Coupons

This will be my attempt to tell everyone how to use coupons. Keep in mind that I am a newbie in the coupon world. I do, however, think that everyone should learn to use them, because you save soooo much money!
First of all, the best way to get coupons is to subscribe to the Sunday newspaper. They say (they meaning the people who know more than me) that you should get one newspaper for every person in your home. I have two papers delivered to me, my neighbor lets me have theirs, and Ben's mom gives me her coupons. . .I guess I'm one short.
Second, I never buy anything that I wouldn't normally buy without a coupon. I don't just buy things because they are on sale. I buy things that I use and need. You do it how you wish. I know some people buy things just because you can get them for $.50, and then give them away. I'm not quite there yet. . .maybe someday.
Third, I think coupons take a little time. It doesn't take a lot of time, and it seems I am getting more efficient as I go, but it will take a few minutes to figure out what you are buying that week, and cut your coupons.

There are a few different packets of coupons that come in the Sunday paper. They are SmartSource (SS), Red Plum (RP) and Proctor & Gamble (P&G). (I think the Red Plum also comes in the mail sometimes, but I don't seem to get it...maybe I'm wrong...it's happened before).

When I get my coupon packets, I write the date that they came on the front. This makes it easier to find the packet you need later. I keep all of my SmartSource packets together in order by date. I do the same with the others as well. Some people organize them by the date they came. So, every coupon packet that comes on March 22 will be together. You don't cut any coupons out right now. You will cut a coupon out only when that item is on sale.
You can also print coupons from the Internet, but I'll get into that later.

So now we get to the more confusing part. . .

Step 1. Go to grocerysmarts.com and enter Utah's passport (g84csg) on the right hand side. (preferably in a different window so you can look at what I'm explaining)

Step 2. Pick a store.

Step 3. Look for the deals.

Here is a little piece from the Albertson's page. It doesn't look exactly like it does on the page, but for explanation purposes it should do just fine! It's color coded . . . :)

The deal: **Kellogg's promo: Save $10 instantly when you buy 10 participating products.** Sale price shown is BEFORE/AFTER purchase of 10. Must purchase 10 to get $1.50 price. Discount is 1.00 per item when you purchase 10.

*****
Kellogg's cereal 9-21.5 oz.
2.50/1.50
Kellogg’s Cereal, any flavor 10 oz. or larger .70/1 (4-5-09) RP-2/22
.80

So, the number of stars indicates the stock up scale. Five stars is a great deal, and a good time to stock up. . .two or three stars isn't such a great deal. I find myself only looking for the items that have four or five stars.

The next line (or next box over if you're looking at the website) is the item that is on sale. In this case, Kellogg's cereal.

The price before the coupon comes next. Kellogg's cereal is on sale for $2.50 if you buy 10 of the participating items, it costs $1.50.

Now, they tell you if/where there is a coupon. This line tells you that you can look in the Red Plum (RP) that came on Feb. 22 (2/22) and that the coupon is $.70 off one box (.70/1) The date shown is the date the coupon expires. Again, if it's in the Smart Source it would say SS and Proctor & Gamble says P&G. This is why it is so important to write the date that your coupon packets come. It makes it so much easier to find them. If there is no coupon for that item, it will say N/A in that box. Or, if there is a coupon available online it will give you a link to print it. You can typically print two coupons per computer.

This line tells you the price of the item after the promotion and the coupon (.80).

In this case, if you have the coupon, you could get a box of Kellogg's cereal for $.80! You can use one coupon per item purchased, so if you get five newspapers, you could get five boxes of cereal for $.80.

The coupons don't seem to expire for five or six months or so . . . I haven't been collecting coupons for that long, so none of mine are expired. When they begin to expire, I will just throw them away!

I'm hoping this post makes sense . . . If you have questions, feel free to ask. If I don't know the answer, I'll ask my friend Staci...she's the coupon expert! Good luck with your coupons!

"Waddis trick Mom!"

Simon and Nolan are way to into figuring out new tricks.
This is Nolan's latest.
He thought it was pretty cool to put a bouncy ball in each of his cheeks.
He's such a goof ball. . .but so dang cute!

