Boyd Lake State Park

Boyd Lake State Park is in Loveland CO about 40 minutes from our house. Boyd was an OK lake. It is nice in size, about 1700 surface-acres of water. Has a pretty nice size swim beach, nice sandy area to beach your boat but if you don't get a spot early you won't have a nice sandy area and your only other option if you want get off the boat and onto land to let the kids play or picnic would be to park your boat along the grassy areas which are stinky and full of bugs. The following pics are from two different time we went to Boyd.

OUR NEWEST TOY

We've had a waverunner for a while now but when we went to the lake only one adult could be out on the water at a time while the other adult stayed with the kids on the shore. Waverunners are very fun but not very family friendly.. Last summer 2009 we decided we were going to buy a boat before summer 2010 so our entire family could be out on the water at the same time. We bought our boat March 2010 and have been out at the lake every weekend since it has warmed up. Our summer goal is to visit as many of the boatable waters in Colorado as possible. So far we have been to five; Boyd, Chatfield, Carter, Jackson and Horsetooth. Tomorrow we leave for our summer vacation to Lake Powell.

I'M BACK

I haven't been on my computer in about three long months! I have soooooo much to talk about. Just wanted to let everyone know I'M BACK!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Fixing Our Credit Score

This is about my families journey to paying off old bills.

Right now on mine and Tony's credit report the only thing that shows on the positive, paid on time side is my car. Because we don't have any established credit and so many things on the delinquent side it caused our credit score to be in the poor category. With poor credit we can't get a loan for anything and we can not get a credit card to help establish credit! Just to get my car we put 5,000.00 down and have a interest rate of 21%, but every month it brings the credit score up. We got my car last March and Tony's credit score was 549 and a few months ago when he checked it it was 600. Since then we have paid off or started paying on some of the things on the delinquent side of our credit report, no it will not help our credit immediately when it's paid off but it will show as paid in full or paid on time instead of delinquent, and that is something that people look at when giving you a loan or credit card.

June 2009 Tony paid off a 2,200.00 credit card bill from back when he was 18 for 1,100.00 that now shows as paid in full.

July 2009 there was a knock on the door and I was served papers for an outstanding doctor bill. I was so nervous about my upcoming court date that I called the creditor and asked if I could settle my debt outside of court, they agreed. September 11th I made my first payment that was my "good faith payment" and agreed that every month on the 16th 263.90 would come directly out of my checking account until March 2010 when my debt would be payed off. I wanted it to come directly out of my checking account so that no matter what, the 16th of every month I had to make sure I had 263.90 in my checking account or my account would end up in the negative and I would be left with a ton of fees. After the 263.90 comes out tomorrow I will only have one

more payment left on that bill and then it will show as paid in full!

Today February 15th is the day of my first payment of 222.00 to a creditor for a crap hole apartment that we lived in when we first moved to Colorado. The total of that bill is 2,220.00 and that will take 10 months to pay off. With the near ending of my doctor bill comes the beginning of another bill. I am very excited it is working this way and that we didn't end up having to pay them at the same time.

February 8th 2010 I received a call from a creditor letting me know she just received my bill from my last apartment complex in the amount of 316.00 and that she was giving me the opportunity to pay it immediately before it showed on my credit report. Of course I jumped all over that offer and this Friday February 19th that bill will be payed off.

All that we have left to pay is a few small bills that have gone to a creditor and one big bill for a surgery Prestyn had when he was 10 months old and that bill is 2,500.00

In November 2009 we tried to buy a house. This is when we learned Tony's credit score was 600. This is also when we learned that the only positive thing on our credit report was my car. We were told our imcome was above where it needed to be for a loan we were just being held back because of our credit score and the things on our negative side of our credit report in how they all said delinquet. We were told that if we can get the things on the negative side of our credit report to show as paid in full or on time that it will help us get loans or a credit card so that we can have something else on the positive side of our credit report so that we can build up our credit score some more. With the car alone bringing up our credit score it is taking longer than it would with multiple things. At the rate our credit score is going up with the car alone it will be about 6 more months for us to have a good enough credit score to buy a house and we really want a house by April so we can get that 8 grand and use it as part of the down payment. This is why having the things in the negative side say paid in full or paid on time is important to us and the person getting us the loan for our house. Tony got another raise in January that has made us very comfortable financially so paying off all those old bills has become very easy and we can do it in a quick amount of time. We just can not believe that we didn't do this sooner. Right now we don't miss the money that comes out of my account every month for these debts which is why it is so important for us to keep paying while we don't miss it. Hopefully we can get a loan or credit card in a few months so we can have something else to show in the positive side as "paid on time" to help bring our credit score up some more.

Entryway Storage 80% done

I wanted to show you guys how the entryway storage is turning out!

I LOVE IT!

I still need to put the trim on and paint.

I need your input now, please. 1-See the bottom, should I leave it open or put the drawer in? I like it both ways. 2- What color do you think would look best, dark or light?

I told you guys I would give you the cost. We used pine instead of MDF so we spent more money than the plans call for. We also have a lot of left over wood. Our Home Depot was out of 1x2's and for some reason I got confused and added extra 1x4's and that is why I haven't done the trim yet. Oh well we will use it for another project :) I'm only giving you the cost for what is needed and what we used, not everything we bought since we bought to much.

2- 1x10x8= 20.24

3- 1x12x8= 36.87

1 sheet of ply wood for back= 23.97

1- 1x4x12= 6.71

screws= 5.37

drawer pull= 5.00

hooks= 2.00

TOTAL= 100.16

We still need to buy our 1x2's

We bought a new tape measure, screw driver set, bit set and a few other things so our total way a lot more than this. Also we didn't buy the paint yet since I haven't figured out what color, but that will be about another 30.00 My estimator hubby was right on the dot when he said 150.00 Also we did decide we are going to make another bench and another 2 piece storage system to make it look like in the picture where it's painted a cream color. It took us 2 hrs, and we did cut our own wood, if you have Home Depot cut your wood it should only take bout an hour plus paint time. I can't wait to show you guys the finished product next weekend!

Marshmallow Pops

My first attempt at Marshmallow Pops for Valentines Day

I had plenty of help from the kiddos

(See Trentons Birthday Countdown in the background? I made this weeks ago and still haven't posted about it)