One Year And Counting

Tomorrow is the official ONE YEAR mark of my family living in our motor home. Can not believe that not only did I agree to live in this but to last a year! I'm pretty impressed with myself. I don't think I've really shown what our place looks like, but I plan to do a video walk through and post it. I've had lots of people ask how life is living in a motor home. How everything works and what not, I'll post the video soon and will hopefully answer questions. Now, living here has NOT been the easiest thing, the funnest thing, or even what I EVER imagined where I'd be. BUT I WOULD NOT TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING ELSE!!! Think about it. How much is JUST a mortgage on a house? $1,000-$2,000? JUST the MORTGAGE. Don't even think about water, electricity, HOA and whatever else you have to pay. (I don't even want to think about it! Makes me SICK!) Our motor home...WE OWN!!! We bought it with CASH! No monthly mortgage. No HOA bullcrap. Just rent because we don't have our own land. And right now we pay $450 a month for EVERYTHING!!!! Water, trash, electricity, internet is also included. But get this. The people's land in which in we live on made us a great deal and because of my WONDERFUL husband....we clean out horses stalls, cow pen, and feed the horses and that basically pays for rent. So I've mentioned the option of buying a house. And as you probably understood...we will NEVER buy a house. Call me crazy, I think YOU all who pay that much a MONTH for a house are nuts! Difference in opinions :) So the other way of living is an apartment. Need I say more?! haha! With the video I post you will hopefully see how small our living space is. We are thinking about upgrading to something bigger. A trailer with slide outs. We've been looking for a month or so and the price just isn't right for any we find. We really don't want to take out a loan, so we will probably be in this motor home for a while longer. And I'm completely fine with that. We'll just need to figure out something for the summer heat. Kendal and I died last summer :)

Now...how in the world did I make it a whole year in the motor home? I'll admit it...I DID NOT like this thing when we first got it. Actually, I didn't like it until we moved off my in-laws land. No offence to them...but we all know how wonderful it was to be out of high school and still living under mommy and daddy's roof. Same thing. We moved and got our own space and now things are marvelous! :) There are still times, especially more recently because I'm a growing mommy, where I just want something bigger! But I realize how much I hate to clean and how little it takes me to clean my home. Can't complain about that. There are lots of reminders of how much better I would have it in the motor home than a big house. Big house meaning...a 3 bedroom.
Even a 2 bedroom. Even a ONE bedroom!

Do the BEST with what you have! That runs through my head a lot during the day. Tanner and I can't and don't want to pay for anything more than what we have now. I'm fine with it if it means less financial stress for us.

Happy One Year! Here's to many more! Yes! That's right! MANY more in a motor home. May not be this specific one...but it will be one. :)

This post is in no way of bashing anyone. Just celebrating one whole year in our motor home.

New Blog!

I've created a new blog! K and I like to do crafts during the day. So, I've started posting on a blog to help give other moms ideas to help entertain their children. Check it out!

How To Entertain A Two Year Old

My Little Model

FINALLY it's happened! Kendal LOVES taking pictures! FINALLY!!

I've tried taking photos of K every month. BUT she's been a LITTLE difficult. And NOW she's beautiful and adds her attitude in her pose! I LOVE IT! She is such a funny little girl! So stinkin smart! Except for the fact that when we ask her where Baby Mylee is, she lifts her shirt up and points to HER tummy. I don't think so! haha! I love this kid!

life

I really want to blog today. But i'm sooo extremely tired and for some reason dealing with morning sickness. not fun. so here's a short post on what we've been up to.

tanner is working his butt off! he is trying to figure out what he wants to do with a career.

air force

police department

opening up his own mechanic shop

all we know for sure right now, is that we are soo blessed with the jobs he has. we are taking our time to figure out life so that MAYBE we can get caught up a little. But we definitely are counting our blessings.

we went to the zoo about a month ago. we had lots of fun watching miss kendal. running EVERYWHERE to see all the animals! wish it wasn't so dang expensive or we'd go more! we like the wild life world zoo 1,000x's better than phoenix zoo. the animals at wild life are so much closer and lively!

