SMOKIN Deal!

Yesterday I went to Michaels to look for just a few small things I needed for my scrapbooking. I was walking around browsing through the aisles when all of the sudden, I saw these die cut alphabet sets on clearance for $9.97.

Now, that normally wouldn't be a big deal, except for the fact that these sets are normally...$149.99!!

I thought that couldn't be right that they were that cheap, I thought maybe they left off a number or something, so I peeled back the clearance sticker to see the price behind it, and sure enough they had previously been marked down to $69.97.

I have been wanting a die cut machine for years, but had given up on ever getting one because it was all so expensive! But, the machine itself is between $50-$100 depending on what kind you get. The alphabet sets are the most expensive thing at $149.99 a piece! The alphabet was what I wanted the machine for the most, so I had just given up on ever getting one...until yesterday!

I couldn't believe how good of a deal I was getting! They had 6 sets there, and I got 3 of them. (Now I wish I would have gotten all 6) So I got those 3 alphabet sets, and a bunch of other small stuff that I actually went to the store to get, all for $53! The alphabet sets alone, full price would have been $450! Talk about sale of the season! I don't think I will ever find another sale that good on anything ever!




Last night, Dan and I went to 2 other Michaels to see if we could find any other sets and get them also. The other stores were completely sold out, but one of the stores did have some other cute dies & embossers that are originally $9.99 on clearance for...$.97! So I got the 4 that they had, a heart, a gift, a flower and a "Lets Party!" die.





This weekend, my friend Marie is coming down to stay with us and scrapbook with me. We're going to go Friday night and split the cost of the smallest $50 machine, since we only need that one for the small dies we have now.

Plus, with my purchase yesterday, I got a 40% off any one item coupon in my receipt; so we're going to use that with the machine and pay about $15 each for it!

I am very excited to start using my dies this weekend and add a whole new element to my scrapbooks. I was looking through them the other day and was noticing how plain they are compared to what you might see in the store or somewhere like that. I had just been thinking how much I wished I could afford to add some really cute new stuff to them...and now I can!

More to come after I use them and find out what they're all about...

4th of July

Dan and I were able to take a quick little getaway trip to Las Vegas and St. George, UT for the 4th of July weekend. We left Friday night and drove to Mesa where we dropped our dogs off at my mom's and stayed the night with Dan's grandma.

Saturday morning (July 4th) we got up early and started our drive. We left around 7am and drove to Kingman where we ate lunch at the traditional Wendy's. (We couldn't imagine going anywhere else)


Then we got back on the road and drove to Las Vegas, only taking us about 20 minutes at Hoover Dam. We parked at the MGM and walked all around the strip. We wanted to try to go see the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign, as neither of us have ever seen it with all the times we've been to Vegas. So we thought we'd walk down there so we could take pictures, etc. Not the best plan...as it was over 100 degrees and this was around 2pm...we were both sweating like pigs by the time we got to Mandalay Bay, so we decided to can the idea and take the tram back to the Excaliber. We went over to the Coca Cola world to sit and rest with an ice cold Coke, and then walked over to the M&M world to look around.





We started running short on time, so we went back to the car and drove over to the temple to take a few more pictures.



We left then, and drove to St. George, UT. We have only been there once since we've been married (which was the only time I'd ever been) and probably our closest friends Wes & Tiff Webster live there and have come here to see us a ton of times...needless to say, we owed them big time.

We stopped on our way in to take a few pictures of the temple at sunset. Wes called just as we were leaving the temple wondering where we were; when I told him "we stopped by the temple on our way in" he responded with "yeah, that's what I thought..." lol He knows us too well and our love for taking pictures of temples.





We went to The Pizza Factory for dinner, as recommended by everyone who lives in St. George. It was fantastic! We went to watch the 2 fireworks shows that were battling each other before going back to Wes & Tiff's.



The rest of the time we really just relaxed with the Websters, caught up with each other, and played the Totally Insane Card Game.

