2009.....Good bye my dear...not quite sure I"ll miss ya!!!!!

Well I wish I could say that 2009 was a great year and I am sad to see it pass but the truth is it pretty much sucked!!!! The reason I say "pretty much" and not "totally" is because it DID finish out on a good note. January 25,2009 started our catapult into suckishness with Kelley losing his job.

We had enjoyed some 14 years in copper mining with not much worry of unemployment and with the crash of the economy came the crash of the price of copper and the crash of Kelley's job!! This was not cool, as the entire country was feeling the same thing and other jobs were very very few. Luckily I was working and was able to supplement a little. We were on unemployment for a few months, we lost basically everything from house to vehicles, not fun at all!!!

We were comfy in Tucson, the kids were having a good time in school, we loved our neighborhood and we were close to family but those things cannot supplement an income which we had NONE!!!
 Kelley went to a job fair and was recruited by a company in Wyoming. This company was not copper, but coal which is much more stable than copper. After some discussion, prayer and sacrifice we decided that Wyoming would be "the place". Soooo we said our goodbyes and loaded up. This was mid 2009,

The "good finish"started in September when we got here to Casper and settled!!! What a fantastic place we are in! I freakin love this place. There is wildlife everywhere, our house is fantastic, we have a great ward,school, four seasons and tons of outdoor activities from lakes in the summer to hunting in the fall and skiing in the winter!!!
So though the year started out on a really really rotten note, we did end much better than we could have ever anticipated!!!

So without further adieu here is my top five list or crap and coolness for my 2009

Crap
Layoff
lost cars
left family&friends
uprooted our kids
gained 15 pounds


Coolness
moved to Casper Wyoming
Had our first white Christmas
Awesome much more stable job
way way good school for the kids
fnished 2 semesters of school!!!

I am thinking that we pretty much evened out the year as a whole but I have much greater hopes for 2010 and that is my next blog.....

Christmas Pictures 2009.....Narrated by Madalyn Nicolds

                                                    Our TREE!!!!!

Christmas shopping, we ran into Santa!!!

Christmas morning was a blast Kelley and I were the ones up early this year surprisingly!

Connor you would think would get up around five, instead he had to be woken up at eight.

Tyler, with his dinosaur pillow and cars sheets woke up late as well. Yeah, he's fifteen :)Don't you just love Megan's face! And Madalyn with her AE jammies aren't they just STYLISH!!! Need I say more??Megan got a standing jewelry box from Santa Clause, it is wayyyyyy cool!

Tyler again!He should be busy over break.Madalyn got an American Eagle pea coat from Santa. She can't wait to wear it to a fancy place!

One of Madalyn's friends gave her a silver rubber duck for christmas, a different friend stole it. So Tyler got her two new ones!!

 Connor and all his presents!!

An official Red Rider

I dreamed of a white Christmas thats what i got!!! :) The family went out to play in the snow after the opening of the presents, here is Megan taking a break from the action.

December 23

Well we officially made it!! Since our little identity theft fiasco we had to wait till today to go shopping. My plan was to take Kelley to his drop off and then go shopping around 4 this morning.
Well his direct deposit went into his old account which meant I had to sleep in... darn! Our bank has a lock on that old account so they can monitor it for a few weeks to see if there is any more activity on it which means I cannot transfer, withdraw or debit anything until I sit down with a banker which means today started a littl later.
Snow started falling around 7am and hasn't stopped since so we got to do our shopping in the snow which, i think, made everything more Christmasy and made Hellmart,Target and the mall alot more bearable. We finished up all out shopping in about 3 hours whoo hoo!!! I have everything bought and the kids are wrapping it and I am enjoying the funness knowing that I have finished before Christmas Eve....
Sooooo excited to see faces on Christmas Morning!!!!!!

Next year......

So tonight begins a 3 week break for the kids which means I can catch up to myself!!I am sure I will be wishing for a shorter break by the fourth day of picking up half drank Capri suns off my basement floor!!

 My classes end on Saturday yay!! They could be done now but I am the worlds worst procrastinator which brings me to my next thought.....

.....I plan on having all my Christmas shopping done by Christmas EVE!!!!Can you say slacker!!!

 I have no idea where the month has gone and each year at this time I find myself saying "next year I will have it together for Christmas...." Clearly that has not happened this year..bummer!! Sooo Next year.....

