Gel and The Boys

Family Update

2011-03-02T06:56:00.005-10:00

So lots of exciting things have been going on here around here lately. Well, exciting to us.

Brody started violin lessons. Isn't he a doll?

Collin lost another tooth. The tooth fairy brought him 4 quarters. How awesome! And yes, I agree that this is a scary picture.

There we go. That is much nicer. :)

And Big D got himself a new gun. He is very excited about it, and I really hope he doesn't hurt himself with it. Doesn't he look so tough?

And for our biggest news......we are expecting baby #3 September 7th. We are all very excited. I can't wait to find out the gender next month. We hope for boy #3, but I really bet that it's a girl. Time will tell. Well that is our brief update in pictures. Enjoy!

"I'm Bored!"

2011-02-17T09:43:00.003-10:00

Don't you just love those two little words? Collin is the kind of kid who is on the go at all times. He is very smart and very physical. Last summer I made him the classic "I'm Bored" jar out of a wipes container. Simple, yet one of the best things I have ever done. Collin refers to it several times a week. He is wakes up at 6 am and is instantly doing something. Frequently he will have some craft project finished before I go upstairs to tell him to get ready for school.

Some of the ideas in box include:

Draw a robot or alien.

Cut pictures out of magazines and make a collage.

Look at library books.

Ride your scooter.

Read to Brody.

Make a treat with Mom.

Do math on the calculator.

Ride your bike down the hill.

Count to 101.

Do handstands against the wall.

Plan an activity to do with Dad.

Play Chutes and Ladders with Brody.

Call a grandma or grandpa.

And the list goes on. I am looking for some fresh ideas. Someone suggested origami and I thought that was a great idea. I will have to check out a book from the library for that one. I am looking for simple ideas. Things that he would be able to do at home with little or no assistance. He is just someone who has a mind that doesn't stop and sometimes that is exhausting for me! I am glad that he can be a self-starter and create things on his own. Please comment with your suggestions! Our box needs a refresher!

And this picture is just to remind you of how handsome he is. :)

Our Getaway

2011-01-18T09:05:00.001-10:00

Christmas Time

2011-01-13T11:00:00.003-10:00

Not really been in the blogging mood lately. This post is for Marsha though cuz she was sick of looking at Halloween. :)

Halloween Roundup

2010-11-04T13:23:00.003-10:00

We had a great Halloweek this year. We started off with the ward party a week before Halloween. The boys were flying monkeys and I was the Wicked Witch of the West. I even won "Most Unique" chili for a new chicken chili recipe I tried. It was delicious!

Collin had to dress up as a character from a book he read, and the natural choice for him was Percy Jackson. It was an easy costume, and of course we had to include the lightning bolt.

Here is Collin before he went to a Halloween party. He is a dragon from How to Train Your Dragon. He didn't wear the wings because they were too complicated. Everyone thought he was a dinosaur and he kept getting mad. Haha!

Here is my awesome house! It was such a fun, cheap idea, and it looked great!

Rarh!!

Optimus Prime or as Brody says "Octopus Prime". Hehe.

The cutest boys I have ever seen.

I hope everyone had a fun Halloween!

30 is the New 20

2010-10-07T02:51:00.003-10:00

I did not take very many pictures of Darrell's big party! I know, I know, I am terrible. I was just a little overwhelmed and I totally forgot about it. I should have asked somebody else to do it for me. Oh well. We had a great turn out, and we had lots of fun. We had a delicious barbecue with Darrell's fancy meat (tri-tip) that will be the butt of jokes for a while. The theme was based on the wonderful cake that Amber made, sort of a Darrell/USA theme.

We played a Darrell trivia game which Warren won the fabulous prize: a Rubiks cube. Amber wrote down all 50 states the fastest to win a handheld poker game. She actually wrote down 51, but I was not going to double check that list. Haha! Then we had a puzzle-off. There were 6 teams competing to put together their own 60 piece puzzle of the United States to win a paddle ball set. My friends Mary and May won that one.

We also did a pinata, and I am completely surprised that none of the kids got whacked in the head. All in all it was a fun, silly party. I think everyone had a good time! There was good friends and good food. That's all you can ask for in party. We were especially lucky that Darrell's high school friend, Brad, could fly in, as well as Darrell's mom, Barbara. It was fun to catch up. Brad is welcome at my house anytime. The guy cut up the fruit for the party, did dishes, mopped, swept my front porch, and got Darrell to finally hang up some mirrors for me!

Happy Birthday, Darrell!! Our 30's are going to be great!

Stuttering

2010-08-08T05:34:00.004-10:00

As many of you know, Collin had a problem with stuttering. He actually was stuttering for a few months when we were in Hawaii, but it went away. Then he started it again when he went into Kindergarten this year. It was a pretty noticeable problem, but we really didn't know what to do. We tried to ignore it for a while, hoping it would go away like it had before. That wasn't working. Sometimes stuttering can be related to stress so we were trying to find out if something was bothering him at home or at school. That is kind of a funny conversation to have with a 5 year old, and we really got nowhere. He seemed to be a happy, smart kid. Darrell decided to take kind of an aggressive approach and make Collin stop what he was saying and start over if he started to stutter. Let's just say that wasn't effective. Even the teacher at school had him see the speech therapist. They said, although he does stutter frequently, it really wasn't considered stuttering, because he didn't have any of the ticks that go with it. As the year went on, and so did the stuttering, I just really was at a loss as to how I could help my child get over this. Was he going to have this his whole life? Finally through all my reading, I found an article that said something that was pretty profound to me. It suggested letting your child finish their sentence no matter how long it took them. Just listen. I had been interrupting him and finishing his sentences, because it took so long to spit out what he was going to say. I tend to rush people, and I had to stop. Let's just say after days and weeks of me being more patient and just letting him finish what he had to say, we are stutter-free!
It's funny how all this time I was thinking that he had a problem that he needed to fix, but really it was me who needed to change. Isn't it funny how we do that a lot in our lives? We think something or someone is doing something wrong and it irritates us, but really, if we just change and improve one small thing then the problem disappears. The answer is to just be more patient and the problems will take care of themselves.
I had an argument this week with a friend that could have been solved by being more patient on my end. I could have listened more and talked less. When things like that happen in my life I like to look at myself and find out how I can improve. What did I do wrong? What can I do differently? I am setting some New School Year's Resolutions (who says you only can do this in January?) to try to improve myself and my family. I can't wait to get back onto a regular schedule when school starts. I think that always helps us to keep on track.
Here are a few of my resolutions:
1. First of all, the obvious one: patience. For some reason lately I have been irritable, and I just need to let things go.
2. Make more of an effort with family. I don't keep in touch with my family or Darrell's family as much as I should. Marsha, you are my hero for knowing how to talk to family and keep people connected.
3. Family Home Evening every week. This sometimes get skipped, because Darrell leaves on Monday nights. We need to plan this for a different day of the week to make sure it always gets done.
4. Scripture reading daily. This is something I do really, really well at for a while and then it falls off again. I need to schedule this into my day and make it a priority.
5. House cleaning. I hate it! But my new plan that has worked so far is to put the kids to bed at 7:30pm and then clean until 8pm. That way the kids are out of the way and it is way easier to get things done.
6. Eat more healthy. I have been having a rough battle with food lately. I am just making easy food, but I need to make sure my diet is more balanced.

There are a few more as well that I want to keep private, but I challenge everyone to make some New School Years Resolutions of your own. I think this is a better time of year to make changes than in January. What are your goals?

A Taste of Wisconsin

2010-07-07T17:21:00.003-10:00

We had a great 12 day trip to the booming metropolis of Cumberland, Wisconsin, home of the Rutabaga Festival. I am still trying to things back into a routine here, but I wanted to post a few pics. We had a fun time!
Woody at the Lego Store at the Mall of America -

Our friendly deer friends -

The whole goofy crew -

10k Pictures

2010-06-12T07:14:00.004-10:00

A few pics from the race today. Here I am with the boys before the race.

Erica the trooper.

Here I am almost at the finish.

Collin ran the last .2 miles of the race. That was my favorite part.

Here is my posed finish. Darrell was at the 6 mile marker so he didn't get my finish line picture.

And the beautiful lavender. It smelled amazing.

Summer Schedule

2010-06-09T11:46:00.002-10:00

Summer is upon us, and there are 101 things we want to do. I have been planning things out and trying to make sure we have time to do everything we want. Collin, who is exactly like his mother, made his own schedule for his summer events. I think that it is the sweetest thing I have ever seen!

The picture isn't very clear, because I took it with my phone, but you get the idea. I will decipher his code for you.
S = Science, I have a homeschool curriculum that we are going to follow
M = Math
GAS = Get A Slurpee (my personal favorite)
DO = Day Off, this is supposed to consist of renting movies and staying home, but that did not happen today.
C = Craft
PWM = Play With Mom
Vote = Collin will make a banner with two things on it and we will vote which one we like best. That is what the diagram is at the bottom of the schedule with the arrow pointing to it.

Don't you just love it? He did this all on his own without my knowledge. When he presented it to me, I just couldn't resist it. We will have to make time to do everything on his schedule as well as a few of the things on mine.

The thing that we are most excited about is getting to go visit Darrell out in Wisconsin for two weeks! We are hoping for much cooler weather up there.

What are your plans for the summer??

Houston Space Center

2010-05-11T14:29:00.004-10:00

Over Spring Break we went to Houston to visit Darrell at his jobsite. The boys had tons of fun "camping" with Dad. We were able to go to the Houston Space Center. Collin was so excited for it! He is our little nerd through and through. We ran into some storm troopers while we were there. It was like a dream come true for two little boys.

