Who said you should never yell at your kids???

I know. Yelling at your kids usually isn't a good thing but this weekend it actually paid off. I woke up Tuesday morning to the dj's on my alarm asking kids to call in and let them hear what and how their mom's yell at them. The prize....four tickets to the BARNUM AND BAILEY CIRCUS. Hallee had been asking to go but I kept telling her we spent all our money in Disneyland so I figured this was her chance.

We started dialing in and as luck would have it we got through! In her best mom impersonation Hallee yelled, "HALLEE! GET OUT OF BED RIGHT NOW!!!" (Which is funny because usually it's "TURN OFF THE DISNEY CHANNEL AND LISTEN TO ME!!!!) Anyway...she won!

We had a blast! We got there just in time for the pre-show and the girls got to take pictures with the clowns, try on circus costumes, and see things up close. During the show Hope kept herself entertained with her Icee, Hallee loved her cotton candy and Caymbree stuffed herself with popcorn...literally. Good times!!!

The Story of US

In honor of our 11th Wedding Anniversary I thought I would take a stroll down memory lane to were it all began... And now, THE STORY OF US.

Fourteen years ago I met an incredibly good looking guy at the gas station in Bear Lake. I was there with my girlfriends, he, with his friends. We fell madly in love and the rest is history. Well, not really. There were a few complications. Neither one of us divulged the fact that we both had significant others at the time. Mine, not such a big of a deal - we were on the verge of breaking up anyway. He, however, had a girlfriend of two years who was all set to wait for him on his mission that he was to leave on in a few months (another slight complication). We hung out all day, I called my mom and told her I found the guy I was going to marry, and then we went our separate ways.

Over the next few months we ran into each other a few times (Fate, I tell ya. He lived in Ogden, I, in Logan.) Finally, twelve days before he left on his mission he called his girlfriend of two years, broke it off, and then called me. And now we can say the rest is history. I think we spent almost every moment of those twelve days together. He left on his mission. I enjoyed my Senior year of high school and went away to college and a year after he returned home we were married for time and all eternity in the Logan Temple. And we lived happily ever after.

Ahhhhhhhhh.........

We just got home from an amazing vacation to CALIFORNIA with the kids. Well two of them anyway. We followed the brilliant advice of some friends to leave Caymbee with Grandma and Grandpa for the week so we could enjoy some stress and diaper free time with Hallee and Hope.

Hope was in true form on the airplane and had anyone within ear shot in stitches. The girl has no concept of a whisper or a quiet voice and entertained everyone with her singing voice, made-up knock-knock jokes, and her new saying, "Say what say WHAT??" As the plane taxied out to the runway she LOUDLY exclaimed, " I didn't want to go on this kind of airplane! I wanted to go in the ones that go in the sky!" Once the airplane started it's incline she exclaimed with a terrified face, "I don't think I'm gonna like this anymore!"

We made it to California without any problems, met up with our friends and headed to the beach. We couldn't get enough of it! Our only regret of the entire trip was that we were only able to fit in ONE day at the beach.


The next few days we crammed in Disneyland, California Adventures and Sea World and a day at the pool. The weather was perfect and the lines were short. Who could ask for more?



And while we missed Caymbree we loved every second we had with Hallee and Hope. Thanks to my mom, Kristie and Mindy for helping out with Caymbree so we could pull it off. We just kept wondering if life with only two kids really was this simple???

FAVORITE VACATION MEMORIES

1) Hope's "Say what say what!"

2) Seeing Hallee put on her brave face and try any and all rides she was tall enough for. We bought her new shoes with two inch hills to give her the extra edge which allowed her to go on everything but Scream'n at California adventures. It took the second go-around to decide she liked Space Mountain but there was no getting her back on Tower of Terror. (I can't blame her. I wouldn't even go on it to begin with :)).

3) Having Steve and Tara (our friends) watch in awe (and a little bit of horror) as Hope downed an entire bag of cotton candy all by herself....TWICE.

4) Hallee and Trinity getting drenched at the Shamu show.

5) Watching Steve, Troy, Hallee and Trinity go on a water ride and come out virtually dry only to have Tara and I go on it and come out dripping wet....TWICE.

6) Seeing the girls rope their dads into paying $15.00 to have their faces painted in Disneyland...suckers!

7) Watching Jovie at each and every meal time. Thanks for the laughs Jov!

8) Being with two other Diet Coke addicts. Only they could appreciate the horror of Seaworld only having Pepsi products.

9) The "spoon" flirting with Steve during the parade.

10) Watching the kids try and pick out their "trinkets" at the souvenir store down the street. Hope picked out hers within a matter of minutes. Hallee stressed and stewed over each and every item. It took her about an hour to decide.

FREE CEREAL!!!!!

