Hiking!

Jacob had the weekend off so we wanted to do some fun things with his time off. So the plan was to go to Zion and do a few hikes there... but then the weather turned completely crappy and windy so we decided to stick closer to home and do a few hikes around here just in case it started to rain.

Jacob took one for the team and wore the baby back pack and Claire LOVED it.



She just sat there and flung her arms around and kicked her legs and laughed and screamed the whole hike. It was so much fun. The original hike that we had planned was closed when we got there, so we had to take another trail.


The original plan was to hike up to all these ledges and rocks that looked like faces, like the one above, but on the new path we had to take we were only able to see 1 from the distance.


Taking a pic of all 3 of us is virtually impossible these days. All Claire wants to do is grab the camera!


So a picture by myself it was!




Such a cute daddy.... him and Claire have been pal'n around all day, nothing more adorable!

Hopefully this is the first of many hiking trips. Now that we are sure Claire loves her backpack we can go all the time! Yipee!

We all Scream For Ice Cream

Claire digs the Vanilla.

We stopped and got Ice Cream Cones after this musical play we all went to for Jacob's Music class in school.

We decided on a whim to get Claire her own and it was a hit!

She held it by the cone the whole time, taking more of a bite than perhaps a lick, but all the same- it got in her mouth.....

At least most of it! haha

She ate that thing from top to bottom, cone and all.

Think this may be the first of many Ice Cream runs; Arctic Circle is much too close for comfort. Maybe if I pick one up on my run I won't feel as guilty?? Haha

This last bite is classic, but must have hit a super cold spot.

It has begun!

SUMMER!

And we have taken our first official dip in the our pool!




Water is a bit chilly but all the more refreshing in the 90 degree weather. Claire loves it, I love it, everyone loves it... we have been every day since and plan on going again tomorrow :) It's pure bliss!

We got Claire this floaty and it's perfect. She just floats and kicks and splashes all around the pool and we don't have to do a thing; besides watch of course.

She sported her new "kini" yesterday and looked dang cute.


She tries to jump out of your arms the whole time, she wants to be like all the way in the water!

Always time for a bottle-



We would love some pool buddies... so this is an invite- come! I'm sure you will find us there at least a few hours a day. Bring Lunch! :)

Happy 25th!

Jacob is getting old! :)


He just turned a quarter of a century old on May 21 and a celebration we had! It consisted of just Jacob, Claire and I but was still oodles of fun.



We started out the morning, rather early in fact, with a deluxe breakfast in bed!(When I say deluxe - I mean pancakes! :) )

Claire loves to snuggle in our bed with Dad


After breakfast, Jacob and Claire followed me in the car on my treacherous 9 mile run and then it was showers and present time!

Claire and I gave Jacob:

A new wallet and some wrist bands

2 new drills


And a new belt


He was like a little kid at Christmas, walking around the house trying to find something to fix with his new drill.



After presents it was Subway Sandwiches in the park and pure relaxation.



It was a gorgeous day out and we took full advantage. Once we got home Jacob decided to start refinishing our furniture and that took us well in the the evening hours.... which was A OK with him. All in all, I'd say we had an excellent day.

I am so so lucky to have Jacob in my life-


He is definitely the love of my life, my soul mate & my other half.... can't imagine my life without him. He is so hard working and it's all for us and our family.

So babe, here is to another 25 more and 25 more after that and hopefully even 25 more after that! :) I love you!! Happy 25th!

Grocery Trip

I finally ventured out and did a coupon grocery trip. I have gotten food here and there, but not like this trip. I price matched everything and had a coupon for every single thing I bought. Turned out pretty successful. I warned everyone that got behind me that I was price matching everything and that I had a billion coupons; no worries I got glares of annoyance from all of them but one... oh well! :) My list started out just being a few things, but then I kept finding more deals and more coupons and all the sudden I had a whole page of things to get! My cart was overflowing... I couldn't have fit one more thing!

3 Cap'n Crunch Cereal
6 Life Cereal
1 Lunchable with Fruit
2 Eggo Waffles
1 Digiorno Pizza
4 2 Packs Popcorn
3 Nature Valley Granola Thins
2 Packages Hershey's Drops
2 Packages Reeses Mini's
10 Protein Bars
2 Kikkomans Soy Sauce
2 Kraft Dressings
2 Spic n Span
4 Frank's Hot Sauce
1 Tobasco Sauce
3 Kraft BBQ Sauce
2 Packages Hot Dogs
2 Jars Pickles
2 Similac Ready to Feed
1 Milk
2 Purex Laundry Detergent
6 American Beauty Pasta
4 Quaker Rice Snacks
20 Cans Campbell's Cream of Chicken
2 Sugar Free Red Bulls (Not Pictured)

Total BEFORE Price Matching: $183.98

Total AFTER Price Matching: $114.25

GRAND TOTAL AFTER coupons: $68.03

Now finding a place to put it all.... this should be fun!

Addicted...

... to couponing. Guess it's better then being addicted to something of the opposite. This weekend/week was a good one for me in the world of couponing. I got quite a few good hauls at a few different stores. Pretty sure my sister, Missy, and I talk about couponing 24/7. It's either couponing or running... haha! It's awesome though to have someone doing it with you, even if we are 300 miles away!

So here are the results from this week:

Walmart-

(9 Similac Sensitives- Ready to Feed)
Spent: $16.30
Saved: $45.74

Walgreens-

(3 Chex Mix, 3 Hamburger Helper, 1 Brownie, 2 Old Spice Body Wash, 1 Gillette Body Wash, 2 Softsoap Body Wash, 1 Dove Deodorant, 1 Jet Dry, 2 Aquafresh Kids Toothpaste, 3 Scotch Tape, 2 Mayo, 2 Lunchables, 2 3 Packs Razors, 2 Candy Bars)
Spent: $25.05
Saved: $80.54

Rite Aid-

(2 Crest Toothpaste, 1 Laundry Detergent, 2 Ziploc Containers, 2 Finish Powerballs, 2 Ziploc Bags, 2 Kids Spin Toothbrushes, 1 Deodorant, 2 Candy Bars)
Paid: $10.50
Saved: $64.05

Albertsons-

(44 Fuze Drinks, 2 Vitamin Water, 4 Packages Goldfish Crackers, 4 Individual Digiorno Pizzas)
Paid: $9.55 (Had to buy coupons so really spent $18.55)
Saved: $86.80

Grand Total Spent: $61.40
(104 Items - Average $.59 cents per item!)

Grand Total Saved: $277.13

That's a savings of: 82%!!!

I'm pretty excited to say the least. Can't wait to tell the hubby, he'll be so proud. All my talk about couponing isn't in vain! Until next week.....

Little Piggys

We finally have enough hair to do 2 little Piggys - Yipee!

Please don't pay attention to the fact that her part isn't straight and they are uneven... hard getting her to hold still for that long. Just don't look too closely :)

She looks so grown up with her hair like this I think. She's almost 1!!! Wow, time flies. Love my little Claire, and her little piggys too!

Just Keep Swimming

Claire is a fish, all there is to it!

We went swimming again a few weeks ago with some friends and their little ones. Such a blast...!

Claire was dunking her head, face first into the water and blowing bubbles. Looks like she's gonna be a water child!

Got a random lady to take a picture of all of us, and of course my eyes are closed! Lovely...!