Poor kid needs to travel a little more...

Caleb in car as we drove into St George:

"Mom St George is like the biggest city. It like 28 billion biggest. Its way bigger than Hurricane!"

I despise collection agencies

No ...despise is too kind...I HATE them with every inch of my body.

When John and I went to buy our first home there was an AT&T bill in collections that was not ours on his credit report (along with address and a falsified Social Security number that went with this bill-Nice). We disputed it off but not before our house closed and so we paid an extra half of a percent on our house because when we closed they took the average of his scores and since one of them was in the toilet we were screwed. Eventually it got taken off and the collections company said there was no SS# or birthday associated with the account so they have "no idea how that got on his credit report because they cant report it to the credit bureaus without one."

Fast forward to us buying our car...Johns credit on two reports beautiful, like over 800 beautiful, but this stupid AT&T bill was back on one of his reports (that of course cant be reported to the Credit reporting agencies since there is no SS# attached). Luckily the bank only uses one and that wasn't the one they used. Well I started to dispute this off again but this time they are coming after us. Because I contacted them they have started harassing us. We get calls as early as 7 in the morning and as late at 9 at night. When I have tried to explain that its not John and actually provided them with the phone number and the address of the person responsible they say that there is no way I cant prove its not John so they will keep calling. When Ive spoke with a supervisor I was given to the most mean spirited, seriously got to be on the brink of therapy or just failed her anger management classes, woman who wont talk to me unless I agree to settle the debt. When I started to say, "Its not our deb..." She cuts in with, "do you think I care, if you want us to go away you better settle it."

No joke. I never knew that one of their tactics was to intimated good people to try to settle other peoples debt just to make them go away.

To bad for them they picked a really stubborn person to go head to head with. I have been in contact with AT&T over three times and they cant find this debt (although we do know its real because we know who the debt belongs to). I'm going to get AT&T to either find it and provide them with the SS# or if AT&T says they really cant find it then I'm going to go after them for providing a debt to someone without complete information and then "losing" their own files.

I HATE PALISADES COLLECTION

But I think I'm going to enjoy beating them at their little game.

What kind of person can work at a collections agency? Seriously they are all course, hard, rude, mean, and generally the most unhappy people I have ever talked to. A bit of advice...if you are thinking about working for a collections agency, don't do it.

Why don't some people just pay their bills...the dishonestly kills me. The person responsible for this bill has known about it for over 4 years and still goes on pretending to be an honest person and tries to put on the show that everything is great financially. Oh and lets not forget that with the addresses that go with this person is also a false social security number 99-999-7342, that's real honest. And yet, it hurts others while they sit on their high horse of lies....

Oh wait isn't that why this economy is tanking, people are not paying their bills and just walking away from their responsibilities while honest people who pay their bills are hurting and having to worry about how all those other peoples bad choices are going to effect us...

Can you tell I'm kind of jaded today....

(Squaring my shoulders)

Watch out Palisades....you just opened a box....

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am....

My babe of a cousin, her babe, and her babe of a friend

Oh and her babe of a husband too...

This is my cousin Kelly

Shes got that really deep natural beauty and I was so excited that on a trip to Vegas she decided to come up and visit up for a night. And since we are hicks in the middle of nowhere out here we took them shooting. None of them had ever shot a gun before (although I'm not sure Brian was telling the truth since hes pretty much a natural shot). We had fun and it was really fun to see her and Savannah together and just to let her and Beckham be together since she is just a few hours older than he is.



They all did really good although I'm not sure Kelly will ever trust me again after her reaction to shooting a shotgun :)




Oh and Becks wanted to show off his new skill....
Not bad buddy!

If you want to see all the pictures go here...

Anyone else want to come visit?

Playin' hard ain't easy

Fathers Day

Happy Fathers Day to all the Fathers out there!


and to all the future fathers....





Just in case John doubted my dedication to him...I ironed all the white shirts this morning...and I DONT ever Iron!

Remember when I told you about Caleb's Ancestor birthday party. I'm sure you ALL read so regularly that you wont have missed it...but just in case you can read it here.

Yesterday we were in the car and he gave a big sigh and said, "I sure miss my Great Great Grandma." I asked him which one that was and he said you know "that one." Finally he said exasperated, "My poker Grandma."

