Easter Dresses for this Year

Since we were sick Easter Sunday my girls did not get to wear their Easter outfits.... at least it gave me time to finish making a dress that had started as a project for my mom but never got around to get it done.  Since she is in Utah and I kind of fit into it (I made it too small for her) then I took the opportunity to buy the last piece of the puzzle which consisted of a long zipper and finished it for me.  I think it turned out really cute and it is a little loose on me so she can probably wear it next time she comes back.
The girls looked so cute in their outfits and they also turned out really well.  I went with what is hot right now which is the lace fabric, Shayna loved it and wants me to make more for her.  Of course it was super cheap to finish this outfit since I had half of the material already at home and only bought two yards of lace fabric on sale for half off, coming down to only $5.00 for both.  I also made the hair pieces which complemented their outfits really well.
I love my girls!!! Also so glad to be able to keep my tradition of making Easter dressed every year, well mostly since Shayna was like 4.... I only skip it if I am too pregnant and tired or if I find a good deal at the stores for a nice dress.

Feeling a little overwhelmed.

This month turned out to be busier than I thought, I am by no means a super crazy freak busy mom I promise but the few things that I do during the week are stressing me out.
The gym is only twice a week but some times I don't feel like going because I rather catch some sleep in the morning, even though it's hard I kick my butt and Kahlan and I have made for the entire month uninterrupted.  Mondays are a little stressing because I have to babysit and never know what time they will pick up the kids and since the baby has been making explosions every single time he is here several times a day... I barely get time to cook a decent meal for dinner or have it ready in time when Dan gets home.  Yesterday Dan went shopping with me after family home evening because he knew I was tired and had to get some stuff for the week, I love him for that.
Tuesdays are the craziest day out of the whole week.  We have Scouts and Mutual so as soon as the kids get home my day is pretty much over, dinner has to be pre-planned or it will be crazy with simply eating cereal or something like that.  Since I came up with the idea for the Young Women's program for this year I am pretty much in charge of the whole thing and if it doesn't turn out OK it will of course be my fault and a big failure.  I already see how some girls don't want to cooperate and it makes it hard, others try but not their best and the rest are excited about it which makes me want to keep going, but one thing is for sure and that is that next time I wont be offering my ideas because it is way too much responsibility   I think it will turn out OK but so far I am nervous about it and doing a lot of extra work.
But this is pretty much what has me nervous, of course there are also the days when I have to get ready for my lessons for Sunday and that is also stressful but I keep doing it and hoping that I am doing a good job when I do teach.
I know it doesn't seem like much but feels like a lot.

Bye bye Verizon, hello Virgin Mobile.

