I Used to Collect Shoes & Handbags

These days I find myself collecting Fisher Price Little People sets & accessories with the same enthusiasm that I used to look for a deal on shoes or purses. I guess it's part of becoming a parent, and I'm loving every minute of it! We've accumulated quite the collection, and still working on a couple more specific pieces to complete it. When I was a kid, we had almost all the old, original Fisher Price Little People stuff. My favorite thing was to set up a little "town" in the living room and play for hours. The only thing I enjoyed better was when my mom would sit down and play with me, too. I was talking to a friend the other day and realized that the Little People play sets include a lot of "boy" stuff. I guess I like all that kind of thing since I grew up with all brothers. I want Kylie to be able to enjoy her dolls and princess toys, but I'd also like her to have the opportunity to embrace her tomboy side too, if she wants! I feel like I got the best of both worlds growing up, and I'd love nothing less for her.

Lately, I've been trying to take advantage of our location in Salt Lake and the plentiful opportunities of "second hand" shopping, which will not be available once Bryan is in school again, since we'll be living in a little, tiny college town. The plan is that all this loot is going to be boxed up, and then pulled out for birthdays, Christmas and other gift occasions while Bryan is in graduate school. I know that some of you may recoil a bit at the idea of giving your child a used toy for a birthday or Christmas, but Bryan and I have absolutely no problem with it whatsoever. First, kids (especially when they're very small) don't know the difference. Second, if I can get a Fisher Price play set that's in great shape for $1 at a thrift store, I'm not willing to pay $25-$40 for the cardboard packaging it comes in at WalMart, Target, or Toys-R-Us. It's just not worth it to me. I'm glad that Bryan and I think the same on this subject, since we've saved tons of money on baby and kid stuff already in our married life together. 

Our Collection of Little People play stuff

In various trips I've been making to thrift stores (I love garage sales, but life has been too busy the last couple of years to allow me any extra precious time on Saturday mornings!) I've been able to find almost complete sets of farm, airport, school and other fun stuff. I've been finding the play sets & buildings themselves for about $1, and the little vehicles and other accessories for .50-.75 cents. I only get the stuff that's in great shape, which means that all the sounds and lights work, etc. Once I get the toys home, I wash them up with baby wipes, then spray them down with lysol, just for good measure. The one thing we have discovered is that it's very difficult to find the actual little people figures second hand, (in all my travels and searching, I've only ever found one little people figure at a thrift store!) so we've taken to eBay and been able to find some deals on a good variety of different characters. All told, we've spent under $100 for our whole lot of Little People play stuff. I can't wait to start pulling it out and spending lots of quality time on the living room floor with Kylie over the next few years!

Some New Year's Goals

So this is the time of year when everybody is thinking about goals -- or at least they were two weeks ago, haha! Well Bryan and I are no different. We believe goals are important because they are how we measure progress and hold ourselves accountable for working towards them. We also think it's very powerful to write things down and put them in a place where you can see them. Since we've been married, we've tried to do this, and have felt like we were making progress in some ways, but in other ways we have felt stuck in a rut at times.

Our main goal when we were first married was to become debt-free and stay that way. We determined that we would not buy anything more on credit or payment plans, and that if we didn't have the cash for something, we didn't really need it. We began to try to fully embrace the old pioneer adage, "Use it up; wear it out; make it do- or do without!" so often quoted by President Gordon B. Hinckley (one of my heroes!) This has been difficult at times, but we've reminded each other of our main goal whenever one of us was feeling weak, (and I confess, I'm most often the weaker party...I like pretty, shiny stuff.)

This effort is probably obvious to anyone that's ever visited our home and watched a movie on our 15-year-old monster-box television set with the microscopic screen. A new TV has been a temptation to both of us -- especially during the "crazy deal days" of three-day-holiday weekends. But we've resisted. We've also had major obstacles in the form of medical expenses not covered by insurance, but we've also seen major blessings from Heavenly Father as we've done our best and tried to live by true principles.

