So, do you think it's time for an update? I'm the world's worst blogger EVER!!! Life has just been crazy this year since January. Let me just put everything in a nutshell. At the beginning of February John got laid off. We went through 3 months of starting our own businesses and building them up. John as a Landscape Designer and me as a Pampered Chef girl. Those days were hard, and we worked our bums off, but now we're starting to do really well with things. John actually got a day job with Bountiful City as their irrigation guy. Not the most perfect job, but it's a steady paycheck and it has great benefits. He still has several designs he's working on, so the business is doing well.

I have been LOVING Pampered Chef!!! On July 1st I promoted to Director!! Wahoo! I'm actually going to Chicago this week for our National Conference. Can I say that I am just a little excited about that?? I'm really going to miss my baby Ethan (who is actually not so little anymore-almost 14 months!), and the rest of my fam, but it's going to be a blast!

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know we're alive and well and surviving life. :) Maybe I'll be better at keeping updated now. Probably not....

Coupons

So, like many others, I've been shopping with coupons for the past couple of months. Last week was a huge sale, and this week, I reaped the benefits of that sale!! I spent $48.01 today, but because of last week's sale (I got money back last week to spend today), I only spent $16.01 out of my pocket today. So, for $16.01 this is what I came home with today!!

Yes, both of those pictures! So, here's the tally:

1 carton of eggbeaters

5 4-packs of Dannon yogurt

2 3-packs of Orville microwave popcorn

2 3-packs of Jolly Time microwave popcorn

4 boxes of Green Giant frozen vegetables

2 Healthy Choice Cafe Steamer frozen dinners

2 cartons of eggs

1 32-oz bag of cheese

5 tubes of Suave lotion

6 lbs of apples

5 big containers of Quaker oatmeal

7 boxes of Quaker instant oatmeal

5 cans of Hunts spaghetti sauce

6 cans of Hunts tomatoes

8 cans of Progresso soup

3 rolls of Bounty paper towels

2 Glade air fresheners

Once again, I paid $16.01 out of my pocket for all these things! I love this! It's so addicting! I spent 2 hours going to 3 different stores, which is the same amount of time I spend every time I go to WalMart. I spent WAY less than at WalMart, and people are so much more helpful at the stores I go to! WalMart, say goodbye to one of your previously faithful customers. You no longer are the best deal around!

We survived another December.

Well, I'm too lazy to upload any pictures, but that's ok, there weren't any really great ones anyway. So, we made it. December is over. We got through Joshua's birthday, our anniversary, Christmas, Jared's birthday, a 6 day trip to Arizona and New Year's Eve festivities. Now we can all rest again. :) Whoever thought it would be a good idea to have all of those things within 2 weeks of each other must have been crazy! :) Anyway, all in all, we had a good time. Sorry I'm not being more specific. I've just got so much to do, and so little time. We keep getting sick around here. It started the week before Thanksgiving. Since then we've had the 24 hour flu cycling through our house 3 or 4 times now. I lost track. We're all feeling better again. So, I thought I'd update my blog, among all the other thousands of things I need to catch up on from all our December craziness. Did I mention I'm teaching Joshua at home again? Not all day. Just half days. He's home with me in the morning, and he goes to school in the afternoon. So far, so good. I love having more time with him! If your interested in knowing why I chose to do so, feel free to ask. :) It seems to just be quite a process in figuring out the best way to raise this child of mine. He's so sweet and caring, yet so....how do you say it kindly....determined? Anyway, I'm just on a road to finding out what works best for him. And that road seems to constantly turn and change.

I'm hungry

Ever wonder how a 3 year old (4 in 2 weeks) tells you how they're hungry. Well, mine has an unusual way. It doesn't matter where we are, or what we're doing. If Jared wants a snack or lunch or something, he says he smells it. So, today, we were at the store (not a grocery store, Mervyns), and Jared pipes up, "Ummmmmm.....I smell a sandwich and crackers, Mommy." Is that what you want for lunch? Yep, but you know he surely can smell it in the middle of Mervyns, can't he?

Field Trip

I guess it's time for some more updates. I went on a field trip with Joshua's class before Thanksgiving. We went down to Salt Lake to see a play put on at the University of Utah. It was a play about pirates. It was so much fun spending that special time with Joshua. He was in heaven! He was so excited to ride a school bus for the very first time! Here are some pics.

Turkey Bowl

The weekend before Thanksgiving we went to the local bowling alley for their annual Turkey Bowl. They were giving away free turkeys and hams for different winners in different categories. It was a lot of fun. We didn't win anything, but we all had a blast.

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we went up to Montana to visit John's grandma and his other extended family. The kids had fun meeting everyone for the first time. Ethan was a huge hit with everyone! No one could seem to get over how smiley he was, and how big and sturdy he was. They all just loved him to pieces.