If there is something to say about Dan and I is that we are kind of simple people, we don't really want a fancy life or anything like that, we do like nice things but we like old fashion things a lot.... I don't know if that makes sense but that's just how we are.
So when we first got cellphones back in 2003 I believe we went with the simplest plan there was, the cheapest too.  We never texted to each other or anyone else, before the cellphones we had a funny system when Dan was at work and he needed to talk to me, he would use a pay phone and he would call me collect then he would say the call was from "1" or "2".... 1 was a certain payphone and 2 was a different one. He would then hangup and I would call him back to either number and that's how it went for a very long time.
We finally decided that a cellphone was needed for emergencies and so we did.  It was really nice to talk to each other constantly and know he was safe or if he needed help or anything like that, he also had piece of mind knowing that when I finally got a car and was driving around there would be a way to make sure I was OK.
Then one day we tried texting but found out it was a little extra on our service so we limited that as well.  Eventually did upgrade our phones but our service was still the basic so were the phones, when we moved to Texas we went in with Steven and Amber to get a good deal on a family plan and it worked out for almost 5 years but we do tend to text a lot and also now that Shayna is babysitting a lot I get texts from lots of people all the time and I usually go over our limit which is 500 texts.... yikes.  I talked to Dan about changing to a different provider because our options seemed better and cheaper in the end, we were basically looking for a plan that would allow us to text and use internet on it without getting charged extra.  It seems like Kahlan loved to download stuff or get online on my old phone whenever she found it laying around and that was not a good thing.
Anyways we went last week after doing lots of research and talking to my sister in law Tashia who recently got a new phone and also got Virgin Mobile as her provider and she was very happy with it, it is a reasonable price, there is no contract and we got cool phones, our first "smart phones", even though they are considered to be on the low end of smart phones we have been pretty happy with them so far. They are like a mini tablet and fun to use when we are sitting around waiting in line to get the kids from school, the park or just whenever, Dan and I keep in touch constantly and can send pictures and texts non stop, we got unlimited data and text, our calls are limited to 1200 minutes a month each I believe but it seems sufficient for our needs. It has been a week since we got them and we are pretty much used to them now.
I am able to take pretty good pictures with it and even video.
Apparently we got them for a really good price (at least that's what Tristan said to us since his teacher has the exact same phone).
We are waiting for their new cases to come in the mail so we can dress them up and keep them safe, I am known for dropping my phone all the time.
This was a big step for us, we didn't really like the idea of tablets or sliding our fingers across a little screen but I have to admit that they are really really fun... I guess it had to happen some day right?
We are grateful that we were able to have a good service for so many years and to have been customers of the same provider for so many years that was just crazy, I guess we will miss Verizon but sadly we had to say goodbye and found a better match for our needs, thanks Steven and Amber for having us this many years :)

A Week Later...

It doesn't surprise me that something like this would happen to me.  I could refer you to a post where I listed all the things that go wrong with us and add this particular one to it.

Two days after my wonderful new do, I discovered that my hair had been ruined.  After I washed it and all the nice oils and hair products they put on my hair were gone it looked like (what Dan calls it) the hair on a corn husk.... it was horrible. 

I spent the whole Saturday eating my nails and crying, in a horrible mood all day and not knowing what my next step was going to be.  I washed my hair a second time to see if that would help and it didn't so Dan told me to go back to the salon and see what they could do to fix it and get my money back.

To make a long story short the lady who cut my hair was there but they were about to close the shop so I was told to come back the next day and talk to their manager, she actually called me the next day and told me to come in to show her my hair.

She immediately saw the damage and apologize for it and offered to either refund my money or fix my hair but could not do both..... At this point I was starting to get all teary but I kept my cool and simply asked her to rethink that since her employee was the one that ruined my hair and I could always go to headquarter's people and complain to them, after a while she offered to do both, refund my money and fix my hair as much as she could.
She gave me a deep conditioning treatment and trimmed my hair off a little bit more, it doesn't look anything like it did before and that makes me sad but at least it doesn't feel so rough either.
Lesson learned I guess, next time I will go to people who know what they are doing :)  At least I am not bald!!!  

3 hours later....

Who knew a new haircut and a little bit of color would take 3 hours? Close to 4 hours actually.  Yesterday I braved myself and made and appointment at the hair salon and they took me in at 4:30 and I was hoping to be back home in time for dinner at 6:30.
Ana, the hair specialist :) said it could be done quick and she knew what she was doing so I trusted her with my precious hair which I had been growing long for the last couple of years.  My idea was to get the ombre style on me with a purple color but I was told they were out of purple and I had to settle for a violet red.  I was really really nervous about the whole thing and kept saying a prayer in my head the entire time, specially at the end when she started to cut my hair all over again and I saw chunks of the red stuff fall on the floor and I felt so sick to my stomach.  In the end it turned out great, my hair is not as long but she did try really hard to get the look I was going for.  She was an older Asian woman and hardly talked to me which is fine because the conversations at the hair salon can be can of weird.  Her assistant on the other hand had 3 customers during the time I was there and they were all guys and all three of them were so flirty with her and talking about their intimate details of their lives, I tried not to listen to them but they were so loud and now I know things that I was happy not knowing before :)
Anyways when I came home the kids were shocked to see my hair with a new shade and Shayna thinks it looks really good.  Dan was just disappointed in the color, we had both talked about it before and thought that purple was better but it's OK, next time!!!

