Dibbs at Dinner

last Saturday

we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Andrew's siblings

his brother Brian was here from Austraila

this was our best attempt at a group shot

we are missing Kim, Brian's wife,

she's in Austraila with the kids

and D.C., Rochelle's husband,

he's a pilot and was flying

and of course

mom and dad

who are on a mission in Bolivia

and they hit their 1 year mark this week!!

(6 more months)

Bye Bye Summer

Summer is OFFICIALLY gone, gone, gone.

No more summer BBQ's.

:(

I think it's safe to say Stella enjoyed her hot dog.

Hunting season is in full swing.

So our daddy is MIA lately.

But he lives for this.

So we suck it up and deal.

Football season is also here.

We have BYU season tickets again this year.

I'm back tutoring and keeping busy with lots of projects.

This weekend we have lots going on.

Andrew's brother is coming to visit from Austrailia.

So we are going out to dinner with Andrew's siblings.

I'm also cohosting a shower for my friend Jennifer

and there is BYU game.

Should be lots of fun.

Maybe I'll take a picture and post it.

(I'm so bad at taking pictures lately)

Funny Birthday Moments

I've slacked off blogging this month

So my next few posts will be

 some things you may have missed.

February 1st was my 26th b-day

I honestly can't remember what I did that day

But it was nice.

Wierdest thing that happened that day....

the 15 year old girl that I tutor

gave me a box of grape jell-o

for my birthday gift

because

"you like purple."

hahaha

 A couple days later

my family took me out to dinner at Magelbys.

While eating dinner I leaned

TOO FAR

to get Stella's toy

and I totally turfed it on the floor.

Fell right out of my chair in the middle of the restaurant.

.dork.

Bon Appetit

Stella has started saying

"Mmmmmmm" 

when she really loves something.

It makes us laugh.

Cereal

Her first taste of cereal...

It's good!!

Couponing & Building Our Food Storage

I’ve always been into using coupons, discount codes, shopping the clearance section, etc. I like budgeting and I try hard to spend less that we make, save for rainy days, have no debt. For years, Andrew and I have talked about improving our food storage. “Food storage” to me (at least at this point) is like the everyday things we eat and use. Not things like wheat...because that's way to overwhelming.  Besides still living in our condo and not having much room to store things, I’ve always been so overwhelmed with where do I start?

I finally decided to start with baby items because it’s fun to buy anything for the baby right now and I also came across and UNREAL deal how to get formula to next to nothing…..literally.

So after researching a bunch of stuff, I’ve become somewhat of a crazy coupon lady. (Like the ladies on Extreme Couponing on TLC are a 10 and I’m a 3). But I can’t believe how much money we waste on things! It’s a process and I’m still learning more but I’m proud to say that our baby storage freaking rocks and our personal food storage is off to a good start with no budget increases for us.

These are some of my favorite baby deals:

Similac Formula: Spent under $70—Retail Value of $475+

Diapers and Wipes: Yeah, there is a lot.  There's much more than you see in this pic. I get diapers anywhere from 25-75% off.

This is a little look at some of our stash.  I've also started getting a bunch of free formula from Enfamil and Good Start.  So if you use either of those brands....let me know.  I may have a gift for you.  Otherwise, I'm going to be taking a trip to the women's shelter to donate some formula.

Ewwwwwwwww!!!

Bear Lake Raspberry Jam

Delicious right?

My sister-in-law brought us back this jam from Bear Lake

We've been loving it

Jars about half gone

The other night I made myself some toast

And spread raspberry jam all over it

Out of the corner of my eye I notice a "dark patch"

I thought it must have been a big chunk of raspberry

I sat down and lifted the toast to my mouth

Took a bite

Then as I pulled the toast away from my mouth

I saw.....

ANTENNAS!!!!!!!

Which were attached to the "dark patch"

Not a glob of berry---an earwig.

Mr. Earwig perished in a sea of raspberry jam.

Surprisingly, I didn't scream, gag, dry-heave, or cry

My eyes were the size of golf ball though

I pretty calmly showed Andrew my find

He laughed

I was in too much shock and disgust to laugh

I got up

Threw away the toast

Threw away the jar of jam

Thought about throwing away my knife that I spread the jam with

But instead just put it in the dishwasher

Then I had to shake it off

Try and get that image out of my mind

But.....it's still haunting me

Every time I close my eyes

Remember the first time you saw Jaws

How long it took to go back in the water........

Well, it might take me a while to eat raspberry jam again.

Granny's Pickles

Best thing about today...

Is a whole jar of Granny B's homemade pickles just for me!!

I'm not sharing...so don't bother asking for one.

Most of you won't understand this.

But my entire family's mouth is pukering up in delight right now.

Some are likely drooling.

Words can NOT describe.

I've eaten two.

I'm thinking about a 3rd.

But I want them to last.

I'm torn.

Thanks for the pickles Grandma!!

It was fun to visit you last night.

P.S. I'm having a pickle party with Grandma this year.

Someone MUST learn the secret family recipe.

{just a tip}

Thought I'd share this TIP with y'all.

Andrew and I went on a date on Saturday.

Nothing special--we just went to Wingers for a bite to eat.

When we got our bill, I noticed something strange......

On the bottom of the receipt it said

"For your convenience you may use this tip calculator"

What's strange about that you ask?

The amounts.

What they were saying was a 15% tip.....

was actually a 33% tip.

What they were saying was a 18% tip....

was actually a 37% tip.

What they were saying was a 20% tip....

was actually a 40% tip.

For real.

I double checked like 4 times to make sure I wasn't crazy.

Nope. Wingers is crazy....

or they're trying to take advantage of people who are bad at math.

I usually consider myself a nice tipper.

But according to Wingers' standard.....

I'm not a good tipper.

Moral of the story...

I know economic times are rough....

but don't rely on the restaurant for calculating your tip...

They might be trying to pull something on you.