Successful Marriage - Happy Anniversary!



Allan and Teresa

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

This April 12^th they are celebrating their 36^th Wedding Anniversary!

Congratulations Mom and Dad!

We all Love you!

My wedding not theirs lol!

Panama City Beach, Florida

Panama City Beach, Florida

Kingsport, TN

Sedona, AZ

Johnson City , TN

How you can follow ME (:

So from time to time you see me bugging  urging you to follow  my blog. I swear if I hadn't learned so much from blogging in these last 3  months I would have no idea what I meant.


I know most of you think if you read my blog that you are following me blog. OK OK I guess in a sense you are BUT I will admit it, I am a little vain and I need to see that you are listed under my "Stalkers". Come on I can't help it, I mean I have almost 500 friends on my facebook but I can't reach 50 on my blog ):


OH - a big shout out to all my stalkers - THANK YOU!!!


SO, I thought I would tell you how you can be one of my stalkers. I mean - come on MOM (yes I am calling you out on this one) you aren't even one of my stalkers - you gave birth to me! I know you read it because you always give me the little thumbs up on my facebook but come on Stalk me on my blog so I can smile a little bit more - so here it is if you decide you want to actually follow me (-:


You will need probably either a yahoo email or a GMail (google email). If you don't have one of these they are free and you can go to www.Gmail.com or www.yahoo.com to create a free email account.


On the left hand side of my blog you will see My "Stalkers" and right underneath that you will see  this symbol

Underneath this symbol you will see With google friend contact. 

Click on this button. The instructions are simple and easy to 

follow.

It will then ask you if you want to follow my publicly (go ahead!) 

or privately (I guess if you are ashamed of me - MOM not you!)

If you have any questions let me know! Come on people

I need a little stroke to my ego! Come on and follow me!

Car? Truck? Spoiled? I need help!

So I am a super lucky woman! I know that I am lucky, fortunate, and very blessed with all the things I have in my life and I am SO the luckiest to have my kids and my man! 

However, sometimes a girl needs wants to have a little something new! My husband and I have been debating getting a new vehicle. Now, we are really striving to keep our financial house in order. We feel like we do pretty good (I won't go all into that now maybe another blog later). But we made one decision that wasn't in our nature but we were stuck in a hard place. So currently I have a 2008 Red Jetta -

OK so this isn't my actual car but looks just like it - you get the picture!

My Jetta is paid down to where we are barely upside down on the loan (remember I said that we got into a spot before that we normally don't - so we are upside down). However, I have been making extra payments whenever I can to try to get it at least even with the market. So my car is 3 years old and I have 75,000 miles! Yes, high miles but up until 6 months ago I was driving 60 miles round trip just to work!

My husband has a 2004 Ford F150

Again - not our exact truck but pretty darn close!

(again - I know we are so lucky to have 2 super nice vehicles - so don't be going and judging me because I want something new lol! - well judge away I guess but still doesn't change I want something new!)

Now his truck is paid off but has about 108,000 miles on it. We have always said we don't want more than 1 car payment and we are actually trying to get to a point where we will not have any payment for a few years since we will have teenagers coming up in the next few years.

He has mentioned a few times about getting me a new vehicle (did I mention from time to time my AC doesn't want to kick in for about 10 minutes and remember I live in Southern AZ - can you say 110degrees in the summer?) So here poses my BIG dilemma!

Do I want to try to get a new vehicle and pay the heck out of it and get it paid off so we can then buy him a new truck? OR do I just try to pay my car off and get him a new truck?

Here are the 2 vehicles I am totally in love with! Now they are VERY different but as a mom I am sure some of you will be able to totally understand my line of thinking!

This is the 2011 Black KIA Sorento! This SUV has a third row option so you can sit 7 people! That is what I am in LOVE with about this vehicle! I think it is a sweet looking mid size SUV and sort of looks like a cross between the Lexus and Infinity SUV but not near the price. I have seen MSRP on the one with the third row for between 25K and up! I am not a girl that needs all the bells and whistles necessarily. But if I am going to get this vehicle I want the third row seating.

Here's a good pic but not in black but you get the idea!

The second vehicle that I LOVE was actually introduced to me by my man! So he is totally at fault for me wanting a new vehicle (well at least partially) I had never seen the Volkswagen CC before he pulled it up on the internet and showed me. This is totally opposite than the KIA Sorento!

Ever seen this car?

Something about the interior just sucks me in!

Depending on the features you want to get with this vehicle the 2011 Volkswagen CC Sport gets started at around 30K maybe could get a little cheaper if I went with the 2010 model, which I do like but the 2009 looks a little different.

So what's a girl to do? I want to hear what you would do? What do you think I should do? FYI - My husband LOVES the CC but he isn't a fan of the Sorento. I love both for different reasons. OR do I just pay the Jetta off and try to drive it till the wheels fall off and get my man a new truck?

Tween Girls - Not for the Squeamish

Here is my Disclaimer:  If gross pictures eaks you out TURN BACK NOW! OK so it might not be that bad but normally things don't eak me out but this one does.

About a year ago Haley wanted to start shaving her legs. I know 4th grade is super early but it wasn't for vain reasons the girl doesn't take after her momma's blonde hair I will tell  ya that is for sure! She definitely takes after her daddy in the color of her hair area!

So for the last year I have shaved her legs for her ( I should get some sort of award!) but finally I caved in and bought her a little shaver of her own. I mean she is going into middle school this year. I told her BE CAREFUL - nicks hurt and I still get them. Well... she listened and then slipped.

