Bank Update

Well, bad news. I don't think I'm getting my money back. The bank wrote me back and said they recommend that customers print or save a copy of their statements they receive online to avoid having to order them. They charge because they've already provided you with one copy online or by mail. I guess it would makes sense to save them on your computer and then you could print what you needed in the future.

I seriously contemplated going into the bank and threatening to leave the bank, but then I decided I was WAY too lazy to ACTUALLY do that! I just can't bring myself to deal with the hassles of switching.

I highly doubt the people requesting these statements would do anything if I complained to them. They are in fact giving us money for Jordyn! Now that I look back, I should have done things differently. But you never think of those things until AFTER the experience. I guess I definitely learned from this, didn't I?

I'm Furious!

I really need to vent. Jordyn receives a small (but helpful!) disability payment every month. And every year we have to do a review over the phone. That's perfectly fine. They just update our info and ask me lots of questions about our assets, income, monthly payments etc. That's fine too. At the end of our conversation the lady tells me that she needs to see two years of bank statements for every checking/savings account we have. Huh? OK... Luckily we don't have many accounts!

I found 18mo. of statements online...now I'm low on computer paper and ink! So I still needed 6 mo. of statements. Called my bank and was told it would be $6.00 PER STATEMENT. That is over $70!!! I called the lady who did our review and told her that. Her response,"Well, I have to have them." So I went to my local bank thinking that there was NO way they would actually charge me that much. Maybe they would help me out and charge me $12.00 or something? NOPE. They actually charged me $72.00!!!!! I tried to protest, but they weren't helpful. I left so furious I thought I was going to explode!!! How can five minutes of their time and a little paper and ink cost them $72.00? CRAZY. (It didn't help that my kids were HORRIBLE the whole time!)

After I left, I kept thinking..."NO, I am NOT paying this. Someone is going to reimburse me!" So, after wondering who to lodge a complaint with (the bank or the person requesting the statements)... I decided on the bank. I figured they are much more likely to take that ugly charge off my account if I complain. I already e-mailed them and it said I would receive a call within 24 hours. Can't wait to see what happens! What do you think? Am I crazy for throwing a fit or am I right in thinking that charge was crazy??

Just come cute photos that I've taken over the past few months. Below is Evan jumping in a huge puddle when all our snow started melting! I figured it was safe because he had snow pants and boots on...and I wanted to take pictures. Now he wants to jump in every mud puddle he sees. Oh, and don't worry...all the snow melted awhile ago and it's going to be in the 70's this week!

Carter in his little cubby hole. He always gets stuck in there. I think it's supposed to be for a computer modem...I don't know what to use it for because we have a laptop. Any ideas? I guess it's always great for playing!

Aww I love this. One day Carter was so tired that he fell asleep the second he was done eating. Then again, maybe he fell asleep because he was tired from eating so FAST. He's like the Tasmanian Devil when he eats! He was out cold.

I guess this post is turning into a post all about Carter! He's our little stuffed animal man. He loves any stuffed animal! When he goes to bed he has to have 2-3 stuffed animals in bed with him. And when I get him up in the morning he wants to bring them with him too. It's so cute because he hugs them all the time. This week Carter also learned how to say "no". Sometimes you wonder where your kids learn certain words. Not this one! He most definitely learned it from us! I bet it's one of the first words most kids say, don't ya think? He really doesn't understand the meaning of it yet because he just says,"Noooo." when you ask him anything! It's pretty cute, just like him.

Easter

We had a great Easter. We went to Tom's parents and met up with the entire family! We dyed Easter eggs and had an egg hunt for the kids. Then we had a delicious prime rib dinner. And of course we went to church on Easter Sunday. Jordyn and her cousin Megan are the only girl cousins in the family and Ninny bought them beautiful dresses to wear on Easter. They looked so cute!
The weather was great too! We took the kids on a hike and got a great view of the entire ranch. Evan was a little trooper going up steep rocks and hills. Sadly I didn't have my camera! I even made Tom take me shooting. I have only shot a gun one time about 7 years ago. Tom always goes out shooting when we go to his parents and I always say,"When do I get to go?!" It was pretty fun and I did pretty good if I do say so myself. I shot a 6in. target at 250 yards. Two shots and two hits! Tom was impressed:)
Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!

Finally! A really cute school picture of Jordyn! I was so happy when she brought these home from school today. If you know Jordyn at all, you know that taking a good picture of her is all about timing and LUCK! It's very hard to get her to smile when you want her to and to not irritate her during the process. Yay, Jordyn, for taking a great picture!!!

Check this out...

Hey everyone....one of my friends just launched her own website (she's also married to my brother's best friend). Go check it out... it has some great ideas and tips!

www.themormonmom.com

FYI

Just thought I would mention that if you go to http://www.coupons.com/ you can print coupons for $5.00 off Hasbro games. It includes: Sorry Sliders, Gator Golf, Elefun, Guess Who, and Twister Hopscotch.

