The Pentons

New years goals

2012-01-02T13:52:00.001-08:00

So this year, I'm determined to get into shape, not that I'm feeling fat I just feel weak and I want to be able to run more than a mile without feeling totally worn out. So goal #1: Workout for at least 30 min 3 times a week, hopefully this is acheivable. I plan on doing DDR3, running, doing the elliptical and of course an ab workout because the baby fat still lingers :) Goal #2: Read my scriptures for 15 minutes everyday....come on who can't do that, but I'll admit I've been terrible lately about that but my plan is to wake up 15 minutes earlier and read.

Thats it! I hope I haven't set myself up to fail :) j/k I'm just trying to keep it simple and achievable.

Christmas with a 1 year old!

2011-12-31T18:48:00.000-08:00

Be prepared there is a lot in this post! So, Grace had essentially 3 Christmases and by the end, she really got the opening presents thing down. She got so much stuff! She is feeling really spoiled right now.

Scaling the presents at Nana's

With her new ball

Enjoying the box

With cousin Melody listening to Dad play the guitar

Ahh...the wonder of Christmas

Aunt Lacy, Preston and Melody

I love the little tongue :)

Trying out her new snuggle from Grandma

In front of our tree with her Christmas dress on

Opening her stocking- she loved this, when she was done she wanted us to put the things back in it so she could pull them out again

She got a puzzle, this is a puzzle piece in her mouth that she sucks like a binky

Long day

This is what Craig did over his break--a puzzle!

Snuggling with her new pillow pet

Women's conference

2011-09-24T19:21:00.000-07:00

After a hectic day and a stressful week, I was able to go to women's conference tonight and listen to the Relief Society general presidency and President Uchtdorf speak. I never know how much I need it until I'm there. I loved President Uchtdorf's talk...don't look so hard for the golden ticket that you forget to enjoy the candy bar. A valuable message that I will strive to apply in my own life when I'm so busy looking forward to the time when I don't have to work and that I can just stay home with my baby girl that I forget to relish today and enjoy what I've been given right now. I also loved his apostolic testimony affirming that each of us is important and loved by the Lord. A spiritual uplift for me and I'm looking forward to next weekend for more such messages.

This is what happens when school starts

2011-09-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

Life gets crazy, and the blog never gets updated, but here is the latest cuteness!

After Eating

What a good helper!

Loves the swing

Dolly--she drags her around by the braids all the time

My sister Ad went through the temple for her endowments, she is going on a mission to Brazil in December!!

Always snuggles with the dirty laundry--not sure why

Food storage update

2011-08-21T08:44:00.000-07:00

So this weekend I went to the Emergency Essentials store to spend my $20 in free gift cards (see previous post) and I was able to get 3 #10 cans of quick oats, and 1 #10 can of barley (we don't eat barley that much so that one can is good for our 1 year food storage) and I also bought and Nalgene-esk water bottle. The total out of pocket i spent was: $5! Woot woot! I have a budget of $30/ month for food storage so this month I used only $15 of that budget becuase I spent $10 earlier in the month on a 20lb bag of rice. I look forward to the case lot sales sure to happen this next month!

And for your viewing pleasure...

2011-08-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Here are two videos of her crawling, the first on was from the beginning of the summer and the second one is from just a week or two ago. Then the third video is older but its of her eating, I love the little sounds she makes while she's eating!!

Free food storage!

2011-08-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Dear friends,
I have recently added two links to my blog and you may be wondering why...or maybe not but I will tell you anyway. You can earn $20 in free food storage from "Emergency Essentials"!! How? You just need to add the links that I have on my blog to your very own blog, then email the company with a link to your blog and they will send you a $10 gift card for each of the links! Here is the website with full details and the link that you need to post onto your blog! http://preparednesspantry.blogspot.com/2010/09/earn-20-in-gift-cards.html
Happy Days! Love
Amanda

June pics and the 4th of July

2011-07-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

Grace loves being outside! She is discovering her world and trying to eat it!!

We got a high chair for Grace, she loved it then she hated it, and now she seems content to be in it again.

Craig has been babying our garden all year, this was taken at the beginning of June and it has grown so much since then!

Grace at the chalk art festival.

Grace loves to read, when I read her a book she is in charge of turning the pages.

She's on the move!! I was on the couch I look up and she had disappeared under the table!

Fourth of July parade.

Grace with her Yauney cousins.

A long overdue update

2011-06-06T08:38:00.000-07:00

Sporting her new outfit, I'm glad I got a pic. of it because it shrunk in the wash, and doesn't fit her quite the same.

She's so curious

With her cousin/ best bud Melody

Can you believe its May!?

Look at me I'm sitting up!

Sitting up again!

