I'm a What!?!

Anyone who has had any interaction with a two year old knows that sometimes they struggle with finding the right words to express themselves. Their vocabulary is limited so they use what they know. Recently, I bought a 6 lb bag of gummy bears at Costco. They are a special treat for the kids (and me and John). The other day when TJ got mad at me for some reason, he called me a "Dummy Bear". I know I should have said something about being nice to mommy and not saying mean words, but I was taken so by surprise that I couldn't. I know he loves gummy bears, so maybe that's his way of expressing that he loves me, but that I wasn't living up to his expectations at the moment. Kind of like a dud gummy bear, or a "Dummy Bear".

Update

I'm sorry that I've been absent in the blogging world lately. The first couple of months of pregnancy are always the hardest for me. I'm finally on to my second trimester where I can re-emerge into the land of the living. Everything is going well with our family. I've updated our photos with our family pics we took in September.

We are busy preparing for the holidays. I don't have much of my Christmas shopping done because I've been feeling so lousy, and now I'm anxious to get it all done. We were in St. George visiting family on Black Friday, so I didn't venture out. There wasn't anything that had me drooling, so I chose to sleep in. We had 3 Thanksgiving feasts this holiday, as we traveled to St. George, Las Vegas, and Delta. I would just ignore the scale for the next couple of weeks, but unfortunately I have to go to Dr. appointments every four weeks where they make you get on the scale. I guess I'll just blame it on the baby growing inside me!!

Ahead of the Game

Have you ever noticed how the LDS Church is so ahead of the game? The Word of Wisdom was revealed in 1833 and some of its points are just being "discovered" by modern-day scientists. The Family: A Proclamation to the World was given to us in 1995. Now we are coming to grips with the problem of governments wanting to declare marriage between two people of the same gender as legal. There are a lot of people now agreeing with what was set forth by our leaders 13 years ago, and hopefully Prop. 8 will pass in California this upcoming election.

Since I am so into the personal finance thing, I have noticed in the past couple of years that more and more personal finance gurus are coming up with "new" ideas that we've had access to since April 1975 (7 months before I was born!), when Elder Marvin J. Ashton gave a talk entitled "One for the Money." This talk was formatted into a pamphlet that you can get for free at the distribution center or download for free at providentliving.org. If you want to order a bunch, you can find them at www.ldscatalog.com item # 33293 (you may have to pay shipping.) This is a must-read for everyone, in my opinion.

It's been a rough year for many financially, but I truly believe that the counsel we've received from our Church leaders will help us through these turbulent times. We need to get out of debt, get a good supply of food, and set aside some money for harder times to come. As always, if any of you have any specific questions or concerns, I would be happy to help.

Jenni

What's the deal?

I went to Wal Mart the other day to get our normal brand of spread (fake butter), and when I got home and opened it, I noticed that it looked a little skimpy. So, I checked the label and noticed that they are now packaging only 15 oz. of spread when they used to package 16 oz. They charge the same amount, but you're getting less for that price, so actually the price is going up. I kind of feel like they think I'm stupid.

I noticed this a couple of months ago with my boxes of pasta. I used to get 16 oz., but now I only get 13.5 oz. per box. For my food storage purposes, I would much rather pay more for the same size of box because my storage room is limited, and now I have to buy more boxes. Has anyone else noticed this in their shopping?

Jennie

Our Big Announcement!!

In my last post, I said that I didn't have a lot of time to post, but that's not the entire truth. I've been so exhausted and nauseous that I don't have a lot of desire to get on the computer or really do anything else. Why do we forget how miserable these first couple of months of pregnancy can be? We are really excited to have another baby, but I think I must be getting too old or something - it seems harder than last time.

I was going to try really hard not to tell anyone until I was at least 12 weeks or so, but I want you all to know why I'm not posting much and to get any sympathy you can send my way (grin)! I'll keep you all posted as things progress!

Jenni

Money Makeovers

I’m sorry I haven’t been more diligent in posting. I have about two hours to myself on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays when I plan on doing most of my postings, but I have found those hours have been filled with other things these past two weeks. One thing I have been doing a lot of is reading

A lot of you know that I enjoy personal finance. I just finished reading a book by Dave Ramsey called The Total Money Makeover. When I read books like these and they talk about debt elimination programs, I kind of wish we were in debt so I could follow through with one (totally crazy, I know). If you don’t know what a debt elimination schedule is, it is organizing all your debts from the smallest to largest amounts and then paying the minimum on all except the first (the smallest). You use all your discretionary income to pay that debt down as quickly as possible. Once that one is paid off, you move to the next one with all the money you were paying along with the minimum payment until that one is paid off and you keep moving down the line until they are all paid in full. I once spent two hours working on a debt elimination schedule for a stranger I met in a personal finance forum on the internet. If any of you want one, just give me the word.

