Our Quick Trip

We were able to make a quick trip to Boise this weekend and had a great time. We drove down on Friday and got there just in time to drop the girls off with a babysitter before we went to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival with Jared's parents and my brother & sister-in-law. We saw Comedy of Errors and really enjoyed it, along with the superb picnic dinner packed by JoyAnn.


On Saturday morning Abby was excited to have Grandma fix her well-loved Princess dress, and in the afternoon the girls were excited to go swimming with their cousin Courtney. Courtney loved it, but unfortunately my girls wimped out because of the cold water--maybe because I've been spoiling them with warm water when they swim in their bucket at home.

The girls loved it when their Uncle Bryan let them ride his horse Taffy. Abby was very interested in learning about horses--what they eat, where they live, how to put on the saddle, etc. Maddy was excited about Taffy too. After Maddy got off she kept pointing and crying "horsey" until we let her have another ride.

Do you see that big smile?

Abby learning how to brush and ride Taffy.

Saturday evening we enjoyed a nice dinner, played Scotland Yard, and watched Confessions of a Shopaholic (which was hilarious). We left after church the next day, so it was a quick weekend but very fun!

Great Dads!

Happy Father's Day everyone! I just wanted to write a post about some pretty great dads that I know.

JARED
When I was dating Jared I asked him what he wanted most in life, and he said he wanted to be a good dad. Well he definitely is. I know it is hard for him to wake up before 5:00 everyday and go to work, but he does it because he wants to provide for his girls. Just as important as providing finacially for his family, Jared provides his girls with lots of love and a wonderful example of a worthy priesthood holder.

They love their dad and literally "clap their hands and jump for joy" when he comes home from work. Their favorite daddy activities include: going on walks, "helping" him in the garden, wrestling, reading, and checking the mail.

Jared has always had a special gift for getting the girls to sleep on his chest. I think his trick is to fall asleep before they do.

Here is Jared at graduation with his two girls. His classmates and teachers were amazed that he was able to do so well in PA school despite the extra demands of being a father of two.

Jared holding our sweet Maddy in the hospital. This was a hard time for him as he was trying to balance being Elder's Quorum President, taking care of me on bedrest, and some very demanding roations, but somehow he did it all.

Jared as a new daddy holding Abby in the hospital. Little did he know what he was getting into!

GREAT GRANDPA DONALDSON

This is my dad's dad. He is an amazing father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He raised 9 wonderful children (including 8 boys all of whom have served missions and been sealed in the temple to their wives). He lived through the Great Depression, served in WWII, and worked as a microbiology professor at BYU. He has lived a rich life full of many interesting experiences that he loves to share with us. He is wonderful about putting his family first and spends his free time doing family history work.

Here is a picture of my grandpa at my sister Rachel's wedding.

Here he is holing Abby in the hospital right after she was born.

GRANDPA DONALDSON

My dad has a great curiosity and enthusiasm about life and learning. He was always ready to give us new experiences and teach us about life and nature. Most of all I appreciate his teaching me about the gospel. Although it was difficult with 6 wild kids, he tried to make sure our family had scripture study, prayer, and FHE together. He was also great about "slave labor" (making us work in the yard) to teach us to have a good work ethic. My dad works hard, but he also knows how to play hard. I have a lot of fond memories of family vactions, camping, and playing board games together. My dad still loves to tease and play around with his grand kids. Abby loves to play games like Spider or tickle monster with him.

Growing up I remember him teaching us about nature and here he is doing the same thing for his grand kids.

Here we are enjoying a delicious seafood dinner cooked by my dad.

I really appreciate my dad flying all the way out to Philadelphia so that he could be with us for Maddy's baby blessing.

Here is my dad holding Abby shortly after she was born. Don't they look cute together? Grandpa Donaldson is still Abby's special friend that she loves to tease and play games with.

GRANDPA COLLETT

Grandpa Collett is a great dad who raised 5 wonderful sons, all of which are worthy priesthood holders. He has a quiet dignity and patriarchal nature, and has set a great example by serving in the Boise Temple every week. He has done a great job in teaching his sons the importance of hard work, as well as how to work in the garden and fix things.

Here he is with his 5 sons.

Grandpa giving his oldest grandchild Emily a big hug.

It was great to have Grandma and Grandpa Collett fly out for Jared's graduation.

Grandpa helping Maddy open a present.

These are just a few of the great dads I know. The others include my wonderful brothers and brothers-in-laws. To all you good fathers, thanks for being so great. The world needs more of you!

Ways To Save

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.

