Slacking'!

We have been in Alaska for almost 5 months now! It has gone by so fast! Ammelia started  school August. I can not believe she is in the 1st grade! She loves it and is doing great! Sloan is getting rediculously big! She is talking up a storm! She is 17 months now! Levon, also known as Aaron up here, is doing great! He is loving his job and is climbing up the ladder! He has a new calling at church, the same exact calling he had when we were in Henderson. He is over the 10-11 year old scouts! I am loving Alaska! It's been amazing for me! I love the cooler weather, our ward is great and we have awesome friends! I was just called to be the music chairman in our ward. Which contains:  choosing and leading the music in sacrament meeting, leading the music in relief society, finding people to do music numbers on sacrament, and also being in charge of the ward choir. This up coming Sunday will be my first Sunday to start my calling. I started watching our friends son full time. It is a little bit of a challenge but I'm getting used to it. He is a really good kid. He is very well behaved and gets a long with Sloan pretty well. And I have to say its really nice to have the extra money!

We have started to get winter/snow gear! It's been in the 40's and rainy and windy lately. We've been told that it should start snowing in the next few weeks. It's crazy to go from somewhere where it's not ever really cold to somewhere that had 12 feet of snow last year! The weather in Alaska the last few weeks has been now the weather is in Henderson in about December or January! I love it but am starting to get nervous for the snow!

Thanks to my mom we are finally getting most of our stuff up here! She has been sending us a few boxes here and there since we moved! She told me out of the 16 we had left when we moved there are about 6 more! It's starting to slowly feel like home having some of our own stuff here. Like pictures, and personal items we didn't have room to pack in our suitcases.

We are grateful to have been blessed enough to have this opportunity to be in Alaska. So far is proving to be the best thing we could have ever done for our family in multiple ways. We miss our family but know that being here is the best thing for us .

I'm hoping to be better at updating our blog! So tune in!

ALASKA

We have been looking for a new job for LEVON for about a year now. Nothing has really come up where we have felt like that's where we should be or that's what he should be doing. So we hung out with his current job until we found this job. It is in a town outside of ANCHORAGE called EAGLE RIVER. LeVon talked to both owners of the company for a few weeks and they officially offered him the job. We talked about it and finally decided that this was the best thing for our family and that this would be a permanent move for us. We prayed about our decision and felt nothing but calm peaceful feelings and once we felt that EVERYTHING fell into place. Its amazing how once you find where you are supposed to be and what you are supposed to be doing everything falls into place perfectly. I've never really felt that before so it was new to me. I do have to say I LOVE the feeling! We KNOW we are supposed to move to ALASKA and I KNOW that is where we are supposed to raise our children present and future. The neighborhood we are going to be moving to is made up of mostly police and military. There is a military base in Anchorage. The house is in walking distance to the shop LeVon will be working at and he will have a truck to drive while at work.

We are having to sell EVERYTHING! Our vehicles, furniture, decorations and are having to mail our clothes to us there. LeVon is going to be leaving the week after MOTHER'S DAY and the girls and I are going to be leaving after school gets out and after Ammelia's dance recital JUNE 14. We have a lot to do and that's a HUGE understatement. It is also really REALLY bad that I have ZERO motivation to do any of it!

We are very EXCITED about our new adventure! It will be the first big move we have ever made as a family(and for me in general). I will definitely post LOTS of posts and pictures about our new adventure! So stay tuned for the craziness of moving and the future exploring we are going to be doing in ALASKA!

(also... I'm very happy about this... I've lost about 46 lbs! It's been a struggle since after I had AMMELIA  but I'm finally loosing my baby weight!)

We are also VERY excited to get to see the NORTHERN LIGHTS!

Do you see what I see?

