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.

Chase turns 3!

The birthday boy blowing out the candles on his cupcake on his actual birthday on Sunday

Blowing out the candles on his "Rocket" cake during his Birthday Party!

The party food spread: pepper jelly-cream cheese ball, meatball music batons, drumsticks in a blanket, watermelon, pineapple, kiwi and Rocket's Red Slushie drink

The Rocket Cake. Chase loved this little creation, which made me feel pretty good. After I'd finished making it the night before he kept asking if he could get a chair so he could look at it. Then he'd stand on the chair and just look at it and poke it until we made him get down. He still gets excited when he sees it in pictures and just came into the room and said, "WOAH! Mommy, that's my Rocket cake!" I'm glad you liked it Chase.

This past weekend Chase turned 3 years old. We had a BIG Little Einsteins themed birthday party for him and all of his "besties" made it an all around SUCCESS! As our little partiers arrived they each got a cupcake or two to frost and decorate with gummy bears, mini m&m's, sour patch kids, etc. After all the guests had arrived and finished creating their cupcakes, all the "Little Einsteins" were invited to go outside for an Easter egg hunt-esque "Treasure Expedition". They each got a "loot" bag with their name on it and hunted for various "treausures" around the yard such as play dough, bubbles, and LOTS of candy. After the expedition was over we came inside and made music batons with styrofoam balls and colored pencils and the kids glued some glitter on them. Chase then opened all of his awesome presents and we sang Happy Birthday to him while he blew out the candles on his "Rocket" cake. We are so lucky to have such great friends in this area who are so supportive. We had 10 out of his 12 friends at his party! We couldn't have done it without them. Being able to have all his friends to play with at once was probably the biggest highlight for him. What can I say, he knows how to pick amazing friends.

Chase McKhendry,

You are such a pure joy to have in our lives. I can feel how much Heavenly Father loves me everyday when I look into your beautiful face because He sent you to our family. You've always made me work hard at being your mother but you are the best at showing your appreciation for it. I love when you say "I love you mommy" when I least expect it or I'm in a terrible mood and when you say in your sweet chirpy voice, "Mommy? You're my best friend!" You are truly one of my best friends also, Chase. You are so sweet and loving and try so hard to make your parents happy (most of the time). Thank you for coming into our family we are so blessed to have your extraordinary spirit in our home. We love you very much!

With Love,

Mom