End of Summer Outing

For our last fun outing before school started I took the kids bowling on Monday. Fat Cats had free bowling for the kids all summer and we only took advantage of it this one time - silly us. They were so excited once we pulled up the parking lot. I was excited to get the breadtwists but that part wasn't open yet :(.

We were the only ones there so I let them dance around to the music. They played a couple Hannah Montana songs - they loved it.

Afterward we just played around in the kid area for a little while.

Yesterday morning during breakfast Evan asked, "Is Hannah Montana my spirit sister?"

He then added this morning, "I want to live with Hannah Montana so she can teach me ALL her songs." They all walk around all day singing "the Best of Both Worlds" and "Butterfly Fly Away." What have I gotten myself into?

Great-Grandpa's Birthday!!

August 10th was my grandpa's 92nd birthday. Wow!!!

We had him over for dinner and dessert to celebrate. My kids love great grandpa and are always asking if we can go visit him. (He lives about 5 minutes away, but we don't get over to his place nearly as often as we should.) He buys big things of ice cream and cones especially for when his great grandkids come to visit and he always has jelly beans in his pocket for them.

Sara serenaded him on the piano with some of his favorite songs. Then all the kids, including Ty and Maria's, sang him a few primary songs then "Happy Birthday". (For some reason I didn't get a picture of that.)

Each of the kids made him a card and were so excited to give it to him. We gave him a Maria Callender's gift card. He loves their pies.

We then had the left over delicious dirt from Sara's birthday.

He seemed genuinely happy to celebrate with us. Happy Birthday Grandpa!!!

The reservoir

Yesterday, Saturday, we had planned on going to the "beach" at the reservoir near my brother's house in Herriman. It's been super hot so we thought this would be fun, but of course it had to get cold the day we wanted to go. But, we decided to go anyway and just let them wade in the water.

The kids had fun and the younger ones got soaked. They had fun....

Building sandcastles

posing for the camera

and throwing rock into the water.

It was freezing so Miles stayed in the car and Josephine and Cassie huddled with a blanket. We'll reschedule for another day when we might actually want to get in the water. Thanks Cassie for letting us come!

Score Again

I went to Albertson's last night and scored big time. (I will try to spare you the details of my shopping trips in the future -maybe). Below is a picture of all that I got. It is a total of

68 items

(including 4 things of laundry detergent, Bisquick, 3 things of anti-perspirant/deodorant, Ragu, Skippy peanut butter, lotion, kids shampoo, cereal, cake mixes, muffin mixes, yogurt, and more.

Paid $67.87

Saved $171.46

(And earned a $0.15 per gallon credit on gas. I was so excited.)

That's less than a dollar for each item. HOLY COW!!

Anyone who knows me well knows that there is almost nothing I love more than to get something for free or for cheap. I don't like to buy things that aren't on sale so you can imagine how excited I was to get all this stuff for so little. Now we just need to figure out where to store it all.

This week's randomness

This is Miles in his cradle/bassinet. He has been sleeping in it for a while. Since he is going to be sharing a room with his 3 other siblings but doesn't quite sleep all through the night yet, it works perfectly for us because it has wheels so we can roll it from room to room wherever he is going to sleep. He sleeps in the living room or the kitchen at night. But, as you can see he's pretty much growing out of it. It's time to move him to a crib but we don't want him waking the other kids up and we are still trying to figure out how to fit bunk beds, a toddler bed, and a crib in one room and still be able to keep the dresser in there as well. (Not to mention the clothes of 4 kids in a little closet.) It will work, we're just still figuring out how.

This is his beautiful smile and what he woke up with the other morning. I did an experiment and tried to see if it was possible to not smile when this is what you're looking out. Conclusion - IMPOSSIBLE!

Seriously?...............Sara, 7-years-old, wanted to try on some of Kamri's, 2-years-old, shorts the other day. These ones are size 18-24 months. Granted they are way too short, but other than that they fit her perfectly. That is why it is hard/impossible to find pants that fit her right. We definitely can't ever buy any that don't have an adjustable waist.

Kamri has decided she wants to potty train. We've tried in the past but it's never stuck. But now she decided she's ready. I made this candy dish to resemble a bubble gum machine to hold her reward (skittles) for going on the toilet. I just thought she would have more fun getting it out of this than a boring old bag. She loves it. She runs to it after each time. So far we've had three days with no accidents. Yay for the candy jar and yay for Kamri!!

Sweet Deal!!

For two months I have been trying to figure out how to use coupons to save money on our grocery bill. I've never found the time (or taken the time) to sit down and figure it out. But, this weekend it was on my list of goals to get accomplished. So Saturday afternoon I sat down and figured out my plan of attack. Late that night I took a trip to Smith's to get started. Ask Ben. When I got home I was so excited about the money I saved I sat down and explained everything to him. This is what I came home with:

2 Herbal Essences curling mousse

1 Herbal Essences curling shampoo

1 Herbal Essences curling conditioner

2 lbs. shredded cheese

2 lbs. block cheese

2 packages Keebler grasshopper cookies (my favorite)

Total Cost: $24.32 (before tax)

I paid: $10.32 (before tax)

I saved: $14.00

(This was only the part of my order that I used coupons on. I didn't use coupons on the rest, but the whole order would have cost me more than $53 and I only paid a little more than $26.)

Hopefully since I have actually done it now, I will continue to make the time to figure it all out every week. We'll see.