"Houston, we have a problem." (It had to be said.)

A boy's paradise!

The boys got to have a little fun at dad's work too. All boys love a good dirt pile.

Breakfast in Bed

2010-05-09T14:50:00.004-10:00

Darrell wasn't able to be home for Mother's Day this year. He will be home next weekend for my birthday, and I figured that would be better anyway. We always celebrate my birthday multiple times, because I like to milk it and get a little spoiled. :) So him being here for "Birthday Week" (as we call it around here) is more important than Mother's Day. I didn't think much about getting any breakfast or gifts today other that what Collin had made at school.

Then last night, about 10:15 pm, I hear a knock on my door. I opened it to find my sister in law, Amber, and my sweet friend, Mary, just giggling away. They had brought me a picnic basket full of breakfast goodies! Pineapple, blueberry muffins, strawberries, orange juice, and to fulfill my late night sugar craving they brought me chocolate covered almonds! Oh yes, and those beautiful flowers too! They knew Darrell wouldn't be there so they stepped in and took care of me. I am so lucky to have such great friends.

Maybe I will save a few almonds for Darrell. Then again......maybe not. :)

Rite of Passage

2010-04-28T16:54:00.003-10:00

Darrell has been begging me to put up a blog. I went through the pictures from the last month or so to see what I could post. The only thing that I felt like posting was this picture.

This is Mr. Nerdpants. It is a character that Collin created, and now he has passed along the tradition to Brody. It's hilarious every time. We have even gotten Darrell to do it a time or two, even though I am sure he would never admit it. It's kind of a fun bedtime ritual since that is when the boys usually wear elastic waist shorts. Collin is a natural born comedian, and he keeps us laughing all the time. I think Brody makes a really good Mr. Nerdpants.

Seen Better Days

2010-04-13T04:52:00.003-10:00

My poor little Brody-o. He really had a tough day yesterday. He had thrown up overnight and had been running a fever all day. He was coloring at the window in the kitchen yesterday evening when WHAM! He hit his face on the ledge of the window.

His top two teeth cut a pretty big gash in his bottom lip, and his top gums were swelling immediately. I didn't want to check to see how loose his teeth were, because we had been here before with Collin, and he had lost his first tooth at age 4 1/2 due to a similar accident. Finally I checked and both teeth were loose, one worse than the other. I was having a panic attack, and Brody was bleeding pretty good. Bad combination.

Finally I made it to the ER (I thought Bro's lip would need stitches) and Brody was acting like his normal self again. The bleeding was stopped and he was fine until the nurse asked him to stand on the scale. Then he started screaming from there on out. (Same thing happens to me when I stand on a scale.) Finally we talked to the doctor and he said that his lip will just heal and his teeth may or may not fall out, but the dentist won't do anything to it, because they are his baby teeth. I really think the one tooth will fall out relatively soon, but the other will hold on for a while. My poor baby. He is refusing to put the ice on his lips so they are huge! Hopefully we will have some better luck around this house in the near future. It seems like one thing after another.

5k Victory!

2010-04-10T09:59:00.003-10:00

I ran my first 5k today! My wonderful friends Mary and Rachel ran with me. It was amazing! I feel really great, and I want to do another one. Next race will have to be when Darrell is home, because it was a bummer to not have him there. My goal was to run the whole thing without having to walk, and I did it!! I do not know my time though, because I didn't even see the clock. Ha ha! Mary and Rachel came it at 36 minutes and I was there a few minutes before them. I am guessing my time is 32-33 minutes. I ditched them at mile 2 when they had to walk. :) What a feeling of accomplishment. It was so fun!

Old Blogs Posts Remembered

2010-04-08T18:40:00.002-10:00

Here are a few of my favorite old posts for all you new readers out there. You can get to know a little more about me. Enjoy!

100 Things About Me

Places I Have Lived

Grandma Ward

Coolest Parents Ever

Food Storage - You gotta start somewhere

That's just a few fun ones! It's really fun to go back and see all the pictures. Brody is growing up so fast. I miss his floppy long hair he had when we were in Hawaii. And Collin, well, he is a crack up. So fun! Many more blogs to come.

Thank You!

2010-04-06T05:33:00.002-10:00

Collin was bored the other day and looking for something to do. I told him he could write some thank you notes for his birthday presents and money. He was very excited about that idea and ran up to his craft room as fast as he could. I had forgotten all about it and today I found these three letters in the kitchen. He put them out so I could mail them. Isn't that the sweetest thing! He wrote them all by himself. I have such good kids!

Egg Drop Party

2010-04-04T08:39:00.004-10:00

We had our First Annual Grannis Family Egg Drop Party this weekend. It was lots of fun, and the best part was we got to throw stuff off the roof. Everyone had to construct their own vessel for their egg using misc things found around the house. We dropped the eggs from about 3 ft, 6 ft, 10 ft, and about 20 ft. Everyone had a chance to drop from all four heights, and that's when things started to get messy. In between each drop everyone had a chance to reconstruct, double pad, and extra duct tape their containers to ensure a safe flight for their eggs.

Here is Collin deciding how to build his.

Darrell, getting a little too serious.

All the fans and cheerleaders.

Ready...set....drop.....

Splat!

Brody won second place, but he stole the grand prize and no one had the heart to make him trade back.

And here is Tom, the grand champion, with his Dr. Pepper vessel that gave a nice safe ride to his egg all four drops.

My Garden

2010-03-11T09:07:00.004-10:00

I got my little garden planted this week! Well some of it at least. When I find my seeds (I put them somewhere "special") I will plant those. So far I have 6 tomato plants and 2 broccoli plants. I am so excited! I can't wait to have fresh tomatoes on hand to make salsa or just to put on a sandwich. Yummy! Brody is such a good helper too. He was more excited than me, I think.

Photo Catch Up

2010-02-23T09:14:00.004-10:00

I haven't been posting as much lately, but I do have a few fun pics to share from the last 2 months.

Here is a not very clear picture of Brody after he wrote all over his face in orange marker. My camera really, really sucks. Marker is literally all over his face.

Brody had a Valentine's Day party. He had lots of friends come over and decorate their Valentine's boxes and then hand out their Valentine's. Lots of fun!

Brody just being weird.

Darrell took Collin to a college basketball game. Good father/son bonding.

Collin got a free poster at the game. :)

And here is Collin painting his room. This color scared me when we first put it on the wall. It looks pink! It dried a really dark red though and it looks great. Half of Collin's room is dark blue for outer space and the other half is rockstar red. Can you tell it was his choice? I am currently in the middle of painting the murals. Yikes! I will put up a final picture when I am all done.

I Am Not Above Child Labor

2010-02-23T08:51:00.004-10:00

Yesterday I was going to scrub my kitchen floors, and by the end of the day it still had not happened yet. They were bad too. I was dreading the chore and I complained outloud, "I don't want to clean these stupid floors!" Collin said, "I will do it, Mom. Whatever job you want, I will do it." Deal, he he he. Collin is so awesome. He has cleaned the floors on two other occasions so he did know what he was getting into. He cleared out the furniture while I swept. The we each started on the end of the room and met in the middle. The whole thing was less than a half an hour. And it was fun to do it together.

Check him out drying the floors:

This is a picture from last time he did the floors. I forgot to take a picture during this stage yesterday. This was the time I paid him a penny a tile! Quite a little businessman, not to mention hard worker.

And here is sweet little Brody. His job is to rinse the dishes as I clear off the table. He does this every night and LOVES it. He is sort of the neat freak at our house. Makes it easy when I load the dishwasher.

Snow in Texas!!

2010-02-15T11:18:00.005-10:00

There have been rumors of snow coming to the Austin area a couple times this winter. I am not really a big fan of freezing temperatures, but I did feel a little homesick for some snow. Well it never came to my house, but this last week look what hit Dallas:

The airport was shut down on Thursday. Luckily they had things up and running again Friday morning when we were flying in. Look at this happy girl and her snow!!!

What's For Dinner?

2010-01-18T10:00:00.002-10:00

January is notorious for people getting into a funk, especially me. I am exhausted from Christmas. I am usually stuck in the house. I just kind of don't want to do anything, especially make dinner. I found two recipes and tried them out last week. They are total no-brainers, and it will spice up your January menu! They are made from ingredients that you most likely already have in the pantry.

Easy Broccoli Beef
Foil-Pack Bruschetta Chicken Bake

The Broccoli Beef is just as good as any chinese food place! Maybe even better. The foil Chicken is really filling and very delicious. Both recipes are very easy. Enjoy!

New Year - Same Goals

2010-01-11T03:49:00.002-10:00

This is the time of year where people set goals for themselves to accomplish over the next year. Usually those things start out strong and then fade off by February. I have decided to take a new approach to New Year's Resolutions. I have pretty much the same goals as last year: food storage, get out of debt, exercise, more activities with the kids etc. What I want to do differently is rather than write down a goal and feel warm fuzzies inside for setting that goal, is make a plan and/or schedule a time that I will work on that goal. I know I want to exercise at least 3 times a week, but I also know that I want to take Brody to playgroup on Tuesdays and Storytime at the library on Fridays. So my plan is to exercise Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I get my time with Brody scheduled as well as some time for myself. These are concrete plans, not subject to change. I am also making some serious food storage goals like how much I want to have by a certain date and also how I can increase my food storage by using coupons. Food prices in Texas are a little bit higher than in Utah, ($3 for a gallon of milk! Oh how I miss the days of 3 for $5!) so I have been getting creative on how I am buying some food items at the drug stores to get better prices. Also my debt goal is very high priority. I am still working out some kinks on how much I want to save/pay down debt this year, but I will have an official plan real soon. I guess what I am saying is don't just write down your goals. Write down a plan on how you can achieve these goals. Make time for them. Make 2010 a great year!