Precious

On the quilt mommy made me

Summer is here!! Notice my two teeth :)

Big girl

GPP

2011-05-01T08:12:00.000-07:00

GPP are Grace's initials so we thought it was funny to put on her glasses and make her act like a gangster, she wasn't amused.

Pics with the family

2011-05-01T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some spring pics we took with my family

Easter 2011

2011-05-01T07:25:00.000-07:00

Grace in her Easter dress

The first egg of Easter.

Getting an Easter basket from Grandma

You've gotta see this

2011-04-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

We bought these glasses for Grace thinking they wouldn't last long on her face, just the opposite, she loves them!

Yep, you guessed it...more Grace

2011-03-26T12:03:00.000-07:00

For some reason she loves this position, I don't know why, it looks really uncomfortable

Curios about the camera--what is this thing always in my face??

On the belly (note the drool, he he) She just kinda screeches the whole time shes on her belly

The Latest

2011-03-20T16:37:00.000-07:00

This is Grace sitting up, she needs a little help from her mommy!

Grace is still a Daddy's girl, I love those big eyes

This is the look Grace makes when trying to sit up herself, she looks like she's in pain

We're still trying to decide where these toes came from.

We went outside one day and I told Craig to grab a hat for her, and instead of grabbing one of her hats, he grabbed one of his. She looked like Dopey (from Snow White) with this floppy hat.

Biggest thing that has happened lately is that she is rolling over. This picture is of the first time she rolled over, I had set her on the couch, turned around to get my phone off the table and I came back and here she was on her stomach! She is still trying to figure out how to get her arm out from under her.

Cutie Pie!

Other cute pics

2011-02-27T16:24:00.000-08:00

She likes to chew on our fingers but daddy had just put on sanitizer yuck!

Playing with some new toys-- straight to the mouth

do i have something on my face?

2011-02-27T16:18:00.000-08:00

Guess what Grace's favorite thing to do is.....

How did this happen?

2011-02-12T14:18:00.000-08:00

So I went in to get Grace one morning and this is what I found.

To give you an idea of what happened, she usually has her body parallel to the long sides of her crib, and she was on her white blanket. She got out of her blanket, moved herself up and turned.

Gracie P.

2011-02-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

Baby faux-hawk, it was cute but her hair is so thin it just fell out

She is starting to discover her world, she is aware of herself and toys.

Grace at 5 am....need I say more

Super model

Ready to brave the cold on her way to the sitter.

Again...discovering her world, she mostly stares

Trying to lift her head she get this pained look on her face.

My cute thumb-sucker

2011-01-22T16:01:00.000-08:00

currently my favorite pic

2011-01-11T15:38:00.000-08:00

Grace's Blessing

2011-01-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Grace got blessed this last Sunday, it was a fabulous event!

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T16:06:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas Eve with the Millers and Christmas day with the Yauneys. Heres some pics from the celebrations

Maternity Pics

2010-12-26T18:43:00.000-08:00

My friend Mary took these pics of me and they turned out so cute I wanted to share them. Man....my belly was big!

Sleeping

2010-12-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

I love how Grace sleeps. She has to have her hands out. If I swaddle her hands in her blanket, she takes them out before she goes to sleep. Here she is taking a nap. I set her down on the couch of a second and when I came back she was asleep...if only that would happen at night!

Looking cute

2010-12-21T13:12:00.000-08:00

First walk and first day at church

2010-12-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here she is ready for some of her first outings. She wasn't too happy in her car seat until we started moving.

Christmas

2010-12-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

I started putting up our Christmas decorations. This is our Nativity set, my mom gives us a new piece of the set every year for Christmas, what will it be this year... the creche or the angel?I

Craig went with his family on Saturday for their traditional Christmas tree hunt and he brought us home a great tree. Here he is getting it ready and then the tree all decorated and of course a pic of what Gracie did while all this was happening.

First Doctor visit/ Miss Sentimental

2010-12-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

Today we went For Grace's first doctor visit, she's already gained 1 1/2 lbs! aren't babies supposed to lose weight in the first couple weeks? She's so cute she is getting these cute chubby cheeks.

Today I was also putting away some newborn sized diapers we had laying around and I almost started to cry she is growing up so fast!

Heres a pic for your enjoyment, she fell asleep in my arms like this (yes hose are socks on her hands)

My Baby

2010-12-05T10:44:00.000-08:00

I thought I might post some pics of baby Grace since I haven't done that yet

Weekend project

2010-11-20T14:19:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to keep busy and I found this pattern for a Christmas wreath and I just had to make it. Here is the tutorial. For other fun crafts check out the blog here.

Gratitude

2010-11-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

I've been inspired by other peoples blogs lately where they post about things they are thankful for and I think that is something that I need to do more of. Here's a run-down of 10 things I'm thankful for in no particular order:
1. Craig
2. Baby Grace- I wish she would come soon
3. Our cozy apartment
4. A job that I love!
5. A car that is almost paid off-- woot!
6. Supportive family and friends
7. My testimony and how in rough times it is has always supported me.
8. Clothes that fit (hopefully soon)
9. My camera- I saved up for a whole year for that baby and I love it!
10. Coupons- weird yes, but do you know how much money a year I save with them!?

