUSTRATED with my life.  I'm not very good at being a mom or at anything else for that matter and I feel so lost right now.  What can I do to change that?  I want my life to have meaning or at least feel like it does.  Right now I feel like I am just existing, trying to make it through the day with enough energy to do what is absolutely necessary.  I don't expect an answer, but I had to write out my feelings today.

Attention Sugar Addicts!

There's a new blog in town!  http://confessions-of-a-sugarholic.blogspot.com/.  If you feel the need for sugar, EVER, then you are a sugar addict and should read this blog. 

New Moon Release!

I have to say it, I am so excited for the release of New Moon.  I have decided to order it through Amazon for a few reasons.
1. I can get the Blu-ray for $21.99 
2. I can make sure I receive it on the release date, which means no waiting in line!  I love it!

The 2 disc special edition is only $20.49.  I prefer Blu-ray because it will include all that is in the 2 disc special edition, and generally comes with a digital copy that you can put on your iPod.  Sometimes it even comes with a regular DVD copy.  Can't wait to get mine!

Sisters

Yesterday my best friend Brieanne watched Sean for me when I had to work.  She is one of the greatest people I know!  She is a wonderful friend and she and I are like 2 peas in a pod!  Anyway.  After picking up Sean, this is the conversation Kurtis and I had.
Kurtis- "Mom, Brieanne is a good sister huh."
Mom- "What do you mean?  Brieanne is a very good friend, but I don't understand what you mean by her being my sister."
Kurtis- "Well, we are all God's children, right?"
Mom- "Right"
Kurtis- "Well, if we are all God's children then that would make Brieanne your sister."
Mom- "That's right honey, in that way Brieanne is my sister."

Out of the mouths of babes.

Down East Clothing Giveaway!

I LOVE Down East Clothing!  It is modest, stylish and so pretty!  I found a website that is doing a giveaway for their clothing!  It is so easy to enter and honestly what woman doesn't want FREE clothes?  Just go to: http://www.lolidots.com/giveaways/downeast-basics-28-day-style-guide

Confessions of a Sugarholic

I started a new blog called Confessions of a Sugarholic.  Hope you like it! http://www.confessions-of-a-sugarholic.blogspot.com

Brace Yourselves, this is a long one!

My baby Kurtis is now 8 years old!!! I can't believe it!  He has become such a handsome young man.  He has a clear sense of right and wrong and he is so kind and sensitive  others around him.  He loves me when I yell, he always forgives and makes me want to be better!  I love him so much and am so proud of the young man he is becoming!  He had a great party.  We had it at the Aquaplex!  The kids got all hopped up on cake and ice cream and then went swimming and rock climbing!  They had so much fun!  Kurtis said it was his best birthday ever!  I really wanted it to be!

 Opening presents!  Got a new scooter from Grammie!  Thank you he LOVED it!  Below is Kurtis with Millie and Ben about to go rock climbing!

Then came January 9th, 2010.  The day my Kurtis chose to be baptized!  It was one of the greatest days of my life!  I cried so many times throughout that day!  I was crying because I was SO PROUD of Kurtis, I was crying because I was remembering my baptism day.  I was crying because I was wishing my dad could have been there(physically).  I felt his presence with me that day!  Jesse, Rachel and the boys came up along with Brent, Mom and Heidi for Kurtis' baptism.  I was so happy to have them there!  Jake's parents came down from Hurricane for the day, I love them and truly do have the BEST in-laws.  My best friend Brieanne Martin was there with her husband and children and she cried as much as me!  I love that woman!  My good friend and mentor Debbie Hill was there too!  She is not of our faith, but she is a spiritual woman and it meant a lot to me that she would come.  The really cool thing about Kurtis baptism is that he got to share his baptism with his 2 best friends, Micah and Weston Cureton!  It was a wonderful day for all!

Father and Son

Proud Mom and Dad!

The Sunday after the baptism Rachel, Jesse and the boys stayed at our house for the night.  Jake and I introduced them to Country Rock Band.  We had so much fun!  Gunpowder and Lead baby!

Pretty much my most favorite picture EVER!!!  Rock out Rach!

Giveaway Comments Issue

Hi Friends!  If you are planning to, or want to enter our jewelry shop giveaway, but were having trouble finding where to leave comments, please check back to our website www.sasstrands.com to find out how to leave comments!  Good luck!

S.A.S.S. is open for business!

So we had to change the name of our Jewelry Shop, but we are officially open for business!  Take a look at our website for our current giveaway and how you can enter!!! http://www.sasstrands.com

New Jewelry Shop!

My friend and I want to start a shop called:
Serendipity
Jewelry N' More

I wanted to post a few of our creations to see what you think?  Post a comment to let me know if you like it what you would like to see!  Our goal is to create fun, fashionable jewelry at affordable prices.  And by affordable I mean most pieces being $15-50, maybe even less!

This one is called Purpulicious.  It is made of lavander colored freshwater pearls, amythest chips and silver beads.

This one is called Coral Reef and is made of salmon colored freshwater pears, white freshwater pearls, silver beads and a floral pendant.

This one is called Turquoise Heart.  It is made of imitation turquoise heart pendant, imitation turquoise beads and chips, black glass beads, clear glass beads, silver tone links, and suede cord.

I feel pretty!

Sean is good friends with a little girl named Megan.  Megan is the daughter of one of my best friends, Brieanne, and there are only girls, with the exception of Ryan(Brieanne's husband), in their family.  So whenever Sean goes over to their house there are no boy toys to play with.  So here is what he and Megan played today!  It was so hilarious!

Ummm.  Yes, I'm wearing a dress!  So WHAT?!

I'm a pretty princess!