Our Beautiful Basement

Ah, the spoils of my labors with coupons!

This is how our food storage side of our basement looks. I tried to get everything in these shots, left to right. It's just so nice to have everything organized and waiting for use!!

This Coupon Gal Is Back!

I took a break from couponing when we moved, and it was really hard for me to get back into it. I know, shocker!! I'm not totally back up and running (i.e. cutting coupons monthly if I'm lucky instead of weekly), but I have done some coupon shopping lately. I forgot what a high it can be!!

My favorite shopping trip was Rite Aid's freebie deals last month: they had a bunch of cold medicines, etc. for free after rebate. So I got about $70 worth of medicine for free, I just paid $5 in tax. Awe-some! Even more awesome that we had to use some of this the following week when we all got colds, and I didn't have to venture out and get medicine. Yipee!

Of course, all the case lot sales were way fun. We were down to our last dozen boxes of cereal (wow for us), so it was nice to be able to stock up (80 boxes) on our favorite healthy cereals for .50 to 1.20 a box. I'll post pictures soon. (I know, you can't wait;)

And Walgreens last month had some fun stuff too. I got:

Loreal facial cleanser
Nivea body wash for men
Halloween stickers and puzzles and pencils to keep kids busy
3 things of Pepto (including for kids)
3 name brand toothbrushes
2 Puffs tissues
2 boxes of envelopes
4 small notebooks
4 things of Trident gum
3 Children's Tylenol
3 Infusium shampoos
Huggies big refill wipes
2 small Huggies diapers
5 Softsoap bodywashes
3 Tylenol cold medicines
3 Herbal Essences shampoos

All for $60 (after $95 in coupons and $35 in rebates)!!! It should have been about $190 normally (or about $150 if bought at Wal-Mart), so I figure I saved about 60-70%!!

Woohoo! I'm back in the game! And loving it!!!

Mom Tricks

Thank you, Bethany, for giving me something to blog about:) My friend put some great tips and tricks for Moms on her blog, and I highly recommend checking it out! Awesome!!!

Nothing

Maybe it's just me. But do you ever feel like there's nothing really to blog about? Nothing going on that's blog-worthy? The longer I go between posting something, the higher my standards get about bloggable stuff in my life. I guess I could post old pictures that I never got around to posting, or (shoot) Halloween pictures. I just hate uploading photos. Maybe it's good that nothing's going on right now, no drama. I'll come up with something. Jeromy's gone all week, so some drama is bound to happen.

Which Twilight Character Would You Be?

I happened upon this on someone's blog. So fun!


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

And if I were a guy, I'd be an Edward. Awkward...


Take the Quiz and Share Your Results!

So speaking of Twilight, anyone have plans for opening night???

Surprise Family Adventure

On Saturday, in an effort to get the kids to help out with the chores, we said we were going to do something really fun together once the house was all clean. Boy, did it work! But then we had to come up with a fun idea. Urg.

With only 5 minutes to go before we all got into the car, Jeromy came up with a Surprise Adventure! Nobody knew (except Daddy) what we were doing until we got there. So exciting!!


Surprise #1: A ride on Uta Trax! The kids went nuts. They absolutely loved it! And best of all, the kids rode free! (It probably cost us the same amount in gas and parking fees: $9. Awesome!)






Surprise #2: The Clark Planetarium in downtown SLC!! It was so much fun! They have all these cool exhibits to look at and the best part was it was all free!




They have one section where you can pretend to be the weatherman/woman. Notice the TVs on the sides:)







Surprise #3: After getting some dinner and cookies (Ben's Cookies: INCREDIBLE!) across the street at The Gateway, we went to get tickets for a star show (Psych fans, imagine the Planetarium episode: hee hee hee!). To our surprise, the cashier lady handed us a coupon for free tickets! Woohoo! Oh, and the show was cool too.



Alas, all great adventures must come to an end. Here are the girls waiting in the cold for the bus to come.

Pumpkinland

We visited the Wilson's last week at Pumpkinland. Thanks, Wendy, we had so much fun! Audrey kept asking on the way home, very sadly, "When are we going to see the boys again?"

First Snow in New House

Did anyone else wake up to snow yesterday? We sure did. I can't believe how EXCITED the kids were to see it out their windows as soon as they woke up, and then how DISAPPOINTED they were to have it melt by the time we got home from church:( Still, it's exciting to start a new season in our new home!

More Preschool Pix

I forgot my camera on the first day of preschool {gasp!} so another mom in the class was kind enough to email us pictures she took with her camera. Here they are:

Priesthood Session Miracle

Jeromy told me yesterday that he wanted to go to the Priesthood Session at the Conference Center instead of the Stake Center. He thought he'd have a better chance at Standby of getting in because it was rainy. So I thought I'd take the kids to the Deseret Book next to Temple Square to take advantage of the Ladies' Night Out sales.

After an hour of trying to find parking, the kids had so much energy. So I bagged the shopping idea and we went exploring. We went to the Church History Museum, which has a fun children's area appropriately named "I Am a Child of God." (Audrey recognized a depiction of the First Vision and said excitedly, "Oh, Mommy! That's when Joseph Smith got his prayers answered!" It's nice to know some things are sinking in:) ) We went to the old pioneer cabin right next to the museum, and it had a cool vegetable garden that the girls enjoyed comparing to ours. We went through temple square, noting the Tabernacle, the Temple, Moroni, the Assembly Hall, a couple of water features, a few statues, and various "itty bitty baby flowers."

After all this, we still had some time to kill before Daddy was done, so we went into the big Conference Sale inside the Joseph Smith Memorial Building only to get mauled by the crowds (I had a stroller, need I say more?). So we ate our free cookies while exploring the building via elevator. After 5 minutes of that, Mommy's head wasn't going to take anymore elevators, so we went over to the Deseret Book across the street. The store was only halfway full, not all of the way! I asked the girls to stay put in the children's book aisle, and they dutifully obeyed (wow) so I could shop. Through all this, Jacob was so good! Even though it was past his dinnertime and he only had a few crackers to eat and it was nearing his bedtime.

Mommy had a few minutes to look around and get a few great books before Daddy walked in and announced it was time to buy some tacos from the street vendors. Then to cool our tongues after all those spices, we went to Dee's to get some ice cream. By the time we got home and the kids in bed it was 10:30! 2 hours past the girls bedtime and 3 1/2 past Jacob's!

What was the miracle? Everyone had a fabulous time: the kid's got to go on an adventure, Mommy enjoyed looking at and buying books at an awesome sale, Daddy went to Priesthood session in the conference center, and everyone was so happy at the same time! Everyone was polite, non-whiny and non-cranky, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. That, my friends, constitutes a miracle in my book. Hurray!

Audrey's First Day of Preschool

Friday was Audrey's first day of preschool. She's growing up so fast! We've been looking forward to her preschool starting for some time now. It wasn't till she actually went till she understood why we were so excited for her. She had a TON of fun. You can tell by all the loot she brought home: a headband she decorated, a tracing page of her name and an Expo pen to practice with, a file folder game (laminated and everything), a schoolhouse picture/calendar, and some Bio Dough (it's like Gak). Anyway, she can hardly wait to go back!!



I thought I'd mention how excited I am for preschool. Not only will I get a slight break twice a week, but Audrey will have a creative outlet for her energy that she can call her own. She has desperately needed this for some time now, so I'm thrilled. Also, they invited one parent to come on the first day to get a better idea of what they signed up for. It's at the high school, and it's part of their child development program. So that means that there's the 1 normal adult teacher, and then about 8 high school teachers/students (which means it's about a 2:1 ratio- yeah!). It also means that the district pays the main teacher, so most of the money we pay (which is the cheapest preschool I found too) goes to awesome supplies! I was very impressed when we went and am so glad that Audrey will be a part of this. Woohoo!

First Haircut

A few days ago, Audrey got into the scissors. You know what that means, haircut time!! I've been trying to talk her into letting me cut it for awhile now, so I guess she just saw the scissors and wanted to do it by herself first (so Audrey). After she cut a little lock off the side (and not telling me, of course, until I found the hair on the ground in her room!) I tried to convince her again about the benefits of cutting her hair (making an even length now that she made it uneven, less tangly, grows faster and better...) but she wouldn't have it.

So last night after baths, I was combing her hair and she was getting upset about the tangles, so I tried again. I told her she wouldn't have that many tangles if she let me cut it. She said okay! Well I wasn't going to waste any time (even though I was in a hurry to get out the door to get some groceries) and grabbed the nearest scissors and started cutting. Jeromy barely had time to whip out his phone and take a pic. So there you have it, she finally got her first haircut! My mom will be so happy to hear that; she's been dying to cut Audrey's mullet off for ages!



Until yesterday, I had never cut any of my kids' hair! I don't know what it was, but it was really hard for me to let go of Audrey's hair. Probably because it took SUCH a long time to grow and partly because the ends are her baby hair:( You can't get rid of that! Plus, the girls in my family have cute little baby curls until their first haircut. So now I'm kind of in a predicament because she still has those baby soft curls on the sides because they weren't long enough to cut, but it's straight in the back. Plus she hardly has any hair in the front (anybody know what I can feed her to make her hair grow?) And don't even get me started on her many cowlicks!! Poor thing, I'm sorry I passed those on to you.

Here's Audrey showing off her new do. She is loving it!

Alone at the Temple

Jeromy and I have been trying to find ways to be more spiritual. So for the last month, Jeromy has been waking up at 4am every Tuesday to go to the early morning session at the temple. What an example he is to me! So I decided that maybe I should go alone too; after all, we don't have a babysitting co-op anymore and haven't been for awhile. Last night I went to the temple alone for the very first time. Let me remind you that I got married the day after going for my own endowment, and have gone with my sweet husband ever since (7.5 years). I don't know why I never did it alone, maybe a little bit of fear that it would be weird or lonesome or something. But let me tell you, it was very refreshing! I don't get a whole lot of chances to be alone these days, and to do something as spiritually rejuvenating as attending the temple and all by myself, it was just that: spiritually rejuvenating! I didn't have any distractions (except those people that apparently don't know how to whisper!) and so I could focus a lot better. I'm not saying that I'll never go with Jeromy again, just that it's great to go by myself every once in awhile. Anyway, I wholeheartedly recommend it! Now I've got plans to go there every other Wednesday (that's my self-appointed night off each week- love it!). It's times like these that remind us what days are to come and how we all could use all the help we can get to make it through these tough times, when the adversary is working overtime and getting more and more desperate. Anyways, I'm so happy I finally went by myself and so excited for next time!!

Audrey's Sign

Audrey drew this sign quite awhile ago, and I'm just now getting around to scanning it in. Oh well. It's still a funny story.

Jeromy and I were working on some household projects and the girls were coloring happily. Audrey came to show me her picture:



Yes, that is a yellow line coming down from her crotch with a yellow puddle underneath her feet (you might want to pull up the picture so you can see it better). Um, ya, shocking. She calmly explained her drawing as, "This is me peeing in the garden." So I tried to mask my shocked face and ask her if she drew that because she had done it before. All shifty eyed, "Um, no, Mommy." Whatever. I totally don't believe you. I didn't think this would happen with my daughter!!! I thought that was a boy thing to do! Gross. I gave up pressing her for more information, opting to just not think about it. Ew.

Well she was so proud of her drawing that she asked to make it a necklace and then she and Kierra pretended it was a gold medal and awarded it to each other.

Audrey's Fish

Not bad for 4 and a 1/2.

Deliveries

All right, I was feeling a little guilty for not checking on the kids while we were watching TV, so I went upstairs. I found the kids playing postman with my stash of envelopes.




As they were walking around handing out letters, I heard them say:

Kierra: "Happy Birthday to Hilary. I am so excited for the birthday." "Here's your delivery!"

Audrey: "I am so happy that you are turning 13!" "Aren't these wonderful?" "Oh, that was so nice of you. Thank you."

They were even nice enough to come downstairs and give Mommy and Daddy a delivery.

It's nice to think they got all of this from listening to me write letters, however I am the world's worst letter writer. Case in point: today is my little bro's birthday and I haven't sent him a card yet.

Well, way to use your imaginations, girls! I love it!!

We're Totally Lame

Okay, so, we're totally lame because right now all of our kids are upstairs playing and using their imaginations and stuff, and Jeromy and I are downstairs watching Phineas and Ferb on the Disney Channel and loving all of it. Have you seen it? So funny!!!

Ya, we're lame, I know.

Music FHE

We learned about music appreciation tonight for FHE. I put some different classical songs on the CD player and asked them what it reminded them of or what it made them feel like. Kierra's standard answer was "it makes me feel like standing." Then on Vivaldi's Spring, when I asked Kierra what she thinks of when listening to it, she exclaimed, "The Little Einsteins!!!" To which Audrey corrected her that it was The Little Einsteins Halloween. Ya, we watch a lot of TV, can you tell?

So by the time we had closing prayer, Jeromy and I were already battling the giggles. Audrey started out by saying something that we thought was pretty funny (Jeromy and I were smirking at this point, but keeping the giggles back). Then she said, very seriously, "We're thankful we can be quiet during prayers." (Jeromy and I are REALLY battling giggles back now!) Further reprimanding her parents: "And we're thankful we can be reverent." We lost it. How in the world are we supposed to model reverence when they're so darn funny!

Names

I saw this on a friend's blog and thought I should try.

Holy crow!! 72!?!?!?!?

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 72 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

My maiden name is MUCH more unusual. Maybe I should have kept it...

HowManyOfMe.com

There are 1 or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

Grandmother Piano

WE HAVE A PIANO!!!!

My grandmother has been giving all her grandchildren inheritance money for the last couple of years, and asked that we try to spend the money on something that would remind us of her. So we thought it was high time we got ourselves a piano!

It's not a regular one, but it is a very nice digital one (Yamaha Casanova) that sounds and feels just like a real piano. We love it! It even has some different "voices," programmed songs, weighted keys, and a record option.

I remember playing the piano with my Grandmother during one of her visits, and she taught us a usually-forgotten Primary song about plum trees (?) and birds. Anyway, it's a great memory, so I thought a piano would be very fitting, plus I've been itching to play again! Yeah!! Thank you so much Grandmother!!!