A favorite!!

Hey y'all,
I just HAD to tell you about this website that I just LOVE!! I hope you'll check it out, I know you won't regret it!! ;) It's called Swagbucks and it's free and awesome! This is how it works: You download the Swagbucks toolbar and use their search engine in place of the one you already use. Every so often, you'll earn Swagbucks (digital dollars) when you search for stuff and when you earn enough bucks, you can trade them in for free prizes! I just started doing this a month or so ago and I've already claimed a $5 e-gift card for amazon.com! I'm going to keep doing that and saving the gift cards so I can use them for Christmas and hopefully I'll have enough saved up that I can pay for most or even all of my Christmas gifts!! It's seriously awesome! I know I sound like an advertisement or something, but really, it is SO awesome!! And who doesn't love getting free stuff?! Anyway, I really hope you'll at least check it out and if you could, PLEASE sign up through the link I posted so I can have you as a referral! Sign up and refer more people so you can get even more Swagbucks! I just love it!! Here's the link: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/StefG
Hopefully that works, I can't tell since it just shows my account! You'll have to copy and paste it too since I can't even post a freakin' link on here!! Seriously, can't figure out this dang blog stuff. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll post a new link! Thanks guys, I KNOW you won't regret it, especially since it's free!! :)

Vegas Vegas Vegas!!!!

So, I again won't attempt to post pictures here because every time I've tried to in the past, it's been a HEADACHE. But I will say how WONDERFUL our trip to Vegas was!! It was just Jared and I, the kids stayed at his parent's house....HUGE thank you to them for watching them, I know it wasn't easy!!
This was a much needed break for Jared and I. Get away from "reality" for a few days, away from the kids, away from work/housework, etc. A time for us to really reconnect! We left Monday the 7th and came back Thursday the 10th, so we were there roughly four days and three nights. It truly was FANTASTIC. We stayed at the Stratosphere in one of their newly remodeled rooms, it was SOO nice! I would definitely stay in one of those rooms again. Before we checked into our hotel though, we went and visited my sister in law and her two kids, it was GREAT to see them!! My brother moved to Vegas in October and the rest of his fam joined him down there last month and they had lived just a couple miles from us here, so we've missed them and it was GREAT to see them again! I have such an ADORABLE niece and nephew from them ;) Besides that, we didn't do much our first night there. Jared went to the top of the Stratosphere and I stayed in our room because I wasn't feeling well.
Our second day there, we went to Madame Tussaud's wax museum and it was so much fun! I loved that we could interact and pose with all the replicas there, I had a fun time with it ;). After that, we went to the shops at the Venetian to look around, but once we stepped inside, a lady kinda cornered us and we were lurred with free tickets and spa vouchers to do a freakin' timeshare presentation. Seriously, WORST five hours of my life, total HELL. There was some stupid discrepency with how much Jared made at work for us to even qualify to hear the presentation. Really?! It was ridiculous. So it took us FOREVER and we will never EVER do that again, especially since we lost the spa vouchers!! :( But we did see the Criss Angel show that night which ended up being pretty good and very funny. Not worth the crap we went through at the presentation though!
On Wednesday, we took it kinda easy and just went shopping around a bit. Went to M&M's World and the Coke store and lazed about in a strip mall for about an hour and just relaxed. We also went to the Bellagio to check out a pattiserie we had heard about in the newspaper the Sunday before we left, it's called the Jean-Philippe Patisserie. BEST. PASTRY. SHOP. EVER. I crave their stuff every day now!! I got this Trio Chocolate Cheesecake there that I seriously had a love affair with. Had to have been THE BEST dessert I've ever had, it was amazing!! ;) I was bummed when we got home to find out they didn't ship any of their cakes.....dang it! That night we went to the Tournament of Kings at Excalibur....AWESOME dinner and show, I really loved it!! They get the crowd SO into it and you can yell and scream and get all rowdy and it was a FANTASTIC show!! You eat with your hands which is quite fun and they do all sorts of jousting and sword fighting and all that, it really was SO much fun!!
The next morning, sadly we left. I really REALLY enjoyed our time there and I know Jared did too. We were of course happy to see the kids again and they were ecstatic to see us, but it really was a wonderful vacation :).

I am READY!

