Life seems to never stand still for too long in our house, and every time that it does decide to stop and smell the roses, a life changing event happens.

For the 7th time in our 5 year marriage we have moved yet again, and this was the 2nd 1200 mile move for us... in a 12 month period!

We have LOVED Texas! Seriously, I consider it to be home. We love our friends there, we love the people and the culture there. And I LOOOOVVVVEEEEDDDD the humidity! I know, I know. No one likes humid hot days, but this girl sure does! 

However, we have been waiting for this job opportunity in Las Vegas, NV to present itself to us for a long time. Brett has had his eye on this job ever since he started flying helicopters, so there was no doubt in our minds when it came to deciding to take it and move again. We will miss Texas and everything we have come to love here, but we are excited to be taking this step in our lives. 

Anyways like I said this was another major move for us, so I thought I would share some tips I have learned the hard way along the way. We have used moving truck services 4 times now and feeling pretty comfortable in the system. All of our other moves were close enough that we were able to make a few smaller trips back and forth. EXCEPT for the time we had to move in a matter of days and we literally threw everything in boxes and stuffed it all in a 16 ft horse trailer! ( I do not recommend this method )

Here are some tips that hopefully you find helpful:

Moving Tip #1

Start gathering boxes and start packing the moment you know you will be moving. Having plenty of time helps ease the stress and gives you time to purge, sell or throw away all the junk that you no longer use or need. Which will decrease the amount of stuff you take with you.

PURGE!! If you have the time, have a yard sale! Even if you sell all your items for a dollar, that's a few extra dollars you have to put towards your moving costs. I have done this every time we have moved and its been a great way to get rid of my items that I have a hard time parting with. The last time we moved we sold our old bathtub (vintage clawfoot) at our yard sale that we had leftover from our bathroom makeover. We got $250 bucks for it!

Moving Tip #2

Try and negotiate a price with the moving trucks, but don't be pushy with it. No one likes to deal with a pushy customer. But when we were getting ready to move from Utah to Texas we had called up all the moving truck companies to get quotes. We were limited on our budget and ruled out the companies that drive your stuff for you because they were way too expensive. 

Now mind you that this next part all came about unintentionally but it worked out for the best and we tried it out again this time around. 

We had made a reservation with Budget Rental because they seemed to be the best overall deal (that and I was getting an employee discount from my boss who owned a few trucks).

We were offered a 16 ft truck, a travel limit of 1200 miles for 3 days for somewhere around $1800. We thought this was a pretty good deal. Then we called Penske to see what their best deal was. At first their offer wasn't going to be able to beat Budget, but when we said we were going with someone else, they asked what we had been offered, Penske turned around and offered us a 24 ft truck with 1200 miles for 4 days for $1400. Great! We thought.

So we called up Budget Rental to cancel our reservation, when they asked us why we wanted to cancel we told them the deal we were offered. They then offered us a 24 ft truck with unlimited miles, for 6 days and they would give us a dozen moving blankets with a moving dolly for $1000. SWEET! 

So we called up Penske to cancel our reservation. When they asked us why we wanted to cancel we told them the offer Budget made us. They then offered us the golden egg! 24 ft truck, unlimited miles, 6 days, 2 dozen moving blankets, a furniture dolly AND a car carrier all for $900 +tax !! 
Budget was not able to match it so we stuck with Penske. We were able to knock off almost a $1000 off the original price!! And because we are only a family of 3 right now this worked perfect for us because we were all able to ride together in the rental truck while towing our Jeep Grand Cherokee behind us, saving us money on our fuel costs too!

We negotiated the same way this time around between Budget and Penske and the offers started out with Budget offering us a 24 ft truck and car carrier for $1256 + taxes. Then we called Penske and they were able to offer us a 26 ft truck, car carrier, hand dolly and 4 dozen furniture pads for $1034 and that included taxes. So it wasn't a screaming deal like last time but its still a good deal in my book.

Now we learned a few things while we were unintentionally bargaining. 

