Kendrick's 1st friend

Handsome Boys!

Kason: "Your ma is crazy"

Kenny: "I know (pondering how he is stuck with me forever)"

We get to spend 2 days a week with Kason and it is so fun. He is about to turn 2 and Kendrick has lots that he can learn from him. Basically he is a mellow, easy going, smart little guy that helps balance Kendrick's hyper, screaming, jumping off the wall side. So happy that Kenny has a friend!

Spending Fast

I feel like I keep bringing up the subject of mula. While I don't mean to keep bringing it up in all posts I thought it was still worth mentioning in its own post.

Nate and I had very little money to save in order to come to AZ. We were both working part time in order for him to finish school and his tests. As of May he was studying about 40+ hours a week and typically only working one day a week. We knew that we would be moving shortly so we stuck with cold cereal and gift cards until the move.

While we knew the move would be pricey we were not expecting paperwork to take as long as it did. We thought we would move and then Nate could immediately start working. It took over 2 weeks for him to get all of his licensing completed. They lost papers in the mail a couple of times and if we had to do it all over again we would wait to forward mail. We didn't know that they hold your mail for 10 days when you forward it. :(

We were determined to make our money stretch so we cut up our credit cards and budgeted often. We only used our credit cards for gas in order to get a few reward points and keep our credit score high. After reading Dave Ramsey we decided we could do with out a credit score. However our number one reason for cutting them up was because it was going to be the first time we would be tempted to use them when we did not have the money.

It was high anxiety for a few weeks figuring out how to get into a rental house when we barely had any money to our name. We had to budget for me to go to AZ to find a rental, food, moving expenses, and the first month rent. Honestly I have to mention that without the Lord it would have not been possible because every need was taken care and somehow we kept on having money left over.

How we did it:
*We happened to pick a rental where if you signed a 13 month lease than the first month rent was half off.
*Nate's amazing stepmother let me barrow her car to travel to AZ and look at house rentals.
*Nate's amazing stepmother helped us move so we could pull our own stuff in a trailer rather than pay for a moving truck.
*We ate the most random meals in order to not go shopping at all. We went weeks without walking into a grocery store.
*We only did free activities.
*We budgeted a couple times a week and knew if we didn't stick to the budget we would go into debt.

Okay so the reason I tell you this is to explain just how amazing it was to go without spending. Now that I have the opportunity to spend money I DON'T WANT TO. I can walk into any store and only buy what I went there for... and most of the time talk myself out of that. I feel like I have this new power where I can say no to any product that is thrown my way. I WANT NOTHING (I did want a vacuum for a long time but only because the previous owners had pets and there was pet hair everywhere.. so I feel like that one was justified)!

I am convinced that because we had to go over a month buying only absolute NEEDS helped me realize just how little we can live on and still be happy. We don't need all the products that we think we do. We can drive a bondo buggy and deal with one cell phone because we already have been doing it. We can want nothing and save for things that we can spend a long time thinking about before getting. Basically I think the spending fast helped me reset my spending habits. We never had the money for them to be out of control but it just helped to refocus my wants and keep my eye on our biggest goal... Nate's Student Loans.

This was much longer than I intended so bravo if you read it all. I promise to put some pictures on the next post!

A weekend worth remembering

It was so fun to have my sister, Tine here. I am convinced my life would be complete if she decided to move to AZ permanently. :) We had a great time just chilling for the week but the weekend was our party time. On Friday we decided to do our once a year movie trip. This is where we plan for months what movie we want to see and then go see it. We usually plan it around Nate's B-day so we know what movies will be out during that time but this year we were a little late getting to it.

We were debating between Planes, Monsters University, and Despicable Me. This year we wanted our movie trip to include Kendrick's first time to the theater so we were trying to choose a movie he'd like. We ultimately decided on MU because of the G rating and time of show. Lucky enough for us we were able to make it to the Matinee lol :)

Kendrick loved it overall. He sat so still on Daddy's lap and was so excited to see thing moving. It was only the last 10 min that he started to get restless. It was so fun to see his curiosity and excitement for the big screen. I am already getting excited to take him again sometime.

