CALIFORNIA VACATION!!!!

Kylie's first water ride!

What is a vacation without a day in the sand!

The Mormon way of partying with Root Beer!

Lexi got sick while we were on vacation. We thought she had thrush, but later found out it was hand foot and mouth disease. Poor thing, her mouth was soo sore.

We took our first big vacation in 2 years. We drove 2400 miles over the course of 10 days! The girls did really well surprisingly and we had so much fun. We went to Derek's Grandparents house and met up with his parents, brother, sister and their families. That is where we spent lots of time on the lake and enjoyed catching up with the family. Then we headed to my sister's house and enjoyed spending two days with her family and more swimming at her pool. Finally we headed down to Anaheim, CA and enjoyed one of the greatest places on earth... DISNEYLAND! It was so much fun! We had a blast! I will have to post pictures later of that part of the trip because I accidental left my camera at my sisters house when I was charging the battery.

OMSI

Lexi loved splashing in the water!

Fish kiss!

We went to OMSI a while back with our friends, but I have been behind about posting and then I lost my port to transfer my camera images to the computer. So now that it is found I can get up to date.

Summer!

We spent the weekend at the beach for Father's Day and had so much fun. The weather was nice and we had a relaxing weekend. We had a hard time getting Lexi to come out of the water. She didn't care how cold it was she was always running to the ocean. Kylie was just loving playing in the sand.

Oh the wonder of an enclosed backyard!!! We got a little kitty pool for the girl and they had been wanting to go play in it. So a few weeks ago, when it was somewhat sunny, I put the pool out and filled it with half hose water and half warm water from the kitchen. I thought it was a little cool, but the girls played in it for a long time. Needless to say it started to rain on us, so we had to stop and head for the bath tub.

Don't forget to stop and smell the roses!

It is tradition for us to go to see the Rose Parade floats downtown every year. The floats are made of flower and flower seed. It is pretty impressive. Also, the big Navy ships come in and dock right by the floats so we get to see them too. I had to work the night before and that night so it was a quick trip this year, but we couldn't miss it!

My Handy Man!

For the past two years we have wanted to build a fence. The properties for new home in this area are very small. So our neighbors pretty much are almost literally in our backyard. Well, timing hasn't work out to build a fence until now. We are so excited to have one in. Now we can enjoy a summer of fun in the back yard and not have to worry about the kids running out into the street. Derek is quiet the handy man. He built the retaining wall, my garden and now a fence. He enjoys the engineering that comes with building something. As you may see there are a few boards that still need to split and nail, but for the most part it is done. Great job Derek! Now all we need to do is plant some flowers and trees!

Our Garden!

The Stake President has asked that all the member in the stake have a garden. I have been wanting one anyway, so I finally got Derek to build a spot for my garden about 3 weeks ago. It is not much or very big, but it is growing and we are very excited! We will soon have tomatoes, peas, carrots, cilantro, and green beans to munch on.

Klamath Falls!

We met our friends Rylie and Steven in Klamath Falls for the weekend. We had so much fun. Kylie loved having another girl her age to play with. The town itself was quit interesting to say the least. We played at the park, went swimming a few times each day, went to Crater Lake and and fed a massive swarm of ducks. Our friends had free reservations to a gorgeous 3 bedroom condo. The resort had a day spa, pool, hot tub, tennis courts, play ground, and horse back riding. It was very relaxing. I was enjoying myself so much that I forgot to charge my camera until the last day so I unfortunately didn't get many pictures. The weather was beautiful. We lucked out since the weekend before had been snowing, but was in the mid 70's for us all weekend. It was a fun get away!

Easter Pictures!

Well, sorry I am so behind. We have been busy lately. I was informed that I am a party planner, but not the kind on parties that you'd want to attend. I have been planning several funerals lately. It is part of my calling at church. Although this last month has been pretty busy with funeral preparations and helping others in times of need, it had been a great blessing to be able to help so many less fortunate families.

So... here are some picture that Derek and I took before church on Easter morning. As you may see, my girls hear the word "camera" and instantly they hide their faces and run away as fast as they can. I don't know why, but both my girls hate having their picture taken.