• In order to get a screaming deal like we did, it matters where your truck is coming from and where it is headed. Now all these types of moving companies are linked together as a franchise. So if there is a location that is in need of the size of truck you are using they are going to give you a better deal because they need more trucks where they are at. Does that make sense? We made our original reservation through our local dealer but it wasn't until we called the customer service line from the website that the deals started rolling in. We feel they were able to give us a better deal because they were the corporate end and not 3rd party. 
• Book online from the very beginning, online offers already discounted rates. That way your bargaining starts off at an already discounted price.
• If you are a AAA member you automatically receive 20% off.
• Ask your customer service rep flat out, "Is that the best you can do?" or tell them that your are shopping with a certain budget in mind and tell them what it is. They will try their best to accommodate your needs. 
• Also, call every week until a few days before your move and just double check to make sure you are getting the best rate possible. Prices may drop depending of the inventory of trucks and equipment.

Moving Tip #3

Use towels, blankets and sheets to wrap your picture frames, mirrors or anything of the sort in. It saves you money from having to buy bubble wrap I have bought bubble wrap in the past and I have always saved it for the next move, but it is expensive! So sheets and towels are what I like to use best because you have to take them anyways, so you might as well make them useful.

For the larger items I like to use this method and I wrap them by laying out the blanket and putting a frame down at one end of the blanket fold over like a burrito and add another frame. I keep doing this until I have used the entire blanket. Making sure there is enough padding in between frames. I then duct tape it like this to secure it and make sure that no sliding occurs. I then place them in boxes to keep them from getting smashed. It works well and I have yet to have a damaged picture or mirror.

Moving Tip #4

Do not buy boxes!!! I think it is such a waste to purchase boxes. I find all of mine at Liquor Stores, Grocery Stores and all my wonderful friends who gave me tons of boxes that they had. Craigslist is also another great way of finding boxes, I was able to pick up over 50 nice moving boxes for FREE from a women off of Craigslist who had purchased all the boxes and then wanted to get rid of them!

                     Azure was buried in there somewhere ;)

When we made the trek from Utah to Texas a friend gave us some AMAZING boxes from her last move. They are wardrobe boxes and if I was going to spend any kind of pretty penny on boxes it would be for more of these.

You can find these at Staples (online), Home depot or Lowes or just about anywhere that advertises that they sell moving boxes. They cost anywhere between $8 and $15 a box. Now ours were given to us by friends, after we used them we lent them to a friend that was moving across town and we plan to use them again. So they have been used several times but they are in perfect condition. We have 7 boxes and were able to hang all of our clothes in these without taking them off the hangers plus we were able to put some light weight items in the bottom of the boxes.
And I totally scored thanks to Craigslist Cathy who also gave me 4. However, I was a hanger bar or 2 short than boxes and I had been looking to buy a couple new ones (just the bars). Home depot was out, so I went to the Cubesmart and asked if they sold them, the super-girl at the cubesmart storage she said they didn't sale them but that she had a ton of bars and no boxes so she gave me 3 for free!!! She saved me about $10! THANK YOU!

Seriously, I don't know if it's because we have the most AMAZING friends or if we just got lucky, I think it's cause our friends rock, but all of our friends supplied us with boxes, bubblewrap AND packing peanuts!!!! We are so blessed to have people who love us this much... that or they couldn't wait to see us leave so they were trying their hardest to get us out of there! ;)

Moving Tip # 5

Be organized. Now I don't mean you need to go all Martha Stewart crazy here. Just some simple organization can go along way. I like to label my boxes (duh, I label everything) , but I have found that if you use recipe index cards as box labels it makes it much easier to see what is in the box. (it also works in hiding all the pictures of liquor and beer, no we are not alcoholics, no we do not drink, the stores just have sooo many boxes and they are more than willing to give them to you when you ask) 

 

I Label them with the room in bold letters, then the contents of the box under that. If I only put the room on the box I would always forget what box I put what in, then if I needed to find something I had to open all my boxes to find it.