Okay everybody I told you I would pass on the next great deal at pinchingyourpennies.com and thanks to my mom you can know about it before it happens this time. It looks like you can get 10 FREE bags of Malt-O-Meal cereal at Albertson's next week.

Malt o Meal will be on sale four bags for nine dollars with an instant rebate at the checkstand of five dollars. It will then be a dollar a bag and the link below will print coupons making the cereal free. You should be able to print ten different coupons, and there nothing like FREE! I don't think that a lot of people know about this yet but I am sure word will get out.

Here are a bunch of links for the malt-o-meal coupons. Not all the links seem to work, but I was able to get 10 coupons per computer, each link that works will print up to 2 coupons. Some of the Links will work only using Internet Explorer. http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/forums/showthread.php?p=436836#post436836

Happy cereal shopping!

Preschool

Hope had her first day of PRESCHOOL today. I'm not sure who was more excited out of the two of us. She was so excited to get to go be with friends and I am so excited for her to have something fun to look forward to each week.

We spent last week getting all the preschool essentials ready.

Backpack - CHECK (cute little hand-me-down)
New "sparkly" key chain - CHECK (how I get around a hand-me-down backpack)
Pink sparkle lip gloss - CHECK (Teacher's gonna LOVE me for this one)
Painted fingernails - CHECK (Hope's request)
New back-to-school outfit - CHECK
Father's back-to-school blessing asking that she will be a good listener and a good example to her peers - CHECK














And with the checklist complete she was ready for preschool

Oh isn't her teacher in for a treat!

Two of her cute little friends are in her class.

Hope practically skipped to the door of her preschool. I was impressed with my two friends who stayed composed during the drop off of their first borns (It's okay Josie - we won't count your breakdown in the shower :). For me the two hours went by way too fast. Maybe that's cause I was at lunch celebrating :)!

Happy Birthday Troy!

Yesterday Troy turned the big 33!!! I think his ego was a little deflated when all the guys at work were shocked at his age. NO, not because he was so young but because they thought he was so much older than that. (Sorry babe. I love the gray hairs :)

We celebrated with friends last night by going out to dinner at Olive Garden.

Neil gave up his ticket to the Utah football game to hang out with us but managed to stay "tuned" throughout dinner.

Then we came back to our house for dessert and some side splitting games. Troy and I can't remember that last time we have laughed that hard for that long. Thanks to everyone who made Troy's birthday such a fun night!

Tubes

After NINE ear infections in less than a year, I guess tubes in the ears were inevitable. Yesterday Caymbree headed up to Primary Children's Hospital for the procedure.


During the initial check-up Caymbree was terrified. Her little heart was beating like crazy and she screamed if anyone tried to get close to her. Then they moved us into a waiting room with a number of other kids while we waited for the doctor to come get us. One by one she saw doctors in funny, colorful hats come out and sit next to the child and talk. She seemed fascinated by it all. She would walk over to the discussion, listen intently and then walk back over to me. By the time our doctor came out I think she has seen it happen so many times that it didn't even seem to phase her. In fact when it came time for the "hand-off" I handed the doctor her favorite blankie and he asked her if she wanted to go with him and she willingly went into his arms. Not even a peep.

She was kind of a monster coming out of the anesthesia but ever since she has been back to normal. In fact, she has been better than normal. Perhaps her ears may have been contributing to her "high maintenance" personality. (Don't tell Troy...he'll want to have my ears checked too :) )

Good-bye Summer

What better way to say so long to the summer than a getaway to Midway. The weather was absolutely perfect park weather. The kids loved wading in the pond, feeding ducks, and playing on the playground.









Caymbree kept herself entertained with my drink...yes, it was almost as big as her.

Hallee reminded Troy and I how to play "bubble gum, bubble gum, in a dish..."

We also spent one afternoon at the freestyle Winter Olympic run and museum. The skiers put on an amazing show complete with acrobatics, music and splash landings into the pool.

The highlight of the trip would be my mom waking Kristie and I up first thing in the morning on Saturday to go back to Swiss days, stand in line and be the first ones to get the "HOT" item of the year. And you'll never guess what it was.... Wrapping paper. Yep. We (I should say, she) stood in line 1/2 hour before the doors even opened to get wrapping paper. And you can see she is not the only crazy out there. On Friday you stood in line for up to 45 minutes just to get into the booth to look around.

And summer just would not be complete without one last parade. Hope loaded up on the gum and was one happy camper.


Hope and Hallee sharing a Popsicle at the parade. Too cute.
And Hallee spent most of the weekend glued to the hip of her cousin Jayden. They were fun to watch together.


And as the weekend came to an end, the clouds came in, the temperatures dropped 20 degrees and the rain came down. And you know what? I didn't even mind. It felt like the perfect way to say goodbye to a perfect summer.