PS. The reason it took so long was because on the right side there was a stubborn piece of hair that didn't take the color and she had to do the whole process again....

 I love the back, it looks really cool.  It was straight yesterday and it looked better than I thought it would but I wore my soft curlers to bed and took them off this morning :)  Love it!!!

The Arrow of Light

My 11 year old son Victor is so proud to be done Weebelos.  He worked really hard during the last month to get his award and they had a special ceremony during pack meeting last week to give him award.  I got al teary and was so excited for him.  He really enjoys the Scout Program and although some times it is hard to find the time to work on the little projects we did good.  His dad could not be there that night and I am busy with the Young Women so I had to be there just for the ceremony and a friend took a couple of pictures for me when I gave him his award.  I feel like in part I deserve one of those awards too but I didn't do as much as Victor did.  I love helping him and at times I want to pull my hairs out but for the most part it was fun.
Nos it is up to him to keep going with the Scouts and show more responsibility.
Congratulations Victor we are so proud of you!!!  

 This is Nikki, his den leader.

 He got a flag, a compass, a flashlight and a special arrow.

 Here is the happy Scout.

 Just before he was taken with his new den leader.

Food Poisoning

Those two horrible words you just don't want to hear about. Here is my story:
It is Saturday night and after tucking everybody in bed Shayna tells me she doesn't feel very well, I immediately think that it was probably the hamburger I got for her as a special treat a couple of hours earlier after the Young Women Broadcast.  I just tell her to go to sleep and she will feel better later.  Kahlan is already in her little bed asleep.  A couple of hours later I am awaken by a sorry looking Shayna holding her baby sister telling me she threw up all over her bed and she took Kahlan out of the room so she wouldn't step on it.... After inspection of their bedroom I discover Shayna has made the biggest made she is ever made in her entire life, she is the one kid who always avoided to throw up on the carpet as much as she could and actually she doesn't get sick that much.  The scene was horrible, it was on the wall, on her bed, on the carpet the rug and a couple of pillows and blankets that were on the floor. Meanwhile Kahlan is peacefully sleeping on the couch by now and I am working really hard to get Shayna's mess cleaned up, put the blankets and pillows in the washer and got my carpet cleaner out because there was no way I was going to clean that by hand, as usual my trusty carpet cleaner picked up the mess just fine.  I started to feel a little quesie  but thought it was because of the mess.  An hour later I took Kahlan up in my closet and put her in the playpen for the night. By the morning I already knew we were not going to be attending church because for one Shayna was still sick and throwing up and I was too tired.  When Aaron woke up he said his tummy hurt but I thought he was making it up to avoid church, he smiled at me and said he was fine and ate breakfast but about 15 minutes later he ran to the bathroom and then we knew we had an epidemic at home.  I kept feeling really sick and started to think what the heck did we eat that got us sick.  My first thought was some eggs we ate Saturday at Steven's house for our little Easter celebration but I don't think they got sick so that left our dinner we had Friday night.  I made a roast or what I thought was a roast and turned out to be pork, it was really good and the kids all ate, I ate it except Dan and Kahlan who of course is refusing to eat anything at all lately.  So that's what it was I am sure.
Later on Sunday Victor follow suit and Tristan was still feeling fine until Monday morning when he woke up feeling not too well either.  They all stayed home from school and took the day off from babysitting so we could all feel better and not pass our lovely germs to other people.  By the end of the day we were feeling a lot better and the kids went back to school yesterday.  I am not 100% yet because my tummy decided being sick is a lot of fun but at least I am cooking again and did a lot of cleaning and laundry yesterday.
I had not felt that sick in a long time, it brought me to tears at some point from the pain I was feeling, Shayna had a high fever and thankfully I was able to keep it under control. We were so weak and tried really hard to get hydrated, Dan got us a bunch of Gatorade and it was wonderful to have something to drink.  I could not eat for a whole 2 days... it was crazy.
All is good in Zion now :)