Laser Money Trees?!?!

If money grew on trees it wouldn't have any value because everyone would plant orchards of them.  If for some strange reason money that grew of these imaginary trees did have value I can tell you what I would go out and do right now.  I would get laser hair removal.  Lets face it, if you like to shave your legs and arm pits you are crazy!  And if you let your leg and arm pit hair grow people are disgusted because it is socially unacceptable and your are more crazy!  I am just fine with this particular social programming because I don't like hair leg and arm pit hair, it is gross.  I only want a head of hair and my eyebrows.  I hate the balancing act in the shower and the nicks and ingrown hairs that come with the territory of shaving.  I have waxed before and the results are great but in-between waxing you have to grow your hair.  This means spontaneous trips in the summer to take a dip in a swimming pool or spa is out of the question.  This is not convenient to anyone!  The way around it in my eyes is laser it all off.  Unfortunately it is pricey which mean you scrimp and save every penny you can then 20 years later you get your dream but only after the temptation to use the money on something more practical.  Or you pick some money off your imaginary money tree and make an appointment with the laser.

Graveyard

Working graveyard might be what our family needs.  In the slow going process of finding a place to live we are also keeping an eye out for better paying work.  Josh loves his job but if something came up that would place us in a better financial position we are all about taking the opportunity.  We have been keeping our eyes open to a variety of job possibilities like working for the school to cut tuition in half even though the pay isn't very good, postal worker or other mail/package delivery person, and the latest and greatest is 911 dispatcher on the graveyard shift.  The 911 dispatcher on the graveyard shift pays just shy of $18 an hour in Layton.  Hello!  Sign me up because that is better than what we are making now!!!  Don't get me wrong, graveyard sucks but it wouldn't be bad to do something like this until Josh finishes school.  No matter what we are moving out of our ward because there are only homes for sale in our ward and we are not in a position to buy.  So if we are being taken away we might as well go where the job is...Layton here we come!!!

We still have a little talking to do but I am pretty sure we are going to apply for the 911 dispatcher job.  Wish us luck!!!

The Great Outdoors

Savannah loves to go outside so every day, if the weather is nice, we play outside.  On Tuesday we happened to go outside to play on the trampoline.  While we were playing we were joined by Josh when we got home from work. Soon after Jack came home and happened onto our fun and asked to join. Sure!!  Just as he was making his way onto the trampoline a bug flew in my eye.  He wanted to play a jumping game with me but I told him he would have to wait until I go the bug out of my eyelashes fierce grip on the bug.  Just as I successfully de-lodged the bug this horrible stink happened across my nose.  I thought for sure that smell came from the bug, it had to be some sort of small stink bug.  Josh corrected me, it wasn't the bug but smelly feet.  GROSS!  I assure it it wasn't my feet or Savannah's feet.  Can you guess whose feet they were?

Scrub away that nasty old skin

Most of you know by now that I am a member of bzz agent.  If you don't know now you do.  If you are interested in becoming one yourself click here.  I am not super good at it but I do enjoy it.  I have made it very clear in past posts that I love to get facials.  Well, I received two new products a few weeks ago and have tried them out religiously.  You have probably seen the commercials for it.  The products are from the Clean & Clear Soft line, the in-shower facial and day moisturizer.

I am loving this product!  I never had such flakey skin until I moved to Utah and let me tell you my skin has been so soft and flake free since I have used this product.  I know there are many scrubs out there but this one is the best for me.  The in-shower facial make my skin feel soft and fresh just like I've had a facial but is definitely not like relaxing for a hour while someone pampers you.  I will definitely keep this product in my shower!
I like this product.  I love moisturizers that contain SPF and that are light, that don't feel like they sit on my skin, it feels absorbed, and are oil free.  This product definitely fulfills my moisturizer requirements but I am having a hard time wanting to say goodbye to my Aveeno moisturizer, I don't know if I can do it.  It doesn't have a stinky or harsh smell and applies really smooth.

Unless you are set in your ways I think these products are worth a try!

