Summer...

The zoo here in Colorado Springs is the best one I have ever been to! Every time we go we get so see something amazing and different. Last time we got to see the bears in the water wrestling with each other right up against the glass wall, it was amazing!

Here are some photos from our last visit!

Daniel took the kids one at a time & Audrina was watching Aiden ride around on the carousel

She looks a little scared :-)

Aiden really enjoyed watching Audrina ride

The best part about having a zoo pass is that we can go for an hour or two and then head home without feeling like we need to get "our money's worth!"

FREE Homeschooling Workshop!

I was just reading on Springsbargains.com and Carrie discovered that...


There is going to be a Free Homeschooling Workshop at East library where they will be teaching tools and techniques, as well as free resources available! The workshop is Wednesday September 2nd from 10am to 2pm and there is still plenty of room for registration! They will also have a panel of homeschooling parents as well as children who have been homeschooled to talk about the experience. Click HERE to find out more

I have been planning on homeschooling for quite some time now and I thought about it for a long time before coming to a decision. Mostly, I didn't want to have to give up my "free" time when the children would be in school, but it's worth it to me!
I have been planning, and searching the internet, and talking to my sister Amanda who teaches preschool about what I need to do and for tips on teaching. I am very excited about going to this workshop! It is going to be 4 full hours of learning and the librarian who talked to me about it was very excited about the program. She said I might even come back with tips for my sister, instead of the other way around!

It seems like back in Virginia (Bayside ward) there were a lot more people who were going to homeschool their children. I kind of feel isolated here because no one I know is planning on doing it. :-( Lol

I'm so excited!

Obsess Much?

I don't have OCD I have CDO, It's in alphabetical order like it should be! Lol


I was reading someones blog about the obsessive things they do and it made me thing about what things I do that are obsessive...the longer I thought about it the more things I kept remembering. I have gotten so used to myself that I hardly notice my habits anymore!

I always have to have my money straight, all facing the same way and right side up in my wallet. Some people just cram their money in...that makes me cringe just thinking about it! I also have to put my cash register receipt in a special compartment in my wallet before I will walk away from the cashier. I also file away ever single receipt I get so that I have it just in case there is ever a need to return something. When the hubby comes home after buying something, he just hands me the receipt!

When I was little I once picked up an egg carton with one hand, but all of the eggs were on one side so the eggs flipped out of my hand and all broke on the floor. Ever since then the eggs have to be placed so they are as even as possible! I even make patterns with the eggs, lol. Daniel is understanding (and used to it) so he tries his best to keep the eggs even for me!

I also won't put a pair of socks back on even if I had only worn them for 5 minutes. I will go and get a fresh pair. Sometimes I will wear 3 or 4 different pair in a day and I find it absolutely disgusting when Daniel will put his back on! Aiden is like me in a way, every time he uses the bathroom he likes to get a fresh pair of underwear, lol.

Every time I sit down in my car I have to put my seat belt on immediately. I'm not sure why, but I NEVER in many, many years have forgotten to put it on. Sometimes I will be waiting outside of a grocery store while Daniel runs in, the car will be off, but I have to keep my seat belt on. I have tried to take it off before while just sitting, it only lasted a few seconds before I was too uncomfortable with not being "buckled" and had to put it back on.

My car also flashes when someone in the passenger seat isn't wearing their seat belt. It just keeps flashing the seat belt sign, then it will begin going "ding" "ding" "ding." I have noticed (because of this feature on my car) that people don't like to wear seat belts, and they definitely don't like to put them on right away!

I'm wondering, what are you obsessive about? Will you pull groceries from the front of the shelf or do you have to get the stuff in the back? What about washing hands? Do you do it 10, 20, or 30 times a day? What about public restroom doors? Will you touch them with your bare hands?

I happen to love the kind of bathrooms that loop around to there is no door!

I'd love to hear what you're obsessive about!
-Chancy

This *should* stay behind closed doors!

I have been meaning to post pictures of my pantry for quite some time now! Today I came across a blog that is giving away $250 to the store of your choice so you can get your pantry back to where it should be. One of the ways to enter is by putting up some pictures of your pantry. I had been planning on posting pictures anyway so I figured, why not?

If you would like to enter the giveaway you can go HERE

This is very embarassing for me! My house "appears" clean to the untrained eye, but this is the kind of stuff lurking behind closed doors!

This is a catch-all cupboard from cloth napkins to cookbooks! I am planning on getting it organized, with or without the EXTRA help! *wink* *wink*

This is just half of my tupperware and glass baking dishes...I would LOVE to buy some matching ones and give away all of mine!


This is my spice/baking/vitamin cupboard. I also have and entire drawer and spice rack full of spices. I have to take everything out in order to find what I am looking for most if the time!


This is the left side of my pantry...as you can see LOTS of cereal, pasta, and beans!

This is where my recycling goes! I don't actually have a basket for it, and it's recycling so it's pretty clean. It's Shocking, I know! I really need to just buy one more basket if I could only remember that when I am actually at the store! On Fort Carson they don't pick up the recycling either so I have to load it into my car and drive it to the center!
This is the left side of my pantry. I should have taken some better photos, lol! I have about 20-30 cans of spaghetti sauce (one day they had my favorite flavor on sale for $.59/can!) and tons of everything else too! One the shelf above the spaghetti sauce (not shown) I have tons of baking stuff and about 6-8 bags of tortilla chips (seriously..if we had to live on the food storage, Daniel would go crazy if we didn't have chips! He likes salty & I like SWEET)
This is the left side, the bottom of the pic two pictures above (blogger won't allow me to rearrange photos! Argh!). This is where we keep our junk! It's right on kid-level too! I occasionally wake up to Aiden handing me a package of 'insert junk food here" telling me he needs me to open it for him! I think I need to get a door lock, hehe!
Oh, lol, there IS a picture of the top of the right side, complete with tortilla chips! Aside from the very top shelf, it almost looks pretty organized!
I am really praying that I can get some very cheap cream of mushroom and potato soups this winter when they *hopefully* go on sale! Then I will be able to bake everything from scratch!

