Melissa and Girls

My coupon adventures have officially taken me to the mall! Yes, you heard right. Last month Victoria Secret was offering an online promotion where you would get a free gift card worth anywhere from $10.00 to $500.00 with any purchase. And, I was able to find a free shipping code. So, I logged in and purchased a body wash that was on clearance for $4.95. I've been holding on to my gift card until I had a moment to run in to the mall and spend it. Today ended up being that day when I found an online coupon at Aeropastale for $10.00 off a purchase of $10.00 or more. Wanna know what I bought? At Victoria's I found a yummy, summer-is-on-it's-way, coconut lotion. My gift card ended up being worth $10.00 so I only paid $0.14 out of pocket. At Aeropostale I got a cute t-shirt that was 50% off plus the coupon so I only spent $2.40 there! Combined the grand total was........just $2.54! In case I have some non-believers out there I circled the amounts on the receipts to prove it. I am so good ;-)...ha ha. I'm just kidding but it really is so fun to find these deals!

Does anyone know what it feels like to think your child has been abducted? Unfortunately that happened to me today and it was absolutely HORRIBLE. Everything turned out okay but for about 5 minutes I was panicking.

On Wednesdays Jordyn and Maegan walk home from school and are by themselves for about 10 minutes before I get there. As soon as I pulled in the driveway today Jordyn came running out and I could tell something was wrong the moment I saw her. She started crying saying that she didn't know where Maegan was and that she didn't walk home from school with her. I told her to get in the car and we'd go look for her. As we were driving back towards the school Jordyn said that Maegan's backpack was home and her fish tank was open. That had me confused. She had obviously been home so I figured I'd better start there. I turned around and went in the house and sure enough, it was obvious she had been home at some point. I thought maybe she was playing a joke so I started going through the house calling her name....silence. I started knocking on my neighbors doors and nobody had seen her. I was really starting to panic at this point and was thinking I had better call the police when Sean called. Since he works for Provo PD my first thought was "oh no" something has happened. Thankfully, he was calling to tell me that Maegan had called him saying that she was at the school and didn't know where Jordyn was so he was wondering what was going on. I told him I Jordyn was with me and I didn't know what had happened but I'd get it all figured out. What a RELIEF!!! I rushed to the school and sure enough Maegan was sitting in the office reading books. Jordyn was still crying because she was so upset and then Maegan started crying because she felt bad. After piecing together their stories this is what I think happened:

Maegan decided to wait for Jordyn in a different spot after school but didn't actually tell Jordyn. After waiting for a while Jordyn went back in the school to see if anyone had seen Maegan. Maegan, having not seen Jordyn, decided she'd go home to see if Jordyn was there. While at home Maegan put on a sweater, got a sweater for Jordyn in case she was cold (see, there's my sweet girl), looked at her fish tank and then started worrying that Jordyn had been kidnapped because she hadn't made it home yet and decided to walk back to the school to find her. Jordyn, after searching the school, decided to go home to see if Maegan had walked home by herself. Unfortunately, they both took a different route so they didn't see each other.

I decided that rather than get mad I would use this as a good opportunity to talk about safety and what to do if they really do get lost or kidnapped. Let's hope they don't ever have to actually put the information to use.

My sad little girls

Affectionately known as Buddha, Maegers or Paigers, my Maegan turned 8 years old today!

Maegan was due May 2, 2002. On Saturday, April 20 at 6:30 a.m. I rolled over in bed and wouldn't you know it, my water broke. After dropping Jordyn off at Sean's sister's house we headed to the hospital. This time around, labor went perfectly and Maegan was born at exactly 2:30 p.m. She was 7 lbs. 9 oz. and 18.5 inches long and perfect in every way.

Maegan was the easiest, sweetest, little baby. She was always smiling and when she was old enough to crawl around I would often find her around the house playing with anything that caught her interest. I should have known when she started walking at 9 months that I was in trouble! This sweet little girl turned into a non-stop, action packed little ball of energy. Everywhere she went people were constantly laughing at all the crazy things she would do. And yes, Maegan is the child that threw a full-on temper tantrum, laying on the floor kicking and screaming in the middle of JC Penney. I will admit that it was a struggle for me to adjust to a child that is so opposite of me. She is still a spit-fire and does the craziest things. But, she is also the sweetest, most sensitive little girl I have ever known. Literally. If anything makes her sad she is instantly sobbing. I can not even express how much I love this little her!

