Happy 1st Birthday Cash!

I absolutely cannot believe it has been a year since baby C entered our lives. He is our little ray of sunshine with his bright eyes and smiles all day long, but especially when he wakes up and you are getting him out of his crib. He is an absolute doll! We couldn't ask for a better little boy. He is crawling all over and wants so badly to walk around, but he just isn't brave enough yet I guess. Tuesday night he was trying to walk from me and J to get our ice cream and instead of walking he would run so he wouldn't fall. He thinks that if he goes fast there is less chance of falling. He loves going for Ranger rides and loves loves loves his dogs. He adores tractors. And gets so excited to see Garth on the tractor going around. He goes mad for chocolate banana shakes from Mack's (he gets that from his dad and sisters). He is getting good at kisses even if they are opened mouth slobbery ones. The girls think the world of him and so does his mom and dad. Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

C's Year Old Pictures

Well, C is turning one on the 23rd and I wanted to have his pictures taken. So I turned to my favorite photographer, Nicole Nelson, to have them done. She has done a wonderful job once again. I feel like thank you just isn't enough, but Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Nicole! Check some of them out at her blog (just click on the link)... nicolespixiedust.blogspot.com

No Camera

So we went boating two weekends ago and my camera fell in the water. But it was inside a case and the inside of the case didn't get wet. So I thought I was safe.... but NOPE... I tried to turn it on the other day and well the camera is toast. I changed the batteries and it still didn't work. I guess we'll eventually have to get a new one. So for now... we're pictureless.

Charity Quote

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don't judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone's differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn't handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another's weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other."
~Marvin J. Ashton

I really liked this quote. I need to work on charity big time...

Honestly...

How long does it take to clean a bedroom? And a bedroom that really wasn't that dirty to begin with. It just needed to be picked up. If you ask our girls... we are apparently working on four hours now and it looks worse than when they started. I'm going to pull my hair out.....

One Happy Little Homemaker

I'm one happy little homemaker. I am so stinking excited. For those who don't HATE, DESPISE, DREAD (I can't think of any other words to describe it) cleaning the showers and tub. I was so excited when we built our home because I thought I would have a clean slate. We moved into our home the day I got home from the hospital after having C. Imagine my suprise when after about a week I walked into the girls bathroom and pulled the shower curtain back and saw the tub and shower walls were YELLOW. So being the little homemaker I was I pulled out the Lysol bathroom cleaning stuff and set to work cleaning the tub. To my horror after and hour later it didn't even look like I had even been in there. Being older and wise now we have finally discovered that the YELLOW is Iron Sulfate and that stuff don't come off. Over the past year my stash of bathroom cleaner has and still does include: 409, every product Lysol makes, Chlorox Bleach bathroom stuff, Cholorox non bleach bathroom stuff, Soft Scrub, Comit, SOS Scrubbing Pads, and pretty much every product on the cleaning aisle at Kent's and at Wal-Mart. And the only thing that even starts to work is the SOS Pads. But it still leaves quite a bit still on the tub and shower. The really depressing thing is when you rinse the shower and tub back off from "the sort of cleaning job" the water puts the Iron Sulfate right back on it.

At YW Camp last week I was talking to the Priesthood Leader and his wife that live in our ward who had built a new house a couple years ago. I knew they had had some problem with sulfer and iron sulfate. Their daughter had rode up to camp with me and she had said that they found something that worked for them. I asked them and they told me to go to the Don Aslett store in Logan and get this cleaner called Shower-N-Stuff. I picked it up yesterday and for the first time - this is where I became the happy little homemaker - I cleaned the showers and tub and it took less than 5 minutes to clean and they are CLEAN!!!!! I sprayed the stuff on there and it pretty much melted off. I scrub it clean and I was so excited to show J when he got home from work. He was pretty impressed at how clean it got it. Yay!!!! I know, I know... I am such a nerd :)

Grocery Smarts

So I have been attempting the Grocery Smarts thing and today I spent $168.28 at Albertson's. Which one might think holy cow.... but I SAVED.... $167.45. I was going to take a picture but there were too many groceries to photograph. Here is a little of what I got:

14 boxes of General Mills Cereals
5 bottles of Kraft Salad Dressing
8 boxes of fruit snacks
8 boxes Capri Suns
2 bags Sun Chips
6 boxes Hamburger Helper
18 boxes of Mac & Cheese
2 tubs of Betty Crocker Frosting
2 Betty Crocker Cookie Mixes
1 package of Oreo cookies
2 Gallons Whole Milk
1 2 lb block of Tillomonk Cheese
1 carton of eggs (18)
4 6-packs of Yogurt (Kids)
1 Sour Cream
2 Tony's Pizzas
1 Dial Foaming Handwash
2 packages of Steaks
2 Beef Roasts
1 package of sliced meat
1 package of Falls Franks
10 Corn on the cob
1 Red Onion
1 Large Pineapple
1 bag of Red Potatoes
1 package of baby red potatoes

We had to go in and out of the store 3 times to get some of the coupons, but it was worth it.

I think the previous week I spent $44.64 and I SAVED $97.20. I did take a picture of that one:

Happy 30th Babe!!!

My old man turned 30 today. Hee Hee... I can call him that now that he is caught up with me. I am two months old than he and he reminds me of that on a pretty regular basis during those two months. I am lucky to have such a wonderful husband and best friend. But I am even more blessed to have such a wonderful father to our children. He is also a really driven, hard worker. I guess that is what has helped him make his business a success. But he also knows where his blessings comes from and is ground (most the time). Happy 30th honey! We love you!

This picture was taken at the Tremonton Easter Egg Hunt several years ago. He doesn't like to smile for pictures but this was a good one.

Excitement in Beaver Dam

We had an exciting day here in Beaver Dam. Fire trucks and all. Our poor neighbors Warner and Jerri Fisher. If it weren't for bad luck they'd probably not have much luck at all. A couple years ago some teenage punk was out getting blitzed all night and was driving around Beaver Dam with his girly friend at 8:00 am on a Saturday morning (and if I remember right it was about the 4th of July timeframe). He was going a little fast around the corner and hit Randy Bowen's gravel and narrowly missed the creek but shot through Warner and Jerri's little field and into their carport which by chance they were not sitting under at the time. Normally they are under it. So back to today. I notice a fire over there along the creek and I thought I wonder if Warner knows about it. I figured he did so I just kept doing my thing. I looked up and it was getting quite big and was about engulfing a tree. But Warner was out there so I just figured it was alright. I was sitting on the computer a little later when I looked out and saw flashing lights....ding, ding, ding... you guessed it... the Fire Department had showed up along with quite a few Beaver Dam on lookers. Poor Warner... I might have to make some more bread and take it over to them.