Tyler's Birthday

June 25th was Tyler's 3rd birthday! He's getting so big so fast. He's potty trained and sleeping in a big boy bed. He loves to sing and just be an all around boy. He can be rowdy and obnoxious in all the ways a little brother should.

Make a Smilebox postcard

Tyler I love you so much. Your laugh and smile always bring light to my day. I'm glad you had a fun birthday.

My new love affair

I have developed a love affair with CVS!! I recently started couponing and searching the web for all sorts of ways to save $$$. That's when I discovered CVS and ECBs (aka Extra Care Bucks). By buying particular products you can earn ECB to be used towards paying for future CVS purchases. So today I went for the 3rd time. I have to tell you all what I did. I was so excited. Everything I bought is stuff we use on a regular basis or will be used on our trip to ID.

I started out with 3 ECBs from my last visit: 1 for $13.98, 1 for $2 and 1 for $1.

I bought:

Transaction #1:

Fig Newtons ($4.49)
Nutter Butters (Originally $4.49 but on sale BOGO FREE)
2 big bottles of Gold Bond lotion ($18.98)

Total before discounts and sales: 28.82
Used $13.98 ECB and 2 $1.00 off Lotion coupons

Total after discounts and sales: 8.35
Earned a $5.00 ECB

Transaction #2:

Crest Toothpaste ($1.99 - originally $2.79)
2 bottles of Coppertone sunblock ($19.98)
2 bottles of Softsoap body wash ($4.49 BOGO Free - originally $4.49 each)
4 bags of Lifesavers ($4.38 BOGO Free - originally $2.19 each)
2 tubes of Sure deoderant ($2.99)

Total before discounts and coupons: 48.48
Used: $1 ECB, $2 ECB, $4 ECB, $5 ECB
Lifesaver coupon - BOGO Free (all lifesavers were free)
Softsoap - $.75 off

Total after discounts: $20.93
Earned $14 ECB

Transaction #3:

4 tubes of Mitchum deodorant ($3.99 - originally $4.69)

Total before discounts: 18.95
Used $14 in ECB

Total after discounts: $2.15
Earned $4 ECB

Total savings for entire trip: $64.82

I love CVS. I even got a raincheck for some mascara I'll end up getting free after ECB.

Anyway

I heard this song yesterday evening coming home from Relief Society scripture study class. I'd heard it before but it really moved me and got me to thinking this time. I just thought I'd share the lyrics here with you.

Anyway
by Martina McBride

You can spend your whole life building
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy
It's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

You can love someone with all your heart
For all the right reasons
In a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
Yea - I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway
Yea, sing it anyway
Yeah, yeah!

I sing
I dream
I love anyway

The Week Murphy Moved In - Part 1

The day John left Aggreko our health insurance ended. Cobra is an option but a very expensive one ($1000 a month). We decided to see if we needed it. We could pay for the occasional office visit and should anything major happen we could sign up for Cobra. Plus no one has been really sick in a while. We should have realized that Murphy would have moved into our home the second the insurance ended.

So a week after John started his new job Karena got a stomach bug. That was the evening of Father's Day. Tuesday I started feeling bad - just felt like indigestion but than different too. By Tuesday night I was in so much pain. I was afraid it was my appendix or something. I called my dr. and he suggested it might be gallstones or my appendix. I took some Tylenol and Pepto and the pain eased off. I went to bed and slept fairly well. Wednesday morning I'm feeling better but as the morning goes on the pain is coming back worse and worse. I make an appt. with my dr. I get there and after examining me he determines its most likely my gall bladder. If its gall stones than I will need surgery to remove my gall bladder. But I need blood work and an ultrasound first. (Remember we don't have insurance.) I get my blood work done, pay for the visit and head over to the hospital for my ultrasound. I pay for that and then wait to have my ultrasound.

In the meantime my cell phone rings. Karena and Tyler are with a sitter (Hannah is up at Mom and Dad's). Karena has "scraped" her foot while riding her trike and is in hysterics. She wants me to "COME HOME!" I tell the sitter to get her some ice cream and whatever will help her calm down.

I have my ultrasound and since my dr. ask them to read it stat I wait for the results. My gall bladder looks fine. No surgery today. I rush back over to the dr. office. Its locked. I know there are still people in there because it only closed 10 minutes ago. I sneak in as someone is coming out. I ask to see the dr again. I'm sure he is so sick of me, but I don't care because I hurt too bad to care. He graciously sees me again and loads me up with samples (THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!) of pain medicine and stuff in case its not my gall bladder and is an ulcer instead. I take it all when I get home and by Thursday I'm fine.

But...back to Karena. I imagined a scrape. Every child has scraped something. No big deal. I check Karena's foot when I get home. Not a scrape. This is a 3 inch abrasion along the top of her foot. I guess she was wearing flip-flops and tried to use the top of her foot as a brake. My stomach actually flipped when I saw it. Two weeks later its actually healing quite nicely. But it involved a dr. visit and soaking it 2x a day in warm soapy water. Not a fun process for a 4 yr old girl. She even got to wear slippers and tennis shoes to church. New rule: No flip flops while riding trikes.

I'll finish the rest of the saga later.