So, I try to look on the bright side with many things, but there is at least one thing I just won't be optimistic about.......SNOW! I detest it, can't stand it and, sad to say, I really do find it disgusting. There just isn't anything I like about it! I think I tend to get a little depressed in the wintertime, which is probably why I'm such a hermit during this season, because of the cold and snow. That leads me to say that I am READY for spring!!
We were teased a lot the past few weeks with some really pretty, warm days that felt like spring was on its way, then BAM! We get hit with a couple more snowstorms. NOT cool. I am READY for the kids to be able to go play outside without having to bundle them up completely and have them come back inside with their wet snow clothes. I am READY for warm days where we don't always have to wear a coat when we go outside. I am READY for the kids to play at the park on equipment that won't freeze their hands and butts off! I am READY to take out the sprinklers and swimming pool for the kids to play in and enjoy! I am READY to lay out in the sun and enjoy the warmth while the kids play. I am READY for this cold and snow to be GONE!! C'mon spring, stop teasing us and make your appearance already!! Then I'll be one VERY HAPPY lady :).

GRATEFUL GRATEFUL GRATEFUL

Have you ever really STOPPED and taken the time to think of the things you're grateful for? I'm not talking about just around Thanksgiving time either. We are SOOO rich in our lifestyles, it's easy to take advantage of it or wish there were something else we could have. In our lives, we're upgrading, wanting more, wanting better, it's just our nature.
Last night, I was watching a certain show. There was a scene that showed people who lived in this tiny town in Guatemala, about 300 people lived in this tiny town. It was basically a place in the middle of nowhere. You had to hike a mountain more than 3 miles to get there from the next nearest town, takes about two hours to get there on foot. You can only get there on foot or by helicopter, which means these people rarely get outsiders/visitors and don't have much. They don't even have running water or electricity. THINK ABOUT THAT.
There are probably things in our life that we wish were better. There are gadgets and clothes that we really want. We want to take trips and do fun recreational activities. And yet there are people in our world that don't have the things we take for granted. What would you do if you didn't have running water or electricity? Do you think you could live like that? These people have no other choice.
We turn on a light switch and the light comes on. We take showers and run the dishwasher like any other old routine. We can even usually afford to pay the bills that come with such utilities. We have apartments, houses, cars and goodness knows what other luxuries. Even this computer I'm typing on is using electricity! I grew up living with all these things we take for granted and some people don't even know what it's like to use stuff like that.
Just watching that short segment last night made me think of all the wonderful things I have in my life and made me once again grateful for all the LUXURIES I do have. We are rich in so many ways, even if we don't feel that way. How do you think those people would act if they came into our homes today? I think they would be overwhelmed, they would look at us like we were kings and queens. That's the way we should feel everyday because we truly are rich and we should be grateful for all those things we take for granted. I know I am!! :)

Oh yes, I do!!

Yes, I do believe in a higher power!! Otherwise I'm not sure the kids and I would have made it safe to our destinations today! The wind was, and still is!, howling outside. Those gusts were pretty scary in some areas! We left to meet a friend for lunch and once I got on the freeway, I knew I'd have to REALLY stay focused on the road, even more than I already do! What was I doing on the way down there? Praying my heart out!! ;) I just wanted to make it safe to our destination, which thankfully we did. I credit it to a higher power for looking out for us, I can't help but do that! I know He has a hand in everything we do, so I thank Him for keeping us safe! On the way back home, I was praying again that we would make it home safely. We were getting close to our exit when I spotted a truck ahead of us, a couple lanes over, not semi-size, about half the size maybe. Well, the trailer in the back was just SWAYING big time, it made me SO nervous!! I was just praying, praying that the truck wouldn't toppler over and crash and that we would be safe, it really was leaning so bad! Luckily, we made it to our exit and our house safe and sound. Weather like this sure makes me anxious, but I'm so glad we made it safe, and I do give many thanks to my Father in Heaven for helping us!! I still might have to reconsider going anywhere the next time the windy weather is this bad.....;)

The Power of LAUGHING

Have you ever really taken the time to notice how GOOD it feels to laugh? I think I underestimated its power in our world. The other night wasn't a particularly great night for me. I was tired, ready for the kids to go to bed, done with the day. Earlier in the day, Anna and I played with a couple of her dolls together for quite a while. It was fun at first, but then I got bored and stopped playing. That night after dinner, Anna wanted to play with the dolls again. So we sat on the couch and at first, I honestly did NOT want to play again, I just wasn't in the mood. I felt bad by that, but I did promise her that after dinner we could play.

After a minute or two, Anna made her doll sneeze on mine. I threw my doll in the air as if the sneeze had affected the doll so much that it threw her in the air. She just LAUGHED! So we did it again and again, over and over. I hadn't heard Anna LAUGH SO HARD in quite a while, so of course it had me laughing too! We kept doing it over and over because I loved hearing and watching Anna laugh so hard at it! And because I was laughing too, of course it put me in a better mood and we continued playing with the dolls and Anna making hers sneeze ;). That day, it was the power of laughter that brought me out of my bad mood, I think it's more powerful than we give it credit for ;).

Just a little something I've been thinking about today:
"When you feel like you don't fit in, it means you were born to stand out."

Take time and think about that and apply it to your own lives :).