My ABC's

A-attached or single: So attached that not even a crow bar and the strongest man could un-attach me.

B-best friends: Only my husband carries the "Best Friend" title.  All my other friends that I would consider 'best' are my greatest friends or my best girl friend.  No other boy will make themselves a 'best' or 'great' on my list. 

C-cake or pie: Have you not read my pie post???

D-day of choice: Any day that I spend with Josh and Savannah at the same time.

E-essential item(s): floss, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouth wash, and my retainer.  Who cares about looking great?  I do but I don't usually Monday thru Saturday.  If my mouth is healthy 99.9999999% of the time my I am healthy.

F-favorite color: I don't really have one favorite color but I have colors I prefer and those are pink, turquoise, green, red, and gray.

G-gummy worms or bears: I will eat either but I don't like to think about it because the texture reminds me a bit of JELLO and I hate JELLO.

H-hometown: Campbell, California

I-indulgence: FACIALS!


J-January or July: July - in Utah you are more limited on the things to go outside and do.

K-kids: Savannah and another that may be planned for next year but we will see.

L-life is incomplete without: Family.

M-marriage date: September 23, 2005

N- number of siblings: Four - Christian, Dianna, and Richard.

O-oranges or apples: How about banana milkshakes?  I prefer not to eat either.  My true fruit love is an anjou pear.
P-phobias or fears: I still occasionally have a flash of something or someone getting me in the dark and then I give myself a reality check and I am fine.

Q-quotes: "Find out who you are and do it on purpose." - Dolly Parton

R-reasons to smile: Savannah dancing and bopping her head to the beat of music.

S-season: Sprummer that is a combination of Spring and Summer.  I like Spring when it warms up and Summer in the really warm but not too warm months.

T-tag friends: Dianna, Kim, and Katie.

U-unknown fact about me: I don't enjoy picking up after grown-ups that are not my husband and after a while I will get annoyed at that but thankfully it doesn't last more than a day.  

V-very favorite store(s): I don't shop much but I'd have to say The Gap and Target.

W-worst habit: Procrastination.

X-x-ray, ultrasound, or mammogram: Ultrasound - who doesn't want to see their baby before he/she is born?  It is a miracle!

Y-your favorite food: Chicken broccoli casserole made WITHOUT MAYONNAISE!

Z- Zodiac: Gemeni

Fine!  You get the rules this time...
Each player answers their A-Z's about themselves. The letter T is where you tag 6 people (I prefer to do just 3) and post their names; then goes to their blog, leave them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and invites them to read your blog.

So gross.

This is absolutely disgusting but makes me want to do a parasite cleanse or any body cleanse.  Josh called me moments ago about this story from Jack Stockwell's radio show.  This woman called in about an experience she had.  She had been seeing Jack Stockwell who is a chiropractor and specializes in holistic medicine.  She complained about not feeling well so she was told to do a liver cleanse.  During the cleanse she had gone to the rest room only to find this thing had come out with her waste (it wasn't specified if the waste was a #1 or a #2).  She was able to capture it in a cup with a sealable lid and took it in.  Nobody could tell what this thing was so they labeled it a non-human parasite or something like that.  This thing even had an eye!  YUCK!  If this lady could have a 6 inch or so parasite living off her liver that makes me wonder if I have any harmful foreign things swimming around in my body!   Josh was told on the radio show that you are more likely to have a parasite if you have animals.  Sick!!  Sick!!  Sick!!  I hope you don't have any non-human parasites swimming around in your body!  During my search to find this story (which I haven't found yet and may never because radio shows don't frequentlt post their conversations) I read a statistic that one in three people have a parasite in their body.  Good luck doing your cleanse.  I hope you don't find anything but if you do it is good that you don't have it in you anymore.