We left Monday morning to come home, this time getting stuck for an hour and a half at Hoover Dam...we were backed up in traffic 4 miles before we even got into the dam. But then we went on to Kingman, where we stopped again at Wendy's for lunch. We reminiced about almost exactly 2 years prior when we hit the coyote just south of Kingman, on our way home from St. George the first time. That turn of events that ended in our Trailblazer being in the mechanic shop for over 2 months, Dan's mom being in what could have been a very serious tragic car accident in OUR Trailblazer, and Dan's grandfather passing away. All within the first 2 months of our marriage...it was fun to reflect back on that time in our life and how we got through it and grew so much together because of it all.



(Where our trailblazer finally died and we were stranded for hours after hitting the coyote and having no cell phone reception at 3am)

We were able to stop by my grandparents' house in Surprise, AZ on our way back into Phoenix. It was very fun to sit for a few minutes and visit with them, as we never go out there and Dan had never been to their house. We only ever get to see them at my mom's on holidays.

We picked up our dogs in Mesa around 8pm on Monday evening and started the very familiar drive back home. It was overall a very relaxing and much needed trip. Although it was quick, and we wished we could have stayed longer, we were very grateful for the ability we had to getaway for a few days and spend some time with our friends.

Next trip...Minneapolis, MN in August...it's coming quick!

Dad

I really feel the need to express my gratitude for my dad today, especially with Father's Day being this weekend. He does SO much for us constantly, monetarily and otherwise, and I never really sit down to express how thankful I am for all he does and has done for us over the past two years.

For my entire life, my dad has done so much for me. He always made sure I had the things I needed and sometimes the small extras that I simply wanted for school or my activities. He always made sure I had the best of everything I had; you could definitely say he spoiled me. Although my parents have been divorced since I was 4, my dad has always made sure to do everything he could to be present in mine and my brother's life. As much grief as I give him for allowing my brother to get away with everything, as I really look back, I got away with a lot too, he was just more protective because I was his first and only daughter.


While most of the things he's given me throughout my life have been monetary gifts, it still means more than just money to me. It goes so much deeper than just handing me a 20 when I see him. He always watches out for the things we need monetarily. He makes sure that we're not going to sink and that we can still succeed. I suppose that is just the best way he knows how to be a father. He will do anything he needs to in order to send my brother and I through as much college as we want at no expense to us. I have a bachelors degree and am about to get an associates degree soon, and as of now I have no student debt whatsoever, thanks to my dad. While I know it is part of learning and growing to encounter those types of monetary trials, somehow even with my dad's help, we still end up having our own struggles. I guess my dad would rather us be able to focus on becoming everything we want to become than worry about the smaller more tedious things.

I always hate asking him for money and I only do when I absolutely have to. (Like if our electricity is going to be turned off if we don't pay the bill) But there are so many things that are just small extras that he always makes sure we have, if we want them.

For instance, he came to let me clean his teeth last semester even though he hadn't been to the dentist in 10+ years because he hates going. He made the sacrifice 3 times to drive to Tucson from Chandler to help me learn. During his visits, he noticed that my instructors consistantly were telling me to sit up straight and that I have terrible posture. They would always follow it up with the question if I had bought loupes or not?

(Loupes are those glasses with the magnifiers on the lenses like in Grey's Anatomy & ER. They force/allow you to sit correctly and still be able to see what you're doing just as well. Preventing carpal tunnel and all the other problems that can arise from sitting incorrectly day after day for years)


When I would tell my instructors that I didn't buy the loupes when everyone else in the class did because I didn't have an extra $1500.00 laying around, my dad became concerned. He immediately asked if I really needed them and instructed me to email him the rep's number so he could call and place the order. Even though he's not totally hyped on me becoming a dental hygienist, he still felt the importance of the loupes, and didn't want the cost to be the reason I didn't have something I needed.

My loupes arrived today in the mail, and I can't be more grateful to my dad for them!

Over the past two years, even though my dad contemplated disowning me when Danny and I got engaged, he has since:

~Come to the temple, to wait outside and see us come out, even with as completely anti as he is

~Walked me down the aisle at the ring ceremony

~Bought a house for us to live in rent free while I'm in school
~Lent Danny money for his school so he would be able to register and get the classes he needed before the deadline
~Paid a few of our bills when Dan was out of a job for a month
~and SO much more.

