Wow it's been a long time!

I never posted a Christmas post...or a new years post because well. . .I was busy. Sorry. I know many of you are dying to know what we have been up to so I will spill the beans. I’m being sarcastic. For those of you that still want to continue, know this...it's long.

I thought everyone knew this stuff, but every once in awhile someone will ask something and I realize that I am really bad at passing on information! I will try better, I promise.

Most of you know that Nick got a job at Toyota, but what you don’t know is that on his second day of working at Toyota he had a job interview for Decagon. Well, it was a “tour” not really a true interview I suppose. But for the sake of simplicity we’ll call it an interview. It’s the third position he’s applied for at Decagon, but definitely the one that caters most to his degree. If you live in Pullman then you probably know what Decagon is, or you know half a dozen people who work there. If you don’t live in Pullman, then probably all you know about Decagon is that it is a 10 sided shape, or maybe that it’s a shape but you don’t remember how many sides it has. It is a fabulous company to work for. Even the Wall Street Journal gave it an award for being one of the best small businesses to work for in 2008. He started at Decagon about three weeks ago, and we are so excited.

Nick also got a new calling last Sunday and we are very excited. He will be serving as the Second Counselor to the Bishop in one of the Singles Wards here in town. I’m a little disappointed that I won’t be able to attend with him each Sunday, but Lucy needs her Primary! I spent 10 years in singles wards before we got married, I guess you'd think I'd be sick of them, but I'm really excited to get to know everyone!

When we moved to Pullman 2-1/2 years ago we were very prayerful about it, especially since I didn’t want to leave family and our house. Over the past couple years we have really loved living in Pullman, we just didn’t really understand WHY we moved here, but now, as Nick is starting his career and a new calling we both have no doubts that this is where we are meant to be in our lives. It is such a blessing to have the gospel in our lives, and the peaceful feeling that comes when you are doing things right. I am so grateful for my testimony in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have continued to babysit/nanny. I have two kids that I watch full time, and another two that I watch just 3-4 days a month. I have been extremely blessed with being able to help (a little bit) financially, but still be at home with our beautiful daughter. I am still serving as the Relief Society President, and I have loved the opportunity to get to know and serve the sisters in our ward. We have an amazing ward here and I feel so blessed.

Lucy has been such a joy. I wish I could just video tape her all of the time, so I can remember every moment, but whenever I do turn on the video camera she freezes. She is doing awesome at learning how to put letters together to make words thanks to the Leap Frog Word Whammer. It’s fun doing it along with her and helping her figure stuff out. She loves having her friends over to play every day. She loves, loves, loves her dollhouse! She also loves playing/cooking in her kitchen, and has a great imagination. She is often coming to me with empty arms telling a huge list of imaginary things that is carrying. She loves animals and babies. I’ve always said little girls are just the best little moms ever, and Lucy holds true to this. She also loves to dance and had her first mini dance recital last month. It was adorable to watch her little personality shine. She is still enjoying swimming class too and can float for a few seconds on her back.

We have been blessed with being able to see all of the grandparents in the last month. We went up to Canada to visit my family right after Christmas and Lucy had a blast on the four wheelers and snowmobiles! Oma & Grandpa Kevin sure are great to us and we had a great time visiting. Then this last week we went to Portland to visit my Dad and Nicks parents. It was so much to see Lucy get so excited about family. I really value extended family in Lucy's life and I hope we always live close enough to visit.

At one point I was going to the doctor and I told Lucy that I was going so that Mommy could try to have a baby and she looked at me and tilted her head “Uhm, I want two.” Well, let’s just work on getting one! At this point there is no news to share, but at least you know…we’re not pregnant.

I hope everyone is enjoying 2009. I know I won’t post very often here, but hopefully when I do it will be worthwhile. Sending out our love, Kim

Hey Mom, I really, really love pink."

I think the thing Lucy tells me the most is that she really, really loves pink. Seriously I hear it at least 2-3x a day. It’s been this way for probably a couple months now. It makes me smile every time too. She also really, really loves the colored Christmas lights and she knows I like the white ones. Every evening when we see La Luna (the moon) she tells me what color he is and that that she really, really loves it when it’s a colored moon like when it’s orange or yellow, and also when it’s really big in the sky. Lucy knows the things she loves, she knows what makes her happy like the color pink or colored lights. One of my favorite things she says often though is “Hey Mom, we’re a happy family”. Yes, this is my favorite thing she says often. It makes me grab her and snuggle her until I can feel her start to worm her way out of my arms. It makes me so full of joy that I want to just smile all day long.

Yes, we are a happy family Sweet Thing.
I’m so glad that we are too.

I do not like it when...

. . .people call and assume I have caller ID and I know who they are...I can't stand it! I feel so phony when I'm faking being nice while trying to figure it out while not wanting to be rude and admitting I don't know THEIR voice even though I don't know who THEY are. I just had a phone call that I swear it sounded exactly like one of my friends from way back and I got all excited, but then they asked about something in the ward, so I knew they were from my ward, but I hung up not even knowing who I had spoken to. Oh well, I answered their questions.