On My Own

Josh started a new part time job this last weekend working for the IRS.  It is temporary (only for a month) thank heaven!  When ever I am on my own I get a taste of just how crazy it is to have a toddler too old to stay still in church meetings and too young to go into nursery.  I don't think it would be so crazy if I didn't have my calling as Primary Music Leader.  I think out of all the kids Savannah's age at church she is the busiest and most curious.  I say that because for the most part every time I see the other kids they are sitting and playing or walking around quietly and calmly. My little one is walking everywhere, touching everything, climbing on things she shouldn't, gibber jabbering really loud, banging on doors, and things like that; she can be quite a handful.

Because of my calling Josh spends the last two hours of church with her.  My calling is very time consuming with the kids so I am not able to tend to Savannah while teaching a new song or coordinate a song pick game.  When she was smaller she would play quietly in the back of Primary and let me do my thing.  Now that she is bigger and all over the place it is a little more challenging.  I am so grateful for those sweet sisters who help me out when I am alone.  A special Malo goes to Shauna and Virginia for inviting Savannah to come to Nursery on Sunday so I could do my calling.  Wir danken dir to Lori who changed Savannah's poop diaper while I was singing with Senior Primary.  AND a kansha shimassu to Clarissa for walking to halls while I was picking out GAK pictures for the Prophet Trivia Song Pick game.  You all saved me!

New Favorite Foods

Savannah is very particular about the texture of her food.  We are hopeful that it is a thing of the past.  We are soooo ready to give up baby food and move to the more solid of solid foods.  I think we are on our way.  Savannah is showing more interest in the things Josh and I eat.  The last two days we have given her some more adult food and she hasn't shunned it away.  What a miracle!!!!  On Saturday she ate some of our Chinese food.  Her favorite was fried rice.

Yesterday I made sour cream chicken enchiladas and she ate half of my enchilada for dinner.

{not my actual enchiladas}

AMAZING!  I think it is safe to say that we are on our way to making a successful transition.  Savannah just needed do do it on her own time table.  Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.  She will do it when she is ready!

Grass Attack!!

Savannah hates grass or I should say used to hate grass.  She is still unsure of it but she has found new confidence.  She prefers to walk on it with me or Josh holding her hand but the point is she is walking on it!!  Way to go Savannah!  On the 11th I went to our monthly ladies luncheon.  It was a really nice day so all the kids went outside to eat and play.  There was  a little slab of cement right outside the back door.  Savannah would go outside and pace on the cement slab and yell gibberish at the other kids.  No matter what she wouldn't dare go on the grass.  I don't blame her.  Grass is itchy, squishy, and defiantly not as stable as cement.  In the end she was bothered that she wasn't playing with the other kids and climbing on whatever she could find in the backyard.  Just this last week she worked on her fear.  Now she walks willingly on the grass.  She still hesitates at the cement grass boarder but she will venture onto the green unknown.  If she falls on grass she is disgusted.  She will look at her hands and then at me with this horrible face and gets off as quick as she can.  It is a work in progress.

Mom!  I don't know if I can do this?!?!

It's not so bad but I am not feeling it today, I am hightailing it to the sidewalk.

Much better. 

Reverse.

Let me get the paper for you mom.

Wait!!!  Up in the sky!  It's a bird...it's a...it's more than one bird.  Did geese sounds like that all the time?  They sure are loud!

Mom!  Mom!  I found a treasure.

Another treasure...I think I can eat this one.

Dare me to put it in my mouth???

Heading inside.  What a bummer!  We always have so much fun exploring outside.

Dancing Queen

If anyone knows me from my single adult years you know that I caught the dancing bug.  At the ripe old age of one, Savannah has caught that very same bug.  I don't know what the future holds for the dancing Cleverly women but I can tell you we will have many dance parties.  Our dance parties will put the great dance parties of all time to SHAME!  Just wait until you see what I have in store for you.  Just moments ago Savannah and I were listening to a little Avril Lavinge and Cyndi Lauper.  Savannah just couldn't help but feel the music and let herself go...

Rocking out to Avril!

Getting down...real down with Avril!

Having fun with Cyndi!

