Too busy!!!

OK, I can't stand looking at the last blog anymore so I had to post something.

Life is so busy and crazy for me. Work is crazy, school is crazy, church calling is crazy and holiday stuff already is crazy!!!

One good light in all of this is my beautiful daughter Madilynn turned 5 yesterday! I can't believe how fast life goes by. 5 years ago I had a dream come true and was blessed with a wonderful, amazing daughter!

Happy Birthday Madi!!!!!!

Juggling life

Wow, life is so busy for me. Ups and downs, back and forth. I thought I was busy before, now I hardly see life.

School takes all of my free time, what little time I have left to myself I use to clean my house, do laundry and shop for food. My kids are number 1 in my life, I try to put them before anything but I have to admit, sometimes they don't get the attention they deserve.

Last night Madi asked for me to read her a book before she went to sleep. I use to do this every night with my kids, I forgot how much I like to do this with them. I told her I couldn't because I was too tired and still had about an hour of homework to do. I promised her I would read her two books tonight and I plan on sticking to that promise.

I have had the privilege of being home with my kids. I really enjoyed it, however I think I took it for granted. I tried to be the best Mom for them; we went to the Zoo, museums, parks and swimming. I would get on the floor and play Polly Pockets with Madi, I'd play video games with Max and his Yu Gi Oh cards with him. Now I have a hard time finding time to reading to them. Going back to work was hard, going to school is even harder. I have sat down with Max & Madi and we have talked about what I'm doing and why I can't be there for them every time. They seem to be ok with it. Both Max and Madi, in our family prayers at night, bless me each time to help me finish my homework and that I will be happy. I'm happy knowing that they love me and understand. I truly have great kids!!

Life is an adventure, this adventure will be over so quickly. I am finishing my first quarter of classes and have finals next week. It's already been 9 weeks and I can't believe it goes this fast. I think I have a pretty good handle on what is expected of me for school, I have an A in both classes and I want to keep it that way. I'm pretty proud of myself for doing this and I'm excited to be the second person in my family of 10 to have a college degree. I know I'm helping my family with this decision, I just can't wait to see where live will lead me. I just have to stay sane to make it thru the next few months.

Life has gone to the dogs...

As many of you know, I love dogs.(yea right) I really don't like dogs. Max and the kids have been begging me to get a dog. Daddy Max dragged me to go look at a dog, and you know, you never just look at dogs, you buy them. We found this great couple that breeds dogs and I instantly liked this puppy. I held it and didn't really let go. Now, if you know me, I am very afraid of dogs,I don't like to touch them, I don't like how they smell and I don't like them licking me. But I knew something was different.

As you can see we purchased this cute little pug. We named him CHARLIE. He is a great member of our family already. He was already paper trained and has only had 4 accidents. (poop), all 4 were our fault. We didn't get him out like we should have. Anyway, I can't believe what a great pet he is. I've never seen a relationship with another person and their dog like this. Mostly because I've never given it a chance. Madilynn and Charlie are great pals. Charlie sleeps in his little dog bed which is on Madi's bed. It's neat to see that when we put Charlie to bed at night, he walks around Madi's head, gives her a couple of licks(kisses) and then goes right back to his bed. It really touches my heart to see this. Mj and Madi have been fighting a bit about who gets to hold him or take care of him. They even argue over who get to clean up his mess outside. I just hope that last!!

I think we found the best dog that we could have ever asked for. We are so happy to have him as part of our family.

I'm doing what???

so I know you will all think I'm crazy,(all 2 of you that read this) but I'm coming clean. I have gone back to school!! That's right folks, I'm gonna get smarter!! I have been in school for about 3 weeks now and I really enjoy it. It's a bit challenging with working and being mom and wife and housemaid, but I seem to find time to do it. I've lost track of some of my favorite TV shows though!!! Anyway, I have a great new job which has helped lead me to this path. I have a great opportunity to learn and to grow with the company I'm working for. I'm very excited. I also know that with the background that I have now and the degree behind me, I will be unstoppable!!!(i felt like a super hero saying that)

I have a long way to go, but in the end I will have a bachelors in accounting. Now don't get that mixed up with taxes, I don't plan on doing taxes much anymore. I took accounting in high school and I love what I do with my QuickBooks clients. As I considered doing this I found myself realizing that I have been in accounting for many years. I have helped many dental practices with their books, I have know what a AR(accounts receivable) and AP(accounts payable) is for many years. I even have experience in helping Max run his business. I've even helped real estate brokers with their books.

So, do I feel qualified to be advising these companies on accounting and book keeping? No, I don't. Do I do it anyway, yes!! I do know a bit about it but I would like to really know what I'm talking about. I have always loved helping small businesses grow, I just thought it was in one field, dentistry, but I can see now that the range of information that I know is more than just in the dental field.

I'm very excited to have set this high of a goal for myself. I'm even more excited to achieve it. So, please forgive me if you don't hear from me much, just know that I'm still here and trying to better myself.

