Christmas

So I'm sluffing church today, shhh don't tell anyone!! My life is so crazy!! I use to think I was busy but now I'm really busy!! I have a sore throat and I think it's because I'm doing too much!!! I told Max today that I was not going to church and he had to take the kids. He gave me some serious grieve but I told him that if I went to church today I would have a break down next week and I wasn't joking!!

Last night was a ward Christmas party and Max & I were in the play that was put on by a wonderful lady in the ward who is a drama teacher at a local high school. She brought out the best in all of us! Only max and Brother Woodbury had any experience, the rest of us had NONE! We were all sooooooo nervous!! Well it went off without a hitch and everyone was laughing and just loved it! I almost got cut and lost a part because I couldn't remember my lines, but I didn't give up and I was a STAR**** last night!!! AOUHHHHHH! Max was very proud of me! I don't think I could have done it without him though! He was giving me pointers right up until I ran back out onto the stage! I'm glad it's done but in the end I really had a fun time!

Christmas is two weeks away and we have nothing, notta thing!! The tree is put up and that's about it. We really haven't been in the Christmas spirit! I think it's because we have been practicing the play every Saturday for the last 6 weeks, too busy with other stuff and just not into it this year. I think we need to do something for someone else because that is what the true spirit of Christmas is all about. I'm gonna have to think of something.

Last year I could get enough of the Christmas lights, the music and the feeling. This year I'm having a hard time listening to Christmas music. I don't know what is wrong with me?!!!

School is going well! Still plugging away!! I will be done with my associates degree in accounting on May 30th!! I think I will start a count down or something! Right after that I'm going on a very needed vacation and I'm very excited about it!!

Well this year has been a bumpy one and I'm glad it's almost over. This next year I hope will bring our family much joy and happiness!! We have a lot of things planned! My company that I work for is doing better and things look like they are going up! And Max is up for a promotion at work! He still has to interview, but please keep him in your thoughts!! He really wants this!!!

Have a great Merry Christmas!!

Thanksgiving

I can't believe it is almost Thanksgiving!! Time passes so quickly!! Christmas is around the corner and then it will be 2010!!! Who thought we would even live past Y2K??

Anyway, Sunday our speakers in our Church Ward spoke about being grateful and I think it touched a lot of people. The last speaker was Brother Penrod and he actually sat down and typed a list of everything he could think of that he was grateful for. Many types we forget what little things we are so blessed with and we take for granted. He had over 300, so this inspired me to do the same but since I don't have an hour to sit here and do this I just wanted to do a few. It was interesting because Brother Penrod stated that it doesn't always have to be spiritual and he made such an impacted. So here is my list and I encourage you to try to do the same or just next time you are driving you can turn off the radio and think of as many things you are grateful for! Good luck!!

I am GRATEFUL FOR:
My Husband
Max jr.
Madilynn
My Brothers and Sisters(even the crazy ones)
Mandi
Meg
Jerry
Max's Mom - Barbara!!
Max's Dad - Walter!!
All of my nieces and Nephews
Bridget
Cammy
Aron
Betsy
Sister Burgoyne
My enrichment committee
Laura Dieckman
Bekah!!!!!
my house
ICE CREAM!!
DR PEPPER
Computers
Calculators!!!
cell phones
my kids teachers
snow
microwaves
cars
my job
my husbands job
my health
a strong body
my feet! (when they don't hurt)
photographs
doctors
dentists
fingernail polish
running hot water
sandwiches
cafe rio
washer and dryer
a warm blanket
lights that turn on
christmas lights
little girls giggles
little boys monster noises
haircuts
Internet
macaroni and cheese
pizza
money
blue Sky
fireworks
big fluffy white clouds
dark stormy clouds!!
dogs
music
green lights
babies
no traffic
paint
Planes
Our freedom!

Wow, I could keep going!! Please sit down and try it. I think it will bring you some happiness this Thanksgiving season.

Blessed By Coincidence-----

So just to make my life a bit more crazy, I have had to scramble and get Madilynn into a different kindergarten with less then a week before school starts!!

Long story as short as it can be: Our local school offers all day kindergarten to those who request it and can test high on a scoring test, the others are low scoring and the two are combined. Our principle last year, awesome Mr Cooper assured me that as long as Madi scored high she would be in. This was a concern for me because Madi is ready already and half day kindergarten will be so boring and a waste of time for her. Well yesterday i got a call from the school that stated Madi was not going to be in all day kindergarten like I was told. See we got a new principle and he has decided to make all new changes and he feels all of the students in all day kindergarten should be low scoring kids!! I can See his point on this but it really put me in a hard spot! Madi tested 3rd out of all of the kids tested for kindergarten so therefore she is too smart to go into this class.