I like to put 1 label on the top of the box and 1 on the side of the box. I also use an index card and write FRAGILE on it if needed. Because lets face it, men (which are usually the ones carrying the boxes when helping) are not gentle unless they see it in BIG BOLD LETTERS (and even then they can be....).

 

Moving Tip #6

When packing your dishes, buy a package of foam plates from the dollar store and put a foam plate in between each dish. Liquor stores have great sized boxes for dishes.You should also ask them if you can have some of the box dividers that comes with some of their wine bottles.These work great for glasses, vases, Christmas ornaments or anything small and breakable. You also want to wrap each item in newspaper or tissue paper just for added protection if you have really nice dinnerware.

When packing kitchen platters or pyrex dishes, I wrap them in bathroom and kitchen hand towels, with a sheet of bubblewrap in between each dish.

• Use egg cartons for necklace transporting. This works EGG-cellent in keeping your necklaces from getting tangled with each other!

Moving Tip #7

Get one of these Sterilite Clear File Bins (Family Dollar $3 or Walmart $5) and when packing up your food items, set some aside for the drive. Snacks, treats, fruit that won't go bad if not in the fridge, water bottles, and anything your family would enjoy snacking on in the car/moving truck while driving. My MIL did this for us one time and it fit perfectly under the moving truck seat so it wasn't in the way, and when anyone needed a quick fix I could easily pull it out. It was organized and less bulky than any other way I would have done it and since it was clear we didn't have to dig around looking for what we wanted to munch on. I now do this for ALL of our roadtrips and camping trips.
This will also save you money by using what you already have so you're not spending a lot of money on junk food and convenient store food which only gives you a sugar high then slams you into a food coma... which is dangerous behind the wheel ;)

We also use all of our coolers for the cold food and fill with ice to keep them cold. We pack the coolers in the truck last so that we can monitor the ice levels if we need to refill. It also works nicely if we have yogurt or fruit that we want to munch on during the drive.

Moving Tip #8

Find a small box/bin/crate and use this as your supply station. Before you start put things into boxes gather any items you might need for packing. Scissors, Pliers, Hammer (removing nails), nail hole filler, container to put all the nails in, Duct Tape, Packing Tape, Permanent Markers, Pen, Newspaper or Tissue Paper, Bubble Wrap, To Do List, Apron, Recipe Index Cards, and anything else you think you might need.

This helps you stay organized and will make it so that you don't accidentally pack something that you later need. You also won't forget where you put the roll of tape when your hand is holding down the flaps of a box and you are stuck looking for the tape.
Then when you are done taping up all the boxes and done packing you can take the box and put it with the others.

Moving Tip #9

Take tip #8 and do with with all your cleaning supplies. This way you can clean the house easily when it is free of all the boxes and clutter. You also want to put your laundry detergent with your cleaning items in case you need to do a quick load at the last minute. This is also a good idea if you use liquid detergent, if its packed last and loaded in the truck last you know where it is so that it doesn't get smooshed or tipped over and leaking all over your stuff. Trust me on this one. I learned the HARD WAY! 

Another great thing about doing this is that when you get to your new home, the first thing you can pull out is the cleaning supplies in case it needs a quick scrub, then you don't have to dig around the truck to find the box of lysol. 

Moving Tip #10

When you arrive to your new home, put together all the beds FIRST. That way you don't have to sleep on the hard floor when you are too tired at the end of the day. Next, unpack the food.... you WILL get hungry.

Moving Tip #11

Get a folder, binder or clipboard to keep track of any important papers (like rental agreement, hotel reservations, roadtrip games, restaurant coupons for eating on the road, utilities contact information, phone numbers of land lords, internet, electricity, etc.) you might need while driving or as soon as you arrive to your new home. 

Moving Tip #12

If you are driving the rental truck yourself or in our case all together in the rental truck while towing our car. We like to pack the car with all the items we may need to get to at rest stops. Like our suitcases, pack n play for Azure if we are staying the night at a hotel, extra diapers, cooler with cold drinks, blanket and pillow. That way we don't have to open up the truck to get things out when we stop.

