MLK Snow Day (1/19/2009)

For MLK Day (1/19/2009) Andrew had no school so Dave took the day off work and we headed to the snow. We found this great snowpark that only cost $5 for all of us to stomp around in the snow and Dave even scored an abandoned sled (it was broken) that still had some life in it.

I posted some pictures of our fun excursion on Facebook. Check them out!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005970&id=1129644235&l=836df

I'm still working on a bunch of video that I took of the day, but it might be a while before I get that up.

Andrew lost his first tooth!

I am so excited that Andrew finally lost his first tooth. It's been wiggly for a couple of months now and this morning before school I thought it might come out while he was at school so he actually let me pull it out. It didn't take much since it was hanging by a thread. I took some pictures and video but if I wait to post that stuff too, I probably won't post this for another couple weeks. Anyway, the tooth fairy came and left him a dollar (don't even post a comment on how you think that is a ridiculously high amount; inflation people!) and he traded it for a Snake Oiler die cast car (which I bought from the dollar tree so it was actually a fair trade. Now he's sticking his tongue through that little space all the time and it is so cute how it has affected his speech a little!

MerBud Jones

I've been doing some research on the internet for our dog version of Indiana Jones (see my new year's resolution) and I found a great deal on a costume, and I'm pretty sure it comes with a miniature whip:

I'm still kind of on the fence about the creative direction of this movie; maybe "Airbud meets the Little Mermaid." I think we're going to have to buy a lot of hamburger to train Clifford to do the underwater stunt sequence that we have already storyboarded.

Dave is an MCTS

Dave recently started upgrading his Microsoft certifications. As many of you may know, Microsoft recently revised their entire certification process. He took his first test and is now officially a Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist for Windows Vista. This is similar to the MCP cert they used to have. If any of you are still awake, he is working very hard for his next test! We celebrated by having homemade spaghetti and meatballs and carrot cake. Yum!

Pigs in a blanket and a Mission

It's really Sunday February 1st, but since I need to catch up on my blog and we're all home sick from church, I'm traveling back in time to share this story:

Andrew and Sydney helped make Mini Pigs in a blanket today. We made them with lil' smokies and they turned out great! This comes from one of my favorite online recipe sites, Recipezaar. They loved mixing up the dough and rolling up the smokies into the little blankets. Usually, Sydney is my shadow in the kitchen. She loves to help me cook and bake. Whenever I get out the mixer or put a pot on the stove, she drops whatever she's doing and pushes a chair up next to me! This time Andrew wanted to help too, which usually ends in a fight over who gets to stand next to me or mix the ingredients or whatever, but they both had fun rolling up the dogs in the dough.

Also, my parents received their mission call to go to Elberta, Utah, at the Mosida Lodge. Their official title is "agricultural missionaries." I didn't even know that existed. So, they maintain the farm and help all the people that go to push handcarts around during the summer. They are going to report, June 1st so make your hand cart trek reservation quick! We'll be moving into their house in Auburn and we are really excited about that. The kids will have so much fun running around on the farm and taking care of the chickens. Finally, Dave will be able to wear his bib overalls and bolo tie to church (well, I guess that goes for my dad too).

Coupon Madness!!!

For the past several months I have sharpened my skills as an extreme couponer (they all thought I was crazy). It takes a lot of work and advanced preparation but it is definitely worth it. Since I started, I have purchased so many items for free. It has totally changed my life. Here is my latest and greatest score:

• 7 Garnier Fructis Shampoos
• 8 Garnier Fructis Conditioners
• 4 Garnier Fructis Mousse
• 3 Garnier Fructis Gel
• 1 Garnier Fructis Hairspray
• 3 Jif Peanut Butters
• 2 Reynolds Wrap Foil
• 2 Theraflu
• 1 Smuckers Jam
• 40 Erasers (for humanitarian school kits)

Total out of pocket after coupons and gift card balance: $8.36

I saved over $130 on that trip. Of course I've had other awesome shopping trips but this has been the biggest one so far and usually the person behind me asks me what my secret is and I refer them to Hot Coupon World. So in a year from now when we are completely transformed into a socialist nation and all you poor saps are standing in line for five hours waiting to get your free government shampoo (I imagine it will come in a tub and smell like rat poison) I'll still be happily using my own stockpile of free shampoo and hair care products (although the mousse kind of smells like rotten fruit after I blow dry my hair). Three cheers for coupons!

Audrey's Blessing Day

We blessed Audrey on the first Sunday of January. We actually managed to get to church fifteen minutes early and it was then that I realized I forgot her blessing dress at home. Of course I freaked out because my mom worked so hard on it. I even left it by the front door so I wouldn't forget it. Anyway, We called my sister Alissa to see if she could run by the house and get it. Everything worked out well and we managed to get the dress and bless Audrey. Alissa later told us that she had to scale our fence in her skirt and heels in order to get into our backyard because somebody (Dave) put a padlock on the gate. If only I had a picture of her climbing on top of our trashcan in her Sunday best; maybe one of our neighbors has that on video...Good work, Alissa!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

My New Year's Resolutions

Hope you all had a fun new year. Our family went to the Wissemann church building and played games with friends while our kids ran around the cultural hall playing soccer and watching "Veggie Tales." After a couple hours we came home and put the kids to bed and decided we couldn't be old fuddie duddies and go straight to bed so we decided to order a movie; that was our first mistake. After flipping through the guide for about fifteen minutes, and not seeing anything that looked good, we finally settled on "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." When this movie came out, my sister Alissa went and saw it on opening night only to be severely disappointed and infuriated by its content. So much time passed since she informed us of what a lame movie it was that we decided it couldn't be that bad and we might as well try it out and see if we like it. It's better than going to bed at 10:30 on New Year's Eve, right?

If you know me very well at all, you know that I can't stand going to the movies because most of the stuff that comes out now is not worth seeing. I'm just too cynical to enjoy most of the lame movies that come out now and I'm not willing to pay such a high price to go see it, not to mention, most actors now have such ridiculous personal politics that I would not put any money in their pocket because they are so clueless about the real world. It's been so long since I've been to the theater to see a movie that I don't even know how much a regular ticket costs; I think it's $10. I think the last thing I saw in the theater was the first Harry Potter movie.

Here are some words that I would use to describe this movie:

1. Ridiculous

2. Unbelievable

3. Improbable

4. LAME!

5. Waste of my life

6. I would have rather been sleeping

First of all, how can a person survive a nuclear blast by climbing into a lead-lined fridge, especially when it gets blasted a half mile away. I haven't seen a person survive that much roll since the tv show "The A-Team."

Don't even get me started on Cate Blanchett or the monkeys, or the ants, or the ridiculously long fight scenes that go nowhere, or the space ship at the end, or the wedding!

The thing that really ruined this whole thing for me was at the end when the "alien" gave Cate the stink eye and then vaporized her. Was anyone surprised that Sean Connery had the sense to turn this project down? I have a little more respect for him.

I'm basing my New Year's Resolutions on this whole experience.

1. Harrison Ford is on my blacklist. I can't support anything he does ever again; okay and George Lucas. Shia LaBeouf was already on it, but he wasn't as bad as I thought he would be.

2. Spend more time sleeping.

3. Create my own version of the movie starring my dog Clifford as Indiana Jones. Of course, I'll force my family to pay $300 a ticket so I have enough money to do a sequel. I wonder where I can get a miniature Indiana Jones hat and whip for him. I'll probably just end up having him wear a lobster costume. I think they still have those on clearance from Halloween at Target. Hey, it's the movies. It doesn't have to make sense!