Dear Santa.....

I realize this list may be a little late for you to fill but I decided to post it anyway since maybe you still have some things to buy!!! Most of my stuff is big ticket so feel free to spread it out from now till,say, my anniversary? Besides world peace and a brand new Denali I would like.....

An ed hardy shirt(just so I can say I have one)

 something from bath and body works(not that I stink..its just time for a new scent)

 the level 2 kettlebell CD from ironcore(level one is,dare i say it, getting easy)

 sirius radio(i miss wake up with Cosmo!)

 a fun ring or necklace form Tiffany and co.(don't freak out!!there are some cheap things there)

 uggs(not the old ones, the cute newly designed ones from the website)

a good book(really don't have specs on this one)

 A new running outfit(self explanitory)


So now you have it! My list.. yes I realize it is a big one but if you could pass it along once you are done with it I would appreciate it!!!

Merry freakin Christmas!!

So when Kelley is home on his days off I get to sleep in and I SLEEP!!! I'm talkin ugly sleep, the kind where you are so checked out that you are drooling and snoring and completely out of it!! Till like 930!! Its fantastic!! He loves getting up with the kids and making them a big breakfast and goofing off with them. It's a magical time. Which is why what happened the other day was an all around bad thing!!

Kelley was up and I was nowhere to be found. He has this obsessive compulsion where he is constantly checking his bank balance through his Blackberry(thankful for that now!) He came into the room and shut the door and flipped on the light which made me wake up unaware of who I was or what I was doing(I told you I sleep hard when I sleep in!!) He was white as a sheet and looked at me and said,"there is 6 dollars in our account" normally that would not bother me at all because on any given day that is the typical balance in my bank account after bills and groceries and such. But this was the day after payday!!! Needless to say I was wide awake!!

Anyway after some searching we found that someone online had gotten a hold of our checking account number as well as our routing number and completely drained our account of all our money!!! RUDE!!!!!!

We talked to the bank and they are able to investigate in but investigations take 7 to 10 business days which means our Christmas money is like that candy bar on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it is in the air in a million little pieces until it finally settles back into our bank account.

 Luckily I am the worlds biggest procrastinator and I never do my Christmas shopping until the week before anyway, but that is because I choose to, not because someone makes it so I can't whether I want to or not!!!SOOO I will be out with all the crazies on December 23 doing my Christmas shopping. I DID make a small dent on black Friday but only on stocking stuffers...What A fun fun time!!!
Actually it is not as bad as it sounds! I mean yes i am way pissed, but I know we will get out money back! Luckily we deal mostly in cash anyway so we took most of Kelleys paycheck out of our account the day before so it could have been much worse and our bank is way amazing! They issued us all new account numbers and debit cards so we don't have to worry about anything happening again.
But for now our poor tree is blank and like I said before, I will be out with the crazies!!!ooh maybe I'll run into Santa!!!!

Thanksgiving 2009

Well Thanksgiving this year was held on Friday instead of Thursday this year because of Kelleys work schedule. It actually worked out quite well! We did black Friday shopping in the morning and Thanksgiving feast in the evening.
We had all the normal stuff.....with a little twist of course!!!

Turkey- Only found one bag of guts pre-bake and found the other one later after we ate!(this wouldn't be so bad because I know everyone does it once, but this is, I think the 3rd year for us)

 Green Bean casserole- done with fresh green beans, who knew they were supposed to be cooked BEFORE they were supposed to be "casseroled".

4 pies- 1 pumpkin,1pecan(i think I single handedly ate the entire thing),1 chocolate cream, and one apple(this one was an afterthought and suffered 3rd degree burns so was not eated)

Megan, of course, does not eat a normal human being diet so she had a Thanksgiving 12 inch pizza. (Connor was not a huge fan, he felt this was totally unfair)

Kelley and I fought over what time the bird was gonna be ready(shocker I know!!) I was right by the way!!

Other than that the holiday was a success!!! We had a great time with eachother here all alone in Casper!! We watched some football, watched the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade, had Starbucks on black Friday while putting a significant dent in our Christmas shopping lists. I loved it!!!!!

Children's Miracle Music Official Site | Chores Done... Kids On Time... House Clean... And No Nagging. Guaranteed.

