Wednesday, December 31, 2008

$20.00

My mom emailed me this story and I liked it so much I wanted to share it!










$20.00
Sometimes we just need to be
reminded!
A well-known speaker
started off his seminar by:

holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, 'Who would like
this $20 bill?'
Hands started going up.
He said, 'I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do
this.
He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill.

He then asked, 'Who still wants it?'
Still the hands were up in the air.
Well, he replied, 'What if I do this?'
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor
with his shoe.
He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.

'Now, who still wants it?'
Still the hands went into the air.
My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson.
No matter what I did to the money, you still l wanted it because it did
not decrease in value.
It was still worth $20.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the
dirt
by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.
We feel as though we are worthless.
But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose
your value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to
those who DO LOVE you.

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know,
but by WHO WE ARE and WHOSE WE ARE.

Not ready for this....

Okay, so I was just in my bathroom... painting my nails. And as I turned to walk out of the bathroom... I got the glimps of something shiney in my hair... so I took a better look. Low and behold it was a WHITE hair! I am soooo not old enough to have just yanked the first white hair out of my head am I???? I am absolutely freaked by this you have NO idea! The funny thing is, Bill and I were laying in bed this morning... and he just says out of the blue... "Man, I just feel like I am getting old. I don't know what it is, but something has just changed." Of course my smart ass replies, "Honey, you are old." Is this my CARMA....AAAAAHHHHHH

Monday, December 29, 2008

Sophisticated Sam...



We had to snap just a few shots of little Sam. He went and got my glasses and put them on. He looked soooo cute! Just had to share!!!

Christmas

Well this Christmas has been a pretty tough go for me. I have been struggling with a lot of personal issues, and I was pretty emotionally drained in the few weeks leading up to Santa's arival. I had no idea what to expect of the holiday, but tried to remain excited and look at things at a "glass half full" stand point.



I am soooo grateful for my children and husband. They couldn't have made the day any better. Just to see the smiles on my babies precious faces meant soooo much! We spent the majority of the day at home, just our little family. It was very relaxing. My kids were so pleased with EVERYTHING they got. Our morning started off at about 8:30... I know nice! We took our time opening gifts and enjoying each moment of it. Then around 10am we headed off to my dads in the wonderful WHITE OUT mother nature greeted us with. That was a 50 minute drive, one which normally takes about 15 minutes. I have to admit I was white knuckled the WHOLE way there... but we made is safely. The kids got Harley Davidson Leather jackets from my dad and Sunney... and they both just got the biggest kick out of that. We spent about 2 hours there just enjoying the company of family and headed back home for the remainder of the day. Then later that evening my mom came over with my little brothers to bring the kids there gifts. My mom got the kids the SOFTEST blankets I have ever felt in my life... I want to steal them and cozy up myself! It was a short visit, but I was VERY happy to see them and spend a little time with them. Then we got the kids dressed for bed, and watched a christmas show that was on tv, and then the kids were off to bed by 9pm... and I cleaned up some before I retired to bed myself.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

The week from Hell... (aside from Christmas)

Okay, so our house has decided to start falling apart on us. And all in one week. First our garbage disposal broke... no biggie, $100 fix... okay then two days later, our furniss went out... oh great! Thats a $200 fix... got that done. Not even 10 minutes after the repair guy left, my niece clogged the toilet and flooded the bathroom... fortunately that didn't cost anything, just had to suck up all the water from my carpets. So in my mind, things happen in threes... we should be done with the repairs for awhile right???? Ummmm NO, think again!!!! Last night Bill was messing around with his bike, then when he came in, shut the garage door... well then we here a big crash... go out and the door is hanging there off the rails. Yippie! Bill spent about an hour out there trying to get it back on the rails, he almost had it, but then it popped out again. So we started making the calls... We found a company that would come out for a $50 service charge and I was told that because there were no parts involved that would be the cost... AWSOME!!! Or so we thought... guy just got out here and guess what, they have a seperate charge just to reset the door. WTF!!!! So, this is going to be a $300+ fix. I must say I am spent!!! I think it is time to MOVE!!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Are you ready?????

