4 Months.. really?

I can't believe that it's been 4 months since I last blogged. Life sure gets busy. I have been doing ok. Matt and I decided in the summer that we needed to get our debt paid off. It's been hard, but we are almost there. Hopefully with our tax return we will be debt free (except for the house). It was a mess before and it feels sooo great to have things at least organized and to have a plan in place on how/when to pay off our bills. We've been being really frugal and also decided to sell one of our cars to help. We are down to one car, which has been okay. Don't get me wrong, I really wish I had a car sometimes... but I usually don't NEED it. It's just that I want to run out and get a Diet Coke or something. So, really it has been a good thing.

The girls are doing really well. I can't believe the last post I had was about Abby and how well she was doing with potty training. :) She is now fully potty trained. It's the best thing ever!! Abby has been going to special education pre-school at Stansbury Elementary. She was approved into the program for her speech delay. I am telling you she has really grown leaps and bounds in her speech. They have really been helping her. It makes me so happy to see her growing and learning. She is able to write a few of the letters of the alphabet. She definitely knows the letter "A" for "Abby". Today she came home from preschool singing "Jingle Bells.. all the way up". It was cute. She almost had it right, "Jingle Bells... jingle all the way". :) She is so smart, it makes me so proud to see how much she understands and is learning. Abby loves going to Nursery at church and I can't even believe I'm about to type this.. but she is going to be a Sunbeam in a few weeks. That is just crazy. I can't believe it!! Abby says her prayers every night. It's so fun to hear who she prays about. Sometimes it's Grandmas & Grandpas and other times it's friends and sometimes it's aunt/uncles/cousins. :) Just makes me smile.

Lucy had her first birthday. We had a little family party for her. I made her own little cake and she just ate it up! She had cake all over her face. It was precious! She is a little stinker now. She is running/walking everywhere. She likes to get into trouble. Lucy is always making messes whereever she goes. Her new thing is opening the toilet lids and putting all sorts of things in the toilet. Luckily she doesn't know how to flush the toilet - YET! Lucy loves her sister so much... she laughs and smiles the biggest for Abby. Matt and I could try our best and never outshine Lucy's love for her sister. Just a few weeks ago we put the girls into the same room. It was a great time to do it.

Well, I'm tired tonight - so I'm headed to bed. I will try to write sooner.

Nine Years!

On August 5th Matt & I had our NINE year wedding anniversary! I cannot believe it has been nine years. We are still very happily married after nine years. We love each other with all our hearts. We weren't able to do anything fun for our anniversary - but that's ok. We've always talked about going to Japan for our 10th anniversary - just for fun. It's been Matt's dream to go to Japan. Although, it looks like we'll have to try and make it for our 15th anniversary. We're getting our finances and bills in order and have been doing good with it since May. We're working to be debt free and getting into a better place financially. It's tough - and we're so grateful to have some help with many things. Matt went to the dentist for the first time since we've been married - so it's probably been over 10 years. He's had a tooth that's been bugging him.. well, he needs a root canal! Yikes! He'll get that near the end of the month. He's still really busy at work, as an Audi/VW mechanic in SLC. He enjoyed the cooler weather today! I feel bad for him, he works in the heat with no a/c and in a brick building.. so he basically gets cooked in a brick oven!

Abby is still doing pretty well with potty training. She hasn't had a pee accident since the first day. She has a harder time with the poo accidents. There's only been about 4 total, so it's not too terrible. I think she is getting the hang of it. Her and her friend Julia (who is 4) play together every day. In the morning Abby wakes up and asks "can I play with Julia?" - and it's 6:30am .. so I always tell her that Julia is still sleeping. The two girls have recently been getting into trouble at my house. They colored their hands and feet and Abby's white bed with a pink marker. Luckily it cleaned off of them and I made Abby clean it off of her bed. Today they took a gallon of milk (it was almost all gone) down in the basement and were filling cups with milk down there. Some spilled on the couch and the floor. So - I've gotten back to checking on them every 10 minutes or so. Before they could go an hour or more of just playing. The little stinkers!

Lucy is doing well. She is almost crawling.. actually she just scoots on her butt everywhere. It's funny! Matt calls her "Igor". She is clapping, smacking her lips, nodding her head, and cruising. She is such a happy baby - it's a joy to have her.

I am doing good. I have been able to keep my house really good and clean for over a week. I've just decided I'm sick of living in a messy house. It's been great! The only thing I'm doing different is when I see something that is out of place or messy I just pick it up right then. Before I would see it and think "oh, I'll pick it up later"... and it never got done. I've also started counting my weight watcher points - or just basically keeping an eye on what I'm eating. We can't afford to do any weight loss plans, so I'm just doing this on my own with Tiffany. It's only been about a week. Tiffany and I made some cute food journals to help us keep track of food.

Just some pictures

These are just some pictures from camping last weekend at Strawberry Resevoir!

Matt took Abby on the 4-wheeler! She loved it. She kept saying "Faster! Faster!"
Matt & Lucy

Me & Lucy!

Abby - my 3 year old just may be potty trained!

I am so happy to say that I think Abby - my 3 year old - is potty trained! It started 4 days ago.. I told her all of her diapers were gone. She said we should go to the store. I told her they were gone at the store too. Then I asked her where she was going to go pee and poop. She said "in the potty". The first day she peed and pooped in her underwear all day. The second day she would pee just a little in her underwear but stop herself and run over to the potty to pee. The third day she didn't have one accident!! I am so proud of her. I think it was really just her deciding that she wanted to be a big girl. I've tried unsuccessfully in the past to potty train. She just wasn't ready. Not that I'm expecting this to continue so perfectly. I know she will have accidents... but it is SOOOOO nice not having two children in diapers! Yay!!