Ya...We grow our own!

Last spring Caleb's 2nd grade class took a field trip to Cotton Days in Washington. Caleb was so excited to show me his cotton seeds when he got home. Little pieces of lint is all it looked like to me. He of course went right outside to plant his treasures. After about a week I noticed they were actually growing plants! I mentioned to Mat that Caleb had planted his seeds in the front planter so they weren't mistaken for weeds. Mat said he had already realized that only after he had pulled all but one plant out. Well, who woulda thought that it would grow so well! The biggest drawback when the kids plant their seeds from school is that they don't really use the uniform way of planting that I prefer in my front planters. Needless to say this plant was just about to get pulled until last night...

Easton came running in saying "Caleb! You have COTTON!" Both boys rushed outside and came in with the first fruits of Caleb's crop. A handful of cotton!Seriously? This stuff really grows this well here? I suppose if we ever REALLY need to be self-sufficient we can grow our own cotton, spin it, weave it, and make our own clothing. How ambitious is that?!! SO glad I'm not a pioneer in so many ways! For now I'll stick to ordering our clothing with a click of the mouse and wait impatiently for my packages to arrive.

Top Ten Dumbest Purchases Ever!

I will fully admit that when it comes to my kids, money doesn't seem to be an object (whether we have it or not). Mat and I both decided long ago that we didn't want to have to limit the amount of activities our kids did based on finances. Basically we figured we would rather go without or work longer hours to be able to give them the opportunity to participate in sports, dance, music, whatever was within reason for a child to do. Somewhere along those lines, that type of thinking completely took over our attitudes toward our kids. Mat was joking last night that Bailey has a new pair of jeans for everyday and I have "A" pair for everyday. One little word but it explains so much. Then of course the guilt settled in and I thought about the addiction I have with buying my kids clothes. (After all I had just spent another $60 on an outfit for Peyton that day...WHO DOES THAT???) I would NEVER spend that on myself and thought I would never spend that on my kids either. Well, I became a parent and things changed. What I wish sometimes that I COULD change is all of the CRAZY things we've spent money on becoming adults (which we are still working our way on becoming). So here it is, as good as I can think of...Our top ten dumbest purchases ever!

10. A pair of True Religion jeans (along with many other dumb clothing purchases) for a 10 year old.
9. The ski boat we bought when Bailey was a baby. We took it out once in April and sold it that summer.
8. A big-screen TV for the upstairs family room. We don't actually have a TV in the downstairs family room so we thought this would be where we watched movies and spent time. WRONG! The only use it gets is by a bunch of 7-9 year olds playing the Wii on it.
7. Our house. Don't get me wrong I LOVE LOVE LOVE our house. It was nevertheless a dumb purchase. We owed 1/3 of what we owe on this house on our last one and the timing and everything when we built just wasn't the smartest. Disclaimer: Even though the home is worth FAR less than originally and we've put a TON of our own cash into it we still are not upside-down in it and we wouldn't trade it for anything!
6. Stamps. Rubber scrapbooking stamps, many of which have never been used. Although I've actually sold a bunch from my stash there are still those that remain collecting dust, while the ink dries out, on the slight chance they'll actually get used one day.
5. Pretty much all of Peyton's furniture and baby accessories. With the first 3 kids we didn't have much income as we did with Peyton. In fact with the first 3 it was crazy tight! We actually did need to purchase new items for Peyton since we had given away all of our previous baby things, we just didn't need to get as many or as fancy of items that we did.
4. Exercise equipment. This includes everything from the elliptical (I HAD to have) to the "as seen on TV" items that I was positive would be easier than going to the gym.
3. A gym membership. 'Nuff said.
2. Cars. This includes the SUV's that my ego thought it needed that were so NOT practical I really don't know what we were thinking. Yes, I now drive a minivan, my ego is no longer...It can't be when driving a minivan.
1. Seriously, I can't just narrow it down for the last one. We have made MANY dumb purchases and been very careless with the direction we've allowed our money to take (not all bad purchases were our fault but WE allowed the bad purchases to be made with OUR money). I think of the financial security we would have without that darn ego always working its way into our lives. I admit though, I'm HAPPY! We gave ourselves to the end of the year to pay of a credit card that we had allowed someone else usage of and it subsequently reached over $20,000, and it is looking VERY likely that we will meet our goal. We have been able to refinance our crazy house payment and lowered it by $450 a month! We have been able to KEEP our house while others sadly have not. :( We have been blessed in so MANY MANY ways that I can't dwell on the past and just hope to have gained insight for the future. :)

Once a year, whether we need it or not.

Since I was old enough to complete the hunter safety course and officially have my name submitted for "special" hunts my dad has dutifully done just that. When Mat married me I believe that this knowledge was what eventually cinched the deal for him at least. Well, a few years ago all of those "points" I had accumulated over the years paid off. Mat, finally got to "help" me hunt in a special unit for archery. Like I said though...archery. Which means that you have to hike quite a bit, scout quite a bit, and frankly I knew I wasn't going to be spending a lot of time at home that year during the hunt. Mat and I talked it over and we decided that if he was going to drag me up the mountain for weeks on end that a tent wouldn't quite cut it. We bought a camper that summer. At first it was used quite a bit. It was after all hunting season. My hunt was successful and all was well. The following year Mat drew out for the same tag. The following year my dad did. Each year the camper has come out of the dirt lot we park it in less and less.

Well, with Labor Day weekend upon us we decided it was finally time to charge the battery, fill the tanks, and take the family camping for the first time this year! Of course I assume it will be the last as well.
We still took the family up to Panguitch frankly because it's just become tradition now. We had the Green's join us and had a blast. I admit, I really do like to camp. I don't like to go out to the camper to load up and have it be a disaster that's sat there for a year or being the maid, cook, and babysitter while Mat hunts, but he promised me that wouldn't happen this time. Well, the camper was in fact in shambles so after I wiped up all of the spills that has sat for a year and washed all of the bedding we were on our way!

Mat ended up being very helpful and didn't spend all of his time hunting. Peyton was in heaven riding on the 4-wheelers and stealing snacks from the camper. The boys had a blast building huts with their cousins, fishing, and doing all the things boys do in the mountains. Bailey spent a good portion of her time perfecting hemp necklaces for a boy at school she likes. Haha!

One thing about camping is we ALWAYS eat well. Sure the utensils probably aren't near as sanitary as they are at home, and the food does get a bit of dirt in it here and there, but dutch oven potatoes, fruit, snacks, all of it, are just some of the best things in life.

I can never understand why the bunk in the camper is so exciting. There are miles and miles of trees, streams, 4-wheeling trails and such, and the camper is still one of the favorite places for the kids to hang out.

We finally allowed Bailey to drive dad's 4-wheeler by herself and she certainly loved it. It's never been an issue of not being old enough, she's just so darn tiny we've worried about her ability to control it. I think she's officially done driving the kid 50 around. Of course 3rd gear is all she's allowed to put it in still.

We all came back late Saturday night so we could make it to baby Ryder's blessing and the boys headed back up for an extra night while the girls have stayed home where there's showers, clean bedding, and not so many bugs. I suppose we'll be treating ourselves to pedicures tomorrow while the boys can clean out the camper for once!