Beating Records

Our fastest move was last year when we lived in a little house for 2 months before we found our last rental that I loved. This time we lived here 3 weeks. What I can say, we are awesome.

Once we finally got most of our living stuff into the house I really thought I could make it work. BJ was upset with lots of things from the start of our first night here but I thought I could deal with it. The space for the price just really can't be beat. I love big living areas, kitchens, rooms, and having tons of storage. Of course there are things about each place you live that you wish you could change, a layout, cabinets, flooring, but those are things you can live with.

Things you can't live with.... Smoking neighbors, animals, leaking pipes, landlords that don't care.

All of it I was dealing with, the stupid pig, the rude neighbor that took 2 weeks to get his stuff out of our garage, the not so nice but safe enough neighborhood, the bathroom upstairs while my bed was downstairs, I was dealing with it and making it work.

Then last week hit.

Worst week of the semester. I have competency on Tuesday which is THE most stressful test/experience of each semester. I was trying to finish cleaning our other place to be done there. I'm um 20 weeks pregnant, BJ is in school full time, I have an almost 2 year old. All of my stuff is 3/4 packed and trying to find everything I need. Then our living room starts to fill with smoke. I was so lightheaded that I could barely think. As I was sweeping I realized I was sweeping up kitty litter from the doorway that connects our places. I go to get dressed downstairs and it is leaking all over the boxes that hold very important documents. I had to hurry and rearrange the boxes to stay out of the water. BJ looks at it and sees water is leaking from the floor boards and an old pipe in 2 places.

That day we drove around looking for other rentals.

I really didn't want to move so I thought maybe I could make even all of that work. Then I woke up sore from cleaning tubs and floors and Rylee and I were playing when we smell smoke so we descend to the basement where it smell even worse! There was no escaping it. So we thought we would go to the park since its been 60 out. I thought I'd take the trash with me but didn't want to fight the pig so I figured I would just drive to it through the alley. As I pull up to our trash can the neighbors behind us have 2 huge dogs that were trying to jump the fence to eat me alive. I was so scared I almost didn't get out of my car. I then drove to the other side of town and looked for a place to rent.

I knew I couldn't handle living here anymore. It wasn't worth the savings and space to deal with other crap. The stupid pig guy yelled at me to be nice to pig. The landlord doesn't care that the pig is destroying his house. I'm done.

Luckily I found a very cute and cozy house in a great neighborhood.

I'm so glad BJ and I are good people. We have never been turned away from somewhere we want to rent. Out of all the applications people get we always get the call saying we can have the place. I didn't realize how great of a trait that was until I met up with Hal our new landlord.

I spent an hour just talking to him about his life and kids and when BJ came to look at the place he said he wasn't even going to call and check up on us and even turned down 4 people that day because he was hoping we would rent from him.

It's more money, and smaller, a bigger yard to BJ to care for but so worth it!

We will be in a house and no neighbors sharing any wall with us. We are a block from Church and the park. The neighbors all have kids that go outside and play. It is a 3 bedroom one story. It is right by the mall and walking distance for me and Rylee. The house has all brand new appliances and carpet. It has FANS in every room!!!!!! No garage but a carport and a brand new shed in the back yard. Plus the land lord is so nice. He even said he would ask around to see if he could help BJ find an internship.

I'm not looking forward to moving again in less than a month but I think its best.

The "No thank you" rule

When BJ and I first started dating I would always tease him. He was always a good sport but when he got to his limit he would say "Ok No thank you." I would laugh and keep teasing him. He then would get really mad because he said "NO thank you" and that meant I had to stop.

His family rule growing up was you could tease and play with each other but as soon as someone said "NO thank you" you had to leave them alone. I thought that was a silly rule but I guess it worked for 8 kids.

Sad to say but it took me many months and many fights before I started to follow the "NO thank you" rule with BJ. I don't say "NO thank you" to him to get him to stop but he still to this day will say it when he is just done.

I never really realized that I have started to incorporate that rule into our own family. I never really had any intentions to use it until last night when BJ and Rylee were playing.

