Celebrating Seven Years!

This coming Monday, Adam and I will be celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary! Adam and I both agree that had we known then, what we know now, about what life would bring us to this point ...we wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world! Je t'aime mon amour, a la lune et retour!

Puddle Hunting

On a given day, you are sure to hear me say (multiple times) to my children, "Stay out of the water!" "Don't Splash" "Please don't get wet!" and in the back of my head, I hear my mom's voice saying "Let them be kids. They'll wash. It'll dry." Just yesterday, in fact, I scolded them for getting their shoes wet just before getting into the car. Well, today I took your advice mom and "let loose" a little. It was raining outside, and so we went out prepared. We put on the rain boots you prepped them with at Christmas and planned on jumping in some puddles. I asked the girls to simply do me the favor of tucking their pants into their boots (to minimize wetness) and we found ourselves scouring the parking lot at the stores and intentionally walking through every puddle, large or small, that we could find. The fun continued once we returned home and we went puddle hunting again on the way to the mailbox; you know what? It was fun. (And they stayed dry!) While I still believe their is a time and a place to be wet, I must say, thanks Mom, for being the soft whisper in my ear reminding me to let my kids be kids...at least some of the time. :)

More Gymnastics

"Hey Grandma! Look what I did at gymnastics this week! "

Storytime

One of our favorite weekly activities is our trip to the library for story time. The librarian reads four or five stories and sings a song/dance with the kids in between each story. The girls love it; especially little Allie. She starts clapping as soon as we walk in the room. She loves music and I couldn't be happier about that! :)
We have had some beautiful weather here lately and consequently have been out riding bikes and visiting the park on a daily basis. Is it bad to have spring fever in January?

How I saved $83.91

Okay. So I was quick to brag about my "free" shopping trip a couple months back and a little less quick to answer many of your questions about how I did it. Let me remind you that I did not invent this game, nor have I perfected, but I am most happy to pass on a bit of what I have learned from others along with a few things I've learned along the way. I will begin by saying that after half a year of playing the "coupon game," it is hard for me to pay full price for just about anything anymore. To make this as simple as possibile, I will say it is as easy as 1-2-3.

Step 1. Gather Coupons.

Pull out all the ads and coupons from the Sunday Newspaper and make yourself a chart/list to compare prices with. (Example: I make a column for each store ad - Walgreens, Target, Rite Aid, etc. -then I list the products I'm interested in purchasing along with the sale prices. Next I match my coupons to the items on sale and then highlight or circle whichever store has the lowest price after all discounts are given.)

Consult the internet. I love "moneysavingmom.com" Scroll through it a bit to get a feel for the website and it'll start to make more sense to you then a quick glance would do. I use it mostly to be sure I've found all the best Walgreens deals (which are posted every week -see, a lot of the work is already done for you!). There are also links to many, many internet printable coupons that sweeten your deals. You can also often find great restaurant deals, budget meal ideas, and free samples. It's worth checking out, but you've got to give it some fair investigation to really see what it has to offer. There are many great sites, such as "coupons.com" that you'll want to be sure to register for. I'd recommend getting a separate e-mail account for a "junk e-mail" to keep ads, etc. separate from personal e-mail. For any of you looking for more than groceries, the "Today Show" posted a few sites to save on bigger items. I haven't used them much, but here they are: "bradsdeals.com," "couponmom.com," "promotioncode.org," and "grocerygame.com"

Step 2. Go Shopping!

I used to be a "one stop shopper." I refused to go to one store for milk and another for bread and cheese. I didn't have the time nor the patience for such things. Now, I not only go to more than one store, I often visit four or more and some of them for just one item. Time and effort has saved me a bundle and I am lucky enough to live in very close proximity to all the stores I like to frequent so gas is a non-issue, and neither is travel time. (Just car seat in and out time becomes the hassle here.) The stores where you will likely find your biggest savings is the drug stores; Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, Longs. They often send out "store coupons" which you can stack with "manufacturers coupons" and sale prices to maximize your savings and even get FREE stuff a lot of the time. They also do a lot of in store credits with purchases and rebates. Be organized with your shopping list and coupons separated and ready to go for each store to minimize the hassles for you. Go in, get what you came for, hand over your coupons, and enjoy your savings!