We went and bought Gator Golf. I have to say that it is really an awesome game! I think Tom and I play it as much as Evan does. I love it because it has very few parts to it. You putt into the gator's mouth and it flings the ball back to you! Only downside is that you have to go re-open the gators mouth each time.

Anyways, I love games that the whole family can enjoy...not just the kids! Even Carter likes us to help him putt! Oh, as far as I know, Walmart has the cheapest prices for these games. It could be a great gift idea too.

Photo Smorgasbord

We had a great time celebrating Jordyn and Evan's birthdays. We had a little party in Billings with my parents and then a week later we had a party with Tom's family in Gillette. They got some really great presents... thanks everyone!

My mother-in-law had a cake made for Jordyn and Evan. We decided on Spongebob because Evan is a big fan. It turned out really cute, don't you think? Evan was way excited when he saw it!

My latest project was painting our kitchen table. My friend had given us this table a few years ago. I'm so mad at myself because I forgot to take a "before" picture. So I found one online of our exact table. Just try to imagine it not so new and with a few burn marks on the top!

Before

After (without the leaf)

I really love it. It looks so much better and matched really well with our black appliances.

BLIZZARD: Round two! We are in the middle of another blizzard today! Rumor has it that it's supposed to be worst than the last storm! The wind is blowing HARD and the streets are getting re-covered in drifts. I think we'll be trapped in our subdivision by tonight! Tom said he barely made it driving through the snow to our house at lunch time. And school was canceled today, too. Update: The storm has died down now. It won't be as bad as our last storm. However, as I type, Tom is outside trying to dig his car out of the snow. He got stuck coming home from work. There is another car stuck on the same street too. Luckily, he was only a block away from home!

First photo below: view out our front window on a pretty normal day. Second photo: same view out the window during a wind storm. Third photo: view out the same window today!

Blizzard Update

We got home fine today. The roads were actually clear and dry the entire way. I think they plowed on the interstate yesterday and then it dried by today. When we were driving into town, it didn't really look too bad. There are areas of large drifts and then areas of hardly any snow. But we we got to our subdivision and you could see how high the drifts really were! Our driveway was piled high with snow, so we had to shovel a path to get through. I think it was mainly from the plowed street. It left a huge pile in front of our driveway. A few photos of our neighborhood:

A house in our neighborhood. I think it wins the prize for the tallest snow drift. Luckily, no one is living in it right now!

One of the roads to our house. Guess we aren't getting through that way!

They plowed a narrow path to our house and another house. I guess I will be taking Jordyn to school tomorrow because the bus still can't get through! ( not our house in the photo)

BLIZZARD!

I don't know if you have been hearing about the blizzard that hit Wyoming on Monday. Well, too bad we weren't there to see it! We left Friday night (the high was 69 degrees that day) and went to Billings for the weekend. Jordyn had doctor's appointments on Monday morning and Tom took work off to come with us. We planned to leave on Monday afternoon. I thought we were in the clear and would have GREAT weather. Then a freak snow storm hit WY on Monday morning. They canceled school in Gillette on Mon, Tue, and Wed. Tom's work did not open on Mon. and Tues. They whole city of Gillette was shut down! That includes a large stretch of the interstate too. We have been here in Billings having fun while we wait for the roads to open again. It's pretty strange to be here with fairly nice weather while everyone is digging out of the snow in Gillette. I can't even IMAGINE what our house looks like. We hear there are tons of large snow drifts. Out in our area we tend to get them even more since there is nothing to block the wind. I'll take photos when we get home. But, the roads opened again tonight and we are headed back in the morning. I can't wait to see what we find! Keep your fingers crossed the roads are ok.
I posted a few pictures I found on weather.com of our town!

Happy 3rd Birthday Evan!

Today is Evan's birthday! The celebrating continues! On this day I always reminisce about Evan being born the day after Jordyn's birthday (5 weeks early!). I don't know if Evan really cares it's his birthday. All he knows is that he gets pancakes for breakfast (has fav.) and ice cream tonight. That's all he cares about! He fell down yesterday and scratched his nose. Luckily, I was taking pictures of him yesterday BEFORE he fell down! We love you EVAN!

Happy 6th Birthday Jordyn!

Today is Jordyn's birthday! I just love that her birthday is also on the first day of spring. And it's a beautiful day outside right now! Carter, Evan, and I already went to Jordyn's school to take treats and be there for her little school party. They gave her the balloons in the photo and one of the balloons sings when you hit it. Very cute! This is just the beginning of ALL the celebrating we'll do! We love you little angel Jordyn!

Oh so cute!

Like my new glasses?
Love the double chin!

Brotherly Love!

