The Grocery Game

At the beginning of May my friend, Kristi, told me about a website called The Grocery Game that helps you save money on groceries. It sounded interesting to me so I went and checked it out. Since then I have been playing "The Grocery Game" and if you do it right it really does save you money. What it does is this: She takes the major grocery stores that most of the time are more expensive but have great sales on certain foods (Albertsons, Smiths, etc) and also cuts coupons in the Sunday paper. Then she checks the sales each week and compares them with the coupons and lets us know when it's really a good deal. When it's a really good deal you stock up on that item. Since I live in a smaller town the only store for me is Albertsons (and soon Walgreens). But you people that live in bigger places would have more stores to choose from. So check it out and see if that's something that will help you. You can sign up for a months trial for $1.00 at www.thegrocerygame.com. She will also be on the Food Network show "Unwrapped" June 26 at 7:00 pm, 27 at 10 pm, and 29 at 5:30 pm.

The haircut

Today I came in from watering the lawn and found Darren in the bathroom getting ready to use his father's day present -- new hair clippers. Carrie, you don't need to worry about those hair products anymore.

For Carrie

Here you go, Carrie. They sure look tiny in the pictures but they look pretty in the yard. I've decided it's expensive to plant too many annuals. But it looks better if you plant a lot. Anyway, I'm grateful for flowers, plants, trees, grass. I love being in my backyard in the summer. Now I need a nice comfortable place to sit back there.

My Friday night

Darren went to Jackson with his photo buddies and Tracie was out with her friends so the boys and I decided to plant some flowers. Our yard was looking very green but not a lot of other colors. Half of them got planted tonight. The rest can wait until tomorrow.

Poor Jacob

I know the last two posts have been about Jacob but I couldn't resist this one. To use Carrie's words "I couldn't stop laughing". He crawled under my chair when I was eating breakfast and then sat up creating a little prison for himself. As you can see, he didn't like it very much.

Jake's next milestone

This morning when Kevin and I went to get Jacob out of his crib he was sitting up. He has never sat up from a laying down position by himself. Then after dinner we were all busy doing different things when we noticed Jacob was standing up against the chair. No one claims to have stood him up, so unless someone is pulling my chain, he did it himself. Two milestones in one day. I guess we had better put every thing up higher.

More mischief

Jake getting into trouble again. I also threw in a picture of Tracie exercising because I liked it. She's keeping Ethan out of mischief.

Our father's day

This was what our family did for father's day. Tracie grilled chicken (check out the hot grilling outfit. Most people would just wear an apron if they didn't want to get their white shirt dirty. But not Tracie. She has to make a fashion statement with her house dress.) Darren read the newspaper while waiting for his dinner to be cooked. He's usually the griller but not today. Ethan is showing you the sour candy he is eating (even though you can't see it) and Kevin is just hanging out with his dad. Kevin and Ethan picked out the presents they gave Darren. Kevin chose Twix candy bars because he knew Darren would share and Ethan chose sour candy straws for the same reason. Luckily for them Darren is nice and does share.

Braces

Today was the day I got my braces. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but it is a mouthful to get used to. I haven't attempted chewing yet but I think I'm going to be hungry enough to try by dinner time. Liquids just don't do the trick sometimes.

5K

I know that Tracie has already posted about the 5K. But that was the biggest thing that happened in my week so I'm posting it, too. It was fun. I'm sure all the experienced runners out there would not be too impressed with our time but we beat our own time so we feel pretty good about it. Our goals were to beat our own time and not to come in last. We were in the middle of everyone else so we beat both of our goals. The City of Rexburg does an excellent job organizing this event. They have a 5K, 10K, half marathon, marathon, relay marathon and family fun run. For more information and to see our times posted (not sure if they're there yet) go to www.dammarathon.com. Next year 10K! (Credit goes to Darren Clark for taking the action shot. He was right at the finish line with his camera.)

Beautiful hair

Yesterday Tracie said she was going to get her hair cut and asked her if I wanted to get mine cut, too. So I said yes and this is the before and after pictures. (They got mixed up. The first one is actually the after.)