-B. Franklin

Recently our family has had a few financial set backs--our blue car completely broke down (to quote the mechanic, "The radiator is completely fried; if it was my car I'd donate it and take a tax write off."), an unexpected medical bill arrived, and we found out that the heat pump and air handler need to be replaced. All of these things have served as a reminder that getting out of debt is a difficult, constant, and upward battle, and if we are going to make it happen, we are going to have to make a more concerted effort. So our goal is to pay off all student loans within 5 years, but in order to do this we are going to have to "retrench"(to use the Jane Austen term). So we took another look at our budget and here are some of ideas we came up with for how to save more money. Feel free to comment and share any other ideas or tips that you may have:

1) Live with one car: This will require a lot of sacrifice, working together, and compromise on both our parts, but will be worth it in the long run. Jared is going to ride his trike to work on at least 3 days a week so that I can have the car at home. We figure that we will save over $100 a month in car insurance, maintenance, and gas by doing this (not to mention the amount of money we would have to spend to buy a new car).

2) No Dental Insurance: We pay way too much for dental insurance--more than what it would cost for us to pay for work out of pocket. Accordingly, we are going to cancel our dental insurance after our next trip to the dentist, practice good oral hygiene and set aside money for regular visits and dental work.

3) Health Saving Plan: After the baby comes switch to a health saving plan vs. regular health insurance and then don't go to the doctor unless absolutely necessary (this is where having a husband that is a PA and a dad and brother who are doctors comes in handy). We are also going to work hard to live a more healthy lifestyle (nutrition, getting sleep and exercise, etc.) so that we won't have to go as often.

4) Cut household Expenses:
*Plant a garden and can extra produce
*Plan car trips to save on gas
*Buy as much as possible secondhand (especially kid stuff)
*Have a "is it need or greed?" mentality
*Trade babysit vs. paying for a babysitter

5) Use moderation and a strict budget in fixing up and furnishing the house: This is probably the hardest for me since I'm so excited to have my own house and want to make it really cute. I just have to be careful and do it gradually.

6) Avoid getting into more debt at all costs: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!"

In addition to saving, another part of our getting out of debt plan is to explore alternative sources of income. We have a few ideas of things we are working on, but we would be open to any suggestions you may have.

Family Summer Vacation 2009

For our family vacation this year we decided to visit our families in Idaho and Utah. It doesn't sound too exciting, but it's a great idea for people with a small budget (a.k.a. us) since we don't have to worry about the expense of hotels and food (not to mention free babysitting). In addition to the benefits of catching up with family, Utah and Boise have a wealth of things to do after living in Tri-Cites for the last 10 months. So put all of that together and it made for a great time.

In Boise, we went on a short hike with the Colletts up to a waterfall where we had a picnic and the girls had fun playing in the water with their cousin Courtney.

Maddy really liked dessert.

Jared hiking with the girls.

In Utah the girls enjoyed seeing the animals on the farm at Thanksgiving Point. Abby especially loved the pony ride; she went on it three times.

The girls loved riding around on the golf cart and seeing the gardens at Thanksgiving Point with their cousin Jonathan. Most of all they enjoyed playing in the Noah's Ark wading pool in the children's garden. Abby got completely soaked and loved it!

Our family at the secret garden.

Maddy riding on grandpa's shoulders at the farm.

Maddy trying out a trike at the recumbent trike shop. While on vacation we found out that our blue car had broken down, and since we don't have any trike shops near us, Jared decided to buy a trike so that he can pedal to work and leave me with the car at home.

The girls watching fish at the aquarium. You can tell they are pretty fascinated since they wouldn't even turn around for the picture. Abby loved the turtles and said "turtle" for the first time. Abby liked touching a real star fish, and watching the octopus and sharks.

Grandpa spent a day taking the kids around BYU. Here they are at the Widtsoe Blding looking at fish. He also took them to the dinosaur and the Bean Museums.

For old times sake Jared and I decided to visit our favorite Provo grocery store--Macey's. The girls loved driving the car cart and getting ice cream. Jared and I were happy to find a good deal on some water containers for our food storage.

Since we wanted the girls to have the experience of seeing the inside of a temple again, we took them and their cousins to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house. Afterwards we decided to take a trip to the near by Kennecott Copper Mine. Here is a tire from one of the trucks they use to carry rock.

Abby swimming with her cousins in Grandma's backyard.

Here are Abby and Maddy who decided to jump in a hammock with me at my parents' cabin. They both loved the cabin, especially when we had FHE around the camp fire and sang songs. Abby roasted a marshmallow and made her first smore. She was very proud of herself.

It was fun to be back in Provo and remember the "good old days" when were were dating and newly weds. In addition to doing activities with the girls, my mom and Stephen were nice enough to watch the girls for us so that Jared and I were able to go do sealings and go out on a date to the dollar theater.

I don't have any pictures of it, but on Saturday we met Jared's family in Salt Lake and saw the play Treasure Island at Hale Centre Theatre. It was very well done with an amazing set in which the actors actually fell off the ship into real water when they went overboard. We had a nice dinner afterwards and then met up with his family again on Sunday for our nephew William's baby blessing. After church we drove back to Boise and then drove the rest of the way home on Sunday. As fun as vacations are, it is nice to be back home again. The girls were pretty worn out from all our traveling, but are doing much better now that they are back in their own beds and are on a better sleep routine.