About the pooch....

Here are some details about Casey, our fluffy puppy!! (As per your request, Carrie!). He was born on October 12, so that makes him just over 2 months old. He is a full-bred Shitzu. He is seriously soooo playful after his naps and first thing in the morning. He chases his own tail like crazy! He loves the kids to pieces, especially Sasha, our animal-lover. He is doing great at potty training and getting to sleep at night. Last night we put him to bed at 10pm and he slept all night, and didn't wake until 7:30 this morning. (Geez, it feels like I am talking about a newborn, or something! LOL). He is just darling and we love having him.

Introducing.......Casey!!!

Oh, my goodness, we have a puppy! Santa brought him this morning and the kids are thrilled beyond words! Here he is trying to rest! He likes the kitchen the best!

He has the sweetest personality! So playful and so sweet! We all laugh when he tries to run! He is so fluffy and squatty (is that a word?) He is just darling.

Seth looks a little dazed and confused, but hey, Casey is lookin' at the camera for once! Sweet face, huh!

Casey really loves Sasha and has been following her around the house all day long. Do you think they will remember this Christmas for a long time!? I know I will! Merry Christmas, Sasha, Seth and Addie!

Something we said we would never do....

What do you think it is? We are getting something for the kids for Christmas that Will and I always said we would never have in our home.........any guesses? I'll post what it is on Christmas Day and the winner will get.........the satisfaction that they were right! How does that sound!?

Sleighriding.....

Today is totally snowing! I talked Will into not going to the office today since the roads are horrible! We went sledding at "the ditch"! LOL. There are not many hills where we are. Too far out west! Pretty flat! But, right by the church is "the ditch". The kids around here named it that. It has just enough of a slope to make us all happy. Sledding is so fun! Especially when you are a grown adult and scream like a little kid as you go down....


Weeeeeeee!!!! Seth and Daddy sledding!

Seth looks like he is havin' a ball, doesn't he!?

Sasha and I!

"Get ready, get set, GOOOOOO!"

Waiting for some of the neighbor kids to join us!

Up on the soffit.....

For those of you that have not been to my house, we have a soffit between our bedroom and master bathroom. It is quite cool, and we noticed that there is an TV outlet, so you can put your TV up there, lay in bed and chill. We have wanted to put at TV in our room for about 10 years, LOL, and yesterday, we did it! Will climbed the ladder, I lugged our massively heavy, outdated TV to him, (thank heavens I lift weights cuz that thing was soooooo heavy), he put it up there and viola. A dream come true. He then noticed how dirty it was up there, so he decided to clean it up.......a few minutes later I went in the kitchen to clean up a bit, and Seth comes to get me, saying he needs my help. I came in the room and saw Daddy sitting up there, telling me to hold the ladder so the kids can come on up. What?! Are you serious!? I caved and helped them climb up, took a picture and made them all get down before I had a heart attack. Geez.

The ledge is wider than you think, or so Will said, but still I was a nervous wreck. "Get down RIGHT NOW!!"

I love it here....

We decided, kinda last minute, to have a party and it was last night. I made some invites and passed them out to some great families in our new area and send some off to our friends in North Ogden. We invited like 23 families, knowing that most would not be able to make it. The RSVP's starting rolling in all week and we had 12 families show up for our 1st annual Christmas Bash. It was awesome! They all brought their cute kids, so we had a house-full and I loved it.

We played "The Candy Bar Game". Seth and Addie got upset because they didn't want to wait to get doubles to take a candy bar out of the pile......big shocker, I know. But the eventually calmed down and got the hang of it. Has anyone played this? You give everyone brown lunch sacks, put a bunch of candy bars in the middle of the circle, roll dice, when someone gets doubles, they pick a candy bar and put it in their sack. It gets tricky when they are all gone from the middle and you have to remember who took what so you can ask them for it. It is a great game for all ages!

It just amazed me how many great people I have in my life. We had some of our old friends come from North Ogden, not knowing anyone but us at the party, and it meant so much to me that they would come. Then we had so many great families that we have gotten to know since we moved here in June come, and that meant so much to Will and I, too! Thank you all for coming!! It meant the world to us!! You may never know how much it meant to us!!

A couple of families stayed until 11pm, and it was a riot! I had to get up and be at the church by 7:30am to help set up for our Ward Christmas Breakfast. I wore my pj's. I really did. I was really tired, but totally happy that we had such a great time the night before.

