A Bit of Good Luck and a Vacation!

Posted January 23, 2017 by Prairie Wife - 1 comment

Holy Cow…can you believe that January is almost over?

I feel like it’s flown by, and in the process drug me behind it…

Things on the blog front have been great!

We’re gearing up for our “We LOVE our Readers” Month of giveaways in February. With some AMAZING giveaways like a pair of jeans from Belle by Kim Gravel, an Alta Fitbit, a custom made shirt created by Louria’s Lovelies, our fav Indie Author’s Sarah Boucher’s new book, $50 to spend at PicketFenceShadeySide.com (their clothes are SO amazing), and of course some new Prairie Wife gear!

We also have an awesome giveaway with PaperlessPost.com ($90 value) going on right now that you NEED to enter!

I’m all set to get back on track with our Prairie Wife of the Week interviews. I know you guys love them and trust me we have some amazing ones lined up for 2017.

Now it’s time to get personal… and honest.

Last year was a hard one on my family. With all the surgeries, recovery time and traveling to the doctor I’ve felt a bit like every time we get caught up, something set us back again.

Now we are done with surgeries but, I’ve added another side job and as I mentioned last week…it’s throwing me (and of course my family) a bit off balance. This weekend I buckled down and scrubbed the house top to bottom and last week I stuck to my lists, put my phone down more often and used my time wisely. The result was pretty smooth week and I’m hoping I can keep that momentum going.

In December The Cowboy and I were discussing if we could afford a family vacation this year. Last year we were unable to travel and even though we’ve stuck to a budget and insurance covered our surgeries we’ve had to spend more than $15,000 in expenses that are related to my surgery. Let’s be honest, that’s a ton of money, and well worth it but, it put the squeeze on our family for sure! We have a time share that allows us to cut the cost of our vacations by cooking meals, packing less (because I can do laundry) resulting in fewer bag fees, and not having to worry about hotel costs so, the main cost we have is airplane tickets.

We checked out a ton of travel sites, on all the days when you can get cheaper tickets and still it didn’t look like we could swing it, the cost of tickets for a family of 7 were just too much.

We were both disappointed. First, family vacations are amazing, and the memories and bonding that results from them is precious to us. Second, the thought of some fun in the sun was pretty dang appealing at this point in the Wyoming winter! Third, the Cowkids were champs through all last year. They had to give up a lot because of my surgeries and they kept pleasant attitudes and stepped up to the plate and helped out more than I could have imagined.

The exact same night that we decided there was just no way to swing a family vacation I received a text from a friend asking me “Did you buy a Children’s Choral raffle ticket?” I texted back yes and asked what I had won. Thinking it would be symphony tickets or a cheese basket.

“You won the grand prize $1500!”

I was in shock and truthfully didn’t believe her.

But, then the texts and calls came rolling in and it slowly dawned on me that it was real.

You guys, this was almost the exact amount we need to pay for plane tickets and luggage for our family to head to Florida! I sent up some majorly excited thank you prayers and called The Cowboy right away.

I was so excited, and frankly I still am!

We’re headed to Florida for a week starting this Saturday!

Ma and Pa are meeting us down there half way through and…can you keep a secret?!

We found a smoking deal on tickets to Disney World and are surprising The Cowkids with a visit to “The Greatest Place on Earth!” Pa is a huge Disney fan and when we told him we were going he was as excited as I’ve ever heard him, I’m almost looking forward to that more than taking The Cowkids!

I’m planning on having new posts still going up next week while we are gone but, please forgive me if I’m busy spending time with my family instead of posting on social media!

For those of you that are contemplating a trip of your own take a second to see how we saved thousands of dollars when we went to Florida with the Cowkids two years ago.

Anyone have any other ideas of what we should do while we are in Orlando? I think we’ll take a day and drive to the beach but other than that our schedule is wide open. I’d love to hear from those of you that have been before!

Categories: Life As It Happens, Prairie Life

Tags: , balance, budget, family life, giveaways, good luck, honesty, motherhood, thankful, vaction, winning