Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving! First we want to congratulate Darin (Ryan's brother) and Sarah on their 3rd kid, baby boy Charlie :)

This year we were on Ryan's family rotation so we were in Pinehurst...I personally am grateful first and foremost that we didn't have to drive on snowy roads!! Secondly we are grateful for our families and how blessed we are to have them and not too far from us! We were able to celebrate with some of Ryan's siblings and their families and his Grandpa, which today is his 88th birthday! He is still so fiesty!

This time of year I always feel like we got so caught up in the buying of Christmas presents and all the things we have going on from parties, to shows, to baking and of course trying to remember to pay the bills...So this year we are focusing on things we can do as a family! Tomorrow we are going bowling for the first time as a family and each week we are going to do something we do as a family!

I personally am grateful for my family! I have an amazing husband who works so hard to provide for our family not only temporally but spiritually. He loves our children so much and we talk all the time about how we want our kids to view the world, know that they are loved, and to be successful in whatever they want to be when they grow up! My children and so important to me. I am extremely blessed to be a stay-at-home mom, although there are days I wish I had a job in an office or something, but the thought doesn't last more than a moment!

I am thankful for my parents, brother, sister and her family and all of my in-laws! Each one is so different and I believe that everything in life happens for a reason. People are put into your lives for a reason whether good or bad...Life isn't easy but having those you love around makes all the difference!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that the spirit can carry with us all throughout the whole year!

Ryan's birthday was actually on November 5th and he is 29 years old! Almost 30!!

It was a Thursday so he worked and then I got a babysitter and we went out for dinner!

Before we went out for dinner I told him he had to blow out the candle so the kids could have some cake while we were gone! And the kids had to help him blow out the one candle!

We went out to dinner at Chili's and Ryan's food was great but I ordered a burger because I never really eat burgers unless we bbq during the summer. I asked for it "well done" and when it came out I took a bite and saw pink and almost vomited on the table! So we waited for the waitress to come back, I ended up eating all my fries by then so she came back and I told her that my burger was pink. She replied, "Oh did you want me to get you a new one?" Carrie, "Is that okay, I can't eat pink meat." Waitress, "Yeah let me get you a new one." She walks away and Ryan says,"No, I don't want you to get me a new one I was just letting you know it was pink??!!" Sarcastically of course! She didn't hear him thank heavens or I would have been embarrassed but it was kind of funny that she asked and didn't say she would get me a new one! After that we went shopping for Ryan and then he and his friend went and worked on the duplex for the next 3 hours!

Happy Birthday Ryan! I love you so much and think you are so amazing and talented! You are great with our kids and I know you love them so much! Love you!!

*Don't forget next year is 30 :)

Halloween

This year for Halloween we had a lot of fun....Ryan and I we to a party the Saturday before Halloween that some friends from church had which was a TON of fun! We played some awesome games and ate and just laughed! And some got spanked....HEHE! Sorry inside joke!

The kids had fun also on Halloween and their pictures are below!

Ryan had his costume for a month before Halloween after he saw someone else having the Mario costume. I was trying to compliment him with Princess Peach or something fun but came up with a witch...And I wasn't about to pay $50 for a cheap piece of wannabe silk! We didn't compliment each other but everyone loved Ryan's costume!

Ryan before the party

Carrie before the party

Sorry no pictures together!!

Here are the kiddos...

Sorry this first one is blurry...

This was after trunk-or-treat and Reese was out for the night even after pulling the sucker out of her mouth! Cooper was picking tootsie roll out of his teeth but he woke up to go around the neighborhood! Halloween is so fun! Sorry for being so late on posting...Don't blame you for not reading this!!

Ward Talent Show - Awesome Dancing!!

We had our ward talent show tonight and Ryan and Cooper did some AWESOME break dancing! Ryan and I weren't sure if Cooper was going to do it or not since he didn't get a nap in or eat well today but he did fantastic!!

I am sorry it is a little grainy but the lights were low and I was in the middle of the floor! Sorry for all my laughing it was just cute! Thanks Jessica for taking Reese so she wasn't crying for the whole video! There were so many talented people there it was so much fun! Ryan and I want to do something together next year if we live here!!!!!

Carver Farms 10/10/09

I am late at blogging as usual! This month has been crazy but things will start to slow down by Monday! We went to Carver Farms back on Oct. 10th, on a beautiful yet chilly Saturday afternoon with our friends, the Farris and Forman families! I guess it was a day for the last names that start with "F"!! We loaded up and of course we had to do the tractor ride out to the field but you can also drive. You only have a certain amount of time to pick your pumpkins before the other tractor comes but there were tons of them left! You have to flip them over to make sure they aren't mushy from lying on the ground.

