Thurs May 26th

Lisey wow up saying she had a dream about Giga, Jesus and daddy. She woke up yesterday saying the same thing. Sometimes she adds in Disneyland but Giga, Jesus and daddy are very common dreams for Lisey. 

Lincoln said a new word today: bubble. We were blowing bubbles this morning and he said it a few times. Link was a major crank this morning. I hope he's not getting sick. 

Tues May 24th

"I can't! My blow hurts"--Lisey when I told her to blow on her hot soup. 

We helped out in Ella's school today for field day. Ella took Lisey around with her from station to station while I worked at my one station with Link. 

These two girls are great sisters :)

Friday May 20th

I feeling motivated today to make a budget that we actually keep and take control of our spending so we can become truely wealthy. Because it doesn't matter how much money we make, it only matters how much we spend and how much we invest in assets. We can buy things we want but only after we've saved it, not before. I think we should also go to using cash/debit card  for a month or two so we can get used to keeping better track of our spending. We can do it! It will be a lot easier when we have that regular monthly income. I figure if it's $7000, about $2000 will go to taxes and I'll have $5000 to work with each month. We can make that work. We can't just buy anything we want but we can live and save and feel happy knowing we are living within our means and saving so we can be financially free! OK I'm done with my little tirade. Let's be financially free!!

The crippling effects of food stamps: how I fought my way out of the welfare system!

May 19th Thursday

Why do all the stresses of life threaten to over run you most commonly in the wee hours of the morn? I've been up since 3:30 am and cannot fall back to sleep. It's almost 5am now. All the stress of trying to get a loan for a house and not having enough for a down payment is eating away at my stomach. It doesn't help that I let the girls sleep with me and I get an arm in the face every so often. In the book Rich Dad Poor Dad it says you need to stop letting money keep you up at night. Stop letting it control you. Easier said than done. I want to be good with money. I want to invest and save and be financially free. It's such a hard change to make. We need to invest in things that are assets not liabilities. Assets are things that make you more money, liabilities are things that don't. Brooke, take control of your spending. Take control of your fear. Use your brain to think with instead of your emotions. Don't just make money. Have money work for you. You can do it! You can be financially free. You can have savings. You can have investments. You can live without fear. You can be a millionaire. Saving is the key. Acquiring assets is crucial and investing is wise.  you can do it! 

Lisey had her preschool graduation today! It was so cute watching her sing with her classmates. I keep giving her the thumbs up and she'd light up with a huge smile. I could tell she was so prou. My one regret was that Nick couldn't make it. I'm glad he's helping his family though. It was definitely a sacrifice and service from the whole family! 

Way to go Lisey!!

After tutoring we went back to Trafalga. This time I wore my tennis shoes so I could play lazer tag and rock climb with the girls. We had so much fun! The little roller coaster was open today and we went on it about 6 times in a row before they shut it down because of lightning. By the time we left a big storm was on us and it was pouring rain! We had a great time! 

The girls and I as we wait to go on the roller coaster! I love mommy dates! 

Wed May 18th

We just spent the last three hours swimming, just Lisey and me. We had a great time doing flips, going down the slides (even the big one that Lisey never wants to go on and I can't usually take her because I have Link), and throwing Lisey into the air (we got this awesome trick down where Lisey stands on my hands and I throw her while she's standing). When we were in the bathroom changing, Lisey turns to me and says in her cute tiny voice, "I really like you". My heart melted. I guess these mommy dates are really important. We'll definitely have to more individual child and parent dates. They are awesome and full of bonding. 

Were at the lehi fun center. There are these bumper boats that squirt water. Lisey and I were together. There were these little boys that keep spraying us. Lisey wasn't doing much staying so I took over the wheel and got them good. They were asking us to stop and I just keep saying I'll stop when you stop. I was debating after if I was being mean or teaching a life lesson haha. Nick says I was teaching a lesson from the school of Hard Knocks. 

Look at my girls climb!!

Tues May 17th

This is not a sustainable model: mom cleaning up the whole house, late into the night. It takes way too much time to do it all on my own. Then as the kids get older the mess is only going to get bigger. As we have more kids, the mess will also get bigger.  I need to teach my kids to work. I am doing them a disservice and myself a disservice. Ella is very talented at figuring out ways to avoid hard labor. I just need to be more consistent and more persistent and help her to see the joys that come from working hard. Lisey wants to work hard but she often makes messes of things on accident. I need to let her work. Even if it makes more of a mess at the time, the future of her being a hard worker will be well worth it. Come on Brooke, you can do it. Be patient and long-suffering and teach them an important life lesson that will change their lives.

We went to Stephanie Caswell's baby shower tonight. I brought Ella and Lisey along. They had a surprisingly good time. I think they were a little bored at first, but then they played outside for a while and were ecstatic when the presents were brought out. They ooo-ed and awed at all of the cute little girl clothes and helped Stephanie unwrap each gift, showing each one around the room. We of course stayed way later than planned and the girls were wrestling by the end of things, but overall they were good. Unfortunately they didn't get to bed till close to 10 and that's when I begin my cleaning trek. I only could get the kitchen cleaned, not the whole house. It's just takes too much time. It's time to teach the kids to pick up after themselves. Things need to change.

Sunday May 8th Mothers day

I got breakfast in bed of delicious cheesy eggs. Nick really spoiled me this year. I got a bike, a bike trailer, new dishes, flowers, and the dishes done for me. Nick is so cute about giving gifts and he's very good at it. What a sweetie. 

Link was crying at church (the sacrament cup got stuck in his mouth), and Lisey said "I'll make him feel better" and she started singing "I am a Child of God". Lisey is such a sweet girl. On the way into church it was pouring rain. As we walked into church I commented how went and cold it was and Lisey says "it's okay, Jesus will protect us". 

Ragnar race weekend! 5/13-5/14

I had my Ragnar race this weekend. It was crazy hard. I had my eight miler last in the hot hot sun finishing up my total 15.1 miles. It was more like a crazy hike than anything. It was way fun though! I had my first run starting at dusk (3.9 miles) and finishing in pitch black night, my second run (3.4 miles) at dawn, and my last (7.9 miles) starting about 2:30pm. I was thinking things were going very well after those first two runs. I didn't feel sore, I got some sleep. I felt good. But oh goodness, the 7.9 mile in the heat of the day up the mountain was killer. The other two were definitely hard but nothing compared to that last one in the hot burning sun. Still fun though, but killer hard.