Since John and I don’t have any debt beside our mortgage, I decided that I could use the principle of a debt elimination program to create a savings program that implements the idea of intense focus. John’s yearly raise kicks in the first of October and so I was re-evaluating our budget and making some changes. John and I spent some time discussing it the other night and are really excited to follow through with our plan in order to reach some of our goals.

For anyone who would like the abbreviated version of the Total Money Makeover (which I thought was really good), just read the Church’s free pamphlet, One For the Money. If you would like any one-on-one help with budgeting or debt elimination, I would be happy to help.

Jenni

Trip to the Farm

This past Saturday, we took a trip to my sister's house to see her new baby horses. Her husband and sons went back to Nebraska or some place and got four one-year old colts.

My sister also has a couple of miniature mules, or hennies. These two mules are named John and Jenni. It so happens that male hennies are called johns and females are called jennies, so they thought they would go ahead and name them in our honor (at least, I think its an honor).



TJ and Seth thought they were monkeys and kept climbing the fence (with dad behind ready to catch any missteps).

All about gardening

This summer has been a year of learning for me in the area of gardening. Things I've learned:
--Don't plant tomatoes too close together
--Birds love strawberries
--Tomatoes ripen on their own time
--Children love to pick things whether they're ripe or not
Here are some photos of my garden:


This is a good view of my tomatoes. John made this cute fence to keep the kiddos from walking on the garden and picking too soon. We didn't count on the tomatoes growing up and out.

This is a view of my strawberry and raspberry patch. I only had one of the four raspberry plants I planted last year come back, but five of the six I planted this year seem to be doing great.

This is just a cluster of tomatoes - still very green.


These raspberries are on one of the shoots from the plant I planted last year. I have about 8 shoots that are loaded with berries - I can hardly wait until they are ripe!!!



This is one of the first of my large tomatoes to ripen. Abby says it looks like a heart. John says it looks like a butt... what do you think? Take the poll at the end of my blog roll to voice your opinion.

My New Life

Since the kids started school this last week, I decided I needed to get my life on some sort of schedule, and get organized. My goal is that I can keep things in order around the house so that I can free up more time to spend with my kids. Does anyone else feel like they spend too much time doing things for their kids, and not enough time being with their kids? I feel like I show my love to them by washing their clothes, feeding them and doing dishes, keeping a clean house, but I'm starting to understand that while those things are important to me, they are not as important to my kids. I need to be "in the moment" with them a little more.

My plan is to get up in the morning and accomplish a list of chores before they wake up (a load of laundry, bed-making, dishes, pick up). Then, I have set a chore for each day of the week: Monday is vacuuming; Tuesday, toilets; Wednesday, dusting; Thursday, sinks; Friday, mop floor. Saturday will be family chore day. It seems to be working OK. I like doing only one load of laundry a day, but I don't like that my basket is always full. This is a work in progress, so I'm willing to entertain any ideas as to how you all keep it together!

Grouchy Missionary

Here is a picture of Seth from the past Sunday. We had gotten him some new church clothes along with his new school clothes, and I was excited to see him look so handsome. He was not pleased with the outfit (he is so texture-sensitive, it drives me bonkers), but he wore it anyway. When his dad came home from meetings he told him how awesome he looked and that they could look like missionaries together. (What a good dad!)

A Week of Firsts

Today I have a whole two hours to myself and I'm not sure what to do with myself. I guess I'll blog...


Abby started first grade on Monday. She was a little nervous, so I took her to school and picked her up that first day. The Friday before, we were able to go meet her teacher and learn a little about what to expect. She had to line up outside the building and I think she was worried she wouldn't get to the right place. Once we got there Monday morning, she found a couple of her friends that are in her class and was just fine.


