New Skill

I have a friend who is AMAZING when it comes to saving money at the grocery store. She doesn't really like people to know that she has this hidden talent, but if she hears that somebody wants to learn, she is more than willing to teach. Luckily enough for me, a mutual friend told her I'd love to learn, so she's been spending the last week or so teaching me.

Last week was my first go at "couponing" at the grocery store. My first trip? I purchased $85.00 worth of groceries for $20!!! I was SO excited. I didn't think I could really do that well, but yay me! After figuring out some more tricks while shopping, I went back the very next day and got $35.oo worth of product for FREE. I can't even explain how excited I was, walking out of Frys with 2 overflowing bags knowing that I hadn't paid anything for them.

This is a photo of some of the items I got for free last week...there's still like 9 more things of handsoap not in there a well as some shampoo, conditioner and pasta. The Yakisoba isn't something we normally eat - but for free, I'm willing to try it! If nothing else, it will last forever in food storage!

It is a little time consuming doing all that planning, but to save over $100 in just one week? Totally worth it for me!

Totally Unrelated Side Story:

Saturday during all our cleaning, Brychan and Kehlton were helping David pick up rotten fruit that had fallen from our trees. Brychan was SO excited to find this orange with a perfect little heart on it!

Saturday Fun

After a morning of nothing but cleaning, yard work, cleaning and more yard work, the entire family took a nap and then headed out for some fun.

First stop was the air show at Luke AFB. We were waiting to see the Thunderbirds, but they were 20+ minutes late, and as you can tell by the last photo, some of us were running out of patience. We still had fun watching the few planes we did get to see and just running around in the back of Daddy's truck.

After the air show, we went to Cabela's to stock up on items for our 72 hour kits that I am finally re-doing. Cabella's is always a huge hit with everybody in our family. On our way out, Brychan had a melt down; evidently he wasn't ready to stop looking at the animals. The woman at the register even tried distracting him without any luck.

After driving down the interstate for a few minutes, Brychan finally calmed himself down. Out of nowhere I heard him say "Mommy, I'm sorry for screaming at you". (Can I just say how much I love it when he does that?!? He's done it just a few times before - noticing on his own that he's done something he shouldn't and then coming to whomever it was he was fighting with to fix the problem.) We talked about it for a minute, I told him what a good little boy he was and that I was so proud of him and then the conversation was over.

Just a few minutes after that, Brychan asked if we were going to see any police officers, to which we replied that we really didn't know. He was very adament that he wanted to see a police officer. I finally asked him why, and his response was: "I want to tell the police officer that I am being good". MELT MY HEART. Sometime last week we drove by an officer parked on the side of the road waiting for speeders. Brychan noticed him and asked what he was doing there. All I said was "The police officer is just sitting there making sure everybody is being good". That was enough to sastify Brychan, and the conversation ended. I am amazed that Brychan not only remembered that's what I said the police officer was doing and then made the connection that he wanted that officer to know that he was being good. Love him, love him, love him!!!

Spring Break

So far, Spring Break has been WONDERFUL!!! I know I hardly work at all (11 hours a week? If I'm lucky?), but it still makes such a huge difference in my day when I don't have to work. I've been trying to make the most of it with the boys.

After we got rid of all the sick germs, we were ready to start taking advantage of all the sun! It's been close to (if not over) 90 degrees here all week. So, here's the first naked baby photo of the summer. The boys haven't been inside much at all this week.

We also spent an entire morning at the park with some friends. Both boys were totally exhausted by the time we got home and Kehlton even slept for almost 4 hours. It was the best nights sleep our house has seen in a VERY long time. I think we need to spend more time at the park...

Brychan got another H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. hair cut. Seriously. I was so irritated with this girl cutting his hair, which made things worse since she just started shaking so bad. What am I supposed to do with this?!? It lays down only when wet. As soon as it's dry - doink!! Sticking straight up again. Well except for the exceptionally long piece in fron that just curls under. It's enough to make me want to go to beauty school; just so my son doesn't look ridiculous every time he gets a haircut.

