February Rewind

February 1

Super Bowl Weekend. The guys watched the game and the girls had their eyebrows waxed by Shelly (my mother-in-law) who has just become a licensed anesthetician. She did a fabulous job!!

February 9

One more Monday that Trent has off of school. He gets two Monday Presidents Days and this is the one we are not blacked out of Disneyland!!

February 11

Valentine's Day Potluck at Katherine's. This was probably the craziest playgroup I have ever attended. Way to many kids in a small space trying to hand out Valentine's. But, of course the kids loved it!

I had to post this picture of Nathan trying to smile for the camera, it is SO funny!

February 14

This was such a crazy day. It was my birthday and we had no plans because we were going to celebrate when we went out for the Rascall Flatts concert. My plan was to drive out to Disneyland and get my free birthday ticket and upgrade to a pass. About 9 a.m. Trent's dad called and said that they were on their way to Sea World if we wanted to join them. So we got ready and took off in two cars. I headed to Anaheim by myself thinking this would be a quick process. Trent headed to San Diego with the three kids in tow. When I got to Anaheim it was about 1:30 p.m. The ticket line was about an hour long!! I got my ticket upgraded to my pass and by the time I got back out to the parking garage it was 3 p.m. I was told by an unnamed source that it takes 1 hour to get to San Diego from Anaheim. NOT TRUE!! It took 2 hours and 15 minutes on freeways that I am not familiar with. I had not eaten all day so finally I stopped at In and out and ate in my car. Do you know how many pitiful looks you get when you are eating in the car (by yourself in the parking lot, what a loser)? But, I am much more dangerous eating and driving a stick shift than I am talking on the phone and driving. So I took off from there and went past the exit to the freeway I was supposed to get off on. I finally realized it about 10 minutes down the road and turned around. I arrived steaming at 5:30 p.m. at Sea World. They closed that night at 7:30!! I realized at that point that I should have just driven the hour home instead of going to San Diego. However, the kids had SO much fun with Grandpa and Mimi so I guess that's all that matters right? Happy Birthday to me :(

February 15

Trent brought home a cake from Albertsons the night before and we ate if for my birthday! What a guy! He gave me tickets to the Rascall Flatts concert! For Valentine's Day he got me these great placemats and dish towels. Yes, I like dish towels for a present. I am lame, I know.

February 17

Went to the Recipe Club for the first time. Breakfast dishes.

February 18

Watched Lisa Bearnson on QVC.

February 19

Tyler's first baseball practice was today. I was worried about it all day because I was laid up with Mastitis for the 4th time!! Seriously if you have never had this it is so painful and you are SO sick! I kept texting Trent all day asking him if he would be able to come home early and take Tyler. Tyler just kept asking me, "am I going to be able to go to my first day of baseball today?" Sure enough Trent was able to make it and he loved it. He found out that a friend from his school class is on his team.

That night before they got home I had the chills so bad that I had turned the heater on high. I had been lying on the couch in the same position for two hours just trying to get warm. About the time they got home I could not move. I was paralyzed from my elbows to my wrists and from my knees to my toes. I could not tell my hands to move or my fingers to function properly. It was so scary that we were talking about calling an ambulance or going to the ER. It was SO scary. I realize now that it was probably from lying in that same position on my back for so long. But, at the time my fever was 103 and I was not thinking straight because of that. I asked Trent for the first time in 8 years to call someone over to give me a blessing. I have had blessings when I went in to have my children, but never in our marriage for any other illness. Now, any of you who know my husband know that he thinks I have a flair for the dramatic. He left the room and about 10 minutes later he said, so do you really think you need a blessing? He hadn't called anyone yet!! I was so frustrated. I told him in 8 years I have never asked you this and you think I am not serious? So he finally called around to some friends and most were out of town. He got ahold of one of the guys from the ward and he was nice enough to come over. About a half hour after the blessing I was fully functioning and my fever broke. It was the end of a scary situation and a time that I was so grateful to have the priesthood in my home.

February 20

We attended a playgroup at the park for the first time. Fun to meet new friends in the ward.

February 27

Cael is 6 months old!

January Rewind

Wow, I am SO far behind that I need to do some monthly rewinds for my own journaling purposes. Bound to be boring for anyone else:)

January 1

*Spent the weekend in Yuma to celebrate New Year's Day.*

*Nathan knocked out his tooth on the tile to start the year off with a BANG*

We tried to put it back in and eventually it had to be pulled because he had broken the roots.

