Serious CUTENESS!

Check these out! They are going to be for sale on V & Co's etsy shop tomorrow (July 30) at 2pm MST. Check out her blog for more details and a link to her etsy store. Brynley would LOVE these! (Of course she loves all bags.. but none of them are as cute as these!!) This could make a perfect quiet bag for church! hmmm... maybe I don't need to make some now!

"Hole" update

Update: This was TOTALLY our fault. The ground may have been a little unstable to start with, but it was definately all cause by Michael leaving the hose on. Nice huh. As my english teacher put it, "Our kids don't sit around planning ways to make our life miserable. It just happens." But does it always have to "happen" during the end of a term???!! Apparently the "Disaster Kleen-up" crew had NEVER pumped a crawl space from outside the house. They had also never seen kids play in their "disaster kleen-up river" either. We can add those two items to their list of stories!

Anyway, our "hole" is probably going to be filled by the end of the week! As for the rest of the repairs... the mud under the house is still pretty moist. Our "estimator" said he thought another week or more to dry it out. He figured it's still wet enough that if he were to step in it, he'd sink a few inches. Yuck! This is going to be SUCH and expensive project! Those fans are "rented" at approx $120 per day (plus how ever much electricity is surging through the meters right now). I just found out today that our insurance won't cover a penny of it - because it was due to "water" damage. The only type of damage they would cover is fire, explosion, or smoke. I think I'm going to be looking for different Renters insurance because I can't even "add" additional water damage protection to this policy. Anybody know of a company with GOOD coverage for renters?

We are definately NOT in good hands with Allstate.

Lucikly my landlord has great insurance and supposedly they are going to cover it. We'll keep our fingers crossed! We haven't been able to fix the AC yet. The guys don't want to crawl in the mud, so we can't do that until it's dry. Luckily it still works, it's just not as effecient since they had to slit the ducts to get the water out. Oh well... what's money anyway? Never had it before and it looks like even if we get some, it's already spent! I'm SO scared to see our water bill from this! They figured the hose had to be on at least 3 days. That is a LOT of water!

I've been super busy with school and can't wait for a little break so that I can breathe! Just a few more weeks.... then it's time for the boys to start school! This mom is probably the most excited of all for her kids to start school... uh, I mean - OH DARN! Is it time for school to start already?

A little game...

While reading a few blogs tonight I found this little game on Rachel's blog and since I posted a memory on hers, I've now got to place this game on my blog! It really is fun to hear neat memories that people have of you... I guess as long as they are good ones!!!

Play along.. it might be fun! :o)

Here are the rules (I cut and pasted these word for word from Mrs. Rachel's blog!)

1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. But you don't have to play IF you don't want to.

Oh.. and on the house - So far the sink hole looks HUGE (I can actually SEE the bottom the foundation and could stick my arm under there if I felt like playing in the mud) The water has been pumped out (as much as possible) and there are fans attempting to dry everything out down there. The guys said they thought there was a little more water down there today than yesterday when they left. YIKES! So there couldn't definately be another underlying problem somewhere. We are stuck without A/C and the "estimator" dude that was supposed to come today will be here tomorrow instead. It might be next week before we get A/C. I sure hope not though - it was 85 degrees in the house all afternoon and evening! YUCK! I can't sleep when I'm too hot, so I've already had one night of NO sleep. Watch out.. mama might be getting very cranky in the next couple of days!

Disaster Kleen-up

Never a dull moment at the Fisher home! I came home from class today and noticed water running into the street. Wierd, but I wasn't too worried at first. I just figured the neighbors had just watered or maybe something was up with a sprinkler somewhere. (Our dirt has a lot of clay in it, so it doesn't absorb water too well. about 10 minutes of watering is all the lawn can handle at one time). So michael proceeded to show me a huge puddle that was forming on the side of the house... SEE PHOTO!