Today Maegan woke up to the birthday banner but we quickly had to head off to work/school for the day. For her treat she took Blow Pops to hand out to the class. After I picked her up from daycare I had to drop her off at gymnastics. Finally, at 7:30 p.m. I picked her up from gymnastics and we headed home to celebrate. Maegan wanted to have her favorite meal, tuna fish sandwiches, and also vanilla pudding and apple juice. Not exactly the combination I would have picked but I obliged since it was her special day. After reading her cards she got in the mail and talking on the phone with her dad and step-mom and Grandpa Ellefsen we were finally able to open presents. I gave her two shirts, a pair of capris, a gift card to Claire's so she can buy some rings and a small fish aquarium that she has been wanting for a while. One of these days we'll head down and find the fish and accessories to put inside and once we have it up and running I'll take a picture for all the world to see.



Here are some pictures taken over the years....

Maegan's 2nd Birthday Party, 2004


Valentine's Day, 2005


Dressing up in 2006


Being silly in 2007


First day of 1st Grade, 2008


Drinking hot chocolate, December 2009

This was one of those crazy weeks where work and home had me exhausted by the end of it.

Monday wasn't too bad. I spent the day at work preparing for two days worth of training I had to present to the Heber and Spanish Fork District Court clerks on Tuesday and Wednesday. Our district has been chosen to be the "pilot program" to see if cross-training Juvenile and District Court clerks is a) possible b) cost effective and c) a legitimate long term goal for the entire state to have. I was responsible for training them on the very basics of Juvenile Court and the computer program we use, CARE. The problem, because we are the first to attempt this, I was going in blind and was trying to tweak a 100 slide PowerPoint presentation. Later in the day I found out a bunch of the "big bosses" were going to be there so then I was nervous all night worrying about it. Anyway, more on that in a sec. After work I picked up the girls, we had dinner and fhe. Thank you, Ali, for linking to the blog "A Year of FHE" because it has been such a great help for me.

Tuesday morning I decided I needed to fix a few more things for my presentation and therefore needed to go to work early. However, on Monday I had forgotten to take Jordyn's birthday treat to school since her b-day had been during spring break. So, I had to wake them up really early because Jordyn wanted to take doughnuts to school. At about 6:45 a.m. we were out the door and on our way to the grocery store. Jordyn picked out the doughnuts she wanted and then I took Jordyn and Maegan to school. Thank goodness this elementary school as an early morning program that I take them to every day. I then dropped Brooklen off at day care and headed to work. I hurried and dropped off my cards for June card group which I had finished the week before so I would have them out of the way. I then hurried and added a few more slides and then headed to Orem to meet up with everyone that was going to attend the training. We drove to Heber and began our training. The District Court Clerk of Court presented us with the CORIS program that is used by them. As she was presenting I had all sorts of ideas that I should have included in my presentation. Yikes! Luckily everyone was really friendly and it was a little more laid back than I had anticipated. So, when it was my turn to present for the afternoon I wasn't too nervous anymore. Unfortunately there is just SO MUCH information that we ran a little late and didn't leave Heber until about 4:45 p.m. By the time we got back to Orem I rushed home to pick up the girls. Maegan quickly changed into her gymnastics clothes and I gathered up 24 plastic knives for Jordyn, dropped Jordyn off at Activity Days where they were having a crazy dinner party and then took Maegan to gymnastics. Brooklen & I stopped at Del Taco for dinner and headed home. I just did some cleaning around the house and then headed back to pick Maegan up. About 5 minutes after we got home Jordyn was dropped off. By this time everyone was tired after our early morning so we all went to bed.

Wednesday I normally get off work at 2:00 p.m. However, this day I had to stay all day for the training in Spanish Fork. In contrast to the previous day I was able to take the girls to school a little later because I am only about 5 minutes away from the court building. I spent the first part of the morning playing around a little more with my presentation. I am glad that I was so close to home because at lunch I ran home and threw my purse in the washing machine. Somehow my pen leaked red ink all over it and when I tried to spot clean it it started spreading everywhere. Don't worry, the purse is fine now! lol. This day we finished training at 4:30 p.m. and I headed home to get Jordyn ready for her recorder performance before the Nebo School Board. A couple weeks ago she came home from school and announced that she had been learning the recorder in music and had tried out to play it for the school board and was one of 5 kids in her class to play. I was really surprised because my experience at home with the recorder is just that it is a high pitched noise maker that drives me crazy! I got her ready and then we picked up Brooklen and headed to the meeting. By the time we got there it was already packed. Jordyn headed off to sit with her group and Maegan, Brooklen and I sat on the back row. I had very little information about what was taking place at this meeting and wasn't sure how long we would be there. Turns out it was much longer than I had thought. They recognized the 2010 Sterling Scholar's from all 5 high schools in the district. Then they recognized the Academic Athletic students. I want to add how refreshing it was to see such great kids after dealing with those at work that are struggling. Sometimes we court employees forget that there really are "normal" people still left in the world. Then it was time for East Meadow Elementary to do their presentation but it wasn't just Jordyn's class. There were a few other skits and slide shows and her group was very last to perform. By this time Brooklen and Maegan were about ready to die from boredom. Maegan takes a purse with her everywhere. Normally it's filled with an odd assortment of things she likes to collect. So, I was so surprised when I looked over at them and they are chowing down on goldfish crackers and candy! Apparently Maegan had decided to pack some snacks. It was hilarious and good thing she did because I don't think Brooklen would have lasted through everything without that distraction. Eventually we were able to sneak out and head home, eat dinner and go to bed.