Rylee didn't get a nap so by 7 she was losing her temper faster then normal. BJ was rough housing with her and she is usually always a good sport about it. Last night it was just too much and while playing Rylee said No daddy! and he kept playing so she broke down in tears. I told him not to scold her and that she didn't have a nap and she came running over to me. I held her and told her to just tell daddy "NO thank you" and he will stop. Through her tears she shook her head and said "No thank you daddy!!" BJ sat up and told her he was sorry and that he would stop.

That's when it I realized that I have told Rylee several times to just tell her daddy "No thank you" when she didn't want him to do something and he would stop. He always stops too. Anytime Rylee says "No thank you daddy" he apologizes and stops whatever it was he was doing and finds something that will make her happy.

I guess the "No thank you" rule isn't as silly as I thought it was. I think it will always be a part of our family just because BJ still abides by it. That's how he was trained. I wonder how it will work with the baby and if the kids will use it the way BJ and his siblings did. Only time will tell I guess.

Oh and Rylee is so into Tinkerbell these days. Mom gave us 2 of the new Tinkerbell's and we watch them all.the.time! This is Rylee and BJ "flying like Tinkerbell" through Wal-Mart.

Crazy enough to be us

BJ and I have finally been convinced that we are crazy. Since we have been married 3 years ago this June we will have had 9 cars and moved 6 times. All of them with me pregnant minus 2 when Rylee was 8 and 11 months old. Yeah we are crazy.

This move I think will be worth it but there is always something that makes the move suck. We are moving to Idaho Falls which is about 30 minutes from Rexburg. BJ is off track next semester and needs a job/internship and since IF is a bigger city he felt it would be a better bet then Rexburg. I wasn't convinced we should move. I love our place, it takes less then 10 minutes to walk to school, we just got help with paying for our babysitter here in Rexburg. I didn't see why moving would be a good idea. BJ of course started looking for places and I had my list of had to haves and we weren't finding anything. He found 1 place that kind of matched my list but was above our price range but I agreed to go look at it. While looking we came across others then BJ found something that hit every single thing on my list plus it saved us money.

$700 in rent with all utilities included, washer and dryer hook ups, 2 bed 1 bath, basement, garage, fenced yard, walking distance to a park, and no signed lease that keeps us there if we need to move. It is perfect. Or so I thought.

I has a loft that was turned into a 1 bed rental. The owner said a guy lives there and keeps to himself. I wasn't really worried about it until we met him today while moving some stuff. We get the garage and he has been storing some of his toys in it but the owner told him he had to move it out. We also found out he owns a pig that stays in the back yard. The owner wasn't happy to see it and said there are no pets allowed. I took Rylee in the back yard to look at it and find the trash cans and the stupid pig attacked me. I was really scared for our lives. I kicked it like 10 times and it kept trying to knock me over as I was running away from it. The guy said he would have his stuff moved out by the 1st when we really move in and when I asked about the pig he got all defensive. I asked if there was a way we could make it a pin so we could go back there and he got all mad. He said he thinks he should get the back yard and we can have the front. I just laughed and said no we will be using the backyard everyday. He feels he should get something and it's only fair he gets the back yard because he has been there for 2 years and we should just use the front. I told him no we have yard toys and Rylee isn't allowed to play in the front yard and we will just have to figure out a way to share the yard. I told him the pig attacked me when I went over to the trash cans and he just shrugged and said he would make it so I could take my trash out but he wasn't pinning up the pig. BJ was livid. He said he was just going to shoot the pig. I don't want to make that guy our enemy but we were told we get use of the back yard and the shed back there and the guy isn't even suppose to have the pig. I guess I will try working it out with the guy and split the yard with him some how. I really don't want to make him get rid of it because he is an older guy who lives alone and I know what pets can mean to people. He might have a pile of our trash on his door step if we don't figure it out soon. I'll give him until summer but Rylee needs a yard to play in. We might not get to stay there if it gets to be too much. There are plenty of places to rent and we don't have a lease but I really like the place. Why does he have to have a stupid pig!?! UGH

Something always goes wrong when you rent. I dream of the day when I can own my very own house and deal with problems that don't involve other tenants.  BJ said we should just remind the owner about the pig and maybe he will make the guy get rid of it. I guess time will tell.

