Transitions

I feel like our family is in the middle of one great big transition... and its a bit unnerving that half of this "transition" is not set in stone. Let me explain... We are moving which is great, and is definitely a for sure thing. However, our summer job situation is not a sure thing, and we are trying so hard to get this figured out. So far Mike is tutoring 4 people this summer, but that is always variable. He is working on campus at the Tutoring center, giving him 8 hours of work a week. On top of that, we both give our life force (plasma) each week to bring in a few extra dollars, but these combined still don't pay our bills. So we've been filling out application after application in hopes that between the two of our combined efforts, one of us can land a temporary summer position to get us through to next fall. No luck quite yet, but we are still working at it every day.

Last weeks weather was variable, but it started off great! The weather was pristine and beautiful, we spent practically all last Monday (the 19th) outside. I dressed the boys in similar outfits, and couldn't resist snapping a few pictures of them as they played outside.

Brandon is getting so big!
He has been eating like a horse
and growing like a weed...

This is where Kimball could spend
his whole day, digging in the dirt!
P.S. That hat is no longer in his wardrobe,
as he let it fly out the window later that
afternoon while in the car:)

These two are the most
mischievous brothers

We were so excited about the weather, we decided to break out the grill. Mike had just started getting the charcoal heated up for the steaks when our good neighbor, Chad, invited our family to join theirs in a mini fishing trip. We gladly accepted, of course, and left our charcoal and steaks, heading off for a fun filled evening below the American Falls dam on the Snake River. The Baker's were so gracious to invite us and share their hotdogs and smores with us... Yumm!
The fishing was great as well, Mike caught this beautiful bass...
And Chad and Mike gutted it...
It was a great night!

I was going through my pics for this month and thought these three were cute.

Brandon working on his Math skills with Dad

Brother hug

I was taking an afternoon power nap on the floor
on Sunday, and Brandon decided to lay on my back

Adventuresome week!

Last week was a lot of fun for our family. We had visits from Corey and Daymi's family on Monday and Wednesday, and we also had Brianna and Kaydien up the whole week staying with my mom and with me some nights. Their parents, Matt and Katrina, and their little sis Madison joined them on the weekend. I had all the kids over at my house last Monday, a week ago, and here are some cute pictures that I snapped of each of them.

Kelvin running away from the storm troopers (Kimball and Kaydien)

Kimball chasing his cousins with a light sabre

Brianna told Kaydien to pose...

Little Abigail being a cheese!

Elena up in the tree

Brianna had a lot of fun climbing the tree as well

Later on that evening, we had an Easter egg hunt at Mor-Mor's house. It was like the kids version of Running of the Bulls, so cute but also so chaotic! Here is Kimball with his bag, searching for the few remaining Easter eggs.

And last, I had to post this pic of my Brandon!
I just love his smiles

Yesterday was an adventure for Mike and Matt. Matt had planned on putting a new roof on my Grandparents patio and when Mike caught wind of this, he really wanted to help. So he left with my mom shortly before Church yesterday, headed for Idaho Falls. He and Matt spent all day putting up the roof. I went up to IF after church was over and enjoyed dinner at my Grandma's house... the turkey was to DIE for. Unfortunately, I had to cut my trip short due to some pretty grumpy boys, one in particular though. I wish I had brought my camera but I spaced it on that one. Mike really enjoyed helping Matt and my Grandparents out.

But all good things come to an end, I woke up this morning with the bad case of a stomach bug and have spent all day trying to regain my strength. Bummer deal, especially on a Monday, which is always my busiest day of the week. I hope tomorrow dawns a brighter and more productive day for me.

The moving Day

We are moving, and it isn't April Fools anymore, so you can believe me... We are not moving to Southbend, IN like Mike would love to and so convincingly made it out to be yesterday! We are moving however, to a 3 bedroom apartment not too far from where we live now in Pocatello. It has a fully fenced yard and is right across the road from a Scardino Park, which is very beautiful, lots of trees, open space, a sledding hill, and swings! Anyways, we move on May 4th, and we are very excited about the upgrade to 3 bedrooms and a fully fenced play yard for the kiddos. I will post some pics when the time comes and we are moved in. To all my friends in our neighborhood, I hope we can stay in contact and still hang out occasionally!

