Snow White and Cinderella

Jedd's niece Kallie is finally potty trained so yesterday my mother in law threw a princess party. It was so much fun. And how lucky for us, Snow White and Cinderella showed up to the party! Hailee (Snow White) and Kallie (Cinderella) got bubbles among other things so they wanted to blow them outside. The wind was picking up a little bit so it was hard, but it was still fun. And look at my good husband helping them out? He is just so cute with these girls! I was just about dying when I saw their little dressed and hair. Aimee does such a great job making these girls look absolutely adorable! They are just too cute. And how in the world was I ever to choose just a couple pictures to put on my blog of these cute girls? Well, I didn't so I apologize for the picture overload. I didn't want to just pick one. This I think totally could be in a magazine. I just couldn't get them to look at the camera. The girls wanted to see the flowers so we took them over to the side of the house where there were lots of them. By the end, they both had 2 tulips in their hands to take into grandma's house. And of course, I had to snag one more picture of the princesses before we went inside.

Thanks Kallie for letting us come to your party and thanks Hailee for playing with us! Jedd and I had so much fun playing with these two cute girls. Who wouldn't when you see these faces??

Grateful

I didn't have a whole lot to post about today, but something has happened that has got me thinking quite a bit. In the last week, one student has committed suicide and another student was killed in a car accident at the high school that I teach at. At times like these, it really gets me thinking about how grateful I am for the life that I have and the many blessings I have received. I am grateful for the knowledge I have of the Church of Jesus Christ of Ladder Day Saints. I am grateful for the knowledge we have about this life and where we are headed after we pass on. I am grateful for my family, both mine and Jedd's. And most importantly, I am so grateful for Jedd in my life. So today, as I am sitting at my computer, looking outside at the sun shining down, I am grateful to be alive.

“Life is too short not to make the best and the most of everything that comes your way everyday.”

Give us a BREAK!

My classroom that I have at school does not have a window, but the hall that I am across from has a window and I am right next to the door leading to the outside. Well I have been keeping my door closed today for one main reason.

THIS..........

.....which has been constant, ALL DAY, since 10:30 this morning.

Luckily it is not sticking to the pavement, but still! Can't we get a break from this horrible winter weather and have some sun and warmth? I am in desperate need of sun rays!!

Happy Anniversary

Today is my mom and dad's anniversary. I am not exactly sure how many years it has been (maybe I should ask my dad....ha ha inside joke with my mom's Sunday school class she teaches), but just wanted to say Happy Anniversary! This is the most recent picture of the whole family, but look at what happened....

....all because you two people fell in love!

We love you mom and dad! Happy Anniversary!

Opening Game

Of course, we celebrated opening game day yesterday for the Cubs. Jedd was like a kid on Christmas Eve, he was so excited. It was so fun to see him just pace around, and also the fact the he couldn't concentrate on anything past 4:00 when I got home was fun too. The game was at 5:00, and I personally was happy that we could watch the game at our house. The Cubs won and it was a great game. Zambrano pitched an awesome game. The first pitch for the Cubs was a home run by Soriano (I think it was him....don't quote me on that), and the score ended up being 4 to 2 against the Houston Astros. What a great day!

Here is my hubby watching the game, lounging on the couch.
And of course, it wouldn't be opening game day without our Cubs attire. This picture doesn't look the best, but this is what I cooked for dinner. It isn't a "hot dog" like you would normally get at a game, but it kept me busy for half the game. I usually start watching the games at about the 6th or 7th inning. So to keep me occupied for the first part, I decided to make dinner. I did however, watch little tidbits here and there, rooting for the best team ever!

GO CUBBIES!

I'm 25??? WHAT???

On Sunday, I celebrated my 25th birthday. Yes you got it correct...25!! I definitely had mixed feelings about this whole situation. I love my birthday (who doesn't?) but turning 25 was quite a big deal to me. As I have asked around, everyone else has felt the same way. 25 is such a huge mile marker at least to me, age wise, that it is quite strange that I am finally there. As I was sitting there talking to a good friend (thanks Karen!!), she asked if I was excited to be 25. And as I was trying to compile all these thoughts going through my head, I started to think back to when I was younger and what was on my list of what I wanted to accomplish when I turned 25.

This is what it was:

1. Be married and sealed in the temple
2. Graduate college
3. Be a teacher
4. Drive my dream car, a Jeep Grand Cherokee (I know a little materialistic)
5. And mainly be happy.

And as I was sitting there reflecting, I realized that everything I wanted when I was younger has come true.
1. I am a happily married gal to the BEST guy I have EVER MET in my entire life and we were sealed in the Ogden temple
2. I graduated from Weber State University in 2006 with a Bachelor's in Math Education
3. I am just about finishing my 3rd year as a high school teacher
4. I now own a dark grey Jeep Grand Cherokee that is in the shop getting fixed
5. And I could not be any happier than I am right now!
So I guess when it comes down to it, yes, I am excited to be 25. Things in my life are going great, and I couldn't be happier.

