Keith, You are Awesome!

Keith has been working hard for the last four years and it is finally paying off. He was awarded Sterling Scholar in Trade and Technology for Cedar High School AND this weekend, spur of the moment, we also went up to Ogden to watch him compete at the Science Olympiad. He won gold in the Elevated Bridge competition and Fourth in the Mousetrap Vehicle. You rock Keith!

Can you believe this teeny little bridge held more than 30 lbs! It weighed barely 20 g!

Abigail is officially a big girl!

My baby girl is officially potty-trained. She was by far my easiest to potty-train. We have been talking about it for a while and I told her that on her birthday she was going to finally be a big girl and go potty in the big-kid potty. On her birthday she got new underware from grandma and we made a big deal about it. The next day, she woke up and we put her new underware on. She went the first couple of times in the potty but then had an accident. Then another one. Then a "big" one. I said "ok, I am done...for now." We waited a couple of more days and she woke up and said she wanted to wear her underware again. She hasn't had an accident since, even at night!! I am so proud of her.

I took this picture of her when we were up in Ogden. She was terrified of using the public restrooms and wanted me to take her home so that she could use the one at home. They were too loud and it scared her when they would flush by themselves. But we finally got her to go and she didn't have any accidents!

St Patrick's Day: A Perfect Day

There are not too many days out of the year that you can say are honestly PERFECT weather days. It is either too cold, too hot or too windy. Yesterday, just happened to be one of those "perfect" weather days. Maybe it was so nice because it was the first day in about 5 months that the kids were able to go outside and play WITHOUT a jacket of any kind. The girls played outside for about 2 1/2 hours and both got sunburned...I guess nothing is perfect.

Time for grass!!

RAINBOW CUPCAKES

At 9pm the night before St. Patrick's Day, I finally got around to making this cupcake I have really been wanting to make. It is a very festive, happy cupcake that I thought my kids would love, especially around this time of year. I have seen a few different recipes so I combined a couple of things and tweaked it again. And by about midnight, I finally went to bed with them cooling on the stove (no, not frosted, just cooked).

The funny thing about it, is my kids always tend to over-look the hard work I put into some things and really enjoy the most simple of things. So why, then, do I keep torturing myself? Hopefully, one day they will look back and say, "Hey, remember when mom made this and it was so cool?!" A mom can dream.

The colors turned out so vibrant! I love it! Use 1/4 tsp of Wilton's concentrated gel coloring.

See those hands? Have I ever mentioned how amazing my husband is? Well, once again I have to mention that he stayed up late with me to help me finish my craziness even though he has to get up at 5:30am.

Gold at the end of the Rainbow

Bountiful Baskets

I just had to share this great new bargain I recently found. Some of you may have heard about it already but for those of you have haven't, you have to check it out! It is a produce co-op called Bountiful Baskets. You pay $15 and get a huge basket worth of produce: fruits and veggies. Here is a picture of the last time we got some. If you were to buy this in the store you would spend a minimum of $25...probably more than that. I did a price comparison just to see how much I would spend if I had bought this same basket at the store with a few of my last store receipts and here is what I found.

Store prices
Container of Strawberries: $2.50 (that was on sale)
Blueberries: $2.00 (on sale)
Acorn Squash: $1.20 (didn't have an exact price so this is a pretty good guess, probably on the low end)
Escarole (type of lettuce): .89 (didn't have an exact price so used Green leaf lettuce price)
Cucumbers at $.59/each: $3.54
Celery at 1.29/bundle: $3.87
Asparagus at 1.69/lb: $3.85 (on sale)
Braeburn Apples at 1.37/lb: $4.11
Bananas at .49/lb: $.98
Kiwi X4: $2.00 (didn't have an exact price but this is a pretty good guess, on the low end)
Radishes at .69/lb: $.69
Cabbage at .$.49/lb: $1.06


TOTAL: $26.69 (using some sale prices)
SAVINGS: $11.69/per week (over $600/year if you bought all of this weekly, which we do! I don't know about you, but I think I could find a lot of things to do with an extra $600 :) ).

My last two receipts we averaged $25 in fruits and veggies each time.


Everything we have gotten so far has been very fresh and has tasted great...I couldn't be more satisfied if I picked it myself. If you are into organic they even have organic is some areas.

The only downfall to this is if you don't like a lot of different fruits and veggies. You never know what you are going to get - which I think is exciting because it forces you to try lots of different things. And worse comes to worse, you saved enough money that you could actually give some away and still be saving money, or at least breaking even. This program currently runs in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and Washington. Oh!, and you can add on different food packs like breads, tortillas, a Mexican veggie pack, etc. I haven't done that yet, but I plan to with my next order. You pick it up at a designated pick-up location at a designated time, usually Saturday mornings. You aren't committed to anything. You can order as many or as few times as you like. You order online at BOUNTIFULBASKETS.ORG . There is a limited window to order for the next Saturday so you have to decide quickly. And the website isn't the easiest to navigate but what do you expect for free labor. :) Hopefully, you find this as helpful as we do!

Asher at 7 months

YAY! I finally got my camera and realized now that I have a good camera that I am not as good at taking pictures as I thought. :) Luckily, the camera does a lot of the work for me so that is OK. We finally got some shots of Asher. He is moving all over the place now. He is so happy. All he has to do is see someone look at him and he lights up. He already loves attention. He loves playing with his toys and his brothers and sisters.

Happy Happy Birthday, Abbie Dear!

It seems like just last week I was posting about Abigail's birthday and hear I am posting about it again. Time just seems to constantly speed up.

She is turning three now. This past year she has attended preschool one day a week with Allison and she loves it. Even though it is only one day a week she has learned so much. She knows her ABC's and numbers. She loves to count. She tries to read just like Allison.

Although she can throw a tantrum like no other, she is loving and helpful and bright. She adds another amazing dimension to our family and I am so glad she is ours.

The cake was supposed to look like a cup cake. I obviously messed it up but Abigail came into the kitchen when I was just finishing it up and she looked at it and said, "I luuuv it!." That made me feel better.

Abigail and Kaley

2 year old

About 18 months old

About 6 months old

Abigail's Birthday

Odd Talent

I don't have any of the typical talents. I can't sing. I don't play an instrument. I am not crafty. I am too old (and fat) to dance anymore (although I still try :)) I definitely don't have an eye for decorating. But what I can do, is grow hair. I know that sounds strange but since it is what God gave me, I'll take it. I have been growing and cutting my hair for the last 12 years and have now donated 60 inches of hair to Lock's of Love! But since I am done having kids and my hair always grows super fast during my pregnancies, I don't know if I can continue the trend. I guess we will see. Here is the new do.

Smoosh-mallows

"I'm helping carry pink smoosh-mallows."