Blessings...

I was able to attend an endowment session at the Idaho Falls Temple this morning at the crack of dawn. For once I was alert and awake through the entire session, and I gleaned from those two hours so much by way of gratitude. First of all to my Father in Heaven and my Savior, Jesus Christ. My thoughts were drawn to the movie "The Testaments" and the scenes where the savior experiences deep anguish of body and soul in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the Cross, and the torturous abuse in between. He suffered on behalf of millions and offers me a chance to repent and improve my life, using his atonement as an integral part of my life and spiritual progression. I am grateful to Him and to my Heavenly Father for sending His Son.

I am also very thankful for the scriptures, they are a balm to my soul when I most need it. Last week I finished reading the Book of Mormon. I've lost count of how many times I've read it, what precious doctrine and teachings are in every page. In finishing my reading, near the end of the book when the Nephite Nation is just about destroyed, it amazed me at the darkness and hopelessness they were living in, when just a short time prior they were living in the greatest light right after the Savior visited the America's. What a blessing it is to read about these ancient peoples who have gone before.

I also reflected greatly on the blessing of Temple worship and ordinances. It is a privilege to step inside the walls of the temple, to sit quietly in beautiful place where the noises and disruptions of the world are left outside. I tried to imagine for a second of my life without these quiet hours in the Lord's house, and I felt despair in the thought. In addition to the blessings I've already listed, how much more I have been given? A thoughtful husband, two sweet boys, the Gospel, a roof over my head, food to eat, an education, clothes to wear, extended family who love and support, friends who care... and the list could go on and on.

I look forward to this Easter and to General Conference this weekend (and its the weekend of the big move for my mom, into her apartment here in Poky!!). All blessings to be recognized and gratitude to share!

Diapers aren't cheap!

I cringe every time I buy diapers, because they are so expensive! But yesterday I didn't cringe as much because I was able to work out an awesome deal on diapers! Allyou.com has coupons that you can print, and this past Saturday I got an email from them with their current coupon deals, one of which was a $3 dollar off coupon for ANY size of Huggies diapers. I was stoked, that is a rare coupon! So I went hunting for a good bargain on diapers, hoping that they were on sale somewhere. I didn't have to look very far. On www.iheartwags.com, I looked at the future sale ads for Walgreens and found that Huggies diapers were on sale for $8.99 a pack and when you purchase 3 you get $5 in Register Rewards, good for any future purchase in Walgreens. So here is a summary of my diaper purchase last night:

3 Packs Huggies: $8.99 each ($28.59 w/ tax)
3 $3 dollar coupons: less $9
$5 in Register Rewards: less $5
GRAND TOTAL: $14.59 (108 diapers size 3)

I pay $0.16 per diaper when I purchase the Parents Choice brand diapers at Walmart ($15.86 for 96 diapers size 3), but for this deal I paid $0.13 per diaper on a name brand!!! Now that is a deal...

A Birthday for Corey!

My brother Corey is a great guy! Hard-working, honest, a great family man, and I could go on and on. We celebrated his Birthday, his life, and had so much fun doing so! On Friday him and his family surprised us by calling up and asking if they could come down for a visit. So we had 6 guests (Corey and his family and my mom) over on Friday for a great lunch, games, cake, and a cool car show at ISU. Then to top off his pre-birthday celebration, we went to Olive Garden... so yummy! The bummer thing about dinner though was we had a sick little Elena, and Daymi spent half the dinner in the van with her.

Here is Corey with the gooey Chocolate cake I made

His real Birthday was on Saturday, and from what we heard he had an enjoyable day at home with his family. On Sunday they hosted a family dinner at his house, complete with fun games, a great meal, enjoyable company, and perfect homemade birthday pies (compliments of my mom).

Brandon had to give Corey a good birthday
light-sabre battle

My hubby Mike enjoying the afternoon

Mor-mor playing games

Sly Daymi with her cards
(P.S. If you haven't tried the card
game Monopoly Deal, you definitely
should, so FUN!)

