The Daily Grind.......

We haven't updated in awhile so I thought I would log on and let everyone know how our lives are going. Mike has been working, they put him back on patrol and his schedule is all different now, I am pretty bummed because I was loving the Mon, Tue, Wed with the 4 day weekend. Bummer now they have him working Thur, Fri, Sat, Mon, Wed, just all these random days.
I have been stressing non-stop over the IRS and also trying to get in some study time for my big Physics test I have coming up in 2 weeks, all the while taking kids to doctor's appointments, playgroups, preschool, classes, you know the drill!! Plus I have taken call literally the last 9 nights in a row! Since one of my co-workers went out on early maternity and someone decided to be a pain and complain that one of my other co-workers touched her inappropirately and he was taken out of work until they can settle. While going up to someone at the mall, unzipping their pants and putting a transducer on their bladder is definitley not kosher, in the ultrasound room its pretty basic stuff!! People like that RUIN the world, now she won't even respond to the complaint. If it was important enough to ruin someone's career don't you think you would at least respond?
Anyways more IRS fun. Finally we settled and paid over the 2004 audit (settled being -2800$) After many hours on the phone holding and trying to figure out why Juniper Ward doesn't qualify as a recognized charitable contribution. When we called the girl said oh yeah, it does say right here Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, oops- the auditor probably didn't see that. Too bad its been 4 years, if you want to fight it now you will have to go to Tax Court. Thanks that souns super fun. I didn't feel up to it so we just paid and and got focused on getting our 2005 packet together. We spent like FOREVER getting everything together, felt pretty good about it because we happened to have every reciept and even copies of our actual tithing slips, mailed in the 120 page packet with delivery confirmation and felt a big sigh of relief like maybe it will work out this time. We just recieved a letter telling us that they did recieve the packet but it seems to have been lost somewhere between the 2 buildings the IRS has in Ogden Ut. So could we please make up another packet and send it in, and by the way we have 15 days until penalties will start to be accessed. I was bawling on the phone while the lady asked me if why I hadn't made copies of the pages we sent in. She assured me it might turn up in the future but why should I wait while we rack up 12% interest on $4500 we don't even owe in the first place!!!!!!! I am so mad right now at the IRS is it not even funny and I am sick of spending hours on the phone everyday requesting 1098 forms and bank statements! I know this too shall pass but it still bugs.............. Alright if anyway is still reading hopefully you have some good news to share with me because I am pretty bugged and could use some cheering up.........We also have 2006 to do and we owe $7400 for that year, cant wait....I told Mike we should quit our jobs and he can work at McDonalds and then we could go on Wic and stuff. I don't think the IRS would ever audit us then......I can just see myself at the grocery store with a bunch of individual WIC coupons and Mike getting totally annoyed at how long it takes for them to match up every one with the right food. Something to think about.....

Old MacColey had a farm

The other day, Nicole and I took the kids to "Underwood Family Farms". Nicole had first told me about it last year when Savannah's school went there on a field trip. Nicole said it is a huge deal here in SoCal, and yet we never made it there until this past week. It was a lot of fun to watch the kids laugh at all the different animals and see how happy they were. Little kids are amazing. If Nicole and I went to a farm on our own, I'm certain we would both be whining about how dirty it was and how smelly the animals are. But with the help of two little kids the farm was a ton of fun! We are so lucky to have such fun little kids. My favorite part of the farm was the little goats. They had a fenced in pen which had an old rusted out truck parked in the center. There were wooden walkways that led from the back of the pick-up truck up into the sky, across the dirt path, and onto small little perches, then down into smaller little pens. People would feed the goats carrots, then when the people would walk away, the goats would climb up on the walkways and follow the people clear across the walkway and into the smaller pens, trying to get more food. I'm gonna buy one for a pet cause I'm almost certain that my little dog can't do anything that cool. Plus, it could keep my grass mowed, and carrots are way cheaper for treats than doggy treats!

Puerto Vallarta

The beach at our hotel
Our hotel was really green and had lots of ponds and activities. We would definitly recommend it to people traveling with kids. The food was awesome too, we were eating non-stop
The biggest pool in Puerto Vallarta
Mike's new buddies. He played volleyball with them like everyday. But I did manage to beat him in ping pong. It felt pretty good......


This is downtown Puerto Vallarta. We went there one day and were not that impressed. There was a couple of cool things (like this old church) but other than that it was very similar to downtown LA. Mike said he felt like he was at work but much more nervous since he didn't have his gun. He kept turning around and grabbing me. It was a little freaky. The city there is very poor. No one has air conditioning and it is super hot and humid and many of the apartments didn't have roofs, windows, etc.
This was a tour we went on that took us on an old bus through the jungle. Half way up the mountain the tour bus got stopped over a river and stuck in mud (it rains there every night for like an hour). We all had to get out, get back it, and go backwards down the steep one lane dirt road, it was so curvy the little 4 year old behind us kept throwing up! Then we got stuck again. Mike and this other guy borrowed a shovel from some farmer and dug the bus out, then pushed it out of the mud. We were stuck there for like an hour while Mike and this other guy were digging and pushing!! Oh yeah did I mention our bus driver was full on drunk, after our first stop when we got back on he reeked of liquor and was passed out on the seats. Everyone was like, hummm...........We really got to experience authentic Mexico on this trip........
This was an awesome trip! We took a boat to this secluded beach where they had kayaks and snorkeling equipment, it was super pretty and fun.


They had igunas like this around the ponds at our hotel. Mike loved them.

So our trip to Puerto Vallarta was super fun! It was nice to be away and relax! It may sound like I am complaining during this entry, but I am just giving a review of Puerto Vallarta in general. I will say that after going to Cancun (during the same month 3 years ago) it doesn't compare at all. The beaches in Puerto Vallarta are rocky and dirty colored, and the ocean is totally muddy. And super warm, the ocean feels like a spa, which doesn't feel nice since it is also 90 degrees and super humid so you are mostly dripping in sweat. We went on a snorkeling trip and we couldn't even see our hand in front of our face because the ocean was so muddy. Again no comparison to Cancun's crystal clear waters, tropical fish, and white sandy beaches. (We also had Cayman Islands to compare with and Cayman's water is way cleaner than PV) We enjoyed ourselves but I don't think we will be heading back down anytime soon. A couple who we met who has traveled all over the world said it wasn't really fair to compare Cancun beaches/water with any others since the only other similar comparison in the world is Greece. So we are thinking Greece for the next big trip!! Any input from anyone out there who has traveled would be nice!! We are glad to be home with the kids too and thank Donna for staying with them, it was so nice of her to stay with the kids for a week! Savannah and Cole LOVED it and talk about Nana Donna everyday.