Deals of the day!

I got some GOODS today. If you know me well, you know I am a coupon junkie, along with a scrapbook junkie, a news and politics junkie, etc. If I get into something, I get into it all the way! Two sites I love for deals are:
hotcouponworld.com
pinchingyourpennies.com
I have learned a ton from these sites. Did you know that you can combine a store coupon (like target or walgreens) with a manufacturers coupon for some awesome deals?! Do you ever pay attention to the coupons that are given to you with your receipt at a lot of grocery stores like Albertsons, etc? There are some great deals sometimes. This week at Walgreens there are two companies Proctor and Gamble and Novartis that are offering coupons of $12 off your next purchase and $16 off your next purchase if you buy $25 or $20 worth of their items. Basically, totally legally, you can use manufacturer coupons along with your purchase of these items, putting your total way down (I paid .12 for $25 worth of things today) and then you get MORE register rewards that give you money off your next purchase, buy more of their items, and repeat! You can go a long way on their money. I am sure I haven't explained it clearly but check out the Walgreens forum at hotcouponworld.com for more info! It takes some planning, but it's fun!

I also bought 6 pkgs of 24 count crayons at Office Max today for .06. They have three items on for a penny right now, crayons, rulers, and protractors. They were out of the first two so they gave me 6 of the crayons. (limit is usually 3) I usually try to fly under the radar so I won't get a reputation as a crazy coupon lady! I do everything legally but some cashiers are ornery. Some are great. Anyway, those are my deals of the day!

More fun in the sun!

Summertime, summertime, sum sum summertime

Fun weekend!

Wow! I feel like we are trying to pack our last few weeks of summer as full as we possibly can! I keep thinking of fun things we should do and places we should go but then there's that money and time thing that keeps coming up. This week and weekend was good though. Amy came down for a few days of F-U-N! It was so great.

For those of you who don't know me well, I am such a small town girl at heart. I am close to my friends that I have known forever, and love more than anything to hang out with my sisters. Surprisingly, in every town I have lived (Monterey, CA Augusta, GA, Puyallup, WA) there was someone else from little old Star Valley, Wyoming. Once in Mark's first day of class at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA everyone was introducing themselves. A guy named Jay Haderlie introduced himself. He told the class he was from Star Valley, WY and Mark said, "My wife is from there." Jay replied, "Oh, you must be Mark."
Mark, being from a big city, almost fell out of his chair in shock! How did this guy know who he was? He hadn't even introduced himself. :) Turns out my aunt Ronda visit taught Jay's mom and had mentioned that her niece and her husband were moving to Monterey to go to DLI. It was funny! He's used to the fact that I am a small town girl at heart and loves me anyway and tolerates my many family functions. I also love him in spite of his stupid inbreeder jokes! I would love to live closer to my family but it would be hard to give up the 24 hour stores and restaurants. My grandma can't believe I can go to Walmart any old time. She lives 20 miles from the closest little town.

To make a short story long, it was great to have Amy down here. I am completely myself around my sisters and while that's scary, we have a great time. We did some school shopping, took the kids swimming, ate yummy food, and lived at the snow zone shaved ice shack! Her Kadon is such a kick. He talks as well as Zachy and he is just a year! (Zachy has been funny the last few days, waving to any and all that look at him) Amy's kids have always talked early. It's not like they have any examples of chattiness in their parents. ;)

Fri night Mark watched "The Last Mimzy" with the kids.They really enjoyed it. I tried but Zachy was a bear. They enjoyed that and last night he took them to a Chukars baseball game. It was Qwest night and they had a blast trying to catch a fly ball and eating giant corn dogs! I'm glad they got to hang out. I know this post is getting long and snooze-worthy but I still have things to say. :)

I am so excited about our yard. We got a sprinkler system in the back a few weeks ago and things are greening up! When we moved in two years ago, we were told the back yard had been planted. It's a big sucker for a city yard. I dutifully watered it the first year and it turned into a HUGE weed patch. We thought they had lied about planting. Fast forward to this summer. I killed all the weeds a month ago and now grass is showing up in several places. Our sprinkler guy seems to think they planted, but not very well. That leads me to my question. Does anyone have any advice on planting themselves? What kind of seed is good? We talked about hydroseeding but my sis Amy says we should save the money and seed it ourselves. Any advice from the blogosphere? We worked in the yard for several hours yesterday until we about keeled over from heat stroke!

I have been super wordy. Today has been a great day. We enjoyed church this morning, Zachy took a LONG nap this afternoon. (he had several days to make up for!) It was a nice, but HOT day! I am ready to fall into bed. Goodnight!!!

PS-There is an awesome deal going on at Walgreen's this week- LOTS of freebies! I'll post more tomorrow!

Can you spot 5 kittens?

