A little R & R

So yesterday I stressed and today Ben is working so I am relaxing and doing a little digi scrappin'. I also found a cute picture of Caleb from the fair so here is some news for today.

Insurance Companies Bite!

I am just wanting to complain!! I hate insurance companies I think they are such a scam! I pay so much to them only to pay more to my doctors. I hate having C-sections but what choice do I have???? So I called my insurance and talked with them when I got pregnant. I totally understood from her that my OB account would cover my WHOLE pregnancy...WRONG. She never once mention any kind of fiscal year crud! So we paid and paid in 2007 and here we are still paying and paying in 2008. Don't get me wrong, Caleb is worth any amount that any doctor wants to bill me!!! But I get irritated when something isn't explained correctly and I end up calling them back because I am freaking out over a $900.00 medical bill that shows up from Mr. Postman. Then I just feel like a dummy and feel like insurance is a rip off. So then I was doing a stinkin cartwheel to please my sweet little 2 year old and I landed and that was about the end of the cartwheel...no walking, running barely even making it to a standing position. We go to the ER because I was scared...thinking that I had met my deductible (the lady on the phone said I only has 129.00 until I met it....so ER and $$$$ sign went through my head and I thought easy enough it will be met.) Now comes another large bill. I called again to get and explanation (yes, I am totally dumb when it comes to these kind of things) and only 20% of that very large bill went toward that deductible and I STILL HAVE $22 dollars to go...ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? Anyway I guess such is life and I will deal with it. I just have to voice my frustration because I HATE being in debt more than anything. But I have such a strong testimony of tithing and I know that if we continue to pay a full tithe we can enjoy so many blessings. Sorry for my little soapbox for the day, boy do I feel better!!!

Okay so this story gets better...my BFF Elisa called and I was complaing to her and she (because she is so smart) told me that what I was told is CRAZY and I need to call them back. So I did and the rep said "Hmmm, it looks like we haven't recieved all the charges because your total should only be $78.83. WHAT??? That is almost a $400 dollar difference! What was the rep before thinking??? Ugh, well after being put on hold the charges are figured out and the final $78.83. MUCH BETTER than what it was before.

On that note have a great weekend. :)

Busy as a Mom can be......

I am finally getting around to posting something new. Life has been oh so busy and tiring! Of course because I live in Blackfoot we attended the fair a couple of times. Mainly for Emily, but we also enjoy fair food way too much!! We loved bringing Emily on the rides and through the animal barns, she talks about it every day. I am glad she had so much fun! I also enjoyed seeing her have fun and enjoyed filling my tummy with Yummy food. I had a Prime Rib sandwich which was SOOOO yummy! A keeper for next year!

Last weekend Ben and Emily were outside practicing their golf swing. Emily loves Ben and wants to be just like him. It is cute!!

This year I also decided to freeze some corn. I was able to freeze 8 quart bags of corn. I should have used pint bags but didn't have any. Oh well. It is fun to have some food storage.

Other than that we have just been hanging out. Caleb has been sick this past week and we took him to the doctor. I am glad my Mom was able to come down and help me. I don't know what I would have done without her!! Love ya Mom!

Caleb's New Do

On Saturday one of my cousins got married and I wanted to Caleb to look like a handsome boy (not hard to do, he is so cute), so my Mom and I gave him a cute hair cut. He was so good and sat still and smiled at my Dad thw whole time. We cut 1 1/2 inches off the top, it was amazing! So here are his most recent model pictures. :) and some of Emily being Emily (silly as always and blurry because she is always on the move!).

I want to ride my bicycle.....I want to ride my bike!

Last night for FHE we decided it would be fun to go on our first bike ride as a family. For my birthday Ben bought my a bike stroller but Caleb was too little to sit in it and it has sat in our garage ever since. So we broke it out and we were off. We rode our bikes to Ben's grandparents house and back. Maybe 5 miles...??? It was a beautiful night...perfect for a bike ride! It was especially funny to see little baby Caleb bouncing with every bump. He enjoyed it though and even fell asleep on the way home. Yay for bikerides!