Merry Christmas to you all! We sure do love ya!

Addie, my love

Addie is obsessed with the computer. It is all she wants to do. Between her and Seth fighting over it most of the day, I do believe I am going bonkers.

Do I have any pictures of this poor child without food all over her face. I doubt it. But, did you notice her hair is done!!!! Shhh, don't tell her, she'll rip it out!

I know, I am so tacky. But I can't help it! I looked over at Addie as she played on the computer and saw her cute little bum crack. I had to take a picture. I know she will hate me later, but that's ok. She has a cute little bum.

A Roman Kitchen....

This one is kinda blurry. Sorry....

A fireplace with tissue paper as the flames.

The whole thing.....

Painting the dishes....

We started a unit on the Roman Empire, and I found the best book at the library that I think I'd like to own! It was very neat and had a lot of crafts for kids to do all about Romans. We found a picture of this Roman kitchen and decided to make it this past week. We made a batch of baker's clay, made the dishes, baked them, then painted them. It was very fun. Sasha has her sights on a model of a Roman house that she wants us to make this week. It looks very involved......

Anywhoo, the book is Step into...the Roman Empire by Philip Steele.

An awesome homeschooling moment.....

My good friend, Leah, who also homeschools, has given me lots of good advice. She told me recently that not all days will be wonderful. In fact, most will be crazy and you will feel like you didn't get much accomplished. I have gone into this homeschooling adventure, with that in mind, hoping for the best. It has been hard to do this with Seth and Addie raising a ruckus and wanting to watch TV or play on the computer while we are doing school. But, they are getting used to it. I tell them during "recess" they can do those things. So, Seth always asks if it "recess" yet! LOL! (It is right now and Addie is breathing down my neck because she wants to play on the computer!!!).

Well, today Sasha and I had a very cool homeschooling moment. We have been learning about biographies and today we read one about Abe Lincoln. It was well-written for children and we both enjoyed it a lot! I had her write what she learned about him in her composition journal. She wanted to know about slavery and we talked about it and how Abe Lincoln opposed it. I could see the wheels in her head turning as she thought about slavery and how wrong it was. It was just so neat to talk with her about it and to see her learning right before my eyes. I am so glad I am homeschooling.........

Some pictures to look at....

Here is the Hansel and Gretel house that the kids and I made a week or so ago. We did a unit on folk tales, read the story, and decided this would be fun to do. It has amazed me how much fun the kids have had playing with this and it was 100% homemade! We even made dolls out of old t-shirts. It has been the 1st thing the kids play with in the morning and they go to sleep asking if they can play with it tomorrow.......


This kinda looks weird, but they are really cute! Me and Sasha made these last year out of a strofoam ball, glitter, a real ice cream cone, and a red pon-pon. It isn't green.....it just looks like it the picture.



Our Walmart tree still doing us well! I bought this our first Christmas for $25 at WM and it is still with us. I do want a big, tall, lights-already-on tree, but I'll wait until they are dirt cheap.....

Merry Christmas, everyone! {{HUGS}}

Elder Wirthlin....

I just found out that he died last night and I am heartbroken. He was one of my favorites! He was just so darling! I especially loved his talk this past General Conference and Will and I have read it many times since it came out in the Ensign. I even posted some quotes from it on my blog.....and now he is gone! I love those men so much and am so thankful to live in a time where we get to hear their counsel.

Black Friday......

BLACK FRIDAY......
Me and Cara at Burger King!


It was sooooo much fun! I was at our local Walmart at 4:30am and had a hard time finding a place to park, which is not normal for this Walmart, at all! My sister was going to meet me there so I could help her get a trampoline for $140 and then she was going to stash it in my garage. She was late getting there, so I made my way to the toy department, giggling to myself at the throngs of people with messy hair just like mine! The pallet of trampolines was surrounded by people, waiting to pounce once the clock struck 5:00am. We all decided there was enough for us all to get one and that we didn't have to fight over them. So, once 5am came, we all helped eachother get those heavy boxes into our carts! It was really cool! I didn't have a cart; Lindsay was on her way with one. So, I decided to stand on my box and search for her. There were so many people all over the place, she could not get to me and could not even see me for awhile. It was funny. We got her tramp paid for and loaded in my van, and she went home. I, on the other hand went BACK into Walmart to find Cara and her family.