POTD hiatus

2010-11-19T08:30:00.000-08:00

It's pretty pathetic when I give up my project after just a couple of weeks. I do have an excuse..I have had a horrible rash due to my pregnancy that itches like crazy and honestly I couldn't focus on anything else except getting relief. My doctor gave me a pill though that is helping to calm it, not cure it but make life a little more manageable. So here is my picture update:

My Halloween costume

Every Tuesday at 4 I get to see this little device and listen to my baby girls heartbeat- what a miracle

Have you ever seen a fall tree with 3 colors- I love it

My new favorite color scheme- yellow and red, I wonder if Craig will let me paint our kitchen this color??

This looks like it came out of a magazine, just missing someone in a blankie on the chair reading a book.

What I've been busy making. My grandma sends out 100+ cards to family every year so I try to make her cards at Christmas to help her out. This design I used my sewing machine and added cutouts from the Cricut, I think they turned out pretty cute.

Results of the rash, this is the only documentation I'm keeping becuase I don't want to remember it. PS none of these things really worked.

A cute find- this is a present I'm sending to my sis on a mission in Puerto Rico, I found these cute mongrammed cards in the dollar section at Michaels, can you beat it??

POTD Oct 26-27

2010-10-28T20:24:00.000-07:00

One day to the next. This is the same shot off my front porch. Sorry the one is a little dark, it was taken at 7 am before I went to work :)

POTD Oct 23

2010-10-28T20:16:00.000-07:00

My in-laws threw me a baby shower and this master-piece of a a cake was made by my sister in law, I know she made it...impressive. I also went for a pedicure, to all the pregnant ladies it's totally worth the $30, my feet felt so good to have all the knots out!

POTD Oct 22

2010-10-28T20:14:00.001-07:00

I love drying laundry on the line, it always seems more fresh to me, and this is the last time I'll get to do it seeing as how storms have moved into the area. :(

POTD Oct 21- Chili cookoff!

2010-10-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Two years we have won our wards chili cookoff, and we have done it again! Not that I'm bragging, I think its funny especially if you look really close at what it says on the bottom of the trophy...he he.

POTD Oct. 20

2010-10-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

I've waited 2 months for this book to come in at the library, I went from number 144 on the waiting list and I've finally got it, it took me 2 days to read. I think I'll just buy the next one!

POTD Oct 19

2010-10-19T17:40:00.000-07:00

How can I ignore the color this time of year? These were taken just right outside my apartment on my way to get the mail.

POTD Oct 18

2010-10-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Remnants of my favorite classroom project- a fall leaf hunt!

Yumminess

2010-10-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

One more post today. I made this soup and it was so delicious and comforting that I want to share it!

It is squash-apple soup but you have to about triple the recipe to get enough. I doubled it and it was enough for 2 bowls.

2 cups cubed peeled butternut squash (about 3/4 lb)

1/2 large apple, peeled, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

1 cup Progresso® chicken broth (from 32-oz carton)

1/4 cup apple juice

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch ground nutmeg

Pinch ground ginger

2 tablespoons whipping cream

2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley

DIRECTIONS

Spray 1 1/2- to 2 1/2-quart slow cooker with cooking spray. In cooker, mix all ingredients except whipping cream and parsley.
Cover; cook on Low heat setting 8 to 10 hours.
Blend soup in cooker with immersion blender, or blend soup in batches in blender container on low speed and return to cooker. Stir in whipping cream. Sprinkle each serving with parsley.

10/17/10

2010-10-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Can you tell a pregnant lady lives here--yes that is our front porch and I'm too lazy to bend down and pick all those up. Its not my fault that they deliver the paper on Fri, Sat and Sun when you just want it on Sunday!

New project

2010-10-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

So, I've been wanting to start this project for a while but sometimes I think our life is too boring. Its called a picture of the day project (POTD) and I've been inspired by this lady: Becky Higgins she's this major scrapbooker and I've been following her blog just for fun. Last Christmas she put out a product call project life and its specifically made for those people who take 1 picture everyday. Anyways on to my story. I have this scrapbooking album and it is fabulous just for regular scrapbooking, but lately I've been wanting to document every day life. Sure it's not very exciting and some of the pictures you may look at and be like, "that's silly" but I want to remember our life now when I look back in 50 years, especially since our little baby will be making an appearance soon. So here is day one of POTD:

We went shopping this weekend and bought some baby bottles, so I washed and dried them. They are actually "breast flow" bottles and they come with tops so you can store breast milk in them as well--pretty smart!