 Children's Miracle Music Official Site Chores Done... Kids On Time... House Clean... And No Nagging. Guaranteed.                                                                                             


I don't know If I have blogged this before but it is amazing!! I use it with my kiddos and it works great!!!

34= the cryptkeeper

So today I am 34 years old. Very interesting, I am almost closer to 40 than to 30. Every year I make little resolutions for myself that I plan on doing for that particular year. I figure I should probably write it down so I will hold myself a little bit accountable

 In my 34th year I plan to


                    Run another half-marathon(any takers??)

                    Get up at 5am to work out & get my bearings

                    Dress more like a mom instead of a bum

                     wear accessories(earings,necklaces,etc)

                     Use snail mail more

                    make my house look like a house in a magazine


That should keep me pretty busy for the year and will give my a sense of accomplishment as well as enjoyment!!

Connor

Connor is at that age where he says some real gems!!! When he does I try to save them in my blackberry here are a few....


"Mom, when I grow up and get married will you still be my parents??" "yes Connor". "GOOD"

When we drive home from church I usually ask the kids what they learned. They usually say Jesus or the Commandments.... Yesterday Connor said," I learned about eating fast" I asked for clarification. Connor said" the first Sunday of every month if you are over 8 you eat fast for 2 meals and it helps out the sick people in the hospital."


I LOVE THAT KID!!!

wierdness!!

Ok so I was looking at my friends blog yesterday and noticed that my blog was stuck on my update 5 weeks ago. Well that is not the case!! I have been updating I promise.. so I went onto my friendly little blog helper and it said that all I had to do was add my blog to the blogs that I stalk and it would fix!!! Well I did, and it did!!! Figured I would put this out there for anyone else who has some issues!!!!

Motherhood------

Why is it that there is so much angst with motherhood?

 My thoughts and concerns with where I should be and what I should be doing with regards to my children and my family is ever changing.

On the one hand I know that I need an education and that it is a good thing. I know that I need a degree to fall back on in case something happens but how quickly do i need to do it? This semester I am taking a full load of classes. On the other hand I know I need to be, and I would much rather be, spending my time doing things with and for my family. Should i just do one class at a time so that I can make sure that my children have all my attention on them?? There is so much that needs to be done to ensure a family runs smoothly and that each person has what they need physically, emotionally,spiritually,etc...

I love being a stay at home mom and I plan on doing it forever with no regrets!! So is it necessary to even have a degree in mind or is it just as good to just gain knowledge and maybe make sure that life insurance is taken care of and savings is there so ensure I am prepared FINANCIALLY just in case. Whats funny is that I talk to Kelley about it and he says "i hope you don't want me to agree or disagree because that puts me in a really bad situation... I don't want to be responsible  for that decision"

UGH!!  what a dilemma! Do I achieve a goal of getting a degree,which is just something that I want?? or do I do what I am supposed to do and be a mommy first and foremost???

madalyn is cool!!!!!!!!!

hi i am madalyn and i am wayyyyyy cool haha

A welfare check that was fun but not really needed~~~

one of my dearest friends dropped of the face of the blogging world and I was freaking out!!! I called her a couple weeks ago to see what was up and she was just not blogging much but said she would be back soon.... well, I felt, today was soon!!! So I called her today to do some more prodding because she hadn't commented on any of my blogs OR updated hers for 5 WEEKS. Well come to find out... she went private!! She has been updating her blog  lots and lots and here I sat watching and waiting for some sign of life from the Saline Family. Did you know that when a person sets their blog to private it doesn't notify you that they have updated it!!!!???? RUDE!!!!!  Just wanted to give a little FYI to those of you who are checking and checking for those notifications from friends of yours who have gone private.... ur missin out!! They ARE updating!!!!

Sleep Deprivation part deux!!

Ok so I blogged about my girlies being sleep deprived last time and now it is my turn to whine...I'M SOOO TIRED!!!!!! Not your normal "i'm stressed out and my kids are making me insane tired" the kind where your body is in breakdown mode. I lay down at night to sleep and I can't! I replay everything over and over in my head,I just cannot settle myself down to go to sleep. This has created a horrible habit for me in that I get up to get my kids ready for school half alive, get them to school and then,instead of coming home and doing homework or housework or anything I go back to bed. This has been my life for about a month now and I have had enough!!!!!All I want to do is, when it is bedtime, lay down, close my eyes, and SLEEP!!!So I called Mary and she gave me all kinds of good advice! Lavender essential oils,cammomile tea, and shocking my body back into a routine. Wish me luck Mary, I am doing this tomorrow and you may receive another phone call only this time I won't be so cheerful!!! I am at my wits end so I really hope this helps... any other ideas cuz i got nothing left!!!