Those are just the three things that hit me the most because they were the things that he swore he would never do when Dan asked if he could marry me.

I know there will never be anything I can do to repay my dad for all he's done for me throughout my life, and now for Danny and in the first 2 years of our marriage. As much as Alan & I tease him about having "gas station pizza" & peaches for dinner every night when we were younger and in school elementary school, those are the memories we will never forget. I just wanted to sit and really contemplate and express my love and appreciation for him today and always. I Love You, Dad!


His 50th birthday is coming up in November and I am trying with all my might to think of something wonderful to do/get for him. I want something that he'll never forget, something that will be one of the highlights of his life when he looks back on it. Any suggestions?

A Little Catch Up

A little update as to what's been going on for the past few weeks...

Dan's brother Jared moved back to Mesa with his parents. The situation ended up being much more involved than we knew and it was something we just didn't have the ability to help him with. He needed to be with his parents and get the help he needs from them. I believe he re-registered for his ENG 101 class at MCC, which is good so he can still have something to occupy his free time until he gets a job.

The situation was starting to get rough on everyone and the original idea of the move had been lost track of. So it was better for everyone that he move back home and be around his parents who have the ability to help him get back on his feet and moving again, and then later on if he wants to come back and start his own life away from everything, we'll try again.


I started my 5 week summer clinic the day after Memorial Day/Our Anniversary. It's been rough. I am officially a 2nd year/Senior and therefore I work with the 2nd year instructors who think like 2nd year instructors. It's been a LOT of information and learning VERY fast, which has been good; but sometimes they forget that we haven't been second years for more than a few weeks and we're not totally familiar with how they do everything and their expectations. One of the instructors told some of the girls that if you're not going to make it through the program, this 5 weeks will be the semester that breaks you. Just to give some feeling as to how important these 5 weeks are. It is much more stressful finding patients since it's summer and there isn't a lot of time to finish them. Luckily somehow, I've pulled through. I don't want to jynx it yet because I still have 1 more day of clinic and my last patient to finish, but I think in the end it should all come together for me. Hopefully it will for all the rest of my girls too!

We're trying to save up a little money to go spend the 4th of July in St. George, UT with Wes & Tiff Webster. We owe then BIG TIME for all the times they've come to see us, and we've missed going to see them. It's WAY past our turn. We're excited for that trip, it'll be a nice little weekend getaway with some of our best friends. We miss them so much and can't wait until we live close so we can hang out all the time!

Lately it's felt like we have been in this rut that we just can't pull out of. I know I'm not being very patient, and that I want it to all be fixed just like that, but it seems like we were doing well even with having so little, and the past few weeks it just seems like we've hit a road block and can't get past it.

There are so many things we want to do in the next very short period of time (which also adds to the stress). Some of which are:

~Save for our 4th of July trip to St. George
~Sell both of our vehicles
~Buy a new vehicle that we can both drive
~Buy a house
~Save for our trip to Minneapolis in August
~Buy simple things like textbooks and school supplies

I suppose it's just discouraging because we have always been able to do the things we want to, even if it takes a little while to save up, etc. we've always been able to do the things we put our minds to. But with these things, many of them are so big that we're not able to do them right now with our financial situation.

It was rough for us when Dan dropped down to working part time to focus on school, and I wasn't working at all. So right now we're just trying to catch up on bills and everything else. But I guess the problem is that we wanted to do so much this summer, when we had time to focus on it and really work on it, and it doesn't look like we'll be able to do too much before school starts again.

Hopefully though, as long as we can get ourselves back on track this summer, we can minimize the stress of when we actually do have to some of the big things this fall.

Such is life I guess. I just need to suck it up and keep going!

I have started writing a journal recently! I always wish I would write things down, but I just never have time, and I hate handwriting everything. I always feel like I have so much to write and my hand gets tired so I start cutting things out. So, I've started typing my entries, and I will print them and add them to a 3 ring binder Journal I bought years ago. I'm trying to go back to at least when we were married and catch up, while I write about the current happenings as well. It's been a fun project and something I look forward to continuing for a long time.


