Lake Powell '09

Why oh why did it have to come to an end???? Funnest Lake Powell trip EVER! We're going back in September. Anyone's invited if you'd like to come! :)

Reflection

I hugged my little ones a little more today. Held them a little tighter. I've heard of 4 tragic passings in the last 2 weeks of children from 0-2 years of age. 4 different reasons they are not here any more. 4 families that will never be the same. Grateful I haven't experienced that trial and hope I never do. My heart goes out to the families.

Back in the Day

We used to buy whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted it. Money wasn't an issue. I spent what I wanted, and so did Noah. It's a different situation now. If we want something, we have to save and work for it. Some might look at that and wonder why. I think it's a great learning experience and it's taught me a lot of lessons. Plus is makes me appreciate everything more. We're saving for Disneyland and this time when we go (someday,) we will appreciate it and know how hard we worked to finally get there.

My first crush...

My very first crush happened when I was 4 years old. His name: Michael Jackson. Of course I loved the Thriller video that my sisters taped and watched religiously, but it was the Beat It video that got me. I thought I would marry him. He was replaced by Matthew Broderick when I was 6 years old after I saw "Ferris Buhler's Day Off." Who was your first crush?

New Car

So....we're all really squished into my teeny tiny, white trash Ford Focus. It's really interesting to have to push the 3 carseats together to get the doors to close. I really love my little car but it's getting time to upgrade. In all reality, my current car is fine and works for us but having a bigger vehicle would be nice. Here are my thoughts on this subject. Sorry if I bore you :)

My car's positives:
Gas milage is around 35-40 mpg
No car payment-it's paid for
Fits into any parking space-it's like little go-kart
Runs great-Never, EVER had a problem with it in the 5.5 years I've owned it
Fits in our teeny, tiny garage
I pretty much only go to the Arts Center and Walmart. Why need a new car for that?
I really do love it and am weirdly attached to it

My car's negatives:
Teeny, tiny
Not super safe for my family
Stick shift- I would love an automatic
AnnaBelle can't put on her seatbelt by herself because it's so squishy!
Can't tow anything (obviously!)

I'm still not sold on the minivan thing yet. I really can't bring myself to get one, even though they are the most realistic and it fits all of my needs. We looked at a few SUV's last weekend but I have some fears about that. Gas milage, won't fit in the garage, another car payment, buying a lemon.

The built in carseats and automatic doors from a minivan would be so nice! Who of you has a minivan? What make and model and what's the gas milage? Tell me your thoughts on your minivan. I love the Mazda 5 but can't find a used one ANYWHERE! Why don't they make stationwagons anymore? Those were awesome!

Waiting......

I'm still waiting for this to get hard. Every day I wonder when the world is going to start crashing down around me but so far....it's been pretty great! I am REALLY tired but Tate is already sleeping really good and growing like a weed. I can't believe he'll be 2 weeks old tomorrow. It makes me sad to think that this phase of his sweet little life will be over before I know it. He is such a sweet bundle of joy!

Speaking of time flying by.....AnnaBelle's birthday was yesterday. I can't believe it's been 5 years!! Where does the time go? Before I know it, Taten will be 5 and that kills me! I just wanted to wish my sweet little AnnaBelle a Happy Birthday! Yesterday I gave her a hug and a kiss and with teary eyes said I'm so happy that she came to our family and she started to cry. I asked her why she was crying and she said "They're happy tears mom." I love her more than words can express!

We've been doing the same old stuff. Every day last week we had to take Tate to the hospital to get his little feet pricked to check his jaundice. Luckily that's over with and we don't have to deal with that anymore. My sister Wendy was here for the 4th and we had lots of fun family things to do and celebrations so that meant getting up and out the door. This week we've had a little more down time which has been nice to try and catch up on housework and responsibilities.

My sister Cyd told me something the other day and I am really taking it to heart right now. She said that it's time to surrender to motherhood. Well....now that I have 3, I'm surrendering. Nothing else in the world is as important than being the best mom I can be. I have a LONG way to go and a mountain to climb but that's my goal. After all, I'm sent these sweet little spirits to take care of and what a wonderful blessing. My heart is full right now and I'm so grateful for my little family. Especially my wonderful husband who is so supportive with everything I get myself into and he's so helpful with the girls. How did I get so lucky to have him fall in love with me and continue to love me more each day? He truly makes me feel like I am the most wonderful, beautiful, greatest wife in the world. What a great blessing he is to me. I'm so glad I get to spent all eternity with him. :)

Alright......seriously with the cheesiness! I'm done now.