So after not falling asleep last night until 2 AM and stressing over what to do I started making calls. Her daycare that she loves to go to offered to take her back with 2 openings left and would bus her to two elementary schools, Bellview and Edgemont. Whew I was saved even though this is not what I ever wanted!!! Well I made calls to these two schools and since it's 5 days until kindergarten starts they are full and not allowing any more permits! I started to cry again! Ms. Jenny at Skool Days (Madi's daycare) had 1 last idea but it may not work.

She had another parent that wanted her child to be bussed to Alta View Elementary but was told they needed at least 1 more child to make it worth the trip. So Ms Jenny said call Alta View see if you can get in and she would check to see if the owner of the Daycare would keep the agreement and bus to that school. Well it just so happens that Madi's grandpa and grandma live in that boundary. So I got in with no trouble!!!

So we are saved!!! Madi will be going to Alta View Elementary! So what's the big deal about this right? Well I called a friend to tell her of my crazy adventure and she told me that not only will Madi be going to one of the top 10 schools of Utah but they have a ALPS class as well. This is for students that are academic achievers and they help them progress faster and more in depth. This is perfect, all I wanted. Madi in a school that will help challenge her and help her grow in her strengths!! I'm pretty sure we will keep her there for all of elementary with such great choices. Not only that but grandpa is really only 2 blocks away. In a year or two she can just walk over to grandpa's if she needs to! This option was just by coincidence and now I'm really lucky to have what I got blessed with today. If you would have told me last night that this is where she was going to end up I wouldn't have believed it!!! I'm very excited for the opportunity that Madilynn will have with this, I hope she will enjoy it and do well!

Oh and just to top it off Madi only has 16 kids in her class at Alta View, at Fremont where she would have gone there would have been 25 -28 kids! Honestly, I can't believe I got so lucky today!!!

Thank you Heavenly Father!!!!!!

IS IT TIME ALREADY??/

I can't believe SUMMER is already over! What happened??? My kids had a great summer, they went to McDonald's, went swimming and played with their friends. I think our Wii got more attention then our dog Charlie! Now that's sad!! We had Wii tournaments in our house almost on a daily basis. Marquie and Rylee Jensen came over once a week and they had so much fun playing! I'm glad my kids had so much fun!!

So school starts on Monday for MJ and next Monday for Madilynn, I can't believe she will be in kindergarten!!!!! My baby is growing up soooo fast! MJ keeps asking big grown up questions and daddy and him had a talk the other night!!!! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! This is just toooo crazy for me!! I can't believe how fast life goes. People warn you but we don't listen, and then we are stuck with kids that grow up toooo fast!!!

School for me has been absolutely crazy for me! I have an algebra class and if it weren't for two awesome girls, Bridget and Valerie I don't think I would have made it! This week is my final for the class and i really hope I do well! i hate algebra and I don't know why people have to take it!!! it's stupid and I don't know when I will ever use it. I said the same thing in high school and it's still true to this day!!

Life is pretty good for the Iwaniec home! We are blessed with everything we need, we may not have everything we want but we have everything we need. We went to Flaming Gorge over the 24th of July with my side of the family. My sister Stef and her family, my brother Ryan and his family, my sister Buges and her boyfriend Zeb and then my brother Tim and his girlfriend Laura came up from Arizona. We really had a lot of fun. Her is a link to a video my brother put together, it's fun to watch even though you don't know these people!! I hope we can do this trip again next year!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rQPrYoibUA

One thing I'm very excited for is in June of next year we are going to Germany, Switzerland and Italy on a 2 1/2 week trip!! I honestly can't wait!!!!! What an amazing trip this will be, I think MJ and Madi will love it! Madi will love all of the castles for sure! i think MJ will love all of the structures and art in Italy. Truly I can't wait!

Life for me seems so busy, many times I just want to give up, sit down and never get in front of this computer ever again. The only problem is that we told our kids that when I am all done with my degree we will take them on a cruise, just our family to celebrate! Now I can't give up because that's all MJ talks about! The funny thing is we have Germany first so I don't think he realizes how much school I have to get done first! Anyway, wish me luck on my life adventures!!

No more 3-D Pictures

Well 5 of you seem to be interested in our crazy family life so I thought I would keep my promise of pictures.





Yes, this is Madi and Sophie climbing the rock wall!! They made it half way up!!



Can you believe I married this nut!!

