MONEY SAVING JARS!!

Mark and I really want to try and be better with our money this year, it is so easy when you have two incomes coming in to buy whatever ever you want within reason. However we have some huge financial goals we want to accomplish in these next two years and feel if we keep going the way we are going it won't happen. So I made some cute jars today to help control our spending. They are not perfect but I am happy with the outcome as I just did them on a whim with my own ideas.
Here are some fun pictures.


There is a Treat Jar and an Extra Funds Jar

There is a Movie Jar and a Clothes Jar


and a Date Night Jar

2011 GOALS!!!!

I am so excited for a new year and the idea of thinking of new goals to accomplish and achieve. This year I of course want to keep up with everything I did last year, but would like to add a few new goals to achieve and new ideas to try for the year. So hear it goes.

#1. The temple trip thing did not happen as much this year as I would have liked, so again to try and go to the temple at least 6 times this year or more would be ideal.

#2. I have a serious addiction to clothes shopping, especially when I lose 30 lbs in one year so this year I get a jar and in that jar I have $300 and that is all I get to spend on clothes for the year, plus an extra $150 if I can get to my goal weight by the end of May.

#3. My meals have become very routine lately, I need to try some new items or I am afraid my husband might find a new wife. So I am going to try a new meal every month. That would be 12 new meals to learn for the year. Hoping to try and learn 8 healthy ones and 4 really unique difficult ones. I will let you know how they go.

#4. This is my most challenging goal for the year and one I know I have needed to work on for a while, and of course not just for the year but for the rest of my life. I need to be kinder and more Christ like to others, not lots of others just certain people in particular. For some reason I really struggle with being loving and kind towards certain individuals, once I dislike someone I really dislike them. I know the only way to get through this is with the help of my Savior and Prayer.

#5. I am hoping to run in a 5KM race on January 1st, a 10KM race on March 12th,a half marathon in april, a super sprint Triathalon I think it is on May 2nd in Airdire, a sprint triathalon in Fort Macleod in August and my 5KM Climb of Hope Run in September.

I am looking forward to the new challenges and goals for 2011 and hope they will help make me a better person.

CHRISTMAS WISHES!!!

Usually I have a list about 10 miles long of gifts I want for Christmas, however this year it is a lot smaller then usual, and not all of my wishes are even gifts this year.

1. Have a perfect Christmas with my family and Mark's family.
2. Be able to go snowboarding on the 28th in Edmonton, so praying for good weather.
3. Have safe driving roads for all the traveling we are doing.
4. a new dress winter coat. (having a real hard time finding a reasonably priced nice winter coat)
5. New Bathing suit shorts as mine are huge on me, I am loving these one's at Sport Check, I showed them to Mark but he probably did not get the hint.
and 6. to get back to feeling 110% physically as I have a 5KM race on January 1st and still don't feel great.

BRACE FACE NO MORE!!!!

This Monday I got my braces off, and it totally rocks. The retainer I have to wear full time for a year, then just at night for another year is honestly worse then the braces feeling wise, but looks wise it looks so much better. I don't look like a 13 year old girl anymore. I will post some pics of the new smile soon. I was afraid I was not going to get them off for our family pictures this year, but the Doctor cleared me in October to have them off in December and I am so grateful for that.

A LOOK AT 2010!!!

I have been feeling a little blue lately so I thought it would be a good idea to look at all the good things that happened this year and all the goals I accomplished for the year to help cheer me up and motivate me for 2011.

I would have to say the best thing about this year was losing 30 lbs, such a great feeling, and not only do I feel healthier, I also learned how to be healthier, what really is good and not good for our bodies to consume, how much we should eat in a day, what food helps us lose weight and what helps build muscle, what is good to eat before a race and knowing how hard to push ourselves and when to rest out bodies. Such an incredible year health wise and I hope I take what I have learned and apply it to my life always.


This first pictures is from April of 2009 and the second is from September of 2010 when I ran my first 5km race. I had lost about 25 lbs between the two photos.

I have learned that reading is something I truly enjoyed and this year I got to enjoy 8 books, and hopefully one more before the end of the year.

Probably one of the most self esteem boosting goals of the year was graduating from school and passing my NACOR exam, thus becoming a Licensed Optician.

I got the opportunity to teach two Adult Sunday School classes, which most people would not be excited about, and I wasn't however It gave me the opportunity to feel more comfortable with teaching, so when the Branch President came to my home in September and asked me to be a Relief Society Teacher, I was actually excited and I love my new calling.