Collin Chatter

2010-01-06T14:46:00.004-10:00

Yesterday we were out running errands and I was telling the boys that after everything was done that we would go pick up a pizza at Papa John's. I quickly corrected myself and said, "I mean Papa Murphys." I then proceeded to tell them that Papa Murphy's tasted way better and that we could pick it up then (3pm-ish) and cook it when we were ready.
So we finish our errands and go order our pizza at the counter. We sat on the bench to wait for our pizza to be made.
Collin looks over me and says, "If this pizza is so good, then why are we the only ones here?"
Very funny! And very perceptive! I love that kid.

New Year's Eve

2010-01-01T08:43:00.003-10:00

We had a fun little get together for New Year's Eve. It was a couples game night, and there was some friendly competition going on. We first played The Newlywed Game so we could get to know our guests better. Then we played Battle of the Sexes, which was funny to hear some of the answers on both sides. Then we started the main event: Wii Bowling Tournament! We had brackets set up with a double elimination. Jenn was the winner! You go girl! I forgot to take pictures of earlier in the night, but here are a few from the bowling tournament.
Here is our AWESOME trophy! Who wouldn't want to win that?

Chester getting all serious.

Here is Jenn's signature move.

And Jenn is the Champion!!! She beat Chester with a score over 200! Way to go! I know Jenn and Tom will be displaying this on their mantel for years to come. :)

All in a Day's Work

2009-12-28T14:05:00.003-10:00

Darrell has the whole week off of work so we are putting him to good use around here. First project: storage shelving in the garage. We got everything off the floor and up onto the shelves. The garage is so clean now!
Collin didn't like the loud banging.

What a great helper!

Nearly done....who's that hot guy?

Ta-da!!! Looks great!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T12:29:00.003-10:00

Here are a few pictures (in no particular order) of our Christmas morning. Brody was so excited to finally get his train set! We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Finally a Good Coupon Day!

2009-12-18T13:27:00.003-10:00

I got some pretty good deals yesterday, and I am very excited about it! I am going to get back into going to Walgreen's and doing their Register Rewards, as well as figure out CVS's reward system. I have never shopped at CVS before so that will be a new thing.

Here is what I got at Target for $10.xx. I had a $5 gift card from a couple weeks ago so I used that to bring my total down. Those Frosted Flakes are the HUGE boxes, 27-28 oz size! And that meat is some really nice steaks that we have tried before. They were delicious! Notice the JUMBO box of Qtips. That's for you, Darrell. Yes, I do love you. :) The man can't live without them so I am hoping that 700 of them will make him happy.

Here is what I got at Walgreens for $25.xx in 3 transactions. The thing about Walgreen's is that you have to make an initial investmest and then you can roll your Register Rewards from week to week after that. I actually ended up with $22 in RR for next time.

Before coupons this would have cost about $62! Have you ever tried John Frieda products before? They are my favorite, but they are also $6-7 a bottle so I rarely get them. So out of pocket I saved about 40%, but I have $22 in Register Rewards left to use another trip. Yay for Walgreens!!

Bake Sale Success!

2009-12-05T16:27:00.004-10:00

Today was Collin's Bake Sale. I baked all day yesterday, and I think that everything turned out great! Collin earned $13 and was very proud of it. He was a very good salesman. He showed his customers around and told them all the prices. It was very cute. The reason he is trying to earn money is to earn enough to buy THIS Transformer toy. He has been saving his money for the last few weeks. He wanted to start a paper fan business, but I told him there wasn't a very big market for paper fans in the winter. He even charged Amber and the girls money to come over. :) Gotta love a 5 year old. Darrell has some big helper jobs lined up for Collin this next weekend. Hopefully he will be able to earn all the rest of the money he needs through slave labor. I love my little entrepreneur.

Here is Collin's sign that he made. You can't see it very well, but it says, "Collin's Bake Sale." Very cute.

Brody helping with the sugar cookies.

Collin packaging the cookies.

This is the lid of my brand new pot! I was making mashed potatoes for the cinnamon roll recipe, and I had just put the potatoes in to boil. All of a sudden BAM! The lid shattered! I was so upset! I loved this pot. Oh well.

Cooking and Baking Day

2009-12-04T06:42:00.003-10:00

Collin is having a bake sale at our house tomorrow so I am getting everything ready today. I figured if I was in the kitchen all day I might as well try a freezer recipe too. I cooked the turkey last night and started the chicken (turkey this time) tetrazini recipe. Here is the agenda for today.

Make mashed potatoes for cinnamon rolls
Brownies
Turkey soup
Banana chocolate chip muffins
Fudge
Rice Krispy treats
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate dip pretzels
Prepare sugar cookie dough
Waffles to freeze

Sounds like a big day! I am very excited! Pictures to come!

Public School Ain't Free

2009-12-01T15:43:00.002-10:00

I am so thankful that Collin can go to school and have fun every day. It's great for him, and it's great for me. Holy smokes though! He has been bringing home tons of notes every week! This picture is all the notes from one day, a couple weeks ago. Today he brought home about the same amount! He is always needing money for one thing or another! Since I can't remember what all the notes are about in the picture I will tell you what he got today that I had to do! I call it MY homework.

-Reminder to bring $5 for pics with Santa, due tomorrow

-2 small books from our book order

-Special note thanking me for my book order, because every order we make one book is donated to his class

-New book order form

-Note that says I need to get 2 pictures for Collin's special Christmas project, one of him with me, and one of him with Darrell. Top secret as to what it is. :)

-Note saying that if we want to participate in the Christmas book exchange to bring a wrapped book to school by next Monday

-Note saying that if we would like to help fill the kids Christmas goodie bags to bring 18 small toys, crafts, or treats to school by next Friday

-2 paper plates stapled together with a note that says we need to make this into snowman and bring back to school by Friday. We could decorate however we want to. (What do they do at school all day?)

-The monthly lunch menu.

-Oh and some district newsletter that I didn't read yet.

That covers it for today. I am scared to check Collin's backpack tomorrow!

Growin' Up

2009-12-01T05:26:00.005-10:00

My little boy is three years old today. Time really does fly. We are so glad to have Brody (aka Bro, Bro-bro, Dee, D-Dawg, Dee-dee, Bro-man, etc) in our family. Even though he has been a stubborn little boy lately, he is still my little sweetie. He loves to huggle and snuggle and kiss. He is growing up too fast, and he wants to be just like his big brother. Happy Birthday, Bro!

This last picture is just proof that Brody can smile. He never smiles for pictures anymore. Stubborn!

Brody's Cowboy Party

2009-11-30T18:15:00.003-10:00

We were lucky enough to have a very special birthday for Brody. Amber's parents have a ranch, and Brody got to have a real ride on a horse for his party! What a lucky little cowboy! He was a little nervous on his solo ride, but when he got on with Collin he was a lot more confident. The boys were able to run wild in the field, ride horses, eat cake, and ride four wheelers. That sounds like a perfect party for any little boy. Brody's cake was a very cute farm cake. He is still playing with the cake decorations. Thanks to Amber and her very kind family.

Brody's Mohawk

2009-11-30T18:08:00.003-10:00

I buzzed Brody's hair a couple weeks ago. I might as well have fun with it, right?

Our Perfect Tree

2009-11-30T18:03:00.002-10:00

We decided to get a live tree this year and I am so glad we did. It smells wonderful! It is so perfect too. Full, but not too full. I love it! Now I need to get some more ornaments on it. I just love turning all the lights out and looking at the Christmas tree. I love Christmas!

Betty Crocker Bit the Dust

2009-11-22T11:01:00.004-10:00

Today is Stake Conference so the boys and I are just chilling at home. I decided to do some baking with them. I bought some bananas a few days ago so I could make my famous banana bread muffins. At the same time I was cutting up veggies for some fresh salsa to take to Amber's house tonight for dinner. I figured since I was doing two things at once, then I might as well do one more thing. I decided to make some macaroni salad which is good to have for lunches, and Darrell is coming tonight so I gotta feed him more than pb&j. I was feeling like a rockstar Betty Crocker. Salsa was almost done, first batch of muffins had just come out, and the pasta was ready to be taken off the stove. I grab the handle of the pot and go across to the sink when all of a sudden the handle broke and hot water and pasta went everywhere!! Look at the carnage below:

Of course Collin had to be in the picture.

That sucks, but accidents happen. I mean look at the picture of the pan! It was time for a new one. BUT to add insult to injury check out the picture below. Our toe board was taken off the cabinets because of our water leak incident that has been ongoing for the last two weeks.

I had to reach all the way to the back of the cabinet to get out all the pasta that was getting mushier by the minute in the hot puddle of water. Face the facts though: It still beats going to 3pm Stake Conference with a 3 and 5 year old. :)

What I Want For Christmas

2009-11-20T18:08:00.003-10:00

This is freaking awesome!

