Pumpkin carving time!

I stopped by Smiths on my way home and there were slim pickings in the way of pumpkins. (Note to self, don't wait until the last minute to get pumpkins) I was able to find a halfway decent one and took it home.

Tyler was super excited to get started. Dad cut the lid and started digging out the cuts.

I was on the computer and found a cute face for our pumpkin. I printed it out and Dad taped it to the pumpkin. Tyler wanted to help so we let him poke the holes to guide Dad where the cuts go. Once it was ready Dad removed the paper and got started cutting. It took about 30 minutes and then it was time to see how it looked. Here is how it turned out! Pretty cute don't you think?

"cha-ching" $$$$

So I decided to post up my latest shopping trip. I went to Albertson's tonight and thought I did pretty well. Below is a picture of everything I bought. My total grocery bill was $91.92.



I saved $114.44!!! Had I paid full retail, not using coupons and buying on sale I would have spent $206.36 HOLY COW. That's a huge savings!!!



I purchased a total of 64 items. This makes every item average out at $1.44.



I did purchase some steak and a few other items that were not on sale but all in all I am really excited!



I even had a lady get out of the check out line to come ask how I was doing what I was doing. I gave here some info and she said she will be trying it. I invited her to the class but she had a funeral or something..



Hope this makes you excited to come to the class this Saturday.

Our first trip out!

Last Friday we took our (new to us) trailer out for the first time. We purchased it from my dad who bought it new in 1987. They have taken excellent care of it and it's in great shape! They left everything in it for us to use. All we basically had to do was take food and clothes. It was awesome. Thanks mom and dad!!
Like I said, we left Friday around 1:30 and meet up with our good friends in Spanish Fork canyon. We started on our way to Colorado National Monument. This is just about 10 miles outside of Fruita. It took us about 5 1/2 hours to get there. We pulled into our campsite in the dark but got set up pretty quick. We pretty much just went to bed after getting unhooked and settled. The next morning the kids wanted to ride their jeeps around camp. It was so cute. They loved driving over rocks and driving in the dirt.

We then took a short hike with all in tow. Tyler did awesome. We figured he hiked about 2 miles in the morning and only asked to be picked up when we got back to the truck. Sydney was in her snugli and she did great too. We then went back and ate lunch, gave the kids a nap and then went on another short hike. Tyler had his best bud there with him so they were together the whole time on all the short hikes which I think really helped.

On Sunday we did another short hike that was a bit more of a climb but again all did well. Syd fell asleep on the way out.

We headed for home after we ate lunch. The weather was perfect and we didn't have any problems to speak of other than trying to figure out how the percolator worked to have a cup of coffee in the mornings. We are so excited to use the trailer next spring/summer. Again, thanks mom and dad... we love it.

Saturday the 25th brunch!

So a few of you may know, I am hosting a grocery smarts class on the 25th of this month. It will start at 10:30 and I will be serving a light brunch. Hope you all can make it. Please let me know if you are interested!

The tips you will learn will save you a ton of money at the checkout stand and I am so excited to share it with others. Here is the invite!

One day at a time...

I write today feeling sleep deprived, but very blessed. I am so lucky to have my sweet little family. I am so blessed to have two happy and healthy kiddo's. I am so blessed to have a happy marriage. I know I will look back at these days and miss them. All the sleepless nights and trying times and sometimes chaos that each day brings. I now know how hard it is to be a mommy, (the hardest job in the world). Time is so precious and goes by so fast. Everyone tells me this: cherish each moment because tomorrow will come and your children will be gone, going to school, getting married etc. Sometimes I think we get in a hurry for our children to grow up... just slow down and take each moment for what it's worth. I can't believe that Ty will be 3 in about a month. It seems like just yesterday he was born. He is such a smart, healthy, awesome little boy. I love you Tyler! Sydney is already 4 mos. Where has the time gone? She is such a little smile machine! I am so glad I have her. My mom used to sing a song to me when I was little called "I'm so glad I have a little girl". She made up all the lyrics and I still remember most of it and the tune she sang it to. I will sing it to Sydney one day.
Anyway, these are my thoughts for today...
Cherish each day and live in the moment!

Potty training saga...

Tyler has been in underwear for almost 3 months and so far has done pretty well, but.....

I decided in July that before I came back to work (about 2 weeks before) that I would start potty training him. On a Saturday morning we made Tyler throw away all his diapers and told him he was a big boy now and he gets to use the big potty from now on. I think the act of actually throwing the diapers away got through to him a bit better than just starting cold turkey.
So, for the past two and a half months we have had our share of accidents and I understand that, but yesterday the kid did something I just don't get...
He told us he had to go #2. We said " okay Ty, lets go to the potty" He gets in there, sits down and then says he is done. He hasn't done a thing. We fight him all night because we can clearly see he needs to go. We even promise to take him to the park once he goes. He kept telling us he doesn't want to go and so we finally let him go outside and watch daddy change the oil on mommies car.
Well... I come out to watch daddy too and all the sudden I see Ty run up the stairs into the house, he looks like he is finally heading to the bathroom. After waiting about 3 minutes I decide to go in and check on him. The minute I walk through the door I see him, standing there in a puddle and he has clearly gone #2. (Sorry to Gross everyone out, I just need you all to feel my pain). He is literally standing by the bathroom door. I just don't understand why he would rather go in his pants than in the toilet. I know with boys it's a lot harder to train them, But he is such a smart boy and I think sometimes he does it just to have control. Ughhhh...
I made him clean up his own mess (well as much as he could) and had him take a coldish shower to try to get through to him that this was just not the way to go potty.

If anyone else has any ideas on the Poop saga let me know... Hopefully I made a bit of a impression on him and he will think twice about doing it next time.