I'm coming back home...

Tomorrow we head back home! We have been in California for over a week now. I'm excited to blog about all of our adventures!!

maybe this will be our card???

Shimmering Ornaments Christmas Card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

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Merry Christmas with Shutterfly

Most people who read this probably know that I am addicted to Shutterfly, but did you know that I have NEVER made a scrapbook since learning about Shutterfly? Nope, not once. I bet you're wondering how many photobooks I now own... well the answer is 6. Not alot, but enough! I love their photobooks. I also love getting good deals on them.
Recently I found a website offering 50 free holiday cards for doing a blog about Shutterly.com, I figured it would be easy enough seeing how much I love their stuff. I also love their customer service. I have never had a huge issue with my orders, but I once sent my mom to make a book and use a code, well that ended up being a bit confusing and the right code did not get entered. Mom got charged quite a bit, but was just going to let it pass. Well, I decided that the guilt I felt for the confusion was too much and I called the Customer Service. It was the easiest thing I have ever done! They fixed the problem right away! It is nice to know I'm working with a company who cares about their customers.
Last Christmas Tyler and I sent out just a few Christmas cards, and I loved the way ours turned out. I think it's somewhere on this blog, or on my Facebook. This year I want to do them again! So far this one is my favorite, but not sure it is the final choice! They have so many choices! Tyler and I still need a good photo to use for it. Maybe we will take one while in Cali. A beach shot would be great! I'm hoping to be able to get 50 free ones because that will be double the amount I got last year!!! If I can get these cards, 50 of my friends and family will get a little love from me and mine thie holiday season. Wish me luck!

Manners Matter

As we watch people raise their children I am always impressed with the ones who teach manners so well. It is very endearing when a small child will say please and thank you and such. We decided it was time our "child" learned some manners. :) We feel it is polite to always wipe your feet.

My "Very Cherry" 5K

On Saturday night (yes NIGHT, that very cold night) Cassie, Lacey, and I ran a 5k! My sis-in-law Nisha, of Healthy Moms Kitchen, invited us to run with her team. We all wore super cute Flirty Aprons that Flity Aprons donated to HMK as part of a sponorship. Love mine? Nisha sells them on her HMK website. I have 2 of my own now and tyler has his manly one. I LOVE LOVE LOVE those aprons!

Anyways, we had alot of fun running. I didn't do as well as I have before, BUT I also didn't train very hard haha so considering that, I did great! Cassie kicked butt and came in 2nd in her age group. I wish I was a fast as her. It felt good to run and I am going to start doing more of it, despite the winter that is looming just around the corner.

After the race Cassie and I went home and played game with our hubbys, Tyler and I love Cassie and Derek!

My encounter with someone better then me

Today was a long day.... At work it was just a half day. It felt long though because of the stress I felt once leaving work. Unfortunately it was also grocery shopping day, so I headed to Smiths. I walked in feeling blah. I definitely wasn't happy, I felt pretty lonely. I wandered the different aisles trying to find the best ways to use up my coupons before the expire, and yet trying not to buy things I don't need. I found myself in the aisle with razors. I noticed an older man scoping out the razor selection looking quite perplexed.
Let's pause for a minute though so I can explain my deep rooted affection for elderly people. I don't know what it is, but show me one who seems confused or in need of help and I want to cry. My heart literally aches for them.
Ok, so today I felt that ache, but kept on walking instead of offering help and showing him the razors that I knew were on sale. I was pretty selfish.
I finished my shopping and picked a line that seemed short enough. Low and behold I am right behind my little old friend who I did not help. I watched as he got ready to pay for his overpriced razors and my heart hurt even more. Luckily Heavenly Father doesn't just rely on me to follow his promptings. Our lovely cashier asked him to sit tight for a second and ran over to the table where all the sale priced razors (that I have recently stocked up on) were sitting. I wanted to crawl into a hole... She brought them back and even took the time to explain the similarities and prices savings to him! His face lit up. He thanked her. Tears, real live ones, fell from my eyes. haha I'm sure people thought I was crazy. I did not think I would be able to even say anything to her when it was my turn. Luckily I hadn't lost my power of voice and I made sure to tell her how kind she was. If only she knew how kind I hadn't been.
I guess this all seems silly to anyone but me. But I truly think it was Heavenly Father giving me a chance to feel his love and help one of his children on a day where I felt so far from him and I regret not jumping on that chance. I'm grateful there are others out there more willing than I am. I'm glad I was still able to feel his love as I watched someone else take that opportunity, it truly brightened my whole day. If only Ronda knew what she had done.


p.s. I had to reword this for fear of retribution.

Birthdays and Corn Bellies

Saturday was our friend Laceys birthday and we decided that we all needed to celebrate!! A few weeks ago Tyler and I woke up at the crack of dawn to take the cubscouts to Corn Bellies to be on TV! For this kind act of service we were awarded free tickets back! We went back on Sat with Lacey and AJ and quickly realized this place is more for kids... but we did bring Tyler and AJ and they are practically kids.... so.... it worked! The corn maze was pretty fun and we got through it much faster then anticipated. For those of you planning on going... don't use the hints... they are pointless!


The boys had a race on the slide... Tyler clearly won!

It was a quick trip but plenty of fun. AJ couldn't seem to grasp why they would name the place Corn Bellies, so if anyone knows why, we'd love to hear it. I love going out to new places and spending time with Tyler and all our friends! I did feel bad in the end when AJ reminded us that he is allergic to corn though. oops.

After Corn Bellies we dropped AJ and Lacey off at Pier 49 so she could have birthday dinner with her family. It was at that time that we started having camera problems. The lens just wouldn't open and I was having a heart attack!! Luckily, we were near Best Buy and felt like taking a few mintues to go in and get the thing checked out. The nerds there, the ones who claim to be soooo smart, told me that it was toast and beyond repair :( Tyler and I talked it over and decided we would need a new one sooner or later so we picked out a new one and are trying it out now! I love it so far.

The friends came back after dinner to eat the delicious ice cream cake Tyler and I had made, and of course, play Halo! You may notice that instead of candles we used matches. I swear I own candles, but I couldn't find them.