SO grateful!

I don't know if I've mentioned on my blog before but Jeramie's dad is a mechanic.  Our truck, fondly known as BIG RED is older.  She ('cause she's a girl) pulls my dad's boat up and down Parley's Canyon like a champ all summer long.  A couple summers ago the clutch went completely out on Big Red.  Gerald came over and he and Jeramie pulled the entire clutch out and replaced it.  Only cost us $300 instead of the $900+ we were quoted at a shop.  They were up real late into the night in the garage fixing that truck in time for a weekend camping trip.  Then a couple weekends ago they pulled the back end apart to fix a leak.

Well this past week we had another one of those "emergency" situations.  Gerald and Jeramie replaced all the brakes and rotors on my car only a couple years ago.  This week all of a sudden one of my brakes was acting funny.  So Sunday night while we had dinner with the family Gerald came up to my parents house and he and Jeramie pulled the front brakes and rotors off again and replaced them again. Thank goodness Jeramie bought good  brakes the first time because both the brakes and rotors were swapped out FOR FREE!!  Now my car is all better and it cost us a whopping $5 for some brake cleaner.

I am so grateful that Jeramie wants to learn how to do these things.  It saves us a ton of money. And I'm even more grateful that Gerald is willing to drop whatever he's doing to come over and teach Jeramie.  This is one of the things I love most about Jeramie, he's so anal about the truck. I make fun of him for constantly checking the oil when we're camping and stuff.  But really it's a good thing.

 Back to Sunday night, Oliver was SO happy when his daddy finally came inside.

And just for good measure. I don't have a lot of pictures of Gerald.  But I really like this one from our wedding reception.  Cracks me up how young Jeramie looks.

What's new chickaboo?

I feel like I haven't posted in forever.  We've just been trucking along.  Last weekend I had some professional pictures taken of the kids and cannot wait to get them back maybe this weekend.  Jackson and Wyland are settling in to their new school schedules.  While I do not love Jackson's teacher at all, he seems to be okay with her so we'll see how things go.  Wyland absolutely loves going to preschool.  I am however loving Baylee's teacher this year, whom she should also have next year.  Oliver is crawling all over and "cruising" across furniture.  Sure wish that guy would slow down a little.

Anyway, here's just a few randoms from the past couple of weeks.

We've been doing a lot of homework since Jackson started Kindergarten.

It's a time sucker for sure.  I find it interesting that Baylee has basically NEVER had homework.

Other than reading of course for her entire time in school. Like what these kids don't need homework?

To which this week she ASKED her teacher for homework.  So she was given some.

Great .. more homework.

The day before we went to Lake Powell in August I had an oil change done at Jiffy Lube.

If you recall on my way home from Lake Powell my car overheated.  Apparently they didn't screw down some cap all the way and we burned all the water and coolant out.  This last Sunday Jeramie took it back to Jiffy Lube so they could do the free radiator flush they promised after the Lake Powell debacle.

Monday night (the very next day) I blew a radiator hose!  That cannot be a coincidence.

I'm so lucky that Jeramie's Uncle and Dad are both mechanics.  His Uncle fixed me right up and off I went back to Jiffy Lube where Jeramie's dad was waiting to take care of us.  I hate car issues!

I've been running a LOT!  I registered for my first Half Marathon on Dec. 4th in Vegas.

I'll be going with my friend Rebecca.  We're gonna tear it up.

It's the Las Vegas Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon.

It's a night run out and back on the strip.  It's gonna be EPIC.

So yes .. I'm officially training.  Which means running 4 days a week and cross training 2 days.

It's intense.  This week I ran 4 miles at lunch on Tuesday, 2 miles Wednesday, another 4 tomorrow and then 6 on Sunday.  That's a total of 16 miles for the week.  And I'm only on week 5.  Pretty cool I dare say.

We've been watching a lot of college football at our house.

Mainly the Utes of course, but my boys don't have Ute's jerseys.

I need to do something about that.

I've started running on my lunch breaks at work and I'm LOVING IT.

A guy I work with showed me how to get to the Jordan River Parkway that runs behind our building.

And since then I've been running solo 3 days per week.  It's so much better getting my run in at lunch time, outside than trying to squeeze it in when I get home from work on the treadmill.  I'm hoping to keep it up through the Winter, hopefully they clear this trail well enough.  Anyone happen to know?

Oh .. and I took a cake decorating class.  Jeramie showed my cupcakes to his mom and she didn't believe him when he told her I decorated them.  It was fun.  I'd like to do the cake making class but it's pricey.

So that's the short of it.

The mundane stuff we've been keeping busy with.

Does it make us weird that both Jeramie and I are excited for the new Twilight movie next month?

I wanna buy tickets for that Saturday night.  Anyone want to come with us?

I had a moment.

Don't judge me.

LOL.

I had a moment.

This is my laundry facilities.  That cabinet is above my washer and dryer.

Those are my spare hangers and below are the "random socks".

Note the location of my iron on the wall to the right.

Yes well I was trying to put all those hangers up there on the shelf.

They REPEATEDLY kept falling down on my head.

I was getting angrier and angrier.  However, they finally stayed where they were supposed to.

The following Monday I got my iron out to iron some pants for work.

Next thing I know it keeps dumping water on my pants.

See where that cabinet door meets my iron?

Well perhaps .. maybe in a fit of anger I might have slammed that cabinet door against my iron.

Note the piece of cabinet in the side of the water resevoir?

Not good.  I LOVE this iron.  It was a casualty.

Jeramie says to me about a week after my own discovery:

"Did you know there's a hole in the iron?"

me:  "Hmm .. no .. I wonder how that happened."