Santa comes tomorrow... and I am soooo excited for this year. Both of my kids are soooo excite for Christmas this year. It is sure to be a great time! All of my shopping is DONE, has been for a couple weeks, and I am so READY For CHRISTMAS! YAY! Hope everyone has a wonderful, amazing, spectacular, everything you dreamed of Christmas!
Happy Holidays!
All our love,
The Tomlin's!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Our Winter Wonderland....

As much as I hate the snow... today you wouldn't have known it. It was actually rather cool to see ALL this snow pile up. I was watching the news and they were forcasting 2-5 inches across the valley as snow totals today, but I beg to differ. I would bet we got about 8 inches at our house. When I steped into it, it went above my boot... which is about mid calf. Anyway... Brenna was DIEING to go outside and use her new snow shovel. So Bill bundled up to take them out... because I wanted nothing to do with it... but as I sat in the window and watched the kids have sooooo much fun, I decided to bundle up myself and go out to take some pictures. I taught Brenna how to make snow angels, and she covered every inch along the walkway with them. Sam didn't really get the concept, but he just thought it was fun to lay there with the snow flakes landing on his face. The kids ventured out into the center of the yard, and the snow was so deap that Sam couldn't get back out. Brenna had a hard time getting out too because the snow was damn near up to her knees. There were people spinning doughnuts in our circle on there four wheelers, and one guy came through on his four wheeler with a plow on the front and cleaned off the sidewalks. The kids got a kick out of watching them, and the neighbor kid came out on his little motorized scooter and thought he could make it through the circle on that thing, and it was really funny to watch him because he thought he was being super cool... and then his scooter spun out, tipped over and he fell flat on his butt. I was laughing hystarically... Anyway, I had to fight the kids to get them inside... they LOVED the snow!








Friday, December 12, 2008

The Gift of Giving...

I have been talking with Sam and Brenna about all the kids that will be going without a christmas this year. I know Sam doesn't understand yet, but Brenna has been VERY Concerned for all these kids. I explained to them that they BOTH have way too many toys and they don't play with most of them anymore and that we should go through all of them and give them to a family that can't afford to buy Christmas. Brenna has been so excited to do this, and I am so proud of her. Today we went through all of Sam's stuff and we posted it on KSL for free today. In 45 minutes I got over 30 emails, and 5 or 6 phone calls. The first family to call I told them I would hold the toys for them for the day and then offer them to the next if they didn't show. Just reading through these emails as the came made me just sob. I know times are tough, and there are many out there struggling, but I never expected to have that many responses. Then I had to contact each of them back and tell them that they toys had been claimed litterally in the first 3 minutes of posting the add. And it just broke my heart. I wish I could have been of help to all of the families. As I was responding to those who were contacting me, I had a quiet little knock at the door... there stood two boys about 6 and 8 dressed in clothes too small, torn and shaggy and a cute little mom, belly stretched as far as it could, clothes worn and tattered. They came in to get the toys, and as they left she turned to me and said, "I have six kids, and number seven on the way... Thank you for giving us Christmas." I shut the door and just lost it! I just wanted to post this and tell everyone in my family how much I love them... and how fortunate I know we all are. There are sooooo many people out there going without christmas this year, if you have anything to spare, even used toys... I encourage you to do the same. I know this is the season of giving, but I have never given to anyone outside my family and I have to say... I think for the first time I am feeling the true meaning of these holidays. I am so glad that I was able to do this and also teach my children the importance of the season as well.

Happy Holidays!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

We see SANTA!!!


