It finally stopped snowing, so this afternoon, the girls and I went outside.  Felicity sat on the porch while Lydia and I built a snowman.  She didn't like the snow suit much, but she loves being outside.

Here is our snowman.  Isn't he cute?  We found some leftover corn stalks for his arms.


I tried to get Lydia to hold Felicity, but I had to hold her up because Lydia's got weak arms, but they are two of the cutest girls ever!  Don't you love the chocolate smeared on Lydia's cheeks?


Earlier this month, we went to Harmons and had the kids sit on Santa's lap.  He had a throne made out of coke 24 paks.  The S above his head was diet coke.


Lydia was really excited, she ran right up and climbed on his lap.  I think Ben was scared of Santa at her age.  What a social little gal. When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she held up a toy chicken she had in her hand and said 'this!'


Ben looked so big sitting there.  My little boy is growing up!  He asked for a zhu zhu pet.


Everyone thought Felicity was so cute.  We even had a lady ask if she could take her picture too.


I had to show you all this picture from the big snow storm. Our poor reindeer got buried. The first one is the reindeer buried, the second after it melted.





I had to include this picture too.  On Sunday I put all of us girls in red, so we decided to take a picture of us.  Aren't we cute?

While I am on the subject of coupons, I have also been checking out some daily deals.  Some of these you can get rss feeds too, and others email you the deal every day.  Check them out!

Groupon
KSL Deals
Daily Steals (Make sure to check out their other steals on the right)
Woot (they also have kids woot and shirt woot)
City Deals

Add more in your comments if you know of any!

I apologize for not posting more often.  Three kids just take up all of my time!  I also have been couponing a lot lately and that also takes up some time!  Here are some of the sites that I use the most:

Grocery Smarts - they have a printable grocery list based on the ads that shows what coupons you can use to get some great deals!  Just choose your state from the top left and then select what store you want to go to.  Smiths always seems to be the hottest.

Totally Target - if you like to shop at Target in lieu of that other store that Jared and I do not choose to patronize, this is a really great blog to follow.  My favorite post every week is the Best Deals of the Week.  You can search for it or click on "Weekly Ad".

My SLC Mommy - I don't look at this one as often, but she posts some good deals other places besides grocery stores sometimes.

One Cheap Chick - She also posts some good local deals or highlights from some of the blogs above.  This is actually where I started this whole coupon thing.  Jared found this blog and we started watching it

The Thrifty Couple - If you have a kid in diapers, this is a good blog to use.  Once a week they have a post titled "Best Deals on Diapers this Week".  That is about all I use it for.

Savvy Shopper Deals - This also has a printable list.  It doesn't have all the grocery stores, but it has stores like Target, Rite Aid, Walgreens, etc. (Click on Shopping Wizard)  The best thing about this tool is that you can search!

Hope these lists will help some of you save money!

Born August 31st at 2:17am.  7lbs 14oz and 21in long.

Cutest little girl ever!

The apricots ripened later than we were expecting, so we still have a ton on our tree if you want some!

Hi all!

Yes, we are still alive and well, thanks for asking. Unfortunately, time isn't kind to us sometimes. How are we already halfway through the summer?

Haven't blogged in awhile--I spent some time writing up the "list of things I hate," but I feared that if I published it I would suffer reprisals from my friends and family who own minivans. So, here's a quick read to lighten up your day. These are some of the more memorable things Ben has said recently:

"I sure am glad we're sitting in the shade"
(While sitting at a table inside Costco, eating a pizza. For whatever reason, the food court tables located inside that store have umbrellas over them, much to Ben's delight)

"Maybe you can write it for me while I sleep"
(Upon being reminded that he had to write a talk to give in church this week)

"I think we should name the baby 'Timemaster'"

"Can I see?"
(Upon hearing Colleen's melodramatic exclamation that Lydia, who is potty training, had left a deposit in the actual toilet. The answer was, of course, "no, you may not")

"But how do you pause it?"
(When asked to put down the book he was reading and go brush his teeth)

Now that the cherries are done, we are getting ready for the apricot onslaught.  For those of you who haven't seen our tree, it is monstrous and produces enough apricots for the whole city.  Ok, maybe not that many, but in years past we have had my sister-in-law bring over her sisters, we have picked a ton, our neighbors have picked some, and we still have a nice thick layer of apricot goo on our lawn and sidewalk.

So, if you like apricots or like to make apricot jam, come and get them!  They are not ripe yet, but they are getting lighter and should be over and done by the 24th of July.  Come over anytime.  If we are not here, you are still welcome to pick some.  We will probably leave the fruit picker out for anyone who comes by.  If we are here, we will let you borrow the ladder.  And we will give you bags or anything else you need to keep them from rotting in my flower beds!

In about a week and a half, Jared is going to hit the big 30.  A couple of months ago we had talked about just having an open house type of thing.  Jared really isn't into birthday parties, so I was surprised that he suggested it.  Recently, however, he has been trying to avoid the topic and says he doesn't really want it anymore.  But, since he gave me permission a couple months ago, I am going to go forward with it anyway.  I think he secretly wants to, just doesn't want to admit it.