I was up in the middle of the night with Zachy the other night (big surprise for you that know him) and when I put him to bed and checked on the other kids, I found the funniest sight in Kate's bed. Up until now, the kittens have slept on the floor or in a cat bed with their mama but they got brave this night and all joined Kate. The kittens are getting so big, we have found homes for all but one and Brynn is begging us to keep it. (I know it's hard to believe) We will be giving them away in a few weeks. They are adorable and already litter box trained. Thank you Sara, for the pointers!

Weekend in Wyoming

I had a great time in Wyoming this weekend. I got to see lots of people I hadn't seen forever and I even got treated to some fine entertainment at the Auburn Old Rock Church play. My cousin Taya was up from Virginia and I had a great time catching up with her. We haven't chatted for 4 or 5 years! Yikes. Her kids were so cute and I could have taken her little guy Nate home with me, he is so cute and such a little flirt. His three older sisters wouldn't let me get far! I got to chat with my cousin Lynelle, see my cousin Becky's new baby and just have a fun afternoon.

Sat. night we ALL (my sisters, their spouses, and all of our kids) went to the play at the Old Rock Church. In Star Valley they have a musical in the summer at the historic Rock church building in Auburn, WY. (pop. 500) I am very proud to say that Auburn is MY hometown and I still love it and its people dearly. The musical is in its 15th year. I was in it the 2nd year. Oh, to be 17, nah I'd just take my 17 year old body and keep my 30 yr old life! :)

My dad has been in the play a few years and this year they asked him to be in it last minute when another guy dropped out. He plays the part of a funny, senile old Grandpa perfectly! If he forgets his lines, no one knows cause that's his character. It was great family fun. If you are in SV, go see it!It's called American Hearts by Teri Hoop. The Historical Society puts it on every year and people donate their time and talents to make it a go. My mom was nice enough to watch the babies and when we got home they were both snoozing, and she looked ready to nod off! She is an expert! She's going to hate this picture but I love it. What a fun weekend!

Crazy Kate and her cohorts

Kate and her buddies Jordy and Madi live for excitement! :)

Peace out people!

I love these blue eyes and freckles!

Random late night list

I like lists, ok? :)
RIGHT NOW at this moment i'm thirsty for:
Cherry Coke Zero- yummy! (which reminds me, is anyone fooled into thinking that the new Diet Coke Plus is actually healthier for them with the added "vitamins and minerals"? It cracks me up because although I really like pop, I am under no illusion that it's healthy at all!)

I am thinking about: Should I give Weight Watchers another go? I REALLY need to and it's the only thing that has worked for me in the past.

I am hungry for: Not hungry cause I ate a bunch of yummy homemade chicken noodle soup I made for dinner. I love soup, even when it's 95 degrees outside.

I am grateful for:
- my babies
-the Boy Scouts of America program
-air conditioning
-the fact that my sister Amy is back from camping for a week (I was going so crazy from not being able to talk to her that I considered *GASP* making some new friends! :)
-the fun lunch I had with my coolest Aunt Ronda yesterday!
- the fun I have couponing!

My must do list for tomorrow: finally send my relatives Zachy's picture, get a b-day present for Ry's good buddy, work on the basement, weed and feed the front yard

Have a great night!

12 years!

Twelve long years ago Saturday Mark and I were married and what a 12 years it has been! I feel very blessed. We were married YOUNG (18.75 and 20) and we have really grown up together. I wouldn't normally ever recommend to anyone to get married so young but with Mark and I we wouldn't change a thing! We have had some big ups and a few downs but we are so very committed to each other and our little family. I feel really lucky to be Mrs. Kayla Ehnat. :)

Mark and I had a great time in Salt Lake this weekend. I highly recommend the Melting Pot resturant! It was so sweet. We went in Tacoma, WA four or five years ago but this was the first time trying the Salt Lake one. It's basically a fondue restaurant. You cook and dip your own food. It's really fun. I wouldn't recommend it for kids since it takes a couple of hours, it's not cheap, and the fondue pots are hot, but it's a great date!

We also had tons of fun at the Gateway mall downtown Salt Lake. It's a fun open air mall with tons of fun shops that we don't have here in IF. We loved the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. They have the yummiest caramel apples done up every which way you can imagine!

They were to die for.

The Megaplex theatre was fun. We really liked the latest Harry Potter movie( I hid my eyes during the scary parts so I had my eyes closed a lot ) and we are anxious for the last book to come out this week!

Being the nerds that we are we made a run to Barnes and Noble to stock up on all the books we hadn't been able to read. (my sister thought that finding a coffee shop and reading was SUCH a boring idea for an anniversary trip, but it's definitely Mark and I)

The only problem with all of our plans was it was over 100 degrees the 2.5 days we were there. That's just miserable! I think we would have walked around more except that it was just too hot!