Baby Shower Announcement

2010-10-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

You are all invited to a baby shower that my mother-in-law is throwing for me on Saturday October 23! It will be at the church from 12-4. You don't need a gift to come, just come and eat and play games. I would love to see all your friendly faces :)

Love
Amanda

My day off

2010-09-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

So yesterday (Friday) I had a day off and I went a little crazy with the crafts :) Heres what I made:

I finished the quilt for baby Grace

I also made a bag with some scraps I had lying around. I kinda used this pattern here but I kinda did my own thing

Last of all I had some felt so I made these little felt hairbow/flowers for baby Grace

Uintas

2010-08-28T19:27:00.000-07:00

So we took a trip to the Uintas a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to post a couple of pictures. The first one was of the most brilliant rainbow I've ever seen. The second is of the moose friend that hung out in our campsite all night. I woke up at 5 am to go to the bathroom and the moose was about 20 yards away from our tent and it watched me all the way to the bathroom....little scary and I probably wouldn't have left my tent if I didn't have to go so bad!!

Weekend Project

2010-08-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I did this little sewing project for the baby, its a carseat cover. The patchwork fabric came like that, I didn't actually sew that myself, but I did sew that patchwork fabric to a muslim fabric (1 yard of each) and then I sewed the bows on top, easy project and it turned out way cute, I think!

27 weeks!

2010-08-28T19:21:00.001-07:00

Big BELLY!!

3 Years!

2010-08-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

Dear Craig, I love you! Thanks for the ride so far, I look forward to the future! Love Me

July happenings

2010-07-31T11:34:00.000-07:00

Lots has been happening, our month has been full of exciting things. Here are some pictures of things we've done.

We went to the zoo, Craig hasn't been there in years.

This is a picture of Craig with a giant slushy that he ate because it was so hot!

We went to the Kennecott copper mines on their free day. It was pretty cool.

Craig working on the engine

Craig with his nephew Devin. He's so good with kids.

We recently celebrated this little one's first birthday! Happy birthday Melody!

Quilt top finished

2010-07-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

This morning I finished the quilt top for baby Grace. I know you're all dying to see it so here it is!

Our new apartment

2010-07-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

I'm finally posting some pics of our new apartment. Granted it may not look like much to most, but it is a big improvement from the old apartment! We have a lot more space for storage and the layout is a little better. Oh, you also get to see the new couch that we bought! Yes, I'm very excited about it because Craig and I can both lay down on it and not overlap :)

Our trip to "Dinosaur land"

2010-07-13T07:04:00.002-07:00

So, I've been wanting to go to dinosaur land ever since I've moved to Utah. So a couple weekends ago just on a whim, we decided to go up there for a weekend, camp out over night and see the sights. Well, we take the 3 hour drive (its up by Vernal) and we get there and we find out that the quarry where you see the dinosaur bones was closed for renovations...bummer. So we thought there were other dinosaur-y things to do, so we found a campsite and set up our tent and as we were setting up, a ranger came around and informed us that the fossil walk was also recently closed, they actually closed it that day. Double bummer, so on our trip to dinosaur land we saw no dinosaurs. We did see petroglyphs aka ancient rock art, we hung out on a little beach next to green river and we saw a rock that looked like a turtle...exciting I know. Next time we go to dinosaur land will be in 2 years when everything opens again, and we will call before we leave!

Harvest!

2010-07-13T07:04:00.000-07:00

We have been working hard on our garden this year and I want to show you what we've got so far. We are waiting patiently for our green tomatoes to turn red!!

21 weeks

2010-07-13T07:03:00.001-07:00

So I went and saw the doctor yesterday and I weighed in at 25 lbs over my original weight. For those who don't know you're only supposed to gain 25-30 lbs through the whole pregnancy! Ahhh! So I was like, what can I do? She said eat healthy, lean meat, fruits and veggies, etc. hello, that is all I eat. Well, I think I will blame it on baby Grace, she is a big baby, I already have a feeling so I think once she gets out, I will be able to go back to my regular size...Right?? (don't judge me in the second pic, I haven't done my hair yet)

Quilt

2010-07-01T13:54:00.001-07:00

I just got done perusing the fabric store and I got some cute stuff that I wanted to show off. I'm making a quilt for baby Grace, it's going to be a log cabin pattern and hopefully it turns out cute!

It's a....