My new favorite baby gift

Do any of you moms out there have a problem with using a blanket to cover an infant car seat? Mine was always falling off or being blown off by the wind. And it was really hard to carry it by the handle because the blanket was in the way. Well, I was at the doctor's office for Miles' appointment one day and a lady walked in carrying a car seat with a cool covering-thingy on it. My mom was with me and was brave enough to ask her where she got it and if she could look more closely at it. I think it was a gift to the lady so she didn't know where to get it, but she let my mom take a look. I was in love and HAD to have one. I was looking online one day and accidentally stumbled upon a shop that sells them - for $35. Since I refuse to pay money (especially $35) f0r something I can make myself (for $10 or less), I made one. It took me a good month and a half to actually get to this little project, but it was so worth it. It was my first one and I was making it up as I went, so it's not perfect and there are a couple things I would change, but I love it.

It doubles as a Snugli covering as well. I was putting Miles in the Snuggli one day and needed something to block the sun from him. I couldn't find something until I looked at the car seat. Voila!! I had my answer. I just attached the rings to the straps. It worked perfectly for that, too.

I know it's bad to be proud, but I really have to say I'm pretty impressed with myself. Now I just have to decide if I like the hooded towels I make or this as a baby gift.

Tin Foil Dinners

Saturday night we went up the canyon and roasted hot dogs for the kid and tin foil dinners for Ben and me . This is the second time this summer we've made it up there to roast over a fire. It is so much fun. The kids love it. We really need to do it more often. Anyone want to join us?

Ben teaching Evan how to make a fire

roasting hot dogs

Ben's meal consisted of chicken and steak marinated in teriyaki sauce with mushrooms, red peppers, zucchini, pineapple and brown rice. He said it was good. I even tried a bite of the chicken and zucchini. Are you proud of me?

I can't tell you how much I love smores (made with cookies, not chocolate bars and graham crackers)

Kamri of course was a filthy mess

Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House

We had the privilege of attending the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house on Wednesday evening. This is the second temple in a few months my kids have been able to see the inside of. It was pretty busy the night we went so we were kind of rushed through each room and were trying to keep our kids (Kamri) from touching things. Needless to say it wasn't the most unstressful thing we've done with them, but I am so glad my kids have had the chance to see the inside of a temple. Next time we just need to make sure we don't wait so long to go and go during the day when there aren't so many people.

Waiting for the introductory movie to start

I loved this outfit on Evan and it looks just as cute on Miles - so handsome

Waiting in line to get into the temple

They had some questions about some rooms and what some things meant. We tried to explain some things in a way they could understand. They pretty much understand what baptisms for the dead are and are looking forward to being twelve so they can go to the temple to participate in them. They felt so special being able to be there. I'm really grateful that we were able to go.

A day at Snowbird

As a thank you for helping out at the fireworks tent my parents treated us all to a day at Snowbird. We got unlimited passes to do the activities all day. We were there from 12 noon to about 8:30. Ben got stuck at work so he couldn't make it. But, we will be going back without the kids to celebrate our anniversary.

We rode the tram to the top and ate a picnic lunch

Admiring the view on the way down in the tram

Bungee trampoline

Me, Maria, and Ty all doing a back flip at the same time

Evan did a few double back flips

Rock climbing

Mechanical Bull

Alpine Slide (all the kids LOVED this)

Me and Kamri

Trina and Evan beating Grandpa

(PS - anyone have more pictures of me and the kids on this? I don't have any)

Blow up Jumping thing and Slide

(Kamri spent most of her time here)

we also got to ride a zip line, but I didn't get any pictures of that.

Thanks Mom and Dad. We had a great time. It was a wonderful day.

Arizona

Ben has been wanting to go on a road trip ever since we got the van. His brother, Richard and family were gracious enough to let us bombard them so we spent last weekend in Arizona. Ben's sister, Kim, and her son, Nairne, flew in from Washington to spend the weekend, too. The kids did great on the drive. Miles had had enough for about the last 10 minutes but other than that I don't think he even made a sound. But the drive down still seemed like it took F-O-R-E-V-E-R.

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Miles got to meet a bunch of new cousins, aunts, and uncle

w/ cousin Nairne

Aunt Kim

cousin Ryan

We stayed at a resort in Phoenix for two nights. Here's a picture of the water park. They had a fun water slide, a few pools, a lazy river, and a waterfall

Sara and Evan are getting a good start to swimming

The waterfall (the small one)

Hot tubbing

Yep, I guess there are still some crazies out there who want to get into a hot tub when it is over 100 degrees outside

The water slide

The Lazy river

Kam and Dad

Kim and Sara

Kim and Evan

(Evan never really learned to enjoy this part of the trip, but at least he has a smile in the picture)

The kids had to sleep in the same room (nothing new) and the same bed (totally new) for five days. They did fabulous. Ben and I, on the other hand, now know why we can't sleep in the same room as Miles.

Amazingly enough, this was the only Scrabble game played the whole weekend

Ben got to spend some time alone with his brother. Early Saturday morning they got up and went golfing. That night Ben got to experience a major league baseball game. He went to the Arizona Diamondbacks game along with his brother, sister, and two nephews.

Ben - Kim - Richard

Ben and Richard

Yes, folks on Sunday our car thermometer said outside temp was 117 degrees. It was HOT!!!And what did we decide to do........

spend some time outside visiting the Mesa temple. We stayed outside just long enough to get a picture. There was absolutely no way we were going to stay outside longer than necessary

Kamri warmed right up to her cousin James

On the way home we had to get a tire fixed. Our awesome car told us something was wrong with the tire pressure. So we pulled into a gas station to take a look. Ben found a screw in our tire. So we pulled over to a tire shop and they fixed it right up for us. We were on our way in 15 minutes and thank goodness we didn't have to deal with a blown out tire.

It was a great trip. It was fun to see family we don't get to see very often and a much needed break from mundane housework that never seems to get done. We had a blast. Thanks Candy and Richard for letting us come and Kim and Nairne for coming out too. We love you guys!!!