Anyway, if any of you who read this blog want to come, you are invited.  It is going to be on June 16th from 6:30pm-whenever at our house.  It will be an open house type, so you don't have to show up right at 6:30.  If you don't know where we live, then try to get a hold of me because I am not going to post the address here. (We might have some party crashers).  Let anyone else know that knows Jared and might like to come.  Jared doesn't like presents, but if you feel like you need to bring something, you can bring a drink, a snacky type of item, or a couple bucks for pizza.

Sorry we haven't posted in a while.  Jared has a good rant in the works, but just hasn't had time to work on it.

Anyway, here is what we have been up to:

Spring jumped onto the scene with tons of blossoms on our trees.  Our apricot tree was first, of course.  We sang 'Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree' a couple times before they faded, of course.  Then the rest of the trees decided to compete in a most beautiful blossom contest.  Seriously, it was gorgeous.  Even the three trees out front that don't produce fruit got in on the show.  Personally, I think they won.  They get these huge pink blossoms that really weigh down their branches.  Any how, then we thought winter had come back for a while, but it was just the trees dropping all their blossoms onto our lawn.  It looked like it was snowing when you shook a branch.

In the meantime, we kept ourselves busy with vistitors from out of town, weddings, baby showers, Mother's day, and a singing performance.

My sister, Charese, and her husband, Andy who are both deployed to Iraq right now were on leave here for a couple weeks in April/May.  Their kids are living with my parents right now, so my mom's house was even crazier for a couple weeks. (She has those 4 kids, my dad's parents, and Jarom still at home).  It was really good to see her.

A couple days before she left, my sister Nannette came into town for my little brother Ivan's wedding.  So, my mom had an additional 4 kids and 2 adults at her house.  Let's see, the total being 17 people in that house.  Thankfully, Melinda, who was also in town for the wedding, stayed at her in-laws.  This was all on Mother's day weekend, so add in people coming in and out to wish my mom a happy Mother's day and talk to my brother, Jacob, who is on a mission in Georgia.  Crazy!  Let's just say that Jared stayed home that day while I made the visit with the kids.  I don't think he could have handled all that craziness!  Besides, he was busy at home making me a delicious Mother's day dinner.

May 10th, the Monday after Mother's day, Ivan got married to Monica.  That was a pretty crazy day as well trying to get everyone in pictures at the temple and keep the kids from playing in the mud.  I think one of my nieces even picked all of the flowers at the reception center.  I was really tired after all that, but I had to get up the next day and work and practice for a little performance my ward was doing of the Ten Virgins on May 13th and 14th.  After that crazy week was over, I finally could relax and let myself get a migraine.

Well, I guess we didn't really relax that Saturday.  Since it was sunny and there is some rule out there somewhere that you are supposed to do it a week after Mother's day, we planted our garden.  Not only did we put in a ton of pumpkins, watermelon, tomatoes, peppers, corn, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and who knows what else, I also had over 3 flats of flowers that had been sitting out there for weeks, waiting to be planted.  We got them all in, but that is about all we did that day from the time we woke up until a late dinner at about 6 or so.  It was back-breaking work!  We were both sore the next day.

After all that work, what do we find a couple days later?  Stubs of tomato plants.  Snails had eaten all the leaves off my tender little tomato plants that I had started from seed and watched grow for the last several months!!!!  I hate snails!!!!!  Only 3 or 4 out of 11 survived.  Thankfully, a coworker had some extras, so I planted 2 of those, but we will need to buy a couple more.  This coworker also gave us okra, squash, more watermelon, honey dew, tam dew, and cantaloupe plants.  So guess what I did yesterday?  Yep, I planted some more.  I am so sick of planting.  We are certainly following the prophet's voice of being self-sufficient.  We have an orchard and a small farm in our backyard.  Now all we need is some chickens and a cow or two and we would never have to go to the grocery store again!

To top all of this off, I am going to be huge this summer, so if anyone wants to come over and pull some weeds for me, let me know.  I will give you all the fruit you want if you come pick it!

For those of you who haven't heard, we are expecting again!  We are due in late August/early September (I am hoping August).  I have been really sick, so I am claiming that as an excuse if it seems the blog posts are lacking lately.

We don't know what we are having yet (I am only 11 weeks along), and we are planning on not finding out until the baby is born.  I think it makes it more exciting!  We will try to keep you updated.

We finally finished our little Christmas project for the kids!  Jared did most of the work, but Ben and I helped sand and paint a little.  If you feel adventurous here is a link to the instructions that we followed: http://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/better-homes-gardens/diy/projects/article/-/5826148/gelato-table/

We used particle board instead of MDF because it was cheaper, and we just put casters on the bottoms of the chairs instead of wheels, but it turned out good!  We aren't the best carpenters, but I think we managed quite well for our inexperience.  One warning is that it is really heavy, being made from 3/4" wide particle board.  Hopefully that means it is sturdy and will last a long time, but we won't be moving it up and down the stairs unless we have to!

(Just so you know, she put her face in her bowl of Spaghettios)