we also have a mini horse on the property we're living on. She's funny. About as tall as Kendal. As she is as fat as she is long. Her name is Bubbles. Kendal likes to go on rides.

that's all for now. i'm tired. forgot how difficult pregnancy is. can't tie my shoes anymore. growing pains SUCK! tired 24/7. Tanner working 24/7 and then add a 2yr old on top. Life is exhausting. But I'll live :)

Life is Great

We've had a very busy week this week and I guess blogging once a week gives me something to actually write about. To start off we found out on Tuesday we are having another little girl!!! Soooo excited! Here is a photo of her. She is all scrunched up! Love it!
Funny story...When we had the ultrasound done, Kendal was very interested in the ultrasound machine. Everything the tech was doing. The day after we had the ultrasound done, Kendal and I were playing before nap time. I was slouching in the chair and she was on my lap and we were singing songs. She gets off my lap, pulls up my shirt to see my belly and then walks around the room for a minute. She pretends to pick up something and walks back over to me. She then starts rubbing my tummy with her pretend "thing" and then I realize...oh...she's giving me an ultrasound! It was HILARIOUS!! She then knelt down next to me, using the book shelf as a computer and starts to type something. Then came back to do the ultrasound and then back to the computer to type. This went on for a while. I was just so AMAZED she remembered all of that! SOO FUN! More on Kendal. She is picking up words and phrases so quickly. She tells us to "Take it easy" because Tanner tells her that when she starts to throw a fit. She tells me she's feeling "very sad" when something bad happens. Like her sitting in timeout or about to throw a fit. It's kind of nice because I can get her to calm down faster know she feels "Very sad" But she says that because when she does throw a fit or does something bad I tell her her actions make me feel very sad. When ever we say thank you, she says "you're soo welcome mom" She puts "so" infront of a lot of things now. "I'm so happy" or "I'm so tired mom" I seriously love her!

To catch up...Here are some photos...out of order but whatever...She is sooo beautiful!! I love her!

Carving pumpkins. She didn't like touching the "guts"

So she shook them out haha

Oh her faces!

Helping Daddy carve

My parent's Trunk or Treat

My baby girl is now 27 months. I haven't taken many pictures of her, so here's a bunch! Enjoy!

She's into making silly faces...

"Sad Face"

"Mad Face"

"Surprised Face"

Well enough about Kendal. Tanner and I are doing great! We went on a date last night!!!! Been way too long!! We are figuring some things out before baby girl gets here in March/April. I like planning for the future! It's exciting to me! Can't say much about Tanner...working like crazy and we love him so much. I am realizing more and more how GREAT I have it. I am able to stay at home with my sweet girl and will continue to be able to stay home when new Baby Girl comes! As for me...I feel GREAT!! Better than great! I've been working out hard because I am seriously sooo scared to gain weight. I know I have to..but I started out weighing 10 pounds more this pregnancy than with Kendal. And guess what?! I've only gained 3 pounds so far!! YAY!! Baby Girl is measuring one week ahead of schedule. Kind of nervous cuz I don't want to deliver a big baby. Kendal was 8lbs 3 oz. Tanner was 9lbs 9oz. Soo...I should just prepare for a big girl! Ah! Hopefully she'll come early too! Middle of March works well for me. As far as names go...I had some picked out I liked but Tanner didn't care for them. We do have one name I LOVE and he says is "cute" but he won't answer me if this name is "good enough" for baby girl. Oh boys! Anyway, some important news...I'm "going out of busniess" with my photography for good this time. Can't handle the stress, especially with #2 coming soon. I love taking photos, but I'd rather take photos of my family than everyone else's. I have a great friend who I am referring all my old clients to. Her name is Jessica Salonga. (Click her name...it will direct you to her website.) Well, I think that's it for now!

Count Your Blessings!