Thursday calmed down quite a bit. Work was really slow and I was able to get caught up on some of the stacks I have in my office. Because I had stayed late on Wednesday I was able to leave work at 2:30 p.m. and go home. Sean always picks up the girls on Thursday's so I didn't even have to worry about picking them up. It was so nice and I am kind of embarrassed to admit that I went home and planted myself on the couch and didn't move until it was time to go to bed.

Friday I went to work and it was another great day and I am completely caught up. Well, with the stacks, I think I have around 560 or so emails that I am devoting myself to go through next week. Yuck. Anyway, after work I headed to SF and finished purchasing the rest of the supplies I needed for Jordyn's party. After the shopping I decided to finally go and sign up for a gym membership at Gold's Gym. Quite a few people have been pushing me to do this and I have kind of resisted for a while. Before I moved out of the house in Mapleton my reasoning was that I just didn't have the money. But since the move my excuse has been because Sean and his wife Ashley work out there at night. I know this because I am told almost every day by somebody that they ran into them at the gym the previous night. Maybe it's a silly reason but after being married to someone who was so mean to me about my looks I really didn't want to be in the same place as him while working on them. We usually get along well enough and have no major issues anymore when dealing with the kids but that doesn't mean I want to spend my "social" time with him and his wife. But, in the end, I finally decided I would work out in the morning and what I really want access to are the weight machines. So, after signing up at the gym I went home and finished preparing for the party. This was the week the girls stay at Sean's until Saturday. I was at home and really bored so I decided to actually go back to the gym and work out for the first time. I was really glad that I went. Afterwards I played on the computer and then went to bed.

Saturday I woke up around 6:15 a.m. and got ready to drive to Orem to go to a pump class with my friend Ashley Palmer. Oh my gosh I just about died! My upper body strength is still fairly strong. My legs, however, were like jelly. I don't know if it's because I had been on the treadmill the night before but wow I was shaking by the end of the class. I was so sore for the rest of the day! I really liked the class though. I think I'll try to go every other week for a while until I feel like I can handle it more than that. After the gym I stopped at Target and then picked up some balloons for Jordyn's big birthday party. I got the house cleaned up and got all of the clues hidden. I then picked up the girls from Sean and got them ready for the party. About 6 months ago Jordyn decided she wanted to have a "mystery party." About a month ago she decided she wanted to have a karaoke party like the other girls in her class. I put my foot down and had a conversation with her about how she didn't need to follow other people, that it is okay to be different and that everyone will have fun at her party too. She finally agreed to try so I have to admit I was feeling a little pressure! When the girls arrived we watched the movie Nancy Drew. They were able to get some "concessions" for the movie and most of them ended up doing crazy stuff like stirring their Sprite with their suckers and adding candy so it would color the drink. They were definitely overloaded with sugar. While they were distracted by the movie I slowly took the presents and hid them leaving a 'ransom' note in their place. When the movied finished it was time to open them and Jordyn was really confused because they weren't on the stairs anymore so she started to go look for them. Good thing some of the other girls noticed the note and read it. When they realized what was going on they gave it to Jordyn and she read it outloud and the hunt was on to solve the mystery. I was excited to see that the clues I had come up with were hard enough to get them to think for a minute but not too hard. A couple of times I had to help them think it through but they were always able to figure it out on their own. What I didn't anticipate was that as soon as they figured out the answer they all took of RUNNING!!! My whole house felt like it was shaking. I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what was going on. Clue #1 led them to the basement, #2 to the back fence, #3 to Jordyn's bed, #4 to the piano, #5 to the clock, #6 to the tub, #7 to the window well in the backyard, #8 to the freezer and #9 finally led them to the dryer which is where all the presents ended up. After they found them we brought them back downstairs so Jordyn could open them. After presents we had sang Happy Birthday and ate the ice cream cake she wanted (Asphalt Pie). When finished eating the girls played games and dressed up and made a general mess of things until their parents came to pick them up. As each girl left I gave them a large envelope filled with some 'sleuthing' supplies such as a a mechanical pencil, notebook, calculator and some gum. To the envelope was clipped a "Super Sleuther Award." A few of the girls told me this was the best party and afterwards, Jordyn admitted she was happy we stuck with the original idea because, "you are always right!" Ha! I never thought I'd hear her say that! Anyway, it really was a lot of fun but I must admit I was ready for them to leave by the end. 10 year old girls are a LOT noisier and crazy than younger kids! This is why I have the girls take turns with their parties. I would not be able to turn around and do this next Saturday with Maegan. The rest of the evening I cleaned the house back up, took a long, hot relaxing bath and then watched a movie with Maegan.

Tomorrow, Sunday, I have choir practice before church because we are singing in Sacrament Meeting. After church I hope to be able to come home, take a nap, and have a nice day recuperating so I will have enough energy to tackle next week!

Also, I have spent a lot of time practicing the piano this week. Whenever I felt the urge I would sit down and play. I've learned about the first third of River Flows in You aka Bella's Lullaby (song #2 on here). I'm not quite as fast as this version but almost. I'm so excited! After not playing the piano since before I graduated from high school I think I'm not doing too shabby!

My bff from college, the great Stephanie Tucker, was visiting from Vernal over the weekend. Saturday night she came over to my place. She's taught some amazing card classes and has an incredible eye for design. While the kids played we compared our cards from our card clubs and then she shared with me her infinite photoshop wisdom. Sunday the girls and I sluffed church and she took our family picture and then we went to a park for the kids to play. After she headed home I sat down to put all of it to use and you are now looking at my first attempt at designing my own blog background! Yay, no more link of somebody else's website on my own! It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be but I still have some sizing issues to work out. Let me know what you think about my first masterpiece. Soon to come is a new header. Thanks Steph you are a great friend!

For a few years now I have been wanting to dye my hair dark brown and haven't had the courage. After seeing a few different gals take the plunge from blonde to brunette I realized their hair didn't turn orange or fall out in clumps so I decided to finally loose my inhibitions and move forward with my plan. I didn't want it black but I wanted it dark! So here's the unveiling of my new hair! I'm still doing double takes every time I walk past a mirror!


As for my sneaky little girl. Let's just say that after 3 days in a row of this the watercolors moved to a new home that only mommy can get to!

I can't believe it. My Jordyn, aka Jordanski, Midge, Jordie, is 10 years old. My sweet little girl is growing into a sometimes still sweet/sometimes pre-teen drama girl and I love her to pieces.

Jordyn was due on May 7th. However, after an unfortunate trip at the bottom of the stairs by yours truly I went into labor a month early. The doctor tried to stop the labor, but it didn't work. So on April 7th at around 3:00 a.m. I headed to the hospital. I was dilated to a 5 when I got my epidural and wouldn't you know that's when my labor finally decided to go on hiatus. My doctor wouldn't send me home but they wouldn't induce labor either. So I waited, and waited, and waited, and waited and waited and......you get the idea. Finally around 10:00 p.m. I got a new nurse. She said, "This is ridiculous" and went to talk to the doctor. Around 11:00 p.m. they finally decided to start the Pitocen and eventually Jordyn made her way into the world on April 8, 2000 at 3:07 a.m. She was a tiny 5 lbs. 7 oz. and 18 inches long. Thankfully her lungs were strong and she was healthy. She was a little jaundiced and I had to take her to the hospital every day to get her tiny little foot pricked but eventually her levels went down and we were all in the clear.

Because she was a month early I wasn't completely prepared for her arrival. The day before I tripped I had purchased a large basket to place her toys in. She ended up sleeping in this basket with a quilt in the bottom of it for the first couple of days until I finally found a crib I liked and put it together.

Jordyn was such a teeny little thing. She was so small that when she was swaddled I could hold her with one arm. I'd hold her head in my hand and her body would fit right on my arm. No one had known that I'd gone into labor early and a couple days after her birth I went for a walk holding her this way. Some neighbors stopped to talk to me and when they realized I was carrying a baby they were surprised and said they thought I had been carrying a loaf of bread. I tease her about that all the time because she is still a teeny little thing for her age but I can't hold her with one arm anymore!

We celebrated her birthday a couple of different ways. She wanted sausage pizza for her birthday dinner. The only problem was that she was going to be at Sean's house. Instead Jennifer invited us over to her house for a little get together. I brought the pizza and breadsticks and she made a salad and a cake. The girls were able to play and then we ate dinner. Unfortunately my batteries died in my camera so I don't have the greatest pictures. She also wanted to go to breakfast. I woke the girls up early and we headed to IHOP. The annual birthday banner was hanging up and I took the birthday plate with us for her to eat her breakfast on. I gave Jordyn an iDog, the movie Aquamarine, a new shirt and two pairs of skinny jeans which she has been asking for for months. Afterwards I took the girls to Sean's house so they could finish their spring break at his house. I'm sad I wasn't able to spend the whole day with her but I know she'll have a great day there too.



Here are some pictures taken over the years. I realized after I started this post that I don't have any pictures up through 2003 in digital format. I'll have to get them scanned so I can post them.

The last day of preschool, 2004.


Valentine's Day, 2005


1st day of 1st Grade, 2006


Being a silly girl, 2007


At the 4th of July parade in Provo, 2008


Jordyn's little Turkey, November, 2009

Read the previous post first. Literally, 20 minutes later I checked on her again. This time I found her clothes changed and trying to wash off the make up so she wouldn't get in trouble! The timing was too funny so I had to take a picture of that too.

I realized I hadn't heard from Brooklen for a while. That usually means she's in my bathroom making her hair "shiny" putting on make-up or generally reining some form of terror and destruction on the house. I was so surprised to find her reading a book to her baby instead. These little moments make it all worth it don't you think?

Today was such a wonderful day, snow and all, and for once everything went off without a hitch. Earlier in the week Sean asked if the girls could stay at his house for Easter morning. The girls are rarely there on Sundays so of course I let them stay. He and I agree that it's not good to out-do one another when it comes to holidays so the Easter Bunny was going to visit them at his house and not at mine. At first I was a little sad because this would be the first Easter morning that I wouldn't be there to watch them find their baskets and I had already purchased their gifts. I decided I wouldn't let them all go to waste and I would have my own little egg hunt inside the house. So I got their baskets and eggs ready and hid them for when I picked the girls up. I finished putting together the jello/fruit salad and then got ready for the day while I listened to the morning session of conference. Wow! There are a lot of incredible messages today. I am absolutely amazed by Elder Uchtdorf. At noon I picked up the girls from Sean and came home. They had a lot of fun finding the eggs and baskets. I tried to hide some of them in easier locations for Brooklen and some harder spots for Jordyn and Maegan. Jordyn had a hard time finding an egg hidden on a candle stick and I finally had to play the hot/cold game with Maegan to find the egg hidden behind the wheel of the popcorn machine. In their baskets I gave each girl a giant pencil, bubbles, a chocolate bunny, a "Peeps" flavored chapstick, a snow globe, giant bubble gum eggs and a new shirt. After they found their gifts they played a little and then it was time to get ready to go to my Aunt Jennifer's house for dinner with my mom's family. I have always enjoyed family get togethers. I have such a cute family. My Aunt Theo put together another egg hunt for the kids. Also, my cousin Joey (we've called him this since he was a kid but I think he really goes by Joseph now) does some acting and is a film major at BYU. A while ago he was in a funny Altoids commercial and now he is in a short church video (Mormon Messages) titled, "Becoming Provident Providers". I didn't watch it until I got home but it's a great message. I think I'm doing okay in some aspects but I've never really thought about purchasing items in terms of whether they have eternal value and significance. What a great questions. I am going to start asking that from now on. Well, by the time we got home it was around 6:00 so I worked some more on my June cards while the girls watched some TV and then they headed to bed! Hope everyone had as great of an Easter as I did!

I may have mentioned that I like my house to be clean. But, like everyone else, it's not always so. However, sometimes people don't believe me that I let my house get like this so here is the proof. After a week of working on my April cards for card group I decided to make June's cards as well since I won't have much time in the next little bit. On top of that I made Jordyn's poster for school and my house was a nightmare! Thank goodness for Saturdays, iTunes and some good speakers so I had enough motivation to get this cleaned up.

In Jordyn's class her cute teacher's theme is "Mrs. Wilson's Student Explorers". So this week it was Jordyn's turn to be the student explorer of the week. Jordyn wanted to keep her poster simple but she ended up choosing a lot of pictures so it didn't turn out quite so simple. It was really fun taking a look back as we were deciding which pictures to use. Next week when it's her birthday I'll post a lot of them. For now I will just put up the picture with her and her poster before she left for school this morning. Oh, and, I stayed home from work today. I am not feeling so great. Maybe it's payback from my trick on the girls last night. Maegan told me that now she thinks the joke was kind-of funny. Hopefully in time she will get over it.