7 DAY GIVEAWAY!! Gift Cards EVERYDAY!

Giveaway. Free. Freebie. Fun. 7 days of giveaways!

I really wanted to have a little fun and do a 7 day giveaway! Its starting now! For the next 7 days we are going to be giving away something! All you have to do is subscribe to this blog and see what the items are going to be!! I will make sure I post for 7 days and all you have to do is comment on the post.  On March 31st I will tell who the winners are for each day and surprise!

I figured March 31st is a perfect day because its my Anniversary! Its a special and wonderful day to me and now it can be to all of you also!

All you have to do is comment on this post for one entry....for a

Then...the next post comment on it too...for a

Then...the next post comment on it too for another entry...

You get 7 days of being able to enter by entering a comment on the post! That's 7 days of

You have 7 chances of winning. You never know you could win more than one!

Its free...easy to do.

Ok who is interested in what the giveaway is?

Ok holding breathe because I am so excited! Its a

and

giftcard each day!! Yes you heard me right! Everyday either a

or

will be given away for 7 straight days! All you have to do is subscribe and comment below to be entered. If you comment on all 7 days that's 7 entries! If you comment on just five days its 5 entries!

March 31st I will be telling you all who won! And shipping them out the next day. It maybe April Fools day BUT its not a joke! You have the chance to win all 7 days...either a Starbucks Gift Card or a Amazon.com Gift card!

 So hurry up and Subscribe and comment! To Subscribe you can enter your email at the top of my blog. You can also add yourself if you are a Google Plus member! Just Subscribe and comment! Subscribe starting this post and comment. Keep commenting for the next 6 more posts! On March 31st I will blog a post with the winners!!! So excited and its not even that day yet. We will put all the names in a hat and one of my kids will draw it out. 7 winners....!! Never know you could be in there more than once!

Subscribe by going to everydayraerae.BlogSpot.com and put in your email at the top on the home page! Have a blessed day!

Q&A Getting to know my 4 Teenagers

The fact that I asked my four teenagers the same questions and got VERY different answers doesn't surprise me even though they are raised under the same roof. Here is getting to know my teens. I will go oldest to youngest this time. Its going to be a long post so sit back, grab some coffee and have fun reading. Mind you I tape recorded them and wrote word for word.

Jackson (17)

What's your favorite app? Uhm instagram
What's your favorite food? BBQ Chicken Pizza. Is that because we are getting that tonight? No. What about Ribs? I like BBQ Chicken Pizza better and Pasta Roni. Ehw! Pasta Roni.
Name a Time when you helped someone out...Uhm...ahhh...I helped Dad work on the car engines and stuff.
What's your favorite thing to do at school? Talk to friends. (Right then Jason asked for some of Jacksons Pringles. Jack said okay you can have some but only 2. Jason asked who ever eats just 2).
If you had to name a book after your life what would the title be? I don't know maybe Its a wonderful life (I laugh) or How to be awesome.
What would you do if you had a Million Dollars? Invest it to make more money but only 100,000. I don't want to lose it all.
Would you rather have Super Intelligence or Super Strength? Super Strength because uhm because I get to be super strong and I don't know it would be better. Better than Super Smart? Well I am not dumb so yeah.
What is your biggest Pet Peeve? The sound of people brushing their teeth. Then scratching their teeth. And when you text ppl and they just say "k".
What do you want to be when you grow up? A billionaire and do nothing. And then getting money because I own Banks. That's sounds boring. Ya but I get to do whatever I want.
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? Squid, Octopus or Snail.
What place would you like to visit and why? Africa. It has pretty cool animals there.
What's your favorite way to kill time? Sleeping.
When did your mouth last get you in trouble? Does your mouth ever get you in trouble? Does it? Sometimes ever now and then. I don't think it does a lot.
What's the story behind one of your scars? Once time I was swimming with my cousin. My cousin had a Doberman pincher that was crazy. I was scared so I just stood there at the pool. I froze because I was so scared. It bite my back and I fell in.
What do you think are characteristics that make you a good person? I think I feel bad for people. Sometimes. Like if someone asks me for a piece of gum. I don't want to lie and say no.
How would friends describe you to someone who didn't know you? Funny I guess. Shy at first around new people but talkative once I know them.
How many kids do you want when you grow up? 2...maybe 3...Do you know out of the four of you that you are the only one who wants kids. Well not anytime soon. Eventually like 25 or older.