Introducing Taten Cache McKinnon

Here's our new little bundle of sweet joy. Can I just tell you that he is the sweetest little thing on the planet! We are enjoying him so much! (Not so much are we enjoying my ginourmous hard boobs! OUCH!) Sorry TMI!

He was born on June 25th, 2009 at 5:49 am weighing 8 lbs 1 oz and he was 20 inches long. He had some breathing troubles at first and had to be rushed back to the nursery and put on some respiratory machines and given steroids but he turned out just fine. We are so thankful to have him in our family. Desi is having the hardest time adjusting to the change. She is not so fond of mommy right now. I think she thought I abandoned her while I was in the hospital. She doesn't want much to do with me but she's coming around and I actually got some snuggles from her today. AnnaBelle is my little helper and wants to know everything about the baby including the "weird thing between his legs." That was an interesting learning experience for the both of us.

I am so grateful for my sweet little family and I am trying to cherish every single minute!

13 more days!

I am really nervous about having a 3rd child! It's freaking me out a little!

Wow! It's been a while!

So yeah....kinda lost track of time. It's just flying by! I know these last few weeks are going to probably drag on and on but the rest of it has flown by. Actually, I have been super busy with Miss Lehi and Miss Utah stuff. Our pageant is in one month tomorrow! Holy crap! We have 8 contestants this year and it's going to be so great! The time may fly by which is a good thing. No use in sitting home....waiting to have a baby! Right after Miss Lehi is Miss Utah so that week will be awesome! Then it's Round-Up and then BAM!!!! Induction day! Hooray! My doctor told me she would induce me as early as the 24th of June but I don't want to miss out on Round-Up. Especially since I'm in charge of 2 events. YIKES! I'm scheduled to be induced on Monday the 29th. This pregnancy has been a dream! It's been so easy. I was more sick in the beginning than with my other 2 but I just feel great right now. Apart from being tired and getting exhausted after not doing much. That's a bummer! Of course I'm anemic but what pregnant lady isn't? My doctor is fantastic! I didn't think I would find another doctor that I liked as much as Dr. Lawrence but it's possible I like Dr. Smith more. She's so wonderful and helpful!

So, I can't believe it but my stupid dog Chaquita is pregnant again. STUPID DOG! The vet says we can't spay her because of her age. Go figure! Isn't having puppies even more of a risk to her? For real! So in about 2 weeks, I get to deal with that again. Good gravy people! I will be finding a new vet as soon as they're born. Even if I have to go to a clinic in an ally to get her parts taken out.

My good friend Edyn is having her baby a week from today! I am so excited for her! She has 3 cute boys and is expecting her first girl. What a fun time! I have such great friends that take such good care of me. Thanks to all of you! (Thanks Traci for always being my venting go to person!) Seriously..........life is so good!

Update

Well, life is good. I don't have much to say but I feel bad that my blog is being neglected so much! I hate this weather. MAKE UP YOUR FREAKING MIND MOTHER NATURE!!!! Seriously...it's cold, then hot, then cold, then freezing! Ugh! Today it's supposed to actually be really nice so we are going to the zoo. My sister is here from Vegas so we are partying it up all week. We went to Ikea yesterday. I got some cute stuff for my future little bundle. This poor little boy has nothing. I cleaned out the changing table and moved Desi's clothes to the closet to make room for his stuff. So far, he has a pair of socks in one drawer. How sad! I am having the hardest time buying for him. I am WAY more picky about my boy stuff. I don't like anything with bears or ducks or dinosaurs or dogs or trains or firetrucks or.....you get the point. Why does everything boy have to have some kind of character on it? Girls are easy, pink, pink, and more pink! Someday I'll do some serious shopping and get the things I need. I think Cyd has enough stuff to last me a while though so we should be good. I've decided that light blue is only allowed for the first 3 months of his life. I am not a baby blue fan. Like I said, I'm so picky!

Well, I need to go charge my camera for our adventure at the zoo today. Hopefully I don't go into labor pushing my double stroller up the rolling hills that are all over the zoo. I'll recruit my mom's help. :) Hooray for Grandmas!