IF really is a great move for us. It will make our lives a lot easier and even though moving sucks it really is worth it. BJ sold my Jeep so we could get a commuter car. I was so sad to see it go. We made 1000 bucks on it so it was a great deal for us but I really loved that car. BJ is all giddy to be looking for another car. He loves loves loves buying and selling cars. We have never lost money so I guess I'll let him have his fun. He is nice enough to put up with me crying for no reason and no cooking/no cleaning for weeks on end. He can have his cars. As long as I have something to get me from point A to B back to A I really don't mind.

Life update

School has been a big challenge so far. Not that it is harder but it's the fact that I have crazy teachers and I just don't care about the subject manner. I really just want to get through this semester and get to 4th for Labor and Delivery. I care about that subject. I don't care about learning the blood components, how to suction a trach, or deal with traumas. I have to keep on trucking. I just need to do well on my tests and I should be fine.

One highlight this semester is that BJ isn't working. I wish we could be rich and never have either of us work more then a few hours each day. BJ is kind of going crazy not working but I love having him around. He has lots of energy which is great for Rylee. Poor thing gets so bored with me. I try to be fun but it only lasts for so long. Rylee has lots of energy these days since we don't spend it outside anymore. I try to take her to the store to let her run around but I don't last long. I'm hoping my energy comes back super soon.

Rylee is amazely fun these days. She talks in complete sentences which still amazes me. She is super clear in everything she says. She tries really hard to say it the right way. She likes to demand that I do things. That part is not so fun. I try so hard not to laugh and tell her to be nice but it is so dang funny. She now says she wants to do things or doesn't want to do things. She has started bargining to get out of things she doesn't want to do. Example, it is nap time and she says, Don't want to sleep. hmmmm how about play play dough. hmmmmm read books, hmmmm go sledding. She will keep coming up with things until she has a melt down that it is in fact nap time or I give in and let her play for a bit.
Things Rylee says a lot

"ummm no I don't want to"
"I like HIM!" referring to her daddy
"What you want do tonight?
"Walk in IF?"
" Broliums or walmart hmmmm walmart"
"I like that!"
"HEY its my turn!"
"Play play dough in nursery, nursery pretty fun!"
"Play Sydney, Tiffany, Tammy?!" (People who have babysat her)
"Rylee's Chair"
"Mommy I need help"
"Go in tent"
" Juice all gone need fill up"

I could go on and on. She says everything but those she says cute.
She has picked up "mine" from the kids she is around. BIGGEST pet peeve. I hate it. We do NOT say mine in this house. It drives me nuts. She says everything is her and she "needs it!" "Rylee needs that!" Everything big or little she needs it. Funny but gets old fast.

Rylee has a tent that she loooooves to play in. She always wants us to play in it with her. My legs cramp up so bad after awhile so BJ built a huge fort for us to play in. Rylee loved it. We took naps in it. We watch movies. We played. It was fun. It got old having my entire living room be under a fort so it only last 2 days but it was a blast.

She learned how to roll roll roll the play dough. We play with it a lot. I made a huge batch and found a ton of cook cutters at DI so that's one toy that stay out on the table so she can play with it whenever. I tried putting it away but she asks about 20 times a day so now she knows where it is and can play when she wants.


She is very into Mickey mouse clubhouse. She likes it. Thanks to youtube she can watch like 5-6 different episoides. She loves Tinkerbell. This is sad but she like to watch Friends with us. She knows who Joey is. She knows "ungai". It is so funny. I have needed TV time and we only watch 2 shows on Hulu plus so Friends it is. (we have all but 2 seasons)

We kind of are working on potty training but not really. We are just introducing the idea to her. If she wanted to she could be already potty trained but she would rather have a diaper on. She has all the signs that she is ready. She isn't even 2 yet so I'm not pushing it. We let her go without a diaper just to air out and we always have accidents. I'm ok with it. I figured she knows when she is going she tells me, she knows what the potty is, she knows what to do, it is just a matter of her wanting too. I'm not stressed about it at all. I haven't really tried. BJ gets a little frustrated but I'm letting her take the lead. I know it will either happen before the baby then she will regress or she will wait until after the baby. I'm fine with her waiting until after the baby so we talk about it and she knows all about what to do so when the time comes she will be ready.