Cassie (16)

What's your favorite food? Sushi
What's your favorite app? Facebook I guess
What's your favorite thing to do at school? Eat. I like to Eat.
Name a Time when you helped someone out...Today one of my teachers dropped stuff so I went over and helped pick it up.
If you had to name a book after your life what would the title be? It wouldn't have a title. Why? I don't know it looks better that way. It would be a blank front of book and no one would know what they are getting into.
What would you do if you had a Million Dollars? Buy Cosplay stuff and food. I like food.
Would you rather have Super Intelligence or Super Strength? Super Strength because I already have good intelligence. Yeah.
What is your biggest Pet Peeve? When my parents don't shut my bedroom door when they leave. They just leave it cracked and I had to get up and go shut it.
What do you want to be when you grow up? Google
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? Escargot
What place would you like to visit and why? Japan. Just because I don't know because I can.
What's your favorite way to kill time? Music or Drawing
When did your mouth last get you in trouble? Every time I talk.
What's the story behind one of your scars? I have a scar on my wrist. Its from a cat. Josh was playing with a remote control car. The cat freaked out so I tried to grab it and it clawed my wrist.
What are characteristics that make you a good teenager? I am selfless. I say what's on my mind and stop things when it needs to be stopped.
How would friends describe you to someone who didn't know you? Anime Lover or a homestucker. What's a Homestucker? Its an Anime show
How many kids do you want when you grow up? Zero! I am not dealing with that. I don't have the time.


Josh (14) *he is my jokester.

What's your favorite food? Salmon
What's your favorite app? Clash of clans
 What's your favorite thing to do at school? My friends and I pushed each other into lockers.
Name a Time when you helped someone out...I helped someone up when they fell.
If you had to name a book after your life what would the title be? Why. That's the title? Yes.
What would you do if you had a Million Dollars? Probably just stare at it. That's not real useful. Its what I would do
Would you rather have Super Intelligence or Super Strength? Super Strength.
What is your biggest Pet Peeve? Everyone in my family except for my parents act like my parents. So your brothers and sister act like your parent? Yep.
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? Snails
What place would you like to visit and why? Africa to go look at the ants.
What's your favorite way to kill time? Sleeping
When did your mouth last get you in trouble? All the time. Why? Because I have a Big mouth.
What's the story behind one of your scars? One time I was bite by a dolphin on my head so I had surgery on my head. What's the real reason? I had scull surgery when I was 6 months old.
 What are characteristics that make you a good teenager? I help people.
How would friends describe you to someone who didn't know you? Truthfully ...Annoying. Addicted to his phone.
How many kids do you want when you grow up? Zero

Jason (14)

