"One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish."

The ONE and ONLY thing we miss about our old apartment is the swimming pool there. I am so grateful to have had that chance to teach my kids how to swim. That saved me a lot of money on swimming lessons this year! 

 My kids turned into little fish...

While living there we took advantage of going at least 3-4 times a week. Staying sometimes up to 5 hours swimming!  We went through 3 bottles of sunscreen, 50 extra diapers, and my bath towels had never been washed so much before, but it was so worth it!

  The first week the girls wouldn't even get in the pool. By the third week they got in but were scared to death and screamed if we let go of them. The second month they got a little more independent by using their arm float-ies I had bought for them, telling them, they won't drown.

Days later after Madisen had been using them, I cracked up when she told me, "Mom, you were RIGHT. These arm float-ies really do work. And you really won't drown." (I'm "RIGHT"?.... what was that?)

Madisen finally convinced Avery to give them a try too and as soon as Avery did, she declared, "I am SO SO happy!!!" (hilarious!)

A few weeks after that I told Madisen she was swimming so well she probably didn't even need her float-ies anymore.

She of course, couldn't believe I would suggest such a thing and protested profusely.

Yet, for some odd reason the next day while swimming her arm float-ies had mysteriously gotten a hole in them.

Hmmm...that's odd. ;)

SO she swam without them and did... AWESOME. 

Emily actually fell asleep for a few minutes...

Emily loved going swimming too. Any time anyone even mentioned the word, "pool" or "swim" she excitedly ran to the bathroom carrying her swimsuit over to me or running to put her shoes on. 

We miss the BIG pool at the apartment and thought of buying one that would be fairly big to swim in to put in out back yard. But didn't. We just got a small kid pool, only 2 feet tall, but they seem to be enjoying that just as much. Next year hopefully we will get a bigger pool, one they can actually "swim" in.


*I am on a roll with posting this week. Heck yes!

Visit from my Mom

I forgot to mention, among other things we have done lately, that my mom came out to visit us two weeks ago! It was so great having her here, even though for the first three days of her stay she was deathly ill and  throwing up. It wasn't fun for anyone! Sorry Mom.

 We did get to do a few things while she was here. We went shopping and out to dinner one night. We went into Dallas and did some MORE shopping and ate out again. We had a good time just being together. My mom is one of my best friends! We sure do appreciate all she does for us. Thanks for coming out Mom! These are the only pictures I got of my mom while she was here. 

My mom watched the girls while Ryan and I went on a date. We went and saw Harry Potter! It was awesome! Ryan and I both really enjoyed reading the books and then seeing the amazing job they did on all the movies. It was the last movie of Harry Potter and one of the best!  

Our Vegas/Utah Trip

I realized I never posted about our Vegas/Utah trip we took about 2 months ago...I know, it's way over due, and who cares at this point right? Well, I care. :)

We are a little crazy Ryan and I, so to keep up with appearances we decided to drive 22 hours straight with four kids. Our three and my nephew, Colton. We left at 5am on a Friday morning and didn't arrive to Cedar City until 1:30am Saturday morning. The kids actually did great. It was Ryan and I who struggled. The last 3-4 hours of the drive were horrible. Those hours seemed like endless toture! But we made it.

There was a moment when I was driving and almost got us all killed. I was shaken up pretty bad as we should have been in a head on collision and I remember closing my eyes waiting for the impact that never came.  I know the Lord protected us because we should have been hit. I don't know how we weren't to be honest. I still think about it to this day. I had Ryan drive the rest of the way.

It was so great to see Mom and Bob and spend time with them. My family came down from Idaho to stay the weekend too. So my parents, sisters, brother in law, Josh and my borther Adam all came down. Adam stayed for the day and then took Colton back up to Idaho with him. We had a great time, as always.

Then Monday morning came and Ryan and I said goodbye to our girls and headed to Vegas for 5 days and 6 nights alone! Ryan had a P.A. conference the whole week there that his company paid for so I got to go too!

BYE KIDS! Have fun with Grandpa and Grandma!

Our first night in Vegas we went to Roxy's diner and checked into our room which was so nice! We had a great time. ;)

We had a Jacuzzi tub in our room and I think I took 5 bubble baths that week! Ah-mazing. Haven't had a BATH in years.

 Of course we toured Vegas walking around seeing several sites. And did the tourist thing; posing for pictures...look red flowers. cool.

A flying horse and naked statue guy in the back.

 A really cool store

My NAME! As we were driving up to the Vegas Temple we drove threw CHRISTY lane. Thought it was blog worthy...

The temple grounds...beautiful! 

 Heck Yes! The temple is awesome!

Another night out on the strip...

 While Ryan was in class I soaked up some sun and read a few good books during the day. It was so nice to be able to relax and not stress about anything!

The Stratosphere, where we stayed.

We got back Saturday and left Sunday morning to head back to Texas. And again, we drove the whole way in one day! LONGEST drive ever. 

Another Crazy Coupon Lady...

13 boxes of cereal

3 bottles of body wash

5 shave gels

1 Playtex tampons

1 box of pads

5 boxes of Kleenex 

1 Palmolive soap

At CVS they had a pretty good deal on cereal 2/$4 and 3/$6.  I had 5 coupons for a dollar off. Making the cereal 2/$3 and 3/$5.  I also had two coupons that said if I spent $20 or more then I would get another $4 off. So by doing 4 transactions I was able to get $8 off on top of it all. Getting an item that's on sale, with a coupon and that comes with a extra buck/register rewards after you purchase it, is the best kind of deal.

For example the pads I bought were $3.49 on sale (original price $5.49) and a $2 rewards would print after I bought it. I also had a $1 off coupon for the same pads. So I purchased the pads(which I needed anyway) for $2.49. Then got $2 back. So basically those pads were only 49 cents. Which would have cost me $5.49 not on sale or with a coupon. That's when you load up on the item!

I love getting the extra bucks/register rewards back. Because you can turn around and use the extra buck on something else! Plus for every fourth visit to the store you can get another $1 extra buck!

Every dollar counts! So I had 3 extra bucks to help pay for my next transaction...

Following me? It's kind of confusing at first. At least for me it was.

It took me a long time to "get" or understand how to coupon. I just never saw how 50 cents off something was such a good deal when you had to buy a newspaper that was a $1 and then spend time clipping. I had several friends try and explain it. But I just still didn't quite understand how it all worked. I am still learning. But I think I finally get it! I read a book called, "Pick another Checkout Lane, Honey" that my mother-in-law purchased for me (Thanks Mom) and after reading it a light bulb went off. -!-

(Sometimes it just takes me longer than most to understand things...don't judge me! haha!)

If anyone wants to get into coupon-ing this is a great book to read!

I am not at 90%-95% savings like the extreme couponing show....and don't know if I will ever get to that point as it would take FAR more time to do it.... AND remember I am trying to balance things in my life. :)

Are you wondering what I paid for all that?

 It would have cost over $80!

But I only spent $30.42!

That's a 65% savings!

If I can do this, anyone can!!

(can you tell I am really, really excited?-!!!!!)

New (used) Bar-stools

The title pretty much says it all.... I have been wanting to get Bar-stools for awhile but didn't want to spend 70-90 dollars for them, as that's what most of them would have cost me. I wanted backs on them too. I found these Bar-stools on Craig list and jumped on it. $10 each! They were in pretty bad condition actually, with dog hairs and even fleas on them! The fleas were dead, but STILL.... Ewww! (sorry, not much of a pet lover).


I was pretty grossed out when I went to pick them up from the owner. But with a good cleaning and 2 days of painting them, they look brand new!

They were a light wood color and I am a dark wood kind of a gal, so the light wood had to go. I should have taken a before and after, but didn't. You can thank me for sparing you the image. :) Trust me, you would have been grossed out too!

Learning to Balance

I think it's important to have a balanced life, yet I have never been good at doing that. I get side tracked and addicted to a certain thing and I only want to do that and that thing only. After a few months the desire starts to fade, and at the same time something new and exciting catches my attention and pulls me in a different direction. So where once there was a deep passion and love for something, a few months later it becomes dormant and layered with dust.

This morning I have come to shake the dust off of my blog and let it shine once again.

It's quite ironic that a few years ago I would spend hours and hours (...did I mention HOURS?)  on Blogger/Facebook; whether it was on my own blog; writing and posting dozens of posts, or on a friend's blog, reading about them, leaving a mass array of comments and browsing through endless pictures of them, their families and extended families. The center of my thoughts during the day and sometimes waking up at night were spent wondering if so and so got my comment, if I had gotten a comment or if another fantastic blog was updated so that I could read it, look at pictures, and leave a comment! I wouldn't have been able to take myself away from the blogging world back then even if I was on my death bed. Or so it seemed.

Now this makes me chuckle to myself and maybe even a little embarrassed by the fact.

How in the world did I ever HAVE time or FIND time for all that!? It's exhausting just thinking about it.

Want to know my latest passion?  Of course this one is different. I swear! I am balancing it better, or so I think. :)

Couponing!

Know why it's addicting??


Because I spent less than $15 for all this:

2 razors
2toothbrushes
2 boxes of crest toothpaste
FREE Air wick
1 protein bar
3 Pringles
Bounty paper towels
Studio leave-in conditioner
Infusion Conditioner
Dove body wash
2 cans of mushrooms
2 comets
1 big container of raisins
2 rolls of toilet paper

The first two weeks I seriously got into coupon-ing I would have spent about $425 on groceries, products and miscellaneous stuff, for our family but only paid approximately $230 instead. I didn't take a picture of it all but it was so cool to see the savings after all the coupons I used. I am not great at it yet, but it's only been a few weeks and each week I am learning more and more. I have learned small transactions are better and save you more. Like for instance, the other day I got all this...

For 10 dollars! The markers alone were $9.99 but I got them for $1.04. The toothpaste I got for a quarter each and the shampoo and conditioner they paid me 24 cents to take it from them. Umm, thanks!

The other day my husband startled me with an outburst of laughter as I was in the middle of eagerly telling him I needed to send some coupons to my mom as the coupons can only be used in Idaho and they were for a $1 off any kind of cheese!

Why the sudden outburst of laughter from my dear husband, you ask?

Well, when we were first married my mom would send me coupons in the mail at least once a month. And Ryan and I chuckled about it all the time. How cute my mom is for sending us coupons that we won't really use. BUT now I see the value of a coupon and I have to say, sorry Mom. You were right! I sure she loves hearing those words. :) (My mom is always right. Does that mean I will always be right someday to my kids?? There's hope at least.) And to think about all that "money" I was throwing away!

I am very excited about couponing, and feel completely opposite about it now then I used to be. In high school I was completely embarrassed by it. In fact, I would duck when my mom would pull out her 7 inch stack of coupons at the register and then debated with the cashier whether or not something rang up right-! So embarrassing right?

Not anymore!

Now I am loving the savings and I am getting some positive attention from it too, which is hilarious to me!

Another quick story: At target last week I had a mother and two of her daughters stop and watch me and the cashier as he scanned each one of my 50+ coupons and the price plummet from the 3 digits to 2 digits. Awesome.

When the final price appeared this sweet mother and her daughter cheered for me! How cool is that?!

Now you tell me how that is not addicting!? Saving money, building a stock pile of things for your family for cheap and getting cheered for it!

All in a days work. (Sorry honey, but I have found a new love....

Just kidding, nothing can replace my husband!)

I am hoping this new found addiction stays with me forever, yet in a balanced way. I know I have a weakness for letting things take over my life for awhile...like blogging did a few short years ago. Too much of a good thing can become a bad thing.  And so I am making a goal for myself to keep me balanced. Here are a few: to blog a once or twice a week, to exercise 3 times a week at least, to read a book or two a month, to get my sharing time done early for Primary, to take my kids to the park and swimming and read books to them more. To spend less time cleaning and more time playing and saving! To not let ONE thing take over everything else.

"The best and safest thing is to keep a balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, you are really a wise man." Euripides