Buy one half off, get the second one free!

Due to the recent boil water notice we were under this past weekend, which I was so blissfully unaware of until late in the night, I decided to opt in to receive e-mail news releases from the City of Tallahassee. Apparently, June is "Adopt-a-Cat Month", so they sent out an e-mail promoting one specific shelter in town. Read this paragraph...

"...To help encourage adoptions during the month of June, the Animal Service Center is reducing the cat adoption fee to $25 from $50. If you also adopt a companion cat or kitten, the ASC will waive the fee for the second adoption. You read correctly: Buy one cat at half-price and get the second one free! Sterilization fees will still apply. All cats adopted through the ASC are micro-chipped, and many are already spayed or neutered...."

For some reason, this really tickled my funny bone!

Salad in a pot...

This only begins to describe the event we held tonight.

We just moved into our new home. I'll blog all about this later, when I actually have some time to sit down and write it all out.

Anyway. We've made it a goal to feed the missionaries once a month. We'd signed up for tonight, figuring that we'd be all moved in by now. Well, we had several road bumps along the way, and didn't get in until last weekend.

So, they arrive at our house for dinner (pizza and salad...they say we're one of the only families that ever gets them pizza...?). They get here just a little early and I'm running just a little late. Our kitchen is the only room in the house that is unpacked. Unfortunately, it's apparently not entirely unpacked. I can't find a bowl to put the salad in to save my life. Sigh. I go for the next best thing that's large enough.

That's right. We ate salad from a pot.

The sisters were good sports about the whole thing. Especially when they only had about one square foot of space to sit at the dinner table in a dining room full of boxes. And they were great when JM cried almost the whole way through dinner. And when he threw his milk down on the ground and it spilled all over me and the {new} carpet that we had such a hard time getting put into the place. And when my salad dressing somehow missed my plate and landed right into my lap and all over my shirt and skirt. And the way that I spent more time getting up and down from the table (if you could even call my ungraceful blundering and squeezing out the side "getting up and down") than I actually spent sitting with them. I totally ate my dinner after they left...I think I'd had part of my salad by the time the were walking out the door.

Yep. They were great. They didn't even laugh about any of it until while they were sharing their message Levi started running the only loud car toy we have up and down the walls just outside the dining room, to the point we couldn't even hear them.

Oh, good times. I just hope next time it isn't so fun...

Ever seen Matt dance?

Guaranteed to put a smile on your face!

Raise your hand if you've ever been doing the laundry and looked at the same old pair of _________ (fill in the blank) and thought,

"Ugh! Holy. Cow. How many times have I folded this same pair of _________?!?"

The Little Reminders

Today I am grateful for the little things in life that serve as reminders to us.

Yesterday I heard this song on the radio and it really hit home for me. We've just been so busy lately trying to fit back into life and this was a nice little reminder to slow down and enjoy the ride.


"You're Gonna Miss This"
by Trace Adkins

She was staring out the window of their SUV
Complaining, saying "I can't wait to turn 18"
She said "I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules"
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said "I was just like you"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her "It's a nice place"
She says "It'll do for now"
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says "Baby, just slow down"

Cause you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin'
He says "They don't bother me.
I've got 2 babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.
Huh, it's hard to believe, but...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

(If you've never heard it before, I added it to my playlist at the bottom of this page)

My "Get Rich Quick" Scheme...

Just kidding.

I have no intentions of getting rich quick...more like supplementing our income a little, lol.

When we lived here before, there was a sister in the ward that sold vinyl lettering. I just loved it! So much so, that when we moved to Minnesota I decided to sell it there. Low and behold, the very first friend I made there had her own vinyl lettering business! Go figure.

But, now we're back! And the sister that used to sell it here has moved away, and I feel that Tallahassee has so needlessly been without the wonderful art of vinyl lettering for far too long! So look out Tallahassee-ians (or however you would say and spell that, lol) here I come, ready to fill up your walls, tables, counters, bookshelves, pianos, (and wherever else might need some sprucing up), with the many wonders of vinyl lettering!

Yay!

Introducing:

The new love of my life.

I've never been a huge fan of M&M's at all...'till now. Don't know why.
Just love 'em.

We're back...

and SURPRISE*...we're in Florida!

I've been missing lately in the blogging world, but for good reason! We've moved!

Joe-Z has always wanted to work for the Church Educational System. We thought he could get the training he would need anywhere we went, but later on found out that most people are too busy to do any type of training on a one-on-one basis. Getting into this position is very competitive, so we figured that we'd need all the help we could get, which included training, so we decided to go to the place we knew it was available...back to Tallahassee! Yay! We love Brother Bowcutt and Joe-Z is very excited for the opportunity to learn from the best!

