New Family Pictures! Lots of them :)

Two weeks ago we went out to New Harmony with our friends, Chad & Brittney, to take some new family pictures. The last "real" family picture we had was about a month after Peyton was born, so we were due for a new one since she is already a year old now! Chad's sister, Anne, took them and did such an amazing job! We were so happy with how they turned out. She was so sweet to take them for us. :) So, here they are!

These are Peyton's best friends. :) They are Chad & Brittney's twins. These three are only 6 days apart in age. It is so fun to watch them play, dance, drink bottles, and try to walk with each other. We love having them so close to us.

Peanut Butter?! and $10 off coupon

So this morning Peyton and I were out for our morning walk and we came upon a multi-family yard sale. They had a bunch of kid DVDs which is something we have been trying to build up a little bit, so I bought a few of them for just a few bucks. The lady said, "None of them should have scratches, but you know how kids are with putting DVDs back in their cases" (rolling her eyes). She continued, "You know how to fix scratched DVDs right?" I said I didn't and she told me, "You take creamy peanut-butter and gently rub it all across the back of the DVD. Let it sit for a minute then gently rub it off. They work good-as-new!" I said "hmm... cool." Impressed, but really a believer. I've tried a lot of things to get scratched DVDs to work and usually nothing works, so how could Peanut Butter fix a scratch?

Well sure enough, we get home and Curious George would not even load in the DVD player. It just said "error." I cleaned it and tried again. Still nothing. Then I thought, "peanut butter huh?..." So I tried it AND IT WORKED!!! I couldn't believe it! It loaded like nothing was ever wrong and never skipped once! Who knew something so simple could fix such an annoying problem?! I've also learned that Cooking spray will stop squeaky doors, and a can of spray paint can turn a $4 D.I. shelf into a work of art. :) I've had quite the good time lately turning D.I. and yard-sale items into treasures. It's amazing and so good on the wallet.

Last word of advice today? It runs along the DVD line. One of the best Disney movies EVER made, Beauty and the Beast of course, is out on DVD again. I have a hard time buying too many Disney classics because they are so expensive, but if you google "Beauty and the Beast coupon" you can find a $10 off coupon! yay! It brings the price down to a do-able $15 bucks instead of $25. It's the Diamond Edition that has 2 blu-rays and a DVD edition. The plain DVD edition is still $20, so you're still coming out ahead even if you don't want the blu-rays.

Anyways, that's my good news for the day.

Love,

~JaRelle

Sorry for no posts

I know it's been forever since I blogged and a TON has happened since then (July), but the life of this busy wife/mom/student/worker is just crazy. So here are a few pics of my little angel. Isn't she precious? I promise to blog some cute pictures soon. :) Love you all!

Dave's 2 year mission anniversary

It's been two years since Dave returned home from his mission in Taiwan. I am working on his mission scrapbook right now and hope to have it finished before we leave for McKay's farewell on the 17th. Dave has so many amazing pictures and so many cool stories. I wish I could just upload his scrapbook! He learned Mandarine Chinese and loved his mission. Here are a few pics of his mission years. :)

Sammy Goes to Africa

My friend, Sam Kariya, is part of an organization called Koins for Kenya. It is an organization that helps provide education supplies for schools in Africa. They build schools, put in sewage drains, build playgrounds, and gather school supplies. It is unbelievable the types of things that these schools do NOT have! Sam's family has been involved with this for a long time and have made several trips to Africa to help out. Anyway, they are going out on a new excursion on the 22nd of July and need our help. I have posted this blog (copied from Sam's blog) of a simple way we can help. They need pencils. I'll let you read the post, but if you would like to help, you can drop off some pencils at my parents house in Aurora, or mail them there (PO Box 111, Aurora, UT 84620) I'll make sure that Sam gets these before she leaves for Africa. There are lots of other ways to help to. So, if you would like to know more about it, visit her blog: http://sammygoestoafrica.blogspot.com/ Thanks everyone!!!

Keeping it Simple

The more I go to Africa, the more I realize you gotta keep it simple.

This year my mom and I want to take enough pencils for every student...(we're talking thousands. Simple just got complicated.)

So here's the deal, we need your help!

We are looking for brand new pencils, the fancier the better! (except mechanical)

I think all-a-dollar has them in large quantities for cheap.

And I bet if you look around your house you might find some!

Let me know, I'll pick them up from you.

We are also going to provide pencil sharpeners for each school, which run from $20-$50 a piece. If you'd like to donate specifically to this project, let me know.

Background info: children in Africa learn without the benefit of pencil or paper. If they are lucky enough to ever get a pencil, it is sharpened with a knife.

Last year, as my mom was sitting in her classroom,

having just done an Africa presentation for her students, one of those students walked back into her room.

He held in his hand a pencil box overflowing with pencils.

Sparkly pencils, smiley face pencils, birthday pencils, you name it, he had it!

He held the box out, and told my mom he wanted her to take it to Africa. Of course she was excited, but curious as to where he had come up with all of them, she asked. To which he replied,

"I have been collecting these since kindergarten. And I want you to have them."

Being the emotional person that she is, my mom started to cry and told him she couldn't take his collection. But he insisted.

So, off she went to Kenya with a box full of beautiful pencils. After arriving in Kenya, she took the pencils and walked to one of the schools Koins has built--

a very primitive two-room building.

Upon arriving, she asked the headmaster if there was anything they needed. Mind you, they have no water, no school lunch, no books, no desks. So, much to her surprise, the first word out of his mouth was "pencils."

Because of that generous boy, she was able to hand him the treasured box of beautiful pencils.

Once again, don't ever underestimate your ability to make a difference.