We also planted some flowers. I was surprised at how excited Brychan got while we were at the store purchasing all the necessary items for his flowers. We planted his seeds this morning, and he's been dutifully watching over his flowers just like this pretty much ever since. Keeping my fingers crossed super tight that they actually grow. My thumb is the complete opposite color of green!

We still have some more fun things to do before my break is officially over. I also have a list of not so fun things to get done too. Cookies, a trip to the library, friends coming over to play and maybe a trip to Peter Piper Pizza. I can't wait for summer!!

Misery

This weekend was pretty rough. Ashley was with the boys Friday morning while I was visiting with some friends when I got a text saying that Kehlton had just thrown up. I came home to find that he had a fever. I thought it was just a combination of shots and two serious teeth trying to push through, until Brychan came down with that same fever Saturday afternoon.

Luckily, there was no more puking. Maybe that was just because both boys stopped eating for the entire weekend. I could hardly get them to drink anything. Brychan's fever would hit just over 102, I'd hide some Tylenol in his juice and he'd be good until about noon the next day. You know that kid is sick when he's just following me around and falling asleep wherever I happen to stop.

Kehlton's fever consistently hung out at 103. We were alternating ibuprofen and Tylenol for two days straight. I started getting a little nervous Saturday night when it just topped over 103, I couldn't get it to go down and he refused to drink anything. The poor kid was just absolutely miserable. But, as miserable as he was, he HAD to have his shoes on. At one point he went and gathered all 4 pair of his little shoes and wanted me to snuggle him with all of his shoes. I don't know what the deal was, but this is how he looked all weekend. Sad face, rosy cheeks and shoes.Thankfully, everybody is finally all better and back to normal. Which is good because I'm on spring break this week and I wanted to spend it doing fun things with my boys! Being cooped up in the house all day with sickies is not fun!

Homesick

My little(est) brother is coming home from his mission on Thursday. It's making me very homesick. For those of you who are not members of the LDS faith, all young men are asked to serve a mission for two years (leaving when they are 19), on their own dime. They leave everything behind, put careers and school on hold, and devote everything they have to serving their Heavenly Father.

Nathan has been serving in the Billings Montana mission for the last 2 years. This photo was taken of him and Brychan the morning we dropped him off at the MTC (Missionary Training Center) in Provo, UT.

Because my parents live in Texas, that is where Nathan will go "home" to. I am absolutely heart broken that I cannot be there to see him when he steps off the plane.

Nathan's 20th birthday

Luckily, we have a family vacation planned for the end of August. I cannot wait!! Not only have I not seen Nathan for 2 years, but I also haven't seen Brock, Missy and their kids for almost 3 years. Brock and Missy haven't even met Kehlton yet, and by the time August gets here they will have a new baby for us to meet. I am lucky enough that I get to see my sister at least once a week. We usually see my parents every 6 months or so. But I HATE living SO far away from my brothers. I miss them horribly. And I'll be glad when I can talk to Nathan on Thursday. Hopefully then I can quit crying everytime I think about him.

Welcome Home, Nathan! We love you and are so proud of you!!!

Stings Like A Bee

Brychan loves the Tag Junior he got for his birthday. He just sits for the longest time "reading" stories to himself. There is one particular spot in one particular book that he thinks is just hilarious. I managed to sneak a little video of him reading it over, and over and over again. I LOVE that laugh!!

Challenger Space Museum

This morning, David was taking his scouts to the Challenger Space Museum. Since Brychan's birthday was yesterday, we decided to turn it into a family trip as well. I'll apologize now for the photos...poor lighting + lots of moving targets + cell phone camera does not equate to good pictures!

Learning about the space shuttles

Fascinated with small scale space "equipment and vehicles"
This exhibit had something to do with gravity. My boys just liked the fact that there were magnetic blocks to play with.

In a replica of the International Space Station

Dave overseeing his scouts

It was a fun morning. By the time we got home, Brychan was asking to go take a nap...always a good sign that lots of fun was enjoyed! :)

Brychan's 3rd Birthday

I think Bug had a pretty good birthday this year. He was so excited all day long. We have birthday presents sitting on our kitchen table waiting to be sent off to a couple of cousins (Payton and Colin...I promise they are coming!), so there has been LOTS of discussions about birthdays lately. He waited very patiently for his "happy birthday day" and was very excited when it finally arrived!