Today we took the kids over to Valley Fair Mall (I know, it's the ghetto) to see Santa. We walked in and didn't even have to wait in line... I guess that is probably because again it is Ghetto Fair Mall. Anyway, the Santa there this year is really good. His hair, beard, mustash is all real! Both kids were super excited to see him, and they both climb right up to his lap. When he asked Brenna what she wanted for Christmas, she told him a tea pot. Lucky for me I already bought it for her. Although, originally it was going to be from mommy and daddy... I think that one better be from Santa too. Now when he asked Sam the same question, he just stared at him with a cute little smile, and said nothing. He was just in awww of sitting there with Santa. Brenna is completely satisfied now... and she can't wait for her tea set that Santa said the Elves are making right now!

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Dinosaur Museum



Today, Bill was off work, so we decided to take the kids to the dinosaur museum. We have been there before, but not since Sam was born. Boy did Sam think it was neat! And Brenna was "scared" so she said. Every room we went in Sam would point and say..."Mommy, Daddy.... RAAAARRRR!" It was really cute. I think there favorite part was dusting off the fossils in the sand. As we were leaving we stopped in the gift shop and they both got a dinosaur sucker... then Brenna picked out a butterfly mood ring (she is such a girl) and Sam picked out a ball with a dinosaur in the middle of it... which was half chewed up before we even got home. He is cutting his eye teeth, so nothing is making it out of his mouth alive lately.

Trying to be crafty...

I was in the mood to make something, or at least try. So I went to michaels and saw these cute wood cut outs that looked like gift tags. I thought that they would make great decore for the tree... so originally I was going to make one for each member of my family to put in our tree. But then decided that they would make cute little gifts for neighbors. So I only made on for our family... here is how it turned out!


Festival Of Trees...

I haven't always gone to the festival of trees. Last year was my first year, and I enjoyed it a lot. I have decided that I want to make this a yearly outing. This year Bill was working, so I took the kids and also invited my sister in law, Steph, along with her four girls. The kids were tired after about the first half hour of walking, but I loved it. There were so many awsome trees, as usual! Steph and her girlies left earlier than myself and my kids. I promised Brenna that we would go see Santa before we left, so we headed over to stand in line. Right when we got there the lady literally put the sign out in front of us as we went to step in line that said, sorry Santa needs to go feed his reindeer. It actually really made me mad. Then she had stated if you want to see Santa you are going to have to make an appointment... WHAT??? Since when do you need an appointment to visit santa? The first appointment available was more that two hours away and we had already been there over two hours... yeah, I wasn't going to wait for an appointment. Oh well, Brenna was pretty upset that she wasn't able to see Santa that day, but I promised her we will find him when he is visiting somewhere else and she can see him then. Anyway, I really wish I had the money to support such a great fundraiser and buy a pretty tree... maybe one day!

Our Christmas tree....

We decorated our tree last week... the kids had soooo much fun! I just sat back and watched them decorate it, that is until I realized I still had to decorate the top. They were so good, and they both helped eachother. It was a great experience with the both of them. It isn't very often we can get through something without one of them crying. Needless to say it was a success!

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful day, and there was GREAT food! My step mom Sunney did an amazing job with everything. I hope everyone enjoyed there day with friends and family!

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

How To Play This Game of Tag:Post these rules on your blog.List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself.Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

THREE JOYS
1. My children
2. My man
3. Last but not least my family.

THREE FEARS
1. Loss of a loved one, especially my children.
2. Open water
3. Tight spaces

THREE GOALS
1. Financial Stability
2. New house in a better neighborhood.
3. College fund for the kidlets.

THREE CURRENT OBSESSIONS
1. Blogging
2. Cooking for my Blogging
3. Myspace

THREE RANDOM SURPRISING FACTS
1. I'm not as innocent as I look...lol
2. I can do a good chicken impression.
3. I love taking pictures.

Okay, I'm tagging these five people: Jaime, Casey, Kelly V., Stephanie, Mom.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Sam does the #2!

Today Sam came up to me, and he totally had the poop face... yeah you know the one... pure consentration. So I said, do you want to go poo poo in the potty... he ran to the bathroom, so I took the diaper off... he had just a little in it,so I put him on the potty. And there he sat for a good 4 minutes. I thought he was just pretending to push, but low and behold... he really pooped! I was so proud of him, and he was super proud of himself. When he was done we were sure to get him a big smiley face sticker! YAY SAM!