Making the transition from kindergarten to 1st grade is a lot harder than the transition from preschool to kindergarten because of the major increase in time away from home. The have-to-eat-lunch-there thing makes it a little bigger also. I am making Abby's lunch, for the most part, but she has money in her account, so she can buy lunch when they are having something she likes. Today she was excited to be able to get pizza. Abby has a really good teacher and we are looking forward to all she will learn this year.


Seth had his first day of preschool today. He goes with his neighbor buddy, Eric. When his teacher had an open house a couple of weeks ago, I had to drag him literally kicking and screaming from the car and into her home. Once he got there, he was fine, and I've been talking it up a lot since then, so I'm hoping he will do OK. He was ready to go as soon as he woke up this morning. I offered to take him and pick him up, even though it wasn't my day for carpool, but he wanted to go with Eric, so I think he'll be just fine.


Now TJ is down for a nap and I'm not quite sure what to do. I guess I could dust, go weed the yard, pick up the playroom, organize my desk, clean some toilets... but, I think I'll just go read a good book!


Future Preschoolers, Ashton and TJ.

The color of watermelon

I got a seedless watermelon at Costco today. I have had nothing but success in picking watermelon this year. I've been told that you are supposed to look for a large pale spot on the bottom of the watermelon which indicates that it has sat on the vine to ripen. After dinner I decided to cut up our watermelon for dessert and this is what I saw:



John took one look and told me I had to take it back to Costco to get a refund. (The picture doesn't show the color all that great - it is orange with a yellow tinge.) I was sorely disappointed in myself. Before spending the $4 in gas to take back a $6 watermelon, I decided to just taste it. To my utter surprise, it was the sweetest watermelon I've had this year! Maybe it crossed with a cantaloupe - so its actually a cantamelon or a waterloupe!?! It just goes to show you that you can't judge a watermelon by its color!

Jenni

Our Cabin Trip

This past weekend we spent some time at our family cabin in Sanpete. My sister, Jody, and her two kids went with us, along with some of our neighbors. We had a relaxing, yet eventful time. Our cabin has this huge swing that is pretty hard to describe in words. You just have to experience it to get the full scope of "The Swing." You climb up to a platform that is about 20 feet up, climb onto a piece of wood tied to a rope and swing out over a slope. Maybe some of you who have been there can add some additional descriptions in the comments. Anyway, Abby, Seth and TJ have all been on the swing, although they had never climbed the platform and jumped off. This trip Abby and Seth both took the big leap! Abby first went with her cousin Melanie, and then ventured a jump on her own. Just before we were to leave, Seth decided to jump off with cousin, Melanie, but didn't have time to work up to jumping on his own. He says he'll do it this next week at our family reunion, so I'll let you know. I went off the platform once to fill my quota for the year.




My neighbor and friend, Jenalyn, took the plunge off the platform without incident the first time. The second time, she seemed concerned about running into the big tree to which the swing is attached. We told her she was fine, as she was actually swinging away from the tree, but during her dismount, she didn't let go of the rope and was dragged down the hill right into the tree! After I was sure she hadn't done major damage, I proceeded to laugh until I about peed my pants.


When we got to the cabin, it was pretty chilly, so my sister proceeded to TRY to start a fire. It had rained and all the kindling was pretty damp, so she struggled a bit. She started looking for some "scout juice" (lighter fluid), but could only find some lamp oil. She poured a little on the wood in the fireplace and then threw a match. The fireball that erupted from the fireplace was a sight to behold. Luckily, everyone's eyebrows and hair were intact and the cabin is still standing. I think Jody has learned her lesson about combustible versus flammable, and won't be doing that trick again.

We had a beautiful thunderstorm while we were there and it was the most beautiful that I have seen the mountain in August. There were tons of wildflowers still in bloom and millions of butterflies. I hope all you Andersons who read this post are planning on coming to the reunion this weekend!


It was a wonderful couple of days away from all the distractions that the world has. We read, played games, told stories, swung, hiked, and sang.

Happy Birthday TJ!!

It seems like all that I have posted about lately has been our
family celebrations. July and August are busy months for my family in the celebration department.

Last night we had TJs birthday party at my mom & dad's house. The theme of the party seemed to be water as he received several water guns and a pool. He had a fun time squirting everyone and getting squirted. Notice the picture where he is getting Grandma L pretty good.

We had cupcakes and ice cream. TJ did a good job blowing out the candles - blowing them out just as we finished singing "Happy Birthday".

I can't believe my baby is now a two year old boy. His new short haircut really makes him look like a big boy.