He requested doughnuts for breakfast (and actually asked to have them for lunch and dinner too), so we stopped by Krispy Kreme on our way to take Daddy to work.

And then they both wanted to help make the dragon birthday cake. Such good little helpers!
Brychan got to open one present in the morning to start off his day; he was very happy with what he got...a huge, red fire engine from Grandma and Grandpa Stander. And, by the way Grandma Stander, he wore that shirt all day long, slept in it and did not want to take it off the next morning.

After we picked Daddy up from work, we went to play at the library for a little while and then came home for presents, cake and chicken nuggets with tator tots for dinner. Here, Brychan is showing Daddy how his new Tag Junior works.

And the beloved dragon cake. He knew I was putting it together during nap time, so that was the first thing he asked to see when he woke up. At that point, I hadn't put the wings on (because I knew they would just melt and fall apart). Brychan looked at the cake, looked at me and said "Mom, you forgot the wings!". Nothing gets by that kid. He was finally satisfied with his cake once the wings were in place. :)

Baby K thoroughly enjoyed the cake too!

We love you Bug!!! Hope your birthday was as wonderful as you had hoped!

Las Vegas

David and I spent Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on a "parents only" trip to Vegas and we had a wonderful time.

We stayed at the Flamingo, which was nice as far as being centrally located, but I will never stay there again. Nor would I recommend that anybody else stay there. Dirty, dirty, dirty. Constantly dripping bath faucet and burned out lightbulbs in our room. I was not impressed. I understand it's a super old hotel, and that's fine. But that doesn't mean that you can't switch out a light bulb as needed, or give the carpets a MUCH needed shampooing. But, enough about that!
They did, however, have a beautiful flamingo habitat in their courtyard.

Monday night we ate dinner at the Italian resteraunt at New York New York and just walked around, looking at the resorts. Saw the Bellagio fountains, gardens and amazing cakes/pastries.

Tuesday we were lucky enough to get free tickets to see the Mac King comedy/magic show. It was fantastic! And clean!! We walked around looking at more of the casinos and later that evening, we went over to Luxor to see the Bodies Exhibition. I was absolutely fascinated with it. There was a part of the exhibit that included fetal development, which was kinda hard to process at first. I got a bit teary as soon as I walked in the room and just wanted to hold all those poor little things. It absolutely broke my heart thinking about how many women lost their babies and now had them on display in Las Vegas. BUT. It was so amazing to see exactly what the fetal development was at each specific stage. I really don't know how anybody can say that a fetus is not a living baby. Especially after having seen this exhibit. I kind of think it should be required viewing for anybody contemplating an abortion. But again, enough of my soap box. Bottom line is that the exhibit was well worth the money. The human body is absolutely amazing!!

After that exhibit, we ran back up to Harrah's for their buffet...YUMMY! We definitely ate way more than necessary!

Wednesday morning, we headed over to the temple and did a few sealings. We wanted to do work for an hour, but because of the temple workers scheduling, we really only ended up working for maybe 20 minutes. It was still enjoyable, though. When we first walked into the temple, there was a woman standing there greeting people coming in. I looked at her and then whispered to David, "Is that Marie Osmond?" It SO was!! She was a new volunteer there, and was even the one that helped me as I rented a dress. I was worried for a minute that she was going to ask where we were from, where we were staying and "Oh! You stayed at the Flamingo, did you catch my show?"; because, no, we didn't. But she didn't ask any travel related questions, so we were good! She really is so incredibly sweet.

After the temple, we went to the Ethel M chocolate factory, bought a few too many chocolates and then headed for home.

It was such a nice, relaxing trip; and so much fun to have David all to myself for 3 days straight. However, we were so happy to come home to see our kiddos!! They had so much fun with Lala while we were gone...she did a good job of spoiling them rotten! We are so lucky to not only have her here, but have an auntie that is so willing to do anything for the boys.

And now that our little vacation is over, it's back to the grind! Wouldn't it be nice if we could just live in a permanent state of vacation? I know I'd love it...