I have been doing a blog for the baby since I figured it would be easier  to keep it all seperate for his or her baby book.

Baby #2's blog 

If you wanna read up on the baby. Not many posts as of now but that's where I'll put my pictures come 16 weeks as well as facebook.

Christmas Fun

Long post about our fun Christmas break. We had a week of just hanging out before we left. BJ worked a few hours every day then found some car projects to keep him busy. Me, I laid on the couch while Rylee played. We left a day earlier then planned because I was not excited about all the driving. I also wanted to get my hair cut by BJ's cousin and still make it to BJ's grandma's party. We took the trip home in three days. First day to Pocatello and stayed the night. Then to Salt lake and stayed the night in Spanish Fork. Then to Las Vegas and stayed the night. Then we made it to Phoenix for Christmas Eve. We loved stopping and seeing family all along the way. Thankfully BJ has lots of family and they are all spread out and let us stay the night with them.

Rylee did great on the trip. Here she is with her pizza, watching Fox and the Hound (which we watched over and over and over countless times), and her caterpillar. 

When uploading pictures I realized I wasn't the best at taking pictures so many events are missing. Grandma's party and hanging out with cousins is missing mostly because I'm pretty sure I got food poisoning again and had it coming out all ends and extreme pain. I didn't eat for 2 days either so on top of being pregnant I just didn't have energy. 

We stayed with Liz and Jon and they showed us where some cool Christmas lights were. It was around this lake and they had floating Christmas trees. Rylee loved it! She was screaming CHRISTMAS TREES!!! LIGHTS! PREEETTTYY!!! She had a blast and I let her sit on my lap while we looked at them so it made them that much cooler. 

Then we made it home for my grandma's Christmas eve party. Rylee wasn't the best but as soon as I let her open presents she was a happy camper. She insisted on wearing her pj's she got over her clothes. She loved every gift she got. She got more then I thought she would. We didn't really tell anyone we were coming but she still plenty. I think the winner was the baby doll from grandma though. We lost her baby a few months ago and that has been the most played with toy that she got. She loved opening presents and even helped Jess and Brooke out with theirs too.

Wrapping the baby in the blanket is a must. Thankfully Granny let us use one of her dish towels so baby could be warm.

We spent the night at BJ's parents house. They have a rule that everyone has to stay downstairs until an appointed time and then everyone goes up youngest to oldest to see what Santa brought. In Krystal Christmas tradition I woke up at 2:30 am wide awake. I have no idea what the deal was.  I am Santa now and I didn't even do a stocking for Rylee and the gifts were already under the tree so there was nothing to see but I still was wide awake. Of course I got hungry so I went up and ate breakfast, Dad's poop on the platter. He put crack in it this year because that was all I had to eat in 2 days and I could not stop eating it! 

I waited until 3:30 to wake up my husband. He had gone to bed around 1:30 so he wasn't a fan but was still a great sport and got up. He had rented the dark knight rises so he turned it on for me and fell asleep on the couch. I watched the whole thing and around 6:30 Rylee woke up. She wanted to go upstairs sooo bad. Since I told everyone she doesn't get up until 8:30 that was the time we choose to go upstairs. It was torture for me! 

We finally made it upstairs and got to watch Sam, BJ's nephew, see his stocking. Michele was nice and put goldfish and a toothbrush out for Rylee. Both were a huge hit.

Rylee sat and looked at all the cool Pokemon Sam got in his stocking. She thought it was pretty cool.

Their tradition is to open one gift per person starting with youngest. I must say that was super hard keeping Rylee from opening all her gifts at once. She only had a few melt downs and she just didn't understand why there were gifts she couldn't open. BJ and I didn't open one gift this year but it was so worth it to watch her ripping into each one and it helped because she really got three turns instead of just one. 

We kept opening non toy presents and finally hit the jackpot but then she had to wait for Dad to put it together,

 I love watching my husband be a dad. He loves doing daddy duties.