I also watched the movie Twilight...finally!! It totally got me hooked back into the series again. I have fallen out of reading since I started New Moon and Edward LEFT! I was SO angry that I read a few more chapters and then quit, and that's where I've been for months. But now after watching the movie I am totally getting back into it and hope to finish it and Eclipse at least by the end of the summer. Ultimately I'd love to finish the series because once school starts again, my spare reading time is over and it's back to reading textbooks... we'll see what happens, I'll be sure to keep you updated on how far I get!

Happy 2 Years!

Memorial Day weekend we celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary! We had a great weekend reflecting on everything we've been through in the past 2 years since our wedding. There has been a lot of things both good and not so good, but they have all made us so much stronger. It's amazing how much stronger our love for each other has grown. We didn't think that we could get any closer and love each other anymore than we did when we got married, but man were we wrong. It's been a great 2 years and we're excited to see what the next year holds!

We celebrated by going to stay a day and night in the Marriott Canyon Villas in north Phoenix. We looked at a couple of houses on that side of town while we were over there. We were able to visit with family and our friends Wes & Tiff while they were in town from St. George also. It was overall a great weekend and a nice short break from school and work and the other cares of life!





Check out the photo book Dan made for me!
(It's now a tradition, I made the first one last year, and he made the 2nd year's, so next year it will be my turn. It's interesting to see the difference in perspective based on who makes the book each year. What a fun tradition!)

http://bienzfamily.shutterfly.com/99

For Sale!

Well, the time has come. We've been talking about it for a while now, and we have finally decided to do it. We are selling my car, and eventually will sell Danny's Trailblazer to prepare ourselves for buying a home before the summer ends.

We will sell my car, and use the money to get another car that Dan can fit in well enough to drive himself, and then will sell the Trailblazer and use the money to pay off the rest of the loan we have on it. It is kind of sad, we both love our cars, but it's a sacrifice we have to make now in order to help ourselves be able to move on with life and buy ourselves a house.

For now, this is the listing for my car:

2001 Nissan Sentra GXE
111,000 Miles
(Mostly highway from when we were engaged and I drove from Tucson to Phoenix every weekend)
5 Speed Manual Transmission
Metallic Black
4 Doors
Ice Cold A/C
Power Locks
Power Windows
Cruise Control
Brand New Paint Job as of December 2008
Nice JVC stereo - CD & mp3 player hook up
New battery as of November 2008
Asking $5500 OBO






Let me know if you know anyone who is looking for a car! Thanks!

Jill Cell: 480-593-2023
Dan Cell: 480-452-9867
Jill Email: jbienz07@hotmail.com
Dan Email: dbeanz@hotmail.com

Schoooools Out for Summer!

Dan and I made it through all of our finals. So far, we're not too dissapointed with our grades and the way this semester ended. It has probably been the best one yet. It is so crazy to think that I only have a year left until I'll be an RDH. I'm officially a second year dental hygiene student! It's been so nice to have a small break before my summer clinic starts. I'll be able to have a good week off and get a lot done around the house, as well as celebrate our anniversary and memorial day all before I go back to school on the 26th. Summer clinic is only 5 weeks though, so I can't complain. It'll also help keep me well practiced, so in August I won't be as rusty.

Things with our families have started to calm down somewhat. Dan's brother Jared is coming to live with us for the next year. He has already brought one load of stuff down, and will be bringing the rest this week. Dan is working on getting him a job at the city of Tucson, where he works for the parks and rec dept as a score keeper. Jared has gone to work with him a couple of times, and it's looking like they might be able to work something out. Jared will also start school with me on the 26th. He has not attended college yet, so he'll take just 1 class now in the summer and then will have 3 classes in the fall and spring semesters. He'll move back to the Valley and transfer up to MCC in Automotive Technology next summer when we move back.

It's been a tough couple of weeks all around between school, work, family and then all the extra stuff going on. We are just so grateful that we are in a position to be able to help Jared at this time in his life. He is in need of some guidance and love, and needs someone to help him learn about real life without just throwing him in and letting him "sink or swim". We are so happy to be able to help him start a life for himself that will benefit him so greatly in the future. It'll take some adjusting I'm sure having someone else here in the house with us all the time, but it'll be rewarding in the end for everyone I know.