What's your favorite food? Pizza What kind? BBQ Chicken. It was steak but not anymore.
What's your favorite app? Instagram
 What's your favorite thing to do at school? Hang out with my friends and my girlfriend. You have a girlfriend? You didn't know that? I know you have a friend that's a girl. Ok I am just saying.
Name a Time when you helped someone out...the other day I helped my friend out with his work.
If you had to name a book after your life what would the title be? Jason's boring life. Is your life really that boring? No. I have a lot of exciting things.
What would you do if you had a Million Dollars? I would buy an XBox1 and then spend the rest on things that would help me and my family. My family and I , I meant.
Would you rather have Super Intelligence or Super Strength? Super strength because if someone tries to smart mouth me I can pick them up and throw them to the moon.
What is your biggest Pet Peeve? When you send a three paragraph text message and they send back one word.
What do you want to be when you grow up? To be a special effects artist.
What is the strangest food you have ever eaten? I don't know. Well on the cruise you get to try alligator. Well I guess it will be alligator then.
What place would you like to visit and why? NYC because I think it would be cool to see all the stuff there.
What's your favorite way to kill time? Sleeping, eating and looking at Instagram
When did your mouth last get you in trouble?
What's the story behind one of your scars? so we were making a trampoline. My brother jumped on it too soon. My hand got caught and I ended up with 15 stitches. (Jack says...it was 5). No it was 15. (Jack says ...it was 5).
What are characteristics that make you a good teenager? I help people.
How would friends describe you to someone who didn't know you? ugh.. smart ,funny, nice, sometimes humble, sometimes weird.
How many kids do you want when you grow up? I don't know...I don't think that far ahead.


I never said they were normal....but they are mine and I love them!

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Starbucks GiftCard Giveaway from Rae-Rae

STARBUCKS GIFT CARD GIVEAWAY!!!

I have decided that each month I would love to give a Gift Card of some sort away to my followers. I will post at the beginning of the month what type of card I will be giving away and on the 15th of each month I will announce the winner.

This is a thank you to each and everyone of you for following my crazy family and blog. I LOVE giving away things!!!

To win...all you have to do is comment on this blog. Subscribe on the homepage with your email and you will receive each blog that shows the next gift card. I will have my trusty assistance (one of my four children) pull a name on the 15th. There will be a video too so you SEE with your own eyes who was the winner!

MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM Starbucks! 20 dollar gift card! And ALL you have to do is comment! It can even be a smiley face or a simple word like "following". Or comment what is your favorite Starbucks drink or why do you like this crazy blog?

Yeah!! Starbucks!!!

Ok so I thought I would tell you why I chose Starbucks as my first Gift Card Giveaway! Its because I live in a rural town on a ranch. The nearest Starbucks is 60 miles away. Lets be honest the nearest stop light is that far too! This not only gives me the opportunity to GO and get my own starbucks!!! Caramel Machioata please!! Venti....extra caramel!! Hey I only get them once in awhile so go big or go home right? :) But I like to giveaway stuff too!

So comment down below.....see....right there....where it says comment. And Subscribe because on the 15th one of my fabulous assistants (my teens) will pull a name....(hey just saying its probably gonna be YOU! yes...YOU! don't look behind you....I am talking to you!) and I will contact you for your address and send it out that day! STARBUCKS!!!

Omg....I can't wait and its not even time yet! So hurry up....Subscribe! Each month we will be having a giveaway!

Rant...As a parent have you ever had to.....

So I have to laugh because my Mother In Law is always telling me that I should write something "not as positive" on my blog so ppl know the realness of parenting four teenagers. I haven't really had anything to write about that wasn't that positive lately until now ha! Let me tell you the trials and tribulations of parenting.

So my son is in 4H. This is something he wanted to join and not only did he decide he wanted to join one of the clubs in 4H but he wanted to join 5! We say okay its going to be a lot of meeting and work. He agreed he wanted to do this all so we went all in. We would be helping him do Shooting Sports, Leadership, Horse, Beginners Beef and Cooking.

So lets skip to Beginners Beef where we asked him if he would like to raise a Steer. This would be really costly to us but then he would have this project, show it at fair and sell it. He would pay us back for the Steer and all the feed and then keep the remaining money for himself. We were excited because this gives him responsibility and also money for himself after all the hard work. We talk to our Ranching friends.....he goes there and hand picks his Steer out. We schedule for drop off and Voila he has his Steer! This is a big thing so we asked four times to see if he was sure this is what he wanted to do.