Celebrating my birthday was a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of pictures. As you probably can guess, I really don't like my picture being taken so there is only a couple on this post. Sorry! Saturday, we went bowling with Jedd's family. It was a lot of fun, and I did finally break 100 on the 2nd game. I'm not going to mention my score for the first game. Here are a few pictures of the family.

Look at the great form my cute husband has! Mine, not so great! These were of our nieces. They were so excited about bowling.............and the ice cream.

And this is part of the gang. We had so much fun!

Then after bowling, Jedd and I went out to dinner, just the two of us. We went to Texas Roadhouse and I'm not going to lie, it was amazing. If you even wonder what to get at this restaurant, I would highly recommend the Sirloin Kabob. It is amazing! (but be prepared to wait quite a while. Luckily we called ahead, but our total wait time was an hour!) Then on Sunday, we kind of just had a low key day. Went to church, the temple dedication, and then over to Jedd's mom's house for dinner and dessert. The best part about Sunday is Jedd surprised me with a birthday present. I told him to not get me anything more, as he gave me money to go shopping for clothes. But, like he always does, he surprised me with another gift. He got me a long mirror with a black frame. I have always wanted one, but just have never bought one for myself, so he did it for me. He is such a great husband, I couldn't ask for anything more.

All in all, I can say that I had a great 25th birthday, and I am happy and excited to now be 25!

Grocery Savings Extraordinaire

If any of you know my sister, she is big into food storage and saving money like crazy, and she is AWESOME at it. She is what my title is all about for this blog. She has since shared and passed her interest and knowledge on to me and my sister, my sister-in-laws and also my mom. We have each shared these great ideas with other people. My sister has been so great and I don't think she realizes how far her savings have reached and how many people she has effected. I have even shared my knowledge with people I know, and there are many people doing what I have showed them, all because of her! I am grateful that she introduced me to it. I want to publicly thank her for her patience and willingness to help me(I'm sure it hasn't been easy to take the time to explain things over and over again!). I have saved so much money on grocery bills every month, WHILE at the same time, stocking up on my food storage. This first picture is what I bought last night at Smith's.

4 Hungry Man Dinners

6 Lean Cuisine Dinners

3 bags of Frito's

1 tub of butter

4 Nature Valley Granola Bar Boxes

12 bags of assorted pasta

Total Spent: $31.00

Total Saved: $50.00

I also bought at Albertson's 6 cans of Chicken Noodle Soup for $0.65.

Everything I buy is on sale and I use coupons. Thanks again to my amazing sister who shares her coupons with me(and my mom and sister too!). I only get one set of coupons every week and my one sister gets 5, so anything she doesn't use, she shares with me. I couldn't have gotten such great deals if it wasn't for those coupons. These next two pictures are my stocked up pantry. I am lucky enough to have a huge pantry in my apartment. Everyone who knew me when I moved into my 2 bedroom apartment, knew that the selling point for me was the pantry and the linen closet down the hall. It has been so great to actually buy food and have some place to store it, other than my small kitchen cabinet that I was using in my last apartment. This first picture is my top two shelves and the second picture is my bottom two shelves, including my floor where I have my case lot sale finds that I bought last week! It feels so good to have so much food bought and saved. Jedd and I were talking last night, realizing that if we needed to, we could live off our food storage for quite a while, not including meat. I think that is awesome! It has been so great to build this up, and what a great feeling it is to see the total money saved on the receipts from your purchases.

Sis, thanks for everything you have done. I couldn't and still can't do this with out you! You are ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!

If you are interested in learning more about how to save, my sister has created a blog just for this. It is allprepared.blogspot.com (I have the link under my family and friends list). Check it out, she has done a great job at explaining everything! She even updates it every week with the great deals at the different stores. I am constantly checking it out to see what she has found and what I can save!

It's a Cubbies Hat!

My cute little nephew (yes, I just called him cute!) had his 6th birthday yesterday. Happy Birthday bud! Some of the family went down for a party and I think every one of us had a great time! Zach picked hamburgers and hotdogs for dinner, it was a good choice, they were delicious. We then opened presents and then ate cake and ice cream. My sister is so good to do "themed" parties, so this year was Pirates. It was so fun to see Zach get so excited. As you all know, Jedd and I are huge Chicago Cubs fans (me due to marrying the biggest fan I have ever known!) so we decided to get Zach a Cubbies hat. Ever since Zach has known Jedd, he has been interested in the Cubs and so we thought how fun it would be to get Zach a hat, just like Jedd! Here are just a few pictures a snagged at the party. This is Zach right before opening presents. Can you tell he is excited? This is just a cute picture of the little guy. Isn't he so adorable? This is him opening our present. He wasn't sure what it was until he opened it completely and pulled it out of the paper, but once he did he shouted "It's a Cubbies hat!" It was so cute! And this is him wearing it. I think he looks pretty darn good in that Cubs hat. He didn't take it off the whole night, so I think he liked it!