Step 3. Fill out your rebates!

Don't forget to send in your rebate receipts or you won't get your money back. Do it timely too or you may miss out. Most of them can be done online and it's really super easy, it just takes minute or two.

A few other tricks/tips I learned along the way:

*Buying in larger quantities, where appropriate, saves money. Learn what foods keep or can be frozen for future use.

*Stalk up when things are on sale. If you see a good deal on something you know you will use, get it now, while it is cheap. This concept was tough for me to grasp at first. I really thought it would save me money to buy only what I needed, when I needed it. I was wrong. Tried and true - build yourself a "storage;" it'll save you money not to mention the awesome feeling it is to look through a recipe and actually have the food on hand!

*.50 cent savings adds up to big savings. This week I tallied my stack of coupons to be worth over $10! ($10/week x 52 weeks/year =$520 year in savings) Folks, that is a lot of money! That is saving $10 a week in any way, be it coupons, sale items, eating out one less time, whatever, $10 a week saves $520 /year. I saved $83.91 this week ...hmmm, that would be over $4000 in a year -holy smokes! I'd rather keep my $4000 and do a little more run around. To see how little things add up to big savings for you, here's a few other places you might save:
-Dry Cleaners. I found a .25 cent/item coupon on the back of my grocery store receipt yesterday. I usually dry clean 2 items for Adam each week so with that coupon alone, I can save $26 a year. We eat about 1 box of mac 'n cheese week. I used to buy it at regular price of $1.49/box. Now I buy it in bulk for .54 cents/box and save $50 a year on mac n' cheese. I am sure we eat at least one box of cereal a week, and you probably do too. The avg. box is around $3.75. I buy it only when it is less than $1.75 saving at least $104 a year (but it really is more since we eat more than one box a week and can find it for $1 /box at times). I have just shown you how to save $180 a year, saving money on just three items. And I'm sure you live on more than cereal and nac 'n cheese! So get out there and start saving!

***The biggest and most common question you will find yourself asking is, "Is this a good deal?" Knowing the answer to that is half the battle. I never used to know how much things cost so I never knew if something was a good price or not. I am learning and am much better at that now and know when to pick something up at another store when I know it's cheaper there. One such store is Costco. Many things are less expensive there, but some things aren't the deal you'd expect. I have been making a list of prices of a variety of items there so that I can reference it when I see something on sale somewhere to know if I am really finding a good deal or if I can still get it for less at Costco. I will happily share it with anyone who wants it. I don't know how to post it here as it is a Word document so send me an e-mail or post a comment here and I'll send you a copy of it.

Happy Saving!

P.S. I mentioned saving $83.91. My total spent was $66 this week; that's much more than a 50% savings -wahoo!

Happy Anniversary to my family!

(Computer time around here is VERY limited these days, thus you get several posts all in a day.)

Seven years ago today, my family (my parents and siblings) were sealed together for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. Happy Ever After to you all! I love you!

Just for fun, I thought I'd share this e-mail from my brother Miles who is currently serving a mission in Toulouse, France (4 months until he returns!). This was his Christmas e-mail:

Well the holiday season is in full swing and we are preparing for Christmas this Thursday. We are lucky to have some eating appointments coming up, there always appreciated, especially at this time of year.