Seriously I thought I got her a super cute little razor. Maybe I was thinking if it was tiny it couldn't give big cuts. I was SO Wrong!

WATCH OUT HERE IT COMES- It's THE GROSS PICTURE!

This is about 3 days old! I couldn't bare to hardly look at it when she first did it much less took a picture of it. The cut is about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long!

The trials of being a mom to a tween! I tell ya one day at a time! I sure am hoping that this never happens again!

Learn about the Shaklee Difference!

The journey continues....

The journey continues....

Some of you know that I blogged about being sick the other day and how we just don't have time for it as moms. Well sometimes something smacks you down and says LISTEN! Here is a continuation of my journey....

OK so last week I told y'all that they found a nodule in my lung and they were making me go for a CT Scan.

Originally I hoped thought I might have someone go with me but due to unforeseen circumstances I was on this venture by myself. I tried to put on a brave face, I am not sure who I was trying to convince myself or my family.

I think this makes me official? (yes I was born on St. Patricks Day - but no other identifying info on the bracelet! any of you crazy people out there!)

Not exactly what this is but I think I just signed one of my organs away if someone needs it!

Intimidating? Yes, considering I can't walk up stairs without being out of breath. I parked on the wrong side of the hospital, what in the world was I thinking?!

I am heading into the CT scanner and I really wanted to get a pic of that big machine but also didn't want them to think I was crazy and then take a CT of my head. I mean I am already getting enough radiation through this one scan I don't need more cancer risk.

Thankfully when I went in the room the tech informed me that I wouldn't need the contrast (IV) and I was so freaking overjoyed I could have done backflips  grateful. The scan took about 5 minutes, I didn't have to take any clothes off, didn't have to pry remove my belly ring out, and I was lucky and got one of those super warm blankets they wrap you in (doesn't take much to make me happy!).

Since I couldn't eat or drink before the tests and I didn't get done till around noon I decided to treat myself to my favorite! Mongolian! Super yummy!

It only took 48 hours but we heard back about the scan and it might as well have been in a foreign language. Prominent Lymph node in my lung? 3 small lingular nodules likely reactive to granuloma? What? All I know is my primary Dr. doesn't seem very concerned but I have to get a repeat scan with contrast (IV!!) in 3-6 months. I am opting for 3 months because who wants to play around with nodules?

Still no answer on what is making me sick and out of breath. Going to see a pulmanologist as soon as I can. They think pneumonia? One could only wish at this point. Good news - feeling some better in regards to the "sick" feeling so I will take all the good I can get.

So the journey continues......

More than ever with my current health issues I am so happy that our family made the switch to Shaklee!

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The Good, The Bad, The Ugly - Poop that is

OK so yes I have a house of hunters. All you PETA people don't hate us, I hope you still follow me but if not oh well it is who we are. I mean me personally don't ask me to shoot it, gut it, or cook it - eewww!

However, in light of earth day month and working to go green (sshhhh don't tell my man I associated him with going green he might kick my bootie!).

We've had a bit of a poop problem. Yes I said a poop problem.

OK - here is the poop problem (the Ugly)

My husband worked so hard making our back porch awesome looking by applying concrete stain and now there is POOP all over it!

This is the Pooper (The Bad) - it likes to sit on the light on the top of the porch and just POOP away!

This is the DE-POOPER TROOP! (The Good) lol OK I know I am lame.

Like I said in honor of Earth Day Month and our family trying to go green, natural, and non-lethal, the De-pooper troop decided to take care of business with Nerf guns. AND IT WORKED! They shot at the bird and didn't hit it but it flew away for the rest of the night!

MY HERO! (now I need a volunteer to clean up the poop!)

Tween Bathroom - Loving It!

We have been in our house for 3 1/2 years now and other than changing the shower curtain a few times the kids bathroom has been pretty much the same. One of the struggles we have is that both Cody and Haley share the same bathroom so it has to be a neutral type of theme. I try to get them to compromise but Cody finally said, "whatever Haley wants" I told him to quit giving me a classic man answer. Ended up he did let her have more her way but we still tried to incorporate colors he would like as well.

Before- I had bought the letters and we painted them. The pictures are pictures the kids painted on these canvas and I framed them with frames I already had and painted black.

Black, White, Red, and Gray

Pictures of our family that lives far away. We did the prints in black and white to add to the color scheme.

We started cleaning. Oh and by the way, I am using up the cleaning supplies I have because I think I am going to switch over to Shaklee. Never heard of it? Well I hadn't but check it out at my friend Erin's Blog.(and I have some great info on mine as well!) I am finding that I am loving it and I bought the Gold Premier but you can also just sign up to be a Member which right now with a $30.00 purchase the membership fee of $19.95  is waived with no minimum to ever buy again (but I know you will love these products!). You see that 409 in the background - it is NO more! As soon as I started using that stuff I started coughing again!

Yes, we can't help but join the bandwagon we do love the Zebra print!

The little things can really make the look. So we bought the lime green shower hooks. We went with lime green because Cody liked it and we wanted to try to compromise.

I bought the ribbon but decided on a DIY to transform the q-tip holder.

Changing up the red picture frame mat to be lime green. Haley worked on this project.

I am sure you are wondering what this is. Well seems my kids like millions so many others struggle to remember some basic hygiene tasks. So I used a white board marker to make a to-do list on the medicine cabinet mirror.

We used the same ribbon and glue gun to pretty up this candle (for appearances only).

Still working and figuring it all out.

We are getting there.

It's looking good and coming together (notice my cutie kitty!)

Daily items (the buckets are from the dollar bin at Target)

No more red!

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Let's Celebrate Earth day this month of April!