Zach Attach, thanks for inviting us down for your party! I hope you had a GREAT DAY! We love you!

Demolition Derby Anyone?

So if you read my last post, you kind of knew that I started my week out not so great.  Well after leaving school on Monday and just wanting go home, I forgot that I needed to stop really quick and get some gas.  So I went in to the left turning lane and when the light turned yellow, I decided to make sure all the cars were going to stop before I make my left turn.  Well, with things being out of my hands, a guy that was in oncoming traffic decided to run the red light.  I hit directly into him and hit him so hard that he turned and rotated about 4 times and ended up landing in the bank's parking lot that is on the corner of the intersection.  Shockingly enough, no one was hurt and the only thing damaged were the cars.  I came out with a very sore arm and shoulder and a bruise on my forearm, the guy came out with a red mark on his head from hitting the window on impact.  Here is a picture of where the car landed after I hit it.  If you notice, the white truck in the top left corner of the picture is about where I was sitting before I hit the gold car. 

This is a closer picture of the damage that my jeep made.  The driver of the car was quite lucky.  If I had turned any second earlier, I would have hit right into his door and who knows how bad he would have been hurt.  After I drove my car out of the intersection, I ran over thinking he was seriously injured and when he got up and walked away, my jaw was dropped.  WOW! 

 And this is the damage of my car.  Not much!  I have since realized what a great car I have.  Jedd says he wants to enter me into a demolition derby with my jeep.  It is good to know that I have such a strong car!  Hopefully it can keep me safe if something like this happens again!  

As if that was not enough for us to handle this week, last night my car's rear window was broken with a rock.  A police officer knocked on our door this morning and told Jedd that our Jeep Cherokee was damaged.  He looked at him a little confused as Jedd was thinking he was talking about the front damage due to my accident.  What the officer explained a little later was that our window was broken by teenagers throwing rocks.  We are not sure if the teenagers have been found, but all I can say is HELLO??!!  Here is a picture of my jeep with the window completely broken.  

This picture is the back of my jeep.  You can kind of see the glass, but the light tan "thing" sitting by my frisbee is the rock that was thrown to break my window.  WHO DOES THAT?  Who in their right mind takes this big rock and throws it through a car's window?  Luckily, it just wasn't our car.   These teenagers also broke more windows in our apartment complex and they took an ax to a BMW car door.  (I'll take the window compared to that!)

This last picture is the mess that the broken shattered window made.  Jedd cleaned up a lot of it, what a great husband!  (If you also notice, we still have parts of the front of my car from my accident still in there.)  What a mess!

All I can say that it has been quite the week.  Jedd and I have had it rough!  Every one knows that things happen in 3's.  SO....with Jedd's truck bumper being hit last month (yes, the culprits didn't leave any information), my accident on Monday and my window being broken on Wednesday, WE ARE DONE!  Jedd has been on the phone daily with insurance companies and window companies and repair shop companies.  He has been so great to deal with a lot of the stuff for me.  Lastly, I'm SO GLAD that the weekend is here.  I don't think I could handle a whole lot more happening this week.  

Not too much going on....

Well at our house not a lot has gone on so that is one reason why I haven't posted anything. The other main reason why I haven't posted anything is that I have been horribly sick. I have been in bed for 5 straight days and wish I could be in bed for another 5. It all started out Wednesday when I woke up not feeling great, but thought I could handle the day. By 11:00 I was running a high fever and could barely walk without feeling dizzy. Thursday was about the same. Fever, headache, and chills. Friday my fever finally went away but still had the headache so I decided to play it real easy. At this point still not feeling the best, but hoping that 3 days in bed would cure what I had. Saturday rolled around and I thought I was feeling ok in the morning, come to find out that was the calm before the storm. I ended up having a huge headache with the fever coming back and horrible sinus pressure and pain along with a stuffed up nose where I could barely breathe. It was not good. Sunday woke up with so much pressure in my sinuses that I could barely open my eyes and could barely breathe I was so clogged up. I had my headache again for the 5th day in a row and just layed in bed all day. Monday (today) came and I am up and am at least able to open my eyes and walk around. It has been a horrible 5 days and I hope NO ONE will ever get what I had. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what I would call what I had/have, but it is the worst. I still am clogged up and have a headache, but able to do a few things. The biggest part is that I am exhausted. After 5 days of laying in bed all day long, coming to work and being expected to be up for 8 hours teaching and running around is a lot. I am sitting at my desk wondering how I'm going to have the energy to finish out the day! So sorry for the graphic post, just hope none of you get this AWFUL HORRIBLE sickness. Stay healthy everyone! I'll try and recoup and post after I feel better.

P.S. And to clear up everyone's suspisions, no I am NOT pregnant. This is me really sick.