Grocery Smarts 101

Well, I've had a few people ask about how this works. Without going into crazy detail, I thought I would give a beginner lesson. Basically go to the website http://www.grocerysmarts.com/ and put in the password g84ccl. This will help you access the Utah stores. After you enter your password, you can pick your store. I don't usually shop at Albertsons or Smiths but on this program I find some great deals there. You will want to look at the deals that are highlighted with red stars. 4 stars means it's a good deal so if you need it or will use it, go buy it. If it's a 5 star deal, get your butt in your car and buy it! Some of the deals require no coupon so under coupon index it will say N/A. If you get the Sunday paper (which I do. Infact I get 3 for more coupons) then it will tell you what coupon to look for in our coupon packet you recieved ie: Snuggle Créme Liquid Fabric Softener or Dryer Sheet product, any $1/1 (4-12-09) RP-1/18. That tells me the product, what discount I'm getting ($1 off of one), the expiration date (4-12-09), and that it's in the Red Plum packet that was sent on Jan 18th (RP-1/18.) You usually get a Smart Source and Red Plum packet in your Sunday paper. Smart Source is listed as SS. When I get the papers, I take out the coupon packets, write the date on the top in bright marker and put it in a binder for the future when the website tells me I have a coupon in there. The other way to get coupons is by printing them online. They will give you a link, you go there and print your coupons and most of them let you print them twice so you can buy more than one. If you have more servers (like your husband's computer at work) he can print them for you too so you have more. The way the program works is that everything goes on sale in a 4 month period. You don't really save a lot of money by clipping a few coupons and saving a little money off of things that are regular priced. The way you save a lot of money is by buying things on sale and then using a coupon on top of that price. The website tells you when something is a great price.

If you use the all in one button, you can get all the stores in one and get each deal for all of the stores and then take that into Walmart and they will price match. I am not sure if this works on programs like "buy so many items or spend so much money, get money back" though so be careful with that. When you click on a store or the all in one, push start. That will turn the list grey. Then you can click on the deals you want and they will turn white and when you're done, click on shrink and it will shrink your list to only the items you want. It's very handy. Then it will tell you where to get the coupon. That's the basics of it. It takes some practice and some time to work up your coupons, especially if you're getting the paper. It's completely free and the way they keep it that way is that they get a kick back from the paper. If you want to start getting the paper, go through their customer service number. It's cheaper and they get the money for bringing the paper another customer. It costs me $12.30 a month for my 3 papers a week and it's well worth it!

Let me know if you have any questions. I'd be happy to help. I know the program is in Las Vegas and Utah and hopefully will expand to surrounding states. Happy savings!!!

Swiss Days Update

So Cyd and I have been going back and forth about how we feel about the news we got about Swiss Days. A part of me was relieved but another was so incredibly bummed! Cyd decided she was going to contact them and just ask a few questions since we have been in the fair for 4 years. Particularly about being an 'alternate' and what we could expect with that. She called them and left a message just asking for feedback. She got a call from them and they said that they only choose a few alternates and that our chances were very high. They called all of their alternates last year so we are going to plan on it at this point. We will have to re-design our booth a little because we aren't guaranteed a corner booth as an alternate and our booth is made to be a corner booth. Anyway, that's what has been on our minds the last few weeks. One of my friends has been doing Swiss Days for 3 years now and they didn't get in either and were not chosen as alternates so I guess count your blessings that we have a little chance. I also have another friend that applied with her cute jewelry and she didn't get in either. We aren't sure we're going to be taking the squeaky shoes this year so we're going to have to get creative and start thinking of cute new products that we can sell. Any ideas are welcome. :)

Follow Up

I just wanted to do a follow up to my previous post. Today I went to Smiths to take advantage of some good deals they were having. My total was $112. Then she started scanning my coupons and my rebates (buy so much, get so much back) and my total was $40. I bought 6 boxes of name brand cereal, 6 snack pack pudding 12 packs, granola bars, chicken nuggets, and a huge cart load of other things (48 items) and that was my total. I was stoked! Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that it really does work. :)

I also wanted to note that Cyd and I got the Swiss Days letter today and unfortunately we're not going to be participating this year. We were bummed but oh well.....life goes on. We are an alternate though in case someone drops out. It's kind of a blessing because I will have a 3 week old baby when Swiss Days actually happens and I was really worried about that. We have been thinking lately about the future of our little business because of our growing families. I look at this as an answer to prayers. Although it's my favorite time of year and we love it so much, we'll be just fine. Saving all that money today on my groceries has made the blow a little softer though. :)

What have I turned into?

