Photo Shoot St. George

While we were in St. George for Labor Day, I wanted new portraits of the kids to replace old ones on my wall.  So we went up on the hill and took some, but it was really sunny and the kids had a hard time looking into the sun...

Look down until it's time to snap...

Ready, Set, Look Up!

I liked the background, but it was too sunny...

Strike a Pose

What's the matter Ryan?  Sun got in your eyes?

So we moved to the garden front of the St. George Temple.  Um...can you guess what is making him laugh so hard?  Let me give you a hint:  What do boys do best, that makes a loud funny sound?

This picture wasn't a runner up, but it was definitely worth including.

Okay, this wasn't a runner up either, but again...worth including!

This is the winner!  This is the picture hanging on my wall.  How cute is he?  No teeth and everything!

This is the runner up for Cayden's picture.  He used to give us such a hard time taking pictures, but he has really been good lately.  He's so handsome, it's hard to take a bad picture!  Both my boys are too handsome I think!

Winner for the wall.  Cutie Pie!  He thinks his face looks chubby because of his cheeks.  Whatever!  We all had to smile and show him that we all get cheeks like that when we smile!

Again...strike a pose.  Little Miss loves to get her picture taken, and loves to pose for them.  These were really hard to choose from.

But we settled on this one.  How cute is she? Don't worry, Ryan got cropped out of the background.

Sorry, just had to include another one!

"I caught a fish! I caught a fish!"

The boys went fishing with Dad and Grandma on Labor Day.  Ryan caught the first fish and called me right away.  He was soooo excited!  But they both caught one, so the day was well spent.

First Day of School!

I know, I know, this is the start of the 2nd week of school but it takes me a while to get things on my blog. Anyone out there who may be watching my blog (all 2 of you) may already know this fact.

Our family tradition started with Corey while he was growing up.  Every first day of school, he had to hold up how many fingers his grade was.  Can you tell who started what grade?

We had lots of fun getting ready for school.  As you can see, Abby had No problem with going to kindergarten.  

Look who got to come to our first day of school!  I'm not sure who was more excited, Corey or the kids.  (I think it was Corey!)

Our Little Miracle

Seven Years Ago Today

Seven years ago today, our precious Ryan underwent a very unexpected surgery that resulted from a stroke he had while I was pregnant.  I had never heard of something like this before, and it was very scary for Corey, me, and the entire family.  We didn't know what to expect in the unknown scary future, but we went forward with faith.  With fasting and prayers and trust in our Heavenly Father, we found strength to handle anything that would come.  Now, we have a big healthy 7 year old that we can't imagine our lives without.  Who knew that with a start like this, we would have a perfect, fun loving, wonderful, miracle named Ryan.

I Love Couponing!

Okay, I don't have a picture, but I wanted to share what I got tonight at Albertsons.  They say you aren't a true couponer until you take a picture of your groceries and post it on your blog to brag.  Well, I have taken pictures in the past, but haven't posted them.  This time, I'm just going to break it down for you.  Right now Albertson's has coupon booklets in the store that have 2 coupons on the back that are doublers.   That means you use that coupon with a manufacturer's coupon and it doubles the amount of the manufacturers coupon up to $1.  So this is what I did tonight:  (You can only  use 2 doublers in a single transaction, so I did 5 transactions!)

5 Packages of Tortillas
8 Jars Prego Pasta Sauce
2 Bags Salad
1 Package Cookies
1 Loaf French Bread
2 Bags Sunflower Seeds
4 Bags of Variety of Chips (For lunches)
All of this for a grand total of $30.35!  Actually, one of the tortillas I grabbed the wrong kind.  I got the ones that weren't on sale, so actually I spent $1 too much.  But over all, pretty dang cool!  It would have been a lot lower if I hadn't have bought the chips, but I am saving them for school lunches and Disneyland (which we are going at the end of September).   I have more doubler coupons to use tomorrow, but I have to do it in sections because I don't want to mess up....like grab the wrong kind of tortillas!

Bad News, Bad, Bad, Bad

I went to the ear, nose, and throat doctor on Friday because I've had a weird tonsil for a couple months now that isn't strep.  I get strep often, but I haven't had it in about a year.  My right tonsil is swollen and covered in whitish, yellowish spots.  It doesn't hurt, I don't feel it, it doesn't bother me....but I knew it wasn't right.  A couple of weeks before camp, I went to the doctor thinking it was strep but the tests came back negative.  After medication, it did not make any difference.  So, I finally made the appointment with the ENT and these are his exact words, "That is one weird looking tonsil, and I see a lot of weird looking tonsils.  That needs to come out."  DANG!  I knew he was going to say that, but I agree.  It needs to come out to figure out what's wrong with it.  I have a nagging feeling that it isn't something to fool around with.  So I am scheduled to have surgery on August 17th followed by a liquid, soft food diet....which could work to my advantage!  Maybe a pound or two?  Anyway, I am not excited in the least.  Pray for me!  I am so not looking forward to that!  I've been collecting low fat recipes for home made frozen pops and smoothies so I am not tempted to eat ice cream!  Poor wo is me!

Say What?

This morning, Cayden and I were being lazy on my bed watching TV and it was a rare opportunity for me to actually be watching "my" shows with any of my kids with me!  We were watching Top Chef and someone said something about the food a particular chef cooked and the chef said something sassy back.  Cayden looked at me and said, "She shouldn't have said that.  You know that thing in the back of your head that tells you not to say something?  She doesn't have that."  You've got to love kids!