Uncle Dan gave us a blanket and that is what saved the day. She played the rest of the time with that blanket. 

She wasn't too sure of the giraffe but still had fun pushing it. I'm sure she will ride it soon.

Christmas was great. I ate a ton of Honey baked ham. Rylee had fun running around. BJ worked on Dan's car. It was a fun relaxing day.

I told Rylee we would go to the park every day and play on the swings. This girl loves swings and slides. We only made it to the park once but it was the warmest day and she had a blast. 

I don't know if I have been away from Phoenix to long or if there are just more creepy people that live there but I was so paranoid the whole time I was there. I wouldn't let Rylee go more then 2 feet from me and anytime someone walked by I would tense up. Granted there were a lot of old men at the park and no one else so that could have been a big factor too. 

We went down to Tucson to see Rachel and her family. She has 2 little girls and Rylee is right in the middle of them. They did good playing together but the sharing of the babies was really hard. 

Rylee has lots of cousins her age. Livvy is only a month older. I love watching the two of them. Rylee shared one of her yogurts with her. They don't really play together yet but it will be fun for them to have someone their age every time we do family things.

Notice Rylee is naked yet again?! She didn't have clothes on most of the time we were in Phoenix. Everyone would comment that she was most likely cold and should put something on. I would try and and keep her dressed but she would just take everything off. If she can be naked in Rexburg then being naked in Phoenix was no big deal to her.

Bruce Senior turned 60 this year and Helen threw a surprise party for him. The whole family was there and some close friends. The boys took him shooting then got him home in time for the BBQ. 

I think he really was surprised. It was a great time with some great food!

We got to play outside a lot. Rylee loved it. We played in the sandbox and Rylee would pick oranges from the tree and peel them. She learned how to do it herself and refuses to let me peel them for her now.  The cuties are easy for her but she tried to do regular oranges too. We had fun with cousins playing ball and relaxing in the sunshine.

From left to Right we have Matt, Camille and their daughter Lilly, then Salo, Marie and their twins Jacob and Sophia, Jack and Rachel with their girls Audrey and Amelia, Helen and Bruce with Livvy who belongs to Jon and Liz with Caleb and Neeve, Dan and Michele and Sam, BJ, Me, Rylee, and Tom. We took one with his girlfriend Sarah but for some reason I can't download it from my phone. This next year we are adding 2 more babies, Liz is due in January and I'm due in August. 

Thats a total of 25 + 2! When I joined the family 2 1/2 years ago there was only 17!

We then headed up to Prescott Valley and play with Grandma Mia, GG, and Uncle Bubba. We walked in the door and saw a lady bug tent. It was a huge hit. Rylee loved it and still does!

I had my dad buy a rice krispy train set for us to decorate. I thought Rylee would love it. I opened the candy and all she did was eat the candy while BJ and I decorated. She had fun so I guess it was still a hit.

BJ got Monopoly at the white elephant game so we challenged Dad to a game. I don't know how he does it but I don't ever recall him ever losing a game that I have played with him. I thought for sure he was done for because he only had one Monopoly but he still won. I don't get it. Of course I got out first. 

One day we spent out shopping. Rylee was introduced to the merry go rounds at the mall.

She thought it was so cool that she was driving AND it was moving. She is really into "driving" right now. We let her have a turn in the drivers seat every time we have to drive a long distance so driving is really cool right now. 

Grandma Mia was nice enough to let Rylee make her hair pretty. Rylee was a big stink towards grandma this trip. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that she got 2 teeth while we were there. She nows asks "where grandma go" several times a day. She asks for GG too but not as much as grandma.

Misty met us at Papa's our last day. Rylee isn't too social but little Maddie is. They played babies together. They played with the cat toys. Looked for the cat together. Then they found the pantry and went shopping together. 

It was fun to see them actually playing together. Maddie is older then Rylee but I think they will have fun together at family events.

Of course on our way home we stopped in Vegas to see BJ's friend Brad. We went to his wedding reception in Utah before Christmas and stopped to have lunch to get to know his wife a little better. They are heading back out to BYU Hawaii for another year so we enjoyed getting to know his wife. Rylee had fun with the stickers too. 