Neuro-cardiogenic syncope.....weight gain...and sleep deprivation...tongue clipping= GOOD GRIEF!!!

So we went back to the doctor this week for Madalyns follow up. Her cardiac stress test came back normal so we don't have to worry about her croaking on the basketball court. We do have to worry about her passing out if she locks her knees in band or anything, which is what Neuro-cardiogenic syncope is. It sounds horrible but really is not too bad (unless she smacks her head goin down) and is not treatable so no more meds for her. Which brings me to the next "whatever you want to call it", Maddi has to go back on her ADHD meds but she is underweight which is worrysome because these meds act as an appetite suppressant. She eats like a freakin ELEPHANT!!! How do you make someone like that gain weight??We will basically be feeding her straight fat 24/7. This particular doctors visit was a blast because he also notified us that she was sleep deprived.. Let me put it how he did," she looks exhausted and too thin!" Yea I feel like a rockstar mom!! But I swear she is eating and sleeping!! she turns into a freakin pumpkin around 7 and is asleep by 8 at the latest!!! But he is right both my girls look like refugees!!! So we are on a mission to gain weight and sleep more( the dream of every teenager)
Speaking of Megan, we finally had her IEP and it looks like she will be having her tongue clipped to help out her speech..this should be funn!!! Looks like this will happen over Christmas break, but first we have to bulk her up because she really has no meat to share!!! What a crazy health conundrum we have going on up here!! Thankfully we have not be able to partake of the piggy flu....yet

This Week....

I feel so bad I haven't written anything this week! My goal is 2 times a week so that I can use it as journal entries!What a slacker I am! Soooo I am gonna make up for it now!

Sunday-got everyone to church ontime! woo hoo!!! got settled in our row and looked at my beautiful family and noticed that Connor had a goopy red eye!!OMGosh! Pink eye!! left said beautiful family and an almost sprint and took Connor home to administer the "liquid gold"(leftover drops i kept from last year) and washed everything he had touched!! NAPS!!!

Monday- Kids to school, had to make sure they were not smuggling Halloween candy! Read for my classes, tons of cool stuff but lots to read! Took a couple quizes, not too bad! Window shopped for furniture, we have a whole other room to fill now! Connor had his first indoor soccer practice! What an excited boy!!

Tuesday- Kids to school, back to bed till noon! for some reason my clock is way off! We havent had to partake in the time change of daylight savings and it left a mark on me!

Wednsday- Kids to school, something fishy up with Tyler so we stalked him at lunch to make sure he wasn't going off campus...turns out he lost his PE shirt and needed to pay for it which is why he was asking for more money for lunch than usual!Felt a little crunchy!!In my defense he DID tell a lie!! Got a call from Madalyn, she was in trouble at school. She was supposed to call me on Wednesday to tell me she had to stay after to complete an assignment but instead called HER cell phone and left a fake message to me on HER voice mail..BUSTED!!!!Mutal, more indoor soccer, late night to bed!!Thats a Wednesday at our house though

Thursday-Learned of the idoit Muslim that shot up the building at Fort Hood!! Hated political correctness!!!!Yea that basically lasted all day!!

Friday-read a ton of history and Holocaust!!! Had Madison(Madalyns friend) over, saw the missionaries on the way and told her about them. She was shocked that we have missionaries and that they were away from home for 2 years! too funny! Made some yummy semi-homemade tortillas(found a mix in the flour section of Wal Mart).Finally had it with the Halloween candy wrappers and threw the rest of the candy away!!

Which brings us to today... Madalyn wants to go to the mall  so she will be cleaning the entire house today,noone else has much going on which means lots of Disney and Nick which is totally fine with me! I have a hundred pages to read in History so I don't have to do it tomorrow!

The weather has been fabulous in the mid fifties and lower sixties,perfect fall days!!The deer are just beginning the be in the RUT so they are out all over the place! There were about half a dozen in our front yard the other day and a couple across the street as well eating out of the ladies BIRD FEEDER!!! It was so cool!!! I saw my first Grouse(i guess that is how you spell it) at the Starbucks drive through the other day. They are these big fat game birds that make the craziest sounds! We tried to take some pics with our phones but they wouldn't move into the sun. We have seen so many cool animals up here its crazy!! I love it!!!