Click HERE to buy it for me. :)

Thankful Tree

2009-11-11T08:26:00.004-10:00

Thanksgiving is a holiday that kind of gets skipped over. It's crammed between Halloween, which seems to be getting busier every year, and Christmas, which is a retail power house. Being thankful for our blessings should happen more often than just one day a year. I saw a cute idea to be thankful all during the month of November. This tree is in my entry way and it's at least 6 feet tall. We cut out leaves and wrote one them something we are thankful for. We did several last night and we are going to do at least one leaf a day until Thanksgiving day. What a fun reminder of all of our blessings. The kids LOVED this idea. They had so much fun cutting out leaves and hanging them up. It was a fun conversation we had about blessings and what we are thankful for. Please no comments on my artistic skills, or lack thereof. It's the thought that counts. :)

Couponing the Easy Way

2009-11-10T15:22:00.006-10:00

Lots of people have asked me about couponing, but lots of them "don't have the time" to get fully into it. Here are a few easy ways to get started and also to use less time couponing.

1. First of all you have to get the newspaper. You must have coupons to use them. There are printable coupons too, but you really need to have the weekly inserts.I recommend at least 3 per family, more if you can. Ask around to see if people will give you their coupons!

2. Buy only the hot deals - and buy a lot! So you don't have time to go through the ads every week, but you want to keep your pantry stocked. If you hear of a deal where something is a five star deal buy as much of it as you can, granted it's something you know you will use. For instance wipes are only $.29 this week at Target after a Target printable coupon. I am going to buy at least 10, probably more!

3. Every week there are a few produce items that are on sale. Plan your weekly veggie intake around these items that are on sale.

4. When milk or cheese, which rarely have coupons, go on a great sale then buy A LOT and freeze them. This brings me to my next point:

5. Make your freezer your best friend. Right now turkey is on sale for $.40/lb at Walmart. I am going to fill my freezer! Ok so only 3 at the most will fit in there, but I am going to make it fit. If I had a deep freezer I would buy 10. When there are rock bottom prices on meats or anything for that matter buy in large quantities and freeze it.

6. Know when to buy what. There are a lot of seasonal sales during the year. Right now, in the fall, baking items are on sale. In the summer there are condiments, sodas, and meats. A lot of stores have case lot sales in the the fall as well. Buy at least a six month supply of these items when they are at their rock bottom prices.

7. Know what is a good deal! When I first started couponing I didn't know what a good price for meats or produce was. I had no clue! Start paying attention to what a good price is.

8. Plant a garden. I am looking forward to having a garden now that I have a backyard to put it in! Plant what you know your family will eat.

9. Can or freeze produce from your garden or when they are in season. I made raspberry jam for the first time this year and it was so much easier than I thought!

10. Figure out one drug store and stick with them. Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid all have good deals. This does not mean you need to run around to all of them! Pick one, get it figured out to a science, and just stick with them. Of course if you hear about a smoking deal that you can't pass up, by all means go to the other store, but otherwise I would stay loyal to one so you don't overwhelm yourself.

11. If you need to go to the store for just one thing check the blogs or forums for free/smoking hot deals for that store. That way you are not making an extra trip for your couponing, but you can still get a few perks.

Here are a few blogs that I like:

If anyone has any questions please ask! I am still trying to get this coupon thing figured out here in Texas. I am REALLY missing Albertson's. I am going to get my budget down to about $50 bucks a week again, but it's been tough to get going. I can't wait to plant a garden. Planting starts in February here in Texas!

New flower bed

2009-11-05T12:54:00.003-10:00

Darrell wanted me to post pictures of his project today. (I guess this makes him famous.) Since our house is on a hill and we don't have gutters, we were having a serious problem with our new flowerbed eroding very quickly. Today Darrell put up a fantastic brick barrier for me. What a hard working man! I helped too, but as little as I could. :) Oh, and just to make ya'll jealous, it was 85 degrees today! (Did you see my correct usage of "ya'll"?)

November 30 Day Giving Challenge

2009-11-02T11:10:00.002-10:00

I came across a link to a blog about a 30 day giving challenge! What a perfect month to try this out. I have so many things to be thankful for so I would love to try this out. Plus it's a great way to meet people (since I don't know anyone here in Texas yet!) It can be something small like opening a door for someone or planning a formal service project. I will put some updates on here and I would love your feedback too! Let me know what kind of service you are doing during this Thanksgiving month.

Not Missing Apartment Life - Collin Chatter

2009-10-29T15:17:00.002-10:00

While driving home from the YMCA, which is going to be my new favorite place, we passed a beautiful southern home. It was huge and looked exactly like a white, two story, southern home from the movies. I love houses with character so I pointed it out to the boys to check out.

Me: Look at that beautiful home over there.
Collin: Yeah, it has a balcony upstairs.
Then I had to describe to Brody what a balcony was.
Collin chimed in, "Yeah, you go up there to smoke."

Brody the Helper

2009-10-23T05:31:00.002-10:00

Now that Collin is in full day kindergarten he has been taking a lunch to school. This means lots of snacks and ziplocs around the house. Brody is always trying to be a big helper. This is what I found in a drawer this morning:

And this is what he packed for "daddy's lunch" yesterday:

Back in the Habit

2009-10-22T12:38:00.002-10:00

I am just trying to get motivated to get back in the coupon habit. It's tough! I promise some pics of my good deals soon. I am trying to get my sis in law, Amber, to use coupons too. Sorry Amber!

More House Pics

2009-10-20T10:39:00.005-10:00

I know, I know, this is all I can talk about lately, BUT it is so exciting for us! As requested I am posting a few more pictures. Still waiting on furniture though. Our house has 4 bedrooms, master downstairs, and 2 1/2 baths. The best feature of the house is the huge upstairs family room. We are loving all the space!!

Here is the kitchen. Love the tile backsplash. Large laundry is the door on the left and the garage is straight through.

Here is the master bathroom, large garden tub, two sinks (yay!) and a huge walk in closet just through here.

Here is our frontroom. Still waiting on some furniture to be delivered so it's still pretty bare.

The stairs to the second floor.

HUGE upstairs living room. Obviously no furniture yet.

Play room just off the family room upstairs.

Cutest frog stuff! The toothbrush holder is like 3 frog bobble heads.

The boys bathroom upstairs.

My craft room!! I just finished putting together this furniture. Believe it or not, but this was easier to assemble than the kids toys boxes.

Brody's room. We are going to decorate it with trains, probably even get a train table in his room.

Collin's room, the biggest one upstairs. Going to be decorated with outer space and aliens.

Hard Hats Required

2009-10-19T17:08:00.001-10:00

I put together the most awesome toy storage set from IKEA! I have wanted this set forever, and I am so excited. It's super cute and it hold a lot more than you would think. It took me about 3 hours to put together. It was really simple to put together, but it was time consuming, especially when my right hand man is only 2 years old. He accidentally hit himself in the forehead with a piece of wood and now has a huge goose egg. Oops. Who knew operating an allen wrench required safety gear?

New House!

2009-10-18T10:36:00.002-10:00

I will take more pics of the inside when we get the furniture delivered. Pretty vacant right now. We are so excited to be in our new place! The kids have tons of room to be wild monkeys!

You thought I was kidding?

2009-10-14T10:03:00.001-10:00

Did you think my last post was a joke? We rocked it hillbilly style all the way to Texas!!

Mostly packed...

2009-10-08T16:37:00.001-10:00

...and SO ready to move!

Who?

2009-10-05T16:49:00.002-10:00

I have submitted for a lot of rebates the last few months. The Kraft rebate was a great one, buy $25 dollars of Kraft products get $5 back instantly and $20 back by rebate. So basically if you invest the money you would get it all back! I recieved my $20 check today. Check out who it is made out to. LOL!

Frightmares

2009-10-05T04:37:00.004-10:00

Lagoon has special Halloween events set up for the month of October. Collin LOVES Halloween so Darrell and I took him on a special date, no Brody's allowed. They have a kids walk through called Spook-A-Boo where kids went on a mini trick-or-treat and met lots of Halloween characters. Throughout the park there are lots of decorations and fun photo-ops. Also they have haunted houses. We took Collin through one of the haunted houses. He was so excited! It was a clown one so there was no blood and guts. Just lots of being scared. When we were done I asked Collin if he liked that. He said no. :) No more haunted houses for us. We just went on a couple rides that Collin liked including The Bat, which is the only rollercoaster Collin is tall enough to ride, and a haunted house ride that we had been on a million times before so we knew Collin wouldn't be scared. Lots of fun! It's fun to take the kids one at a time. Collin was walking in between us holding both our hands. It was very sweet. We also got to meet up with my friend Lynne and her family. They were too chicken for the haunted house though.

Darrell proving how manly he is. ;)

Corn Maze

2009-09-29T16:18:00.004-10:00

Last night we were able to go to a local corn maze. I had never been to one before, and it was so much fun! Here is the link to see the actual maze. Enjoy the pics!

The Truth Hurts

2009-09-27T10:23:00.003-10:00

Collin got up early this morning and was watching TV while Brody and I slept. What is on on a Sunday morning? Info-mercials. I was completely asleep when Collin brought me this:

"Hey mom, I got this number for you for something you would like." It's the phone number for AB Circle. Watch their video below.

AB Circle

I guess he thinks I could use a few pounds. (Sidenote: What nice handwriting for a brand new kindergartener.)

Lagoon Fun

2009-09-23T10:03:00.004-10:00

We had season passes to Lagoon this summer. We never bought Brody a pass because he gets in free to the water park and that is mostly what we did. This Saturday we bought him a ride pass and he had a blast! Although he is not smiling in any of the pictures he had loads of fun. We never expect a smile out of Brody. I always am pleased with a forward facing photo.