So the moral of the story is, not every one has caller ID...please just say "Hey, it's so and so..." I love talking on the phone, and I feel as though gabbing to old friends is a talent of mine, but it's a much more genuine response if I know who it is when I'm talking on the phone. So go ahead and call anytime, just let me know who I'm talking to...please.

Did you know...

that there is a redbox in town? It's at Dismores. Once I found out there was a Redbox near me I was SO excited - I hate paying $4.99 to rent a movie at Blockbuster and I don't want to lock myself into any monthly committment either because sometimes we just don't have time to watch movies. With Redbox it's just $1/day and I love it...and now I love it even more because each Monday there is a promo code for a FREE rental! I'll post the free code for today, but it expires it at midnight. If you're interested in the code each week just let me know. I'm all about a deal! Here is the info...

Redbox Code 12/15/08

Redbox distributes a code every Monday that you can use for 1 free rental. The code expires tonight at midnight.

The code for today is: 47J2L8

To use the code, do the following: on the first screen select "Rent With Promo, enter the code, choose your movie and swipe your debit or credit card (this is in case you don't bring the movie back. They will put a $1 charge on your card to hold the movie, but if you return the movie by 9 pm the next day, the charge will be removed).

You can use 1 code for each debit/credit card that you have, so to rent multiple movies, just do the above process with each card.

To find the nearest Redbox, click here.

Stage 1: The Envelope Stage

Being on the very tight budget and with our student loans looming over our heads I have finally decided to start using coupons. I have thought of doing this for years, but have never really understood how? So I found some blogs...The internet is so amazing isn't it? Anyhow it's kind of exciting, BUT it's amazing how crazy some people go!!! Like this for instance. . .Am I way off base to think that I can't imagine carrying THIS into Safeway? I bet her weekly budget for groceries is like $20, and she probably manages. Maybe one day I'll get to this point, who knows, but for now I can't imagine. I'm still at Stage One: The Envelope Stage.

Do any of you go crazy over coupons? I excited to see this start working, and reducing our grocery budget. Some of my favorite blogs I check regarding coupons are:

http://frugalisfab.blogspot.com/
http://saving4myfamily.blogspot.com/
http://www.moneysavingmom.com/

November 2008

I have started this post so many times, but then I don't finish, and it times out, and so I start over, but don't finish, and then it times out...you get the idea.

Lucy had her birthday party on the Saturday after her birthday. Since we have a very small home we just invited her closest friends that are her age. All of her Aunties, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents were very generous and kind! A birthday party is always good fun. I made my favorite lasagna dish and the traditional Mower Birthday cake...Yumm! It was a great time.

Oh Lucy gave me a great gift for her birthday - she potty trained herself. A long time ago my friend Amy Harper was asking another friend Jenny about how to best potty train her daughter. Jenny said "Wait till their three!" I have have given little attempts at potty training but kind of held onto that information. Once Lucy turned three I would work on getting her potty trained. Well, the day after she turned three she wanted nothing to do with diapers and would only wear panties. She had 5 accidents total and 4 of them were all within an hour and a half when it was just Daddy at home?!?!?!? I don't know what happened! She still wears pull-ups at night time, but their dry in the mornings. Have I mentioned that I have a perfect child?

Oh I had another proud moment recently too...At our craft day at church we had a great lunch and we were using cups from McDonalds for our drinks. Lucy pointed to Ronald McDonald and asked “Who’s that?” I was so proud that she had no idea who Ronal McDonald is. I know it’s silly, but hey, I take pride in the little things. I guess I'm a little proud of the Mom I am too when my daughter doesn't know what McDonalds is. Of coarse the exception is her little friend Claire who spent a month at the Ronald McDonald house visiting her preemie baby sister in the hospital, but lets hope that we never have to take advantage of the hospitality of the Ronald McDonald's House.

TOYOTA: Moving Forward

I have many things to blog about BUT, Nick is at work so I can't download any pictures off the camera...Yes, you heard right, Nick is at WORK! Most of you know that we have been trying to find a job here in Pullman - no easy task. It's a small University town, and the University is on a hiring freeze.

We have been very blessed though with a job at James Toyota. If you're not currently living in Pullman then you don't know how beautiful this dealership is! They had a dealership in Moscow for many years, but have been building this new site and it just opened a couple weeks ago on the Moscow Pullman Highway.

If you haven't had a chance to go see all the beautiful cars - then do it! I mean who wouldn't WANT a new TOYOTA!! I love that Nick is selling something that we totally believe in. I have always loved Subaru's and Toyota's. I'm waiting for him to do well enough that I can get my dream car - a LAND CRUISER - Aahhh... A new one, an old one, one of each? Please??

So if you want/need a car whether it's new or old, trade in or not...
Go see Nick.
He's the nicest guy in the world, and he'll treat you well.

I'm so proud of you honey!!