This Easter was lots of fun. The Easter bunny brought endless amounts of candy and I think Kylie is still finding candy around the house! We colored eggs and attended The 'Life of Christ Easter Exhibit' which contained several beautiful pictures from Christ's birth until his death and resurrection. We had the pleasure to escort a few friends to the beautiful exhibit. We had a lot of fun.

A Request for an update!

Original Total $87.78
Total I paid $30.50

Highlights:

10 boxes of cereal for $10
4 boxes of crackers (Triscuits and wheat thins) $2
3 cans of refried beans $1.25


Original Total $104.12
Total I paid $46.14

Highlights:
Tillimook cheese $3.99
Tostitos chips $1.77 a bag
Life cereal $0.79 a box
Classico Pasta sauce $0.86 a jar
Digiorno Pizza $3.97 a box

OK so it has been almost a month now since my last post and I have to tell you, I am soo hooked on bargain shopping that I have failed to update my blog! These are some of my recent shopping trips. I feel I am getting a little better all the time. I have been getting advice and guidance from some experts and it is all starting to come together for me. I am saving on average about 50% on my grocery bills, but have found I am getting alot more than I thought.
It is so exciting to me, that I have even found myself going to the grocery store just to get a deal. I am not buying things I don't normally buy, unless it is free or nearly free. I just have found so many great deals on things I use everyday. Today I went to Target and bought Campbells condensed chicken soup for .25 cents a piece. I have never found soup that cheep at Winco (which is where I have shopped for years thinking I was getting the best deals). There are so many ways to cut your shopping bill in half without going to a bunch of different stores every week. It is the funnest game I have played in a long time and I save money by playing!

In other news we are doing well. Derek in now the ward mission leader and is very busy with his new church calling. Kylie was recently tested for allergies because she is always getting sick and tends to have a hard time fighting off infection on her own. Today I got a note from the doctor and it is not food allergies. Thank goodness! I don't think I could have handled it if she was allergic to milk. She lives on dairy products! Lexi is finally understanding things so well. It is like she woke up one morning and everything clicked for her. You tell her to do something and she can go do it. It is so fun to watch her in action now. I am finally getting an MRI on my neck soon and am then going to see a new specialist.

New to the coupon world!

I am no expert on bargain shopping, but I have been wanting to start learning how to be a coupon shopper. I have always heard that you can save lots of money doing it, but I have never known all the details. So I started studying and learning how to be a coupon shopper. I ordered the newspaper (which, around here, you can get a free month subscription) and got to work. I don't have a lot of coupons yet since this is my first week, but I looked around and found some good deals for a beginner. I ended up getting all this stuff at Albertsons for $21.00 which was originally $44.00. I had the biggest grin on my face when I was leaving. I have always been a Winco shopper, but this opened my eyes to a whole new world. It seems like our family spends so much money a month on groceries that if we can find a way to cut the cost back significantly we will have a little more for other things. I am definitely hooked. If any of you have any tips for me I would love to hear them.

Sisters!

My girls are growing up so fast! I bought these dresses for them so that I could get some pictures of them together, but they didn't cooperate very well. Kylie right now is very into dress up. She has some dresses that she got for Christmas and she wears them everday. She dances around the house singing disney songs. Lexi is our distroyer. She loves to throw things and open all the cubboard and get everything out. Then when she sees that you are coming for her she drops everything and runs. She thinks that the word "no" is very funny. Everytime she hears us say it she laughs and runs.

Well life is going good for us right now. We have just got over illness after illness. And doctors visit after doctors visit. Everyone seems to be healthy at the moment. The girls both have had hacking coughs for the last few weeks. I took Kylie to the urgent care a week ago because she could not stop coughing for pretty much 24 hours straight. They told me that she had pneumonia. I asking them if it is common for a child of her age to get pneumonia almost every time she gets a cough. They said that sometimes pneumonia can be confused with asthma. So they decided to try a breathing treatment to see if that would help. Sure enough it work! The doctor said that they do not diagnose a child with asthma until they have had at least three different episodes like this. So we are going to just wait and see if it comes back the next time she has a cold.

Lexi recently climbed out of her high chair and landed face first on the floor, chipping her front tooth. We took her to the dentist and they said they wouldn't even try to file the tooth down. I hope she doesn't accidentally bite her lip, that would really hurt!