Ryan held Reese most of the time in one hand and a pumpkin in the other...Here he is searching with Morgan and Skyler for a perfect pumpkin!

Weighing our pumpkins in! There is part of the Farris family with us!

The better family picture because no one is looking!

Those first pictures are smaller for some reason...I stole them off Elaine's facebook!

Thanks Elaine!

The kids apparently didn't want to take pictures and the sun was right in our face!

Cooper didn't want to take pictures so I did the girls! Poor things were freezing outside but once we got in the van it was toasty warm!

After picking pumpkins and weighing them in we had to wait for caramel apples! Ryan loves these things...I think they would have been good had they not been so fresh! The caramel was so soft it was a big bite of caramel at first but once you got to the apple part it was yummy!

We love Carver Farms because it isn't too far away and since our kids are so small they can only last for so long! We loved that our friends the Farris' and Forman's could come also!

I got my money!

So after that post I decided to call the customer service number on my receipt. I got to looking at my receipt and thought what do I have to lose? So they took my information down when really I thought they would just tell me if I should have received the discount for each $10! About 45 minutes later the manager calls me and I ask him about it....He really had no idea what the promotion was which I thought was funny to begin with and then Ryan gets home and I go down to Albertsons by myself and ask him about it with my receipts and he really didn't understand what I did....So funnier right? Not really I got to thinking because if I am explaining this to the manager who doesn't understand then how will anyone else know what to do! They gave me my money + tax which was nice and I was on my way home to eat dinner! Not a bad experience although I did split up my transactions Tuesday night when I went to make sure I got ALL of my discounts! Those instant discounts can be tricky but I have learned!!! I hope all of you have also! This concept came in handy teaching my coupon class last night, where I had about 2o ladies come with great questions and eagerness to either save money or build up a food storage! I love couponing!

Rule #1

So today I thought I would brave and go grocery shopping with my kids! I kind of threw everything together last night for my trip with coupons and what I was going to get! I thought I was organized but apparently not! I missed out on saving $15...That might not seem like much but I was only planning on spending a certain amount and paid an extra $15! When I taught my first coupon class I told everyone to go by themselves! I didn't obey my first rule! And I should have planned better while I was organizing my coupons!

I did get some awesome deals with the Quaker Promotion but spent too much on the Schick razors! I purchased 10 of them but was shorted $12 from not doing separate transactions...

These razors are usually $7.79 / each and so only paying $19.82 for 10 of them should be a good deal but not for me....I am bummed because I can't go back and return and redo the transaction because I don't get my coupons back so I am going to go and see if they will refund me the $12.

At frugalchicliving.blogspot.com she posted that her promotion savings automatically came off ($3 x 6 totals of $10) - $18 but they hit total before her coupons! Minor detail apparently!

I thought I knew a lot about using coupons and store promotions but each store and checker is different and every time I go I think I learn a new lesson! Wish me luck getting my $12 back!

Family Vacation for 2009

We don't go on a real family vacation very often due to me working everyday and Ryan being a work-aholic! This year we went to Utah for Ryan's mission reunion. Ryan has never been! The couple that served as the President and his wife over the mission are great and keep in contact with most of the missionaries that served their mission in Sweden at the same time they were there. I was kind of a pessimist because he has been home almost exactly 7 years...Time flies, since we were married a year after he got home and here we are going on 6 years of marriage and 3 kids!! Ryan was able to meet up with quite a few missionaries and the kids played and I mingled with the wives in between chasing kids! Sorry no pictures of the reunion...

We started out at 4:30am Thursday morning and drove straight to Orem. Dan and Chelsea let us stay with them and we felt bad because Dan's sister showed up and they had to stay in the basement, it is finished but we didn't know they were coming! Dan and Ryan served in the mission field for a period of time but were never missionary companions. Chelsea and I clicked from the beginning because we are a lot alike! They were the best hosts! I wish we were at the house longer we just were go, go, go! Thursday night we hung out at their house and let the kids play and ate yummy homemade chili that Chelsea made! Friday we got up and headed to Temple Square...Ryan and I have not been to this area since 2000 so we kept looking for the mall across the street and there was nothing just cranes and really tall buildings! Neither one of us remembered those buildings from 9 years ago....(that makes me feel so old!) So we found a place to park and headed to Temple Square and walked around as you can see from the pictures...We found a place to eat, The Garden Restaurant, which was amazing...It looked too fancy for kids but they were great and we had an amazing view of the Salt Lake City Temple. We were able to see the free Joseph Smith movie and I missed part of it due to potty breaks but it is amazing! The movie helps people to understand what Joseph went through and the history of the pioneers!