Food Storage

Thanks to our government!  In desperation to reverse our economic failure that we, as a people, allowed by letting our government 'take care' of us and putting people in office who are sucking up our tax dollars for lame and ineffective programs (not all but many) we are getting a stimulus check in May or June.  Don't read between the lines here, I am not bad mouthing any person or political party, I am sharing my feeling of disgust with our government (as a whole) for mismanaging our money.  On a personal level I am guilty of mismanagement of money but I expect more from committees rather than just one person.  There is that saying that many head or two heads or whatever are better than one.  I think most, if not all, of you agree that our tax dollars have been misused.  What I said may have come across a little harsh but, in my opinion, I believe it is true.  Our economy is sinking, our dollar is loosingvalue, and our government is worrying about spending more money instead of letting capitalism do its thing and hopefully recover.  The latter (letting capitalism work) is better than sinking into a deeper recession and heaven forbid another depression where everyone suffers.  Capitalism is not perfect but I believe it is the best thing for our economy.  For the most effectiveness, capitalism needs to be coupled with individuals taking care of their own stewardships.

In my reference to our government spending our tax dollars on lame and ineffective programs I think a great example is  spending billions of dollars to stop people from watching TV with their antenna - seriously who cares how you watch TV and what a waste of our precious money!!!  This isn't the best example but it was the first thing that came to mind.

Now that I have caused some controversy again and got an F on my blog for run-on sentences I will tell you just what we are going to do with our incoming funds from the government.  We thought about putting it in savings, getting out of the little debt we have left from working for The Living Scriptures, taking a trip to California to visit my family, fixing our cars, and other things like that.  We opted for a wise choice to spend it on food storage.
The price of food is climbing at an alarming rate. It is a relief that our farmers are starting to denounce government subsidies and planting crops we need because they are seeing the demand we have for them.  On a similar venue, we need to plant a more balanced amount of corn and stop trying to produce ethanol which is an ineffective fuel.  We need to dig for our own oil but heaven forbid we tick off those environmentalist for doing something that will make our country self reliant which is what we should have been in the first place.  Back to my point, we are going to start small by getting our grains and legumes first.  If we have money left over we will work on things like sugar, milk, and water storage.  I am going to need to try out some recipes for things we can make with our food storage because I don't want all that food if I can't or won't make anything we can eat with it.  If you don't have your food storage you may want to think about using your stimulus check for that too if you haven't considered it.  There is a lot of crazy and sad stuff going on in our economy and we want you guys to have your food storage incase you need to use it.  What are you planning on doing with your stimulus check?

FIRE!

Thursday evening was a special brother play date.  Josh spent most of the evening playing with Jack.  Jack wanted to play camping so they made a fort with a big blanket in Jack's room and got started.  They hunted bears and made bear blankets and a bear teeth necklace and bracelet out of them.  Those boys had a ton of fun.  During all that fun, while pretending to have a fire and pointing out constellations, they had a ingenious idea.  They needed to have a fire and make smores.  Practically at that moment it was decided we would do just that the next night.

{picture courtesy of sternbears.wordpress.com/}

Friday, after dinner, we got started.  Bill and Kelly got a fire pit and Josh and I were in-charge of the smore fixings.  If you have never had a smore with chocolate that has caramel in the middle you haven't lived.  It is best when the chocolate has melted a little before the smore is assembled, it is really hard to do unless you have a stone fire pit.

{picture courtesy of http://skiptomylou.wordpress.com}

We all had a great time but I think Jack took the cake with how much fun was had.  He was super antsy to get things rolling and kept trying to do what Bill was doing to get the fire started.  Bill just couldn't get the fire going fast enough.

Getting started.  The boys blowing on the kindling to get things rolling.

Jack warming his hands by the fire.

Bill mesmerized by the flames.

Kelly and Bill watching Jack roast a marshmallow.

Josh enjoying time with the family.

