The View From Work

I have now been working out of town for two weeks and coming home on the weekends. It has been quite a drag not seeing my kids every night. On the other hand I have an awesome view every single day. The mountains are by Jackson Lake, and the black bear is just off the road where I am working. Quite the excitement when we see one. It keeps you on your toes and I am constantly cocked and loaded with my bear spray!!

Coupons on the Brain!!!

Okay, here it is. I told myself I was not going to use coupons because of too many various reasons to list. After fighting it and fighting it, my big sister had to come and show me all the money she kept saving. So I finally came to the conclusion that I had to be stupid not to save money too. (Not that any of you are stupid for not using coupons!) This week I have to share my good deals because it is all stuff that everyone uses and could stand to save a few bucks on too. My goal... have food storage built up so if our family has another bad winter like this last one, we will still have food to eat! I hate ramen noodles! And by the way, yes that is an entire case of cereal that the other stuff is sitting on! LOL

Total Savings = $131.25

30 Boxes of Post Cereal should have cost 137.70, acutally paid 20.10

2 Bottles of Soft Soap should have cost 2.00, paid 1.20

Snuggle Softner should have paid 4.00 paid 2.00

2 Kraft Salad Dressings should have paid 3.20, paid .35

2 Airwick Freshners should have paid 10.00, paid 2.00

At last.... I finally got my internet hooked up! And of course it's been months since I've updated. Unfortuantely not much has happend in my time away. Still no work yet, although Keith is no longer laid off!! I did however bite the bullet and get a gym membership. Two months of hard work and no change. I try not to get frustrated and tell myself I'm building muscle faster than I'm burning fat. The least I can be thankful for is that the scale is not increasing the numbers, it just isn't decreasing them either. Oh well, I figure I can be happy any shape or size. Hunter has been making great strides in his scout program. He just earned his bear award. He is such a good boy and loves to excel in all he does. Hailey is reading like a champ and has finally stopped calling me three times a week to come and get her from school. And Tyghelyn is growing so fast. She loves school and was excited to go back after a week for spring break. No more babies in this house. I really enjoyed them as babies, but I am so glad that they are getting independant! I think this is the funnest stage we have had. And the most challenging. I thought they were very oppinionated when they were little, but now they know how to express themselves with words. And they are not afraid to tell anyone how they feel. They will also share info with anyone who asks, and those who don't for that matter. There are no secrets with anyone we know. The kids tell all! Oh well, honesty is always best right? Just figured I would give a quick update and will post again soon.

Collectiong Unenjoyment!!!

As summer was flying by I was thinking about all the things I would get to accomplish this winter while I was laid off. As it were... I don't think I've accomplished anything. I have obviously kept up on the housework finally. But as far as crafts or extra cirricular activities... they are non exhistant. I find it hard to pull my butt up off the couch for any unnecessary reason. I need to find some motivation to do something productive. Even if that means excersising! I need to just bite the bullet and do it!!! As promised her are a few more pictures that we got taken.

FREAKS!!!

If you ever thought your family tree didn't really branch out take a look at this. My brother in law took our family pictures and is gifted with photo shopping talents. This is what he made us look like. I found a way to view it larger is to save it on your desktop and then pull it up using a photo viewer. And by the way this is just a teaser... the real pictures are coming... LOL

Have your cake and eat it too!

Keith was trying to butter me up the other night and he made me this cake. It is a chocolate fudge cake with raspberry filling and chocolate icing. I can't even begin to describe how good it tastes! It was in a magazine he printed and it won some kind of award. Now I know why. Anyone interested in the recipe can let me know. But it had to be really easy to make because he did it. And it's super yummy!

I'm Back!!! But I never went anywhere...

Holy cow!! I promise I didn't fall off the face of the earth completely! But my summer was very eventful. I officially have ALL of my children in school. I don't know what to do with myself. My baby went to kindergarten this year, and she is loving it. She was so excited to learn and meet new people. I really thought she would just like to stay home and be with mom all day but I was sorely diassappointed. Here is a pic of her first day. All grown up.

This summer has been go go go. I have worked ate and slept everyday for the last five months. I don't think much else has happened in between. I still love my job. I moved up to a front end loader operator this year. And wow... it's interesting. But still very challenging. I know, can you imagine me in one of those things. I get some pretty suprising looks from people when I'm driving down the road. I can't believe winter is almost here already. How time flies when you're having fun. This weekend My grandparents were able to visit from New Mexico, as well as my sister and her kids. On Saturday night they put on a play for us. It was called the Dream. And funny!!!

We aren't really sure what the story line was or how it ended, but they sure had fun putting each other in hand cuffs and getting locked in "jail".