A little background:
Cara and I have been buds since we were juniors in high school. We have been great friends for so long, and I know her family well and they treat me like I am one of them! Every Black Friday, her mom and sisters spend the day shopping with each other and they always start at Walmart, arriving at 4am. I have wanted to go with her, but this is the first year I have made it! We live about a mile away from eachother now and they met at my Walmart this year! How could I NOT go! We spent about 4 hours in Walmart, just walking around, searching for deals and laughing at anything and everything. I felt like a kid again. I found all the deals I wanted just by digging in the "go back" carts and also by wandering the aisles looking for stuff that people had decided they didn't want and just put on any old shelf. It was way cool! By the time we were ready to check out, the lines were not super long anymore and we did not have to wait at all. My sister, on the other hand, stood in line for at least 30 minutes at 5am earlier that morning. We then headed to Burger King for breakfast. I parted ways with them after that. They were headed to KMart, Target and ???? I went home and had a nap! I stayed up until 11:30 the night before, so excited for the next day, so I did not get much sleep at all! Two of her sisters did not sleep at all the night before....they are crazy, I'm tellin' ya! Anyway, it was so fun and I am so doing it next year!

Oh, one more thing, Sasha asked me this morning if I am still her teacher and if we are still doing school? She was concerned because we haven't done any school over the Thanksgiving Holiday! LOL. I explained, that yes, we are still doing school and that we are on break right now! She really enjoys homeschooling and Seth and Addie even do their "school work" right along with Sasha. We have had days when she says "Can we be done with school now, Mom?" and we have just gotten started! LOL. But, she is really such an obedient child, and I do try to be flexible, but also make sure I am meeting my school goals for the week. It is going well and I love that I have time to do stuff with her, that I would not have if she was gone all day long in school.

This week we are doing:
Studying biographies. Reading some and writing one.
Investigating light and sound
Getting into motion
Finishing up Meeting the Native Americans then starting the 1st chapter of The Story of the World, (Thanks, Claire for letting me borrow this history curriculum) which begins with the Roman Empire.

I am got my Saxon Math workbook in the mail, so will continue that. I love the program so far. It takes things so step-by-step and I like that for math. Not my best subject. Hee hee hee. Off we go....may the force be with me......:)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Not the picture you were expecting? Thought I'd post some nice picture of us all dining on a beautiful feast? Nah, I'd rather post the pictures of my kids being totally grossed out at the raw turkey. They all wanted to help cook the huge turkey that Aunt Lindsay brought over earlier in the week. Well, when I cut the package off, they were grossed out, big time. But, wait......when I told Sasha she had to reach inside the cavity and pull out the neck bone and gizzard bag, I think she 'bout threw up. They screamed and screamed and yelled for Daddy to come quick and check out the livers and all that jazz. I finally got it ready and shoved it in the oven. Whew. Who knew cooking a turkey could be so exciting.......

Here is me and my sweet Sasha Belle. She had so much fun today playing with Audrey and Sean. The pumpkin pie was the biggest hit with the kids. Me, too actually. We put up our Christmas tree tonight and rocked out the country music. It was so much fun! The kids had a ball opening the boxes of decorations. I love, love, love the holidays!

My friend Cara and her sisters have a fun tradition of going shopping on Black Friday, just for fun and to get a deal or two. I have never gone but since they are shopping in my neck of the woods now that I have moved, I am in! We are meeting at the Walmart at like 4:30 am and holy cow, I must be nuts. I wonder if we will witness some crazy people fist fighting over at TV or something. Geez, I hope so.........not really. That would not be cool. My sister is coming too so she can score some big items and stash them at my house! I am excited for this! Maybe I should go to bed now........nah. I might as well stay up all night and blog away!

Where have I been and what in the world have I been doing?.....

I have been neglecting my blogging, but I doubt you have noticed or even care much. Much has happened in our family and I have been very preoccupied. I won't get into all of it here, but I will just say it has been a tough time for my family. On a good note, I have decided, after years of concidering it, talking myself out of it, then concidering it again, to homeschool my kids. I know, I am nuts. Homeschoolers are weird and anti-social, are they not? Nope, they aren't actually. The homeschooled kids I have met recently are amazing. There are 4 homeschoolers in my ward and they are wonderful.

In case you are wondering why I would do such a thing, here are some of my reasons, in no particular order:

**I want to be the one to see my children's faces light up when they understand a new concept.

**I want to take full responsibility for my children's education and not leave it to a system that may or may not care about my child.

