June 2010

Three major events happened in June.  The FIRST was Girls Camp.  In the Indianapolis West Stake, every summer we do a stake ran Girls Camp and a combined Young Men/Young Women Youth Conference.  This means that June was consumed by Girls Camp and July the Pioneer Trek! It is crazy to me-so much time and effort went into planning for and executing these two events and we did soo many fun things for both-and yet I have like 10 pictures total from both!!  So use you imagination!

Girls Camp was themed "Over the Rainbow".  Each day had a different emphasis based off the scripture 2Timothy 1:7-8 and of course the "Wizard of Oz"!  I was able to be involved with teaching the girls a hula to the IZ version of "Over the Rainbow" and leading some yoga on the side.  I even resurrected an old rap from my mission (and some one's old jumper) for my fireside...night hikes, morning devotionals, night firesides, yoga, zumba, kickboxing, fishing, silly songs and dancing, full time cooks making three meals a day, bishop's night in the tropics, crafts-you name it, Girls Camp rocks!!

 Me on one of the first days of camp with my girl Kayla.  Lucky for Andy and I, she lives around the corner. We get to drive her to church all the time and we get a fab babysitter at our fingertips too!

 Becky, one of my dearest friends braved being totally pregnant and came up to be our Youth Leader, Leader!  I seriously look like death warmed over connoting this picture was taken one of the last days of camp!

 Me, Trish (Stake YW 1st Counselor at the time) and Jill (Camp Director extraordinaire)!

 Amber had the guts to rap in front of everyone with me!

 Above, Katelyn and below Jannah-a couple of our fab seniors.

A shot of us doing hula. Don't look for me, I am in the back, I wanted to let the girls be front and center!

 Like any normal mom-being away from my kids from Monday till Saturday-is hard.  On my mission I used to say, "I'd never go door to door to sell anything but the Gospel" and I definitely would never spend this much time away from the kids unless it was for my love of God and the Youth I've been called to serve! (Well I guess if someone wanted to put Andy and I on an all expense paid trip to Europe for a week I'd do that too! :)

But anyhow, I always try and just "hang out" with the kids the week after I've been gone.  So we spent a lot of time in our jammies.  Eliza wanted me to make sure I got her "supa cute care bear slippas" in the shot as well!

 The summers of Indiana are HUMID (anyone in Utah or AZ, the desert etc) aren't ever allowed to complain about it being humid there in my presence)...my hair manages to get frizzier and I sweat constantly.  Jackson on the other hand, well his curls just get cuter and I swear his eyelashes just grow longer!!

The SECOND big event in May was...(drum roll)...Eliza getting potty trained!  Jax didn't hit that landmark till he was over 3 years, so I was deeply grateful when she did it right after her 2nd birthday with ease!  I could just tell she was ready and I was so sick of spending money on diapers (next kid will be using washable ones-just watch me do it!).  Spending money leads me to the last big event in June that has changed our lives.

Andy got a promotion at work (yaah!) and we decided that instead of buying a bedroom set, (people can't help but laugh when they find out us two tall individuals sleep on a double sized mattress) or putting money towards a new car (we love you Sport the minivan, but you are ancient)...that we would start attacking our student loans and other debt with gazelle-like intensity ala Dave Ramsey "Total Money Makeover" style.  So THIRD big event-get out of debt. 

NOW, it is January and we've been doing this since the first of July and I can talk about it openly now, but for so long I didn't want to tell people we were trying to get out of debt for fear they would think we've had money probs, spent money on things we couldnt' afford or spent copious amounts of money unwisely.  One day I expressed the above to Andy and he responded with, "Who cares what people think!  Pretty soon we're going to be totally financially sound."

Question: How come Andy is always right?

(P.S. Because I am a woman and I can't help myself...we haven't been spending money on things we couldn't afford nor do we have money problems.)

One thing that has been really cool as Andy and I have embarked on this journey (and it is a journey and it isn't easy), is to work together as a team, both of us being on the same page, both utilizing our strengths, both of us making sacrifices.  We set goals the end of June, started our "new life on a budget" in July and we have totally exceeded expectations! Not to get all churchy, but we have seen miracles and blessings in our lives as God has consecrated our efforts to get out of debt. 

We have tried to be reasonable in our budget, allowing for date nights, birthday gifts, things that we need...etc  On the other hand, some might consider several of our debt eating tactics a bit unreasonable: we cancelled our gym membership (that was a hard one), I "rent" all our movies from the library, I now grocery shop primarily at Aldi's and 2nd hand stores for me and the kids and... brace yourselves...I gave up my cell phone!  Seriously.  Andy told me not to do it.  But I did it.  And I have survived for...four months...flip... has it only been four months?! It feels like longer, but I am almost half way to my goal. 

I decided I'd give up my cell phone for a year and then make millions on my biography entitled, "A Year Without A Phone" or perhaps "Woman vs. W.I.L.D." (Without Info and Loss or Data)!!
OK, the part about the book is a lie.  But the second title has a certain ring to it, don't ya think!! (Forgive the pun, please-blame it on my mom!)

I do wish we'd been given Ramsey's book when we were newlyweds and that we'd read the financial books we've read this past year, years ago.  Not that I regret anything, just we would have been smarter spenders and I would have learned long ago that I don't hate numbers or talking about financial stuff. 

Wow, this post is super long and is proportionally lacking in pictures!