You want a what?

There comes a time in every married mans life when

the "truck dream" gets squashed

apparently that just happened to Adam

we had a 99 F-250

ran great helped a lot of people move (including us!)

and hauled a lot of crap

but... also gets like 8 MPG

another down side I am scared to drive it.

Its fun but I don't like driving it everyone always looks in the window and not even

kidding you they always have a surprised look.

Like what in the world is SHE doing driving that thing!

Anyway... we sold the truck

I don't miss it at all.

Adam doesn't either

So what is the problem?

Well what the heck am I supposed to drive in case I need to go somewhere while he

is at work?

We have been talking about an economical vehicle that we can grow into

thats something you say when buying a house and thats why we have so

many 5 bedroom houses these days

This is what Adam suggested...

Yes... that is a mini van.

Chevy uplander actually

I kinda freaked at him a little.

I never wanted a minivan!

But here are Adams points which seem to rule out any counter attack I have

Reasons to have a minivan

1. Way more room to fit stuff than our volvo

2. Cheap compared to SUVs

3. Ok gas mileage (compared to the truck anything is good)

4. Safety

5. People don't want to race you

6. People are less likely to break into your car

(ok I don't have any actually stats on that but I believe it)

7. You can fit lots of people!

8. Room to take care of Thayne while driving

(this is one of the heavy weight reasons)

9. We can afford it

10. Low mileage for the price

11. Built in DVD player

Reasons not to have a minivan

1.PRIDE

2. PRIDE

3.PRIDE

4.PRIDE

5. Doesn't have 4 wheel drive

6. Everyone will think we are ready to have 5 kids

7. ok I can't think of anything else

So what have I done the past two days?

Looked up mini vans

I actually think I am digging the idea.

In other news...

Thayne is 8 months today!

He can roll like crazy

Scoot backwards

Say, "da da da"

Sit up on his own

Is in the process of getting his first tooth

Is sick for the first time in his little life with a cold

Just another day at the Castle of Hassell

Just Another Day at the Castle of Hassell!!

Yes I actually came up with my own recipe...

"Go-go moms smoothie"

Doesn't everything here look so good???

So I made this up yesterday and it was so good I thought I'd better share it

What you need:

Blender

Quick oats (1/3 cup)

Frozen blueberries (2 hand fulls)

(or some other kind of frozen fruit)

Peanut butter (2 TBS)

(could easily do just one I just love peanut butter)

Applesauce (1 quick pour around 1/4-1/3 cup)

(I used homemade sugar free)

Banana (just 1 medium)

2% Milk (1 cup)

(could easily use soy milk)

Put them all in the blender and there you go! So yummy. And notice how no sugar was added? Didn't need it. All the fruit made up for it. Try it out and leave me a comment if you tried it.

Yum! Made enough for just me

P.S. this cup was filled I had to drink a ton then I thought I better take a picture.

Reusable Bags

I would do a tutorial on this but... there are a million out there. Just google or look it up on pinterest.

Just make sure you DON'T use PUL

I used 100% peva (bought the cheapest shower curtain you could find)

It turned out really good!

Onto us...

Thayne is 7 1/2 months and is as cute as ever

He can say, "hi" (first word)

and "ya"

he wont say them on demand but he will randomly say them its so cute.

He can roll too easy and eat Cheerios he is growing like no other as you can see in the

next picture...

we love him so much!!!

Proud parents! I told Adam I needed a new profile pic and...

Should I dye my hair blonde? I'm really thinking hard about it

I saw Rihanna's hair and really liked it.

Adam-still working away.

He treated me to the best weekend ever we got to dress up and go dancing and skiing/snowboarding.

Me-oh you know everything about me! Just living the dream!

L.O.S.E. yourself

Happy V-day!!!

Last night as I was filling Thayne's bottle up I realized that extra can of formula only existed in my head.

Meaning first thing this morning we had to run to Cedar City to get food. (40 miles away...)

So off to Wal-mart we went.