Fast Forward. Steer is at our ranch. We have all the Hay and are driving to go get the Grain that it will need for the month. As we are driving our son tells us that he is actually not interested in having a Steer. The Steer that is 1500.00 and we already hand picked and the ranchers we got it from already took time to bring it to us. Goodness. I think Ryan and I seriously didn't know what to say. What happened to the excitement that was there two days ago? Mind you we had asked him FOUR times to MAKE sure.

So then its up to Ryan and I to decide what we are going to do. We ask why he doesn't want the Steer and he said he is bored with 4H and doesn't want to do it. We ask why have things changed in just a couple days and why hadn't he spoken up before we decided to go buy a Steer. We think during the first day he has the Steer he saw how much work you have to put into it because his mind hadn't changed till then.

Side note...A Steer doesn't help out our family at all. If it was a Heifer we could breed it or eat it but a Steer is solely for him to raise, grow, show and sell.

The car was just quiet as we are trying to figure out what we are going to do at this point. We are a family that once you start something ....you finish it. You have to try something once and if you don't like it then you don't have to do it again. 4h is only half way done. I think we were quiet because well it kind of makes you perplexed because as parents you are running your child around to make sure they are at every event and doing what they need. We already bought the clothes for 4H, paid all the fees, found how to get the animal he needs to show and sell. Our minds were racing. Now what? We have a 1500.00 dollar animal that will cost 4,000 dollars by the time we are done. Its not something we would get as a family because we aren't going to sell it. We want ones we can breed or eat later.

So as a parent what runs through your mind. Do we make him do it anyways? Do we put money into something he may or may not hate? How do we show him responsibility? How do we talk to him about not being passive and speaking up so this kind of dilemma doesn't happen? Do we talk to the Rancher and see if he will take the Steer back? Does he stay in 4H? How do we have our child be happy and be responsible? What lesson can we all learn from this? How do we teach him how frustrating this can be and how we could of prevented it all together?

So after a lot of Ryan and I talking, we decided he needs to finish 4H. It was his decision to do 4H and once our family starts something they need to finish it. Does he have to show an animal to be in 4H? No. So we called our ranching friends and talked to them about what happened. They graciously said they would take it back. If someone isn't really into their animal they might not take care of it the way it should be. That wouldn't be fair to the animal. Of course, we never would of let the Steer not be taking care of but I understand the point. Thankfully they said they would take it back. Putting 4,000 dollars into an animal that you are having a kid HAVE to take care of to us seems silly. So we are still teaching responsibility but not having it be taken out of our pocket. Our son will still have to help with animals, learn about them and work hard. It just wont be with his own. We also talked to him about being passive and speaking up for yourself. Don't say things you THINK people want to hear. Say what you want and don't want. Especially when asked four times if you wanted a Steer and each time was a yes lol! He had to call the Rancher himself also to tell him why he had changed his mind. We feel he needed to explain himself because it is teaching him something about responsibilities especially when others are helping you out.

Thankfully this is one of the many learning experience we will have with ALL the kids as we go along in life. If you don't have these bumps in the road.....you aren't learning. We had to really think about how to handle the situation. No yelling was done. Some head scratching was but it turned out all right. It is a learning experience for us all. Don't you love parenting? I do.....its new and different each day. Especially with four teenagers. Don't worry tomorrow we will have some trial and tribulation with another one of the kids. Its always one of the kids learning a new lesson in life. :) Who knows which one it will be but it will be someone haha.

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Saving Animals and Jasons First Steer

I know we live on a Ranch and my husband takes care of 9,000 Acres of Ranches but we don't own a bunch of Steers or Cows. You see we moved to Adin about 2.5 years ago to take on this opportunity. It all started with the fact my husband was a Contractor and would come to the ranches to fix houses, buildings, roofs, Etc. He did that for a couple years before we finally decided to move to this little community because we all wanted to be together every night instead of seeing each other on weekends because it was 6 hours away.