Last night after zone conference, the Toulouse and Montpellier zones stayed in Toulouse to put on a special show, for members and non-members alike. It was fantastic! We formed a choir of approximately 35 missionaries and sung Christmas Hymns, had a special video presentation on the life of the Lord with the song, "Come thou fount of every blessing" which was an amazing rendition. Some of the missionaries had the oppotunity to share some Christmas stories, special musical numbers, and two were chosen to bear their testimonies about Christmas. The elder that bore his testimony stated it as the best Christmas that his family had ever had. He told of his family and of their love for one another. He told of some of the struggles that come with living in a part member family. He spoke of his mother and her unyealding faith that she showed in taking her children to Church on her own every week for more than twenty years. He mentioned two beautiful and nearly perfect sister missionaries that came to his door late in 2000. He told of countless other missionary visits before and the hope that the family had in these two sisters without trying to get there hopes to high and then being let down. He continued as he talked about the charished Apostle Elder David B. Haight who reached out with pure love towards his this elder's father. He spoke of the stake conference where thay met and their unannounced meeting that followed shortly there after. The storied continued with the sisters coming over to watch the "Special Witnesses of Christ" video and the testimonies that were born afterwards. His father accepted to receive the lessons from these loving sisters giving them just one shot. The day of the appointment came and this elder and his sister were quite anxious to hear the outcome, dad came home and sat the children down and announced the news, he was getting baptized! Shock filled the room and joy overwhelmed the family, the date was fixed for Christmas Day 2000. Christmas came, as did nearly three hundred people to watch him enter into the waters of baptism. This elder can still remember perfectly the image of his father dressed all in white standing in the font, he can still remember the joy that radiated from his mother's face. The story ended with the family being sealed for all time and eternity in the temple by the hand of Elder Haight. Thank you dad, I love you.

The finalé of the evening followed immediately after the testimony, with a sister missionary singing the most beautiful and most powerful version of "O, Holy Night" that I have ever heard in my life, it was perfect because that is the favorite Christmas song of my dad.

I'd like to thank Sister Sites and Sister Still who helped my dad along this path, I'd like to thank Elder Haight who took the time to reach out to him, I thank my brothers and sister for living as examples, I thank dad for making this decision and for being the greatest dad in the world, and mom, thank you for everything, thank you for enduring and for never giving up. I love you!

Merry Christmas everyone! I love you!
Elder Marsala

By the way; Elder Marsala could use some fan mail so anyone who knows him, or even those who don't, please take a minute to support an elder and send him a letter:

Elder Miles Marsala
France Toulouse Mission
4, Rue Alaric II
Compans Caffarelli
F-31000 Toulouse
FRANCE

Perspective

Alright, so my life isn't always as blissful as it looks to me when I view it through my blog. I show a lot of the good; here is some of the ugly. Anyone who has witnessed an "episode" with Aubrey will have a better understanding of what I went through today. Aubrey has a gift for throwing tantrums beyond what is normally deemed a toddler tantrum. I'm talking, beyond the normal kicking, screaming, crying, stuff ...these are "fits of life!" I'm talking, out of control thrashing, wreathing on the sidewalk and nearly foaming at the mouth (if saliva could foam when mixed with mucus, there would be foam). There is possibly no term fit to represent these acts so I will hereafter refer to them as "episodes". While enjoying a lovely morning watching Lexi be enthralled in her gymnastics class, the wrong trigger sent Aubrey into an "episode" and I was left with no choice but to haul her outside. That meant heaving Aubrey under one arm, kicking and screaming and gathering the baby and all our other belongings that I could barely heft with two arms under my remaining arm. We had to walk (stumble) in front of all the other parents on our desperate attempt at getting to the door and on our way out, Aubrey's boots went flying through the lobby once she got her legs kicking hard enough. We made it through the door, thank heavens, but it was 40 degrees outside and there were 10 min left of class, and Aubrey had no shoes on so I couldn't put her down, nor could I go back in to get them since she was still screaming louder than most kids are capable of. I stood there with the bravest smile I could muster as parent after parent walked by me with the thoughts, "yikes! sure glad that isn't my kid!" and the ever present, "you have your hands full!" written all over their faces. One passerby, staring at me with great pity, asked if she could help in any way. I accepted her offer and asked if she'd bring Aubrey's boots to me so I could at least put her down, which she did. No sooner did I get her little feet covered than she took off and ran to scream on her own down the sidewalk a ways. She rolled all over it (Why I tried to hold her to keep her off the freezing cold, wet and mildew covered, concrete, I don't know. It was apparently a waste of effort) and returned home with green, wet clothes. But we survived and will sadly be unlikely to ever get to watch Lexi at her class again. That was the first "episode" today. The second was this evening when another trigger went off and she ran up the middle of the street outside, in her white tights with no shoes on screaming, "I want daddy! Get away from me! Leave me alone!" Again she rolled all over the concrete and slobbered over her face and the neighbors came out to check on us of course. (Embarrassing, yes.) Again we survived and hopefully have two less "episodes" to tackle in the future. Why do I share this? Well, I hope to laugh at it one day or perhaps draw strength by reading what I got through. Also, because I love this quote by President Hinkley. I think it is true of all our lives, and our perspective will make all the difference in how we react to it and what we do with it. He said, “Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” Is there any better advice on getting through a day like today than that? And so it is, that we hit a few bumps, and got our jolts and delays, but we saw some beautiful vistas along the way, and we sure enjoyed the ride.