Meet Ronan...



YES!!!! I finally did it! I convinced Bill (with a little help form Brenna) to let us get another family pet... one I have been wanting since I got rid of my other kitty when I had Brenna. Isn't he CUTE! He was a stray that was brought into the WVC animal shelter about 5+ months ago, and there he has been ever since. He is approx. 2 years old. Although Brenna was drawn to the little kittens, I explained to her that we needed to adopt an adult cat because it is a lot harder for them to find homes. She understood and we began dong the meet and greets with the cute furry felines. Second cat that we pulled out was this big fat black cat! And let me tell you, he was perfect. The kids beat on him, malled him, kissed him, hugged him, and he wasn't even fased by it. In fact he loved every minute of it. After about 30 minutes with the kitty, we made the decision that he was the one. After the adoption was complete, I of course opted for them to place him in a box for the car ride home... being that EVERY cat I have ever owned or know of for that matter have been petrified of car rides... well, he was petrified of the box. I felt so bad about how scared he was, so I decided to just put him in the truck and pray he doesn't panic. The second he got into the truck he was diggin it... looking out the windows, just chillin'. Then when we started to go, he went and laid on the back seat with Brenna and laid his head on her lap to pet him. He enjoyed the ride quite a bit. I was amazed. I knew then we for SURE made the right choice. Once we got home, I was expecting him to go in and explore his new territory. To my surprise, he walked in, look around for about 3 seconds. Made his way to the kitchen, hopped up onto one of the kitchen chairs and laid down. Seriously it took him all of 1 minute to make himself at home. He just fits. And the kids love him, and surprisingly they are malling him too much. He is such a good kitty and we are excited to have him!

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Picture Tag...

Ok, Sister Steph tagged me. I have to post my 4th picture from my 4th file and then tag 4 friends. Drum roll please as I pull up my picture files to find my download....... and the winner is...



This is from the day of my Niece Brynn's birthday party... we were getting ready to go, and I snapped some pics of the kids before we left. Brenna was wearing a new outfit... It is so cute! Okay now I tag Jaime, Casey, Tasha, and Kelly!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Sam's gotta Mohawk!

This is something I have been wanting to do for a LONG time! He was in DESPERATE need of a hair cut, I told Bill I was going to take him to get it cut and then he said why don't we just give him a Mohawk.... That was all it took and right after lunch we took him in the bathroom and Bill and I gave him his first official Mohawk. He is such a STUD!

Monday, November 17, 2008

Playing in the leaves...




The kids spent about an hour today outside playing in the leaves... they were so cute I had to take a few quick snap shots!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Crafting for Turkey Day!

So yesterday I had made plans with the fam to have a day of crafting. Something to do for some quality time together as a family. We are doing Turkey Day feast at my dads house this year, so I got to talking with my step mom about doing some festive decorating, and having all of us make the stuff. We decided to make some personalized placemats, and I am going to be puting together what is called "The tree of thanks" and everyone made there own leaf to hang on the tree and each leaf has what that person is thankful for writen on the back. Then, last but not least, decorating our own drinking glass for dinner. Well, we got through the placemats and the leaves pretty easily. The kids really seemed to enjoy it. At one point 5 of the 8 grandkids were fighting over there papa, and it turned out to be a great picture opportunity! Then when it came to the glasses, pretty much everyone was pooped out and ready to go. I think I will just finish those and the kids can pick which one they want the day of. Anyway, everyones stuff turned out really cute and it will be neat to have the placemats for years to come as the kids get older. I will post more pics after turkey day of how everything turned out. Don't know if I am going to try to do this whole craft thing again, at least not with everyone. Maybe put some stuff together and they kids can do it at there own leasure or something. However the most important thing is that the kids had a great time, and I think it will be a memorable day for them all.