Can I Breathe Yet?

Veteran's Day brought a 4 day weekend for Reid and my Mom (She's in school also). So she came down and we played hard! Unfortunately Jed did not have any time off. However, my mom did watch the kids Friday night while Jed and I went to a dance club and tried our hand at Salsa! It was so much fun and I wish I had more energy, but come 12:30AM we had to leave due to my imbalance!

Thursday my friends took us to some free places in San Diego...
We first went to the San Diego Temple. It was beautiful, but the grounds were not what I expected. I thought there would be more land, but there is hardly any around it. You can't walk all the way around it either. But nevertheless, it's a beautiful Temple and I can't wait to go inside it next time.






We then went to the Cabrillo National Monument and the Point Loma Light House




Thank goodness for Grandma! She held Adaire most of the time!


See the land in the background? That's Tijuana...where Uncle Sam is!



After stopping for dinner we headed over to the Mormon Battalion. The tour is really neat and the set up is awesome. There's a lot of interactive things to do and see.




On Friday we went to the OC Zoo in the Irvine Park, it was a very small zoo and only cost $2 to get in but still a lot of fun. There was a petting area where we were able to feed the goats, the boys loved it!







Some of the animals that were at the zoo




Alta and Michael are going home next week which meant that last weekend was our last one with them :( Saturday we went to Hunting Beach. We got there too late but still had some fun. Then we went back to their hotel, ate pizza, watched the Disneyland fireworks, then headed back home. It's been so much fun playing with Alta and will be hard to not see her next weekend.





Phew, I think I made it through the weekend...a little sleep deprived but going strong still! This week is a week to recover and prepare for next week...can't wait to see our Burton family! We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and are able to spend lots of time with your family!

I find this handy...

Yeah...my husband mends his own clothes!

I find this amazing...

My brilliant husband swapping pieces from the broken XBOX to fix the broken computer (the 4 taller pieces are from the XBOX)

I find this disgusting...

This is my right leg when I am pregnant

I find this amusing...

There are only 6 months between these cousins!

If Batman and Superman were in a fight...who would win?

R: batman...L: Superman...A: Wonder Women

We made some yummy Halloween treats
Boys crushing up peanut butter cereal
making ghost pretzels

On Halloween we made mummies, brain, and ghosts...yummy!

Whatch out for Falling Acorns!

Uncle Michael has had training in Anaheim (30 min away from us) for the past month and then for another 3 weeks (and Alta has been staying with him). We see them almost every weekend and Alta came and stayed with us for 10 days while Michael went back home. We LOVED having Alta here and miss her so much! We have only 1 more weekend with them until they go back home :(

Here's a couple things we have done...

We went hiking one Saturday, the weather was overcast and I was afraid it might rain, but we got lucky. It was great hiking weather, not too hot or too cold. Although it wouldn't have mattered, there were so many trees that we were in the shade the majority of the time. It was a beautiful hike. There were certain places though that you had to watch out for falling acorns!
the boys cooling off at the stream
there were huge catface spiders everywhere!
the kids and I by the waterfall
my cute boys!

We also did A LOT of swimming. Reid has become quite the pro at it also. He had only 1 summer of lessons and then taught himself how to do the breathing part! We're still working on Lliam, he's my timid one when it comes to water.

isn't she adorable?!

yee haw!

Pretty much the boys wanted to be with Alta for her DS!

Naw, they love her for so much more than her DS, but it is a plus!

Reid!

All About the Burtons...

It is very difficult to be living so far away from family, we got used to being close and seeing family almost every couple weeks. I get jealous when I hear about various activities that we missed out on because we are not close enough to make a quick trip of it. However, we are grateful to be closer to my family, are making some amazing friends here and are enjoying our time we have together...we are especially LOVING the weather!
(BTW, the pictures are not in any specific order, just thought I'd add them to the post. I can't ever just read a post, I like to have pictures also!)

Jed would be the busiest one, there have been times when we see more of him than I thought we would. So far it hasn't been too bad but I keep hearing that the worst is yet to come, so we're trying to make the most of it while we have him home!



I was cutting his hair and the front curled up, definitely time for a haircut!


She's foaming at the mouth!!! Her shirts are typically drenched within a half hour!

Reid absolutely loves school and his teacher! Sometimes he'll have bad days but thankfully most days are great and he does so well. He loves to learn and says he wants to stay young so he can always go to kindergarten and have Mrs. Martin as a teacher! She is such a wonderful teacher and very understanding and experienced!




Lliam doesn't always take naps anymore because he is never home! Such a social bug! Every now and then I can sneak one in while he is watching a movie (he usually never lasts). This time he fell asleep while watching Reid play computer games!




Some of Jed's work! He's going to be a great Dentist!



Lliam falling asleep during dinner time! I think he just didn't want to eat his broccoli! (He has actually fallen asleep in the car while singing to Adaire!