One of the most fun things of the year was definitely our trip to Florida, and the two day cruise of the Bahamas. What an incredible trip we got to take as husband and wife.

This year I also had the opportunity to make a couple really close girl friends, something I have not had in a long time. Growing up I never had a lot of really close girl friends, I was kind of just friends with everyone. However it always seemed like there was one in my life at some point that was there for a reason, and I am so glad because we were able to form bonds that no matter what will never be broken. I am grateful I have that again, not only do I have great girlfriends to talk to I also have great girlfriends to have fun with again. I almost feel like having them over for a sleepover and junk food and talk about cute boys.



This picture is with one of those Girlfriends I was talking about when we did a 5 KM race together.

Definitely the most exciting purchase of the year was our tandem bike, Mark and I are hoping to do a 5 day bike trip from Jasper to Banff our maybe the other way around this coming June. We are thinking of even buying a hauler for the back of the bike for our tent and supplies and our little puppies to ride along with us. How cute and crazy would that be.

This year spiritually a lot has happened in my life as well, I don't want to go to deep into it, as most of it is personal, but there is no question I was able to grow closer to my savior this year, through scriptures, prayers, and many other experiences in my life. I am grateful for them all but one, and know one day I will learn why the lose of our baby was suppose to happen, and that it is a trial we are suppose to go through to make us stronger.

and last but certainly not least, getting pregnant was amazing, it really does suck that we lost it, those really are the only words you can use to describe it but the fact that we concieved after trying for 3 years is incredible and I am almost certain it will happen again for us, we never thought it would ever happen and the fact that it has leaves me excited to start trying again;).

We'll I could go on with more and more awesome things that happened throughout the year, but then this post would be too long for anybody to want to read, I am blessed to have had the year I had and hope 2011 will bring more good things as 2010 did.

TV

The top 10 reasons I love not having a T.V, well I have a T.V. just not T.V to watch only movies:

1. I never have to rush home to make sure I catch the shows I am currently involved with.

2. I have the opportunity to exercise almost every night if I wanted to, unless something else comes up, my schedule is free.

3. I get to spend more one on one time with my Hubby

4. Mark and I have started a tradition that every year starting December 1st we are going to read "Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol". We cheated this year and started last night, and with no television to watch we got to read for a whole hour together, what a fun time we get to spend together as a couple.

5. I get to take my adorable puppies for a walk every night, unless it is minus 30 outside, but other then that they get walked.

6. I have read probably about 8 books in total my whole life, however this year alone I have been able to read 8 with all the free time on my hands at night.

7. I am getting to bed earlier at night then I use to, instead of heading off to bed at 11:00 after my last show is done, I am heading off to bed at 9:30 after my workout is done.

8. My nights are free to call up a friend and go for a run, or go on a date with my husband on a weeknight if are weekend is full, visiting teaching can be any night of the week, except Thursday nights because that is my late night at work, or just anything I want to do on a weeknight because I don't have T.V. I have to be watching.

9. If my house is a real disaster I have time to do a quick clean.

and 10. I just love that it is not apart of my life anymore, it is not a need, a want, a desire. I truly have recognized the blessing off cutting T.V out of my life. I am so grateful I have a husband who taught me that T.V. is pointless and useless and for the most part just brings filth into our homes. This year has been an amazing year for me Goal wise, I have accomplished more Goals this year then I have ever done in the past and I know the biggest reason why is because I don't have T.V weighing me down and taking away from the free time in my life. So thank you T.V for no longer being an addiction in my life, it feels good to say I am no longer addicted to T.V.

CHRISTMAS DECOR!!

Tonight was a fun night of decorating the house and Christmas Tree. I did not think I wanted to decorate this year but when you work at a store that has Christmas decorations everywhere and plays Christmas music all day I can't help but get excited. I love Christmas sooooooo much, not the presents or food, but just how happy everybody is, the Christmas lights and decorations and the Music oh man the Music. I think I could listen to Christmas music all year round if Mark would let me. Our Christmas decor has become quite the collection from when we were first married, still the same tree only more decorations and lights than a string with popcorn and fruit loops.


Our First tree, the Holland children helped us string the popcorn and fruit loops.