My Little Raccoon

I think I have a picture of all of my babies similar to this one. For some reason they always find the garbage. Jake is no exception. I had just taken it out of the cupboard to change the bag. Then I got interupted for some reason and this is the result.

Braces

I have decided to get braces on my teeth. In order to do that, I had to have four teeth pulled this morning. That was not a fun experience. But it was quick and they are gone now. The worst part was being numb for four hours after. In order to take four teeth out they have to really numb you up. Now I am not numb anymore but I can only eat soft foods for 48 hours. So while everyone else ate grilled chicken, mashed potatoes and carrots for dinner, I had mashed potatoes and refried beans. I have also eaten Jell-O, pudding and Carnation Instant Breakfast. Any other good ideas? Anyway, this picture is a before picture. I'll send more along the way. (But not of my mouth at this current time.)

Jacob's Oreo

Jacob ate his first Oreo today (at least as far as I know - we've had a lot of Oreo's around this weekend). This picture doesn't do how he really looked justice but I'm sure you can imagine the rest. Oreo's are not a clean kid treat.

Darren's BBQ pork

One of the things that Darren does occasionally is watch the food network. And one of the things he saw on the food network was how to make BBQ pork. So now every once in a while, especially on Sundays, we have BBQ pork. We put the roast in the crock pot for at least 8 hours, sometimes more, and when it's done Darren mixes BBQ sauce and other special ingredients until he has a masterpiece. Today I put a roast in the crock pot thinking it was a beef roast. When it was done we realized it was a pork roast. Darren was excited. He worked his magic on it and we all enjoyed a delicious BBQ pork dinner. His parents and nephew, Carson, were also here so they got to enjoy it as well. (Well, Carson was sick yesterday so he ate a ham sandwich and the rest of us had pork.) Oh, one more thing I almost forgot. Part of the cooking process is to separate the big pieces of fat out of the meat. While Darren was doing that and Carl was watching Darren said, "It's a good thing Carrie isn't doing this." Carl started laughing and said he was just thinking the same thing. So there you go, Carrie, they were thinking about you. (Carrie doesn't like fat on meat.)

The front of our house

This is what the front of our house looks like now. I thought I would post it so you all could give more ideas on what to do with it.

Three brothers

Tracie and I came home from a morning run this morning and this is what I found. All three boys playing together on the top bunk of the bunk beds. It was so cute I couln't resist taking a picture. It's wonderful to see them play together and enjoy their brothers. That doesn't happen all the time at our house.

Darren's new hairstlye

Darren has gone since the end of April without cutting his hair. (Except for a little trim around the ears.) It's getting pretty long. Now he needs to figure out how to style it. He tried some new stlyes out last night. He needs all of you to vote on which one you like best.

Busy day

We had a very productive day yesterday in our yard. Tracie and I weeded the entire yard. (and it really needed it. How do weeds grow so fast but all the good plants don't?) Then we rented a roto tiller (not sure that is spelled correctly) and got the garden ready for planting. Jon Long let us use his truck to transport the tiller and even did the driving and helped load and unload. So to pay him back we washed his truck. And since we were already washing we washed my car and Tracie's car (Darren's car wasn't around so his didn't get done). That afternoon Jon came back again with his truck and Darren and Jon pulled up the juniper bushes in the front of our house. That was a lot of work. Those things are tough. We still have a lot to do but I think we crammed enough into one day. Now we have to decide what to do in place of the juniper bushes. Anyone got some good ideas?

Mother's Day

I know there will be a lot of Mother's Day posts on blogs today but that is because mother's are so special. My mother's day was great. Kevin made me a card and painted a flower pot at school. Darren, Ethan, and Jacob gave me some Godiva chocolates that Darren got in Louisiana. Those are some good chocolates. Tracie gave me a pancake griddle. Both boys made me a decorated soup can at daycare. I got a flower at church and one at the grocery store yesterday. So I was spoiled. Plus Darren got up with Jacob first thing this morning. That was a great present. I would also like to wish a happy Mother's Day to my mom and mother in law. They are both great women and are a great influence in mine and my family's lives. Thanks, Moms!