Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Big Kids' First Day

Ethan and Kimberly are now in 4th and 5th Grade. They don't let us take the photos in front of the the school building anymore. I guess those days ended when they walked through the school door.

Ethan KG 2005

First Day of School

I have to say it is SO hard to know that my oldest is going to her last first day of Elementary. I dug out the old pictures of Kimberly's first day at Wilson Elementary. It is amazing that this little Kindergartner is now in 5th grade.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Last Fling of the Summer

So last Monday I officially started back to school. We had an ALL DAY meeting. The original plan was this week would be the week to "get my head in the game" so to speak for the coming school year. Well instead the kids, Doug and I looked at our upcoming crammed schedule and decided one last romp with our trailer was a must. So Tuesday bright and early we headed for Hells Canyon. We found an awesome campsite with HOOK UPS! We got all set up and then thought we would head down to the store to get a few things and look around. That is when the problems began. Our pathfinder would not start. Now even at home with the Volvo in the shop this would be a big deal but being out in the woods it was not good. So we called Doug's mom and she decided to come up the next day. So we played with it and Doug got it going enough that we thought we were in the clear. Then we decide to go down and play in the river and not stress. The next day with Margaret we went huckleberry picking (luckily with two vehicles) because of course it REALLY DIED so we were stuck. Needless to say we got tons of huckleberries but Margaret and I had to go down to Halfway and find the parts store. After several phone calls and luck, the parts dealer told us he could get the part mailed in the next day. So with an expensive starter and a handy mechanic for a hubby that doesn't mind working in the wild we got our vehicle running. Not the trip we had planned but it actually was nice. The kids played in the water a ton and all did a little fishing and Doug got a very nice and yummy trout. We even got to see the Hells Creek Information Center that Doug's dad Allan designed. So now it is back to reality. Ready or not.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Summer Fun with Friends

Tucker's early birthday get together at McDonalds and our house.A fun BBQ for our good friends Dan and Kristina and their children who are leaving for the mission field for the next two years. God has blessed them with a heart for ministry. We will miss them. To keep up and pray for their ministry check out their blog on the right.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

RC Willey's Company Picnic

Sunday was Doug's work picnic. It was really fun! We went to a cool park in Meridian that I have been dying to go to for months. It was all I thought it would be. We ate more then our share of GOOD food and then waited for the Raffle Drawing. We ended up being the lucky owner of a new rug worth over $200s. It is HUGE and we love it. The kids were very excited about the face painting and fishing booth. They got some fun things at both. All in all it was a very nice party.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

SUPER SAVINGS SATURDAY

Okay, I don't claim to be one of those incredible shopping Moms but I do try to be thrifty with my family's grocery money. Today I was quite proud of myself and I have to share. I don't know if you shop at Albertsons if you don't you should. I realize that overall they don't compare to Walmart or Winco for cheap everyday prices BUT they do meet their customers needs and want to help you have a good shopping experience. They are running a special this weekend where if you spend $30 on particular grocery items (that we use all the time) you get $15 in store coupons to spend on ANYTHING. Now keep in mind that you can use manufacture coupons towards this purchase and you still get the $15! So I did do this earlier in the week and managed to get my $15 for less then $30 because of the coupons I had. Today my goal was to get another $15 and spend as little as possible SO............. Above is the picture of my loot! I got a total of $78.60 worth of groceries (granted original price is high because it is Albertsons) for a whopping $13.10 out of pocket today. BUT wait it gets better I also still have $10 more in Albertson coupon and a frosting label coupon for.25 SO REALLY I could say that I got all those items for $2.85. Okay it gets even better... I ALSO got $.40 off per gallon on my gas and Albertsons gas cost the same as Costco so that is truly off the lowest price around. Needless to say I am pretty proud. I know I am not in the big leagues but I am proud to say that I am my home teams MVP. Got to love those coupons!

August Fun with Cousins and Tennis

We started lessons this week Monday-Thursday from 9-10am for Ethan and Kimberly and Thursday and Friday from 9-10am for Jayden. They are held at GG's Racket Club in Nampa. They love it and can only dream to be as good of a tennis player as GG (who is almost 94 years old).








We had a fun couple of days visit with Terry and Luisa who came down on their cross Idaho tour. They first visited my brother Eric and his family in Northern Idaho and then headed here to visit us. They stayed with my parents (Auntie Lauretta) and SWAM until they became prunes with my little raisins. This all made for a very busy week.


OUR DOG

OUR DOG