Lliam is busy with his friends and preschool. He has really grown since Reid went off to Kindergarten and he was left to do things on his own. He loves to play at his friend's house and go to preschool. He is usually away from me for a couple hours every day but Friday, but when Friday comes around he complains about not being with his friends!




Our red-neck swimming pool! (the door is propping up a peach limb that has a lot of peaches on it, which is why it snapped in the first place, which is why we are propping it up so the peaches would continue to ripen...it worked!)

Adaire has grown so much way too fast! She is 4 1/2 months old now and is a talker! It's sometimes hard to keep her quiet when it is time to be quiet (Sacrament Mtg, Relief Society). She loves to gnaw on anything she can put in her mouth and is a drool machine!



She feel asleep on her changing table...unfortunately she doesn't fall asleep on her own much.

As for me, I am keeping busy. When I think I have a spare minute, something else pops in my head that needs to be done. I love preparing meals for Jed, walking Reid to school, teaching Lliam preschool (when it's my turn) and making my baby girl smile! All in all, I love being a wife and a mother.

PLEASE HELP MY FRIEND

If you don't feel like reading it all, all you have to do is click on the link at the bottom and vote for thesassysaver. PLEASE do this for my friend, she is amazing and truly deserves this!

Dear Friends and Family,

First I want to say thanks for reading this. Some of you know that I run a frugal living blog called The Sassy Saver. I write about coupons and living within your means. We have been so blessed to be able to live debt free our entire marriage and I am hoping to be able to continue that cycle.

With Matthew looking at going to Law School next year we may have to go into debt for that. I am hoping that I can make enough money by writing my blog that we can pay for living expenses while he is in Law School. This will cut our debt in half if we have to get into debt. I am needing to learn more about blogging and earning money through it so I can work from home and help our family in the process.

I have registered with Savings.com to become what is called a deal pro. This means that I am given the opportunity to go to the Savings.com blogging conference in Chicago where I will learn all about blogging and earning money. This will also give me a chance to share what I know through their website which will bring me a lot of traffic to my site and give me more of an opportunity to achieve my goal of earning enough money for our family.

If you could please take a moment to Vote for me in the contest. There will be 15 people chosen and they will choose it by the votes they receive, their website and the advice we give. The voting is very important because it tells them who the people trust and look to for the tips they need.

It only takes a moment just click and vote. Thank you so much!!!!
http://saveup.savings.com/?contestants=thesassysaver

Melissa

Finally...an Update!

I finally have a moment to sit down and update my blog! After spending 5 hours at the DMV yesterday (to register both vehicles and get California licenses-don't get me started, I still have to go back) I am ready for a break!

First on the updating...our house! Yes, we finally have a place of our own (sortof, we are renting). BUT we do not have to share a wall/ceiling/backyard with anyone! I can send my boys out back without worrying too much what they are getting into! (They are decedents of Jed however, so curiosity and mischievousness comes natural).
Here are some before, during and after pictures of our house...


The kitchen floor

The bathroom floor

The boarder in the kitchen (and Grandma scraping it off)

The dining room/office floor once the carpet was pulled up.

Daddy and Grandpa painting the room (they did the whole house ALL night Sunday night)

The new floor in the kitchen and bathroom

Our new carpet and walls

Mr. L helping grandma!

Daddy had his white coat ceremony (pictures to come). The boys were quite proud of their Daddy, when it was his turn they both stood up on their chairs and yelled "Yeah Dad! You're cool Dad!" (Video to come)


Daddy with his white coat and Loops

We've been able to go to the beach twice so far. These pictures are from last week after the first big test (he passed!)


Daddy and friend fishing and crabbing



Mr. L and Mr. R having fun at the beach

The boys have made some great friends. Luckily a great family we had met our first time coming down had two grandsons the same age as the boys! Mr. R started kindergarten, had a little bit of a rough start (class clown=trouble maker), but he quickly learned the rules and is doing GREAT!

Mr. L will be starting preschool soon (Mommy and some friends are doing a co-op) and both Mr. L and mommy are excited about it!



And last but not least...Squeaks! She now weighs about 10 lbs and loves to smile and talk to you! I think she's even starting to laugh! She is very alert, loves to look around and does not like the wind just yet!

As for how mommy is handling things...I'm doing quite well! I don't feel quite like a widow yet, but I'm sure that will change soon. Luckily the University also has some clubs for us widows to join to meet and support each other. Also Mr. L and his friend trade days playing at each other's houses so mommy and her friend get breaks also! It's quite nice only having 1 child at home!

On the Road Again!

Just dropping a quick post while my mother'S are loading up the last of the stuff in our 2nd trailer! Jed is already in California with Nelson (his dad) and are stressing about what to do with the floors...we may not be able to move in right away.

Nancy will leave tonight with the load and my mom and I will leave tomorrow with the boys...and my baby girl!

Took us a couple day longer to finish everything, but at least we got it done...I can officially say i do NOT enjoy packing up and moving.

NEXT STOP...ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA!