Oh what a week I've had!!!

Today is the BIG DAY! Fantastic Friday!! What the heck am I doing blogging?? I have had so many things happen (not all funny) that I had to hurry and write them down.
Kimi was here starting on Sunday and we had so much fun with Gay going shopping until my feet hurt. They are the best companions to go shopping to Ross and TJ Maxx with. Gay picks out the best stuff to show us and try to act serious about that she loves. We all found the cutest brown shoes in the kid dept at Ross that we all HAD to buy a pair-I hope we don't wear them to the same function. We were in such a hurry Tues to get Kim to the airport and we had just gotten home from Ross, so my shoes along with a pair I bought from Peyton ended up in Kim's stuff and are now in Denver-see you soon new shoes!
Earlier this week Peyton was going to the bathroom in our 1/2 bath off the kicthen when he yelled out to me "Mom, do all toilets lead to the ocean?" I think he has watched Nemo one too many times. I really got a kick out of that-ahh the random thoughts that come when in the bathroom......
Tuesday night I had my enrichment committee over for a quick meeting to make assignments for today. One of the girls had to bring a couple of her kids which I told her was great and would keep my kids entertained as Shane would be at scouts. They were all playing down in the playroom when we heard a big crash-which I thought was Connor throwing balls against the magnet board trying to knock the magnets off. About 10 mins later Peyton comes up and tells me that Connor thew Mr. Potato Head at him and he ducked and it hit the window. Yes-the crash was our window breaking!!! Luckily no one was hurt and their wasn't much glass on the floor(most of it fell between the two panes), and it broke the slider side so it's only going to be about $80 to replace-still the window isn't even 3 yrs old!! I was so embarssed b/c I had 9 ladies sitting in my family room going "did he really break a window??? Yes, yes he did." Sigh.
Then the best part-yesterday as I was driving doing errands-( was on my way to Dollar Tree for plastic table cloths for tonight) I was talking to Heather on the phone when yeah-I rear ended someone. Now before you tell me I shouldn't have been on the phone, let me say I know, however it's when I looked down at who knows what that I didn't stop fast enough. I knew the traffic was coming to a stop but it was coming to a stop faster than my foot pressed on the brake. Luckily no on was hurt and I was only going about 10-15 mph. I felt so stupid!!!! The guy I hit couldn't have been nicer and didn't want to call the police so that saved me a ticket! He didn't seem to have too much damage, but it did bent his trunk a bit. My car is basically fine except for the licence plate and a ding in the bumper. The best thing of all-we have one payment left on the 4 runner and it will be paid off next month!! Arghhhhhh! Oh-and when I called my agent (Betty-my Mom's BFF) I totally started to cry on the phone. It's a good thing it was Betty-love her!
So in a nutshell that has been my week! I will be so happy when tonight is done with!!! Wish me luck!

too many toys...

I have been feeling guilt lately. Both my boys just had birthdays and I am totally embarrassed to say that we have TOO MANY TOYS! How does this happen to someone who honestly (in their mind anyway) tries to keep the toys under control? I mean I don't buy my kids things unless it's for a special occasion, etc. But somehow we are finding ourselves overrun with toys. Clutter is something that drives me crazy! It makes my stomach hurt and makes me feel like I am living in a dirty house. Hate that! I will admit that it seems that I have a touch of OCD when it comes to keeping a clean house and trying to organize. Anyhow-since we just had two b-day's within the past two months and Christmas is coming fast I thought it would be a great time to go through the toys with the kids. They did such a great job! The 1st picture is the pile that we are taking to DI ( sorry if you see things you gave my kids that we are parting with-we have loved them and played with them, however we are done with them and want someone else to enjoy them as much as we did!) and the second is our newly cleaned toy closet in the playroom. I mean it was getting to the point that the playroom wouldn't hold everything. Give me a break. If a whole room for two little boys won't hold all their "stuff' isn't that a sign that you have too much?

Shane doesn't share my enthusiasm with getting rid of toys. He is of the mindset that we should save stuff should there be a 3rd child. I tell him that if that does happen that child will have birthdays and Christmas in which to accumulate his or her own toys. Now don't think I am too crazy-I didn't give away all the baby toys, but you can only keep so much!

I read on a blog that I read occasionally http://www.creativeorganizing.typepad.com/ about how she just organized her little boys room and that got me thinking and excited to get Peyton's and Connor's rooms organized for fall. Take a look at her blog it is so cute! She also had a great post about organizing your games in one central location. I am totally doing that-the bottom shelf in our hall closet will be the perfect spot. In doing this it will help me organize the kids rooms as Peyton has a lot of our games in his closet. See one thing leads to another-can't do the playroom w/o doing the kids rooms, can't do the games w/o doing the kids rooms and the family room. Can you tell I have the fall cleaning bug?

Another blog that I love is http://www.shannonbrown.typepad.com/ I can't remember how I stumbled on her blog, but she is so cute. I want her to be my friend! I have no idea where she lives, but she seems like a down to earth kind of gal! She had a cute idea on how to make your blog into a book which I loved and has inspired me to keep up on mine more often. Way to go Shannon! Cute new family room re-do!

one more random note and Jacy you will be thrilled!!!!!! Did anyone notice my pictures aren't all stuck at the top? Yeah- I was able to drag pictures down into my post. Yeah for me! I didn't get one turned but you can't expect too much technical abilities in one post.

Snowbird 2007 and random stuff

(Isn't my Mom so cute? She didn't want to get her hair wet so she wore my Dad's hat)

This past weekend we went up to Snowbird for my parents time share. Shane and I actually slept over with the boys on Saturday night which is something we haven't done for a few years mostly because our kids have been too small and it's too hectic to set up a pack-n-play and there are ususally a lot of family sleeping over. As it turns out everyone had stuff going on Sunday and couldn't stay over, so it was just my parents, my family and my nephew Jefferson. We had so much fun! It was bad weather on Saturday and snowed clear down into the valley, so by the time we got up to Snowbird, it was so pretty! After being inside for a couple of hrs we all (Shane decided to stay home and take a nap)decided to go for a walk over to Oktoberfest. It was totally snowing and so much fun. The kids thought it was so great to see snow. Peyton, Hailey and Madison got into a snowball fight with MelAnnie. Connor thought that the snow was great by he kept yelling for everyone to wait for him! Gosh! Sunday we got up and went to church up at the bird. We have been going to Snowbird since I think I was 12 or younger and we never knew they had an LDS branch up there at the Snowbird Center. It was a very sweet service that last an hr and consisted of Sunday School and Sacrament meeting. There were about 30 in attendance. It was come as you are, so we didn't have to dress in our Sunday clothes (good thing b/c I brought a short sleeves and no nylons outfit for church). It was a little strange being there in regular street clothes, but I was so glad we went and the kids were so good during the hour long service. While we were walking back to the condo after church my Dad totally hit me in the head with a snowball! I could tell he felt so bad-looking back on it, it was pretty funny! Good aim Dad! The weather turned really nice on Sunday and by the time we got back to our house Sunday I couldn't believe how warm it felt in the Valley. All in all a fun time at the bird!

Other random stuff-this week is Albertson's (love their sales) General Mills sale. I persuaded Shane to go with me which was really a great help! I ended up getting 2 boxes of potato flakes, 7 cans of progresso soup, 6 boxes of Gogurt, (4) 6-packs of kids yougurt, 4 tubes of crescent rolls,1 tube of Cinnamon rolls, 1 box of pizza rolls, 1 box of toaster streudel, 2 tubs of Grands biscuts, 1 bag of frozen garlic dinner rolls, 2 bags of frozen biscuts,11 boxes of cereal ( Total rasin bran, cheerios, kix, cinnamon toast crunch, golden grahams), 5 boxes of fruit roll-ups, 2 boxes of granola bars, 2 cookies mixes, 3 cans of frosting, 1 cake mix, 2 muffin mixes, 2 boxes of frozen corn, and 1 box of frozen peas......oh and 2 packs of jelly belly gum for the kids and a magazine for $4.29 (it threw off my total).......all for $ 64.28!!! My savings were $138.35! I was so excited! way to go coupons and way to go Albertsons! Some of the stuff I normally wouldn't buy (toaster streudel or pizza rolls, but hey they were like .50 or so, so I say what the heck we'll try it). Oh and last week I got 16 packages of sausages (the rolls and the links) for $6.66 (that included one other small purchase for about $3.00) so $3.66 for that much-holy cow-maybe I should be saying holy pig!! Seriously you have to try pinchingyourpennies.com it really becomes a game or a sick obsession to see how much product you can get for the least amout of money. I guess if that is my obession it can't be a bad one. later.....

Happy Birthday Connor!!!

Connor turned 3 today, and I can't believe my little bubba luca is 3! I feel like he is officially out of baby mode and really a big boy now. We are working on potty training and you'd think since I have done this once before I would have a better idea how to handle this one...not so much. Hang in there little buddy we'll figure this out together! It just goes to show you that each little spirit has their own personality built in.

Here are some fun things about Connor:

He loves to snuggle and gives the best hugs! I love how he will bury his face into my neck and play with my hair. He loves to be tickled on his stomach, back, arms, legs, and face. He will say "tickle me Mama." I could melt. He is the ultimate boy and loves anything to do with sports. He can pitch a baseball like nobody's business (seriously he winds up and everything-it's so cute!). He currently loves Go Deigo, Go, Dora and Yo Gabba, Gabba. He loves to play with his friends Dylan and Benjamin. He always has to wear shoes in the house and for those that really know him-he almost always wears a hat. Seriously he loves his baseball hats!

I can't imagine our family without him. He is the best little boy and we love him so much! Happy Birthday Connor-we love you!!!

We had a fun little party for him on Monday night since Shane's parents were up at our house. He got the best presents from everyone and didn't know what to play with 1st this morning. Peyton is in heaven as well with all the new toys around-thanks everyone he loved everything! We had banana splits and ice cream sundaes which were a fun alternative to cake that never seems to get eaten and then I end up eating it for like 4 days afterwards-bad habit! We rounded out his b-day today with dinner at Texas Roadhouse and a trip to the library to get some movies and books. Such a fun birthday-he's such a sweetie!

(do you like the picture here? I found him in the bathroom washing an apple in the bathroom sink and eating it? What? That's Connor! Do you love his new haircut? He asks me all the time "Mom you like you my new haircut?" So funny!)

I love a good sale

For those that know my craziness and love of coupons you know that I seriously love a good sale. You may be thinking..who doesn't love to go shopping for clothes, shoes, etc...but I am talking food. A little over a year ago a good friend of mine introduced me to coupon shopping. I used to always shop with coupons when I could, but this was serious. A new concept to me...you don't use the coupon until the item is on a great sale. I have been known to get up and be at Albertson's at 6am to hit a good grocery sale. I have taken a break on and off from coupons, but baby I am back at it! Today is the start of the famous Quaker sale at Albertsons and I got 16 boxes of life, cinnamon life, and captin crunch cereal, 10 boxes of cereal bars, 3 canisters of oatmeal, and a box of granola bars for .....drumroll please.... $28!!! I saved $91!! It's a sickness, I will admit, but it felt so good. I seriously get so excited when I save a lot and pay so little. There have been times in the past when my savings have been over $200 (coupons and sales combined). I love stocking up my food storage for so little.

Because I haven't had a post in so long, you probably wonder what I have been up to-or maybe not. Well I'm still so busy with Super Saturday but we did get all our projects done, decided, and displayed. We seem to have a good response from the ladies in our ward, but frankly at this point I have put so much work into it and I really don't care if they like it or not. Rude don't you think? I'm to the point if someone thinks they can do a better job (and I'm sure they probably could) then I say go for it. In all honestly we really do have some cute projects and I think the whole she-bang will turn out great!

Laundry

So I have been doing a little laundry today. I opened the washer to find a batch that has been sitting for oh-a couple of day (ew) and please don't tell me that you each haven't dones this at least once. So anyway I re-wash it and I just went to change it into the dryer when gasp! I found a t-shirt from Gymboree with a new rust stain on it. Because I let the load sit (unintentionally) a buckle on some shorts was wet for too long and it actually rusted onto a new Gymboree t-shirt. grumble, grumble. I know I didn't pay a lot for the shirt as I am fairly certain I didn't pay full price for it. It still makes me cranky. So note to self : DON'T EVER LET THE CLOTHES SIT IN THE WASHER!!!!

MIA

Yes, it's been a little quite on my blog. We have spent the last two weeks sick, sick, sick. It looks like we are finally getting better, but believe me when I say it is after many trips to the bathroom. No-we don't have the pool sickness as we haven't been swimming in over a month, but we did get some stomach bug that has been through every member of our family.

Can you believe it's September? I LOVE FALL! It's probably one of my favortive seasons. I love the cooler air, leaves crunching, apple smells, wearing cozy sweaters and jackets-yum! Love it! Beginning with last year, there has been a little bit (ok a lot) of dread and worry when it comes to fall. Why? You ask. Two words. Super Saturday. Yes that's right-it's the time of year when every good and faithful enrichment leader comes up with fabulous and exciting projects to entice and woo the ladies in her ward. That's right, I'm the enrichment leader and I dread SS! It's not that I don't like the crafts (ok-I'd rather buy them already done), it's all the decisions, displaying, money collecting, calling to veryify orders, buying wood, paint, brushes, stain, food,....ahhh! Ok-I'm calm again. See I have a smile. Can't you see it? Remember soon this too shall pass.