Marching Along

Life is rather colorful around here lately. I have so much going on and so little that I'm divulging to people that I think I'm getting a little stressed out. I used to be the kind of girl that would say everything, out loud, to the world, life was an open book. Experience and maturity has taught me there are some things that need protecting. Privacy included. But I think I went to the other extreme. Now I rarely ever open up. I love this blog because it has really helped me define and question different parts of my life so I can decipher what should be shared and what's best left kept in my heart.

February was a nice month this year, but for some reason, I felt like it lasted for three month spans instead of being a few days short! Part of that is my braces for sure.

I have been counting down the days to Feb 28th when I would go in and find out exactly when my braces would be coming off.......thinking it would be a few days. BUT NOOOO, no the man says with a calm voice..."and now they need to sit for a while...".... What?! He said that they were done and perfect again but that they need to keep their form. He obviously has not felt the geekafied effects of braces as an adult. Not to mention my compounded issues of geekiness since I recently got glasses.

My experience with braces has not been a pleasant one and to make matters worse, I was DONE! and had to put them BACK on because of HIS mistakes. But don't worry, I got to pay for them. Sometimes I think my passive side only comes out when it never should..... tragic.

Anywho, this year, we did our taxes early. I was so grateful because it has really made a lot of things possible this year for us. However, determining how we are going to spend them this year has been a bit difficult. I feel like a person with anorexia that just discovered pie. BINGEFEST! Owen and I have been so careful financially for the last year, paying for our own wedding, the kids, our honeymoon, Christmas AND paying off debt. It's been quite the road of discipline for me. So getting this tax return was like looking at all the colors of the rainbow and not being able to choose which color is my favorite. Where do we start?? do we be responsible and save? do we be responsible and pay debt? do we spend on ourselves because we deserve it for all the sacrifices we have made?....too many options. We finally decided to split it up. Half was for responsible things. The other half was for rewards to us because dagnabbit, everyone should have some fun sometimes. Here is part of what Owen decided to do with his:

He has had "make shift" lights for his tank for the past while and he FINALLY got to get some official beautiful lights that will help the coral and live rock and fish be much happier. They have different lights set to different timers for the regulation of the tank. Some are so bright that you go blind looking at it for a while. The others are ultra violet, but these are my favorite...the moonlights :)

For me, I invested in a beautiful craft table and Cricut Expressions 2 machine.

My mother and I go to the scrapbooking expos and the last time I went, I was dragging my stuff with plastic bags and things were rolling around in my trunk. So in addition to the desk and the machine, I finally got a roller case for my supplies so travelling isn't so crazy!

That's the pic from the website. I will post pics of the real one when I get home. :)

I'm so excited! It's been 8 months and I am FINALLY able to scrapbook our wedding album. It was such a long road of planning it, paying for it and finally having it happen, I'm just grateful I get to do it some justice of cataloging it in my bank of life now. I love pictures. They help my memory stay strong.

February was also a month of fun activities! We went to the aquarium with the kids and with Bennett and Lyndsey. It was way fun! We got to see the new Otter exhibit!

They were so stinkin cute! The kids stared and stared and watched them play. It was awesome!!! They have a cute little observer hole the kids can poke their heads through too.

We also celebrated Emma's 1st birthday this month!!! I was helping with decorations so I didn't get a ton of pictures but I love her to pieces and caught A few pics of Olivia enjoying the cupcakes :)

She's so funny!
All in all, we are doing good, keeping extremely busy and it's only gonna get busier!!
Owen starts his classes on the 19th of this month. He'll be doing classes every Monday, Thursday, and Friday. With my band practice and guitar on Monday, that gives me Thursday and Friday nights to indulge in my creative side and keep the juices flowing. I've decided I may just have too many hobbies that I get obsessed with. Finding time is pretty close to impossible to complete everything.
So Good LUCK I say :) With St. Patty's Day coming up (one of my faves) I think this month is going to fly by, possibly take forever, and we're getting a whole lot done all at the same time!!