This is not a puddle - this is a POOL! IT's at least 2 feet deep. A huge sink hole on the side of our house. Michael had left a hose on for what we are assuming is probably a day (maybe 2) - but is it really enough water to nearly FLOOD OUR HOUSE? The whole crawl space was flooded up to about 1 foot below the floor. Luckily we noticed the problem today. OH! And our AC is disabled as well. Good thing it's supposed to storm tonight so we can get some cool air! SERIOUSLY! We really dont' know what the problem is, hopefully (for our bank account's sake) the problem is not our fault and our Landlord's insurance will take care of it. But, with 3 little kids running around, you just don't know what you're going to find.

And yes - I did what any other white trash mother would do and let my kids play in the "disaster kleen-up river" flowing down the street. More pics to come and I'll post as soon as we figure out what happened. It's going to be a LONG night for those two poor workers!

Money Makeover

For my english class our last assignment is to do a book review on a book related to environmental issues or consumerism. My friend Lindsy posted about this book a while back and I decided that I NEEDED to read this. since I'm not much into reading "for fun" I decided to use this for my assignment, then at least I'd only have to read 1 book! :o) It's not like any other information I've read on getting out of debt and what to do with money. The author, Dave Ramsey has so many good ideas and I like that he speaks from experience. With all of our debt, school related or not, and with starting a new job I'm excited to put this book to good use! If any of you out there are not happy with your money situation, or just need a little jump start GET THIS BOOK! He has other books to, which I have not read, but am also interested in his Financial Peace book as well.

Quiet Bags

Check out these quiet bags for church (or just when you need the kids to be occupied and quiet!) I think they are a great idea.. and if I don't win, I'll have to try and come up with a way to make one myself - or just buy one of hers if she ends up selling them!!

SHE DID IT!!

Yesterday I convinced Brynley to get her ears pierced! All I had to do was bribe her with a piece of candy when she was all done and she was all excited to do it! She's so proud of her "pretty earings!" (I can't get that girl to OPEN her eyes during a photo! She's thinking smiling has to be done with eyes closed!!)

I also got her little quilt finished up. It's definately got it's issues, but it's put together and is perfect for her mini-carebear. Yes - I was actually crazy enough to try again, despite my "pierced" finger! I really ought to be more careful when dealing with sharp objects! Hmm... what will my next project be? I'll have to see what inspires me when I get the scraps that I won from V & co. YAY! Winning things is so much fun!

Accident Prone & Cabin fun

So I have yet again managed to hurt myself. This time I was trying to finish up the binding on Brynley's Doll quilt. When I was lifting up the foot to turn the corner, somehow my finger got in the way and I ended up breaking the needle OFF into my finger! OUCH! After an urgent care visit and tetanus shot, I'm not sure that sweet little quilt is worth all th trouble! I guess that's what I get for sewing instead of doing my Chemistry homework! If I have the courage to try again (and assuming the sewing machine is ok) I'll get that quilt bound and post a pic!

We had a blast at the cabin. It was totally shocking to wake up saturday morning to 35 degrees though! But, it warmed up quickly and topped out at about 80 for a good part of the day.
We caught butterflies

played with fish (brynley is holding the fish in this pic)

rode four-wheelers

Michael got to shoot guns with his uncles

painted "ladybug rocks"

played with cousins Makayla and Mason (annie's two kids)

Jumped on the tramp, pushed kids in the swing, threw rocks in the river, saw lots of deer, roasted smores, let off fireworks, and ate lots of food!

Michael even got his other front tooth knocked out. He got too close to Luke while he was swinging and Luke ended up kicking him in the teeth! That tooth was only starting to get loose, so you can imagine how tramatic that was! So now he's missing both front teeth! That's two teeth that Luke has accidentally knocked out!

FABRIC GIVE-A-WAY!

V and Co. is doing a giveaway with some of her scraps and a couple of charm packs. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to win these! That would just help fuel the fire a little with my new addiction of sewing!!! If you mention my name in your comment, I get MORE chances to win (plus you get a chance for leaving a comment too!) Please enter for your sake and don't forget to mention my name! I'll go back and mention you too if you leave me a comment that you'd like me too! :o) Good luck!

Go to: http://adayinthelifeofthechristensons.blogspot.com/2008/07/simply-scrumtious-scraps-givaway.html

PS. So how do I make it to where I can do a hyperlink without having the whole address showing? For example - I just want to type "click here" and have it go where I want? Anybody that knows could you please share?!!

