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.