A little relief at the pump...at least for me

I'm so tired of hearing about gas prices! It's so irritating and everyone is always talking about it. Don't get me wrong, I hate going to the pump and paying $125.00 to fill my truck. But I felt much better this weekend as we were driving home from the Valley and stopped to get gas. I realized the person that came before us has it much worse that any of us.

A little relief at the pump...at least for me

I'm so tired of hearing about gas prices! It's so irritating and everyone is always talking about it. Don't get me wrong, I hate going to the pump and paying $125.00 to fill my truck. But I felt much better this weekend as we were driving home from the Valley and stopped to get gas. I realized the person that came before us has it much worse that any of us.

How it's working for us

Remember the post about poker chips? Well, we started using the method and LOVE it! It has been great! Addie has become so much more helpful, in fact she cleaning her room right now. Here is how we do it:

First of all, I sat down and thought of the things we have the hardest time getting her to do. Then I divided them into two categories: hard and harder. Row one is worth one token and row two is worth two tokens. Here are a few examples from row one: brush teeth, help Mom clean, get hair done. (She generally does these without a fight, but now she even does them cheerfully!) Row two: eat ALL your dinner (that one was a killer!), help fold clothes (she does the rags), clean your room, set the table.

Once or twice a day we sit down and review what she has done. She has to have done it all the way or else she is not rewarded. Once I give her the tokens, she puts in a jar, then we dump them out and she counts them, then we go over what she can "buy."

Here are her rewards, divided into four categories.

For one token she can watch 1 TV show, play 20 minutes of a computer game or call someone. For three she can get a piece of gum (she LOVES gum!!!) or stay up 15 minutes late. For five she can go to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone, get a drink at Sonic or have a friend over. And for ten she can go on a date with Dad or pick out of the treasure box. I still want to add more rewards to each section, but this is just a start. Surprisingly she hasn't bought anything big. I was worried at first that things weren't worth enough, but it's been great!

Here is the treasure box, filled with little toys from Wal-Mart. (ie, a jump rope, bracelets, gum ball machine...)

So far, so good!

How it's working for us

Remember the post about poker chips? Well, we started using the method and LOVE it! It has been great! Addie has become so much more helpful, in fact she cleaning her room right now. Here is how we do it:

First of all, I sat down and thought of the things we have the hardest time getting her to do. Then I divided them into two categories: hard and harder. Row one is worth one token and row two is worth two tokens. Here are a few examples from row one: brush teeth, help Mom clean, get hair done. (She generally does these without a fight, but now she even does them cheerfully!) Row two: eat ALL your dinner (that one was a killer!), help fold clothes (she does the rags), clean your room, set the table.

Once or twice a day we sit down and review what she has done. She has to have done it all the way or else she is not rewarded. Once I give her the tokens, she puts in a jar, then we dump them out and she counts them, then we go over what she can "buy."

Here are her rewards, divided into four categories.

For one token she can watch 1 TV show, play 20 minutes of a computer game or call someone. For three she can get a piece of gum (she LOVES gum!!!) or stay up 15 minutes late. For five she can go to Dairy Queen for an ice cream cone, get a drink at Sonic or have a friend over. And for ten she can go on a date with Dad or pick out of the treasure box. I still want to add more rewards to each section, but this is just a start. Surprisingly she hasn't bought anything big. I was worried at first that things weren't worth enough, but it's been great!

Here is the treasure box, filled with little toys from Wal-Mart. (ie, a jump rope, bracelets, gum ball machine...)

So far, so good!

4th of July-- Taylor style

There are some things that I love about this town, 4th of July being one of them. This town goes crazy for the 4th! Since Taylor always celebrates the 4th on the Saturday that is closest to the actual 4th (does that make any sense?), we got to celebrate twice. And what better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to have a delicious Mexican feast? We had chimichangas and all the works. It was SO good! After we ate we headed up to Show Low to watch the fireworks. They were like a bad dream that wouldn't end! They did them one at a time and dragged them out for an hour, a very looooong hour. We kept saying "surely this is it and they are over." Then just like the movie Groundhog Day, they started all over again. It got pretty comical at the end. At one point we thought they were over and done with and my Dad started putting the chairs away, then sure enough here came more.

Drake and Addie enjoying the firecracker show put on by Brigham and Soren.

Kimber LOVES Annie. Wait, we all do!Kimber enjoying the fireworks. Addie slept in the truck the whole time.