**I want to have control over what my child learns and how they learn it.

**I want to foster a love of learning that they can carry on throughout their lives.

**I want my children to learn together and create strong family bonds.

**I want to learn, grow and challenge myself right along with them.

**I don't want to get them away from me, I want them to be with me.

**I want them to learn at their own pace, and to not to be expected to be like everyone else.

We have been homeschooling this entire month and it has honestly been wonderful. We have done science experiments with sound, collected rocks, make Hansel and Gretel's cottage (I gotta post a picture of that! It is darling), written a poem, played store with fake money, learned about the 1st Thanksgiving, and on and on. We do reading and math first thing in the morning, since they are the hardest and require a fresh mind. The afternoons are for history, science and other things. We have a history lesson with 3 other homeschoolers on Tuesdays and then the kids play for several hours. I have purchased and or borrowed my curriculum and am loving what I am doing. The decision to do this came after much prayer, thought and talking it over with eachother. Sometimes I think I am nuts. It would be so much easier to not do it, but I know it is right for us. I have hesitated to post about it since I am not sure what others may think or say.........but, there ya go. We are a homeschooling family now.

Happy Birthday, Seth!

Happy 5th Birthday, Seth! I can't believe he is 5 already! Time just keeps flyin' and flyin'. His birthday is actually tomorrow, which is Sunday, so we kinda celebrated today. He wanted to go to the new Chuck E. Cheese they put in near us, so we got up and did that first thing. We got 100 tokens, you know I had a coupon, and that was just enough for us all to play some games and get some tickets. We got some $5 pizza on the way home and had a pizza party. We decided to just finish it out and so we had the cake and opened the presents today. We couldn't stop ourselves. It was a great party day!

I used my Cricut machine to make his name and the stars then I glued them on wooden skewers. He picked out strawberry cake mix and bubble gum ice cream.

This is the main thing he wanted and told us so daily. An Indiana Jones whip. It is actually soft and so I don't forsee any injuries. It also makes cool "whipping" sounds and plays the theme song from the movies. Very cool, Bud.

They had a game where you hit a button, over and over, as hard as you can and it flips balls into a dog's mouth. It was right up Seth's alley.

This ride was HILARIOUS! It was a bike thingy and the faster you pedal, the more you go up in the air. A little boy was on it first and was having a hard time getting it to go up in the air since you have to pedal hard and fast! Well, Seth got on right after that boy and he got up in the air in no time at all. He is so strong and athletic just like me........not really. He takes after his dad.

Hubby tag!!

HUBBY TAG......
1. Where did you meet your husband?
At an early morning institute class
2. How long did you date?
Our first date was November 13th he proposed on November 23rd, and we got married on Feb. 5th, 1999
3. How long have you been married?
10 years on February 5th!!
4. What does he do that surprises you?
Nothing Will does surprises me. =)
5. What is your favorite feature of his?
His full lips.
6. What is his best quality?
He treats me like I am a queen.
7. Does he have a nick name for you?
Sweet Pretty Mommy
8. What is his favorite food?
Chinese food, banana pudding with Vanilla waffers.
9. What is his favorite sport?
He just likes to watch the re-cap on Sports Center mostly.
10. When and where was your first kiss?
In his apartment the day before he proposed to me.
11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
Eat junk food and hang out.
12. Do you have children?
3 precious ones
13. Does he have hidden talents?
He has a silly side that most don't get to see. He can do lots of voices like Fog Horn Leg Horn.
14. How old is he?
41 years young!
15. Who said I love you first?
Me on the phone late one night.
16. His favorite music?
Classical
17. What to you admire most about him?
His faith and knowledge of the gospel.
18. What is his favorite color?
Sky Blue
19. Will he read this?
You bet!
20. Who do you tag?
Carrie, Misti, Tammy, Jamey, Liselle, Krista

Happy Halloween 2008!!

What a handsome Indiana Jones! I made him a whip out of some rope and he grabbed his brown duffel bag to complete the look! He looked so good! :)


I went as a clown! Those eye lashes rocked! Seth told me he didn't like my makeup.......

Sasha and her friend Liberty at the ward party! We had a chili cook-off and then the kids had a trunk-or-treat! It was very well-attended and I ran out of candy pretty quickly! I had like 8 bags, but there were so many kids there!