While we were there I couldn't help but talk to a few people.

Lady #1 at the bra section- Found out she had like 3 kids and her youngest was 2. She said her 6 year old was about as tall as her (she was about 5') and that all her babies had been very big. We talked about Thayne a bit and prices being so hard for things that are necessities.

Lady #2 at book section- Found out she had gotten a cart cover there at Wal-mart and that they weren't very expensive. Also found out she has 4 kids, her oldest 3 were boys and her youngest one was this beautiful big eyed girl. She said since buying the cart covers her daughter hasn't gotten sick. (I bought one)

Lady #3 Wal-mart cashier- Found out she is a single mom with a 4 month old. She is currently going to school, working, and trying to be a good mom. Isn't dating anyone and she has family in town who watches her little baby. What a blessing! She said it was the only way she could do school. She lives with her brother and his girlfriend and doesn't have to pay rent. I told her I just graduated college and that Adam works at Circle 4 and how blessed I am to be a stay at home mom. As I was leaving she told me it was good to talk to me.

Man #1 man with a sign by highway- I want to make blessing bags so bad! I need to do it. He had a sign that said Anything will help. I looked over in my passenger seat and saw my box of cereal. I thought he might like it. I asked him and he kinda chuckled and said, "no, but thanks for thinking of me."

Each of these people are a child of God. If you want a rush, thrill, peace and love in your life.

Talk to a stranger.

Sounds scary right? Against everything your mom told you?

Are you dying to know what the L.O.S.E. stands for?

Ok good

L-earn

O-thers

S-truggles

E-veryday

YOURSELF

It seems like we love to hear those heroic stories of someone doing something amazing for another person. But have you ever thought the most amazing thing you could do is talk to someone?

I didn't

Try it out. I didn't do anything that special but the smile on the persons face after I was done talking to them made me feel so good. I can't explain it.

On the drive home I couldn't help but feel the Saviors love for those people.

And it was almost like He was saying, "Don't you want to feel that way everyday?"

So now I have a challenge learn others struggles everyday. All on your own. Be that light of hope they needed.

After all I don't remember any scripture saying,

"And it was winter so Jesus decided to hole up in his home and wait for others to come to him"

Happy Valentines Day again!

Doesn't matter if your single or not. You can share love.

Bib Bandana Tutorial

Bib Bandana Tutorial

I have a ton of bandanas from high school that just aren't well...

Momish... I guess. Being 22 I'm just not into it any more.

But they look so cute on my little man.

I got to thinking why not make a bandana bib.

Of course I'm not the first to think of this and I have to give credit to

Dirtydiaperlaundry

A lot of concepts came from there.

What you need:

Bandana

Old Towel

(terry cloth or old flannel blankie)

Measuring tape

Pins

Velcro

Patience

He looks innocent enough. But he is a drooling machine! This bib so far has held a lot more drool than the other bibs I have.

Here is the old bandana. Measure 12 inches (I cut off anything that wasn't part of the pattern.)

I used a normal pen and did a circle on the zero inches and 12 inches. Then measure 12 to the other side of the point (its going to be 17x12x12 if that helps) I just used the lines from the bandana I didn't really do a super straight line because they didn't have one.

See my nice dot? Just pretend like you do.

You should have 3 dots.

Line up your dots then draw a line.

Cut away!

Next the old towel.

I used the bandana as a pattern to cut two pieces of terry cloth because I am so making more than one of these. You only want to make one... then don't fold.

NOTE: old flannel would be much thinner. If you just want it for show and not a whole lot of function then thats what I suggest.

The terry cloth is so thick for my teething baby. It is working awesome.

This is what we don't want to use! Cut off all binding that was on the old towel it'll make your life so much better!

Everything is cut nice pin the right sides together. (AKA you can see the fabric you don't want showing I know I picked fabrics that really either side didn't matter.

Now that everything is cut sew away! 1/4 inch seam allowance and be sure to leave a hole so you can pull it back inside out! (I swear every time I get in the zone and almost forget)

Be sure to cut your corners very nicely!!! Give a little room from the actual seam. If you don't cut the corners you have even more thickness.