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Our trip to Nauvoo

This was Caleb's first ride on any airplane. He did great, he slept on both flights! We were living on fumes from only 3 hours of sleep the night before, so we were very grateful.

The first sight-seeing adventure we went on was to the Carthage Jail. The sister missionaries took us on a great tour and told lots of stories I had never heard before. If only I can remember them all though.

On Friday we attended the Nauvoo temple with Ben's parents! It was awesome!! The spirit was so strong and everything about the temple inside and out was majestic!

One night we attended the Nauvoo Pagent. It was just a reinactment of what occured while the saints lived in Nauvoo. The actors were great and made me have a new appreciate for all the sacrifices they made. The actors made it so realistic!! we even participated in some pre-show games. We stunk at the stilts!! Ben rocked in the potato sack races!!

At the Visitor's Center they have a Memorial for Women. There is somethinf like 18 different statues dedicated to women. So "The Women" took a lovely picture.


The Jospeh, Hyrum and Emma Smith memorials.




At the end of our Nauvoo visit, we did Hinckley suggested and took a walk down The Trail of Hope or trail of tears on Parley Street (The path the saints took as they left Nauvoo) and read the journal entries of those early Saints on the signs posted along the way. It was sad to turn back and look at the beautiful white Temple, standing on the hill, and imagine how those Saints must have felt. I tear up just rethinking it in my mind.

I have also posted a slide with more pictures (at bottom of page). Our visit was so much fun and I am glad we went. I would love to go back again and spend more time in that beautiful and sacred city!!!

New Pictures of my babies...

Recipe Monday...yay!

This recipe is very great for summer parties or pot lucks! My mom used to make this alot when I was little and to this day it is one of my favorites!

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Black Bean and Corn Salsa

1 can black beans, drained
1 tsp. cumin
Juice of 1 lime
1 c. chopped cilantro
1 c. corn
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbsp. olive oil
¾ c. salsa (any kind)
Diced avocado to taste
4 finely chopped tomatoes
Diced green pepper to taste
Diced onion to taste
Garlic salt and pepper to taste

Mix together – yum yum!

Moose, Bears and Mosquitos...Oh my!

BEWARE: This is long and maybe a little boring with lots of pictures!

Last Thursday we headed to Island Park for a little family get away with my parents and siblings. It was so much fun. Unfortunately we didn't see any Moose, Luckily we didn't see any bears (other than at IMAX and a big pile of poop behind the Boat House) and we were oh so fortunate to see plenty of mosquitos up close and personal. We had alot of fun together talking, playing horseshoes, going to West, fishing and just being together as a family. I look forward to doing it again next year!

This is my dad (Super Grandpa) hanging out with "the girls". We went to the IMAX and watched the movie about Bears. And we couldn't resist making a little detour to the Candy Store in West. It was expensive but fun.

This is Emily and Taylor (Caleb in the background in his baby carrier) on the back of the paddleboat.

On Saturday Ben and I decided to go Paddle Boating at Mack's Inn. I think it was a good experience but I am not sure I would do it again. The current was so strong that we kept getting marrooned in seaweed and rocks. We spent more time getting unstuck than we did anything else. At one pont we had a whole family looking down on us from the Mack's Inn cabins. They were throughly entertained by our stupidity! If nothing else they got a chuckle and I got a chuckle. I was laughing so hard at one point in time that peddling was out of question. From the picture above you can plainly see that Ben didn't find it that humorous!

After paddle boating we just sat on the dock and played in the river.

Saturday night Ben decided to take me on a romantic 4-wheelin' getaway. We rode for an hour all alone and enjoyed just being together. The trails we went down were so pretty. There were also so many wild flowers out that made it colorful and just plain enjoyable!

Chris and his new puppy came up and went fishing with us. The view was beautiful down at the lake! Averi even had fun!

Emily and Taylor with a cup full of wildflowers.