It was so cool that he remembered about Grandma Irene and he even could tell me about the things I had said like how they are like each other because they are both so nice to everyone. It was touching and he said he wanted to see her so bad. I told him how I miss her too but when we die we will get to see her again and that's why its okay when we die and don't have to be scared of it because the ones we love are waiting for us.

I then got to tell him all about her husband, Great Grandpa Lewis who Beckham is named for. I told him all about how he loved to fish and Caleb exclaimed, "just like me too, Mom." I had him laughing when I told him how he use to take all of his teeth out and do tricks with his thumb.

Its cool to have him be interested in them. My Mom is a professional genealogist and kind of gives me a hard time about not being more into Family History but really research isn't my thing but scrapbooking sure is. I really want to start making Children's books of our relatives so they become real and live on in our children's memories.

So Mom and Dad, I know your busy...but I want pictures! I want lots and lots of pictures. I'm all caught up in my scrapbooking and I want to start on our ancestor scrapbooks. Your mission if you will accept is to get me digital pictures so I can make our family live in our children's lives so that they know about the past and so they can "miss" people who are important to them even if they haven't met them.

You can do it slowly, one relative at a time, but seriously it would be so cool to have a collection of family history books about our relatives! Not sold yet...how about think how good they will look on display at the Family History Fair!

Celebrate!

We had a good birthday party for Davis and he got cars, cars, and more cars which made his day! Maybe because its the fact that I'm a mother of boys but I think the individual hot wheels are pretty cool too. In fact the other day we saw a hot wheels ice cream truck and I couldn't pass it up!
We love you big guy! Just for the record....he didnt get all those cars tonight, that is our collection he was playing with before dinner and before we unwrapped presents.

Davis turns 3!!!

Today is his birthday but we are celebrating tomorrow.

Still I couldnt let the day go by without highlighting this little wonder of ours!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

Today I'm 31 years old! Holy Cow I'm officially "in my thirties." As I thought about it over breakfast I realized I don't really care. The world makes a big deal about youth but seriously would I want to be 23 with3 kids and a kid going into Kindergarten....no. And I wouldn't trade my life right now for anything!

So remember how I told you Iron Station had a rockin' sale. Well I got to get a few things for the house as an early birthday present. And then my parents got me some new drapes for my birthday along with John and Oh my! I'm in love! So here are my new treasures!

How cute is this sign that I got for $1! It hangs above the door going into the boys playroom. Its so perfect and the color even matches the playroom exactly. It makes me so happy!

I found that iron medallion up there for 70% off and love it! It really helps make the kitchen feel more "tuscan"

Ive wanted an entry bench as long as we have lived here but never found one I loved for a price I liked. I saw this and told John about it and he went back and got it for me! Do you see my cute black frame that my talented friend Leslie made me for Christmas that I STILL don't have pictures in! Yep, I'm taking them on Sunday! I swear!

And now for my new drapes....















wait for it.....













Voila!

I love them! They are perfect and I love how long they are that they actually hit the floor (our last drapes were capris)! The picture makes our walls look really yellow but they are actually a soft cream. (if you click on the picture you can see the pattern a little better).
I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They are so cute and stylish. When John saw the picture online he told me, "I promise I will try to get use to them." When we got them he said he liked them. Last night his words out of the blue were, "I love our drapes." He should know better than to question my decorative eye for our home. Every time he really questions something he finds he eats his words :)

Well, I'm off to get all primped for the day. Johns got a sitter coming and we have reservations at a really nice Italian place for dinner.

I'm one lucky birthday girl!

Basking in the glory of summer!

We have a new favorite hobby in our home....

Riding Bikes!

I cant believe how much fun we have been having riding our bikes. Its so fun now that Caleb can ride along with us and we kind of improvise to make Beckham work in the trailer. This week each morning the boys and I would eat breakfast and hop on our bikes and off we would go! I LOVE living in an open area with so few people. Most mornings we dont see any cars, just a few others out running or biking. Caleb has been riding up to 3 miles all by himself and we have been having some of the best conversations and so many teaching moments opening up naturally. It gives Caleb and I time to talk...really talk! No dishes, phone, computer, or distractions.
Here are a few of my favorite gems from this week:

C-"Mom how many more days before your birthday?
L: "6!"
C: What kind of party are you having mom, Hanna Montana?"
L (chucking a little): "No, probably not. I just wants lots of love on my birthday."
(A few moments of pause...)
C: "A heart Party, that the best idea ever! We can have heart balloons and a heart cake. We can play games where we hide the hearts and have to go find them.....(he kept going about all of the "love" games we can play.

