Saving lots of monies.....

I was watching Oprah the other day. Actually I was watching Suze Orman, on Oprah. She was talking about how you can call up the credit card companies, and ask if they will lower the pay-off amount for you, as long as you are sending in a payment to pay it all off. She said a lot of times, they just want what ever money they can get from you, so they will lower it just to get a lump sum. As I thought about this, I thought about all the Dr. bills we have. (Pediatrician, OB, fertility Dr., emergency room for kidney stones) Needless to say, we have a bunch. I wondered if it would work for the Dr. bills......so I tried. I got on the phone, and started calling one Dr. after the other. The first one I called, the balance was about $130 (I know, probably TMI), anyhow, I simply asked her if I was to send in a pay-off amount, if there was any way they could lower the pay-off amount or give a discount of some sort. She said she would need to call me back. Well, I got a call about ten minutes later saying for some reason a few payments from my insurance company didn't get posted until this year that were suppose to be paid last year and now they owe me $94. What??? Ok, I am fine with that. Next Dr. I call, the bill was $324.....now I know this was not the right charge. I have had these services before and they cost about $60. So I spoke with the lady for a little bit about how this doesn't seem right. She looked at my account and said it didn't look right to her either, and that it should have only been a charge of $50. Fine, I could pay $50. Well, ten minutes later, they call back saying, it was posted wrong and now the charges are $0. What??? Zero balance.....OK, I can handle that. Next Dr. I call, they can only give me a ten percent discount, but it's still something. Next Dr. I call, the lady was very nice and she said she would cut my bill in half (which was over a $150 savings people). I was feeling stoked by this time. I called a few more and they all worked with me but one, which was fine. I tell you this not to brag (ok....maybe a little), but to let you know that this is possible. Also, that sometimes Dr.'s offices make mistakes, and it is up to us to point them out. A couple of these, I would have normally just paid, and not thought anything about it. Glad I called. Now you can do it too. With the hard times, I think Dr.'s just want to get paid something, rather than nothing at all. I added it all up, and saved us over $600 in Dr. bills....and it only took about a half hour. I think that's pretty good pay. My husband was pretty proud of me, and I could now say I contribute financially to this family......ok, kind of .... :)

no more soccer....

So we think this is the last season Ashley and Jordan will be playing
soccer. They have played for a couple years now
and have decided they don't want to play
anymore. It's sad because they
both are pretty good. We
have "played them up" to an older age
group requested by their coaches, and it has been
great seeing them learn. We can tell Ashley is done, she really
doesn't even try anymore, but Jordan does and he is really good, so it's
going to be sad not seeing him play anymore. They have both tried basketball,
and that is what they both want to play, so we can't be too upset.
Jordan is now wanting to try football, and
Ashley is still wanting to try dance. We shall
see what we do next.

Just thought this
was a cute picture of my twins..... We sure
love them... :)

News....

Our most recent news...... This last Sunday, Nathan was sustained a
member of our Bishopric. He will serve as our second
counselor, therefore serving over the youth.
He is very happy about that, since this new calling has taken
him away from his three year calling of Young Men's
President. (which he LOVED)
I love this man, and know he will do a great job. We
are very excited for him to serve....we just love this ward.

Easter fun....

Those of you that remember last year's Easter bunny post.....this is
what it looked like. Cody wanted NOTHING to do with him.
We thought it was so funny...and I loved the
picture......so....





This year........

He did much better. We talked to him about it ahead of time
and actually showed him the picture from
last year......he thought it was funny.
So he was ready, and as soon as he saw the bunny, he
went running to him. So fun!

Ashley and Jordan at the Albertson's Easter egg hunt......ok...not
really a hunt. More like a "run and get as many
eggs as you can". It was a little crazy and went
way too fast. I couldn't even get
pictures of them getting eggs....it went so fast.

Then that evening, we dyed eggs with some friends. I had
boiled up three dozen eggs...so the kids
had plenty to dye. They loved it, but next time
I need to remember a table cloth.

Cody loved that you can write on them with crayons
before you dye them, and it shows up after.

Then Easter morning came.... and we (I mean the Easter bunny), hides
their baskets for them to find. Cody found his right
away in the basket in the family room. His
face was priceless. He was SO happy.

New Batman flip flops.....

Jordan found his basket pretty fast too. Man, we are
going to have to hide better.

Comparing guns.....

Ashley is always most excited about the candy. She is our
little sweet tooth. We actually had to go and wake
her up at 9:00......we were too excited to wait.

Happy kids....and a little sunburned from soccer games
the day before.

We also had a little surprise in our yard. We had noticed it
the night before. Someone had scattered eggs
throughout our yard and each one was
filled with candy. We still
don't know who did it, but we sure appreciated it. My kids
were so excited and didn't believe that we didn't do it.

There really was a ton of eggs...... thank you......who ever did it! :)

This year we did not buy new church clothes. We have in the past, but
this year we decided since they don't really need new
church clothes, there's no point in spending the
money for it. So these are clothes
they already had. But we did pretty good coming up with
Easter colors to coordinate. I think they look pretty cute.
We had a great Easter!

Hangin with my family.....

I was able to go over to Idaho Falls this last weekend to spend some time with
my family on conference weekend. Six of my ten siblings were able
to go. Everyone brought their families, but me. I went
all by myself. Nathan and the kids stayed
for soccer games, which ended up being good, since two of
them had fevers all weekend. Anyway, I had a great time. My family is
known to sit around a piano and sing. This is how it started out. With my mom playing
the piano and my brother in law Jim, and brother John and my dad, singing.

Then my sister Leslie joined in.
(Don't you love how my niece, Lindsey, is directing them)

Then Lindsey and my cousin, Christian, joined in. This is usually
what happens. There are plenty more singing, just
not joined around the piano. It is a lot of fun.

We all went out to dinner Saturday after Priesthood session. It was
really good and a lot of fun. We realize how loud we all are
when we get together like this. Very loud....
(Matt's wife, Candice, and my brother Mark are not in picture. They couldn't come to dinner)

Oregon trip......

We went over to Portland area a couple of weekends ago, for a baptism. We
went with Nathan's parents and brother, Donny,
and his wife, Katelyn. On the
way home, we decided to stop at the fish hatchery.
I had never been and neither had my kids.
They loved it.

I loved this picture.....everyone starring at the fish...

I always try and get a picture of Nathan and I, and this is usually what
I get.

So I decided to get one with his brother Donny, and I
get the same thing......seriously people.....

He finally gave a good one...

This is the group all together. The whole reason we went to Oregon. Our
sister-in-law, Emily chose to get baptized. We were so
excited for her and wanted to be there
for her, so we made the trip, and had lots of fun. Here is a picture
of all Nathan's family that was there.
(Emily is the cute one in the white sweater.....the one Ashley has a tight grip on and never leaves her side)