We went to DisneyWorld and had a fabulous time. I have to say that Florida is soooooo hot and sticky. I dont' see how anyone could live there... My sister in-law is always cold and she doesn't sweat so she was happy. Me on the other hand could stop sweating and it was embarrassing!!! I have to say that the best day were not at DisneyWorld though. The Florida Aquarium and Clearwater beach were the best! I recommend everyone to go there if they can. The beach was beautiful and the water was soooo warm. Everyone was in the water for over an hour!

This is Madi and Sophie jumping the waves!!

Universal Studios was a blast, no one really was there, no lines and just a great time! My brother Ryan had never been there and he was very impressed.

DisneyWorld was fun, we went to the Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios (now called Disney-something) and the Magic Kingdom. I have to be honest here everyone, DisneyLand is way better. I think you get a more magical feeling at DisneyLand! The parks in DWorld are just to big. It's an adventure just to find the right bus to get you to the right park.

Anyway, I don't ever really seeing us going back to DWorld again. I would much rather spend my money at Disneyland or somewhere more tropical.

I have to tell you that this other cute girl in the picture with Madi is her cousin Sophie. They were two peas in a pod! They were inseparable, they never fought and they had so much love for each other! We were so blessed because none of the kids ever complained! They were all on their best behavior and everyone just had a great time.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures. We got rained out on our last day at Magic Kingdom. My fun little brain thought it would be fun to save this as our last big day and really make the memories. But after about 2 hours of straight down poor we gave up. The fireworks were already cancelled and none of the kids cared really anymore. They were just happy to play with their new toys.

By the way I have no cares to see anymore movies in 3-D for the rest of my life. Why does everything have to be in 3-D!!

Mommy and MJ!

If you wanted to know: we went with my brother Ryan and his wife Mandi, their daughters Ruby and Sophie. It was fun because as we were standing in line at pirates of the Caribbean Ryan turned to me and said "do you feel like brother and sister?" I said "no, more like good friends". He said he agreed! Pretty cool to know this because we have been through so much in our crazy family up bringing. Out of all 10 of us kids we feel more like friends then sibling rivalry. If you would have asked me 20 years ago if I would ever consider my brother my friend I would have said no. Life gives us so much hope!

We had a great time!!

Hello???

So I have decided to see if anybody ever reads my blog. No one ever really comments and I don't think I want to give any more time to this right now.

So, if you are reading this and want me to keep it going then send me a reply. Otherwise you'll just have to call me!!

I'll be interested to see who responds!

April has Sprung

I can't believe it is April!!!

I survived the tax season!!! I have a couple more to finish up but it shouldn't take to long. I have to admit that doing all of that while working and going to school was a bit too much for me. I never like to admit that I can't handle everything, but really it was a bit overwhelming. A couple of times I thought I was going to have a breakdown!!

I have learned something very important though. My house is still livable even with the mess, dust and dirt!! Really you can still survive in a dirty house!! This has been one of the hardest things for me to get used too! I like a very clean house all the time!! But I would look at the 2 inches of dust on top of the TV stand and say too bad and I'm reading a book to Madi instead!!
So a life lesson has been learned!!

As for this month, I made it thru one of the hardest class I will have to take this semester, I hope and think I did well! Cammy really helped me and I don't think I would have made it without her!! She is a lifesaver in many ways.

I had a great time going to our annual overnight scrapbook. Laree, Allison, Laura and myself had a great time. We all got a lot of memories scrapbooked. We all made it to 2 am, but I was the first to hit the hay! I was soooooo tired! Laree was the craziest, she was back up at 5:30 the next morning!! It was still a lot of fun!

I'm very excited for next month!!! We are going to Florida to Disney World and the beach. I will post some pictures for sure! My great husband is allowing us to go, he is pretty tired of Disneyland but some how I talked him into it again, just on a bigger scale! Just to say, I will have to pay up for it though!!

Max and Madi are doing great! Max is growing in his reading and right now he is writing a book. It's fun to hear his crazy mind! Madi is doing really well in Challenger, her teachers really want her to go to Challenger for kindergarten. She currently is in the top of her class. She is trying so hard to read books. She can read most 3 letter words and can read a few 4 letter words. We need to work on site words. Both are having fun playing soccer. MJ really enjoys it and Madi loves to score goals for the other team! Hey, at least she is scoring, right?

I guess I wanted to talk today! I will post some pictures next month!! Have a great spring!!!