P.S. Explaining coupons isn't the easiest thing. . .but, when I have a little more time, it will be the subject of my next post. . .promise!

Cutting Coupons

I've always heard of people going to the store and buying truck loads of stuff for a penny. I never really understood how, and I almost didn't believe them. However, I have recently learned how to use coupons in an effective way, thanks to a Relief Society activity and my friend Staci. I have to admit I was totally confused when I attended the coupon class, but after I got home and looked at everything they were talking about, I totally got it! Last week, I went to the store with my coupons in hand and bought the following:
10 boxes of Fruit Roll ups
4 cans of Progresso soup
2 bags of Chex mix
4 boxes of Chex cereal bars
2 bags of Albertson's potato chips
4 cans of Pillsbury refrigerator rolls
2 boxes of Toaster Strudels
4 Warm Delight microwave cakes
5 Pillsbury cake mixes and,
5 cans of Pillsbury frosting
Guess how much it all cost...$14! (and change) That equals out to be about $0.33 per item!
I planned it all out the night before I went, but I was so excited to go buy it all, that I couldn't sleep! I was up until 3:00 in the morning! It's really quite fun to get so much stuff for such a little price! I'm sure that wasn't the best that anyone has ever done with coupons, but I think it's great for a first timer! Coupons are definitely the way to go! Especially if you are trying to save money and cut back on the grocery bill!

The Price

In her short 18 months of life, Bella has learned the price you pay for playing with two rowdy boys, here is her most recent...

She wasn't bothered by it for more than 30 seconds. She just went right back to playing!! It makes me wonder what I looked like, growing up with six of them...

Simon Can Read!

Last summer, I borrowed some books from the library that would help Simon start reading. At the time, he wasn't ready for them, so I took them back.
Last December, he started to show more interest in reading, so I borrowed the books again. They are called Bob books. They are very simple books that introduce a few new letters/sounds with each book. We borrowed the first set, which has twelve books. I sat down with Simon, and the very first time he looked at the book he was able to read it! Like I said, they are very simple books, but he isn't even five, and he can read them! Since December, he has learned to read the first nine books.
I recorded this video of him today. He is reading the fifth and the ninth books. He is so smart, and he loves to learn. We are so proud of him for reading! He gets pretty proud of himself too. He would get a huge grin on his face when he would remember what the 'J' says. He tries to guess some of the words sometimes, without sounding the letters out, and occasionally he'll look at the picture on the page and try to guess what the words say. All in all, he is doing a great job. It's so fun to watch him grow and learn!

Baby Porter

My sister, Tara, had her baby last week. He weighed 7 lbs. 14 oz. and was 20 in. long. When Simon was born he was the same weight, and one half inch longer. When I hold baby Porter, it is strange to think that Simon was almost that exact same size once...and now look at him!! Anyway, last Saturday I took some pictures of Porter. I think he is so cute! Enjoy!

P.S. Tara made the multi-colored blanket. Didn't she do a great job!?

December 2008

This month is obviously the busiest month of the year for us. I typically like to have all of my shopping done before December, and if I'm lucky, before Thanksgiving. I don't love shopping anyway, but I hate it even more in December. This year, I was done with my Christmas shopping before we went to Disneyland! As a result, we were all able to enjoy Christmas!

We started by dipping chocolates for our neighbors. I'm not sure how long my mom has dipped chocolates at Christmas time, but it has been a while. I decided I would carry on the tradition in our home, because I love it, and they are yummy!

I tried to let Simon help...but I don't have that much patience. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist in some aspects of my life. Anything that will be seen by other people, has to look good. I'm vain, I know.

We also had a number of Christmas parties. We had one party with the Sessions (my mom's family), a Drummond party, Granny Bliss had her party (one of my favorite), Grandma Wright had one, and we had a Bliss party! I love getting together and seeing people that I don't get to see very often, and I love being around family.

On Christmas Eve, we have started a family tradition where we take turns having one great grandma sleep over. This year Grandma Bliss stayed with us. We always have hot cocoa and read a Christmas book before bed. This year, we read The Polar Express.