This whale ride was the first ride he went on and it made him a little nervous.

This picure almost catches a smile. Almost.

This plane ride can be controlled by both people on the plane. Needless to say there was yelling and whining and fighting and lots of tears. We will never EVER ride this ride again.

And where were mom and dad during all these rides??

I Love Target!

2009-09-15T09:13:00.004-10:00

I got some great deals today. My goal now until I move is to only get things for free or nearly free. I got some free chicken wings at Macey's a few days ago!! This is what I got at Target for $2.04!! I am not sure why the total is so low, but I am pretty sure she gave me the overages from the coupons. You win some, you lose some, and I definitely WON on this deal! At Target they have their own coupons that you can stack with Manufacture coupons. Check out A Thrifty Mom for her awesome coupon matchups. I am lucky enough to live right by a Target. And they are building a brand new Target right by my new house in Texas! (Probably because they heard I was moving there. Ha ha!) I love Target!

Non Stop Laughs

2009-09-14T16:41:00.002-10:00

I sent Collin to bed and he came back out wearing my jeans. The kid is always doing something crazy and funny. Non stop laughs around here.

You Paid What?

2009-09-09T15:31:00.004-10:00

I only paid $4.35 for everything you see here. Well, that's not entirely true. My total was $20.35, but I had $16 in Rebate checks that I cashed and used to pay. So technically only $4.35 came out of my checking account. In the coupon world a lot of people do the math by factoring in rebates or other store register reward or catalina coupons as part of their total for that transaction. Doesn't make sense to me when you can't even use them until your next transaction. I just calculate whatever I pay out of pocket for that transaction and that's it. I am trying to use mostly my food storage until I move, mostly because I have a freezer full of meat, but also I don't want to have to pack up all those extra boxes. So I will just be buying produce, dairy, eggs, and bread for the next 5 weeks. Yes, I said 5 weeks!!! I can't wait to move! I am so excited that I am losing sleep over it!

San Bernadino

2009-09-02T08:15:00.004-10:00

We were hoping Corley would get his call this week. His Stake President works at the Church Office Building in the mission department so he hand delivers the papers there and back. He came over last night at about 5:30pm and we had friends and family gathered by about 8pm. Everyone is so excited for him!! San Bernadino, California and he leaves November 18th! Congrats Cor!

The boys with my Grandma and Grandpa Ward.

Here is Brody making himself comfortable on Jordan's lap. Brody is not shy of Corley's friends at all.

Finally open! He read the whole letter out loud.

Proud Big Sister

And a proud nephew too. The boys just love Corley.

Corley and his girlfriend, Katelyn.

Cor and the Grandparents. They rushed up from American Fork for the big moment!

The three amigos. Jordan, Corley, and Braden.

Wahoo!!!!!

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-01T09:47:00.003-10:00

My little Collin is growing up. He had his first day of Kindergarten yesterday. I was so excited for him! This is a kid who is just a little smartie pants and absolutely loves school. I was not going to cry, because I was just too excited. Yeah, after I dropped off Mr. Independent I cried all the way back to my car. Such a proud mama. I just can't believe I have a 5 year old!! Doesn't he just look so handsome?

This is Collin after school. It is sunny outside, but this kid is beaming! He had so much fun. He couldn't wait to go back today. I love this kid!

Oh yeah, I forgot about collages....

2009-08-28T18:59:00.003-10:00

Here we are at Zion National Park

And this is the famous pond in Bunkerville. :) We rock it Hillbilly style!! Love it!

Mini-vacay

2009-08-28T18:29:00.008-10:00

A few pictures of what we did this weekend! Too tired to blog. Enjoy!

8 Years and Going Strong

2009-08-16T16:20:00.004-10:00

Darrell and I celebrated our 8th anniversary this weekend. Technically our anniversary is Monday the 17th, but Darrell flew out today. We took the boys to the Mayan Adventure restaurant. They have an indoor waterfall where they have divers do a show where they dive off the cliffs. It's pretty cool. The boys just loved it.

It was so dark inside when the show was going so I didn't really get very good pictures. This is the waterfall.

The cutest boys I have ever seen!!

This is one of the divers getting ready to jump off. Very cool!

After lunch we went and walked around IKEA. I was getting some decorating ideas for the house that we don't own yet. I love their kids stuff and their organization ideas.

After that we went to a yummy ice cream store that is near our home, but we had never been to before. So good! I, of course, got the raspberry cheesecake cone.

It was such a fun, relaxing day. We just took our time and enjoyed each other's company. I love my little family. One of the best anniversary's ever. I get to hog Darrell all to myself on Friday and Saturday next weekend so it was fun to share the day with the boys.

A Lesson in Couponing

2009-08-04T04:26:00.004-10:00

I took my friend, Lydia, on her first coupon adventure yesterday. She had only been collecting coupons for one week so I gave her a bunch of mine to get the ball rolling. I wish we had more because the Albertson's sale is going on next week too. I had lots of fun helping her learn the ropes and I hopefully didn't overwhelm her. It's a lot to take in, but once you figure out the lingo and a few tricks it's easy as pie. Check out the amazing deals she got:

Smiths:
4 - 50 oz tide
4 - 13.5 oz. aussie conditioner
4 - 16 oz. Ken's dressing
5 - 6 oz. Beechnut baby food
3 - 5 oz. packages tuna fish
6 - 4 oz. cans green chilies

Total Value - $62.30
I spent - $16.90 at Smiths.

Albertsons
9 - 1 lb. 10 oz. ragu spaghetti sauce
8 - 10 oz. vaseline intensive care lotion
2 - 30 oz. best foods mayonnaise
4 - 300 count Q-tips
8 - 15 oz. skippy natural peanut butter
5 - 8 oz. bags chex mix
9 - 16 oz. wishbone dressings
2 - 3.1 oz. Betty Crocker warm delight brownies
3 - 8 pouch fruit roll up/ fruit gusher/ fruit by the foot combo boxes
1 - 8 pouch fruit roll up
6 - 12.25 oz. boxes Honey Nut cheerios
5 - 11.23 oz boxes cookie crisp
8 - 12.8 oz. boxes cinnamon toast crunch
3 - 18 oz. suave body wash
3 2.6 oz suave deodorants
1 - 17.5 oz. Betty Crocker choc. chip cookie mix

Total Value - $287.75
I spent $44.19
Plus I have $19 cash back to spend the next time I go to Albertsons.

So.... essentially I spent $25.19 at Albertsons.

Better Than Albertson's??

2009-08-02T15:01:00.003-10:00

I think it might be true. Smith's is having a huge coupon doubling sale! I took a picture of everything I bought and instead of having my SD card in the camera it went onto the hard drive (which we never use and only holds like 20 pictures) and I have NO IDEA where the cord is to download it!! Anyway I will do my best to list what I bought.
5 bottles of Tide
5 boxes of 18pk Tampax
1 bottle of Cascade dishwasher soap
5 Crest toothpastes
1 Kids Colgate toothpaste
5 Covergirl Mascaras (My favorite!)
4 4pks of Dannon Yogurt
5 3pks of Extra gum
1 M&M's - had a free coupon for it
5 bottles of Pert 2 in1 shampoo (Love the 2 in1 kind for Collin)
4 cans of Ortega green chilis
2 bottles of Clean & Clear face wash
1 pack of AA Batteries
and one more mystery item that I couldn't make out on the receipt! :)
The total before coupons and handing over my Fresh Values card - $177.32! That's what my receipt says, but the screen I thought it said $180+
ANYWAY......I paid $40.41!! Wahoo! 45 items so just less than a dollar per item! I got so many toiletries that really eat up your budget. Don't you just hate paying money for Tampons? Somebody should be paying us right!?! I also earned my 15 cents of fuel reward. I like Albertson's fuel rewards better because you can earn up to $1.50 per gallon off and Smith's maxes out at 15 cents off, but I will take what I can get.
So excited! Darrell was with me and I was joking that he was having a heart attack when we saw our total. He's ok though once the total went down 79%! Did I ever mention I like coupons?

Meats and Treats

2009-08-01T11:39:00.003-10:00

I bought my $30 in meat yesterday and sent in my $10 rebate. All the meat was on sale at Macey's for $1.69/lb. Including the garbage bags and ziploc freezer bags we spent about $38. Everything else in the picture is from Albertson's for $10! Can't beat that deal on feminine products and lots of Pop Tarts. Oh yes, and bananas - a staple at our house. Oh and the best part was that I got my first rebate back for $7.50 so I cashed that check and paid for most of my Albies trip! FREE!!!

Today Smith's was having a one day sale today on Kellogg's and Keebler products. Also they had a great Proctor and Gamble deal going so I got lots of shampoo, conditioner, and hairspray. After coupons everything came to $27.49, but I had a cash card from some cereal a while back worth $5. So I paid $22.29 for all that shampoo and cookies! My receipt says total savings of 73 percent and that doesn't deduct the $5 because that was technically a form of payment, not a coupon. Darrell loves those Rice Krispies, so he will be so happy when he sees them. He's taking a nap! I wish!

Quality Childcare

2009-07-31T10:01:00.002-10:00

I have been babysitting my sister's kids for the summer. Partly to make some money (state pays me), partly to save her money(zero out of pocket), and mostly so the kids have somewhere loving and safe to go....or so she thinks.

Here is Kymberly up on the table eating Brody's leftover yogurt. She's having a great time! Now that is some good babysitting right there!