2010-06-22T17:41:00.000-07:00

Today we went for our ultrasound and we found out what kind of baby we're having!! But I'm going to leave you in suspense and show you some dang cute pictures first! So the first picture is a little finger saying "I'm #1", then we have a tiny little foot, and yes I count 5 toes :), then we have a good profile shot of her whole body....opps I just gave it away, yes its a Girl!! I'm already buying pink stuff. We are very excited! She was moving around the whole ultrasound so it was hard to get her still but we have a picture of her girl parts, which I decided not to post, so we know for sure its a girl. Oh, one funny picture that you can't really tell what she's doing, but the tech was trying to get a shot of her girl parts so we could see for sure that it was a girl and she stuck her hand over top of her privates and put her knees together...such a modest little thing :)

Melody

2010-06-07T09:53:00.000-07:00

We had Craigs niece Melody over last night and she makes this cute little scrunch face which I was able to capture. I also got a good shot of Craig imitating Melody :)

Our small apartment

2010-06-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

We're moving out in a week and I wanted to capture some pictures of our apartment to illustrate why. We have outgrown our tiny 1 bedroom, its been a great place but things are getting a little crowded. (These are pictures of a typical day, nothing is staged :))

Front room

Top of the closet...sneak peak at the babies room, I found a good deal at a garage sale and bought some baby stuff.

Our Hallway

Belly 15 Weeks

2010-06-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

I took this picture a couple of weeks ago and just haven't gotten around to posting it. This is me at 15 weeks, I'm now at 17 weeks, not too huge of a difference. PS ignore the dirty dishes in the background :)

First Ultrasound

2010-04-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

So today we went for our first ultrasound, I'm 10 weeks along (actually 9 1/2 weeks according to my uterus). The second she zoomed in on our little kumquat we could see it just dancing away! Its little arms and legs were just moving everywhere. It was pretty cool. Heres some pictures, I know it doesn't look like much but hey the thing is still just 1 inch long, so this is as good as it gets. The first one is kinda a profile with its little arm sticking up, and the second one the baby is facing the camera and smiling (ok I don't know if its smiling, but it is reaching out for me :))

Free Stuff!

2010-04-10T18:02:00.000-07:00

I was excited when I got all this free stuff in the mail yesterday!! Hooray for anything free :)

Is it spring yet?

2010-04-10T17:59:00.001-07:00

Daily Life

2010-04-09T17:04:00.000-07:00

So I got a new flash and have been trying it out around the apartment.

This is titled: Nightstand. Am I actually reading all these books...no. Do I intend to read all these books....yes the problem is I just can't stay up past 9:00 and I have no other time to read...wo is me

I call this: Food Storage...yes most of our food storage is cereal!!

Easter

2010-04-09T17:00:00.000-07:00

Eggs courtesy of Mo and Lacey!

And of course whats Easter without pictures of some cute nephews and niece!

8 weeks

2010-03-28T18:45:00.000-07:00

So, I'm 8 weeks along and I had Craig take some pictures of my belly because even though I'm really not showing I still feel fatter than usual, and my pants are getting tighter and definitely more uncomfortable, so here are the pics...see if you can tell (granted I am arching my back a bit, but other than that its all natural!)

My new blog

2010-03-13T19:40:00.001-08:00

So, I'm trying to start out in the photography business and so I made a blog with some pics I've taken recently. Check it out, tell your friends! http://amandamaephotos.blogspot.com/

A new edition

2010-03-13T11:09:00.000-08:00

Yes its true, November 9th we'll be welcoming a new little one to our family! Stay tuned for updates :)

Week 1 update and Week 2 menu

2010-03-07T15:50:00.000-08:00

Well, week 1 I didn't get to cook everything that I planned. We went out to dinner 2 different nights, one time to Red Robin where we got their Southwestern Salad for 5.99 and once to KFC where their 7 piece meal deal was $10 (our money for eating out comes from a separate budget so I still have $40 to spend on eating out this month), and I didn't cook on Saturday night. So all in all we didn't have our chicken satay, white bean/sausage rigatoni, or spicy pan fried fish. So those will be back on the menu for this week.

Mon: Spicy pan fried fish
Tues: Chicken Satay with salad
Wed: Lasagna
Thurs: Chicken Noodle toss
Fri: White bean/sausage rigatoni
Sat: Breakfast Quiches

I posted the other recipes previously so here is the Chicken Noodle Toss:

Make a spice rub for the chicken: 1/4 c. brown sugar, 2T paprika, 2t salt, 2 t coriander, 1 t pepper, 1 t garlic powder, 1/2 t cayenne pepper, 8 chicken breasts.

Rub chicken with the spice mixture. Bake in oven at 400 for 20 min. Cool for 30 min. You can freeze 4 of the chicken breasts to use for another meal and use 4 in the noodle toss.

Noodle toss: You can use any kind of noodles, they suggest rice sticks, but I just use spaghetti. Cook the noodles in boiling water. Combine chicken (diced), 2 T lime juice, 2 T soy sauce and 1 medium green onion. Toss mixture with noodles and serve on top of arugula, basil, and cilantro.

Breakfast Quiches

This weeks shopping trip:
Again I'll be shopping on Tuesday this week and since I went slightly over budget last week on my shopping I only have $5! I only need to buy lettuce, oranges, green onions and eggs. Can I do this?? Stay tuned...