After pulling everything inside out be sure to sew up the hole. I made sure mine would be hidden in the back by doing it on a side.

This is how I measured out my velcro.

Add the "stick" part to the towel side and the "catch" part to the bandana on the opposite side.

EDIT: Wait, wait opposite!!

I later had to change that. the towel part touches the babes neck... don't want the stick part to scratch them.

This is where patience comes in if you are using an old towel (its SUPER THICK!)

Sew on the velcro and take it easy on the sewing machine.

Once you get through that...

All done!!!

How cute is that?

Totally going to be making some more and putting them in my etsy shop!

Happy Tuesday!

Happy Baby!

Let me know if you have any questions or need some more clarification.

Cloth Diapers... do they really save money?

I had a conversation with a friend last night about cloth diapers...

I've had lots of people ask me about them so I thought I'd post about them

Heres the breakdown. Cost wise if you would like more info on how to get started please visit my friends blog she is the one who got me hooked.

Cloth Diapering 101

These are the cloth diapers I use. I started out with one stay dry pack.

Which comes with 6 stay dry inserts(cloth)

2 outer diapers (hold cloths in place)

I was scared to spend a bunch of money on cloth diapers so I just got one... cost??????

............

$49.95

I got them from diapers.com but cottonbabies.com also has them.

I kept hearing how you needed to spend like $400 bucks to get started on cloth diapers!

NOT SO! I liked them so much I bought 2

Totaling my cloth diapering to

4 outer shells

12 stay dry inserts

(you can get organic if you are concerned with going as green as possible)

Instead of buying burp cloths give these a try!

Another side note I do still have disposable diapers that I had stocked up on. But he isn't quite in that size and I bought these because I was tired of buying disposable diapers. I put him in a disposable diaper at night. (I use a size bigger than what he really is because he pees a lot at night). I haven't completely switched over is what I am trying to say. I now can do that because I am all set up. But start off slow. Cloth diapers should not be a financial burden. Make them save you money!

I use these because I don't want to touch poop. Its a lot easier to deal with and they are biodegradable. NOT NECESSARY! You can totally deal with the poop (I recommend this for first time moms or moms that get uber grossed out like me!)

Cost: $10.15 per 100 sheet. (on amazon)

Sometimes I risk it (like if I know he isn't going to poop any more that day (don't ask I just know) ) I haven't gone through my whole roll yet. I even cut some in half to make them last longer. But they work a ton better if you just use them like you should.

This is a need if you are going with cloth diapers. This is a pail liner. Keeps odor in and works really well. I have an old garbage can with a horrible lid that barely stays on and it still keeps the odor in! I love this liner and highly recommend it. I got white because then you can throw it in with the rest of the cloth wipes.

Cost: $16.50 (on amazon)

So my grand total on what I spent to get going on cloth diapering (and I have been using it for a while now)

Total: $126.65

All prices were checked on Feb 2 2012 (of course prices change)

When will this start saving money?

Well lets put it this way... I spent

about $45.00 on a HUGE box of pampers diapers (only ones that wouldn't leak)

about every 1 1/2 months I'd have to buy it.

So in 3 months I'm saving money

Assuming he is in diapers till he is 24 months...

thats $720 dollars spent

even being generous and saying I went through 45.00 worth of diapers every 2 months thats

$540

NOT INCLUDING WIPES!!!!

I also have started to use cloth wipes for pee pee diapers. I use probably about 4 disposable wipes a day. And I just made the wipes with some old tee shirts. So it cost me nothing.

Bottom line Do cloth diapers save money? YES!

******Way to save even more money... just got Indian prefolds which for the biggest ones they have as of Feb. 27 2012 cost $2.00 each. I got 6 for $12.00

Think of getting one flip day pack and then those thats six more diapers.

They are super absorbent!******

Buy them from cotton babies they have free shipping.