Sisters Trip

At the end of February, my sisters (Jenny and Susan) and I planned a little trip to see each other. Last year, we got together in Boise because I had just had Carter. The trip before that was in Spokane. So, this year it was Jenny's turn to host in Kansas City! We are definitely planning on continuing our new tradition of getting together every year or as much as we can. We even talked about a destination vacation for a trip in the future!

I have to say that after our move, I really needed a vacation! The only time I have ever left my kids over night was a few years ago when I went with my friend to run a race near Seattle. I only had Jordyn and Evan then, and we stayed one night. People...that is ONE time in SIX years that I've left my kids! This time I got to leave for almost five days! I really missed the kids and Tom, but this vacation was way overdue! It was so strange being without kids for that long. It really helps rejuvenate you and I was ready to take on the world when I came home.

I have to thank my mother-in-law for coming and helping with the kids while I was gone. She even had to deal with them all having colds too. I couldn't have done it without her help! And thanks Tom, for letting me and wanting me to go! Not that he "wanted" me gone... just that he knew I deserved a vacation! Now, whenever I get grumpy, Tom will say,"Do you need another vacation!?" Uh.... yes please!!!

On Thursday, I drove to Billings to catch my flight. Susan and I both arrived late Thurs. night. Friday we had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes and then went to Crowne Center (shops, dining, and the headquarters of Hallmark). That night we went to dinner at Jack Stack BBQ, movie (He's Just Not That Into You), and dessert at the Cheesecake Factory. Saturday morning we had spa pedicures, lunch at Panera Bread, and shopped at the mall all afternoon. Saturday night, Jenny's husband, Chris, made us a great Asian dinner. Then we played Wii with the boys and watched Nights In Rodanthe. Sunday we went to church and relaxed most of the day.

Thanks for the great time Jenny! And thanks Chris for putting up with all the "girl time"! I feel so lucky to have such great sisters! Even though we are all unique, we really are similar. I'm so glad that we can be so close. Love you guys!

Crown Center with Nathan and Liam

Hallmark "Bow Making Machine"

Me, Susan, Jenny

Coloring with the boys. I still love coloring.

Well, it's that time again. Tom and I have to speak in church tomorrow! I try and work on it a little each day. But, now that it's down to crunch time it seems like I've been thinking of all kinds of reasons not to work on it... like blogging! Oh how I wish I could just get up and give a talk without worrying, stressing, and being extremely nervous! But, that isn't me and probably never will be! I guess you have to look on the bright side and think about all the things you learn, which always seems to be a lot.

On to a different topic! Evan always begs me to take his picture and then he just makes faces! So here are just a few of the crazy faces he makes:

First video: Evan has this Sesame Street Sings Karaoke video that he likes. The other day we watched it and then he got the bright idea that we should "play" karaoke. He insisted that I sit down like I was the audience and he even used a diaper box as his "stage". Then we all had to take turns singing our songs. Too bad you don't get to see the video of me singing!

Next video: Jordyn has made some GREAT progress when it comes to self feeding. I have to give most of the credit to Jordyn's school. (Her school in Idaho starting working on it with her) They sent home a note saying they were continuing working on getting her to hold onto her spoon. That same day, I was feeding her lunch and she reached out to grab her spoon! She has NEVER done that before (for me at least) and I wasn't even expecting it. Just over the past few days, she's even improved more. She reaches out for her spoon and pulls it to her mouth every single bite. So, enjoy the video of her awesome progress!

Devil's Tower

It didn't take us long to make our first trip to Devil's Tower (the weekend of Feb. 14). It's only one hour and fifteen minutes away...you can't beat that! My Grandpa Andersen took a much needed vacation (he cares for my Grandma who has dementia) and came up to MT to visit my parents for a week. My poor Grandpa is from California and probably froze to death while he was here! They decided to come to WY for the weekend and see our new house. We were excited to have visitors!

None of us had ever been to Devil's Tower before, so it was an easy decision to go there. However, it was REALLY cold and all of the tourist stores were closed. But it was really pretty and it started snowing lightly too. I have to admit, I didn't know a single thing about Devil's Tower, except what it looked like in pictures. So, if you're like me...go HERE and learn about it!

Near the base. As I mentioned before Gillette pretty much has no trees. On our drive to Devil's tower Evan actually said,"Look mommy! TREES!" Poor kid gets excited when he sees trees! Sad,very sad.

Carter being his usual cute self.
Jordyn, Mark (my dad), Mirl (my grandpa), Evan, me, & Carter.

My cute Grandpa.

After my Grandpa posed for this photo, Evan marched over and stood there waiting for us to take his picture too.

Tom and I. We will definitely be going back in the spring or summer. I think it would be really pretty that time of year.

Snowball fight! Evan was chasing my Grandpa to throw snow at him!