I have to go now, I have worked to do.

Weekend fun

So, on the way home from work Friday I was on the freeway and I felt something funny going on with my car. I came off the freeway and decided to check out my tires. And much to my surprise I had a flat tire.







I have very good tires on this car apparently because I was going about 70mph and it never blew out. Not only that but I made it all the way home with this very flat tire.






Max said he would change it out later after the tire cooled down but I had promised my kids that they could have McDonald's for dinner. So off in daddy's truck we went. As I drove away, Max noticed something strand about his truck. He called me when I was pulling into McDonald's and said he noticed his back tire was low and to be careful. I got out of the truck and he had a flat tire also. I carefully came home(with the dinner of course).



(if you notice, it's the same tire on both cars) (a bit odd- maybe we should have gone to Vegas that night!!)




So we ate our dinner and then I happily watched Max change my tire to the spare. Max's tire had a bolt in it and his truck is to big to put a spare on it-oh and we don't have a jack big enough to change the tire anyway. So we knew we would be having a fun Saturday fixing tire issues.



So what do you do when you can't drive anywhere?????








You go for a bike ride. (click on picture to make it larger)


That's right folks, I can ride a bike!! My great husband (& kids) got me a bike for my birthday!! I haven't really wanted one but my great husband got me one anyway. And now that I have one, we've been having a blast. (No, I don't have a light on my bike, it's a reflection from the camera and sun.) It's really easy to ride and very comfy on my tush!! I got it early, about a month ago, and now we go for bike rides about 2 or 3 times a week. Max jr is much better at riding his bike. We mostly go over to the church parking lot, it's safe with no cars there, and we have a great time racing each other. I'm really glad I have a bike now!! It's been a really fun summer because of it. I'm tempted to take off Madi's training wheels and see how so does. She flys on her little barbie bike!! We'll see. Now if you see people out riding their bikes, look carefully, it might be the iwaniec family!!!

Running

So if you know me, I really like to run. Running is a part of me. I haven't reached elite running status and nor do I really want too. I just love to run. I've just gotten over an injury that had prevented me from running for almost a year and I'm back at it again, being cautious though.

Because of my new job I've had to get up much earlier than I ever thought I would. This last week I've been up at 5:45 am. To be honest, it's difficult to get up that early, but when I'm done I'm truly happy that I did. I'm not running to impress anyone nor am I running to loose weight. I just want to run.

Last week, on Thursday, my running partner didn't show up and I got to run by myself. Normally I'm a big scarredy cat(I'm afraid that a dog is going to jump out at me, chase me down and attack me), I'm not crazy it just hasn't happen yet....

Anyway, I got to run by myself and even though I'd rather run with a partner I really enjoy running by myself. I get the runners high, I get to see the sun rise, I get to see Heavenly creations in a very peaceful environment. I feel like I'm the only person that matters in the world when I run. My life has been difficult, with many challenges and obstacles to overcome but even though I'm alone I don't feel alone!!

Day to day living can be a challenge but running makes it easier for me. I can take out my feelings on the road and sidewalk.'WATCH OUT'

Anyway, I found this video and I love watching them run and seeing their faces. I feel just like them!! Have fun watching!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgZB2mZZfJs


PS: If you ever want to join me just let me know!!!

1....2....?....

So they say it comes in 3's right? Well I've has 2 so far, I don't even want to think what #3 is going to be!!!!!





So Max & I went to Youth Conference. We had a good time. I really enjoyed getting to know the kids. Everyone had fun getting really wet and freezing, and then sunburned!! We enjoyed the Manti pageant, everyone that could stay awake!!! And we worked hard at the service project. We had a fun time.



Click on the pictures to see them larger!!


















(if it looks like we weren't working, just ask me about this! This was no regular service project!!!)

Then we got home to this! I saw it before our bus even pulled into the parking lot!!! What a way to ruin the weekend!! Some punk kid ran and put his foot thru my windshield!!!

After I calmed down (with lots of help and patients from Max) It finally got fixed after 3 days!!!

Well #2 hit. We got home from work early and we were getting ready to go to Lagoon for the evening. I heard water running but couldn't find where it was coming from. Upon inspection of my house I found that the hose had been left on and the pressure built up. The sun found a week spot and it popped. I ran to the basement to find MJ's newly renovated room full of water. Let's just say that I tried very hard to stay calm and patient!!!!!

Max sent us away to have fun and forget all of our troubles, so off to lagoon we went!!(without daddy!!)



My brother Matt was in town for a visit and we did have fun that night!!!

Matt & Ryan took Ruby & Max jr to the big rides. Madilynn and Sophie stayed together for their rides. Honestly, you'd think that they didn't even care that their Moms were even there. They just kept hopping one ride to the next. They had a great time together. I just wish they wouldn't grow up so fast!!!!

So everyone, keep your fingers crossed that #3 won't be too big!!!