Umm, this is quite the picture to try and explain...
Corey's friends from work gave him a gift containing
the weird items that he is sporting... and in order to
eat his pie, he had to put this stuff on!d

Couponing Fun

My sister Melissa turned me on to couponing while I was in Illinois last month. She and Wes are professional couponers and while I am not yet at their expertise, I have started and am improving my skills. Here is how I like to use coupons in my shopping:

On Monday I go to the Newspaper office and pick up 3 Sunday newspapers (soon though I will be getting the regular Mon-Sat subscription and 5 Sunday newspapers delivered to me which will cost me $17). From those newspapers, I take out all of the coupon leaflets, which include Smart Source, Red Plum, and P&G Saver. I also take out one copy of the stores weekly specials, like Walgreens, Albertsons, and Fred Meyer to name a few.

Next I write my menu and grocery list for that week. I then scan the coupon leaflets for coupons that would match what is on my grocery list. This week I had Scotch-brite scrubbing products for my dishwashing needs, and I found matching coupons. I noticed that at Walgreens you could buy toothpaste for 3.99 (I had a 1.00 coupon on top of that) and in return you would get a $4 catalina good for any future purchase. So I took my coupons and used the catalinas from purchasing the toothpaste to fund my scotchbrite purchases. I had to add some fillers, hence in the picture you see bubbles, m&ms and 2 cadbury eggs. So here is my purchase...
What do you think I paid for this? My out of pocket expense was $13.94. How much would all of these products cost me if I had paid full price? $33.67!!!! That is a savings of $19.73, which is great! The cool thing is, I needed them anyways.

Albertsons had a pretty cool deal this week as well. You could take any coupon in that was worth up to a dollar and have it doubled. So I bought three packs of feminine pads, which would have cost me $11.09 but only paid $4.92 after 3 $1.00 coupons that were matched by the store, for a total of $6.00 off!! I am loving this!

Craft Time

Saturday was a fun day, because I was able to spend it with some pretty awesome women. Grandma Moore hosted an Easter Craft Day at her house where we made cute Easter Bunnies. Grandpa Moore picked out the wood, which he wasn't too happy with because the wood was labeled as choice, and he didn't believe it held up to that description. He cut the wood out and sanded it down. Grandma Moore got all the craft supplies gathered and ready for all the fun, which started at 1:00 on Saturday. Who was able to come (at least while I was there)? First there were my grandparents, then my mom Carolyn, my sister in-law Daymi, my cousins Rebekah and Sarah, Jessica (my cousin Jared's fiance), and my uncle Brent and Aunt Debbie (spectators). We had a lot of fun chatting and making a super cute Easter bunny. I can't wait until we get together again!!

My creation

Daymi's creation

The group of Bunnies (there are some missing...)

Debbie REALLY didn't want me to take a picture...

Jessica, Sarah, Rebekah working on their craft while
Brent and Grandpa Moore watch

My mom gluing flowers in her pot

Grecian Chicken Salad

For all those readers of my blog who love food and like to try new recipes, have I got a post for you! This is my favorite meal, hands down! Try it, and I promise you will not be let down!

Grecian Chicken Salad
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 cup seeded chopped cucumber
1 cup seeded chopped tomato
1/3 cup sliced green onions
1/4 cup lemon juice from concentrate
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp dried basil leaves
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 cups shredded lettuce
4 pita bred rounds, halved

In medium bowl, combine chicken, cucumber, tomato, and onions. In jar or cruet, combine lemon juice, oil, sugar, salt, basil, and garlic; shake well. Pour over chicken mixture. Cover; marinate in refrigerator for 2 hours. Serve in pita bread. It is optional to serve with lettuce. My mom likes to eat the salad over lettuce, not in the pita bread.
NOTE: This is DELICIOUS and healthy, especially with whole wheat pitas.

Mike's new truck

Mike has wanted an Chevy S10 for quite some time now, and I think part of it has to do with the fact that his oldest brother Steve has one. The time finally came, we just couldn't handle the one car situation, with Mike having school and work obligations, and me needing to run my errands and what not... so he went and purchased our second vehicle, a 1993 Chevy S10. It is a good little truck, only 95k on it. The best part, I no longer have to drop him off and pick him up from school, or go without the car for a whole day. How exciting is that!