Oh by the way speaking of Starbucks they have their new Christmas cups out and all their signature hot chocolates are back!!! I recommend a Peppermint Hot Chocolate!!!

Halloween 2009

Ok so last night was Halloween and we had sooo much fun! The kids hung out all day watching movies while Kelley and I made our last minute trek around town trying to find last minute touches for costumes. Everyone looked so way awesome!!! The pitiful thing about this blog is that it is lacking pictures!! My memory stick in my camera chipped and now it won't insert into my computer so now I have to wait till tomorrow to go try and get it fixed so hopefully there will be pictures but in the event that there are not I will try my best to paint mental ones........
Madalyn and her friend Madison went as Thing 1 and Thing 2 which was so dang cute! We did her hair all up and painted it blue! She looked great! They met up at the churchhouse and went trick or treating in the neighborhood around it. They seemed to make out quite well and they found a haunted house along the way which was a good addition.
Tyler was a pirate which was so much fun to put together. We even got a fake bird from Hobby Lobby( the best store EVER!!!) He stuck around the churchhouse and helped out with the carnival for a few hours, then went back to our neighborhood to hit a few houses before they came home and had some hot chocolate and visited about the night( my favorite part!)
Megan was a banana. It was fun, we stuffed her with quilt batting and painted her face yellow. She also stayed at the church for a few then went off with her friend and her mom and dad to go trick or treating for an hour or so.
Which brings us to our little caboose...Connor was Bumblebee from Transformers. This little turkey changes his mind mid week from being a penguin! Luckily Target saved me! He stuck with Kelley and I for the night. We made our rounds at the carnival and then went home to our neighborhood where I dropped he and Kelley off and they made their way back to the house. He had so much fun just he and Kelley trick or treating!!!
Everyone got home from their fun around 8 or so. Tyler a little later and he showed up with a few friends. We all sat around,Kelley built a nice fire and had some hot chocolate and carmel apples and talked about the best houses and the best costumes. Friends went home, candy got hidden and we all washed the make up off our faces and went to bed..... It was so much fun! I have said it before and I am sure I will say it again!! I love being a mom!!! My kids are a blast and I love watching what they do and who they are each and every day!!!

What is important at our house???

Just a little glimpse into what is important in my house... My online classes started on Wednesday. They are going to be lots of fun and hard work too. I am taking twelve credit hours which means lots of reading and lots of writing.

I told you that to tell you this.

 Because my classes started in the middle of the week we only had 3 days to read our material and write it up. Today was the day I wanted to turn in all my papers. So I sat down at ten a.m. to finish up my paper on the Holocaust.

Well today is also the day that the U of A plays UCLA at 4. We just got our dish hooked up last week, we got our big TV in the basement, everyone was wearing their fan clothes and pajamas. We made Philly Cheese Steaks They were ready! Everyone settled down to watch the earlier games which I was thankful for! This left the upstairs to me and my computer....
...... When... Up comes Madalyn, up comes Connor, up comes Kelley! Nobody made sure we had FOXAZ! How could this happen?? How could nobody check! Mom why didn't you make sure!!?? Of course I looked up shocked and confused.. This was of course my fault, I am the "nobody" that they are talking about..its always the mothers fault!!
 I stopped what I was doing. Called dish, stayed on the phone for half hour and low and behold we got FXAZ! My paper is gonna be finished tonight because now we HAVE to watch the Cats play!!!

WHATEVER!!after all that drama, I'm takin a nap!!!! Go CATS zzzzzzzzz

A way cool site and blog for modest dresses!!!YAY!!!

Ok so I know I just just posted a little "my favorites" blog but I really have had alot of time on my hands this past week and I have found some new ones!! Thankfully my classes start on Monday so I wont be spending so much time online now! Most of the links are on my blog page, actually all of them are, but this morning I found an awesome one!!! I have such a hard time finding modest dresses that don't look homely for myself and my girls but I stumbled across this site this morning and I think I am gonna be a big fan!!!The dresses are kinds pricey but they are also timeless looking!! I, for one, really like them!!!


here is the site    http://www.shabbyapple.com/ they also have a blog!!!