Week 1 groceries

2010-03-02T17:29:00.000-08:00

So today I went grocery shopping and I spent $35 (I went a little over but a lot of the things I bought are for 2 weeks time so next week I won't really do any shopping except maybe produce) This is what I got:

14 boxes of cereal (this will be enough for the whole month)
4 gallons of milk
10 lbs of chicken (this will last the whole month)
Sausage
eggs
oranges
limes
cilantro
tomatoes
lasagna noodles
tortillas (a pack of 30)

Not bad I think. I didn't get any snacks really but I have some in our food storage so I think we'll be okay. My total savings was $27. Yahoo!!

First week, $100 challenge

2010-02-28T09:51:00.000-08:00

So this week starts my $100 challenge! I will do my grocery shopping on Tuesday this week and I plan on spending only $30. I will buy Chicken (I usually get bone in with skin because its cheaper--this week at Smiths its .99/lb), Sausage, tortillas (I get these at the bread store by my work for $1.50 for the wheat ones), eggs, oranges, lettuce, tomatoes, limes, cilantro, and cereal (its on sale at Smiths, you buy 4 and get 2 gallons of milk for free! I will probably get about 10 boxes) See my upcoming posts for the deals I got this week!!

This is what I'll be cooking this week:

Mon: Teriyaki chicken with rice (I think I've posted this recipe before)
Tues: Vegetable Fritatta
Wed: Tacos (Craigs favorite!)
Thurs: White bean sausage rigatoni
Fri: Spicy pan fried fish with salad
Sat: Chicken Satay with rice pilaf
Sun: Crock pot BBQ chicken

So if you know me, all of my meals take under 30 min. to cook so I'll post the recipes below for these meals if you are interested in a fast meal!

Vegetable Fritatta: this is actually a new recipe for me but I've made something similar to this before.

Combine 8 eggs and 1 T basil. In a skillet combine 1 c. frozen corn, 1/2 c. zucchini and 1/3 c. green onion. Add 3/4 c. chopped roma tomatoes. Cook for 5 min or until veges are crisp. Pour egg mixture on top of veges cook on medium heat. As it cooks lift edges of the eggs so that uncooked eggs can cook. Sprinkle with cheese. I think I will serve it with garlic bread.

White bean sausage rigatoni:

Cook 2 cups rigatoni. In large saucepan combine 1 can kidney beans, 1 can stewed tomatoes undrained, 8 ounces cooked sausage, 1/3 c. fresh basil or 1 T. dried basil. Heat mixture thoroughly, put on top of pasta and serve!

Spicy Fried fish:

Prepare dip for fish: 1/4 c. cornmeal, 1/4 c. flour, 3/4 t cayenne pepper, 1/2 t chili powder, 1/2 t garlic powder, 1/2 t paprika.

Dip thawed fish fillets (whatever kind of fish you want, we will have cod) into beaten egg mixture and then into the prepared dip. Fry in a skillet with canola or olive oil. Cook 3-4 minutes for each side of the fish. Drain on paper towels.

Chicken Satay:

Whisk 4 T. peanut butter and 1/3 c. soy sauce, coat 4 pieces of cubed chicken. Put chicken on wooden skewers (make sure to soak these!!) Broil for 5 min. Rice pilaf I take the poach of pre-made uncle ben's and serve that (I know, I cheat)

Crock pot BBQ chick:

Take chicken with bones and skin and place in a crock pot with 1 whole container BBQ sauce, on low for 8 hours. Take out and enjoy. I will probably serve this with salad...you can never have too much salad!!

Avatar

2010-02-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

So last night we went to see Avatar. I went in with no expectations. I had heard from other people that it was good but I didn't really know what it was about, etc. I was blown out of the water! It was really good! Craig said that it was the first good movie since Lord of the Rings...which for Craig to say that it means a lot. I liked it because it was an original idea, and really very intriguing. It was in 3-D which I'm not the biggest fan of because it gives me a headache and sets my balance off, but other than that I highly recommend it!!

Here we are sporting our 3-D glasses!

$100 Challenge

2010-02-15T08:50:00.000-08:00

So, many of you may know that I'm a couponing fool and I buy everything at discount. What you may not know is I have about a years supply of canned food all over my house...literally. (ok maybe not that much but it seems like a lot becuase we live in a small apartment). So I received some inspiration from a coupon blog that I follow and for the month of March ( I know I'm jumping the gun a little, but I'm trying to psych myself out for this) I'm going to only spend $100 on groceries, for the whole month. Wow, do you think I can do it? I will still have a small budget to go eat out ($50), and I will still have $30 to solely spend on food storage, but for everyday needs I will only spend $100. Why am I doing this? I got kinda depressed when I realized we weren't getting as much back in our tax return as I anticipated, apparently I didn't pay enough in taxes this last year (taxes, who needs them) anyways in order to compensate for my depression, I'm going to be saving more money than I usually do and where will I get this money...from the money I usually spend on food. The question is now...do you think you could do it too?? Let me know if you're up for the challenge!