Simon and Nolan have loved reading that book since we got it. Anytime Simon would tell Santa what he wanted, or anytime anyone asked him what he wanted for Christmas he would say "a bell from Santa's sleigh."

We loved having Granny Great stay with us on Christmas Eve. It's a fun tradition that we all hope we get to do for a long time!

Christmas morning, as always, was really fun. Christmas is so different when you have kids. They are so much fun to watch. I've always gotten so excited for Christmas day. I still can't fall asleep the night before, and I wake up long before anyone else does. Ben wasn't too thrilled with me when I woke him up and all of the kids were still asleep! (we DID have to get to a party...so he really did have to wake up...)

Even though we all woke up early, we had a really good Christmas. And not to mention, the kids made out like bandits! All three of them got just what they wanted, and more than they could possibly need. I even had a bell in my decorations that I wasn't using, and that Simon has never seen, so I wrapped it up in a little box so that he could get a bell from Santa's sleigh. He loved it!

We are very blessed to have such wonderful families, who live so close, and with whom we can share the Christmas season.

Family Pictures

These next two pictures give a pretty good inclination of how our family pictures went. As Ben would say, we were in the tenth level of Hell. It was pretty frustrating...

...but it wasn't that bad.

It took a lot longer than I thought it would, but in spite of all of the torture, we did get a good family picture!

We also got at least one half-way decent picture of each of the kids together and on their own.

Here are some pictures that I thought were funny...

This is Bella yelling at us because she didn't want to sit down and take pictures...she yelled at us the whole time.

She also would not stay sitting down. We would sit her on the little chair, and she would stand up immediately. I love Simon's face in this one...he looks so happy to be there.This is what Nolan did when we told him he could be done...And here is one of my two boys...

Simon and Nolan were absolute angels for the pictures. I had to bribe them, but that's not what matters! I got a good family picture with three little kids!! Hooray!

Our Disneyland Andventure

I think that Disneyland is one of Ben's and my favorite places to go. It is always so clean and is run like a well oiled machine! My favorite part are the fireworks, and the "snow" that comes down after the firework show is over. It truly is the happiest place on earth! We have so much fun watching the kids faces light up and seeing them get so excited about everything they see, hear, and do! We could live there and be perfectly happy about it!
This year, was our second trip to Disneyland with all of Ben's family. We left at early o'clock in the morning on Friday the 21st. Lucky for us, the kids were very cooperative when we woke them up so early. They were pretty excited to get on a plane and go to Disneyland!

Ready to board the plane!
It was quite an interesting process trying to get three tired kids, four suitcases, one car seat, two booster seats a double stroller and two carry-on bags in the airport! Then we had to go through security (which meant taking those tired kids out of the stroller, taking off every one's shoes and jackets, removing the laptop and the portable DVD player from the carry-on, showing the one quart size bag of liquids, trying to fit the double stroller through the stupid tiny little hole to get x-rayed,herding the kids through the metal detector, and then trying to get everything back into it's respective bags, shoes and jackets back on and kids back in the stroller)!! ...At least we are safe while on the plane.

When we finally got on the plane, Mickey Mouse called all of the boys (Collin, Simon, Nolan and Bauer) to tell them to have fun on their vacation, and that he'll see them real soon. All of them loved it except for Collin. He wasn't too impressed. He looked at Kai (Ben's mom) and said "That's not really Mickey Mouse, it's just a recording." I guess he's a little too old for the call!

video of calls coming soon

When we got to California, we picked up our rental car, took our stuff to the hotel, got some yummy breakfast, and went to Wal-Mart for some snacks and drinks to have in the room. By then, the kids were so tired. They just needed a quick nap! I love this picture. I think they look so darn cute...

Tired babies

Saturday was our first day at Disneyland! We got to see Mickey and Minnie Mouse and Buzz Light Year. The kids loved the rides (all except the part where you wait in line). I also got Bella a little princess crown! She looked so dang cute.