C: "Mom will you take care of me even when I get really big?"
L: "Well, I will love you forever but you are going to have a wife who will take care of you when you get older."
C: "But I want you to take care of me! Can you be my wife?"
L: "Well, no because I'm Daddy's wife but you will find someone who you will want to live with forever and who you will want to take care of you."
C: "I don't think you should be Daddy's wife anymore so you can be mine..."

Here he is showing off his new skill of standing up while riding so we can go up hills faster!When we get home the boys always have to take a few runs down the driveway on Daddy's long board!

How we LOVE summer!

But could anything be more precious than this....

Grandma wants pictures

...and who am I to deny her such delicious eye candy!

They grow so fast!!!!

I was scrapbooking yesterday and after I finished I just couldn't believe how much Becks has changed in just 3 months! He rolls all over the floor until he hits something that stops him. He can also turn himself on his tummy to face the other direction in the room. He follows me with his eyes when I walk past him and gets sad when I leave the room. He eats solids like they are going out of business. He is aware of Caleb and Davis and recognises them and loves when they play with him. He can hold his head up. He laughs at me and is ticklish. He sleeps on his tummy just because he wants to now that he can roll. He can push himself (in reverse) all over the floor in his walker. He just expresses himself in so many ways!
Where does the time go...

Heres to honesty...

I'm kind of struggling right now...maybe its because I got sick, AGAIN. Or maybe its because I just discovered that Beckham has thrush (isn't that something you get from nursing!?!). Seriously that kid cant catch a break, but he still is happy through it all.

Maybe its because even with one of the guys leaving from Johns office they still feel the construction department is too "heavy." They aren't talking lay offs instead they are talking about having John doing all of the estimating (because hes so awesome at it) and then having the other two guys in the office be project managers. Not the end of the world, but its not what John wants. He would rather be a Project Manager but I know he will do it for no other reason than to provide for us, even if it means putting his professional ambitions to the side for season.

Maybe its because one of my favorite stores, Iron Station, had to close their doors. Now don't get me wrong I seriously SCORED on everything they had to clearance but it made me sad all the same. I feel responsible because I haven't been there to buy anything for a long time because we are being much more careful about our money. Tonight we decide to make a very rare splurge and go out to eat...we NEVER do that. But of course we were going because at Buffalo's kids eat free on Tuesdays and we had a buy one entree and get one free. When we got there we found it had gone out of business. Probably because people like us eat out with 4 and only pay for 1, but hey we wouldn't be able to eat out otherwise. On our way to find a new restaurant we saw that the big Yamaha dealership is no more. It just made me sad...all of these people who now don't have work or have had to close down something that they loved and had a vision for.

It makes my heart heavy.

Don't get me wrong...I am grateful for the things I have learned during these hard economic times. I appreciate having a job and I appreciate how HARD John works for us. Sure when I think about where I thought we would be compared to where we are on the surface it might seem disappointing. But we have learned so much about what really matters. Things are only things. While I wish I had cuter clothes, I feel safer and more secure knowing that we have almost a year supply of food. While we really want to go get a wave runner or a 4 wheeler or put landscaping in our yard I feel happier knowing that if we lost our job we have some money saved. Knowing that the things we have splurged for have been well thought out and saved for makes me appreciate and love them so much more.

I don't know that savings and food storage would have seemed as important to us if we weren't going through these times. I can see us always saying "later." But we have come to value what really matters. Plus I would never have taken the time to learn to shop the deals and steals we get.

I need to learn from sweet Beckham who takes each new little struggle in stride. Smiling and giggling the whole time. He doesn't let anything slow him down or let it keep him from learning new things and discovering all the good there is through the tough.

I'm glad we have learned to be a little less vain and a little more wise.

Still I know there are people who are suffering and tonight, it just makes my heart heavy.