Moving Tip #13

Disassemble as much furniture as possible. Our dining table is really easy to take apart. It saves a lot of space in the moving truck to not have a table in the way. We also take apart the crib, take the mirror off the dresser, and take apart our bed frame.

Moving Tip #14

When loading the truck... Get your TETRIS on!!! But first be sure to sweep it out, they should be clean and tidy when you pick them up, but you want to make sure you are not harboring someone else's dirt and dust. When you start to load the truck with boxes you want to make sure you pack things tight enough that when you take corners or go over bumps, your stuff doesn't shift and bounce. But don't pack it so tight that you are smashing boxes to fit into a space. The goal is to get from point A to point B with as little damage as possible.

Moving Tip #15

7 dinners, easy clean up & cooking all for under $30.
Plus we have all the food in the fridge that needs to
be eaten before we move. 

A week or 2 before moving day, prepare some freezer meals or freeze leftovers from previous meals; so that the week of moving you can throw a quick dinner in the crockpot or oven so that you do not have to eat out every night. If using your crockpot, get some crockpot liners for easy cleanup; and for meals cooked in the oven, use those tin pans you can find at the dollar store. They usually come in a 2 or 3 pack! That way you can pack up your kitchen, spices and all, and maybe just leave your crockpot out and a hot pad or two. And with the left over foam plates you have from packing your dishes you can just use paper goods for the days leading up. This is also convenient for when you get to your new house, you can easily have dinner in the crockpot or oven. Now I love eating out, don't get me wrong. I am always looking for an excuse not to cook. But when moving money gets tight.... really tight. So by doing this can easily save you a $100 dollars or so by not eating out every night.

Moving Tip #16

Bribe friends, family and strangers off the street to come help you with food, drinks and cookies!

*Other than me injuring my back the week before moving day, leaving me on bed rest. This move went smooth and efficiently.

Goodluck on your next move and if there are any moving tips that you use, that maybe I hadn't thought of or mentioned....
I would love to here them!



BTW HUGE shout out to my Mom and SIL for driving all the way to Vegas with a 1 month old to help us move in, and also for spending 4 hours on your hands and knees scrubbing the nasty floors! You guys are the BEST!

You can't help but feel completely helpless and terrified for the future after what happened in Connecticut on Friday. My mind has been flooded with thoughts and emotions the last few days. I feel the only way I can get them under control is to harness them in writing.

Thinking of the terrified children and what they and their teachers must have gone through in the last moments of their earthly lives. The horrific scenes the first responders, survivors and their families saw that will forever be burned into their memories.

What could possibly be worse than innocent children being gunned down by a "wild animal"?! I just cannot seem to stop the tears.

Before I vent any further... These are MY opinions, MY beliefs and values, and this is MY blog. I do not write in hopes of contention, disagreement or drama. I am just expressing my concern and feelings at this time. If you do not agree, stop reading and move on...

People say that gun control is what we need, or change in the way guns are distributed and sold.

Maybe that is true. But honestly, if someone is desperate enough, no law or militia is going to be able to stop or prevent it. 

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

  (How to Survive in Enemy Territory: President  Boyd K  Packer)

What we need is change in our hearts and change in our homes. The way to change the future is by changing the way we raise our kids and changing the influences of the world that we allow to be brought into our homes; and changing the way we treat others in general. Because our children DO grow up, and the "monsters" that dwell in this world, like those who have committed these heinous crimes; were in fact once a child themselves. They probably smiled, played  hide and seek, laughed, and played T-ball, they probably had hopes and dreams of their own; just like any other child.

I do not mean to point fingers here. I myself am not a perfect person or parent. I have but 1 small child. But with the increasing violence and sexual impurities of the media and the ever increasing influence of Satan along with the diminishing of family values and the increase in broken homes. It is more important now as parents to teach our children righteous living. We must not rely on the world to teach our children. What is taught in the home and by the examples of parents is far more important. If you are LDS, and if you paid attention to what was taught in General Conference this past October, the majority of the teachings focused on teaching our children in the home. 