To be honest....I did not want to move. I thought it would be like moving to the middle of no where (which it is) but be like solitary confinement or something. To my amazement....Its nothing like that at all. I am often TOO busy. I have good friends here now and we talk all the time. My kids are in so many sports its hard not to see everyone all the time. Its an amazing community. One full of life and one full of helping others. We may have a sign on our one little corner store that says "60 miles to the nearest Starbucks...our coffee will get you there" but it adds to all the charm of the town. You cant go anywhere without being stopped and chatted to which is great. Everyone waves at each car that passes.

Anyways back to the cows. When we first moved here I was so into the fact that we could have more animals than just dogs or cats that I wanted to save every animals alive lol.

Elvis our horse we saved before and 4 months after

Cassie and our Main Horse Leroy

Patroling the Properties (Ryan, Cassie and Jack)

Within our first year we ended up saving 5 horses, a bottle fed calf and numerous bottle fed lambs. I love bottle feeding them!

Josh with Baby Lambs one and two:)

Ryan feeding them grain as they are bigger

Its something that I feel is so cute....and relaxing. I like waking up early and trekking out to the babies to feed them. The lambs we help our friends with and give them back when they are bigger. Then there was Princess.....that's my bottle fed baby cow! She is the prettiest cow in the world and I get laughed at all the time when I talk about her (in a good way). I always tell our friends who are TRUE ranchers how wonderful she is and how she is the best thing ever!

My baby Princess. Cutest Cow EVER

She definitely is not a little calf anymore but rather a cow that we are hoping to breed. Then I will have mini princesses all over the place! A pasture full of beautiful cows ha! I think I am biased of course. I am hoping to have another bottle fed calf sometime this year too. I just feel like they are more of pets than the food we eat.

Side note: I name the animals by what they are to be later in life. Princess will not be eaten as she has a real name. Our pigs pork chop and Bacon were well....just that! Then we had lamb chops and a couple of her friends. So if it has a true name...its safe. lol

Pork Chop or was this one Bacon

Anyways back to the topic. What was the topic again? Oh yah.....our first steer. Jason our youngest is in 4H this year. Our other three did it two years ago but since we came late they learned more about animals than they showed them. We had pigs and rabbits and learned about sheep. This year we are all in so to speak. Jason is doing Leadership, Shooting Sports, Beginners Beef, and cooking. So we decided that for him to show and sell so we had to get a Steer. Again we aren't cattle owners. The land Ryan runs has tons of cattle on it but we lease the land for the REAL cattle ppl like our good friends the Albaughs. I don't even know how many head they have but they raise the BEST beef! If you are ever interested you can look them up at FROSTY ACRES because the Beef and Lamb is USDA inspected of course, Flash frozen and vacuumed sealed for highest quality AND its ALL NATURAL GRASS FED Beef and Lamb. Which is harder and harder to find. Plus if I am being honest they are the nicest most genuine people we have ever met. Seriously if you need the number put it in the comments and we will help you out. They would probably kick me for putting this on my blog but oh well.....Its too good not to share!

Jackson looking cool in front of herd

So we decided to buy our first young Steer from the Albaughs. Hey why not....He is the Beef Leader and also we know they have great stuff. Jason at the end of this will have to pay us back. Its not cheap getting a small Steer to raise. Couple thousand dollars and then feed and hay etc. Jason's plan is to raise it and show it at the first fair at the end of the school year. Then he will show and sell the steer at the end of summer at our big Intermountain Fair. I love that he has a steer. This will give him something to look after and care for himself. He can put pride into what he is doing and learn all about beef as we go. This is TUB TUB Jason's Steer. I honestly think Ryan might be a little jealous because now he wants to buy a couple for our household lol. Taking care of ranches he has down pat but learning about how to be a cattle owner we are learning everyday. Thankfully we have a lot of good REAL cattle ranchers that are teaching us the ways:) That's another thing I like about living here. Everyone treats their animals with respect and its not like this horrible farming environment. Its a human and kind way of treating their animals. THEY ACTUALLY CARE!