RETRACTION

So up until this point I have been saying that three kids hasn't been all that bad. In fact, it was a lot easier than I expected. I AM NOW OFFICIALLY RETRACTING THAT STATEMENT. Mostly in part to this one...

Now that Caymbree is mobile, into everything and extremely opinionated managing three kids has gotten a little more hectic. Good thing that she is a cute little stinker and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world... (although some days a big diet coke with fresh lime and a pedicure sounds like a pretty fair trade.)

Close Enough

Hope's words....

"Flushie" = Slushie = Slurpie as in "Can we get a flushie today?"

"Mistake" = steak as in "I don't want to eat my mistake tonight."

"Helmek" = helmet as in "Will you help me put on my helmek?"

And she paid Troy the ULTIMATE compliment yesterday when after hearing Hallee say, "Your the best dad ever" she added, "Ya. Your kinda like a dad-grandpa." Troy has never felt so flattered.

And we're OFF....

Off track that is. Yep. Three weeks on and now three weeks off. Most people steer clear of C track for this reason but I am actually kind of liking it. It was a great introductory period into "real school" for Hallee as well as myself and just when I sensed a little bit of overload from her we were able to take it easy once again. Now it's back to the pool, splash parks, and hopefully a few other adventures over the next couple of weeks before we willl be back at it all over again. Hope also starts preschool in September which means four hours a week with only ONE CHILD for me. Whoo-hooo!!!!

Home

There's just nothing quite like going home. Logan will always be home to me and last weekend we had a fabulous time hanging out with the family. We had a full schedule with the fair and rodeo on Friday night, playing in the canal and rope swing in my parents back yard on Saturday, along with Troy helping Rob and Rachel with some remodeling at their house and celebrating my grandparents 60th wedding anniversary that night. (And by the way...Rob (my little brother) and Rachel announced that they are expecting! Yeah!!!! That will bring the total grandchild count to 10!

"Just Love Each Other"

After 60 years of marriage you would think there must be some secret of success and according to my grandpa it's quite simple. "Just love each other." I guess when you really stop and think about it, it really is that simple. LOVE each other. Not tolerate each other, not live with each other but truly love each other. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for being such a wonderful example of an eternal marriage.

A day late and a dollar short

I'm not sure who came up with that phrase but in this instance it couldn't be more literal. I know it's somewhat lame of me to post this after the fact when no one can reap the benefits but I only found out about it late last night. At my first enrichment meeting one of the gals told us about the website http://pinchingyourpennies.com/ and the screaming deals link. It takes the current ads and combines them with coupons (printable from website) to get you some good/great/and unbelievable deals. With Malt-O-Meal cereal on sale at Smith's for $4 for 4 combined with the coupons for $1.00 I was able to purchase EIGHT BAGS OF CEREAL FOR da, da, da DA..... $0.00. However, when I showed up at Smith's at 10:30pm on the last day of the sale they were of course sold out. So I headed to WalMart to price match. When the cashier rang me up and my total came to .25 cents she just kept saying, "Oh, this can't be right." But after verifying everything I walked out of the store with my eight bags of cereal and .25 cents out of my wallet. I have to admit it was kind of exhilarating.

So fellow penny pinchers who like good deals maybe we should keep tabs on this website. Next time I'll try to pass on the savings BEFORE the sale is over.

Spectacular

One word people.... SPECTACULAR. Actually, I don't even know if that does it justice. I could add amazing, beautiful, touching, emotional, television at it's best. If you missed the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance last night you missed one heck of a show. Un-be-liev-able!

Obsessions

Ya. We've got problems. And we are trying to work through them but it's not going so well. We are all a little obsessed around here...
Caymbree: Caymbree is obsessed with the word (hmmm. "Word" doesn't quite describe it. Scream perhaps?) anyhow... Caymbree is obsessed with screaming "Moooooommmmmm" every few seconds. I should be flattered but I've learned it has nothing to do with me. I'm not even sure if she realizes that is my title. For her it's more of a way to get someones attention, to get noticed, to hear her own voice, OR to express frustration. It's kinda the catch phrase for EVERYTHING.
Hope: Still obsessed with gum. And gum. And yet more gum. The only time she isn't asking for gum is when she is eating string cheese; her second obsession.
Hallee: We lost Hallee a while ago when we finally broke down and got the Disney Channel. Our poor neglected child apparently has a LOT of catching up to do and if there is ever a spare second she is in front of the t.v.
Jami: Hello. My name is Jami. And I'm a Diet Coke addict.
Troy: Troy is obsessed with money. Clarification: Not Spending money. Nothing new.

Overwhelmed

Just when I am getting in the swing of things. Just when I am starting to really love the cute activity day girls and plan some fun activities. And then it comes. Only six months into the calling (and a year into my youth gospel doctrine teacher) I got the call into the Bishops office. I assumed it was to be released from one of the two callings so imagine my shock when I was called to be the second counselor in the Relief Society Presidency. I really don't have any idea what he said next because all I heard in my mind over and over again was "Enrichment, enrichment, enrichment." And then I got kind of nauseous....