The Same Tree only much more Decorations to brighten it up

Even some outdoor lights have finally made it up, I have always wanted outdoor lights and finally I get them. We have even some more to put up this year to go around all the trim on the outside.

Even Molly is ready for Christmas

FHE FUN!!!

I have been craving cake like substance for quite a while now so we decided for FHE to make up some cupcakes, however I definitely do not need 24 cupcakes all for myself to eat, so we thought it would be fun to decorate them with lots of fun candy and chocolate and deliver to all the wonderful friends that helped us through these past two weeks, plus a couple in our ward that Mark Home Teaches. What a fun night, I am finally starting to feel back to being my old self again, I am thinking even trying a little work out tomorrow night, but we will see, definitely not going to push myself.

HAPPY THEN SAD

So at 6:00 in the morning on Oct 6th I woke up went to the bathroom peed on a pregnancy stick and two minutes later found out I was pregnant for the first time in my life. YAY! best news ever, right. Sadly though two weeks ago I had my first ultrasound I was 8 weeks pregnant and the Doctor told me the baby was only 6 weeks. I had to wait until monday to here from my OBGYN what was going on. She told me there was a tare in the placenta and the baby probably stopped growing, she ordered blood work and another Ultrasound just to confirm it 100% but we pretty much knew what the outcome was. We took each day one at a time still holding on to any ounce of hope we had. Finally thought this Wednesday morning I started spotting and knew the inevitable had finally happened. Later that night the bleeding got so heavy I had to go to emergency, we checked in at 9:30 pm on wednesday and at 9:00 am on Thursday we finally saw the OBGYN she ordered an ultrasound to see if all the tissue had passed or not. She said probably not because I was still bleeding so heavily. We waited and waited and waited and finally at 3:00 pm on Thursday my OBGYN came up and said not all the tissue has passed and we need to do a D&C. My face was as pail as a ghost and she asked the nurses if I had still been bleeding heavily throughout the day, they said yes, and she got very upset asking why she was not informed of this ( I would hate to be those Nurses after everything is all said and done I am sure they got a pretty good lecture). They sent me away for the surgery and an hour later I was awake and told I could go home once I started feeling up to it. I lost so much blood that if the doctor had not finally come up when she did they would have probably had to do a blood transfusion. So bed rest for 48 hours and lots of fluids and hopefully by tomorrow I will be back to feeling physically like my old self. I know emotionally though this will take some time for Mark and I to heal but we are optimistic that if we have finally gotten pregnant it can happen again and hopefully everything will go well next time. Thanks again to all the support and prayers from family and friends and we again are optimistic that in a year or two we will be able to welcome our first child into this world.
love
kalinda

A TRUE FRIEND!!!

There are no words of thanks that you can say to a friend when they go out of there way to help you at a time of lose and tragedy. But how do you even begin to thank numerous friends that come together to make you feel better, again there are no words. I have often wondered what it takes to be a true friend to somebody, well know I now. You are there for them no matter what, you take time out of your busy schedule to send them flowers or a meal or a gift or a phone call or a night out on the town just so they can stop thinking about what is going on in there life. You put your life on hold for hours, days because you know your friend is hurting and you want to do everything you can to make that hurt go away. You hold onto there deepest secrets that they had to tell you because they trusted you and only you, and mostly you love them unconditionally no matter what. I am so grateful and blessed that I have so many TRUE FRIENDS in my life, more then I thought, that love me and will do anything for me. This world is becoming so corrupt and evil and I began to think that friendship isn't even a real word anymore, as we see friends cheat with friends spouses, even sisters and brothers with spouses, share secrets that were asked to be kept secrets, I have even heard of friends stealing money from friends, or worse killing one another over money or relationship. I guess the term friend is being used to losely. From now on when I call someone my friend I am going to think is this person really my friend or are they just an acquaintance, would I do anything for this person, do I hope only good things for this person, or are they someone I just say hello to when I see them. I think it is healthy to separate your friends from your acquaintances that was one reason I got rid of my facebook account to many people I did not even know that knew everything about me, it is also a reason I am making my blog private. The whole world does not need to know what is going on in my life just my friends and family (which are also my friends). This post is starting to get to long but I just wanted to say to all of my friends who got me through this week thank you, and to those friends that do not know what is happening I will let you know in my next post and I know you would have done the same thing even if you are far away I know a letter, e-mail or flowers would have been sent to me, and I thank you all for your love and support.

Kalinda