Nothing New

So not much has changed in my life. The Relief Society party I was in charge off went really well. My committee is amazing. Without them it would never have turned out the way it did. So THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

School is been interesting! I am in an accounting class and things were moving along nicely until one day I realized that our instructor had not communicated with us for a while. After much worry and anger and frustration I finally found out what happened.

When this first started I was mad, I have a schedule people!! Then it turned to worry, I knew she had a family. I spoke with my academic counselor several times and as a class we were finally told we would be getting a new instructor. This was after 10 days of no idea where or what happened. So our new instructor is George! He is great and I commend him for taking over a class like this.

So curiosity killed the cat so to speak and I went to the trusty google search. I really wanted to know what happened. I knew her full name and approximately where she lived. So I googled and guess what I found??????????????

My accounting instructor had been ARRESTED for stealing money from her employer. She is a CPA and stole a lot of money from them. She is currently in jail !!! I saw her mug shot and a read the whole story!! I was stunned, got mad and then laughed!!

I told my class to google this and find out for themselves. Even George did not know this and he sent me a message saying the school didn't even know. So life is back to normal, slaving away at work, school work and life!

I only have 2 more Saturdays of doing taxes and then I can have a bit of time to myself??(Maybe)

Today it's snowing and I'm happy! I love the snow, I really don't know why so many people hate it.

So, that's my drama for this month. I hope everyone has a great Easter!

March Madness

Ok, so March Madness means nothing to me except for how absolutely CRAZY my life is this month.

Right now I work 40 hours a week at my full-time time job, then I am working Saturdays doing taxes and as of this week I will start working Monday nights as well. Then I have school that is about 2-3 hours of homework and assignments each night!!

So lets add this up people: 40+10+3+2=55 hours of work a week!!

Ok, so that's not including my church calling and this month I have an activity planned. March 24, dinner, speakers decorations. But I have to say, just the worry is getting to me because I have a great group of people around me helping me plan, decorate and set up!(Thank you to all of you!!)

Then I have my family, both kids are missing me, needing my attention. House work that hasn't been done for weeks! (The layer of dust is soooooooo think) But Max and Madi really don't complain. I came home at 9:30 Saturday night from being gone all day to two very happy kids that waited up for me to play hide-and-go-seek. We stayed up late and ate ice cream and popcorn watching a movie. Then Sunday morning we cuddle and read books. It truly was a great day! They are great kids, they don't complain and they are so supportive of my schooling.

An not the least of my worries is my awesome, funny and adorable Husband! If it weren't for him I think I would be crazy!! So to say the least my life is busy!! But the best thing in life right now is how much I'm learning about myself!! I can see that I have a lot more strength then I ever thought I had.

Happy March everyone!

By the way, I still think I have friends, I don't see them, I don't talk to them much anymore but I do still consider them friend! I haven't forgotten about you all!!!!

Much Love

Well this month is all about the LOVE. I wanted to take a minute to post my feelings for my wonderful husband. He never reads this but I still wanted to get it out there for him to read someday. Is this going to be sappy? Yup!

I have a wonderful husband, Max, who loves me for who I am. All of my mood swings, my crazy family, my constant nagging and even my horrible cooking skills. But all of that set aside he is still by best friend. I talk to him about everything, and yes I mean everything you could imagine. He protects me, lifts my spirits when I'm down and truly listens to me.

He is wonderful with our children! My son cut his hair the other day to be like his Dad. The other night MJ took a shower and when he came out he had white stuff in his buzz cut hair. Why does this matter you ask? Because he washed his whole body, including his hair with a bar of soap, just like his Dad does.

Madilynn mentioned that she wants to marry her Dad and I told her she can't because he's already mine, but I told her I'd share him. She accepted that.

Max is always there for me! He knows how to encourage me, make me smile and helps me learn. He is very smart and has a lot of knowledge in that head of his!

The most amazing thing is that he makes me laugh everyday. I don't think a day in m y life has gone by with him that I haven't giggled.

He truly is a gift from my Heavenly Father and I LOVE HIM deeply and I'm glad I got him!!

Happy Valentines honey!!

We had a great winter break! I can't believe two weeks are over already!

I spent the entire week with MJ and Madi before Christmas and Daddy spent the week after Christmas, home, teasing and tickling everyone! So many laughs and screams of Joy were coming from our home!

I was then home for another 4 &1/2 days for the New Year. We went swimming, played games and went sledding! Watched movies and played with all the new stuff from Christmas. We even spent some time with Ryan and Mandi, we love going to their house. We had so much fun!!

I am so grateful for my family and the love they show me! Max is truly the best husband in the world and my best friend!!

Here are a few photos of the sledding excitement!
Happy New Year Everyone!!