I sure hope NOT! I went to the eye doctor for a new prescription for glasses. I hadn't been in over 2 years and it was definitely time to go. I knew when I ran a red light because I couldn't tell it was red until I was too close to stop. Bad, I know. That's exactly why I went! So I got a new prescription. My new glasses should be in by next week and they are super cute! I also got some sun glasses! So that's the good news! Now for the bad news. The doctor said that because the light looked yellow instead of red that he wanted to do a few tests. So he held up a bottle of eye drops with a bright cherry red lid. Had me close my left eye and look at the shade of the color for a few seconds. Then had me do the same thing with the right eye. With the right eye I saw what I should see... a cherry red top. With my left eye I did not. I saw a reddish orange color. So he was concerned about that. He asked me if I was being treated for anything (which I'm not), or if I was recently diagnosed with anything. Which I haven't. He said that he asks because when the eyes start seeing two different shades of one color it is often a sign of something else going on. So its basically my body saying "Hey! Something might not be right go to the doctor!" He said that it could be nothing, but it could also be something. If it is a something its a big something. He also said because I'm so young and my eyes look pretty healthy (he took pictures of them) that he wants me to be checked. He told me that he wants me to see a neuro- optomologist. There is only 1 in town and he said he doesn't like to refer people to him because he doesn't think he is the greatest doctor. So... I'm going up to Utah next week to see a good neuro- optomologist. I don't know what they are going to do but I'm going.

Yesterday while I was sitting in the car after I took Ammelia to school my left eye started twitching. It does it all of the time. So much that I'm just used to it and don't even realize its happening half of the time. Then it hit me that the twitching might also have something to do with something else going on. Everything is happening in my left eye- seeing different shades of colors, astigmatism, my left eye sight is worse than the right, and the twitching.

I'm trying really hard not to worry and keep having to tell myself that there is nothing wrong. Trying to think on the positive side of things.

When I know more of what is going on, which is hopefully nothing, I will update the blog again!

Thanksgiving 2011 in Utah

This year for Thanksgiving we went up to Utah to spend it with LeVon's family. We had fun. We got to visit our newest niece and Ammelia and Sloan's newest cousin Breaill(I don't know how they spell it, but its something like this...). We went shooting out by Utah Lake in Genola with LeVon's sisters Haley, McKenzie, and Erika, his brother Tyson, and Erika's hubby Ben and his Dad. It was Ammelia's very first time being around guns while they are being shot. She even shot FROSTY with Daddy's gun. She was very proud of the hole in him! Here are a few pictures! Oh! And Ammelia had a sleep over with her cousin Caylie! She had a blast!

It started out Really Bad... Ended at the Happiest place on Earth

Yesterday started out as the worst day EVER! I didn't sleep much that night because Sloan is getting 2 teeth and she was having a hard time sleeping. Then, when she woke up and I was going down the stairs, I fell... With Sloan in my arms I fell... Partly on her. She was crying pretty hard and I was in a lot of pain and about to bust out in tears at any moment. But I had to get down stairs and check her out. She had stopped crying on the way down and luckily only has a little black eye on her left side. I really thought she was going to have a broken leg, that's where I fell on her, but she was crawling and moving around her go lucky self and didn't act like anything was wrong. So from there a bunch of little things just made it worse and worse. Finally after I took Ammelia to the bus stop I went to the store and bought the best I cream ever! Mint Brownie! YUMM! So I ate a HUGE bowl of that and I made me feel better. Later that night I went to the Temple with my mom. Today is my Nana's 79th birthday but she passed away in August of 2005. So every year every one in the family tries to go to the temple for her birthday. So we went and then went to dinner. After that I had pretty much forgotten about my horrible day... besides all the bruises down my right side.

I LOVE the temple and wish I could go everyday! But even to go just a little bit is better than none and can change your life!

Happy Birthday NANA! We miss you!

Working on It

I have been working on loosing my baby weight from Ammelia... I know, she is now 5 years old, but I never lost it. I have lost Sloan's plus some though, so I'm happy with that! But the last month we have been eating horrible and I have not been exercising like I should be. I went to the doctor yesterday for my yearly and to my surprise I had actually LOST 8 lbs in that month not doing a single thing but eating like crap! So I'm very excited to see the results when I do eat healthier and exercise!

In the future I will be posting my progress on here, sorry if you don't like it, but I need to put it somewhere for me. SORRY!

Its the little things...

Lately we have had a hard time, along with most of the United States, with needing more money than we have. We have had a lot of extra expenses this past year. Most unplanned and to us seemingly dumb and not worth it, but one very welcomed and very very worth it... that ones name is Sloan.

It always seems like when you are trying extra hard to reach a goal you set is when Satan throws more at you to get you off track of where you want to be. That is how it has been the last year or so. We've felt like we could never get ahead. No matter how much we saved, watched our spending, cut things out that were unnecessary, or penny pinched we could never get a head like we wanted.

Our goal is not unrealistic: To get out of debt! That's it! So we have been paying off credit cards more and more each month. We changed insurance companies so our insurance was cut in half or more, we stopped eating out as much, we stopped going on dates as much(we were lucky enough to go out every weekend until Sloan joined out little family), etc. Needless to say we've been working really hard on being better with our money.