Princess Bella

Ben asked me why I bought it. I told him that I bought it because she needed it. She's a princess, and princesses need a crown!!

Disneyland

On Sunday we went to church and just hung out at the hotel.

Monday was another Disneyland/California Adventure day! That meant more rides, wahoo!! We learned that day, that Nolan is 39.9999999 inches tall. You have to be 40 in. to ride on a lot of the big rides. We had the lovely Disneyland workers measure him each time we went on a ride. None of them would let him go on. One of them stuck a card, the same thickness as a credit card, between Nolan's head and the bar. Because there was that tiny itty bitty little space, he wouldn't let him go on Space Mountain. Jerk.

California Adventure

We also bought Nolan a new monkey. This time he wanted a blue one. The green one that Grandpa bought him two years ago is a mess. It has holes all over it, and is missing an eye. We figured he would like to get a newer, softer version. We were right.

Nolan and his monkey

One of the funniest things that I saw Bella do on the trip, was this...

Tantrums

She got so mad at something we did or didn't let her do, or something, so she started crying (one). That wasn't getting any one's attention, and all mom was doing was taking pictures of her, so she threw herself on the floor (two). While she was on the floor, she noticed that it had a strange pattern (three). She was so fascinated by the pattern of the tile on the floor that she forgot why she was throwing the fit in the first place (four)!

Tuesday was Universal Studios day. We decided that we should find some shoes for Nolan that made him a little bit taller. We put different shoes on him for Universal, and not one person checked his height. They didn't even give him a second look. I'm not sure how I feel about that...but he did get to go on a few of the rides. mostly, the kids liked meeting the characters. Grandpa and Kai got Simon a dinosaur toy set that Simon guarded for the rest of the trip. He still loves playing with it too.

Universal Studios

As you can see, Nolan wasn't too sure about Betelgeuse and Bella wasn't thrilled with Shrek or Curios George. And I just love this picture of Simon that I took....

Simon

Here's something strange...Universal Studios closes at 6:00! Does that seem early to anyone else? Anyway, when it closed, we went to dinner at Hard Rock. YUMMY!

Wednesday was another Disneyland/California Adventure day. Grandpa and Kai got Bella a little Belle dolly, which she loves. And Nolan got a "nake"(snake) He was really excited about the "nake." He kept walking around saying "Look at my nake! thhhhh thhh thhhh" (He has a little bit of a lisp...so his snake says "thhh" instead of "ssss")! We found Cars UNO and got it for Buddy. He loves to play that game. He was so excited that it was Cars. We also put Nolan in the taller shoes, and he got to go on the rides with no trouble. I'm glad he got to go on them, he loved it. Nolan was also crowned as prince of the merry-go-round. They give out one crown for each ride, and Nolan was picked! He thought it was the coolest thing.

Disneyland/Cal. Adventure

Thursday was Thanksgiving. We went to a restaurant for our Thanksgiving dinner...and it wasn't great. It was barely good. It made me miss being home for the yummy home-cooked dinners! :O(

Friday was more Disneyland and California Adventure! We walked around with Rae, Collin, Grandpa and Kai so we could go do the "boring" stuff. I thought it was fun though. Ben's mom had circled all of the things she wanted to see on her Disneyland map. She's so organized! We went on the Mark Twain Riverboat. Simon loved to look at the ducks. All of the boys liked to hang over the edge and look at the water. We also went to the Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island. That was a lot of fun. There were lots of things for Simon, Nolan and Collin to climb on. They loved the tree house, caves, and the ball of bones!

Disneyland

Bella's favorite ride was Small World. She loved to look at all the decorations. She was really cute too. She would bounce up and down, and dance to the music while pointing at everything. We went on that ride multiple times. All of us (in our little family) love Small World.

