A little animal

We have a new little animal cave in our home. We found this little creature upstairs in the bonus room hiding in his cave. He loves this new hide out!

Spring Break 2009

Even though the weather wasn't very springy, we had a great non-spring break!

While Dad went back home to visit family and enjoy some of this....
we stayed here and had some fun playdates with friends and family!
Ben and family came over and the kids had a great time playing together!


Grandma Lowry and Aunt Sherry also came for a fun playdate. Pojos, a treasure hunt, attempted kite flying, and Wii playing were a few of their favorites.

March - updated

I just downloaded pics from my camera, so there might be a lot?! Here we go.....
Just some random pics of me and the boys hangin out most days at home. Gabe loved Tanner's fire engine hat he brought home from a field trip. He likes to walk around the house with it on backwards! He also loves to climb up onto the table! Fun, I know! Tanner likes to take pictures whenever I have the camera out and enjoys helping me cook, so as he took pictures of the food I was cooking, I took one of him and his funny scary face!

Looking Back.......

Looking back a year ago....there has been a lot of change. On March 28th we sold our home and started to look for a new one. The following weeks were emotionaly crazy and busy as we looked and found, offered and then decided that we should rent until we figured out our story. The rental house finding began, and then the packing followed. It was more or less a whirlwind and all in all, the story ended with a happy ending, although it had some bumps and detours along the way. We started over with a new ward, school, and making friends, but looking back, we know that we are where we're supposed to be and everything has worked out great. I am grateful for the guidance we received with our decision and am thankful for a great place to live!

What we've been up to....

So this past weekend we unloaded our 72 hr kits and replenished them. AGH!! What a project! Shopping, menu planning, and packing everything -- no wonder I kept putting it off. Lots o work! I combined that trip with a major grocery shopping trip and am trying to go every 2 weeks instead of once a week. Lots of preparation, but I think it will be worth it in the end!

And thanks to Stephanie and Jill K, I've been learning more about couponing. Now that's a project! I didn't realize there's so much to learn about it. I am excited that tomorrow the Walgreens that is practically in our back yard is OPENING!! I wasn't too thrilled about it when they were building it, but now that I've learned about how their sales/coupons work, I am excited!

As for the boys..... this weekend they found a bin in the garage with their summer clothes in it (which are too small) that they put into their closets while I was gone. So they're running around in short sleeves, shorts, and flip flops thinking it's summer. Sorry boys... not yet.

In love with these!

I thought I'd post about one of my favorite house cleaning products because I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I only use it about 10 times a day sweeping all the crumbly crumbs under the table and around the kitchen. It's especially fabulous for wood floors because it doesn't scratch. AND the best part about it is it's cordless!! Just push the button and sweep away -- so it's like the old time "Dust Buster" by Black and Decker, but great that I don't have to bend over! And no more dust flying all over -- it's trapped inside! Yay for Swiffer!


Another new product Swiffer came out with is their disposable hand dusters. The only reason I got it was that it's so flexible and soft (especially on our stairwell where you have to get in between the rods). It doesn't snag like my other one.


Ok, last one.
I am really in LOVE with this one. The Febreeze Brazillian Carnaval scent! YUM!



Alright... enough Cinderella tips.
P.S. If you check out their website, www.swiffer.com, they have some great offers/coupons!

Happy Cleaning!

Our Trek West

This past weekend we took off to Portland for our nephew's baby blessing and to hang out with the family. We first arrived at Liam's house and got to hold the "little" bundle of love!!
We took a trip to the Children's Museum (see next post) and the kids LOVED it! We hung out with Aunt Rachel for pizza and games.
We attended a family luncheon, enjoyed some yummy food, and the boys played with Liam's cousins and had fun on the little atvs! (Hopefully Liam can join them in a year or so)!



Mr. and Mrs. C joined up with the Sloans (now realizing I didn't get a picture of us) and went to P.F. Changs for dinner! (Oh so yummy). The Bridge Port outdoor mall was pretty cool!

And of course on Sunday we witnessed Liam's blessing.


Caden also went to school with his Nana, who teaches first grade, while Tanner hung out with his parents and Papa.
Now I'm wading through the laundry, unpacking, and trying to get back into a routine!

Children's Museum

So I can't tell you enough how fun the Children's Museum is in Portland! The kids could have stayed for hours.... so much to do, so little time.
Here's just a few pics of our afternoon there......
Grocery Store/Cafe I'm not sure who had a funner time at the grocery store/cafe -- Seri or Tanner? (the only bummer was there weren't any "real" buttons on the cash registers. They didn't do anything -- just for looks :( But the scanner did beep!




Caden's favorite part was the water world. Wet but fun!


The boys could have stayed in here all afternoon, too!

A Funny from Caden

So last week Caden was getting ready for school and eating his breakfast. (I was at the gym while Adam was on breakfast duty, so this story is told to me by Adam). He was eating his cereal when he told Adam, "Dad, this tastes like throw up"! Adam checked the milk and sure enough, it was past due. I just thought the way Caden said it was funny. So just a reminder to always check the due date on your milk!! Ugh!