Our one planned expense: Sloan. We do not have insurance. By choice. We do not feel it is something we need and feel like it would end up costing us more in the long run to have it than to pay cash for all of our expenses, which we have done since the day I found out I was pregnant with Ammelia. We have always paid upfront and set up payments if it was a large amount. We have worked out the difference as if we did have insurance and we are saving money by paying cash. We don't go to the doctor all that often so when we do go its not a big deal to pay cash. We knew when we started to try for a second baby that we would be paying a lot of money out of pocket when we did get pregnant. From my very first doctor's appointment to the birth to the pediatrician to the post appointment we have spent about $9000- $10,000 this last year to have our wonderful blessing of a second daughter. We would NOT have it any other way and would gladly pay more if necessary to have her with us! We do NOT complain about the cost because we know it is a choice we have made to not have insurance and to be cash pay.

Back to the story: We have been really working hard on handling our money better. But like our lesson a few weeks ago in Sunday School said: You need to have the faith and do the work to get the benefits and blessings. You can not have faith and not do the work just as you can not do with work with out having faith in what you are working for. I had always been taught that, but until today I never REALLY REALLY as an adult experienced the joy, gratefulness, blessings, humbleness, or humility in doing so.


Since LeVon and I have been married we have been blessed enough to not have money struggles. We have always had more than enough and he has always worked really hard to make sure I can stay home and raise our daughters. But this last year or two has been a struggle. He works in the construction industry, which we all know that with the economy like it is, is not a good field of work to be in right now. His company has not known how long they would have jobs to send him to work on. They still don't. That a long with all of our extra expenses we have struggled more than we have in our entire 5 1/2 years of marriage. Even though it was not always easy to do, we have always paid our tithing, fast offerings, fulfilled our callings, and attended church regularly. It is not always easy to do the little things the Lord requires us to do but I can definitely say it is worth it.

To make a long story short. We have paid off all but 3 credit cards and those will be 100% paid off before December. The only debt after that that we will have is our Yukon. Which is not that bad. We have recently found out that we don't know if LeVon will have a job with the company he has worked for for 8 years now. We know he fill be able to find a job and will be able to continue to provide for our family. We have always said that we know we will be taken care of because we know we are doing the things we are supposed to be doing to our best abilities. Today we opened a credit card statement. It had roughly $4500 on it last month. I looked at the balance due, it said $1400. I KNOW for a fact we did not pay that much on it last month. We had been paying for a protection plan on the card before we were married. LeVon had recently called and cancelled that plan. The company refunded the money we had paid into that protection plan. Which ended up being over $3300. We had no idea they were going to do that. It has been a HUGE stress to pay off credit cards, as many of you know, it is not easy.

It may seem stupid and insignificant to some, but to Levon and myself, it was a HUGE relief to know, besides our car, the biggest weight on our shoulders financially has been lifted. We are feeling very blessed and very taken care of and very rewarded for the work it takes to do those little things that are oh so important sometimes.

We know we could not have done this without help from Heavenly Father. We also feel like Heavenly Father really does look over every single one of us all of the time and especially the times we need him the most.

For those of you that don't know, I have always struggled with the church and my testimony. I don't know why but that has always been my biggest struggle in life. I didn't truly gain my own testimony until a few years ago. Which I know is really sad, and most don't know that, but its true. I have always had great examples in my life and great teachers, but it seemed to not matter. I always struggled. So this is my first experience of feeling the blessings that come from being faithful and obedient. I'm not very openly spiritual with people, it is hard for me, but I feel so blessed and recognized that I needed to express it. I can now say that I truly have a testimony of paying tithing and doing the little things to have the blessings of the big things. Because being able to financially take care of your family with no big worries is a HUGE thing! It makes it so much easier to do the little things day in and day out that we are asked to do as members of this church and I am happy to say that the longer you do those things you are asked and required to do the easier it gets. Its when you do those things with a happy willing heart that they mean the most. My testimony has definitely been strengthened today. I am also more grateful than ever for  a husband that works as hard as he does to make sure I can raise our daughters in a loving home by their parents and not by strangers. I am grateful that he understands how important that is for them and also to me. I don't know what I would have done if Heavenly Father hadn't pushed us together like he did. Things always happen for a reason and Heavenly Father always knows best!