"but none should resist the plea that we unite to increase our concern for the welfare and future of our children—the rising generation." -Dallin H. Oaks 

To me this means cutting out the violent video games whether they are played by children OR parents. It doesn't matter, with them in the home it is allowing the influence of Satan in. It means cutting out movies that are inappropriate. The LDS Church leaders support the avoidance of  "R" rated movies, but I believe this shouldn't be the limit. There are many movies, books, sitcoms, music, and reality TV shows   given a "rating" would be the equivalent to or worse than an "R" rated film. 

I feel that society as a whole is on the downward grade. We need to use our own judgement AND the spirit in our decision of whether something is wholesome or not. Because it is SO EASY for the adversary to get in through these avenues in our daily lives. Once we let our guard down a little or even just once. That is when the decomposition of our souls begins.

The commandments of our Heavenly Father are not negotiable!

Once again these are my opinions and my beliefs. I am merely venting as a way to find comfort in my heart for this terrible tragedy; I am simply reminding myself of my faith in God, my values and my morals, so that I may be a better influence for my family and for those around me. So that as my babies grow into adults they will have a fighting chance against the world.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation.”

One of my greatness weaknesses as a human, is the power to forgive. I feel I am hard on others and at many times show little mercy or compassion. But forgiveness is the only way our hearts can truly heal and grow. It is not my job to judge and make sense of someone's actions.

I have seen and heard many comments in regards to Fridays tragedy that sounded like this, "How does God allow things like this to happen". To this I say, God gave man free agency to live and choose as he pleases. It is the agency of man that produces events such as this.

True love can alter human lives and change human nature.

You never really know what influences someone has in their lives. You never know what level of happiness someone feels in their life. And you never know what someones breaking point might be. The last straw in a series of awful events or daily mental torture could easily be that someone was not kind enough to ask how there day was, leaving them to feel like no one notices or cares. 

"We need to be civil in our discourse and respectful in our interactions. We live in a world where there is much turmoil. Many people are both angry and afraid. The Savior taught us to love even our enemies (see Matthew 5:44). This is especially true when we disagree. The moral basis of civility is the Golden Rule. It is taught in most religions and particularly by the Savior. “And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise” (Luke 6:31). Our faith requires that we treat our neighbors with respect."

I hope and pray that as a society, as a country and as a world that we may find comfort in the Comforter. That we may strive to find peace in our hearts in times of turmoil. May the families of the victims and the family of the guilty find forgiveness and hope, and to live each day in honor of those precious children of God. 

Bedroom Makeover Reveal!!

One week and a few days give or take and my bedroom is done! Well almost. There are a couple more things that I am in search for, but overall I am in love with my bedroom!

Before I reveal the pictures, may I just say how A.MA.ZING the Olympics were!! I really don't know what I am going to do with all my time now that they are over! *tear, sniff 
If watching those super human bodies, doesn't encourage you to work out and push yourself more, than I don't know what will.

Anyways, I just had to throw that in. On to my room. So with great work comes great sacrifice; and by that I mean; my house went without a mop, my laundry remained stained, my dishes remained crusty, and my child remained undressed and untamed! And that does not even mention what I looked like!!! But I did manage to make dinner every night. Go me!

Brett has always complained about all the pillows I have on our bed and how I complain when he lays on my bedspread! So what did I do?!... MORE PILLOWS!!!! Yay!

That Black Bedspread was a temporary replacement for our one we got when we got married, that fell apart. I let Brett pick it out, since we only needed it until I found one I loved and had money to spend on a new one. Well 3 years later, there sat the $17 Ross, bachelor pad bedspread! Needless to say I still haven't found one I absolutely love and am willing to spend $$ on, so I dug out our old, very old... old as in Brett's college bed down comforter. Gave it a good wash. And viola! This will get me by until that magical day when I stumble across the one I LOVE!

So here they are, my After photos:

I must brag that I indeed made ALL the pillows (except the one with the Eiffel tower on it)! And seeing as I  failed the sewing portion of home ec. in Jr . High and never really touched a sewing machine since, until this past Christmas when my MIL gave me my AMAZING singer, I'd say I deserve a high five!