I used to buy lots of things I can make from scratch now, like cheese sauce, alfredo sauce, biscuits, pie crusts, pizzas, brownies, pot pies, and soups.

Daniel and I love organic food but it can be too expensive and sales are rare so we decided to just buy organic flour and sugar (& organic foods that are only 20% more than the regular version of the same food), that way when we cook or bake anything it will at least be partially organic, and since we're making it from scratch it helps offset the "organic" price tag!

-Chancy

The new "do"!

Look at those big blue eyes! Thanks nanna, if it weren't for you, she wouldn't have them!

Audrina now has 4 teeth & she is almost 18 months old (yay! nursery! You LDS people know what I'm talking about, hehe) I finally got a good shot where you can see both upper teeth she got over the past few weeks. Can you believe it, 18 months and only 4 teeth?!?

Our little family...and my new do!


These next 2 pictures were taken in a row. look @ how Audrina's expression changes, lol!

My new hair cut and dye! Can you believe it took them 7 hours to make my hair look like this??? Apparently I have "difficult" hair! My tooshie hurts so bad from sitting in the same chair for so long!

But in the end it was all worth it because my hair looks pretty good! The light in my house makes it look a bit yellower than it really is. The people at the salon worked really hard to get the yellow out! I keep seeing myself in the mirror and doing a double-take because I look so different!

I have lost about 10 lbs (and gained lots of muscle)since I started P90X & this is the smallest I have been in who-knows-how-long so I decided to celebrate the "new me" with a gift to myself that wasn't food, lol! Look, my cheekbones have some actual definition these days!

Due to all of the migraines I have been having recently I have to put my P90X routine on hold. I am seeing a chiropractor (YAY! & he was my bishop until a few months ago!) on Monday and will also be seeing a physical therapist. I am hoping to continue my exercise routine within the week but the migraines have been coming almost daily now, which is horrible!

I threw my neck out of place on my trampoline when I was a kid and that's when I got my first migraine & my mom took me to a chiropractor & that was the last of my migraines. I am currently having a lot of neck pain as well as migraines so I am figuring I somehow injured my neck, probably doing P90X. I can see how I did it, those vidoes can be pretty tough! (I still love you P90X! hehe!)

Daniel & Aiden playing around. Daniel told Aiden he was going to bite his nose off! It's a cute game they like to play :-)

Audrina playing in the corner with blocks :-)

I told Aiden to smile & this is what I got...

We Miss You...

We miss you Auntie Angel!

For those of you who don't know, my sister Angel, deployed just a few short weeks ago and we are all sorely missing her around here! Her birthday is coming up in 2 short weeks. She will be 22 years old and celebrating (yet another) birthday in the Middle East.

Angel...we would like you to know that we are SOOOOOOO proud of you, and love you, and miss you Very, Very much!

Happy Birthday Angel!

Imput personal opinion "HERE"!

The photos are a little yellow...my walls are a light cream color...so just imagine them that way, lol! My camera didn't like the light in there, hehe!

I am thinking about using my Cricut to cut wall vinyl and put this on my wall. I cut out the words using blue cardstock so I could see what it would look like and what font/size I was going to use and taped it to the wall.

Here is what it looks like now and I think I have it pretty much how I like it. I was wondering if you have any suggestions...font, size?

When it is done it will be a dark brown color and won't be taped haphazardly (hehe) to the wall. Let me know what you think...is it missing something???


Daniel isn't really sure if he likes it yet...I have wanted to use the phrase "families are forever" in my house for quite some time and this is one of the few spaces I have left!

Let me know...do you love it, hate it....???
-Chancy

Can you tell?

Can you tell...
that I'm trying to catch up on my blogging???


These are photos from the past month...and thanks to Blogger acting all crazy I can't put them into any sort of oder! :-) enjoy!

Daniel...but I don't think those are his hands, haha!
Shooting off fireworks for the 4th...Aiden was in heaven!!!

Riding on Old McDonald's extended tractor!

We're a country family...didn't you know???

Watching a pig race...lol...I never thought I would be trying that, but there it is!!!

My little ham!

Lincoln and I!

I look like I'm having fun, right?

We couldn't get him to look at us!

The kids looking at Mt. Rushmore!

Hello Drina!

I love it when they hold hands! So cute!

Our family on the 4th of July!!! My camera had been set for the fireworks so it bleached out most of my photos that day! Oops!

Standing on a bridge, looking over the edge!

Serenity eating cake on her birthday, diving in face first!

There were stunt drivers at the 4th of July parade...they kept driving and jumping over the truck. Aiden was amazed! I loved it too :-)

Flying through the air

Feeding the ducks...

Watching the parade...Aiden got so much candy!

See the teeny tiny pony tail?

Watching the ducks!

See, Angel, here is a photo of my new hair cut! I actually had one on my camera! Sorry it took so long!

Playing with the magnetic toys at the Denver Museum of Science...so fun!

Daniel's Amp pyramid that he got for FREE thanks to an awesome promotion!!!

My little Meercats!

Handsome guy!

Audrina going down the slide on our pool!

The END...you made it! Now you can leave me some love!!! Hahaha