The Power of Paying Your Tithing...

Recently Preston and I realized that we hadn't paid tithing for a while. It was one of those times where at first you justify (or at least try to) with"I'll make up for it next week cause I already spent everything I had" or "I forgot the checkbook" or "But we need the money to pay some bills". After a while of not doing it you get out of the habit and don't even think about it till someone mentions it in a talk or you see someone handing the bishop an envelope. Even then you kinda brush it off and try to ignore the guilty feeling that's attempting to tie a sailors knot with your intestines. We realized it had been a while when we went for tithing settlement in December. Suddenly it made sense why we were struggling so much!

We started paying every week again and things got better. On Fast Sunday I paid fast offering and prayed and fasted for financial help of some kind. THE VERY NEXT DAY Preston got a dollar raise! A week later we got our HUGE tax refund!

So yeah... I think I've learned a lesson here!

Oh hey, I'm trying something new. New is scary. So be nice to me. We'll see how it goes cause I'm still unsure about it. It's a new blog of mine. Mostly for myself cause I find it very therapeutic to write, so if you don't like it, DON'T TELL ME. If you do well that I would like to know about, or not if you don't want to tell me, lol. It's http://lovelife-behappy.blogspot.com/ .

I'll post more pictures of Chloe next post k? I don't have my camera or sd card with me right now, and I'm feeling too worn out from playing so much wii fit to get up and get it, sorry!

Look What Wii Got!!!

So...Excellent news!!! We got our tax return back and unlike last year we didn't owe. In fact, because of our favorite little baby girl we got a lot back! So much that we thought we would have some fun AS WELL as taking care of some debt and bills. We did need a new computer or at least we will soon so we got this little Acer Netbook at Costco for $300. I love it! It's more technically mine since the last one was labeled Preston's. It's got an 8.9 inch screen and is perfect for me! I am blogging from it right now.
We also had so much fun last weekend in Prescott with my mom's Wii that we went ahead and got one and a Wii Fit. It's great! I keep wearing myself out on it (which is good cause I never exercise otherwise). Again, we LOVE it! Preston's pretty thrilled, he's been trying to get me to let him get a game console of any kind for a while now. This is the first one I've really wanted to play more than once in a great while.

On top of all that, we're trading in our old Kodak for a new one. The one we have was a replacement that I used my warranty on when my last one broke. When that happens you don't get another warranty on the replacement. Fortunately it hasn't broken yet, so before it does we are going to use Kodak's new exchange program and get reimbursed a little money for our old one and get a nicer brand new one WITH a warranty. This one... it's got HD and 14 megapixels and lots of cool new picture taking technology! It should be here by Wednesday or Thursday. Yay!!!

Oh and of course as always Chloe is getting cuter by the minute! Her shirt here says Caution: Frequent Leaks. Grandma Foster and Meredith found them right after me and Preston got married 3 years ago. They found them last week buried in a closet. There were two matching onesies that said the same thing so I gave one to my good friend Brittany for her baby (due in early March or now, whatever comes first).

Chloe wore this dress to church on Sunday. Not the hat because it didn't fit very well, but she looked so adorable. And EVERYONE said so. How did I get such a pretty baby? I can't wait to see what the rest of my kids will look like. Was this a fluke or will they all be gorgeous?

The red ribbon replaced the hat for church. I love dressing her up!!! I can't wait till she has hair to put into braids and piggy-tails!

The full ensemble. Her Grandma Foster made some little crochet shoes that are just like the socks. I was trying them both on to see which one fit better. Neither would stay on her long skinny feet! She ended up barefoot by the time I got to Relief Society. Stinker! She really does have her dad's feet! Oh, Oh! Her eyes are turning green!!! Just like mine!!!

I had my final OB appointment today, just a check up on my new birth control to make sure everything is normal and good. Before we left I made sure I got a picture of Dr./Brother Tutt holding Chloe (I never know what to call him). I need to be sure to send him a copy to put on his board in his office. He is such a great doctor. I highly recommend him to anyone having a baby!

Winter Wii-derland!

My mom invited us up to Prescott for the weekend and for once we weren't busy. I guess that means the holiday busy season is over. The gifts have been given, the celebrations celebrated, the baby's been born, and decorations are down... Oh,wait... nope, tree's still standing... Hey, I have a baby now! Stop laughing at me! At least it's a cute tree!

Anyways... We went to Prescott and had so much fun! The original plan was to go to Out of Africa in Camp Verde but it was looking kinda FREEZING and rainyish outside so we opted out and had a nice warm day in.

Winston the fat wiener...

Instead of freezing our tushies off we played with my mom's brand new Wii and Fit. I WANT ONE NOW!!! And mom (Grandma Gaye) played with Chloe. Fun all around...

Early in the morning on the 8th we woke up to SNOW. So pretty! I haven't seen snow fall in a long time. I love how you feel like you are part of the snow globe instead of the one shaking it. I kept taking breaks from the Wii after it wore me out to go stand in the snow. It fell on and off all day. Every time it would stop I would get a little depressed, but then it would start again within an hour or two and I would go back outside to stand in it.

I didn't take Chloe out in it mostly because it was pretty cold and I didn't think I could pry her from Grandma Gaye's arms. She still had fun though. I kept putting her in her car seat near the TV while we played Wii and she loved watching the little characters and the bright moving colors.

Of course Charlie came along. Here he is , with Josh, playing his favorite game: tug-o-war/fetch/keep away. He doesn't really get the concept but it's alot more fun when he's on unfamiliar tile that's unavoidable. When he starts running at top speed, he doesn't move for a bit before actually taking off. It's like the cartoon of the roadrunner... Meep-meep!

Preston's jammies (that he never changed out of that entire day) were ever so appropriate for the day. Snowflake/Christmas bottoms with his Nintendo shirt (it says "Power Up")

That night mom grilled steak and Nannie and Grandad came over for dinner (my grandparents). We (them, my mom and me) played cards while Preston, Josh and Selena played more Wii. (That thing never got a break!) Great-Grandma-Nannie got to have a bunch of Chloe time which she was more than thrilled about.

Oh and Preston and Selena showed Grandad how to bowl with a Wii. He liked that. Josh won the game having had more practice and a freshly buzzed head (see background of this picture). Yeah... he randomly just up and decided to hack it off. (He's preppin' for the Marines.)

When we finally left, the snow was beginning to stick. Selena said goodbye by writing on our car.

The next morning... I was in pain... I pushed myself to get the high score on advanced hula-hoops with the Wii Fit. That was after doing the regular version of the hula-hoops 2 or 3 times to unlock it, then trying twice to get the high score. Oh and I did the yoga, the jogging, the boxing, the balance games, the ski jump, and more stuff I can't think of right now. I loved that thing... apart from when it measured how fat I was... but it's good because it keeps track of your progress (or not) if you're trying to lose weight. So... I want one now.

Chloe being cute!

I love how after the Superbowl ended the news decided to fill time they had to analyze how the Cardinals lost. The Office was on 10 minutes late because they couldn't figure out how to sum it up in a few simple words: They lost. Now back to our regular programing...

Anyways afterwards was more fun. To me anyways. This is of Chloe hanging out with Grandma Foster. She loves Grandma! Oh and she's so cute, I love this thing she does with her hands, like she about to say a prayer. I love my baby girl!

Preston took this one after church today. It's an awful one of me but it's funny that we are laying in the same position. We were sleepy. It was a late night last night.

Oh and on the night of Monday the 26th of January, Chloe laughed for the first time. It took a while and a lot of hard work and I am realizing that when she "laughs" most of the time it's more of a "huh". It's still cute. But this one was undeniably a laugh. I love this baby!