Happily, once in awhile amidst all the struggles and challenges of life, we get a payday - a moment or event where you're finally able to realize some of the progress you've made. We had one of those earlier this week as we sat down and looked at our full financial picture and were delighted to discover that we will be completely debt-free (except for our mortgage, but more on that later) by the end of this year! Obviously, over the next six or seven months there's still a lot of work and sacrifice required to reach our goal, and we're not there yet-- but it's finally materializing as something attainable and within reach! And, we're to the point where our assets are finally greater than our liabilities -- that is if you're not factoring in our mortgage...but I feel like if we can continue down this path, we're doing really well for where we are in life.

We got bit by this bug when someone gave us a copy of Dave Ramsey's book The Total Money Makeover as a wedding gift. Check out my post from October 2009 as proof! I read through it in a couple of days and then wanted to read it with Bryan. We read through it together on a road trip one weekend after being married for one month. We felt like it had an incredibly powerful message that was so different than everything else we're told in society, and that Dave's plan, based on Bible principles of honesty, personal finance, hard work, thrift, and ultimate freedom-- spiritual and otherwise, was something that we wanted to use as the base of our financial life together. While we haven't always been great at following the plan, it has helped us to be aware of WHAT WE WANT MOST, when we are bombarded with the thoughts and feelings of WHAT WE WANT NOW.

As for our house, well, we feel blessed that we are in a better place than a lot of people considering today's economic climate. We were able to take advantage of refinancing into a lower interest rate on a 30-year fixed loan, and have considered even going to a 15-year, but we've got to see what the future holds for us as far as school. If we get accepted to the program Bryan wants, we will probably sell the house. This means that we will most likely take a hit, but in comparison to a lot of our friends, we feel blessed that the hit will be relatively manageable. Also, as much as both of us have loved living in Utah, it's not the place where we want to be long-term (GASP!) So we are looking at our options for getting back to our beloved Northwest!! We would love to settle down and start building a life in Oregon, Washington or Idaho, so selling the house will eventually be a necessity anyway. We'll see how everything pans out, but that's what we're working towards.

Over the last 12 years in my own life I have had moments where things have just not gone well, in spite of my best efforts. This includes the area of finances, so Bryan and I realize that while we have been working hard towards our goals, we have also been abundantly blessed by Heavenly Father, without whom we could not be successful. In sharing all our excitement on this, we realize that there are many people out there who are working just as hard, but still feeling buried. There is hope! I would recommend Dave's book to anyone-- no matter where you are with money. As we move forward into the new year, we have a renewed commitment to the plan -- and actually ending the year DEBT FREE!! And dang it, after all this hard work and sacrifice, if the world ends in December I'm gonna be ticked!

Neck-Less Giraffes

A few months ago I got a few little giraffes for Kylie's room at our work apartment. I've tried to make it cute and kid-friendly with little stuffed animals & pictures of a Noah's Ark type theme. Anyway, when I showed the giraffes to Bryan he was quite put-out about the fact that the giraffes had no neck. He argued that since that was the one distinguishing feature of a giraffe that it didn't make any sense to have these little toys around - maybe he was worried that Kylie would become greatly confused about giraffes? I don't know. Anyway, fast forward to December when I found Kylie her "big" Christmas gift - a set of little stuffed toys and rattles at Costco. I was with my friend Victoria and we both thought the little orange cows were cute. When I got them home and showed them to Bryan, he took one look at the box and set it down, saying, "You bought neckless giraffes!"

On closer inspection, the back of the box did specify that the gift set was made up of giraffes, a detail I hadn't noticed in the store. Anyway, Kylie got the set for Christmas and has seemed to have fun playing with all the little toys. Her favorite however, is a little stuffed giraffe that plays music if you pull it's tail. She smiles this huge smile whenever you give it to her, especially if it's playing the music. She's swinging in her swing right now with it tucked under her arm. I snapped this picture of her last week - I think in spite of the missing neck, Kylie's happy with her Christmas gift!