2009-12-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

Christmas was spent with the MillersAdrienne is finding the pickle (a tradition in our house whoever finds it goes first)

Decorating cookies.Craigs special cookies.
Ad with her new scarf.
Everyone is participating in Christmas!

Christmas Eve!

2009-12-30T07:28:00.000-08:00

We spent Christmas eve with Craigs family, here are some pictures from the event.

Bill and Barb opening the present from us-- a picture of the temple.

Craigs sister Jenna and her daughter Melody

Craigs sister Lacey-- or is it Santa?

Craig looking all festive

Look what I got in my stocking!

Playing around with photoshop

2009-11-07T07:17:00.001-08:00

So I am starting to love photoshop! Here are some of the pictures that I took a week ago that I photoshopped, tell me what you think!

Fall Leaves!

2009-11-01T20:35:00.000-08:00

So I go walking in this park and the leaves were so beautiful that I had to take pictures of Craig and I. I'll probably be using one of these for a Christmas card :) If there is anyone out there I will do your family pictures for free!! (a special only available for friends and family, ok thats my plug)

Yeehaw, Happy halloween!

2009-11-01T20:28:00.001-08:00

This year I was a cowgirl for Halloween! Thanks Beth for the fashionable boots!

Giddup Cowboy!

Ok no more pictures...

Pictures, of my sister in law

2009-10-27T15:41:00.000-07:00

I took pictures of my sister in law jenna, her husband mark and their daughter melody this weekend and i wanted to share some of my favorites!

The color of fall

2009-10-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

I love this time of year! The color of the leaves, the fresh smell in the air! I included a picture of our pumpkins!

Making Applesauce

2009-10-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

So we went to the apple orchard and bought a bunch of honeycrisp apples (YUM!) and I made a bunch of applesauce from it (and I documented the event)

Craig's Birthday

2009-10-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

So on October 8th we celebrated Craigs 30th bday! We went to Joe's Crab Shack which was pretty good and then I threw a surprise party for Craig, he was completely shocked! Here are some pictures from the event, sorry about the camera shake, I'm still learning my new camera!

A new camera

2009-10-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

I bought a new camera this weekend! Hooray! It is a Canon Rebel DSLR and I love it! So I've been looking for any opportunity to use it. Craig is excited about my new camera too!

A story about our fish

2009-10-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

So there we were watching conference and we heard a strange noise but really thought nothing of it because we live in apartments where you always hear strange noises. 10 min later I got up and went over to the kitchen, earlier that day I had cleaned the fish tank and the fish with his tank were sitting by the kitchen sink. Well I looked in the sink and apparently the noise we had heard was the fish jumping out of his tank and landing in the bottom of our sink. I freaked out, Craig came and rescued him and we thought he was dead. Don't worry though he isn't. I decided I needed a picture of him just in case it is the last picture we ever get...sad thought.

Fall Adventure

2009-10-03T16:01:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went out apple picking and pumpkin picking. Since I got a new camera, I went a little nuts with the pics :) We went to a barn that had fabulous pumpkin ice cream, apple donuts and apple cider slushes...yum!

Two years

2009-08-05T13:22:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Craig and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. We decided last year that we would follow a traditional gift giving list for our anniversary gifts. So last year we gave each other something that had to do with paper and this year it was cotton. So Craig bought me a cute little robe and I made Craig a quilt (still in the works). That night for dinner we went to a steakhouse and then we went to the Anniversary Inn. It was a fun place to go because there were different theme rooms, we stayed in the Carriage suite. It was like old England, there was a mural on the wall and our bed was in a carriage. It was a lot of fun! Thanks Craig for a great 2 years and I look forward to many more together!

Fruits of our labors

2009-08-05T13:20:00.001-07:00

Here at our apartments they have garden plots that you can rent for $5, so this year we got one and we are having quite the harvest. This picture is of the first tomato we grew but we have gotten about 2-3 tomatoes/day since then. We have also had an abundance of lettuce, zucchini and cucumbers! I love fresh veges!

Moab

2009-08-05T13:15:00.001-07:00

For our family vacation this year we spent a couple of days in Moab. We went to Arches and Canyonlands national parks. We saw about 1000 arches and have the pictures to prove it, but I didn't post most of them. We went white water rafting in a little blow up canoe, that was an adventure! And we found the best huckleberry ice cream which we ate every night!

Melody Colleen Dexheimer

2009-08-05T13:09:00.000-07:00

This last week Jenna, my sister in law, had a little baby girl and she is so cute! Here are some pics of her!

