update

for an update of us, please click here

Realizations

So I realized I have become one of those bloggers who only seems to put the positive Jonesy type stuff up. I just wanted you to all realize that this is so not the case in the real life of the Maughans. Yes I love my kids, but some days wish I had a full time nanny and could run away. Far FAR away. To say the least for our finances, the easiest way to put it is that Garrett and I have a very strong testimony of food storage. We definitely wouldn't have been able to get along without it. On a sidenote, we never had food storage per say, but I had a strong impression to go work at the cannery in Boise so I could buy some before we moved. I stocked up quite a bit and also was given some by family members. It definitely was useful and I know we were blessed that although it seemed like there wasn't much in way of things for dinner, we always had chicken in the freezer and some sort of concoction could be made from it. I am absolutely sick of chicken now, but we had lots of it and you can't complain, right?
Yes, I love CA, but still miss being close to some family. Although we are much closer to my family now, it was nice being in Boise just a few minutes away from the Maughans and while in Provo I was busy with school and work and Maddie so it didn't seem as bad. So yes, I still miss my family even though I have them just 90 minutes away.
So basically the point was that I just wanted to make everyone aware that we are far from the Jones family, never will be, and to those who 'keep it real' on their blogs, I thank you and salute you. It is always nice to know we aren't the only ones out there.

Blobs

So I went to the doctor today and saw a blob on the tv monitor (too early for appendages really). The volume was turned off so we couldn't hear any noises, but could see the heart going. Of course the office was really busy and after waiting what seemed like forever to see the doctor after the sono, I told them that unless there was something funky seen on the screen, I would just see my regular doc next week to go over the pics. I guess when it comes to the third one you just don't care as much..... ha!

Christmas

Apparently I took a lot less pictures than I thought of Christmas. These three were all taken Christmas morning.

Garrett is holding our little nephew Gregory. He is the the best baby ever! His proud parents are Garrett's sister, Meredith and her husband Adam. Adam is actually in Shanghai China right now and Mer and the baby are heading there in two weeks! I actually think it sounds like such a fun adventure. I am sort of jealous (not about the pollution or funky food, but the adventure part).

Maddie got a Hannah Montana Wii game from Santa. It is a silly concernt/dance/shopping game, but it is sort of addicting. Well we were in Idaho for Christmas and did enjoy time with family. I really missed the sun while we were there. It just isn't the same as here in SD for sure. Luckily we are back here at home before I really went cuckoo. We all got great things. I think my favorite was this Ginger body cream by Origins. It smells really good. It was def. needed while we were in the dry climate. Oh and yes, as soon as we got off the plane we could tell the humidity difference (or lack thereof). I was grateful to arrive back in my moist SD climate on Friday. Flights weren't too bad...just one hour plus delays. I complained until I heard that we were lucky to even get home on Friday b/c apparently they were going to cancel some flights due to fog. I hate the Oakland airport but will have to get over it....sometimes it is just can't be avoided. Well this is totally a flighty blog with no apparent stream of thought so I will stop for now.

hot water anyone?

when we returned home from being away eight days, we discovered something...we had no hot water. ok yes, the water heater was indeed out. oh but wait it gets better. so after boiling a few pots of hot water to give the girls a bath, i heard water sounding like it was coming out of a pipe underneath the tub. we first checked toilets to make sure none of them were running and then we went outside and shut off the main valve. lo and behold as soon as we did that, the sound stopped.

that night we contacted our landlord who was going to have a plumber come out in the morning. for the night, we just kept the water off. this meant keeping the phrase "if its yellow let it mellow" idea. i do have to tell you it is funny how automatic things are like after going to the bathroom, putting liquid soap on your hands to wash them. finally, we just filled up a bunch of pots with water really quickly and then shut the water off again just for these sorts of hand washing occasions.

the next day the plumber came out (not until around noon), but we did have good news and bad news. the good news was it was only the hot water line which meant we could have cold water and flushing toilets. the bad news was that there wouldn't be any hot water unless absolutely necessary. the plumber showed us how to turn the water heater just to pilot and turn the hot water supply off. side note: we had to turn 'off' the water heater so it didn't continue to make hot water with no where for it to go. so alas, we have cold water, a broken hot water pipe, and in a few days two torn up bathrooms.

the bathrooms share a wall so the thought is to put a new hot water pipe through the attic and down the wall that they share. our bathroom toilet shares the wall with the girls' bathtub so it will be much easier to move the toilet and tear up that wall. i have no idea how they will put a new line into the kitchen. i guess i will find out later this week! my only concern now is getting my water bill....it should be interesting since we don't know how long it was really "gushing" for while we were in Idaho.