Quick Update

I don't have a lot of time to write, we are headed to another Trunk or Treat! I will post lots next week! Finding out baby gender on Tuesday!

I've been doing some changes in the motor home...here's the first :)

Before...notice the play space??? Or lack of?!

AFTER!!!

The black is painted on and is a chalkboard...we have LOTS of fun coloring on the "black walls" we say that so she will learn she can only color on those :)

WAY TOOO LONG!!!!!!!

Most recent family photo...June 2010

So...hi! For the last 10 months I've been living on my in-laws land. Wasn't able to use the Internet to update my blog. We moved about 3 weeks ago and I figured it might be time to update again!

Where to start?! This is what we are living in now...it's very old...a '87....but the inside looks much, much better :)


The past few weeks I am realizing how blessed I am. I suffered really bad depression and still continue to fight it. This year has been VERY, VERY difficult for me. Most of which I do not want to discuss because it has come and gone. But about a week ago something happened and it changed my mindset and outlook on life. I started reading the book "5 Scriptures That Will Get you Through Almost Anything" by John Bytheway, and in there I realized something Very important. I finally understood how to rely on the Atonement. Since then life has been a whole lot better!

I have the BEST husband! He moved our family into the motor home in December 2009. His parents rented out a space for us to park on. We are grateful for them and all they have done for us...but 10 months of living "back at home" was sort of getting to Tanner and I. So we moved about 3 weeks ago. We moved to a small ranch where they have horses, goats, cows and chickens. We could not have it better than we do now! We picked up a job of feeding the animals and cleaning stalls. Pays for rent. Could not be more blessed. Kendal helps feeds and LOVES it. She is such a great helper. But...kind of got off topic...Tanner moved us into the motor home and at first it was nice. Then it got REALLY REALLY BAD! I hated it. Cannot say how badly I hated it. After a long battle we decided we didn't want to live in apartments again...or buy a house in this crappy economy. So we moved the motor home to a different property. And the move has been great for me. Once again...I am SO GRATEFUL for my in-laws and don't mean any disrespect towards them...but I love having my own space. So now...it's obvious to say that I LOVE my motor home. Yes it could use a paint job...but the inside is great. We've done some things to improve, make it better for Kendal really, and we love it. (I will take pictures and post them next week.)

Another thing...most of you know due to good old facebook...we are expecting another baby! I'm almost 17 weeks and will find out November 2nd what we are having. I have a good guess what it is...but we'll wait and see :) I'm so thrilled about this and Kendal is too. She too has a baby in her tummy ;) She thinks she does cuz I do. Two year olds. :) This is me at 15 weeks and I feel I've double in size already. I'll take a new photo in a few weeks :)
Now on to Kendal girl. Don't even know where to begin. She is hilarious!! Always making us laugh and is such a joy. Kids really do say the darnedest things. It's so fun to hear her long full sentences and big words she's using now. She has been sitting in timeout for screaming lately...LOUD kill your ears kind of scream. The other day Tanner brought home a baby horny toad. We asked Kendal if she wanted to hold it and she calmly says "No. I scream then sit in timeout" haha I wish she would get the point of if she throws a tantrum she sits in timeout. Someday. Well I come to my parent's house once a week to do laundry so that's when I can update my blog :) Next week I will post ultrasound pictures and gender :) And lots of pictures of my big girl Kendal.

Count your blessings! :)

Kendal is TWO Years Old!

We had Kendal's birthday at Peter Piper Pizza! Lots of friends and family showed up to help celebrate Kendal's life! We are so grateful for her and for her cute personality. She is such a blessing to our family!

Kendal had so much fun playing with all the games!

Uncle Tim! We Love our Tarzan! 

 We first started opening presents...but she only got to a few and then...

 She saw the cake/cupcakes! So we sang to her and later went back to presents!

 Kendal got lots of nice things! We are so grateful for everyone who came!

 Kendal got to make her own personal pizza. She started out slowly sprinkling cheese and then realized that dumping the tub is much faster.

After some more playing, it was time to eat!