My Birthday

2009-06-29T19:24:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me!! Yeah. We celebrated my birthday on Saturday by buying tres leches cakes, going mini-golfing and finally ending our adventure at the Rodizio grill (they have the best birthday song ever PS) So heres some pictures from the event.

Me with my cake and Craig singing

At the golf course and the people singing at Rodizio

Baby Quilt #2

2009-06-20T16:07:00.000-07:00

So a while ago I started this second baby quilt meant for the sister in law, her baby is due in August. I decided it would be fun to machine quilt it....never again. I had such a hard time machine quilting it and there are so many imperfections I hesitate to even give away this quilt, but its so dang cute on the front that I've decided to look past the imperfections and give it anyway.

Super deal!

2009-06-01T18:44:00.000-07:00

So I just want to share the super deal I got at Albertsons today. I bought 6 boxes of cereal and 2 boxes of Eggo's. They were all on sale for 1.88 each. I had 5 $1 off coupons and one $1.50 off coupon, I also had 3 coupons that doubled the price of any coupon. Guess how much I paid....$5.86! YAHOO!! Guess how much I saved.... $29! Double YAHOO! I love getting good deals!

Upcoming Sales

2009-05-31T15:13:00.000-07:00

So just so ya'll know, this next week is the big semi-annual sale at Bath and Body Works. You get 75% off on lots of items and the thing I love about it is they bring back discontinued scents! Yeah!! This year I'll be looking for "Breath at night" which is a lavander vanilla scent, I picked it up last year at the sale and it has been my favorite ever since! PS, this is also a good time to buy Christmas and birthday presents for all the ladies in your families :)

Ward BBQ

2009-05-31T15:12:00.001-07:00

So also a couple of weeks ago we went to a ward bbq that I have pics from.

Kylers Wedding

2009-05-31T15:03:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we went to the wedding of Craigs mission trainer, Kyler. I thought I would post some pics from that event, in some of the pics we were just having fun with the camera :)

Target Deals

2009-05-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

So today I took advantage of a sale at Target. They are running a promo where if you buy 4 Fiber one products, you get a $5 gift certificate. Select Fiber one products are on sale for 2.39. So I bought 4 boxes of cereal at 2.39 and I also had a coupon for .50 off each. So I paid $8 and got $5 back. Then I did a seperate transaction where I bought 2 boxes of granola bars at 2.39 a box and 2 boxes of Fiber one pop tarts at $2 a box for I also had coupons and I paid about $4 (after using the gift card). Then I got a $5 gift card and spent it on whatever I wanted, I had coupons for Mayo, BBQ sauce and Teddy grahams so I got 2 of each of those items and only paid .56 cents for them! How fun!

Deals galore

2009-05-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

So lately with the economy being the way it is, and us being on a tight budget, I have gotten interested in using coupons at stores and I've found out how to use coupons to save a lot of money! So I thought I would pass my secrets along. I am an avid follower of various blogs and I look to them to see where the best deals are that I can use my coupons. I've put links for these blogs on the side of my blog page. I also buy at least 2 Sunday newspapers to get coupons every week. I usually buy them at Walmart, they come out on Saturday, so I grab them then. Some of the deals that I have gotten is I usually don't pay more than $1 for cereal. I have gotten up to 3 gallons of milk for free. This last week I only paid $15 in a shopping trip and it was marked on my receipt that I saved $35 (saving more then you spend is a satisfying feeling!). You want to learn more? Look to the blogs that I have posted and shop all the sales with coupons in hand. Stay tuned to my blog and I'll post the hot items for the week :)

Sewing Machine

2009-03-29T11:52:00.000-07:00

For Christmas this is what Craig gave me :) It came with the equipment to machine quilt so I thought I would try it out.

I made these unfinished placemats and I like how the machine quilting looks but unfortunately the thread in some places on the back doesn't look like it pulled tight enough. If I could figure out how to fix that I might do my next baby quilt like this! Any suggestions?

Baby Quilt #1

2009-03-29T11:48:00.000-07:00

Both my sister in laws are having babies this summer and I thought I would give them each a baby quilt. They are having a boy and a girl. I did the girl quilt first. It's called stacked coins and I hand quilted it.

Valentines Day

2009-02-15T19:58:00.000-08:00

This valentines day, we didn't do too much. Craig made me the sweetest valentine and he also gave me a cute little school bag and a fluffy teddy bear. I gave him (call me a dork) a new shower head. He's a tall guy and didn't fit under our old shower head, so I gave him a shower head that extends up so that he can actually get his whole body wet without crouching.

On Friday the 13th we went to a stake valentine's dance. Can I just say that Mormon's need to learn how to party. 90% of the people who came ate dinner and then left. It was a hopping party. I swear as people get married they get less exciting. But we stayed for a little karaoke, and even considered singing a duet together (didn't happen). Next time I vote for dancing instead of karaoke.