We wandered around Park City, UT on our way home and that was fun playing tourist. I haven't been to Park City since I was a teenager and the Guess outlet was a big deal! It's changed a ton since the Olympics came to town. I did score big on kids clothes at the Outlets. (always a good thing for me)

Overall, it was such a good time for us to get away and reconnect. I love you baby!

It was good to come home to the kids (I never ever leave them, but it was TIME) and I really appreciate my mom watching them. Zachy did far better than I expected. I hope that's a trend!

Please let it be over! :)

We have had a family member down and out sick every day for a week! Ryan is getting better today after having a raging fever yesterday. I am crossing all my fingers that everyone is well and continues to be so Mark and I can run ,I mean get away for the weekend. I'm not excited at all! :)

On other totally random news, my kids have had so much fun this week with an FBI set from Dollar Tree. It's funny what floats their boats sometimes. KateLyn and Ryan each got one, complete with "spy" glasses, a gun, an all important badge, and handcuffs. They are secret agents, making the world better one arrest at a time!

Kate had a great time last night at BMX practice with her friend Madison. Mada's family said that they could barely get Kate off the track to cool down and take drinks. I'm glad she could try something new!

Aren't my little nephews stinkin' cute!?!

These are my sister Amy's boys, Brandon and Kadon. I love these little stinkers~!

I can't believe that I am excited it's Monday! It's been a long weekend. Brynn, Zachary, and myself have been sick all weekend. Thankfully for me, I was only down a couple of hours yesterday with the chills and aches. Brynn has been hit the hardest and I sure hope she is better today. We fought a high fever most of the night Saturday night. Poor thing. It's been tough for Zachy and I because he can't tell me what hurts and he doesn't want to slow down. I am SO glad we are on the mend. It makes for a really long weekend when everyone is sick. Thank goodness Ryan and Mark didn't get it and Kate is through too. They have been great help. Thanks guys!

On a more positive note, Mark and I are finally going away for the weekend! Yeah!! It's our 12th anniversary this weekend. (yes, I am only 30. Don't do the math. :) We are going to go to Salt Lake for a little getaway. I can't wait. My nice mom is going to come here to watch the kids since Zachy doesn't sleep well at her house. Thanks, mom!

Zachy's first portrait in 15 months :o

Yeah! We finally got pictures done for Zachy. I am so embarrassed that it's taken me this long to get his portraits done! I take tons of snaps but his picture on the wall is of a tiny 4 month old bald baby! Thankfully, my aunt Heidi took some awesome pics recently and was kind enough to share the file with me so I can post it. Zachy was funny this day! He wouldn't smile at Heidi or my mom so I ran up from getting my hair done and tried to get him to smile. Stubborn little guy! He loved this baseball prop he was sitting on and he kept trying to pick it up! You can see Heidi's site here. I am so excited how they turned out.

Scenes from the 4th

My day must not have been too fascinating since I haven't been dying to relive it, but I better document what we did so I can remember it later. (my online journal is my only journal) Mark and I were planning on having a quiet 4th but my parents had different plans. They decided last minute to come down and crash our quiet day. I am ok with my mom doing that, but my dad...not so much. It all started out fine. My dad didn't want to shop so he invited the kids and me to Heise Hot Springs. I hadn't been there for awhile so I took the big kids. Mark kept Kate (who was running a fever) and Zach. I had more fun at Heise than I expected to. I love to swim but my not swimsuit ready body holds me back! I just decided to have fun this time and I actually went down a water slide for the first time since I was a teen. That was fun! The kids had a great time. We will have to go and take KateLyn soon!

When we finally got back from there we had a yummy fried chicken, potatoes, and patriotic fruit salad dinner. Then we headed into IF for the fireworks show. We REALLY should have planned ahead if we were going to do that. Mark thought we could go watch from Freeman park but we couldn't even GET there. The Melaluca Corp. puts on this show every year and they bill it as the biggest fireworks show west of the Mississippi. Who knows if that is true, but it's awesome! We finally decided to watch from the Walmart parking lot and while it wasn't ideal, it worked! We had lost my dad in Walmart and we never found him until the fireworks show was over, but that's ok too. Let's just say he didn't want to be there and it was fine that he was lost. :0

I DO love this country and I am SO grateful for our vast freedoms and blessings!

Free digi kit!

My cousin Lucinda is just starting to create digital scrapbook kits. I think this is her 3rd kit and I think it's great! You can download it here:

http://www.4shared.com/file/19213961/44594cf2/LucindaJ_SummeryCitrus.html

Fyi, Rakscraps.com has some great freebies in their forums. Check it out!

Need captions!

I have a few pictures that really need some captions. Any ideas?

Bear Lake digi page

This page took me forever. I am SO glad it's finished. I shouldn't try to learn too much at once. It makes my little brain hurt. :) We had a great reunion yesterday. I will post more about that later.