Here we are at the ward party. We look awesome! I am totally laughing at Seth's costume! I bought him a Hulk costume a month ago and that was all he wanted to be. Well, a few hours before the party, he drags out this old dragon costume that I got at a garage sale a long time ago. He wanted to wear it instead of the Hulk costume that I spent $25 on. That dragon costume is kinda rough lookin' and has a hole in the side that I didn't notice until we were already at the party. Will and I had a good laugh about it.

Sasha's costume turned out sooo cute and I am so proud of myself that I made it all by myself! Addie's Tinkerbell costume came from a friend of Sasha's who has outgrown it. I wasn't sure what Addie would be since she changes her mind a lot, too. But, she did go with Tinkerbell! The kids went to the trunk-or-treat and then Will took them around the neighborhood a bit. Addie went to one house and came back home. She liked getting the door better. We had a lot of kids come to our house! I was thrilled it was not cold at all! Wahoo! It was nice to not have to worry about keeping the kids warm! It was a fun night and I am glad we all dressed up!

Rub-a-dub-dub!

I went for a walk tonight after dinner and when I got home, Will was walking, quickly to the bathroom with the camera ready. Here is what he was gettin' the camera for:

I personally like this one the best. Look at Seth. Sasha needs a towel to wipe her face off, I think. Last night, while I was at YW's they took a 2 hour bath. They love the tub in our new house. I love it too, but I don't make quite the mess they do when I bathe in it.

My coupon organizer!

My friend, Karly, asked my to post a picture of my coupon binder, so here ya go! I found this at a garage sale for like $1.00 but have seen them at Walgreen's or Walmart. Just get one with pockets and one that zips up so you don't lose anything.

Here is what this baseball card holders look like that I use to organize each section with. Just buy regular old baseball card holders and put a few in each section. I found mine at Shopko.

You need dividers, probably several packs. I divided mine into these sections: baking, canned, treats\snacks, frozen, meats, refridgerated, condiments, side dishes, cereal, beverages, cleaning, laundry, paper products, razors, toothpaste, misc health and beauty (female "stuff", deodorant, medicines, first aid), soaps\lotions, hair products, makeup, and baby.

When I get my inserts from the Sunday papers, I put them in piles like this.

Then I make piles of the same page so I only have to cut each one once. There are 5 of each coupon page in each pile and I just get cuttin'. Then I put them in my binder and I am ready to rock and roll. It may look like it takes a ton of time, but it really doesn't. Maybe 30 minutes if I am taking my time. I usually take my binder to the store with me and have an envelope with the store's name on it so I can keep the coupons I will be handing the checker handy and not be flustered, looking all over for a certain coupon. Any questions? Ok, try it, you'll love all the money you will save and love all the food that fills your house!

Why I love couponing:

*I don't pay more than .50 for name brand cereal. When it goes on sale for $1.00, I bust out all my cereal coupons and get like 20 boxes for dirt cheap.

*I generally pay .75 for my cleaning products. Walgreen's is the best place I've found for buying cleaning products. They put them on sale a lot and do rebates for them, so I stock up there.

*When they put out a "try this for free", I get to try it 5 times since I get 5 Sunday papers and get 5 sets of coupons each week.
*I get free stuff all the time when I see it's on sale and use a coupon. I got Tyson chicken packages free since there were coupons out saving you $2.00 off each pack and I found the ones that were priced $2.00 or less. I wish they'd put that one again. That was so cool.

*I have enough Electrosol dishwasher packs to last me for like a year since they put out a coupon saving you $2.25 and I got some for .09 by getting it on sale for cheap at Target. I traded for more coupons and my friend gave me tons of hers so I totally scored with that deal.

Anyway, I love couponing. I'd love to convert you all to couponing................

Homemade applesauce......

A big fat, "Thank you" to my friend Leah, who let us pick some apples off her parent's tree so I could make some yummy homemade applesauce. They are on a mission to the Philippines, and she had already picked what she wanted. I got 8 Walmart bags FULL of apples. I made applesause and canned them for 8 hours total this weekend! It was fun, actually and the kids really enjoyed using this gadget here to peel and core them.

Then, they wanted to bob for apples, and I told them it was too cold to do it outside. So, they did it inside. Sasha actually went first and got her shirt very wet, so she put her swimming suit on. Seth and Addie thought that was a great idea, so they put theirs on, too. No, I did not put mine on. They are so funny and make a game of everything!

I canned like 30 pints and 10 or so quarts. My hands got so stained by the apples it looked like I hadn't washed them in a really long time. This is what we did this weekend! I love free produce!