The belly! Here is little Ivy's current home. We can't wait to meet her in September. (FYI, this is not my belly! This is my sister's!)
On Saturday we celebrated with the town. The day starts at about 4:15 (yes, a.m.!) with the anvil blowing. They take an anvil, load it up with gun powder, place a piece of paper on that and top it with another anvil, then they light the paper. It's quite the ordeal. Click here to see what I mean. Scroll to about 2 minutes and 20 seconds to see the actual thing. This video does absolutely NO justice to the noise it really makes. Everyone (I mean, everyone who is crazy enough to get up that early) meets at a certain spot and lines up in their cars and trucks. They have a brass band that plays and everything. They all line up and blow the anvil. Then they drive a little bit, stop and blow it again. They start about 1/2 a mile or so from my house and the first one always wakes me up. It truly shakes my house! It is so loud! Don't let the video deceive you! But that's not all. Not only is the anvil super loud, but everyone blows their horns the whole time. It's a great tradition, but I really enjoy my sleep. And since I live in Main Street, I get the privilege of having them drive right in front of my house. Lovely.

They also have a patriotic program, a rodeo and food. We went over to the rodeo grounds and ate some yummy BBQ then watched the rodeo for a little while before coming home for fireworks. Thousands of people sit in the grand stands and watch from there but since we are so close we can see them from home- which is awesome! Jared got us really great seats too. We sat on the top of the toy hauler. A little red-neckish, but it was great! Kimber was in bed so we didn't have to worry about her and Addie sat on Jared's lap the whole time. The fireworks were great! They play patriotic music at the grounds so it's neat to have that in the background. It's also fun to hear everyone in the stands "ooh" and "ahh" over the really cool ones.

Addie loves for her Dad to paint her nails. He loves to remind her that he is probably the only Dad that would ever do it.

Kimber enjoying a delicious piece of packaging popcorn.

Addie and Dad watching the fireworks.

It was such a fun weekend! We got to be with family and even got to see some of our friends from out of town, like Brad and Stephanie. If you have never been to Taylor for the 4th of July, you are truly missing out!

4th of July-- Taylor style

There are some things that I love about this town, 4th of July being one of them. This town goes crazy for the 4th! Since Taylor always celebrates the 4th on the Saturday that is closest to the actual 4th (does that make any sense?), we got to celebrate twice. And what better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to have a delicious Mexican feast? We had chimichangas and all the works. It was SO good! After we ate we headed up to Show Low to watch the fireworks. They were like a bad dream that wouldn't end! They did them one at a time and dragged them out for an hour, a very looooong hour. We kept saying "surely this is it and they are over." Then just like the movie Groundhog Day, they started all over again. It got pretty comical at the end. At one point we thought they were over and done with and my Dad started putting the chairs away, then sure enough here came more.

Drake and Addie enjoying the firecracker show put on by Brigham and Soren.

Kimber LOVES Annie. Wait, we all do!Kimber enjoying the fireworks. Addie slept in the truck the whole time.

The belly! Here is little Ivy's current home. We can't wait to meet her in September. (FYI, this is not my belly! This is my sister's!)
On Saturday we celebrated with the town. The day starts at about 4:15 (yes, a.m.!) with the anvil blowing. They take an anvil, load it up with gun powder, place a piece of paper on that and top it with another anvil, then they light the paper. It's quite the ordeal. Click here to see what I mean. Scroll to about 2 minutes and 20 seconds to see the actual thing. This video does absolutely NO justice to the noise it really makes. Everyone (I mean, everyone who is crazy enough to get up that early) meets at a certain spot and lines up in their cars and trucks. They have a brass band that plays and everything. They all line up and blow the anvil. Then they drive a little bit, stop and blow it again. They start about 1/2 a mile or so from my house and the first one always wakes me up. It truly shakes my house! It is so loud! Don't let the video deceive you! But that's not all. Not only is the anvil super loud, but everyone blows their horns the whole time. It's a great tradition, but I really enjoy my sleep. And since I live in Main Street, I get the privilege of having them drive right in front of my house. Lovely.

They also have a patriotic program, a rodeo and food. We went over to the rodeo grounds and ate some yummy BBQ then watched the rodeo for a little while before coming home for fireworks. Thousands of people sit in the grand stands and watch from there but since we are so close we can see them from home- which is awesome! Jared got us really great seats too. We sat on the top of the toy hauler. A little red-neckish, but it was great! Kimber was in bed so we didn't have to worry about her and Addie sat on Jared's lap the whole time. The fireworks were great! They play patriotic music at the grounds so it's neat to have that in the background. It's also fun to hear everyone in the stands "ooh" and "ahh" over the really cool ones.

Addie loves for her Dad to paint her nails. He loves to remind her that he is probably the only Dad that would ever do it.

Kimber enjoying a delicious piece of packaging popcorn.

Addie and Dad watching the fireworks.

It was such a fun weekend! We got to be with family and even got to see some of our friends from out of town, like Brad and Stephanie. If you have never been to Taylor for the 4th of July, you are truly missing out!

No Secrets Here!

I found these two blogs, which you may have already heard of, that I just love! I hate when people know of a really good recipe or something great and they don't share! If you have little girls, you need these links! Girly Do's and She Does Hair. I have used a few ideas from them in the last few days and have just loved them. I did a little criss-cross thing with a bun in Addie's hair today and got a ton of compliments. I would post pictures but Addie wouldn't let me take any. Not surprising. This secret is a must share!