Princess all grown up and our first steer Tub Tub

So yesterday was the first time we got TUB TUB. He is a beauty too. I personally think no one will be better than my princess cow but hey I am a little biased. I cant wait for each day as he gets to know his Steer and Tub Tub starts to get attached to him. Its going to be a process but its going to be pretty amazing! We are all rather excited but mostly Jason is. Spring is around the corner. Hopefully I will be back to my bottle feeding lambs and calves. Its truly something really fun. I wish everyone could experience it.

Here is Jason with his steer. I will get better pictures as we go. I am excited for him!

Jason's Steer Tub Tub

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How do I have a 17 year old at 24?

First off I would like to know how is my oldest turning 17 if I am only 24 years old? How is that even possible?

I seriously cannot believe Jackson is growing up so fast in front of my eyes. 17 is well...practically 18 and then he is considered an adult by law. Not by me of course because well all my kids will always be my babies. I don't care if they are 38 and think they are adults....they are still my kids :) Hmmm I wonder if that is how my dad or my Mother in law look at Ryan and I still? We will still puff out our chests and stand tall and act like we are adults though even though we are probably still their babies. :)

Being a blended family I haven't had the luck to have Jackson since he was born but I have had him since he was this 10 year old kid who when he hugged me wasn't even close to my shoulders yet. This little kid who was skinny with these big little ears and big blue eyes. Now he is taller than me...still skinny but has muscles (he would kill me if I didn't say that) and he grew into his ears lol:)

In 7 years that he has been in my life I have loved him since day one. He has always been our jokester of the house. The "pusher" of sorts. He sometimes will argue so well that Ryan and I start to wonder if we really are making the right decision. The one thing I do know is that when he puts his mind to something he gets it done. He is my mechanical kid. He can fix things that I never would even know where to start and is a hard worker when he works with his dad on the ranch. He is a good kid.

I seriously cant believe I have a 17 year old though. I guess with him being the oldest and his sister being 9 months behind I am just shocked each time.  I am 38 and have a 17 year old. I am 38 and have a 17 year old. I AM 38 and have a 17 year old. NOPE.....still doesn't sound right lol! I am going to have to tell him that he is just 14 like his other two brothers or something just so I feel okay about him growing up.

I feel like I don't have enough time. Ok so I know I have his whole life but he is a Junior already and then next year he will be a Senior and then College or Coast Guard (that's his passion at the moment). He has way too good of grades right now to be a Junior twice so I guess I better just wrap my mind around that yes my oldest is 17 and he will be a Senior next year. AHHH!

Is this something all parents go through? The thinking they don't have enough time to teach them everything they need to know before he is on his own. I mean he will never be on his own as we will always be here for him but it feels like I am in a time crunch for sure.

Anyways Jack has a good birthday. It was kind of spread through the weekend because on his actual bday he had an away game for basketball. So he got home really late. In our family and I am not sure how this happened but it happened years ago when the kids actually had bday parties with ppl over and food served we put a price on the bdays. Each kid so they couldn't complain that one got more than another got 200 dollars. This though was for the party....the cake....and then presents. This was happening before the four of them were even teenagers and we used to have tons of friends over for airsoft games or sleepovers or themed parties. Their 16th bday is much, much bigger as we only have one BIG bday like that for each kid. Jackson last year got a dirt bike for his bday. Cassie then after got a huge Masquerade party with all her friends and family and DJ. THAT only happens once in their lives lol. Its going to be interesting when Josh and Jason turn 16 in two years because they are only two months apart. We might be broke. Lets hope they decide to do something together. Anyways back to the 200 dollar thing. Now that they are teenagers they don't want the parties or get together as much. They want cold hard cash to add to all the other cash they get from family. Then they buy something that is obscenely expensive to us but they JUST HAVE TO HAVE. Jackson got his money from us and then some from his mom, my dad, my sister, his grandma etc.....I swear he has more money than we do lol. Anyways he has decided to buy BEATS which are headphones. 340 dollar ones. To me that is so insane but we have always told them that its their bday money and they can spend it on what they want. I mean Ryan and I aren't going to buy those for them. So now two kids have them (Cassie saved up Christmas money).

