Splash pad

Another reason to love Daybreak
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Blendy Pens

Brenner has been wanting Blendy Pens for awhile. So when Grandma got here yesterday, he talked her into using her credit card to buy the blendy pens. I wasn't so sure about this concept of buying markers that cost $20 plus $8 shipping and handling even if I wasn't the one paying for them. So, we went to Target and they had a $10 version with just a few markers. And that is just what they are. They are Markers that share one lid. So you you put them together and twist... that makes the markers touch each other end to end. And the colors mix. So, you touch a red marker to a yellow marker. At first the marker colors kind of red, then orange, then back to yellow. That's how they blend. What a sham!!! I could touch his markers together for him for a lot less money:)

Couponing

Right now it seems like couponing and saving money is all the craze. My ward has a "frugal living" enrichment group. I was invited to a grocery smarts class. Everyone wants to save money.

So, I thought I'd do a post on my take on all of this stuff. I am not willing to drive to tons of stores and the only stores close to me are Walmart Market, Harmon's and Smith's. I tend to like to buy a lot of things that don't have coupons... produce, meat, bread, milk, etc. So what I do, is I go to Walmart Market and I PRICE MATCH. Walmart will meet anyone's sell prices. So, I go to The Obsessive Shopper. She taught the Grocery Smarts class that I went to. Click on UTAH... that is where I live anyway. Then I click on the list that says "all in one." This gives me a list of the sales at all the stores in Utah in a table format. The first column is starts... 4 & 5 stars are good deals. Then it tells you the item, regular price, if there is a coupon and what the final cost will be. The list is in order of store. So I click on start... that turns my whole list gray. I click on the things that I think I would want to buy and it turns them white. I go through the whole list looking for the best deals. Then I click "shrink." It shrinks the list down to just the items I'm going to buy. I print that list and take it to the store with me. I will write on the back the items that I need that aren't on the list. Then I go and cut my coupons. I just file them by type (smart source, red plum and P&G) and I put them in date order... I write the date on the front so I can see it better, but the date is also really small on the binding. I don't cut out the coupons until I know that I need them. When I go to the store I also take my ads in case they want to see it in the ad... they rarely do, but it depends on your checker. I load up my cart and I try to keep the things that don't need to be price matched separated so I can give them to the checker first. I tell her that I'm going to price match everything else and she will ask me how much it costs and I look at my list and tell her. Then I give her my coupons at the end. It is a bit time consuming, but I feel like I'm getting what we need and building up my food storage. The other thing that I do is I always check the MEAT dept. to see if they have anything that they have marked down because it is about to expire. I buy it and put it in the freezer when I get home.

So, here's my last trip. I'm not as good as those ladies that get a whole cart for $25, but I got a lot of stuff and here's what I spent...

$87 .... I have a $10 rebate for the cereal that I can send off which will make the final cost $77

I got...

• 3 capri suns
• 10 boxes of cereal
• 2 milk
• 2 sodas
• 2 fruit cups
• a chicken
• boneless pork ribs
• 2 listerines
• 4 packages of shredded cheese
• 6 boxes of kleenes
• 2 pkgs stay free
• 2 toothpaste
• 2 boxes of pasta
• 2 boxes of band aids
• 2 pkgs cookies
• marshmellos
• brown sugar
• yogos
• tp
• nectarines
• bread
• dishwasher detergent
• various canned stuff
• etc.

You can look at the picture. I think I got a lot of stuff for a pretty good price. I had over $20 just in the coupons and I also price matched everything. After rebate, my cereal will be 25cents a box.

Anyway, just thought I'd let you know in case you want to join all of the crazy couponers out there.

Beanie Babies

My kids love beanie babies...especially since their babysitter Sam gave them some. So they were super excited when Sam told them McDonald's had mini beanie babies. So we went to McDonald's for lunch. Brenner go a hamster and Joren got a lady bug.
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Terek at 11 months

Look how itty bitty he was coming home from the hospital. Now he's almost ONE!

I think he's kind of outgrown the car seat... don't you?
So we've moved him up to his big boy car seat (a little early).
Terek has grown up a lot in the last month. He finally learned how to crawl... at 10 1/2 months. He's great about crawling around and getting into things and playing by himself... I think he prefers it over being mauled by Joren. He babbles a lot and I think that the words make sense a lot of times, but I don't know if anyone else would agree. He knows and loves his big brothers. If I ask where one of them is, he will look in their direction and find them. We love this crazy little boy that is just growing up toooooo fast!

The "Little" Family Reunion

This weekend we had Ryan's mom's family reunion (the Little family) up by Bear Lake. Bear Lake is so fun because there is so much to do.

My particular favorite was hanging out in the hammock and taking a nap with Terek (Brenner and Joren just climbed in for the pic).

We did a little 4-wheeling... we could drive right out of our campground. (Sorry, I'm kind of sick of pictures of 4-wheeling so I didn't take any)

We had a lot of fun at the lake... playing in the sand, boating, throwing a football, getting a tan, etc. The boys really want to go back to Bear Lake again and I think we'll have to plan on that next summer.
We also played some crazy family reunion games... Ryan's dad is silly.

This is the life

There's nothing like laying in the hammock under the tree taking a nap with my baby.
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Craft Blog

If you're wondering why I'm not posting this week it's because I've hijacked my craft blog and I'm posting there all week!

The two big boys are off to gymnastics camp every morning this week and I'm trying to catch up on some of my craft projects.

Check out some of my awesome crafts at www.twiddle-thumbs.com

I love Idaho!

This past week the kids and I went to Idaho to stay with some friends from highschool. It was so fun to see my friends and all of their kids!

We started off the week by a visit to the Tautphaus park zoo in Idaho Falls. Minus the traumatizing fear of roaming peacocks (Brenner) it was a cute little zoo.
We also stopped by the falls in Idaho Falls.
The kids favorite part of the trip was the bowling alley in Rexburg... only $2 to go bowling including shoe rental!
We also went go Mesa Falls. They were very beautiful water falls.
The kids loved rolling and sliding down the hills in the St. Anthony sand dunes.
Even the babies got to play a little.
Joren and Terek loved the splash park in Rexburg.... Brenner didn't like the giant dumping bucket on top (as you can see Brenner has many fears)
And no trip to Idaho would be complete without a visit to the potato museum.
I love Idaho and all of the farm country everywhere and all of the greenery!!! It's a beautiful place! Thanks to some great friends for letting us stay at their house!!!

Terek's New Trick

It's about time!!!  Time to child proof my house!  

(sorry about the background noise on the video.  and the reason he started crying at the end was because his daddy walked in the door and he wanted him to pick him up)

Red, White and Blue...

Let's give a big burnt thumbs up for the 4th of July! A summer can't go by without someone getting burnt... ryan's turn this year.

Ryan's mom coaxed us out of beg at 4:30 this morning to head down to the balloon festival in Provo.
It was fun to watch the huge balloons get blown up and head up into the sky.
Brenner and Joren loved to watch the balloons and it was worth getting up so early in the morning.
Then we headed down to the parade where we occasionally saw a cool float or balloon (I'm not a huge fan of parades.... I don't like the bands or people in cars.  I don't like sitting in the hot sun and/or getting rained on.)
After heading to a park for lunch, we were all tuckered out and headed home for a nap and a nice relaxing evening at home
We had fun doing our own fireworks in our back yard with our neighbors.
Then we headed out to the edge of the hill to watch all of the cities fireworks in the back of the truck.  We could see the fireworks all over the valley.
Happy Independence Day!!!

I went swimming with my clothes on....

... to save this little boy's life!!!

And can I just say it was a very humbling experience.  Can I admit that I'm a horrible parent???  We were playing at the beach park.  I didn't think he'd do much but play on the beach and wade in the water.  I wasn't watching him as well as I should have been.  Heavenly Father really wanted to protect this little boy.  Something whispered in Ryan's ear to look for Joren... and he said, "where is Joren?"  I immediately looked up and there was this little head bobbing in the water with arms flailing doing their best to stay afloat.  (I don't think I'll ever be able to get that image out of my head.)   I've never ran so fast in my life.... I've never been so scared in my life.  My little boy was so brave.  He didn't spit out any water. He didn't pass out.  And he's been perfectly fine.  I am so grateful that Heavenly Father was looking out for him and saved my sweet little Joren.  Even though this little boy drives me absolutely crazy most of the time, he holds a special place in my heart.  He brings so much fun and joy to our family and I can't imagine life without him.  I love you soooo much, Joren!!!

Liberty Park

One of our favorite summer past times is Liberty Park.

Brenner, Joren and Sam (Sam is our neighbor and the boys love playing with her) spent their whole time following a boat down the streams.
Terek loved splashing in the water.
We definitely will be going back again this summer!!!

Silver Lake

For Sunday dinner we went up to Silver Lake for a picnic (if you don't know, silver lake is at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon).

The kids loved the ground squirrels that were everywhere.
Legacy loved pushing Terek in the stroller (and Brenner and Joren loved pushing Terek in the stroller just so they could hear Legacy cry when it wasn't her turn.)
Terek loved sitting on the rocks and playing with sticks and such.
It was totally fun to go on a walk around the lake and explore.  Good times!