Saving/Spending Addiction

2009-07-28T11:30:00.003-10:00

So my goal for the last 3 weeks in July was to spend only $50. Well, that didn't go so well. I have already spent about $75 and I am planning on spending $30 in meat before Friday. I just found this great rebate where if you buy $30 of fresh meat you get $10 back. I would say that is a deal that is worth ruining my already ruined budget for July. The offer ends Friday so I will be buying the meat real soon, probably Thursday. Oh well. I really did try! I just think that my stockpile isn't big enough to rely on yet.

So here is the amazing deal that I got at Target today.
7 Poptarts
1 Special K Blueberry Cereal
2 Keebler Grasshopper cookies
8 Twix bars

Total before coupons was $22.xx

Coupons used:
5 - $.55 of one Poptart - Insert from 6/7
5- Target coupon for $.75 off Poptarts from HERE
1 - $1/2 Poptarts - in the mail
1 - $1 off Special K Blueberry from HERE
1 - $1/2 Keebler cookies or crackers - in the mail
4 - $1/2 candy bars, Twix is our favorite
Total with tax - $9.12!!!

You think that is a good deal? Wait until you hear about the rebate from Kellogg's/Keebler. Buy 10 participating products and get a $10 rebate!! Basically I just got paid to go buy all that stuff! Pretty sweet huh! I am submitting my rebate form right now so that I don't forget.

Superman

2009-07-28T03:47:00.002-10:00

This is the conversation between Brody, my 2 year old, and Arien, my 3 year old niece.

Arien sees a superhero on TV and says: "Is that Superman?"
Brody: "No, I am Superman."
Arien: "You are?"
Brody: "Yeah!"
Arien: "Oh."

Apparently it's totally believable that Brody is Superman and not really all that exciting. So funny.

Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?

2009-07-23T07:45:00.002-10:00

Paid only $3.60!!!! How? Well at Albertson's right now they have a deal if you buy $20 in Dr. Pepper or Kellogg's products you get a $10 coupon to use on your next purchase. The 12 packs of ALL soda is on sale buy 2 get 2 free. Dr. Pepper 12 packs are just over $5 each so when you buy 4 it gets you over that $20 mark for the $10 coupon. Of course 2 of the packs are free so it brings the total to $10.90. Pay that the first time then get your $10 coupon (Catalina). Then repeat this transaction and use the Catalina and pay only $.90 for four 12 packs! So how did I only pay $3.60? Well my dad did the initial transaction yesterday and paid the $10.90 out of pocket. He repeated the transaction a few times and still had a $10 Catalina left over. So I stole the Catalina and did the transaction 4 times at 2 different stores. Then I returned him his coupon. :) He is going back for more today too. He drinks the Diet Dr. Pepper like crazy so this is a fantastic deal for him. Darrell is going to be moving to the Middle Of Nowhere, North Dakota this weekend and I would love to send a bunch of these with him. Haven't quite figured out how to do that yet though.

July Challenge So Far

2009-07-19T16:18:00.004-10:00

I am fairly certain that I am addicted to shopping for a bargain! It's so hard to not spend money! I have spent about $33 so far, more than half of my budget. Oops. I still have two weeks to go on less than $20. I am not sure if I can do it, but I am really going to try. One thing that I spent a lot of money on this week was produce. We made fresh mexican food. So delicious, but not cheap enough to keep my total down. Oh well. It was worth it!

Here are a few of the pictures of the trips I made, but it's not all of them. I had a few small trips here and there too.

So what did I eat this week?
Breakfast:
Sun - cereal
Mon - banana bread muffins
Tues - muffins again
Wed - cereal
Thurs - mini bagels and cream cheese and homemade jam, boys had cereal
Fri - same thing
Sat - bagels and bananas
Sun - grapes, cereal
Lunch:
Sun - Chicken salad sandwiches, grapes
Mon - PB&J for the boys, chicken salad sandwich for me, chips
Tues - hotdogs and mac 'n cheese
Wed - Ramen noodles
Thurs - Chicken salad sandwich, chips
Fri - Lunch party at my moms work - Turkey sandwiches, fruit salad, baked beans
Sat - OUT TO EAT!! Mexican food, of course!
Sun - Chuck E. Cheese pizza
Dinner:
Sun - Boys had nuggets and mac 'n cheese, I had leftover chicken over lettuce and misc veggies left in the fridge
Mon - Chicken, rice, veggies
Tues - Leftovers
Wed - McDonalds on the way to pick up Darrell
Thurs - Tacos, beans, rice
Fri - Sloppy joes, pasta salad, grapes
Sat - steak tacos, fresh guac and pico de gallo. Mmmmmm!!!
Sun - a little bit of this and that left in the fridge
Snacks and Desserts:
Ritz crackers with cottage cheese
Grapes, cheese cubes, crackers
bananas and juice
bananas (multiple times)
ice cream
popsicles
cookies at the work party
Twix - I had a free coupon and the boys split it. Get your coupon every Friday HERE.
I feel like we ate pretty good for only spending $30+ bucks. I didn't count going out to eat. That comes out of Darrell's budget. LOL! That's cheating, I know, but we rarely go out so I am not counting it.

Follow Up Post

2009-07-17T04:01:00.002-10:00

So my day yesterday was completely opposite to my last post. My poor little Bro-bro was sick yesterday. I held him pretty much all day, except for when he took a two and a half hour nap. I think that part of being a stay at home mom is to not just stay at home with the kids, but to be available for whatever comes up. I was home and available to take care of my poor little sweetie. I haven't watched that much tv all at once in a long time. :) He just wanted to be held and I was there to do it. I didn't have to take time off of work or find a babysitter for him. I was there. Exactly what he needed. I am thankful to be a stay at home mom. It's so important for the boys! I am very lucky to be able to have this choice to stay home. Yay moms!

A Day In The Life

2009-07-16T09:48:00.004-10:00

Sometimes I get so sick of people asking if I have a job or if I work. Yes! I have lots of jobs: laundry, dishes, kissing boo-boos, giving baths, paying bills, planning activities, and the list goes on. You mamas out there know what I am talking about. Here is what I did yesterday just so you get a glimpse of what I do every day.
7:15 am Get up and exercise for about 20 minutes. I know there is no time for the gym today.
7:45 am Get the boys up, eat breakfast, get in shower.
8:30 am Get the boys dressed and make them look semi-respectable.
8:40 am Throw load of clothes in the washer.
9:00 am Drop Collin off at Stake Primary activity.
9:15 am Quick stop at Albertson's to get some free ice cream with double coupons.
10:15 am Pick Collin up from Primary activity.
10:30 am Meet friends at Library for story time. First time we have been at this library and the kids loved it!
11:45 am Go home to grab a quick lunch. Move clothes to dryer.
12:30 pm Go to my sister's house to babysit.
3:00 pm Collin has tumbling. Run him inside while 3 kids 3 and under wait/fight in the car.
3:50 pm Leave to go pick up Collin
3:55 pm Stuck at light 2 block from tumbling. Completely blocked and cannot move due to construction at intersection. Kids are of course perfect angels in the back seat....ha!
4:05 pm Finally pick up Collin and make him feel better. His feelings were hurt because I was late.
4:30 pm Fix afternoon snacks so no one DIES of starvation.
5:30 pm Get dinner ready for the girls.
6:20 pm Leave their house to run home and change into pjs.
6:30 pm Clean up puke off the bathroom floor.
6:35 pm Leave the house FINALLY to go pick up Darrell at the airport.
6:40 pm Snag some McDonalds. Discover Collin is asleep before the food arrives. (Totally recommend the Honey Mustard Snack Wrap.) Realize I am out of gas!
6:45 pm Put a few gallons of gas in really fast so that I can hurry. Already behind!
6:50 pm FINALLY leave town.
7:05 pm Darrell texts me that he has just landed. Oh good Honey, we will be there in at least 20 minutes!! Sorry, babe!
7:30 pm Pick up Darrell!! Yay! The hubby is home!
8:15 pm Get home. Put the boys in bed! Phew!
9:15 pm Eat that free ice cream from Albies! Yummy! Worth every cent. :)
9:30 pm Watch Man vs. Wild with Darrell. Special episode with Will Farrell. Pretty funny.
10:15 pm Crash in bed. ZZZzzzzzzzz
All in a days work. Three poopy diapers, one of each from the three little ones, boogers from Brody (the kid is always picking his nose), spilled water on the floor in the kitchen, and bugs, lots of bugs collected are just a few things we did all afternoon. Never a dull moment. So if you don't have a job, what do you do all day?

July Challenge

2009-07-11T12:02:00.002-10:00

I am really happy with how I am doing with my food storage and couponing. I like to challenge myself to see how little I can spend. My new goal is to spend $50 for the rest of July! That is 3 full weeks! I think I will withdraw the money and just use cash for all my transactions. I will keep track of all my transactions and share them here. I do have a little bit of a jumpstart because I bought some groceries on Wednesday plus I have 3 coupons for free milk. Still, it's going to be a bit of a challenge. As usual this does not include diapers, but it does include all other household products including t.p., cleaning supplies, and other paper products. Wish me luck. I will really be relying on those Albertson's double coupons now! I am planning on baking some bread (I have everything I need so why don't I do this more?), using my brownie and cake mixes for our snacks, and just in general make more things from scratch. It can be done! I challenge you to use your food storage items more often for the rest of the month. It's a good way to rotate it as well as save money.