Let me tell you though its just not as fun giving cash. I like to shop and buy something that means something and give it to them to open. What's the fun in cash? Not much. They love it though. So this year I had to find away to make it fun to open the money. I got the 200 dollars in ones, fives, tens and twenties. I taped each dollar to the next in a row. Then I put it in a tin that said happy bday with a pull tab. Once Jackson pulled it.....and pulled...and pulled...and pulled to have the money keep going out. If Ryan and I could of we would of done all ones just to make it more fun. We also gave him his favorite soda and snickers since he is always asking for that.

It was pretty fun I guess to do it that way. We ended up having the bday family dinner on Sunday though since everyone was so busy. The kids always get to chose their favorite meal. Jacks is ribs and mashed potatoes.

He also got his mud pie (my kid is so like me sometimes lol) but he wanted two so we all can have a piece and he had one whole pie to himself. Smart kid huh.......

Anyways it was a good weekend. Happy Bdays were sung, food was eaten and BEATS were bought. I still cannot believe I have a 17 year old. It will probably take me a year to get to used to it and by then he will be turning 18. YIKES! Someone slow down the clock!

Happy Bday Jackson. May this year be the best you have had yet. May Blessing be upon you and may you continue to grow and mature into a wonderful young man. I love you with all my heart!


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My Crazy Boys for the Big Heart Day

I have to say that I cant stop laughing because all the sudden all three of my boys Jackson, Joshua and Jason this year have someone they like. That isn't the funny part though. The funny part is Valentines Day is coming up quickly and ALL the sudden all three of them are begging for extra work around the House and Ranch to get some extra money.

I find it really cute because  they all have been looking up stuff that they want to get their girlfriends and showing me it. They have all been complaining too on how much stuff is lol. It makes me wonder if girls really appreciate at this age what they get or even know how much it really costs. To me the biggest gift they are giving them is the fact they are working for the money....not the actual gift.

I was pretty impressed with Joshua who I have always thought was the romantic one of the boys. He was looking up dozen roses and Shari's Berries. I just shake my head at the fact that HE knew what Shari's berries were because I don't even think my own husband does. HA!

Josh is only 14 though so I think he needs to slow way down on what he is wanting to buy. A dozen roses for a 14 year old girl I think is way over the top. Whatever happened to a card and those candies that had words on them. You know the ones that you took all the cool sayings and gave it to the girl or boy that you liked and hoped that they would get the hint. :) I am more of the mom who wants my kids to do stuff from the heart. Things girls really want like a letter.....one single flower....maybe even some chocolates. All girls love chocolates or so they say.

Jackson and Jason are both kind of on the same wave length of what they want to get. Cant really write it down because then their girlfriends might see the blog. Don't want to ruin the surprise. They are super thoughtful boys too and I am sure the girls they like will love their gifts also.

I like that my boys think of others. I also like that they don't expect us to buy something for their girlfriends but rather they are willing to put the work in. Hey we definitely aren't complaining either because we have some stuff that we keep putting off on the ranch that they are working on now which is helpful. Like getting all the recycling together. I am not talking about cans and bottles but rather all the metal and stuff we need to get rid of that is taking up space in the shop. If they load and haul that they can split that money which will help them out.