Lost Tooth, Swim Lessons and does anybody have one of those butt donuts?

Yesterday luke accidentally smacked Michael and knocked out his loose tooth! I am SO happy that I didn't have to pull it because I totally tramatized him the last time I pulled one. He came running up to me to show me his tooth was out and when he smiled his mouth was red from all the blood. I told him to run and rinse out his mouth and he FREAKED! He doesn't like blood, and even though he wasn't in any pain, he was crying from his dislike of bleeding. That poor kid needs to get more used to it because he has a lot of baby teeth left to go! The other top (right) is getting loose as well, so I'm sure for his 2nd grade pictures he's going to have a huge toothless grin! He's still cute though, and that dollar from the tooth fairy made it all worth it.

The boys started swim lessons last week and are doing really well. Michael looks like he's about

to drown as he swims, but he's getting there. Luke is still a little reluctant to actually try to swim without the teacher's support, but we'll see how the rest of the summer goes.

And... does anybody have one of these?

I think I broke my tailbone today. I slipped going down our stairs and landed super hard right on my keester. I just layed there on the stairs for like 20 minutes until the pain subsided a bit, then braved the last few stair down to the couch. I am really not needing this pain right now! Thank goodness my dear ol' doctor from Baker loaded me up with pain killers during my sinus infection a couple months back. I will be taking advantage of that bottle tonight! BUT...How on earth am I supposed to sit in my classes for 2 and 3 hours in those horribly hard chairs?! YIKES! Maybe I can get a handicapped sticker for my car so I don't have to make that 15 minute walk from the garage to my class.... Hmmm.. I'll have to check on that one tomorrow! :o) I'm so excited to carry a pillow, donut or something soft to class to sit on... that's just going to be awesome. (NOT!)

Project 1: Doll quilt

As if I needed anything else to do, I thought I would TRY to make a quilt. I figure since I've never done it before, I'd start with a small one for Brynley's doll's, then if it turns out decent, I'll try for something bigger. Here's my fabric for her "dollie" quilt, and I'll post the finished quilt when I'm finished. Any tips or tricks you guys have learned that you could share? I'm hoping I don't screw it up too bad!!! :o) I'm just doing small 2" squares, then I'll figure out how to quilt it later.

Happy Independance Day Weekend!

****ALERT! LONG POST WITH WAY TOO MANY PICTURES!!!****

Whew! This weekend was so busy for us. (and not just this weekend, but the past couple of weeks!) We had to get new carpet in our rental last week. The previous renters had a dog that used the upstairs carpet as a bathroom a few too many times, and since our landlord lives out of town, nodbody knew until we arrived. So, we are finally starting to get things "REALLY" put away after removing everything during the carpet installation.

School is CRAZY. I'm not sure that an "Accelerated Essentials of Chem" (Chem 105) should be a summer class or not... we are covering 3 chapters a week and my head is litterally starting to spin! Between Chem and all the reading and writing involved in my English class I'm ready for a break!

ANYWAY...Here's a few pics from this weekend. Our ward was invited to another ward's July 4th breakfast. The kids had a parade with their decorated bikes. We had so much fun decorating the bikes, and I think I had WAY too much fun on Brynley's! She looked SOOO adorable on her little bike and I got some pretty cheesy smiles out of her!

We also watched the parade downtown.

Then went over to Ann Morrison Park and layed out UNDER the fireworks. Check out some of these awesome pics I got of the fireworks!! Brynley was not excited about all the noise. She kept saying "Don't like it.. pops" (referring to the noise of the fireworks as they exploded in the air). But, we were there and it's not like I could go wait in the car with her! She toughed it out and now talks about it constantly.

I hope you had a great fourth! Life has been insane, but I'll try to post more often. We'll be going home next weekend to the cabin so I'll have lots of fun pics to post next week after that little vacation!

PS. Saturday I heard music playing and looked out the window to find the ICE CREAM TRUCK! I think it's hilarious that the name for this guy's truck it "SCARY LARRY'S ICE CREAM" since my dad's name is Larry! HA!