If you took a peek at my before photos of my room, you would have noticed this little lady. You would have also noticed that she was black (just like everything else was, how ironic). So with a little paint, and a patient hand I gave her a facelift. This costed me $0. Thanks to my thrifty hubby who found a coupon on FB for a free quart of paint from Ace Hardware I chose the color Sweet Tangerine. The gray paint I already had in my library of craft paint, I then hot glued a piece of burlap (that I already had) to the back of the glass to help enhance the quote. I think she looks Fab!

This is the only place where I went over my budget of $0 and spent a few bucks. I haven't been sewing for long so my fabric collection is slim. So I went as cheap as possible. I used the old pillows that were previously on my bed and made slipcovers for them. And like I said before. I did not make the Eiffel Tower pillow. I bought her about 2 weeks after we moved, and hid her from the hubb saved her in a special place, until I was ready to make the commitment to my room. I got her for 50% off at the time. The fabric for the bow pillow was leftover from a previous project. The yellow pillow I made from this tutorial I found on Pinterest, the sea foam ruffle pillow I also found the idea on Pinterest. I bought the fabrics for $1.50 each, with a coupon of course!! I used a canvas material for the "je taime" pillow that I also had leftover. I thought about using the print on fabric method, or painting. However because nap time was coming to a close, I decided to go with the easy Sharpie route! And to top off my pop of color on the bed, I found 2 turquoise pillow cases for $1.97 at Walmart. So as a grand total, I spent (drum roll please).... $4.97!!!! Another high five, PLEASE!

I know the back wall is still bare. I am still working on making frames to go on both sides that contain pictures of the awfully sick day that I vaguely remember glorious day, when I married my man. I also want to make a throw blanket for the end of the bed.

These shelves were... guess what color? You guessed it, BLACK! They give some much needed PIZZAZZ to these awesome french books that Brett has had for years.

I know what you are thinking, you are thinking, WOW this post is never going to end! You are also thinking, so that is what makes Brett smell so good. Why yes, yes it is, Very Sexy for Him from Victoria's Secret; a bottle of cologne that an old girlfriend bought for him... that he still has. Maybe I should be worried that he hasn't used it all up yet, maybe because he secretly is holding onto any remnants of her he can. HAHAHA j/k Anyways, this tray I already had that I scored at Ross for $2 about 2 years ago. I painted the rim to help it out.
I don't know about you, but I'm thinking I might have to consider checking myself into paint rehab after this makeover. I'm addicted.

This is my favorite part of the room! Need I say more?!
 I invite you to look back upon the before pictures of these 2 items, and bask in the beauty of them in present day. Ready? Ahhhhhh........

My over all goal for this week was to bring sunshine and a sense of freshness to my room and I feel I have achieved that. Though there are still a project or two, or three, or four, or.... nevermind. Anyways, it's not 100% complete. But I can at least find myself sleeping more peacefully at night.

Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions of things I should do/ should have done. 

Thanks!

Bedroom Makeover Before:

So for awhile now, OK so for almost 2 years now, I have been wanting to do something different with my bedroom. It was boring to me (I get bored easily) and I wanted something new and fresh, and with lots of color. But I still wanted to keep the Paris theme. Not only because I'm obsessed with going there one day, but Brett also studied abroad there in college, served a French speaking LDS mission and graduated with a minor in French AND I told him that I would only marry him if he took me there one day... still holding him to that!

However my decorations were dark and dull after 5 years. I need color in my life. Lots of COLOR!
But I am on a strict Budget (or as my wallet tells me...$0) and our apartment will not let me paint the walls a color I would enjoy. So the challenge begins! And because I have been glued to the Olympics anyways I decided this is a good time to do it!!!

Before:

Not bad but you can't live with the same decor forever! Or at least I can't.

*Oh and please excuse my awful quality pictures. I had a toddler who thought she was supposed to be in every picture, so I had to act fast once she disappeared out of sight.