Grandma Great and Cowboy Bob

Over conference weekend Josh, Savannah, and I went to Richfield, Ut to visit Josh's grandparents.  It is the longest Savannah has been in the car for a long time.  When we did it for Father's Day last year she slept a lot and was a super easy baby.  This time we had a little wiggle worm who hates her car seat.  It wasn't bad.  I think it would have been worse if she was rear facing in her car seat.  The drive down was long and we stopped twice so Savannah could stretch her legs during a quick visit to Aunt Cassy's new place and then so she could eat dinner.  It was wonderful to spend time with Bob and Janet.  Savannah had a room all to herself, and giant bathtub she loved, room to roam, and lots of things to get into.  She took us for walks on the sidewalk because she hates the grass.  She is a professional walking on gravel and across the street.

We took a drive to the dairy to get a slush.  Savannah loved to walk around and play in the stools at the counter.  Josh was amazing!  Savannah was jabbering away and the girl behind the counter made a comment like "oh, she sure does talk a lot" and Josh said something like "she speaks five dialects" and the girl totally bought it.  She was like "WOW!  No Way!"  hahahahah  Josh is so dang funny!  I love his witty humor.  He always looks for ways to hook people and boy did he hook that girl.

On Saturday we left Savannah with Janet and Bob and met Cassy and Steve for a little shooting.  Josh and I shot a 12 and 20 caliber rifles or at least I think that is what they are.  Josh hit more clay pigeons than me but I still had a great time.  Josh thinks she can do it as a hobby sometime in the future.  I can go along for kicks but while I enjoyed it and will do it many time in my life I am not as into it as my dear husband.

Before we drove home we had breakfast with Janet, Bob, Cassy, Steve, and their friend Lisa.  Going out to eat with kids is so different than when you don't have kids.  Before you have kids you wonder why those parents can't keep their kids under control or why they make such big messes.  When you have kids all that wonder flies out the window.  Savannah was very well behaved however she made the biggest mess!  There were Cheerios EVERYWHERE.  I feel for the person who had to clean it up.

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked.  Now that we are home I am kicking myself for not taking more.  We were so caught up in the moment and having fun that it slipped my mind.

Hanging out in the warm clothes I just washed while I am frantically getting everything ready before we pick up Josh and head to Richfield.

Sitting back and relaxing with her sunglasses from Grandpa Bill's work (Goode - they manufacture water skis)

Playing on some shelving in the kitchen at Bob and Janet's house.  Janet had to move some valuables so Savannah wouldn't destroy them.  Savannah loves adventure!

Knocking over the block castle I made for her.  I am going to need to invest in blocks very soon.  Savannah had the best time playing with them.

She found my wallet.  She loves to take my cards out.  Savannah is like all little girls who love to get into and meddle with their mother's bag.

Savannah would not take her nap in the car.  There was too much to see and do until we got off on our exit and were less than ten minutes from the house.  ARGH!

Grandma Great and Cowboy Bob, thank you for having us!!  Shauna, thank you for the pack n' play.  If it wasn't for you Savannah would not have slept so good while we were away from home.  Cassy and Steve, thanks for lettin' us use your guns.

Something is wrong here, the planes are on the ground!

Last month Josh and I took Savannah and Jack to the Hill Air Force Museum.  We were baby-sitting the boy because both Bill and Kelly had to work and we wanted to do something other than sit at home.  It was a hit.  Ever since we moved here Jack would tell us he wanted to be an army man when he grows up.  Only recently he changed his mind to be a football player.  Regardless of his future profession, he loves his jets and to see them in real life is even more exciting for him.  So here is what we did...

Savannah the fighter pilot!

Jack the fighter pilot!

Savannah checking out one of the air planes.  Be careful Savannah, there is a bomb right above your head.

We had a ton of fun in the little play area with the computer games and simulators.  Here Savannah is pressing all buttons.  We are getting ready for take off.  

After our flight Savannah needed to play with the building toys they had on the floor.

Jack is very much into death and destruction.  His favorite things were the big bombs; they kill people so why wouldn't they be his favorite?

Which way should be go Jack?  Which way should we go?