I truly think the boys romantic side comes from watching Ryan. He has always been a gentleman and opened my door. I thought after awhile it would stop but 7 years later he is still doing it. I don't get flowers every day or anything which I definitely don't want. He does things that matter to me. Takes care of me when I am sick. When out of town always brings back Starbucks for me. Loves to make a great meal with me while listening to music. He is always bringing me home special little something's and always tells me how much he loves me. Watches horrible chick flicks with me. I even got him to watch Magic Mike with me once because I wanted to see it lol. Now that's a guy who loves a girl lol. Most importantly he loves to spend time with me and we do a lot of things together even though we have a busy life. I even get those random texts midday that say "I love you" or how he appreciates me. Ryan is one of those old fashioned true romantics. I think my dad was definitely that way with my mom. So I am lucky to have married someone as cool as my dad.

Hope everyone is thinking of something cool for the big heart day! Remember though its not all about the girls......I have to get my thinking cap on to make it special for my husband too. Have a great Valentines Day....

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FRAUD and sickness

Fraud....has it happened to you? So in a way I feel as if I have to laugh sometimes or I will cry. This week we have started out with sickness. I got sick last Saturday. Somehow since then I have had Joshua sick and now Cassie sick. Guess what....I am still sick too. Its lame because I don't want to feel sick. I want to get out and do things and not be at home all the time. Ryan has really had to pick up the slack in the house. We even ordered pizza one night because there was so much running around to do that we didn't have time to cook.

Side note...my husband really loves me. You know just one of the ways I can tell? When I am sick (which with a low immune system from recovering from brain tumor is a lot) he takes care of what I usually take care of. He doesn't complain even though that means starting his day early with taking Joshua to practice at 515am and picking up Jackson at 8pm from his practice. When I am really sick like now I have to take it way easy or I will end up in Adrenal Insuffiency which takes me to the ER. I don't want to go to the ER. No one does. First off we don't have time ha! Secondly I personally don't want to be there getting another shot in the leg. So when I am sick I have to take it slow and easy. He always makes sure that I am not doing tons of things even though I complain because I don't want to be laying down. I couldn't ask for a better husband. He is giving and understanding. I really got the good end of the deal. Love you Ryan! *I don't even know if he reads these ha*.

Anyways amidst all of this sickness we have a friend of a friend who just had surgery. She is a single mom and we all know that is not easy when you are suppose to not move around. I had said I would make a meal for them but with us all being sick that didn't happen. I decided it was nice to bring each person an individual taco salad with all the toppings from our local Frosty. Its the only restaurant we have in town but it is GOOD! Ryan preordered the salads to pick up as he was going to get them on the way to pick up our son Jason from his practice, drop Jack off and take Jason to 4H leadership meeting.

AND THEN THATS WHEN IT HAPPENED....DECLINED!

Declined he said? Do it again please. Declined again. We put the salads on our tab and he look at our bank app and there were still thousands in there. Why cant we get a Salad? So he called the bank. They had stopped our Debit card thankfully because someone was making big purchases that were out of state. There was a 1400 dollar laptop, 875 dollars in paypal stuff, and then to top it off they got Fandango tickets which at this point made me laugh because the nearest movie theater to us is like almost an hour away. Someone got our card number somehow and was taking a little joy ride with our hard earned money. What the heck. First off I was so angry because who would even think to do something like that? Secondly how did they get our number? Thirdly (is that even a word) now we have to change all of our auto bill pay stuff and get a new card. This also makes us have to go an hour to the nearest bank to get cash out until the new card is sent to us. What a mess.

I am thankful we have a good  bank that is going to put our money back in. Thankful they caught it before the ppl decided to start to clean out our whole bank acct. As it was they had over 2000 worth of it and were getting to the rest. Makes me ill to think someone would do that. What a mess to have to fix but I was glad it got caught in time. All is well. Just some paperwork to do and phone calls to make for our Auto Pay and all will be well again.

I hope everyone who is reading this is having a good safe three day weekend. We are going to be drinking lots of tea, eating chicken noodle soup and getting better. With two of the four kids coming home today sick from school its going to be a sit under a comforter and watch movies and nap kind of weekend.


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