The day we found out that this would be an option, we were going through a random box of papers (left over from a previous move, lol) and we found Joe-Z's acceptance letter to Flagler from last year and thought we'd call to see if they'd still take him this year. Sure enough, after a couple of signatures here and there, they said..."Welcome back...school starts on the 25th!" That gave us just 10 days to be there!

So, we found all that out Thursday about noon and we had packed and left by the next Friday afternoon. We drove down that weekend and Joe-Z made it to school by 5 o'clock Monday night! It's was a wild ride and we could not have done it alone! We are SO grateful for all of the help we received...it is no doubt to us that the Lord works everyday miracles through the good brothers and sisters we see every Sunday, that will come together in a pinch to help out.

Thanks friends!

So, here we are now...in good ol' Tallahassee! We really miss our new found-old friends in Minnesota, we're very excited to be back in town and have the wonderful opportunities in front of us! Joe-Z is loving his new job with the State so far and school is going well, and we'll be moving into our place at the end of the month!

Sorry no pictures yet...our USB cable got packed on the P.O.D., but once we move in...you'll get pictures galore! I can give you a couple of updates of the kids though:

John Morgan is getting so big, and is enjoying meals of oatmeal and peas...yum yum! He's about ready to crawl...we're thinking within the next month (but now that we've said that...it'll probably take twice that long, lol).

and Levi...there's just so much to tell here...but here's my newest fave...he's learned how to climb out of the pack-an-play! YAY...not. Now there's no stopping him...he climbs out, throws his arms in the air, and screams "Woo-hoo!" I'm just hoping that when we get into our place, he won't try the same stunt from within his crib...that could be disastrous!

Anyway...hope you all are doing well, we're (mostly I'm) glad to be back to the blogging realm!


*If you're a Burtoft reading this (or anyone down south for that matter)...don't tell anyone else in the fam...this is still supposed to be a surprise for you guys!

Accomplishments Galore...

Just a quick post to tell ya'll how proud of myself I am!

It's 9:58am and this is what I've accomplished so far:

• Ate breakfast first thing in the morning
• Read my scriptures while I ate breakfast
• Went to the gym - treadmill for 35 minutes (207 calories and 2.2 miles later) and weight resistance machines for 20 minutes
• Packed Joe-Z a lunch
• Helped Levi finish breakfast and cleaned the kitchen (dishes and counters anyway)
• Played with our Alphabet Friends and blocks, and successfully cleaned them up together!
• Had 4 bottles of water - that's a biggie for me

And now we're on our way to the post office!

This may not seem like much to some of you "go-getter's", but generally at this time of the day, the fog is still clearing from my eyes and I'm just beginning to think about what the day may hold. So, for us, it's been a great morning and it feels so good to accomplish so much!

Have a happy day!

"Picture of the Year"

This came from an e-mail I got this morning...thought it was pretty cute!

Attention All Cell Phone Users:

DO NOT DROP YOUR CELL PHONE IN THE TOILET!!!

Particularly if you just upgraded 4 months ago

And definitely if you decided not to get insurance this time around (because nothing had ever happened to any of your other phones...false sense of security)

And especially if it has tons of pictures and videos of your little kiddos from when they were (and are) babies.

Boo on cell phones...dropping so randomly into the toilet!

Lend me your opinion...

Have you ever heard the word "nummy" before?
How about "num, num?"

For example:

Me: "Levi, do you like this applesauce? Isn't it nummy?"

Levi: "Mmmm...num, num!"

Joe-Z swears that he's "used to it now, but I'd never heard it 'till I met you..."

What say you...?

When our conversation turns to this, we know it's past our bedtime!

Maybe it's because it's so late /early. Maybe it's because he was so darn cute. Maybe I don't really know why, but we had this conversation tonight, and I thought I'd share...

{We're sitting on the couch. Levi's asleep, John Morgan is sitting on my lap with his feet hanging over Joe-Z's leg. We're admiring how cute he is and what a little blessing he has already been to our family in his short 9 weeks here.}

Me: I really love having a house full of boys!

Joe-Z: Yeah, a house full of little missionaries. A little army of Helaman, little warriors. {Trying to be sneaky} A bunch of football players...

Me: Ummmmm, no.

Joe-Z: Oh come on.

Me: Ummmmm, no. Too dangerous.

Joe-Z: That's okay. Levi's chosen baseball anyway.

Me: That's true. Baseball is so much better anyway. Less injuries. And, when was the last time you saw a really fat baseball player? Sometimes you see those really fat football players.

Joe-Z: Maybe that's what I should do...start playing football....beef me up...Scotty. {chuckle chuckle}

I caught his eye, followed by: " (cricket, cricket) ."

Then: Hysterical laughter.

Funniest commercial we've ever seen!

Not sure if this is "ha ha" funny or

"oh my gosh, I'm so embarrassed" funny!

Either way, we LOVE it!

A good read:

I've discovered a fun new blog and found this link while perusing her posts. Click here for a quick, but really great post!