Avatar

We went and saw Avatar 3D this last week with my brother and his wife. FABULOUS MOVIE!!! The 3D was amazing, the story line was a little weak, but the visuals and the movie itself were breathtaking!

There are a few things I will change when we go again. 1) We won't be sitting in the very front row. These were the only seats left when we got there and I think it increased my motion sickness quite a bit. 2) I will fork out the money for drinks. We got one to share and I should have gotten my own. I settled my stomach. 3) I'll wear short sleeves. Getting too hot only increased me getting sick!

It was an amazing experience, even with the motion sickness. It is almost 3 hours and it doesn't feel like it. It flows so well and goes by so quickly. We loved it and will go again!

Christmas and the New year!

I love Christmas. It isn't my favorite holiday, but it comes in as second. (I LOVE the 4th of July!!!) Christmas eve we have a family tradition that started with my grandparents. We gather together and gorge ourselves on chinese food. My grandfather started this tradition as a gift to my grandmother. She would always make these huge and wonderful Christmas dinners, and he didn't want her to have to cook on Christmas eve. So, every Christmas eve, they would load up the family and take them to the Bonneville downtown for chinese food. It has been a tradition ever since. My husband especially loves this tradition because he LOVES chinese food! We gathered at my parent's house this year, everyone bringing 2 of their favorite dishes to share. There were 17 of us, and we still had WAY too much food. The kids wore their new pj's over, and after dinner they all dressed up and did the Christmas story. (this is apparently a family tradition, according to my mother, but we have NEVER done it before. lol!) Once we got everyone home, all the kids went to bed and were asleep by 9pm. We were very grateful for that! Little did we know the how tired we'd still be the next day...

Christmas morning came at 5am. Haiden was in our room shouting "Santa came! Santa came!" She apparently doesn't understand the joy of sleeping in. The family rule is they don't get up before 6am, they have to look for their stockings, and they don't get us up before 7am. Santa hides the stockings, so it gives them something to do so we can sleep in! Not this year. Apparently they were all up at 3am, waiting, until Haiden couldn't stand it any longer. We finally gave in and got up at 5:30, the kids had everything opened by 6. I don't even know if we got pictures, I was so tired! We made breakfast casserole, took it to my parents, opened presents there, then went home to nap before dinner. (Yes, my kids are spoiled. Too many presents this year because I forgot about some of the stuff I had already bought!) Here is where the chaos comes in. I was dead to the world during my nap, which means I got up a little late. I had to make pies and appetizers for dinner and only had 3 hours to do it. This seems like a lot of time, but each pie had to cook at different temperatures for at least an hour. In hindsight, I should have made them on Christmas Eve, but the power went out, I was getting over a cold, and frankly I was feeling lazy. Nevertheless, we made it to family dinner at my in-laws without any problems. The pies were done, the appetizers made, and we had a wonderful time with family.

Finally, this last week, I took down the tree, boxed up the decorations, and got my house back to normal. I love the holiday, and the spirit it brings to our home. I am grateful for the blessings we have recieved this last year, as well as the trials that have brought them. I hope all my friends, family, and neighbors had a wonderful Christmas season, and wish them the best in the coming new year!

Winding down!

Only a week until Christmas and the Grinch might make it to my house before Santa does! If the kids misbehave, the Grinch makes his way down our chimmney chart and when he gets to the bottom, they get a gift taken away. So far, they have been pretty good! We also have a box with a manger on it, and the family writes who has helped them that day. There are a few in there, I was hoping it would have the kids thinking about each other more, but alas, I was way too optimistic about it.

Last week was the TCPCS elementary Christmas concert. All the classes did such a wonderful job! I played the piano for each class, and I'm so glad they sang so well to cover up all my mistakes! It was a very fun and uplifting experience for me, to be able to share my talent and be with the kids each day. I'll miss them until it's time to start working on the spring concert!

Jordan had her Upbeat Choir concert tonight. It was beautiful! She sang very well and had a small speaking part where she told a joke. She is awesome and I love that she is willing to try new things and find her talents! Tomorrow is the recital for my piano students. I decided to hold it at an assisted living center this year, mainly because I know how lonely and detatched from the holidays those dear people become. I hope it all goes well! Some are ready, some are not, some can make it and some can't. So, I'm sure it will be short and sweet!

I am looking forward to Christmas, and the time spent with family. May God bless all of your families and you have a wonderful Christmas season!

New Blog

Ok, I said I'd start a blog for coupons and ads in the Idaho Falls area. I've finally got it set up, and started posting the sales! It is http://plentifulpantry.blogspot.com I am a little slow at getting things posted, BUT hopefully I will get on a posting schedule to keep everyone up to date! Good luck and happy savings!

Turkey Day!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. The kids all had friends spend the night for many days leading up the Thanksgiving, and we were blessed to have my nephew and niece come stay with us on Friday. Of course, I forgot to take pictures. The older kids had the opportunity to spend some time with their grandparents from Nevada. It was wonderful to see them again and the kids enjoyed their time with them. Thanksgiving was at my parents house this year, and it was a quite affair with just them and our family. My brother and his family spent the day with his wife's side, and we missed having them! However, that meant there was more pie for all of us! Considering there were just the 8 of us, we made way too much food, stuffed ourselves to exploding, took naps and swore to never eat that much again. We know it's a lie and it was just practice for all the upcoming holiday feasts in December. I've been feeling a littel run down lately, and have decided to go back and keep my food journal again. I did not realize how far I fell from the wagon until I did this again. Apparently I didn't just fall, I fell, was ran over, then left behind. So, once again, back to counting carbs and portion size. Hopefully I won't gain back all the weight I've worked so hard to lose! Other than that, things here are the same. I'm still playing the piano for the school program, I'm still teaching lessons, the kids are still doing well. Everything is good!

Making a new blog, it's the middle of November, WHat?

What do you mean it's the middle of November? There is no WAY next week is Thanksgiving! But, apparently it is and I have better finish my Christmas shopping soon if I don't want to be trampled by the hordes of shoppers in the coming weeks. I guess it just doesn't feel like November because there is no snow on the ground. Today I didn't even have to wear a coat, just a sweater. Oh well, time flies when you are having fun!

I am going to be creating a new blog for all my couponing and ad activities. I hope to include links to online coupons and deals once I figure out what I'm doing!

Total spent, total saved

Rob and I set off this evening to put my couponing skills to work. Here's a peek at how it went:
Total Spent: $98.67
Total Saved: $127.69

It was more than the $75 OOP I was looking for, but I can blame Rob for adding a few cases of pepsi to the cart, even though he found coupons for them. By far my best purchase of the night was Popsecret microwave popcorn. Albertson's had them 10/$10, I used 5 of my $1 off 2 coupons, AND 5 .$50 off you next order coupons from my previous transaction (Fleishman's yeast, each 3pk generated a .50 cent coupon). My 10 boxes of popcorn cost me $3.10. Completely thrilled! I'm still learning how to do this, so maybe next time I will be closer to $75 than $100 but we ended up with a lot of storage and staple items for very cheap!

11 boxes cereal (Smith's and Albertson's)
9 cans Del Monte Vegetables
2 pkg duracell batteries
5 pkg Fleishmans yeast
2 Sara Lee pies
2 Breyers Ice cream
2 Valu Pak Chicken legs and thighs
10 boxes popsecret popcorn
3 cases diet pepsi
4 cans chicken broth
3 bags hershey candy
1 bag choco chips
10 assorted Pillsbury refrigerated dough (cookie, rolls, biscuits)
2 butter

I still need to go buy milk, and produce at Winco tomorrow. But I'm very excited to be able to add to my storage!