Debt, debt, and more debt

So, the markets are down and everything on the news is gloom and doom.

The U.S. National Debt is $10 trillion.

U.S. corporations are who knows how much in debt, at least $700 billion, a lot more I'm sure.

And U.S. consumers are in so much debt ($2.5 trillion NOT including mortgages) that they can't keep up with their homes, their cars, or their lifestyles. They are in SO much debt that borrowing is actually down for the first time since 1998. What a novel concept - if you can't afford it, don't buy it.

There are two things we try to do, and although we aren't perfect, I think the world would do some good to follow the same counsel.


Live within your means.

Stay out of unnecessary debt.


Two simple rules. Common sense, right? Obviously it is not that common anymore.

Animal House

It's been a while now, but Matt and Alex and fam were the last visitors of the summer.

One day we went to the San Diego Zoo for a few hours. 3 adults + 5.5 kids = outnumbered. It was exhausting, and fun. Poor Matt held Izzy on his shoulders for a while, and I don't know how Alex walked as much as we did with a baby on the way. I think we'll take the bus for part of the time when we go next.

Time Flies

I felt like I had been keeping up with the blog, and then I realized the last post was 12 days ago already. Time is going by too fast lately.

So, to at least keep you updated on the exciting happenings in my life, I got a shiny new laptop. My last one died but my new one is PINK and I love it. It took two months to get here and the first one they sent didn't work (thanks Dell) but hopefully it was worth the wait.



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We took the kids to Poly's homecoming parade on Saturday. Afterwards, we went to the pep rally. Anna's favorite part was the cheerleaders and now she wants to be one someday. I tried to point out the colorguard girls and said, "but don't you want to be one of them like Mommy was?" Hmm, she said no thanks.

Isabel is also well versed in "Go Poly Bears" so we are now not only (top 10 ranked) BYU fans, but also Poly High School football fans this season.



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I'm off to play catch up for work this week. Our babysitter had walking pneumonia last week so I'm way behind.

I love technology

I used to scrapbook. I have one for my high school years, the beginning of our marriage, and for the first two years of Anna's life. I'm not very artistic, but I liked scrapbooking. Then, when I found out I was pregnant with twins I knew it was over. I didn't even try to pretend, I knew I wouldn't get back to it for a very long time.

And, I haven't. Alex is into digital scrapbooking and got me some CDs, which are very cool. But I still haven't taken enough time to do that either! I've looked, but haven't really done any pages yet. I promise I will, someday.

But luckily, technology always comes up with a way to replace the fun of good old fashioned hobbies. So although scrapbooking has gone out the window for a few years, I have been blogging. And now, this blog can be turned into a scrapbook.

Isn't that cool?

Still Looking

We're still on the house hunt. It has taken longer than we planned, but in the long run I think we'll be glad we held out. Prices....are still...falling. In fact, we are to the point where I think we have to accept that fact that we are going to overpay and buy anyway (hopefully the steepest drops have already happened). Or rent.

I like this blog, which focuses on the real estate market specifically in the Inland Empire. They posted the other day about this house, which is around the corner.

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It's hard to wait, my KitchenAid misses me. So does my dining room table. And my dishes. Maybe I should just go out to the storage shed and visit them.

Hello dining room table.


Speaking of this picture, it was taken in our Bountiful house. Hello Bountiful house, I miss you too. Ben was there this weekend, getting it ready for the next tenants, who I'm sure won't appreciate it as much as I did. This is where I would be sitting right now if we lived there.


Hopefully one day I'll have pictures of a new office to post, and until then I'll keep telling myself it has been smart to wait. Smart to wait. Smart to wait. I'm trying, Ben.

Rise and Shout the Cougars are Out

Our kids are being fully indoctrinated. You can hear a random, "BYU, BYU, BYU" chant from their bedrooms at night, and anytime they see football on TV they burst into cheers for BYU. We are also starting to practice the Cougar fight song. I think its time to do a little online shopping so they have t-shirts and jerseys.

It was a great weekend for the Cougars, as they routed UCLA, 59 to 0.

Cousin Love

We've had lots of family visiting here in California lately, and we went up to Utah last weekend. Unfortunately we only had one of our favorite foods while we were there. Actually, it wasn't on our original list, but we also had Tucanos, which was fantastic. They need to bring a Brazilian grill to California.

Our drive back took a little longer due to Labor Day traffic, so we were in the car for 11 or 12 hours. So I want to give a shoutout to Ben's laptop that plays movies. Now that the kids are all old enough for a movie to keep them occupied, we had absolutely no crying on the entire drive.

There has been plenty of cousin love, so here are some pictures!

Anna and Zach at the Peanuts exhibit at the Riverside museum.

Everyone eating dinner at a park in Taylorsville.

The three oldest playing on the slide.

All of the cousins minus Baby Kaleb.

Summer Foliage

In the midst of 100 degree summer temperatures, a tree in the backyard decided to drop all of its leaves in the past week. The kids enjoyed helping Grandpa "clean them up," and John captured some fun pictures.

Summer Visitors

We had lots of fun when Kevin, Sabrina and Kaleb came to visit, and we went to Corona del Mar for a picnic. It was beautiful, except for the long trek down 112 stairs to the dirty public beach bathroom since both Anna and Isabel (who is doing great at potty training) had to go.





We'll see you guys again in Utah in a week!

Happy Adam

This picture is a little old but I haven't blogged in a while - and the kids are surpassing the two hour mark on all three of them being asleep. When three kids sleep for two hours I think you are obligated to blog something.