Isn't that the cutest little grin, ever??

A Place for Friends & Family

We finally finished our guest bedroom this weekend. We painted, hung curtains & bought a queen-size bed. It's all ready to go...so who's coming to visit??

Father's Day 2011

This year Bryan got to celebrate his very first Father's Day! We began the day with German pancakes, Bryan's favorite breakfast. Then he got to open his presents. I tried to do good with his gifts, since he always does great things for me, but he's not the most forthcoming about what he might need/want/enjoy. I think I did pretty well, since he seemed pretty excited.

He got a large toolbox, a tool bag, a couple of specialty attachments for his power drill, a new pair of flip-flops and a wok (he loves to make stir-fry, and he's really good at it!) Afterward he said he was pretty happy at the opportunity of adding a new holiday to his yearly schedule...especially one with presents! We took a couple of pictures together after church, since we wanted to show off the baby bump (we were 32 weeks today.) Bryan is going to make the best dad, and it was so fun to celebrate his first Father's Day!

Baby Shower!

My baby shower was on Saturday, and we had so much fun! My friend Victoria had offered to throw it for me, (thanks so much Victoria!!) and Kristen and Mary helped out with activities and refreshments. We had the shower at our house, which was nice because it gave us an opportunity to show off our little nursery...though still not finished, it's coming together!

Victoria & I pose with the balloon bouquet

There were lots of yummy treats, and we also had a lunch of taco soup, clam chowder & salads. In keeping with our fairytale nursery theme, there were plenty of frogs there that day! Mary made here famous cake balls, the chocolate confections drizzled with white chocolate, and we also served yummy cupcakes topped with chocolate frogs that Victoria had made.

The refreshment spread in the diningroom

The gourmet-looking cake balls compliments of Mary

Victoria found this little porcelain frog...perfect!

Most of the festivities were held out in the yard on the beautiful, sunny day

Bryan's mom and sisters Jenaye & Lacey joined us via skype

Showing off the baby bumps with cousin Ali

Bryan's favorite baby gift so far

 

 

 

Nursery Update!

So here are a few peeks at the progress we've made on the nursery. This past Saturday Bryan got so much finished. All-in-all, we've basically replaced the whole room. I wanted it to have a real nursery-feel, with an emphasis on storybook or fairytale theme. We've still got a few things to do, but I'm really happy with how it's coming together.

We haven't got our nursery furniture yet, and there are several things in there right now that won't be in there once the baby is here. The bassinet will be in our bedroom, and the swing will find a home in our livingroom. For now, it's been a nice central location for all-things baby.

More Nursery Stuff...Crown Molding!

We were so excited that my brother Matt was going to be in town for a short visit! While he was here, he graciously shared his expertise with us by helping us install crown molding in the baby's room. He brought all of his pro tools and he and Bryan had the job done in under an hour. Thanks so much, Matt!! We love you and REALLY appreciate it!

We enjoyed the rest of the evening by having dinner and just spending time together. I love my family so much, and wish they lived closer!!

Baby Blessing in Boise!

The last weekend in March we headed to Boise for a baby blessing! Bryan's oldest sister Amber, and her husband Dan were blessing their new baby boy, Teagen. We had so much fun spending time with family and being able to be a part of this special day!

Disneyland!!

We spent a fabulous long weekend at Disneyland with Bryan's family to celebrate his dad's 50th birthday! We had so much fun, made lots of memories, and of course took lots of pictures. There were a few things that I couldn't go on since I'm prego, but there was still plenty that I was able to do. We stayed in a hotel almost across the street, with four rooms all in a row. We packed each day with plans at the park and had so much fun!

Our Big Announcement!

After the festivities of Christmas morning were over, we had some phone calls to make. We had to share our big news with our family, and even though we were only seven weeks along, we really wanted to be able to share the news on Christmas day!

Bryan wrote a poem for the occasion, which we decided we would read to everybody as we called. So of course, we pulled out the video camera, and got on the phone!

Here's the poem, another Bryan original: