Black Friday Scores

I did Black Friday at the outlets again this year, and once again, I did not leave disappointed! 

I went with my friend Sarah, Ryan's mom & his sister. We got there at about 9:30pm and got in line for the goody bags they were giving away. But, they weren't passing them out until 11. The first hundred of them had a $10 gift certificate to ANY store in the outlets, so that's why we waited in line that long. We got there JUST in time! They were handing out numbers so that no one could butt in line at the last minute & get one of the $10 certificate bags. I was number 94! If we had gotten there literally ONE minute later, we would of been out of luck! Good timing :)  

So we waited in line for EVER. It actually went by pretty quick, cause Sarah & I always get lost in conversation & the time just flies by. So after we finally got our bags, we went over to The Children's place. Everything was 40% off there, plus I had a coupon to get an extra 20% off of a purchase of $50 or more. Then I used my $10 certificate there, so I got a lottt for pretty cheap! We also went over to Osh Kosh, and I got a few pairs of pajama's for Bransyn. Everything there was 50% off. I got Taislee a cute shirt, and they had PJ's as their door busters for $9. I also had a 20% off of $40 or more purchase, so I got to use that as well. 

I got all of this: 

Retail value = $313

What I paid = $103

Yep, I did pretttty dang good! :)  

I don't take a lot of pictures at all. . .

Here's a screen shot of all the albums from July that I have on my computer.

The number of photo's in each album is circled.
These are all just from July - & it's not even over yet!

I ♥ having tons of pictures! (:

My newest baby.

Tonight, I went & got this little gem:

Canon EOS Rebel T21 Digital SLR camera.


.... and I am in LOVE!

I have wanted one for, oh I dunno... for EVER?! And I was finally able to talk Ryan into letting me get one. But, not JUST for my personal use. I'm sure every one that reads this blog knows how much I LOVE everything about photography & that someday I want to be the best photographer ever {okay, maybe not the BEST, but hopefully a pretty good one!} but we got this so that I can start practicing and hopefully soon I can get a business going so that I can help bring in some money {and, well... pay this baby off! ha!}
I am absolutely AMAZED at how much better the photo quality is with this camera vs. the other ones I have had. I seriously wish I could of gotten it 3 years ago, so that all the photo's from my pregnancy with Brans and on could of been amazing!
I can't wait to learn everything about this camera {and boy, is there a LOT to learn!} and start taking some even more awesome pictures!

Next on my shopping list:
1 - Adobe Lightroom 3
2 - some morelenses
3 - external flash

Oh. and if you want some pictures done, let this girl know! (:

gambling with the girlssss.

Last night, I went down to Mesquite to hang out with my friend Savannah. She lives in Wyoming & has been visiting her mom in Mesquite, so I decided to go hang out with them before she headed back home! She just turned 21 a few days ago, as well... so we decided to go gambling together! (: I wasn't alll that excited about the gambling part, because well.... I sucked BIG time when we went this past weekend, haha. {even though I didn't lose any money on the slots, I still didn't WIN any, haha!} We went to the Virgin River first, and I got my free players card! Then Savannah & her mom, Tammy, kind of helped me understand what I was supposed to be doing. It was actually pretty fun once I {sort of} got the hang of it! (:

Having soo much fun at our first machines! (: haha

{sorry these pics are blurry & weird colored... they're from camera phones!)
You may notice that Savannah is just a teeensy bit excited. Well, I'm sure you could guess why. haha, Yes. She won biiiig moneys on this machine. Which, may I point out, I was at just a FEW minutes before she won! haha. We switched machines cause my free plays wouldn't work on that one :( Anyways, she won a little over $90! Talk about LUCKY! hahah. If we hadn't switched machines & I had been the one to win, I would of won on the CASINO's money, since I was using the $5 that comes on the card. Oh well, it was still so exciting to see her win that! (:

After she won on that machine, we decided to go to different ones. I chose the Sex & the City machines, since well, I love that show & the movies. I made a good choice, too cause I won on this machine! I put in $1 and won $31.15! (: My first time winning more than I put in! haha. Oh, and mind you I only went down there with $15 TOTAL. It was pretty exciting! (:

So there I was, alll proud of my winnings, & we run into Savannah's mom who had the most SHOCKED face, ever. Come to find out, she had won $90. Put my $31.15 to shame! hahaha.

I had a great time with them, and winning a little bit of extra money wasn't too bad, either ;) I actually think gambling is pretty dang fun now, but I definitely won't be doing it very often... It's kinda hard to walk away! hahah.

My new headband!

I wanted to share the new headband I just received tonight!
I got it from a lady that is from my November mommy board that has a business making headbands & fun stuff like that.
I usually don't buy stuff for myself, (I would of gotten it in newborn size if I had know the baby was a girl at the time I ordered it) but there is a story behind this particular headband.


This headband was made for a family that Stacie - the owner of the shop - is friends with. In the middle of October, their 8 month old little girl named Stella, went in for open heart surgery. I'm not sure what was wrong to begin with, but obviously something severe enough to need the procedure. She made it through the surgery fine, but had some trouble during recovery & sadly, didn't make it. So to help the family out, Stacie made this head band, which can also be a brooch, called the Stella & every single headband or brooch that is sold, 100% of the money goes to the family of this sweet angel. They are $12 each, & $2 for shipping. If you are interested in helping out & supporting this family during such a horrible time, you can become a fan on facebook & let her know what you want, what size & how many.

Petunias In November

She also has TONS of other cute things, that I will be ordering for our little Miss! (: Check her out!

My new best friend. . .

One day I went to Walmart to buy a Swiffer Sweeper Vac. I really wanted one, so that I could clean up small messes, cause I hate brooms. I randomly decided to go look at their vacuums, to see if they had anything for a good price, so that I could still use it on the carpet. And I came across this :

It's a Bissel 3-in-1 vaccum. I kinda stood there looking at it for a while. And then I stood there for a while longer deciding if I should get it, instead of the Swiffer. I was kinda nervous I'd be wasting my money, but I decided to go for it. A Swiffer can only be used on hard-floors, and this one could be used on that AND carpets. Also, the Swiffer requires sweeper pads to use, so I would have to always buy those. Plus... the Swiffer commercials are SOOOOO annoying & if I can avoid buying their products to not support those LAME commercials, I'll do it! My grandma would be proud, ha! She hates Swiffer! (except I must say, the Swiffer Wet Jet works MUCH better than a Clorox Ready Mop. I gotta get me a wet jet, I'm done with the Clorox, ha! Don't buy one.)

So anyways, when I got home with it, I decided to put it together & try it out. It's reallly easy to put together! To use it as a regular vacuum, there's only 3 parts to stick together & it's ready in about 5 seconds. Then I tried it out for a second, before I started putting furniture together. It seemed to work great so far! After I was done putting everything together, my floor was rather messy. So I vacuumed it all up... & I was AMAZED! This vacuum works SO good! And since Bransyn was taking a nap, I figured why not use it on my whole house while I have time?! (it's quiet enough to not wake him up)

I was able to do my big living room rug, my hardwood floors, my tile, & the bathroom rugs.
Since it is so small, I can get into really tight spaces, such as between our bed & nightstand, back behind the toilets & under the couches.

After I did all of those things, I took off the bottom attachment....

& I was able to vacuum my couch off! But I can do SO much more than just that when the bottom part is off. I use it to:
• clean off the top of my dryer after we clean the lint trap.
• get in between & behind the washer & dryer.
• clean Bransyn's high chair.
• vacuum off beds.
• vacuum the toilet seat cover.

Seriously, the possibilities of cleaning with this thing are endless!

It also came with an attachment to clean baseboards with.

It is so small & lightweight, that I can let Bransyn 'pretend' to vacuum & he actually gets stuff clean! I use it to clean up after him when he eats. I use it pretty much everyday just to do a quick cleaning throughout the house. My house is usually quite clean, but even just doing a quick run through everyday, gets SO much stuff picked up! It's bagless, so whenever I clean the filter out, I can tell that it gets up all the daily dust & lint. I would seriously recommend this vacuum to ANYONE! It works so well. The only thing that kinda sucks about it, is the cord isn't as long as I'd like it to be, haha. But really, I got over it the second I used it! And also, if you have pets, I would probably get a more heavy duty vacuum to get all the hair up! This one is nice for just regular house hold messes. But I love that it doesn't need a bag, so I don't have to keep buying anything extra. And it's super easy to clean out after it's full.
Oh, and guess how much I got it for?

...

...

...

$20!!!!


Best $20 I ever spent!

a BIG change. . .

I chopped my hair off!!!


Yes, I know I'm crazy! haha. My hair was soooo long, & I was planning on growing it out even more. Butttt, it was just getting to be wayyy too much for me! I never did anything with it because it took wayyy too long to even straighten, let alone style! So it was definitely time for about 10+ inches to go! I was really nervous, but I decided to trust Ryan's sister, Nikki & have her chop it off into an A-Line for me. & so far.... I absolutely LOVE it! I did it so that it's not TOO short of an a-line, but you can definitely tell that it is one (: I'm hoping that this will make it a little easier for me to get ready & actually DO my hair! haha

Graduation Day!!!

I am 2 years late, but I did it & that's all that matters! (:

I have been anticipating this day for the past month! I was sooo bummed that I missed out on my SC graduation back in '08, & I had always thought I would never get to experience this. I am SO happy that SWHS had a graduation ceremony, & I was able to participate in it (:

Me & Lyssa got to graduate together! (: We were getting nervous before (: haha

There was around 250 people that graduated from SWHS this year, but this is everyone that participated in the graduation ceremony.

{This is probably when one of the speakers was giving their 83468 minute speech & everyone was about to fall asleep! haha}

Ah, my big moment! I was SO scared I was gonna trip & fall in front of everyone! haha. But I couldn't stop smiling! One of the guys I had to shake hands with actually asked me why I was smiling..... Uhhh. Hmm, I wonder (: It was funny though! Definitely one of the top 5 best/biggest moments in my life!

Yayyyy! I did it!!! (:

I owe it all to my mama! She's the one that was on my butt about it & actually paid for me to take the class! (& said that if I didn't finish, I had to pay her back... so that kinda pushed me even more! haha) But I definitely wouldn't of been able to do it with out her!
So thank you momma! I love you! (:

Annnd, my motivation to go sit in the class for hours at a time!



After my ceremony & all the pictures outside, we went over to the park in Ivins & had a little celebration with everyone that came to watch my graduate! My mom got my favorite Costco cake & some ice cream.

{my dad, Kendra, my grandma & Jeff came to my graduation, but didn't make it to the park, cause they couldn't find it & couldn't get a hold of anyone, so they're missing!}

& we're missing Carrie in the pictures, cause she took it.



Thank you to EVERYONE that came to watch me graduate! It really means a lot to me!!! (:

You are now looking at. . .

A High School Graduate!!!



That's right, I took my GED today & passed!




I am 2 years late, but better late then never, right? (:


I worked my butt off for 2 weeks straight (plus some other random days prior to those 2 weeks)
got all of my hours & work done in class.
Wrote an essay at home.

Then got signed up to take the biggest test of my life. (Thus far)


I went in feeling pretty confident. I mean, I wanted to pass... I didn't want to think I was gonna fail & bring those negative vibes.

First I did the 2 parts to the math test, 45 questions each. I thought there were a few questions that were quite challenging, but overall... it was easier then I thought it would be.

Then I did the writing part of the English test. That was 50 multiple choice questions, plus an essay at the end. The essay was what I was most worried about, since I didn't get to choose the topic. Luckily, I got a VERY easy topic
{What was a major change in your life that had a positive effect on you?}
I wrote about having Bransyn.

Then I went to lunch with Ryan & my mama.

When I came back, I did the Science test. A few questions in, my confidence went down.
There was not a lot on there that I KNEW right away. I had to reallly think about each choice that was given, and chose the answers I felt best fit each question. After that subject, I wasn't sure if I would pass.

Then came the Social Studies test. And my confidence went even MORE down. After this test, I just knew that I wasn't going to pass. I did my absolute best, but I didn't think that it was good enough.

The last test of the day, was the reading part of the English test. I thought this one was easy peasy (:



After I finished my last test, I went out to go to the bathroom, came back & sat on the couch in the waiting area and waited nervously for them to come give me my results.


When the guy walked out, he had this look on his face like he was about to tell me 'I'm sorry, but you didn't pass. Better luck next time!'

& I felt my heart sink.

But what he REALLLY said.. shocked me.


'You did it.'

'Uhh, wha.. I DID?!'
was my reply.


I grabbed the envelope & walked out the door.
I opened it up, looked at my diploma, and got the biggest smile on my face that didn't leave the rest of the day.
I really did it.

Finally.

:)

(excuse the horrible lighting & me looking all nasty... it was a lonnnng day of testing ;)


The cake my mama got me.
The girl that wrote on it obviously did not have very much experience, haha.
But it sure was yummy (:

(& by the way, its spelled conGRADulations for a reason ;)






I feel so accomplished (:




My graduation ceremony will be on June 24th at 7:00 pm

I'm so glad they are having a ceremony for this school, cause that's one thing I realllly felt like I missed out on by not graduating with my class.









I still can't believe that
I did it.

Shooting!

Today Ryan & I went out and shot some guns! I have never been out shooting before, or even shot a gun (besides a paintball gun, haha!) so Ry asked me if I wanted to go with him (: I was kind of nervous at first, cause I'm scared of guns but it ended up being reallly fun!

The suuuuuper hott ear muff thingy's I had to wear because the guns were SO loud! haha

Yes, I wore flip flops to shoot in.

Ryan & the biiiig gun he was shooting.

Ryan setting up his targets -- bottles & jugs of water!

This is how he shot (: haha

{click on the picture to see it better}

He got one of the jugs & water went everrrrywherrre! hahah

BEFORE
Our shooting targets for the little gun.

Me shooting.

Ry shooting the little gun.

AFTER
I shot all the cans that were on the side of the box, & Ry shot the 3 other red things that were on top. I tried to get those... but I was barrrely missing them. I'm not so good at aiming yet, haha!

After we got done shooting (:

We decided to model with the guns ;) hahahah!
(bullet-free, of course)

I was surprised at how much fun I had! I wanted to keep shooting... but we were all out of bullets :(

Hopefully we'll be able to go out again, soon!

FINALLLY!

It's pretty obvious that I am OBSESSED with taking pictures. I literally have about 10,000, if not more, pictures on my laptop right now. I just love having pictures to look back on & see my son grow up. Well when Bransyn was first born, I had this crappppy little pink camera. It took normal double-a batteries, that died FAST. Not a good camera. So I mostly used my phone to take pictures of him... until I stole my mom's digital camera. I used that until June, when I spent every cent of my birthday money (plus some) to buy this little thing:

And have not regretted it since! I love this camera. It takes AMAZING pictures & does some pretty cool stuff (: But, the only downside to it? It's big. And not easy to haul around everywhere in my purse like I did with my moms teensy one. So as you can imagine, I didn't want to carry that on my arm everywhere. And didn't want it to get all banged up in my purse, annnddd I couldn't find a camera bag for it. So if we were ever out somewhere & Bransyn was doing something I wanted a picture of, I would just pull out my phone. And everyone knows cell phone picture quality is not that great. Especially when getting an 'action' pic, you get some nice blurs. So I have been wanting to get a small digital camera for quite some time now. And today, I did it! I finally had the money to put towards one & I'm so happy I did! So much easier to take with me in it's little pouch (: It just stays right in my purse. I love it! I am back on track with taking TONS of pictures! And although it's a 12 megapixel camera, I get more pictures on one memory card, then I do with my P90. Here's the one I got!


Oh, and if you couldn't tell... I love me some Nikons! haha. Even the next camera I plan on buying, which won't be for a long time since it's a DSLR & I've gotta save up for a while, will be a Nikon (:

New piercing.

Ah, I know I have been horrible at posting about things this month.
But really, I don't have much to post about! haha. Things have been pretty boring around here lately.

So anyways, I thought I'd post about the little adventure I had the other day.




I got my nose pierced!!!

And I absolutely love it! (: I have been wanting to get it done since I was like 16 years old. But of course, I couldn't have it during school. And my mom would not sign for me to get any facial piercings. So I decided that when I turned 18 I would get it done, since I could go get it done on my own. But I was pregnant for the the first 5 months of my adulthood. So I couldn't get it done. And since then, I have just been a big fat chicken! haha. I don't know why I was so scared to do it, I couldn't wait to get my belly button pierced & got it done the first time my parents offered to take me... for my 16th birthday. I guess I was more scared cause I heard a bunch of people saying that it hurts like heckkkkk.

So a few days ago, I decided that I was just gonna do it to get it over with. Told myself I was going Thursday after I got off of work, no matter what. And I did.
Got there, filled out all the paperwork, chose my ring & paid. then it was time to actually do it... and I started to get SO nervous! She got everything ready & I was still wanting to do it. She cleaned the outside of my nose & 'marked' it, and I started getting a little bit hesitant. Then she stuck the clamp on my nose & was about to stick the needle in & I told her I couldn't do it. hahah. I was way too scared. She told me it would feel the same as it did when I got my belly pierced. So after about 2 minutes of trying to back out of it, I told her to just do it.



Here is my before picture, of me being suuuuper nervous ;)


Right after I told her to go ahead, I felt the needle break the skin & felt a pinch. Then nothing. It was through & seriously did not hurt that much at ALL! My right eye did start watering, though. She stuck the stud in & then I started to get realllly light headed & felt like I was going to pass out. (saaaaame exact thing happened when I got my belly button pierced) So she told Ashlyn to get me a coke to help, while she finished up, since I couldn't lay down while she did it. After she bent the end of the stud so that it wouldn't fall out, I was alll done! (: Then I layed down while she did Ashlyn's. haha.



My nosey about 10 minutes after I got it done (:
It was still red, obvi, but I don't have any other pictures of it yet, haha.


So after I layed down for a few minutes & drank some of the coke (that did notttt help my no soda thing! haha) I was feeling fine & goood to go.


I am really glad I did it, I love it! I just forgot how much it sucks to take care of a new piercing. Especially the first couple of days when it's still sore. But it really was not as bad as some people make it seem. Some said it wasn't that bad, so I guess it just depends on the person & the how good the piercer is.

And yes. The first day felt like I had a booger in my nose when I would like wiggle it. haha. But now I don't even notice it's there, I'm already used to it (:

NHRA in Vegas!

A few weeks ago, Ryan's mom got 4 free tickets to an NHRA event at the Las Vegas Speedway on Jan 30 & gave them to him since he loves fast cars & going to those kinds of things. He was just gonna take 3 of his friends, but then I decided that I wanted to go so that we could have something to do together. For the past 2 weeks he kept asking me if I was sure I wanted to go & that he thought I was gonna complain the whole time we were there because I 'don't like that kind of stuff' Uhhh, okay. haha, I've gone with him to a bunch of other car things in Vegas before & I never complain. I think it's pretty fun (: So since we had two extra tickets, he invited one of his friends & his girlfriend to come with us. Ryan's parent's watched Bransyn for us. We left St. George about 12:30 our time & got there about 1 Vegas time.
Of course, when we first got there Ry & his friend had to check out all of the cars in the parking lot, haha. Then we went & got something to eat, then went & sat down in the bleachers. There were sooo many FAST cars! The fastest cars I have seen in my life! There were a few that did the quarter mile in SIX seconds! It was crazyyy, but soo cool. There were some that were SO loud, it made my ears vibrate, even when I plugged them! It got pretty cold after a while, because the sun went behind the bleachers. But I still had a ton of fun! (And didn't complain once (: except about being cold--but we ALL were! haha) It's always nice to get out & do something every once in a while, even though I always miss my baby like crazy!



Before we left town!

Getting a car wash (:

Finally thereeeee! WHOOOOO!

In the bleachers watching all the cars.