The Happiest Place on Earth

Kyle trying to pull the sword out of the stone

The Celebrate Street Parade

Princess Tiana. We loved hearing her perform while we had a funnel cake at Cafe Orleans

Getting ready to canoe! Don't even get me started on the yahoos in front of us. That's a whole other story!

On Thunder Mountain

Look it's Darla, scuba diving for more Nemos no doubt!

On Finding Nemo's Submarine

At the entrance by the Mickey flowers

Kyle eating the yummiest hand dipped corn dogs known to mankind

On the jungle cruise

Darn monkeys!

Headed for the Indiana Jones attraction

Took a picture of Buzz up close and personal on our way to The Buzz Lightyear attraction where Kyle kicked my bum! My laser gun must have been broken.

Kyle posing with the "C" for Chase

Me posing with the "L" for Landon

Headed out for dinner

Playing at the beach

Kyle flexing his guns

Earlier this year Kyle and I took advantage of the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" promotion that came and went quickly at the beginning of the year. We volunteered to make teacher kits for teachers that don't have the money to afford necessary school supplies (thanks for the tip Brianne). We filled our kits with pencils, erasers, scissors, stickers, staplers, white out, pens...you get the idea. We wrapped it up in gift wrap and attached a card that expressed our appreciation to the wonderful teacher who would receive it. Not so long after we delivered our kits we received our free tickets each to Disneyland!

Well a couple weeks ago we put those tickets to GOOD use. We had wanted to do something big for our 5th year anniversary last year but Kyle had just started with UOP and it just wasn't in the budget. So we wanted to make this trip an early anniversary trip and go to California for a little getaway. Another reason for this trip was to go on a REAL honeymoon. Kyle cheated me out of a honeymoon big time after we got married. We went to Sedona and spent the week at a GORGEOUS resort in the Red Rocks called Los Abrigados. We were going to go hot tubbing by night and play tennis, ride bikes, do pink jeep tours, etc by day. One problem. The mister got the worst case of strep throat I have ever seen in my entire life and was beyond miserable. We stayed in our room THE ENTIRE TIME! I rented Harry Potter movies while Kyle slept it off. Needless to say Kyle has been owing me some semblance of a honeymoon since then.

Our wonderful friends Juliana and Cory watched our kids for the weekend (bless their kind hearts) and Chase still relishes in the fun times he had with their little boys Christopher and Andrew. We couldn't have gone without you guys! Thank you for being SO incredible!

So we left early on a Friday morning and headed straight to Newport Beach. We spent the afternoon shopping and dining on Balboa Island then we went boogie boarding in Newport Beach. The water was of course freezing (it always is, even when we go in July or August). We (meaning I) just jumped right in anyway, haven't changed much have I mom? I had to force Kyle in, but once he got used to it, he started playing along with me. We caught some tasty waves on our boogie board and had a splendid time. We relaxed on the beach until it was time to check into our hotel then we washed up and went out for dinner at Olive Garden. We did some more shopping, had some frozen yogurt then headed back to our hotel.

Saturday was Disneyland day! Since this was Kyle's first experience we really wanted to go without kids. Our kids are just too young and they would have maybe enjoyed the first little bit but then really would've hated us and life if they couldn't get some naps. So call us what you will, but we went to Disneyland without our 3 year old and our 16 month old! We got to the gates at 7:30 a half our before they opened and we were first in line. We were all business about this day. Our mission was to get in as many rides as we possibly could so Kyle could get the full fledged magical experience. Mission accomplished. We leaped through the entrance (literally. OK I leaped through the entrance while Kyle pretended who kneweth me not). We went on everything on our "must ride" list (12 rides) before 11:00am. After that we just went on our favorites over and over again and tried out some other ones that Kyle thought looked interesting. We. Had. A. Blast. Kyle's fave was Indiana Jones so we went on that one 4 times and sang the theme song throughout the day as we frolicked through the park. By then end of the day we were wiped. Kyle wanted to stay for fireworks and Fantasmic but by 7:00pm we were both ready to call our day good. We will definitely be coming back with our kids when they are old enough to enjoy and remember the magic and we won't miss the fireworks then!

After our day at "the happiest place on earth" we came back to our hotel and literally collapsed on the bed for about 3 minutes then we went to Islands for dinner and watched Eclipse at the cheap theater.

Sunday we made the trip back home to see our sorely missed little guys. We had a wonderful time but we really missed those guys and couldn't wait to kiss their soft, squishy cheeks! Here are some pictures from our memorable vacation/honeymoon/anniversary.

There's not much that compares to...

...the feeling I get when I score a GREAT deal! About a year ago I started practicing couponing. The reason I say practicing is that, for me at least, it has taken a lot of practice to get where I am today and I'm still learning and getting better as time goes on. It is such a great feeling though to have a cashier gasp when the total comes up astonishingly low or to look at my receipt and see 75% or more savings on my bill. It does take a lot of time, patience, and printer ink to get good deals. We've been talking a lot about couponing in our ward lately and it seems like everywhere I look people are catching the couponing bug and blogging about it. So I thought I would add my post to those of my fellow couponers.