Disneyland

Saturday was the last day in Disneyland and California Adventure, so we went on the rides that the kids liked the best. Simon's favorites were Tower of Terror and "Jack" which is The Haunted Mansion. During the holiday season they have the Haunted Mansion decorated with The Nightmare Before Christmas stuff. Nolan's favorite rides were Big Thunder Mountain and Buzz Light Year. They all loved Pirates, so we made sure to go on that one more time. The only ride Simon didn't get to go on was Indiana Jones. He wasn't tall enough...he's about three inches too short. He was absolutely crushed when he had to sit out while all of the big people and Collin got to go on. Ben and I only went on that ride once. We didn't want to make Buddy sad again...poor guy.

A couple of days, when everyone was just hanging around the rooms, we went down to the pool. Simon LOVED to take a big breath, hold it, and stick his head under the water. He thought it was the coolest thing. He also, to my surprise, loved to do cannon balls into the water. Nolan liked to ride on Ben's back, and Bella didn't really like to be in the pool. She just walked around the outside of it smiling and laughing like she was getting away with something. All three of them did, however, like being in the hot tub. Or "the warm pool" as they called it.

Fun in the pool

Bauer was pretty scary by the water. A couple of times he just jumped in whether there was an adult near by or not. He jumped in the deep end and I almost jumped in after him, not realizing that I was holding my camera! Luckily, Rae said "I'll get him! I'll get him!" and she jumped in before I did! He was fearless!

On Sunday, we went to visit Del and Caylene (my brother and sister-in-law) and their two cute girls. It was good to see them! We only ever get to see them once a year. This time we got to see their new home! It was very cute. Caylene made some yummy chicken tacos and the kids played together. Brynn, their oldest, kept asking me to follow her around and take pictures of her. It was really cute.

Del and Caylene's home

After visiting them, we met everyone back at the hotel and went to the beach. I love the beach! We got there just in time to see the sunset. It was beautiful. They collected sea shells, and built sand castles. Simon thought it was cool to write his name in the sand. They were having a great time running around until Simon and Nolan found a sink hole type thing, and got soaking wet. They were cranky and cold from then on. Bella loved to run around and chase the birds. She also liked letting the waves come up on her for a little while...until she got knocked over by one. Then she was through. I took her to Kai and she got Bella wrapped up in some towels to keep warm. Bella wasn't too thrilled to be at the beach anymore. She was even less happy when we stripped her down and put her in the showers they have there! The boys hated the showers too. Needless to say, they were ready to go home. We were only at the beach for about an hour. Wimps.

At the Beach

On Monday, everyone except our family and Brian, Katie and Bauer left for the airport early in the morning. Ben took the boys down to the pool, while Bella took a nap and I packed up. We had to check out of the hotel by 1:00, so everything had to be in the car. We got lunch at Jack-in-the-Box, (my favorite fast food place in California) and took it back to the pool to eat. Then we met Brian, Katie and Bauer in Downtown Disney to walk around, kill some time, and do a little shopping! Then it was off to the airport! We were all sad to be leaving. Going home meant that vacation was over...sigh. However, it was nice to get home to our own beds. Even Simon wanted to sleep in his own room. We definitely had a great time though! Like I said, Ben and I love it at Disneyland. Now, I think our kids love it just as much as we do! Hopefully we get to go again soon! It really was a magical eleven days!!

Trent and Jeri Lynn, thanks for the awesome vacation!

Happy Belated Birthday Nolan!

I'm horrible...I know. Nolan's birthday was three weeks ago, and I'm just getting to the blog post about our sweet little stinker.

I can't believe that he is three! I've said it before, but time just goes by so fast!
We had a little birthday party for him on the 18th. Nothing fancy, just cake and ice cream with the family. He helped me make his cake, and loved opening his presents! Thanks to everyone who came, and for all of the presents! We just love Nolan. He is (or can be) the sweetest little kid. He is so much fun to be around, and he says the funniest things.
Some of his favorite things right now are...

Food: Pizza or chicken nuggets
Treat: Fruit snacks
Stuffed animal: His green monkey and mickey mouse

Toy: Imaginext Jungle he got for his birthday
Color: Blue
Cartoon: Scooby Doo
Book: Green Eggs and Ham
Song: Any Tarzan song
Drink: Ratarade (gatorade)
We sure do love you Nolan!


Pictures and video of our Disneyland trip, coming soon!