I really hate to admit it but I have turned into the lady that usually drives me crazy at the checkout. I am the one who brings a stack of coupons and annoys everyone behind her. My sister told me about this website that she uses that has helped her cut her grocery bill in half. I've decided to try it and I have saved so much money. I know it's only available in certain areas. The website is called grocerysmarts.com. The passport to access the website is g84ccl. It's completely free and they don't even ask for your email. The only cost that I have is the Sunday paper that I get each week for additional coupons but that's not necessary to save money. Last week I went to the store and my total was over $90. Then she started scanning my coupons and my total was $37. I'm a believer!!! The website takes practice and a little bit of teaching to master. If any of you are interested in learning about it, I would be happy to show you. If there are enough people interested, we could have one of their consultants come and teach an actual class. Like I said, it's free and there's nothing to buy. They get paid from advertisements on the website and by a kick back from the paper. There's a consultant coming to my ward enrichment in May as well and my ward is so excited that they don't want to wait that long! It's really a fun thing and it's made me enjoy grocery shopping (which I usually DREAD) but now I look forward to it to see what kind of savings I get every week.



I also have found a store that I love. They sell awesome produce at crazy prices. I've started going there since stores don't usually have coupons for produce. You just get the price per pound that they are advertising. Wednesdays are their "produce specials" day so I go on Wednesdays. Last week I bought 7 oranges, 9 apples, 12 roma tomatoes, 2 onions, 12 kiwi, a head of lettuce, a cantelope, 2 boxes of pre-cut mushrooms, and 3 cucumbers for $10. I thought they had made a mistake but they hadn't. It's just that cheap! It's called Buy Low and it's in Provo by Movies 8. www.buylowmarket-utah.com/. We are all really excited. I even got my mom on board. She saved $40 last week. :) Anyway, I just wanted to let you know about my adventures in coupons.

My Appetite

Dang this boy inside of me can eat!!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I vow....

to never take Spring and Summer for granted again. I have never had Spring fever so bad as I do right now. I CAN'T WAIT until the grass is green and the flowers are blooming. Winter needs to end ahora!

I've decided that I really enjoy cooking. I don't necessarily like to make difficult or time consuming things. Just good, old fashioned, rib-sticking food that makes you feel good. I love the sweet thank you's I get from my girls as I dish them up something warm. "Thank you for making this yummy food mommy." AnnaBelle says that at every meal. I like to make up my own versions and I never follow a recipe exactly. I am always on the look out for easy, good things to make. We have a few staples in our house that are family favorites.

Sloppy Joes
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Enchiladas
Chicken Alfredo Macaroni
Tomato Hamburger Macaroni
Bean Burgers
Burritos
Spaghetti
Fajitas
Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Tonight I am trying out French Dip from a left over chuck roast from Sunday. Please pass along any easy meal ideas you might have and tell me your family favorites. :)

Update

Hi All!

I figured it's time for an update. I feel like my life hasn't been very blog worthy lately plus my laptop has had a virus and it's acting up on me constantly. Anyway, life is good. Sweet little Desiree had her birthday on the 10th. She's definitely in the terrible two's but at least she's still cute! We started workshops at the Arts Center. AnnaBelle is in the Aristocats. She plays Abigail the Goose. She is so excited and she loves it! I am teaching the Cooking 4 Kids class and it's been a lot of fun! Cyd and I are waiting to find out if we made it into Swiss Days again. It was so much easier to win the booth award and automatically know. Oh well! :)

We find out in one week from today what we are having. We are so excited to know. If it's another girl.....we are set. We have all of the stuff. If it's a boy......oh dear! I don't even know where to start or where to put him. I don't even know how to wipe that! He'll be sleeping in a pink room, in a pink bed, with pink blankets. Maybe I can make him a camo blanket or something to at least make him a little manly. Poor guy! Real men wear pink right? We will let you all know what we are expecting once we find out. This next week is going to drag on and on. I can't wait to see the baby too. Ultrasounds are so amazing!

Anyway, that's what's been happening here.

Oops!

I once had a rug named Whitey. He got a little too friendly with a red towel in the washer. His name is now Pinky. Bummer!

Toilet Paper

Every time I think we're getting close to the end of the roll or when I know we are out because I used the last square, there always seems to be a new roll. I don't know why, but that is a chore that I despise. Noah always changes the roll and it makes me happy. I love my husband. :)

Desi's new words

Princess Desi

Desi is starting to talk a lot more but there are a few words she uses frequently:

No!

Mine!

No Mine!

Hey!

No Dad, Stop it! (she says that whenever Noah sings.)

Sissy did...... and then mumbles something (that's her way of tattling on AnnaBelle.)

No Kika! (No Chaquita!)

No Kika! (No Tica!)

Hi Mom or Dad or Sissy!

The cutest is when you say "I love you!" and she says back "You too!" She's a little monster but oh we love her so much. We call her little gremlin.

Diaper change

Noah changed Desi's diaper tonight. It was guacamole-nastiness and while he was changing it he asked "Oh Des, are you kidding me?" and she replied "Nope."