Christmas in July

2009-07-10T07:26:00.004-10:00

Run, don't walk, to your local Kmart. They are having their big clearance sale to make room for their Christmas shipments. 50% off lowest marked price on clearance items! Get some great toys for CHEAP! Those cases have construction or police officer dress up play sets in them. $2.50, regularly priced $10. Those Barney dolls are $6, and they also have a video with them! I spent $157 and I have tons of my Christmas bought! We like to do a lot of Secret Santa stuff around Christmas so that's why I bought multiples of some of the items. Click on the pictures to see them in a bigger view.

Independence Day

2009-07-05T15:30:00.003-10:00

I agree with Amber, too tired to blog. Enjoy the pics. Happy 4th!

Target Trip

2009-07-02T14:10:00.003-10:00

I rarely go to Target, but I got a few great coupons in the mail from them so I decided to check it out. At Target they have their own coupons, which I had never even heard about until a couple months ago, that can be stacked with a manufacture coupon as well. They also had corn 10 for $1! Yummy! I have been craving corn all summer. I love it! My total was $63.07 for all that. You probably have to click on the picture to make it bigger to see everything. I got lots of meat plus I got a pack of pull ups, a pack of regular diapers, and a $7 bag of candy for Collin to throw at the parade. I feel like I got a great deal! I hope the rain goes away so we can barbecue this weekend.

You know they're sick......

2009-06-29T10:00:00.002-10:00

if they fall asleep sitting up! Brody doesn't take naps very often anymore and it's usually a fight when I do make him. Poor little sickie! He was burning hot when I put him in bed. I probably should have given him some more Ibuprofen, but he was was so tired and out of it that I didn't bother. It's a gorgeous day outside, but we will be indoors watching movies. I hope he is feeling better tomorrow. I hate when the babies are sick. (Yes, Brody is still my baby!)

Potty Training??

2009-06-28T16:04:00.003-10:00

Brody wanted to go on the potty today. Yay, right? He got naked and put the stool up the the toilet. I went in the other room to grab some clothes for him to change into. I figured he wasn't actually going to go potty because he never has before so I didn't really pay attention to him. I came back to this:

So funny! Good news is that he actually went! His idea and he actually did it! Keep your fingers crossed that we keep this up.

Month in Review

2009-06-28T15:40:00.002-10:00

My goal (unrealistic) for June was to spend $40 per week for groceries, not including diapers. Well I definitely went over, but I still did awesome. I spent $231.33 for the month of June! That is amazing! I used to spend more than that in 2 weeks AND not have any food storage to speak of. One thing that I did to help with the cost of diapers this month was to use my Register Rewards from Walgreens to get them cheap. I spent $24.23 in diapers for the month of June! That is so awesome. Although I do need another pack of diapers tomorrow so add about $10 to that total. I can't wait to be done with diapers. Brody went on the potty today!! I think this was the first time! So awesome!! I am not going to be quite so cheap during the month of July, but it is realistic to plan on $60 per week for groceries and household items. My budget includes toiletries and cleaning supplies. It's almost a new month so I am challenging everyone to set a grocery goal. Pick a number try to stick to it. $40 a week didn't go so great for me, but it was awesome to try to save every last penny. I can't complain, that's for sure!

Free Pasta Salad

2009-06-24T16:51:00.002-10:00

Look at all that Kraft Pasta Salad! Everything pictured was $36.18 if you can believe that. I am calling this weeks shopping list: Hubby Stock Up Week. Darrell was home this past weekend and there were no snacks here for him. I usually like to keep frozen appetizers and things like that around so that we can curb the fast food urges. So I got frozen pizzas, both large and personal size, pretzels, tortilla chips (since I am up to my ears in salsa), and steak sauce. Also I treated myself to some Limeade. Doesn't that sound like the best summer drink?
Now getting to all that pasta! It was free. I only paid tax for it!! It was part of a deal where if you buy 10 certain products (about a hundred to choose from) you get $5 off automatically at the register. The salads were $1 each and if you buy 10 you get the $5 off. Plus on the box there was a coupon for $1/2. So 5 of those makes it FREE! I got 20 of them. They are not my favorite thing so I gave them all to my parents. I think that I am going to go back and get some more and donate them to the food bank. What a great deal!

Mommy Advice Column

2009-06-22T05:57:00.003-10:00

I have always wanted to write a book about kids. Not necessarily child raising, but specifically traveling with kids, considering I have done so much of it. But I do have a few other ideas or little sayings for day to day mommyhood as well. One of them is "Only give a child as much to drink as you are willing to clean up." Also my motivation for getting kids to clean up is so simple and obvious, but I totally missed it as a first time parent. I heard it on a morning show back when I had time to watch TV during the day. If you want your child to clean up, then clean along side him as well. If your child knows you are working together or even if you are doing your mommy jobs in the other room while they clean up their toys, it makes it easier for them to stay motivated. It's a family affair. I always do a load of dishes while the boys make the front room vacuum ready. They know I am working and that they are not being punished, but rather doing a family activity even if it's just cleaning up together. By the time I am done with the dishes the front room is clean and I am ready to vacuum. Sometimes we race each other too. Boys love a good race. Anyway, that is my parenting advice for the day. I really need to write that travel book though. Someday.

I am SO in trouble!

2009-06-22T04:25:00.002-10:00

This is week 2 of babysitting my sisters kids full time. Arien, her 3 year old, is used to being the boss, but it's kind of hard when you have my kids around too. I told her she had to share her Cheerios with Brody and her sister Kymberly. This is a picture of her being mad/me being in trouble. She sat silently with arms folded for about 10 minutes. Hmm.....punish me some more! I wish MY kids threw tantrums like that.

Collin Chatter

2009-06-19T09:40:00.003-10:00

The boys and I went shopping for some Father's Day gifts yesterday afternoon. After shopping I figured I was just too exhausted to cook. (It's a rough life.) I asked Collin what he wanted for dinner, thinking he would suggest some type of take out food. He said he wanted Macaroni and Cheese. (We always make homemade and it's the best!) I said, "Don't you want to take Dad out to eat?" He said, "Oh yeah! Sure! Let's go somewhere that has macaroni and cheese." Needless to say I got some tacos and he came home and ate some leftover mac 'n cheese. Everybody wins!

Stock Up Sale

2009-06-18T10:54:00.002-10:00

I had a great time at Albertson's today. I took Darrell and the two boys and we tried out a different Albertson's. What a miracle! They had everything that was on sale IN STOCK! Can you believe it? I have been having the worst shopping experiences at my store so I drove about 5 minutes farther to a different Albertson's. A complete 180! Everyone was so nice. Everything was in stock! I couldn't believe it. Worth the drive. Darrell likes to go with me too, just to see how much I am saving. Kinda funny. Total out of pocket on the trip - $44.80! Wowsa! Total savings was over $100!! Can't beat that. Yum! Another fresh pineapple. I am obsessed. :)

Diapers at Walgreens

2009-06-14T17:14:00.002-10:00

I got a steal this week at Walgreen's!! I will tell you my two transactions
#1
3- John Freida Conditioners at 3/$15
1 - St. Ives body wash for $2.99
1 - Pack of Oreos as filler, plus there are no treats in the whole house!!

- 3 $3/1 of Root Awakening Line of John Frieda
- $10 Register Reward (RR) from last weeks Dove deal

Total Out of Pocket (OOP)with tax = $1.51
Received $5 RR from John Frieda and $3 RR from St. Ives
Would have been better, but I couldn't find my stinking $1.50 off St.Ives coupon!!

#2
Pampers $10.99
3 pencils at $.09 each
- $1 off pampers coupon
-2 $1 RR from 2 weeks ago (can't remember from what)
-$5 RR from Transaction #1

Total OOP with tax = $4.03
Not bad for a pack of diapers!!

So everything pictured was $5.54!! How sweet is that! Plus I have that $3 RR from #1 to use next week!! What deals can you make at Walgreen's this week??

Friends!!

2009-06-12T18:34:00.002-10:00

After a long rainy week of being stuck inside we went out to lunch with friends at Arctic Circle (world's best fries and fry sauce.) It was nice to let the children run wild and play. Some day the rain will let up, but for now we will stuff our faces with fast food and gossip while the kids play. :)

Weekly Trip

2009-06-10T10:20:00.002-10:00

Here's my weekly shopping trip. I skipped Albertson's this week, although some people are going completely nuts over their stuff! There just wasn't that much that I wanted and I didn't want to fight the crowds. I went to Smith's and got some basics. They had 50% off all Lysol products so I picked up a few cleaning items that turned out to be about a dollar after coupons. Brody has already eaten two of those yogurts so I guess that didn't last as long as I thought. The Rice and Pasta sides worked out to be 52 cents each after coupons so I got 10. They are a nice quick side dish to have around. I spent $24.88. Headed to Kent's tomorrow to get chicken nuggets and then maybe get something at Walgreen's next week. By the way, I count my shopping week as Wednesday through Tuesday since that it's the same as the shopping ads. Happy shopping! And I swear my next post won't be about food!!