On Saturday we went boating with my Auntie and Uncle. It was a blast. I felt like we were just hanging out with our bf's. The water was perfect because it had cold spots but it wasn't like Utah where you can't swim without freezing. We found a secluded place and tied the boat down and went swimming for a few hours.

In addition to boating they had a floating couch (don't know the real name) that they pulled behind the boat. It was a blast. Kendrick was a perfect little guy. He was the most mellow I have ever seen him for so long. He was in his zone (outside). He even took a nap on Daddy. I did get sea sick but other than that I'd say it was the most perfect day anyone could ask for. It was a first for us as a couple and Kendrick's first time on a boat and lake. I don't ever want to forget the perfect day.

P.s. It isn't that we only go to movies once a year but we only pay full price once a year. They are too pricey for our liking so we wait to watch them until they are cheap cheap cheap. We used to do the dollar theater and Redbox but we kind of went on a Redbox strike when they went up .20 cents and just haven't watched any new movies.

2nd p.s. So I promised pictures but after spending over a week trying to figure out how to get on here I finally decided it wasn't worth it. Sorry guys. I miss them too :(

4 years and a Utah trip

I did not take pictures of my amazing weekend but I wanted to write a post about it for my own memory. 

My sister called me on Thursday and talked me into visiting Utah so that we could surprise my mom and she could drive back with me to visit AZ. It was not hard to convince me to want to come but hard to have the faith that our Bondo Buggy (car nickname) would make it. After praying lots and lots and lots I knew that I just couldn't let fear keep me from going.

It was a short and sweet weekend seeing as much family as possible in the short amount of time. I am sure that there were feelings hurt for all the people that we couldn't see but new memories were made with the ones we could. Kendrick was a gem once again. He has cut 7 teeth in the past month and is still in the process of cutting a few more. I guess his teeth are trying to play catch up for all the months he didn't cut teeth. 

Our car held up like a champ. On the way to Utah it hit the 200,000 mark. I seem to love it more and more. Even with getting more ghetto it just keeps on proving itself to be amazing. I get kind of sad knowing that it will not last forever and we will probably have to replace it sometime soon. For now we will just run it into the ground and be amazed at its ability to not die on us. 

While I was gone we had our 4 year anniversary. Luckily we were able to celebrate it before with dinner and rollerblading. It was hard to be away on such a special day but nice to drive through Utah and remember where those 4 years of memories were made. The best part about hitting the 4 year mark is that it gets me excited about the 5 year anniversary without feeling like we really are that old. I look forward to forever and it is hard to imagine when Nathan did not exist in my world.

Missing and Enjoying Daddy

With Nathan's new schedule he is either working or home for 4 days during the weekend. It will change soon but for now we switch off from never seeing Daddy to seeing him 24/7. It has been hard for me to adjust to him gone. In fact I'm trying to work on my attitude about it because I just down right hate it. When he is home it is wonderful and I love seeing the relationship that he and Kendrick have.

I have been teaching Kendrick to say Mommy when he wants to get out of his crib. It only took me about a day of standing outside his door and saying "say Mama" before he caught on quick. If he wakes up crying I usually know that he is still too sleepy to get up for good. It is only when he says my name that I know he is serious about getting up (Kendrick wakes up and then snoozes about 90% of the time).

I had Nate try to teach him to say Dada in hopes that Kendrick would learn that he could pick which one of us to come get him. It only took one time of saying "say Dada" before Kendrick was repeating it. It melts my heart seeing the relationship that they have together. Nathan has exceeded the Dad that I dreamed about having for my kids. He is wonderful.

Kendrick still defaults to Mama but I know that when he figures out that whomever he says will come, I just might be replaced. I love that he is in such a teachable stage. I love that Nathan is so willing to teach him the world and show him that happiness can be found everywhere. With Nathan as his role model I know Kendrick will grow up to be outstanding.