Happy Birthday Baby

Brooklyn is 11 years old today!

Happy Birthday to my baby.

Here she is at 8 and she looks so young.

I'm a little sad she is growing up so fast.

10 things about Brooklyn

1. She loves to do helpful chores around the house.

2. She is a really good student and loves reading.

3. She is always on my side. :)

4. She loves her bear and her kitty. (still)

5. She loves to be outside, riding 4 wheelers, biking, swimming etc.

6. She loves to hang out with friends and take pictures.

7. She loves to cuddle and hug.

8. She has an opinion and knows how to share it. ;)

9. She's a daddy's girl.

10. She loves babysitting and is good at it.

We love Brooklyn and are so glad she is a part of our family.

She is going to keep her dad and I young.

She is our little woobitt!!

Here is a picture taken a few weeks ago.

With a friend of course.

My how she has grown.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!
We love you!

Crunch Time

Girls camp is looming on the horizon.
Coming up fast and making me feel a little stressed.
Next Tuesday-Thursday.
The Stake is in charge and I'm not ganna lie....
It does NOT sound fun!
I'm trying to keep it positive for the girls,
I am afraid we are going to have a revolt
STAKE WIDE!
Not what I was hoping for my first year as girls camp director.

Ben has Youth Conference this weekend.
Then my sister comes for a 10 day visit.
Bailee starts Tech week at Hale.
(otherwise known as Hell week at Hale)
School starts for Brooklyn on the 16th.
So somewhere I need to find time for school shopping.
My other sister from Texas will be in town next week.
Add to this the fact that Bailee will be moving into her apartment at Weber on the 19th or 20th.
WE still have so much to buy.
Laptop #1 on the list.
More kitchen items.
Food! Etc. Etc. Etc.
Urgh when will we find the time.
I feel Stress!!

Can you feel my Stress?!?!

Smart Shopping

After much duress

Lincoln convinced me to go to a Grocery Smarts meeting.

Many Fireman and their wives do this successfully.

After going to a short class...seeing her food storage,

I was convinced.

For those of you who don't know what this is...

It's a website that lists great sales going on at different grocery stores.

The only hitch, you have to be receiving the Sunday paper

to get the ads in order to really take advantage.

I am just getting started.

Last month I had an amazing shopping day at Smiths.

I bought $356.34 worth of groceries.

I was freaking out...I have a $200./220. bi-weekly budget for groceries.

I stick to it! It works for me and is plenty.

But then I handed them my coupons, I paid $143.13.

NO LIE!!! ;)

Now of course this does not happen all the time.

People more skilled than me do have big savings a lot.

I am still a beginner so it's still hit and miss.

A friend of mine who also does grocery smarts told me I should take a picture next time.

So today I went to Walgreen's. I bought 45 items. Pictured above.

I bought all of this and paid $15.62.

Between advertised savings, coupon savings and cash back rewards...

My total savings $38.66.

Examples:

Those G2 pens...I paid .19 cents.

Highlighters .09 cents.

Wipes..... .49 cents.

Toothepast cost $3.49 for these I got the cash reward of $3.50. each = FREE

I received two rewards for $3.50 each.

So next time I go to Walgreen's I have $7.00 of their money to spend.

You should totally hear about this.

I'm really starting to like this.

Seriously! My husband is saying I told you so all the way to the bank.

Snapshots of Summer

You may or may not have noticed...

But, I have been on Hiatus from blogging.

Writing not reading.

Writing takes time and forethought

reading is just plain leisure.

So during this busy time I have taken a break from writing.

Now I must play a bit of catch up.

Snapshots of Summer So Far....

Summer started of with a bang!!

The long awaited trip to NYC with Bailee.

Instead of downloading all 100+ pictures I took

here are a few highlights.

Times Square

Billboard in Times Square...

Wait...who is that famous person...

on the American Eagle Sign?!

Yes Bailee had her 15 seconds a fame. ;)

Bailee and I on the ferry at the Statue of Liberty.

Us again at the "Top of the Rock"
or the top of the Rockefeller Center.
You can see the Empire State Building behind us.
The view was amazing!


Times Square at night before we attended one of our
9 Broadway shows!

In the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The trip was amazing and we saw so many great things.

The shows and the sights.

The food was amazing too.

For the rest of the summer we are having us a

"Staycation"

A vacation from home.

We have so much going on.

The kids have many responsibilities, we decided to do a lot of small things.

The Bingham Copper Mine.

We had never been as a family.

The girls had never been at all.

Did you know it's one of the things visible from space?

It was a beautiful day.

Lincoln of course torturing the kids during the photo op.

He's such a tease!

The Fourth of July is such an awesome time.

We attended the Rodeo

Where Bailee and the rest of the Riverton Royalty

sang the National Anthem.

They were all amazing.

These girls are so nice and genuine.

They are all becoming great friends.

Then it's the Parade.

I didn't get many pictures but I did capture a few.

Benjamin opted to stay home and hang with friends.

Lincoln was working...

so just me and Brooklyn.

We sat with my great friend Kathie Perkins.

Brooklyn waiting patiently for the start.

Bailee on the Riverton Royalty float.

This is one of 5 parades she will do.

It was very crowded and Brooklyn gathered

TONS of candy.

What would Riverton Town Days be w/out the Parade?

The Aquarium.

Our kids participated in the Penguin Experience

and feeding the sting rays.

To see the Penguins...visit Bailee's blog.

Our kids loved it!!

They also loved feeding the Sting Rays.

Except for the splashing

and well...holding dead raw fish in your hands. ;)

They will come up and eat it right out of your hands.

Brooklyn opted for the metal hook....

I do think she may have tried it bare handed a few times.

It was funny to watch them all.

Lucky me!! I was the photographer!

I'm just sayin'...

I did not want to hold raw fish

and feed a sting ray.

Maybe next year on our cruise?!

We are really enjoying ourselves.

We have seen many fun movies together.

Picnics at Liberty Park.

Seven Peaks.

(where I wiped out and bruised many parts of my old body)

I'm too old for water slides. Lazy River and Wave pool for me.

Games of Frisbee.

Video Nights.

Gardening.

Barbecue, barbeue, barbecue!

Our newest adventure.

Kayaks.

We just purchased two sea kayaks.

Some friends have some and we love them.

As soon as we take them out I'll post pictures.

Although I can't guarantee regular posting till school starts.

Too much fun still to be had.

The end of summer is coming fast.

It's a bittersweet thing.

Kids back to school.

Bailee off to college. :( and :)

What will I do with myself?