Daddy Daughter Date

2009-06-09T18:12:00.002-10:00

I took my dad couponing tonight. I wasn't going to go back to the store, but I did have a couple sets of double coupons for Albertson's left. Plus my dad needs help to do his coupon shopping. He is helpless without me. :) For everything pictured, plus one more mustard I gave to my parents, I spent $1.01 in two transactions, which was actually $.66 on my Free cereal cash card and $.35 from change in my the bottom of my dads pocket. Yay! So really it was FREE!! I was low on cheese too so I am glad that I went back. The new sale starts tomorrow, but I don't think that I am going to Albies. Perhaps if they do double coupons again then I will, but there isn't anything that I really want. I am going to Smith's to get some eggs, milk, yogurt, bananas, bread and maybe a couple of other essentials, spending about $20. Then I am going to Kent's which ALWAYS has the best prices for meat. They sell bags of chicken nuggets in 4-5 lb bags for $1.49 a pound and they are such a good quick food to have around. One bag lasts at least a month around here so it's a good investment. Keeps us from eating out too. That's all I am going to buy at the grocery store this week!! We will see if Walgreen's has any good deals because I have 2-$1 and 1-$10 Register Reward just burning a hole in my pocket.

Quick Trip, Sweet Deals

2009-06-09T09:27:00.003-10:00

I still have some of Albertson's infamous Double Coupons left from Sunday's paper. Collin had tumbling which is pretty close to Albies, and I had to kill some time, so why not? I needed bread anyway and this brand had a $1 off coupon on the outside, which I doubled, making it $1.29 for pretty good bread. Then I got 4 boxes of Ronzoni Pasta which was $1.29, but actually rang up $1.09. I used two coupons for $1 off two and doubled them. So $.09 per box which are 14.5 oz, almost a pound. Not bad. My total with tax was $1.79! Not bad for a quick bread run.

Also my goal for June is to spend only $40 per week! This does not include diapers though. Can't get around that bill for a little while. My real goal is to spend closer to $30, but I think that might be impossible. I will let you know how it goes.

Help me!!!

2009-06-08T11:04:00.005-10:00

I am being stalked by a Mary Kay lady. Help!

The reason this first comic is so funny to me is that I went to meet my Mary Kay lady (who gave me an unexpected facial attack) and the first story she tells me was not exactly G-rated! It makes me blush to think about it, let alone share it with you. Use your imagination. :) I do not know this girl very well at all. She worked at the gym daycare so I would say "hi" when I dropped the kids off and that's about it. I guess I look like someone who would want to hear a personal story like that. Just for your information I am not!

I went to her house Tuesday last week and she has called me 7 times since then!! I finally told her today that I am not interested in ordering right now and I definitely don't want to sell the stuff. I have a feeling she will call me in a week or two to see if I am ready to order. Someone help me!! I don't want to be rude, but I just want her to leave me alone!
P.S. Do any non-stalker people sell Mary Kay cuz I really do want to order some foundation. :)

Preschool Graduate

2009-06-04T09:09:00.003-10:00

Collin graduated from preschool last week! I can't believe it. I really thought that I was going to cry at some point during all the proceedings, but I didn't. I think it's because I am just so proud of him and so excited for him to go to Kindergarten. I have really, REALLY enjoyed having a 5 year old. It is probably the most fun age so far. He is really learning and growing and I love to hear all his crazy thoughts and ideas. He's very artistic and creative, and I love having our little craft area to let him display all his work. He is also very athletic and coordinated so it's fun to see him do his tumbling, soccer, and even riding his big boy 2 wheeler. I love his sense of adventure. I love that he asks a million questions. He pays attention to everything even if it doesn't seem like it. I love that he can make friends so easily. Everybody likes Collin. His teacher gave each kid a little Thank You card and she said that Collin was a leader and was friends with everyone. What a great compliment!
Congratulations, Collin!! Off to Kindergarten! You will love it!

May Food Budget

2009-06-01T05:54:00.002-10:00

May was the first month that I kept EVERY receipt to see how much I spent in a month. I knew I was saving and stockpiling food, but I wanted to know exactly what I spent. At the grocery stores (mostly Albertson's) and Walgreens I spent $333.89 and I got two produce baskets that totaled $38.50. Grand total = $372.39!!! I know it still might sound like a lot to some of you, but that includes DIAPERS, cleaning supplies, a large fruit tray we brought to a party, an evening run to buy ice cream not on sale, and a few other little luxuries all while building our 3 month supply. I love it. I used to spend about $125 a week and run out of food by the end of the week. Now I spend less than that and have food storage and tons of fresh produce around!! After I feel like I have a complete stock pile of food then I will only buy things on super duper sale! Can't wait to get to that point. Maybe a few more months. Plus I would LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE to be done with diapers (about a $50/month bill) by the end of the summer. We will see. I challenge everyone, especially those of you who have already started couponing, to keep track of all your expenses this month. I just put all my receipts in a pile and added them up today. Easy! This will help you track your spending to see how much you are really saving. Plus it gives you warm fuzzies at the end of the month when you save a lot. ;) Good luck and happy couponing!!!
P.S. Although Spell Check says "couponing" is not a word it really is. Especially on this blog. :)

Cabin Fun!!

2009-05-31T15:52:00.003-10:00

We got to go to Idaho again this weekend to my friend Lynne's cabin. It's fun to get the kids together to play and then us girlies can go chat and eat and then chat some more and eat some more. So fun to relax and get out of town for a couple days. Here are some of the kids adventures.

We fed the fish at the river. There is no fishing or swimming in this particular part of the river and the fish are huge and WAY active. We would throw the food in and the fish would go nuts! Very fun for the kids!

A HUGE butterfly that I found on the front deck! I had to put up a point of reference because there is no way to describe how big it is!

Butterfly catching gear, but I guess that is obvious. :)

Beautiful view of the thundestorm that rolled in on Saturday. Power went out for about an hour. *gasp* No satellite tv!! We were truly roughing it. LOL!!

Excellent Food Storage Website

2009-05-23T18:59:00.002-10:00

I found a totally awesome food storage blog: Prepared LDS Family. They have lots of menus, lists, and calculators. Check it out! I hope everyone is still doing their food storage. I have been able to store lots of stuff for my 3 month supply now that I am doing coupons. I need more space! It's so exciting to have FULL shelves of food. I encourage all of you who haven't started storing for your 3 month supply to do so. It's so easy, just one can at a time. You can do it!!

Tumbling Review

2009-05-23T05:42:00.002-10:00

Collin had his tumbling review earlier this week. He has really enjoyed doing tumbling this year. He has won several achievement awards and his teacher said he was the best in the class!! Way to go Collin!!! He was so excited to do all his tricks in front of all the parents. What can I say, the kid loves an audience! I am really proud of him. He would work so hard and loved to practice. He got a trophy too (everyone did) and he just thinks he is so cool. Congrats Collin! You are awesome!

Dinosaur Park Field Trip

2009-05-21T06:45:00.003-10:00

Collin's preschool had a field trip to a dinosaur park. It was really a lot of fun. Collin has 3 girls in his class who are in love with him. It's so funny! The three girls are Madison, Brooklyn, and Morgan.
Here is the ferocious Collin-

Hannah, Madison, Collin, and Brooklyn -

Brody exploring -

Forced photo-op. You can see he loved it.

The whole group! They had so much fun together. It was a such a nice, stress-free day. This is the only pic I got with Morgan in it, but she is the one with her back to us with her hair down and a striped shirt. Yep, all 3 girlfriends in this pic.

Collin and Brooklyn. She is the funniest little girl. She dishes it out to Collin, and its so good for him because he is usually the aggressor.

Beau, Madison, Brooklyn, Collin, and Hannah. What a fun group!

Frugal Father

2009-05-20T11:12:00.003-10:00

Here is my dad's post. He is the self proclaimed "Frugal Father". P.S. He is a weirdo.

$18 of Chicken boneless skinless
5 Barbeque sauce
5 Salad dressings
Foam plates
5 frozen lunches for Angie

Guess the total?????
...............................

..............................

..........................

.........
If you guessed $18---

You were wrong
Oh did I mention they gave me a $2.50 catalina to buy anything from Albertsons
Gum or maybe bread or maybe..................................

Oh my mind just goes a wandering when I get $2.50 back

-------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------

If you guessed $16 you would be right

Not a great bargain for $45 worth of food but yes--That Catalina brings it down to $13.50

Angelica did help a little with my planning-- not much but some

Wednesday Steals!

2009-05-20T06:12:00.003-10:00

I always go shopping Wednesday morning. It's the first day of the sale at Albertson's, and if you don't go the first day then everything is gone. They really should stock better, but they don't and I really don't want to miss out. Everything shown here I paid $20.96! That is 6 pounds of the boneless skinless chicken! There were 3 double coupons at the bottom of the weekly ad that I used. I also helped my dad to get a smokin' deal! Hopefully he will email me the picture of what we got him so that I can post it. He spent about $16 and got 3 packs of meat, about 9 pounds! I can't wait to eat the pineapple.

Happy Birthday Lynne!

2009-05-19T08:57:00.003-10:00

Happy Birthday Lynne! Isn't she so beautiful? Thanks for being an awesome friend and a crazy couponer. You are turning 25 again, right? You are such a good friend and I am so glad we met on that tiny island. :) Thanks for listening to me complain and whine and for letting me be a lazy bum at your cabin. People always say they could talk to their friends for hours, but we literally did it! All Day! Funny how we never run out of things to say. Probably mostly cuz I can't stop talking. I am just a bag of hot air. We are like two peas in a pod though. You know you have a bond for life when you both had a car named "Bertha". Not to mention our kids were born at the same hospital within days of each other!! I wish we lived closer so I could bug you more. Sorry to embarrass you on my blog here, but don't worry I only have like 2 readers and one of them is you. I hope you have a Happy Birthday! Caleb better do something nice for you!! Mr. BigToughCop doesn't scare me. :) And also happy birthday to Riley, my future daughter in law.