A little background...I have not always been couponing or saving savvy. Kyle will tell you that when we first got married I was a spender and VERY much not a saver. I LOVED shopping (still do) and I didn't have much of a budget growing up. I spent my paychecks as soon as they hit my account and not on sale items but on anything I wanted at that moment. I never really looked at prices to be honest, and never knew what a good deal was. This carried all the way up until about a year ago. My parents are extremely smart with their money. They've always lived within their means, stayed out of debt, and lived well. I had learned some things from their example, but I was never really taught about budgeting or saving for that matter. My sister and her husband introduced Kyle and me to 2 things a little over a year ago; 1. Dave Ramsey and 2. couponing. Over the past year I've practiced, picked up on tips and tricks, and educated myself quite a bit about couponing and I've been able to score some pretty amazing deals by doing so. So I'm jumping on the picture posting bandwagon for my most recent shopping deal this past week.



Total before coupons $107.35 and after...$23.38!
That's a 78% savings
not pictured is 2 $0.67 tubs of Blue Bunny ice cream which I had already put in the freezer:)

Not too shabby right?

Good Sport

Dodger is our dog. I don't think I've ever done a post about him before, but we've had him since April, and he's been a good dog for our little family. He is very well trained thanks to Scott and Christina (I'm guessing mostly Chris) and he does GREAT around the kids. He puts up with a whole lot and just takes it. Some dogs I know would run away from this, but not Dodger! He welcomes it! He follows Chase around all day and lets Landon sit on him and lay down on him. He allows Chase to boss him around and he actually listens to him. When we leave to go somewhere Dodger stays in his crate while we're gone. I usually tell Chase to have Dodger get in his crate while I'm getting stuff ready to go, and he obeys Chase and goes in. Chase loves putting him in and letting him out when we get home. When Dodger gets barky Chase likes to straighten him out by grabbing his beard and adopting a low voice to say, "No Barking Dodger!" all while pointing his finger at his nose with his free hand. Don't worry, we stick up for Dodger, although he doesn't seem to mind that either.

Anyways, Chase loves to put blankets over Dodger and watch him muddle through the house like this. Dodger doesn't try to shake it off he doesn't run away and he doesn't get upset. He is such a good sport about it. I have to admit it is pretty hilarious expecially when Chase drapes it over him entirely. He looks like a little ghost dog and walks around surprisingly not running into anything. Needless to say it takes a pretty great dog to put up with our boys and Dodger does it with style. Aside from his barking issues he's a gem! We love our Dodge!

He speaks!

Fort fun

We've always seemed to have early talkers in our house. Chase said his first few words pretty early and Landon said his first word at 6 months old! Landon has been starting to talk more and more lately he says "hi" a lot and he repeats a lot of words we say especially during story time. When Kyle comes home he greets him with a "hi dadda!" Here is a list of his vocabulary at the moment:

Mama

Dadda

More

Hi

No

Yeah

Water

Dodger (which he can say clear as a bell)

Kiss

Chase (this one's hard to get because he says "chshhhh"

Ni-night

various animal sounds like moo, oink, and hee haw

Just to name the ones I can remember right now. Landon loves dancing and he gets his groove on very easily. He loves anything outdoors, or anything with water (another fish). He gives great kisses albeit juicy ones and he has the most heart melting smile.

Chase is my best helper. He is such a sweet little boy and he loves when he can help myself or Kyle out. When Kyle goes outside to pick weeds both boys follow and BOTH help. They pick weeds and put them in the bucket and they look so sweet doing it. They come in thirsty and beet red in the face from all their hard work. Chase helps me so much around the house. He lets me know if Landon is getting into stuff he's not supposed to and sometimes takes matters into his own hands. At the park I will send Landon down the twisty slide and Chase will wait for him at the bottom and even help Landon down off the slide (so sweet). He LOVES Landon, really and truly loves him. He calls him "little buddy" and is always looking out for his little brother and sticking up for him in some cases.

On the other hand Landon is a tease. He likes to turn off the TV when Chase is watching his favorite show and get a rise out of him. He likes to pick on Chase whenever Chase is incapacitated on the floor like after a bath. He is the wrestling initiator and it's a good thing Chase goes happily along with it usually. Landon will come over to Chase and shove him to the ground starting a full on wrestling match. I realize I have my work cut out for me. They're both tough as nails but Landon is especially so. He falls, scrapes, cuts, burns, and smacks himself and barely cries over it if he even does cry. He is more boy than I thought possible, and makes me cringe multiple times during any given day over the disgusting things he gets into such as the toilet, garbage can, diapers, and eating dirt, rocks, or wood chips outside. He knows all of these things are gross and wrong to do, but that's exactly why he does it! He's a flat out tease, but a cute one.

They are my joy! I love these boys so much and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to raise them. They have such incredible personalities! It's so interesting for Kyle and I to see them grow up in their own individual and distinct ways. They are so different and have so many wonderful traits that are all their own. I just adore them to pieces!

Last Day

Here's to hoping for a little less of this...

and a little more of this...



Today is Kyle's last day as a Finance Counselor at the University of Phoenix. He has been a FC for just over a year and has enjoyed the position for the most part. He recently interviewed for a couple positions in the accounting department at UOP, wanting to put his degree to good use, and he landed one! We are so excited for the change and the opportunities that we're hopeful it will provide. His new position will be as an Accountant II team lead. Sounds exciting, well it is to him, and that's what matters! Great job honey! We're so proud of our hardworking daddy, the accounting department is lucky to have you.