The curse of living in a small town is you forget things like dealing with traffic. We met up with Brad right when rush hour was starting. I wasn't a fan of sitting in the car an extra 2 hours in traffic and still have 2-3 hours drive. So I sucked it up and we went to the strip. I truly hate Vegas but it helped up kill some time. Rylee only cared about seeing the people dressed up as Elmo and Mario. 

We made it as far as St. George that night and got a hotel room. It turned out to be really nice and had an amazing breakfast. I'm glad we stopped. We then drove all the way home and got to sleep in our own beds that following night. 

It is nice to be back home but I miss someone cooking and cleaning up after us! 

I had a blast this trip. Rylee got a molar and 2 K9's while down in AZ so she was a huge grump and not really herself. Plus we moved her around a lot and she had to be around lots of people. There were small points in time when she was herself and fun. It was a great time and we all enjoyed ourselves.

Decorating gingerbread houses

Our friends the Stinnetts invites us over to make gingerbread houses for FHE. Ive never really done that so I was down for playing.

I don't think we will make it one of our traditions. It was really hard! Everyone called mine the Mexican house because it was all red. I had no idea what I was doing. Rylee started helping until she realized we were using candy to decorate then it turned into her pointing and asking for candy while BJ tried limiting what she could reach.

It was a lot of fun. All the kids hated it because their parents were really into the houses and ignoring them. Doesn't help that rylee was the oldest.

I had my dad buy the rice crispy train for Rylee to decorate. I think Rylee will have more fun with that. Less candy distraction and she isnt a big fan of eating rice crispy treats.  We will see how that one goes.

Best spent $5

Notice the green and white bracelets she is showing off? 

 (she is also really into hats right now)

On Fridays we usually go hang out with BJ while he is working because he sits at a desk and does nothing. We take lunch and sit with him for a few hours. Last week he got in trouble because we were there. He got a new faculty over his department so lots have things are changing. This week we just took him lunch a walked around the MC. The Manwaring Center, MC, is a big building that has the Crossroads or cafeteria, University book store, bowling alley, ballrooms and such. We walked around the store for a bit then we started looking at all the themed Christmas trees they had up. 

The business students each semester have to come up with a buiness and sell their product all semester to see who can make the most money. Today is the last day so everyone had their product on sale. A big thing up here is paracord bracelets. You know the rope stuff they use for parachute? Yeah they use that to make all kinds of stuff. Rylee liked their booth because they had pretty lights. Then she noticed the bracelets. They had a tiny green one which Rylee just had to try on. She walked away with it. The girl laughed and said they were 2 for $5. Rylee came back and tried all of them on but just wanted the green one that fit and a white one that she could slip on and off herself. Normally I say it was fun to try on now put them back. But since they were on  sale and she really liked them I figured I could regift them to someone, so I bought them.

Little did I know I had just spent the best $5 ever!

We went on our way looking at the Christmas Trees and we ran into someone we knew. I stopped to say HI and Rylee came over and showed off her new bracelets. I thought it was cute and we kept walking. We went through where all the college kids eat their meals. Rylee stopped at each table with kids and showed them her bracelets. I just laughed and explained they were new. Each table, guys and girls alike told her they were pretty and we went to the next group of kids. She stopped at every person who was sitting to show them her bracelets. We then met BJ after he got off she proudly showed him. He gave me the stink eye for spending $5 but I told him it was worth it. 

Rylee wanted to show BJ the trees so we walked through the MC again. He laughed when he saw her walk up to a table and stick her wrist out until the person acknowledge her bracelet. Then she went on from there. Some people were studying or eating and didn't notice this little 18 month old standing at their table with her arm out waiting for them to look at her new bracelet. I would try and get her to move on but she would just stand there with her arm out until they felt our presence and told her pretty bracelet. 

I kid you not she showed about 50 people her bracelets. We got the biggest kick out of it.

I don't even care if she never puts them on again that was so much fun for me to watch her going around proudly showing off her bracelets. She never ceases to amaze me by the things she does.

She also fell asleep in like .5 seconds when we got home too.