First Day!

As we have been working our way back into a schedule at home, we have added some new classes for Aubrey and Alexis. They each had their first day of dance and gymnastics, respectively, this week and loved every minute of it! Alexis said she wished her class could go on all day long and she was all smiles all the way through it! Aubrey felt pretty big time to finally have her turn on the dance floor and did very well in her little tap shoes. She has been wearing tutus and dance leotards around the house for months, dreaming of going to a dance class. When I finally told her we'd found a class for her, she was ecstatic. She was dressed and ready to go, tights and all, from Monday morning until her class actually began on Wednesday evening. :) I loved watching Aubrey feel so proud of herself during her first lesson, and loved as much, watching Alexis look through the window at her little sister. She was so proud of Aubrey and that was something really sweet for me to see.

Clean Slate

Hopefully your new year has gotten off to a wonderful start; I also hope you had a wonderful holiday season. We sure did...and I even got what I wished for; none of us were sick this year! Wahoo! Now it's time for "holiday detox" and finding routines and/or making new ones; finding places for new things and new homes for the old. It is time to re-arrange our lives. Why not in the middle of the freezing cold winter?! What else are we going to do! We could make some of these changes and "resolutions" any time of year but having this subjective clean slate is wonderful motivation and gives some of us that little extra push we needed to steer ourselves back in the direction we wanted to be in, or in a new direction all together. I don't have a whole lot of new goals for this year; I'm just keeping a lot of the same ones (either because they seem to be working well or because I never accomplished them last year. Since "TIME" is a substance I'm struggling to find, I doubt adding more to my plate would help or be realistic at this point; goals are supposed to be somewhat attainable, right?!). Goals and resolutions aside, one thing I LOVE and look forward to at the beginning of each year is my new calendar! (literally.) I love transferring over all the information regarding birthdays and events that will perpetuate into the future and looking ahead to the adventures that await us within the upcoming year. I also enjoy reflecting back on the year that is now the past. I love to read about all the things that kept us busy last year and smile as I think, "whew, glad we made it through that!" or "oh, that was so fun when we..." I see all the various appointments and outings listed there and get a brief recollection of the year. I also try to jot down little silly things the kids say or milestones (e.g. height/weight from check-ups, when they learned to do something new) throughout the year so I have record of them. Many of these things would not otherwise end up being recorded, good intentions or not. So my calendar really becomes, for me, a journal of the year and something I hold onto. Maybe one day when I take that retreat I fantasize about, being on a private island, all alone, with all the time in the world with all the treats and music I love, and all the materials for all the projects I've ever wanted to do, maybe then, I'll type up my "calendar journals" so they look more like what they are to me..."a book full of little glimpses into my life."