THE BEST EPISODE IN SURVIVOR HISTORY!!!

OH! I am still laughing! Right out loud! OK, so before I go off on RANDY, I should warn you all that I am a nerd (like you didn't know that). I am a SURVIVOR NERD. I love Survivor. My weeks revolve around Thursday night. They have for A LOT of years now. If it ever gets canceled, I will go insane. I do have a couple of seasons on DVD, but it's not as fun when you know the end result. Anyway, now that you understand how obsessed I am...

What a night! There are definitely lame nights with Survivor. Lame as in.. event less. Not much drama. That was not tonight. I don't want to spoil it for anyone that may have tevo'd it, so I won't say too much. But, in the past, there have been fake immunity idols. Not like this, tho. And never used against RANDY! Wah ah ah ah ah! See ya! "LOSER" as noted by Sugar. Love ya, Sugar. I really do. And, if you're reading this (not likely, I know, but I can talk to you anyway. I talk to myself, why not to characters on reality t.v?) LOVED THE COOKIE STUNT. Wow. I have never known a pin up model before, but this one is cool.

Anyway.. tah tah for now. I hope I survive the next week until it is on again.

Whose Child is This?

So, this is my three year old! Stinkin' cute. Need I say anything else? :) Erin and Emma love my pom poms (Jer does, too, but that's another story). I have threatened them with their lives not to hurt my pom poms. They are (I am going to age myself here) nearly seventeen years old! Ouch! So I am a little protective of my pom poms.

The other day, Erin came in and asked me to put them on her (she does this several times a day. It makes me laugh that I have to "put them on." The handles are hidden in the center and it takes real skill to find them and get your hands in there to hold on). So, while I am helping her find the handles..

Erin: "Mom, are these Mom pom poms or kid pom poms?"

Me: "They are Mom pom poms."

Erin: "Well, then why don't you ever soos (use) them? I never see you cheer for anything."

Me: "I know. I haven't used them for a long time. I guess there is nothing to cheer for anymore."

Erin: "Then I will soos them and you can be the teacher. Teach me some cheers."

Oh man. Next thing you know she is going to ask me to put on my uniform. Not happenin'. So, since her name seems to be the only thing that a three year old can spell, I taught her this little cheer. She is a crack up. This is a typical event for the two of us when the other kids are at school. And, I can never figure out why I didn't get anything done during the day. If we aren't cheering, we are dancing, cooking, buying, singing.. etc. Her entire day is pretend. Oh to be three again!

p.s. make sure you pause the music below before you push play on the video.

I am a coupon clipper!

I don't know how well you can see these receipts and there was no way I could show the whole 25 feet of them, but hopefully you get the point.

Coupon shopping has become a "hobby" of mine. I never thought I could learn how people would get $100 worth of grocery's for next to nothing. And, I especially never thought I would have the patience for it. But, after attending a Grocery Smarts class and several months of practice, I think I might be getting the hang of it.

Last week, I sent Jer with my list and a stack of coupons. He went and did our "normal" shopping with what I had given him. Albertson's had a deal going. For every $30 you spent on "participating items" you got $15 off your next visit. And, throughout the month of October, for every $250 spent, you got a 5% off coupon to use in November. So, with that said, yesterday's shopping experience was insane!

At Albertson's I got the following:
2 bags of Nestle Chocolate Chips
1 box of Albertson's real butter
6 jars of Skippy peanut butter
1 bottle Apple Juice
1 Danon Frusion Smoothy
4 pacs TicTacs
total before tax and coupons: $38.34
total after preferred savings card: $24.85
total after tax, ps, and coupons: $ 1.43 (this is what I actually paid!)

At Smith's I got the following:
1 Betty Crocker Cake Mix
1 box GM Fiber One Cereal
4 cans Carnation Evaporated Milk
6 cans Eagle Sweetened Condensed Milk
24 pack of Arrowhead water bottles
1 box Eggo Waffles
total before tax and coupons: $30.98
total after fresh values card: $28.46
total after tax, fv, and coupons: $8.48 (this is what I actually paid!)

So, between the two stores, my total savings was: $59.41 (86%). Keep in mind, this was a shopping trip specifically for "stock up items." I wouldn't normally go buy 6 jars of peanut butter. But, by combining sales prices with coupons, it is a great chance to build up your food storage. I am super excited about how our food storage is coming along. I started saving coupons in April, and it is starting to really pay off.

If you are wanting to learn how to save and stock up at the same time, I will be having Katie come teach the class this month. In the meantime, check out http://www.grocerysmarts.com/. The passport is: g84ckp. Some people are familiar with Pinching your pennies. Grocery Smarts is very similar and in fact, has a link now to Pinching your pennies.

Anywho- if this was completely boring for you, I apologize. But, I get excited every time I have a trip to the store like this. We are finally "shopping" from our storage rather than running to the store every time we run out of something!

Catching up

I think I went five or six days without a camera. My digital camera that I got in May for our Disneyland trip decided to take an early retirement. So frustrating. Not even six months and it was done. I have had my Canon Rebel G 35mm for about ten years and I am still loving it. So, what is wrong with these little digitals? Is it user error? In the last four years I have had 4 different cameras. Granted, they are only 100+ bucks and they do get a little roughed up by my kids, but shouldn't they last longer than that?

Anyway, my sweet husband has done it again.. he forked out the money for yet another camera. I am a freak when I don't have a working camera at hand. There's another question for you all - am I the only mom out there that can't stand to go four days without taking pictures? I feel a little obsessive after this little escapade. I don't think I realized how much I depend on the dumb thing. I thought my cell phone was my favorite "gadget." Now I am wondering.

So, between that and my month of October being my busiest month of the year (so far) I have a lot of catching up to do. I am going to do one huge post. Hopefully I don't bore you to death.

First of all, I love October. I love autumn. I don't think I did when I was young, but each year I enjoy it more. This year was especially nice because of the mild weather. I love decorating for Halloween and I love seeking out the best costumes for the kids. (side note: Can I tell you how irritating it is to me that our elementary school declared October 31 "Official no costume day." What is that about? That is one of the best things about Halloween. Nope - not this year. My kids had to wear orange and black to "scare off drugs." Lame). So, I crafted my guts out this month without even realizing it. I have never had a ton of Halloween decor so I guess I felt a need to change that. Of course I involved Jer and the kids as much as possible. I had the kids make Trick or Treat bags:

And we carved pumpkins as a family:

And, I tried out my new toy (the Cricut):

And, since I made so many trips to Wood Connection while planning our Super Saturday, I had to make this little ditty:

And, lastly, I was tired of looking at "bloom" in my window, so I replaced it with "fall":

I also had a couple of Pigtails and Petals parties so I was making bows and headbands like a crazy woman. Yes, my fingers are bleeding after this last month. I have had lots of requests for Christmas bows and headbands, too, so if you need any, you'd better lemme know 'cause I can only twist and glue so fast. :)

As for our October 31st, it was very busy but very fun! I helped with Emma's class party at school in the morning, registered the van in the afternoon, took pictures with the Grandma's, and then went Trick-or-Treating that night. Josh didn't want to go out this year. I think by the time he had had his picture taken 500 times, he was checked out. He stayed home and handed out candy. Surprisingly, he was even okay with it when the girls came home with loads of junk. Emma got tired early. We had only gone to a few houses and I think her shoes were hurting her feet. So then she started in with the "I'm hungry." And, "I'm not going to anymore houses." Erin, on the other hand, was LOVING it! She was having so much fun that even after two hours she was still running from door to door. She wanted to take Emma home so that I could take her out until she was "finished." I think this is the first year she went without a stroller. She felt so big!

(the damage)

(Hanah, Collin, Noah, Cameron, Erin, Josh, Emma)

Eddie Munster? No. A vampire.

The Ice Queen? No. The Snow Princess.

Tinkerbell. An especially cute Tink.

On to more exciting things: SOCCER. Can I tell you how much we love soccer? Okay, so you already knew that. But, it's so much more fun when it's your child playing and they actually win! Josh's team is so fun! He is playing on a U10 Comp team for USA and is loving it. The first part of the season was tough. The kids were still learning to play together (a lot of them are new to the team) and they were used to rec ball. We played 9 games this season (plus the 4 in the Presidents Cup) and won 5 out of the 9. We finished with 4 straight wins. Since so many of us have become addicted to the game, whether it be the parents on the sideline, or the boys scoring, we decided to continue on. The boys are playing in the Dixie Invitational over Thanksgiving weekend in St. George and then will play (hopefully) Futsal during the winter months to stay in shape. This cute picture of the boys was just after their second win of the day last Saturday. Look at those smiles!

Jackson, Josh, Chase, Tyler, Ryan, Noah, Mike, Skyler, Ryan, Spencer

Goodness! Did I cover everything? That was like a Fireman Chad post except that there's no pictures of Disneyland! Hopefully I won't let a month go without posting next time.

P.S. Our fence is fixed. Took longer than I had hoped, but it's done.

Fun with hair 101

This is going to be a short/quick post. Just wanted to share with all of you this fun blog. My peeps at aerobics were willing to let me in on how they make their girls so dang cute (they are all darling even when their hair isn't done). But, this is fun if you are looking for something new to do with your girls. I know I always am. I might even be able to talk one of them into letting me do their hair for once. :)

http://www.girlydohairstyles.blogspot.com/

My sign is vital

This one is for April. I am playing your game because I need to sit on my "pockets" for a minute and chill. I feel like I have been running all week and everyone has had to read "Um... Dude?" for over a week now.. so I will update my blog with a tag.

The first is a one word tag.

Where is your cell phone? purse
Your significant other? Jer
Your hair? different
Your mother? grandma
Your father? busy
Your favorite thing? sitting
Your dream last night? dunno
Your favorite drink? coke
Your dream/goal? hair school
The room you are in? family room
Your hobby? crafting
Your fear? my kids growing up too fast (how do you do that in one word)
Where do you want to be in 6 years? here
What you are not? hungry
Muffins? designer jeans
One of your wish list items? new car
Where you grew up? Magna
The last thing you did? laundry
What are you wearing? my RED t-shirt from gap (support Bono)
Favorite gadget? blackberry
Your pets? none
Your computer? coming for Christmas, Santa???
Your mood? tired
Missing someone? Jer (I'd give anything for a date)
Your car? minivan
Something you are not wearing? shoes
Favorite store? Roberts Crafts or Western Gardens (lame, I know, but I could spend hours at either one)
Like Someone? lots of someone's
Your favorite color? pink
When is the last time you laughed? tonight (at myself, of course)
Last time you cried? last time I watched Bridge to Tarabithia

The last part is called 7 things
7 things I can do:
- scrapbook
- talk (too much)
- sleep
- the splits
- laundry
- spend money
- garden

7 things I can't do:
- speak more than one language
- make everyone happy
- keep my house clean
- read very fast
- be quiet
- cook like my hubby
- go to the movie theatre without getting popcorn and junior mints

7 things that attracted me to Jer:
- I felt comfortable enough to sing to the radio in front of him
- his hair
- his brains
- his love for his mom
- his honesty
- he makes me laugh every day
- the fact that he played hard to get once I decided to "give him a chance"

7 things I say most often:
- be nice
- take your shoes upstairs
- because I'm the mom
- I'm hurrying...
- love you
- What the?
- I'm sorry

7 Favorite foods:
- chocolate
- mexican
- candy
- cupcakes
- mashed potatoes
- sushi
- jer's ribs

7 People I tag:
- Jenn
- Stephanie
- Cari
- Lynsee
- Mom
- Alisha
- Jamie

Um.. Dude?

So I was laying down on my bed this afternoon with mammoth headache, when Erin starts yelling for me to come look at the fence! She was standing there holding the blinds up to see what that "loud crash was." I jumped up and went over to see what she was talking about. Sure enough, just as she said, the fence was "broken." I yelled for Jer to come outside with me because the fence was down.

Jer: "What? The fence is down?"

Aim: "Um ya. The fence is down. Down like a car ran into it down."

When we got out there, it was worse than I had thought. A big dodge truck was hauling a trailer and just as he got to the corner before us, the trailer came off (his safety chains weren't on) and fish tailed around. It went up on the sidewalk, caught the corner of our fence and then whipped across the street. Dude. Fortunately, the kids weren't in the back yard at the time and everyone was safe. The driver of the truck was pretty shook up. He was mad at himself for not doing the safety chains up, but more scared to tell his wife what had happened. He and his son collect old cars and he was off to pick up another one. His wife was already not happy about him getting another "project" but now he was going to be in trouble for causing the insurance to have to pay for our fence.

I did call the police, but apparently the West Valley City Police have more important things to attend to (like graffiti???). We were told that this was a "civil dispute." He didn't happen to notice the smell of beer on our new friends breath, so we didn't mention it. Off went the officer and eventually off went the big truck, trailer and the driver.

So here is what is left of our fence. I'm kind of freaking out about the back of our house being exposed to a busy street (and everyone seeing that I haven't mowed my lawn for 2 weeks). Hopefully the insurance company gets out here fast and gets it replaced. In the meantime, feel free to tag those last few sections of our fence. I won't hurry to clean it off or file a report this time.