Life is a Rollercoaster

So, some of you may have heard about my parents..... they are moving to Guam. My dad's job (which had us living in Africa), has asked him to work in Guam for the next 2 years. What does that mean for me? Well, here it goes.....
1. I will be lonely. I go to my mom's house every day, so with them gone that mean lots of alone time for me. Think of all the journal entries I could write - yeah, that will never happen.
2. They don't want their house empty, so they have asked Ryan and I to take care of it. By take care of it I mean move into it. So, I've lived in my brand new house for 5 weeks and now we are selling it. I have some mixed feelings about this. Living morgage free for 2 years would be great, but I love this house and I just finished unpacking last week. So, we are moving. I've listed the house with http://www.ksl.com/ (it's under "Great Deal in West Haven"). We are getting a sign for the front yard this week. I don't want to tell my neighbors, I really like them.
3. If we sell the house Ryan will go to school full time and I will work part time. I already work a little doing life insurance exams, but I will work more if all this pans out. It would be really nice to get Ryan through school and done.
4. a very large headache. I hate packing, but I hate being poor even more.
I have coem to realize that prayers are not answered in the way we expect. For months I have been praying for help finacially. I was hoping for a big bag of money to drop from the sky, but instead my parents are moving to Guam. Heavenly Father did answer my pray, just in a weird way. So, goodbye house and hello South Weber, again.

My Chores

I love my chore board! So, I know that I've mentioned my sister Michelle's business before, but I am in love with these cards and even more in love with my board. I made the board myself, with her help. Normally the board is for a whole family, but I've adapted it into a daily chore board. Don't you love the title on the board? Yeah, that's right, I'm superwoman. And don't you forget it!

Zoo

Yesterday Ryan and I took Isabel to the zoo. It was so much fun. Isabel is getting to the age where she makes all the animal noises and likes to see them. It was a fun day. After looking at the animals, we then rode the train. Which is Isabel's favorite thing to do. It was fun!

Soapstar Mom

My sister Michelle started a business this past year. I've mentioned it before, but now she has her own website. The address is http://www.soapstarmom.com . She sells chore boards and chore cards. She also has other products. If you use the promotional code Renee you will get 20% off your purchase. Check it out. I love her cards. Since I don't have a kid to do chores, I have a board for myself. It's a great system. My house is always clean.

Daily Reminders

For all you who know me well, you know that sometimes I'm stupid. I think all of us go through times when we think that no one likes us or that we don't have friends, however, the other day I was laying in bed and had a revelation: People like me! I was looking around my house and discovered daily reminders of gifts/things from friends and family. Here is what I found (the pillow above was given to me by Becky Waters, we were in a single's ward together when Ryan and I got married. She made the pillow.):
My best friend Leslie just sent me this a few weeks ago. She got it in the Bahamas while on a cruise. I love this star. One of my nicknames with Leslie is "Starfish" so it had a deeper meaning than just being cool. I keep it in my 1/2 bath, which means we see it a lot. This hangs next to my bed. I really love these. The top frame says "Renee & Ryan December 18, 2004" and the bottom frame says "Families Are Forever". These were given to us as a wedding gift from Jessie Meigs (now Smith). She and I are friends from Sandpoint. It's weird, but she's one of my oldest friends and we haven't know each other that long. We met in Junior High, okay that was long ago. I love Jessie. These were one of my favorite wedding presents.This is a block in Isabel's bathroom. I love the color. This was given to me by Jenivee Broadhead. She and I worked together at the clinic while I was pregnant. I love Jeni. She and her husband are hilarious. We love hanging out with them. This picture has two things in it. 1: the picture of me and my sisters being goofy. I love this shot. It was not given to me really (I made the copy), but it reminds me of how much I really do love my sisters. I know sometimes I'm hard to get along with and I cry a lot, but they are good sisters and I love them a lot. 2: the candle with the leaf. This was given to me by Jeni Broadhead also. I've almost burned it completely out, yet I can't throw it away. It's pretty and it smells good, and it makes me think of Jeni. I like it a lot.
This is a corsage (sp?) that was worn at my wedding by Leslie. I know I'm a dork to hang on to it, and it's falling apart, but it reminds me of my wedding and of Leslie. When I look at it, it reminds me of that wonderful day. I don't think I'll ever be able to part with Leslie's flower.


I know what you're thinking with this next one, but this mixers means so much to me. I grew up with this mixer. It was my moms and she gave it to me. I love this mixer! It's old and it was free, but more importantly it was given to me by my mom. This is a huge reminder that my mom loves me.
I think it was last year that my sister-in-law Renee went to Hawaii. While there she got me this bracelet. I know everyone has one, but I love it! I added this red ribbon to it, and it's become one of my favorites. I think of her everytime I wear it.

Bottom line: I could add like 100 more examples or things in my house. These were just a few that stood out to me. Thank you all for being my friends. I love you all!

Kids Are Funny

We had to run errands this morning and we asked Isabel which jacket she wanted to wear. She picked out her Halloween costume jacket and then her Mouse ears from Disneyland. So, we went to Sam's Club looking like this. The funny thing is, no one seemed to think twice about it. If I went out like that everyone would point and stare. Kids can get away with wearing anything, infact people probably thought she looked cute. I think I'll wear something like this one day and see what people think of my outfit.

Let it snow, Let it Snow, Okay Stop!

The weather report was for some snow.... some, not mounts of snow. It is incredible! We have gotten tons of snow over the past few hours. And it just keeps coming. I love the snow, and actually I'm happy to be getting it, but enought is enough. It's October and it's heavy snow. Isabel loves it. She played outside in it for quite a while and was sad to go inside. She's our snow bunny.

Update on Life

Isabel had her 2 year well-child doctor's visit yesterday. She was not so brave when it came time for her shots, but had a quick recovery (suckers and bouncy balls are great). She is, as I thought, skinny. She weighs almost 25lbs. - 27% centile, and is 34" tall - 55% centile. So, she's average height and skinny. Not, like her mother at all. But, she healthy and two. She's getting that 2 year old attitude down pretty quickly.
On another note..... I found this chocolate for Ryan. We tasted it and it was pretty good. The bacon chocolate didn't really have a strong flavor. You have to almost suck on it in order to taste the bacon at all. The chile one was good. I really liked it. You didn't even taste the hotness until after you ate it. I liked it! Anyway, it was a fun treat. Nothing else is new. I feel like all I do is cook and clean. Life is pretty boring and sometimes lonely. Dishes don't make great company, neither does the vacuum.