It was a little chilly so the kids were all bundled and ready to walk Temple Square.

The kids at temple square looking at one of the fountains.

Have to get a picture in front of the Christus.

Picture in front of Salt Lake City Temple.

Reese and that tongue cracks me up!

Chloe didn't want her picture taken! We put the kids across the back and then set up the laptop on the middle seat so they could all see it!

We then went to IKEA! Ryan LOVES this store (it is swedish) and we had to get some Swedish food from there, mostly chocolate! We ate dinner there and then headed to Ryan's missionary reunion. We aren't used to heavy traffic so it took a lot longer than we planned but we made it! Got back to Dan and Chelsea's at 10pm that night and stayed up talking until 11:30! Saturday we packed up and headed to Idaho Falls..On the way we stopped in Pocatello and had lunch at a park where the kids played..

I thought this picture was funny because everyone's face is different!!

Reese and Chloe on the swings in Pocatello...Reese just starts giggling when you put her in one of these swings!

Chloe was pushing Reese in the swing and Reese was chewing on a piece of cucumber (green thing in her mouth).

Ryan and I learned Cooper can do the monkey bars almost all by himself!

Right after we checked into our hotel we headed to the pool! The kids loved it and it was fun until this couple came in and were all over each other in the hot tub so we pulled the kids out and ordered from Chili's! We ran to Wal Mart and picked up our food and of course went swimming about an hour later!

Sunday we got up and finished our drive home...We started up Monida Pass and the elevation there is almost 7000 ft. and we hit a snowstorm! Not a light one, it was still snowing, blowing, slushy and plain crappy! That lasted for what felt like a long time even though it wasn't compared to the whole trip home! We did see 4 plows, crazy semi drivers and one truck off the road so we are grateful for our safe travels! Home Sweet Home!

Connell Fall Festival

This past Friday I took the kids down to see my parents in Connell, Washington. It was Fall Festival weekend so we knew it would be an all day event! We started off at the park per Cooper's request! It only took 2 hours to get down there so it was 11am by the time we got to the park. Luckily, there is one about 30 yards from my parent's backyard! We stayed there for about 30 minutes then decided it was lunch time!

My mom pushing the kids on the swings! I don't think it matters if you have swings in your backyard or not, they still love them everywhere we go!

Reese thought it was funny that she couldn't climb up the slide but wouldn't look at me so I could get her laughing!

The picture above was the funnest part I think! My mom signed Cooper up for the Pee Wee Division of showing pigs! After all the other kids showed their pigs they brought some of the nicer ones out so the smaller kids could practice showing them! Cooper loved it! He was great at it for his first time! They gave him a cane and the girl in the picture was one of the 4-H helpers and she helped him the whole time!

The guy in the picture is the judge! He was going around asking the kids what sound a pig makes and most of them knew the answer! Then he started to ask them how their steers were doing to see if they knew the difference! The poor pigs were hot and tired so some started to lay down but I don't blame them it was hot!

Cooper got candy and a ribbon for showing a pig! It was really a neat experience for him! Chloe still tells him good job for showing a pig when she sees the pictures! Chloe wont even pet a dog so I doubt next year she will do it! Thanks mom for signing him up! It was good to see you guys!

Hiawatha Trail 9/5/09

Labor Day weekend we were invited along with some other families that we go to church with to bike the Hiawatha Trail! I, Carrie, haven't been on a real bicycle for about 20 years! I love indoor cycling aka spinning classes but a real bike on a road...Let's just say it has been years! There were 17 adults and 11 kids! The ages of the kids ranged from 13 years old to 10 months! Reese wasn't even the youngest!

(this is not the long tunnel just one of the many)

When you start the trail you go through an extremely dark, wet, cold 2 mile tunnel! There are little trenches on each side where water drains and I was extremely nervous I was going to crash into one...It was pretty ugly when I started to ride the bike! Ryan asked me to slow down and I told him NO because I was scared I was going to fall over! Once you come out there is a beautiful waterfall which we didn't get a picture of but maybe next year if we do this again! Our friend Robin let us put Reese in her with her 2 year old and she wasn't very happy about that! Then going through the dark tunnel I don't think helped the situation! Robin was great and kept going...I think once she ate and kind of fell asleep she was better! Wait, kids are always better when they are sleeping!!

Along the trail there were many more tunnels...We stopped and had lunch, let the kids play, then hit the trail again! The whole adventure took from the time we actually started until we hit the end where the school bus shuttles take you back to the 2 mile tunnel to get to the car took 4 hours! The whole experience was fun and I am glad my kids weren't too cranky!

She loved being out of the bike trailer!!