January 10

*Cael spent 3 days in the hospital. Tested negative for RSV, but had a really bad cold and breathing problems*

January 15

*Tyler has a bad ear infection and is not feeling well*

Nathan was sick this week. (We spent 3 weeks this month with one, two or all three kids sick at a time!)

January 17

Had our friends the Smith's over for a farewell dinner. They moved to Spokane to be closer to their family. Kiersten was aching to get back to Washington since the day she moved here so although we were sad to see them go we are happy for them. We miss our Sunday afternoon crock pot dinner buddies though. We would always call them to come over when we had too much roast after church!

January 19

Martin Luther King Day-one of the Mondays Trent gets off work.

A day at Mulligans play center. Miniature golf, lazer tag, go-carts, games.

January 20

Watched US History being made when President Obama took the oath.

January 28

Took Tyler to the dentist only to hear he has MORE cavities!! We are brushing, flossing and swishing, what is wrong with this kids teeth?

January 30

Went Visiting Teaching to a new gals house. A fun girl who I am becoming friends with. I have never been very good at visiting teaching, but my partner is and she makes it happen. So glad because now we have a new friend. That's the point right?

January 31

Took off to Yuma again for Super Bowl weekend.

Rascal Flatts

Bob That Head Tour

March 14, 2009

My birthday present from my wonderful husband this year was tickets to the Rascal Flatts Bob That Head concert. Country music is one of the few things that we both REALLY love. I say one of the few things because we love movies, 24, a few sporting event and our kids equally the same. But, a lot of things one of us loves and the other often goes along because the other loves it. I am sure most couples can say that. So Rascal Flatts is one of those things that we both thoroughly enjoy. We saw them eight years ago when they were opening up for Jodee Messina in Spokane. They came out individually and each did a monologue. Jay was hilarious and I can't count the number of times that Gary said, "Lord, have mercy," when something was funny. A true southern thing, it was funny to those of us who aren't used to that phrase.

The only downfall this time was that Jessica Simpson opened for them. We looked at each other several times and said, "What is wrong with her??" She has such a beautiful voice, she looked great (she is not big as the media is saying, which is so rude whether she is or isn't, that must have been a terrible side picture and the mom jeans didn't help), but she says the dumbest things. In between her songs she just said things that clarify her being an idiot is NOT an act. It is REAL. She actually stopped songs twice and told her band, "I have to start over," because she forgot the words!! She said, "I do this all the time, it's ok, people make mistakes."

What a great gift, can't wait to see them next year on the "Unstoppable" tour!!

2000
We liked them then...

2009

They've come a long way and were SO much better!

I realize the video is really terrible quality, but it is so fun to have something to share with the kids about where we were last night. I love it that they sang on the Cars soundtrack and the boys can enjoy something with us that we all love. They call this "The Mac song."

Walgreens Trip

$145.00 worth-$51.00 spent

Alright, I have a lot of blogging to catch up on for the month of February, but couldn't let this one pass by because you still have 3 days left to do this.

I had not ventured into the Walgreens sales yet, but today was very exciting. I learned how to "stack" coupons there and finally got some FREE items out of it. I could never figure out how all these savvy coupon people got free stuff. Well, now I know. I will run it down for you. First off if you want to start coupon shopping, you must get the Sunday paper. I was buying it out of the machines for $1.50 each week. There was a man in Albertsons who I signed up with last Saturday for the LA times for the Thursday-Sunday editions. Just to get the Sunday paper!! But, it was $39.00 for the whole year!! And, he gave me a $10 gift card to Albertsons for signing up so it was $29.00 for the year basically!! The other thing you need to know is that Walgreens coupons that I mention are in a pamphlet up front by their weekly ads and are called the Walgreens Easy Saver catalog. There are a ton of coupons in there and some of them go with the weekly sales. You can use as many of these as you want. RR stands for Register Rewards, basically free Walgreens $$ that you get for purchasing certain products.

MC=Manufacturers coupon

BOGO=Buy one Get one Free

WAGS=Walgreens

Here we go:

5 Huggies Diaper packs $10 each Sale-$5.00 coupons from Coupons.com=$25.00

(You can only print 2 Huggies coupons from your computer at coupons.com. Found another place you can print more, not sure what the limit is because I am done http://www.redplum.com/offers/1011414-topdeal.html)

Lightdays 2/$6 (A little higher than Walmart, but when you are saving this much money on other stuff you dont' want to go to Walmart for one item)

Gilette Razor=$8.99-$4 MC plus $4 RR=$.99

Glade Sense and Spray $7.99 sale - $4 WAGS plus BOGO=$4 for 2 (I messed this up, if I would have had the MC from the paper I would have gotten both for FREE)

AJAX=$.79 WAGS ad coupon

Skintimate Shave Gel -$1.99 and $1 RR=$.99

7 Garnier Shampoo, conditioner, gel, etc -These were on sale for $.99 then in the Walgreens Easy saver they had $2 off coupons and I had MC $1 off that I stacked with them, so they were free. All 7 of the Garnier items=FREE

Easter Candy=2/$4

Easter Bunnies-$1.29

Kanka Mouth Medicine $6.99
Batteries-$6.99 (Mail in rebate for $3.99)

So when you add it all up it won't add up for you. This is higher than my $51.00 total. (You have to keep in mind the RR's that I used.)I did 3 transactions. This is because when you spent $25.00 in items listed on the back of the ad, you got $10.00 WAGS RR's. So I did this twice, but never really spent $25.00 because I had $15.00 off in diaper coupons for each transaction. So it's $25.00 before your coupons. The register then spits out your RR's. So I did this twice. Then on my third transaction the total was $33.00 and I used my $26.00 WAGS RR's and spent $7.19. Adding up all my receipts it was $144.00 and I paid $51.00.

I have read that once they are out of stock it's unlikely that they restock before the sale is over. So hopefully when I get these deals from now on I can let you know earlier.

The time in store took about an hour. However, it was my first time in this store using their ads, I had a baby in the bjorn strapped to my chest and a 2 year old in the cart trying to climb in and out. And, my coupon holder opened and spilled all over the floor. That part was a nightmare. So hopefully I can continue to get better so that I can share my experiences.

There are better people out there though and these are the places I got all this great info. (Although it started with my fabulous sister in law Jessica calling me yesterday and explaining the diaper thing to me. Three phone calls later with continued questions I finally got it :)

This girl is fabulous and I haven't had a moment to check out the blogs listed on the right of hers.

http://www.coupongeek.net/

And she shared this site for weekly Walgreens strategies:

http://www.southernsavers.com/2009/03/walgreens-weekly-ad-38-314/

There is actually a section of this page called "working Walgreens." Basically legally stealing from them. There is a weekly deal where you actually make $3!!

I can't wait to get better at this. I am jealous of the girls that get to leave the kids with their parents or hubbies. It will be so much easier without the kids tagging along! Once you get good at this system and comfortable with a store getting these deals can take about 30 minutes. I am comfortable with Albertsons and their deals now and it takes about that even with kids.

By the way, the $.99 Kids Activity Book that I told you about was not available at my store or my friends in Idaho so we missed out on the extra $1 off coupons for the diapers. This only made a $5 difference for me though, it was OK.

Just a note about something I learned-you can't use your RR's for tax. So if you get your bill down to basically free and the rest is tax, you have to pay the tax with $$ not your RR coupons.

Happy Shopping!!

January Calendar Blocks

Now that January is over I have finally completed my Calendar Blocks. I found these on www.pebblesinmypocket.com. It looks like they are going to have them every month. I got February and will hopefully get them done this week. I will post those also. The dimensions for the blocks are 3.5 x 2 and 1.5 x 1.5. January block paper is 1 and 1/8 x 3 and 1/8 The papers on the side of the little blocks are 1 and 1/4 x 1 and 1/4. I used mod podge to put the paper down and then went over it to help it stick firmly. The numbers on the first block are 0, 5, 1, 3, 2 and 4. Second Block 0, 1, 7, 6/9 (you only use one as they will work as both), 2, and 8. Good Luck, ask me any questions you need to. Shannon said that Lowe's still cuts wood.

Ward Christmas Party

Ok, I know it's ridiculously late to be posting pictures of our Ward Christmas party, but it's for my journaling purposes.

Our friend Leanne was nice enough to set up a backdrop and her lighting and take professional pictures of families at the Christmas party. She has a successful business and has done some amazing pictures for families that we know. Would you believe this was taken in the Primary room? The theme was pajama breakfast and Trent has been asked why he wasn't in his pajamas. His reply was that this was nothing that you would want to see. TMI maybe? I figure not in my circle of friends :)

Nathan is of course in the I like Santa, but not up close phase so I had to be with him in order to get him in the picture.

The guy in charge of activities dresses up like Buddy the Elf, and yes, he sounds and acts exactly like him when he is in character. The kids love it. Tyler thinks that Elf the movie is so funny. His friend Ryan apparantly goes around saying, "Son of a Nutcracker!!"

Hansen Family Pictures

Taken by Desiree-November 2008

You can probably tell that it was very difficult with 3 boys, they didn't give us much to work with:)