So here I am begging for help. I need some fresh ideas. ANY ideas. What are some of your weekly small activities that have been successful? Great enrichment night ideas? Any strong medications you would recommend :)

I guess I'm jumping in with both feet but completely blindfolded. First activity is TONIGHT (approximately 48 hours since calling was issued). Oh, wish me luck.

No Pity necessary

So I ran into an acquaintance from Logan the other day and we had the typical small chat conversation....

"So, how are you? Where do you live? Are you working? And then the one that stops them dead in their tracks every time. Actually it's not the question but the response....

"So how many kids do you have?" And when I respond happily with "three girls" their face goes kind of numb. Not sure whether to smile, frown or gasp. Well most of them anyway. This one just put it all out there. "Oh, I am SO sorry." Pity oozed from her.

Now seriously folks. Really. No pity necessary. I LOVE having girls. I have friends for life , a plethora of shopping partners and I get to buy boat loads of pink girly things. Now, in a few years when I have three teenage girls THEN you can pity me. But now, it's really not necessary.

Back to school

Hard to believe that just THREE short weeks ago we celebrated Hallee's graduation from Kindergarten...and said goodbye to Mrs. Titus.....

And now, here we are saying HELLO to 1st Grade. Yep. We are back in school.
Three weeks ago we woke up casually, ate breakfast, did the bathtub thing, completed our chores, worked on homework (some simple sight words and etc.) and then had lunch before we said goodbye to Hallee for a few short hours.
Now it's up early, hair done, a healthy breakfast, check the lunch menu to see if we will be packing a lunch, fill up the water bottle and decide on a "sneak-a-snack" (1st graders don't eat lunch until 1pm so they have you send a healthy snack and water bottle each day to help them get through the morning). Then I send my six year old off to school for SEVEN hours!!!! This now means that her teacher and peers at school will spend more time with my daughter than we will. Then it's home from school, work on the homework aka preparing for the weekly spelling tests she will now be taking, read our 15 minutes a day, have dinner, shower and then to bed.

I am quite certain that 1st grade has been a bigger adjustment for ME than for her. In fact, she is thrilled about it. I, on the other hand am just starting to realize how much I took her for granted. She was a huge help around the house, Hope's best friend, and Caymbree's second mom.

Yep Caymbree. I think we are all feeling a little like this right now.
Good luck Hallee. We love you tons and miss you like crazy while you are at school. We hope you make great friends, learn tons and become a leader amongst your peers.

Thank you, master blogger dude

Ingenious I tell ya. That's what it is. The master blogger dude has come up with a new page element that will not only show you when someone posted last but organize them accordingly. Thus eliminating the wasted minutes (or hours) checking each blog for updates. How great is that. "He" (the master blogger dude) must have sensed the jealous husbands all across the world who seem to feel neglected by the hours of blog reading being done by their spouses. Troy will be amongst the first to say THANK YOU!

And on a side note, if your blog is password protected you will notice that it does not work. It's okay. I understand completely.

A child's Prayer

Hope's prayer last night went as follows;

Dear Hevenly Fader,

Tank you for dis day.
Help me to not go to time-out, because I REALLY don't like time-out.
So I need to lisen to my mommy and daddy so that I don't have to go to time-out.
In da name of Jesus Christ
Amen.

We're getting older. We have a boat load of kids between us. A few of us even have some gray hair (okay just me but that's a whole other story). But Monday night we proved we were still young at heart by staying up until 4:30 in the morning, walking to Maverick at 1:30am, eating massive amounts of junk food without worrying about which body part it was going to permanently attach to and laughing so hard our cheeks hurt (and as far as I know we still all managed a little bladder control).

Thank you for a wonderful, fun-filled getaway. Till next time.....

Oh, what do you do in the summertime....

The month of July could be summed up in one word for us.... REUNIONS!!!! We started off the month with my family reunion and soon thereafter did back to back reunion-type occasions with Troy's side of the family.

Troy's sister and family came to visit from Tennessee and we have had a fabulous time with them. It has been almost four years since we saw them last so there was a lot of catching up to do. Cynda (Troy's mom) and Brad flew in from Arizona for a few days so we could have a fun family barbecue in our backyard and a dinner at the Mayan.

Troys sister Tara, Troy, his grandpa Bert and mom Cynda.

Then we gathered up our stuff and headed to Bear Lake for a few days to spend some time with Troy's dad's side of the family. It was fun to see his aunt and uncle and cousins from California who that we haven't seen for quite a few years. Tara put together an amazing tribute to her grandfather who built a cabin at Bear Lake as a gathering place for generations to come.