We had aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandmas & a grandpa there to celebrate with us.

TJ is a great kid to have around. TJ is short for Timothy John. He is a really tough kid, having had to put up with an older sister and brother knocking him around. He is the only one of my kids who sucks his thumb, and while I would like to break him of the habit, he has been the easiest to put to bed because of his ability to soothe himself. He is also the only one of my kids who has a security blanket that he carries with him. He loves hot dogs, pizza and his daily chocolate milk.

Like his big brother, he is really good at anything that has to do with balls. John spent some time with him kicking, and he thinks he'll be a really good soccer player. He likes going to his nursery class and is slowly starting to understand the concept of reverence in sacrament.

We're so glad TJ is a part of our family.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!!

Today is my mom & dad's 49th wedding anniversary. I'm sorry I didn't have any pictures of them together - I'll have to work on that.

My parents have been through so much in the 49 years they have been together. They have successfully raised 7 children and are enjoying being grandparents to 31 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.

Their family started as a Brady Bunch - my dad brought my two oldest siblings with him and my mom brought two boys with her. Together, they had three children (of which I'm the last). Although this wasn't a typical family, no one would ever guess that the seven of us are not all full-blood relation. My parents never made the distinction of "his, mine and ours". I've never called any of my siblings half- this or that. We have always just been a family. In fact, I didn't even know about the unique circumstances under which our family was started until I was a teenager.

I'm so grateful for my parents and the example they have been to me. Theirs is not a perfect marriage, but I have learned from them how to get through the ups and downs of life - you do it together.

John's Fishing Trip

I spent my last Friday night setting up this blog because my husband was otherwise occupied with a fishing trip to Idaho. He was able to meet up with his brother, Rick, and they went to Rick's in-laws special fishing spot where John caught this beauty. He says that this picture doesn't do it justice: it was a lot fatter than it looks in the photo ;-).

I'm pretty good at maintaining a good food storage, but I'm glad my DH has some skills that would help us survive in a major disaster. Although I must say that I detest fish and I would need to be nearly starving before I would resort to eating anything that comes from any body of water.

Note that his shorts are wet: he had to wade in to land the fish. What a stud!

Happy Birthday, Jody!!!!

This is my big sister, Jody. She will hate that I put this picture on here, but it was the only one I had.

Jody is an awesome sister. Since she was 11 when I was born, she had the privilege (or curse, depending on your point of view) of caring for me and is a big reason I am who I am. There is a story she tells of when I was about 9 months old: she and her friend, Deidra, were working to teach me to walk. They found that if they let me hold some shoes in my hands, I would hold my hands above my head and feel secure enough to walk on my own. When they took the shoes out of my hands, I couldn't walk. So, Jody taught me how to walk and stand on my own two feet. She was also the first one to really explain about the birds and the bees. I can still remember the feelings of unbelief and ewww that accompanied that discussion. She was always interested in the experiences I was having through my dating years and I could always count on her for a listening ear and some great advice about dealing with matters of the heart.

I have learned a lot from Jody over the years, both from the successes and trials she has had in her life. She is a great mom and I hope I can do as good of a job raising my kids as she has done with hers. I am a better person because I have her as a sister. I love you, Jody!

My First Post

As the title suggests, this is my first blog posting. I have been toying with the idea of starting my own blog for a couple of weeks, and I had a few hours to myself tonight, so here it goes...

The name of my blog, penny-wise Jenni, highlights one of my hobbies in life. I would say passion, but it seems a little weird to be passionate about personal finance. I like learning about personal finance and feel I have some skill in managing resources. I plan on going back to school for a Master's so I can become a financial educator. I want to utilize this blog to keep a journal of sorts of the experiences our family has, but I would also like to share some of my thoughts on personal finance.

To introduce myself, I am a SAHM of three adorable kids. I have a wonderful husband who is my perfect companion (not perfect, mind you; just perfect for me). I am a better person because I am married to him. He wasn't too enthused about my starting a blog, but he helped me come up with a cute name anyway. I've said on occasion that it boggles my mind that I married him only loving him as much as I did then, knowing how much I love him now.

Our three kids provide the greatest joy in my life. I'm sure I'll blog about them a good bit, so I'll just leave it at that.

I'm not blog-savvy yet, so I don't have any bells and whistles, but I'll take some time to spruce this up so you'll enjoy your visits to penny-wise jenni!

Jenni