Ooopsie!

A casualty I tell you.

Weekend Fun!

It was a good weekend, despite the weather going to crap.  It began on Friday. I got home from work to find that Robie had a ride home which was a total bonus because it meant I didn't have to load all four kids in the car to drive her home.  Instead we went outside and the kids played on their bikes.  It was SO nice being able to spend time outside in short sleeves none the less.  Silly me .. I didn't even take a single picture.  We had a fun packed day ahead of us on Saturday too.  We were headed over for the Slim Down Sandy registration day.  Every year for Sandy residents they do this walking event.  You go on a walk in a different park every Monday evening.  It's a great excuse to get out of the house with the kids.  We go walk and then usually end up going to grab dinner with my mum somewhere afterwards.  And EVERY year we always miss the end of event day, this year will be no exception.  Unfortunately Saturday's weather wasn't nearly as nice as it was predicted to be.  It didn't stop us though.

Boys on bikes.

 Baylee LOVES our walks.

 Sweet little Oliver.

 These guys love each other!

After walking we went to breakfast at Jim's.  We love us some Jim's!  The best part was that even though there were 4 small boys (not including Oliver) they were all SO good.  They sat in their seats and ate their breakfast.  I seriously think it's a first.  After breakfast we headed home, Jeramie went outside to clean my car.  I headed indoors to clean the kitchen.  We're talking super deep clean, washing the walls kind of clean!

On Sunday we kept up the momentum too.  We cleaned out the greenhouse, and also cleaned out the pantry shelving and washed a lot of the walls on the main level. There's something to be said for how having a clean house can really make you happy!  I feel much less cluttered!

Now if only that gorgeous spring weather would stay!

2010 Fine Accomplishment

One of my finest accomplishments during 2010 (there are more than just this that I'm proud of, we had a great vacation and added another member to our family among other things) was my commitment to my meal planning that I posted about earlier in the year.  I began in April and maintained it through the entire year.  My old shopping routine consisted of going on Sunday's with my mum.  I would always end up taking at least 1 or more of my children with me.  We would start at Costco and then go to Target straight afterwards.  With my children in tow it always meant I was buying some sort of small (but not always "small") toy at Target.  This added to my grocery bill every week and really I knew deep down my children do NOT need anymore toys.  Sometimes my brother Mike would join us too.  I loved shopping with my mum and spending time with her (and sometimes Mike).  It was FUN!  Well .. sort of.  Minus the chaos of the kids.

Change came because of two things, for some reason there were a couple consecutive weeks that my mum couldn't shop.  So rather than brave shopping with my children alone I moved my shopping day to Friday and would go on my way home from work.  This served two purposes, (1) Winco was literally one my way home and (2) there was no guilt laid on me by the kids because they didn't even know what they were missing.  My new plan consists of writing out my dinners for the week and then from that I can put together my shopping list.  I know the reason I stuck to this method is because it really alleviated stress.  I cleaned out my freezer one day and had to throw away entire unopened bags of things that had gone bad because they hadn't been consumed quick enough.  This bothered me to no end.  I hate wasting food.  I would buy things at the store thinking, "Oh we'll have salad a few nights this week."  Then we wouldn't and I'd be throwing away over half a bag of spoiled lettuce.  I hardly ever throw away wasted food anymore.  When I cook a recipe that makes enough for 4 I PLAN for the leftovers.  Either we'll eat them for lunch during the week or later in the week we'll have them for dinner again.  By spending an hour a week planning I not only save myself money and waste, I FEEL so much better.  I don't have to think about what's for dinner when I come home from work.  I've already taken into consideration any events we have going on during the week so that if we have to go somewhere I plan something SUPER easy.  The consistency is also good for Baylee, since her meals are planned as well.  She doesn't feel left out because we ALL eat whatever is planned.

Next Big House Project: THE BASEMENT

So we have identified (or rather I have and poor Jeramie is along for the ride). It’s time to carefully clean out our basement and do a little restructuring. I wrote up a lengthy three page document detailing all the steps we need to take and in what order. It helps me to have it broken down into bite size pieces. It goes as follows:

1. Storage Under Stairs (clean and organize)

2. Storage Room in Bathroom (clean and organize)

3. Clean out bedroom and repaint (then move Baylee into it .. maybe?)

4. Clean out living room and repaint (then move all the toys from our main level to the basement)

What are we hoping to accomplish by this daunting task you might ask? Other than the obvious, clean and organized space? Well with the new baby on the way we have needed to start thinking about where to put him. When we moved in we designated the 4th bedroom in the basement to be for Jeramie’s boys. However, we will now have 4 children living at home full time and so it no longer makes sense to have a 4th bedroom that only gets used 4 days a month. Also, being that this little one is also a boy, I just can’t see us squeezing 3 boys into one bedroom. My two youngest at 4 and 2 are still too young to move to the basement bedroom, which is what we originally thought we would do. So Plan B is to move Baylee down there and then have 2 boys in one bedroom and 1 in the other upstairs. Jeramie is really struggling with the fact that he is basically losing his “man cave”. Right now the only people that go down there are him, Jonathan and J’von. Change sucks and I feel bad that he’s losing a large space that has pretty much solely been his for 4 years. However, times are a changing. There will be some unique challenges with moving Baylee down there too. #1 is how do we make sure that she is still separated from food at nighttime (since PWS is accompanied by night food seeking)? Then the second big one on my list is how to make sure that Baylee doesn’t wander around with little clothing on when Jeramie’s kids are over? This one I think will be a bigger challenge as it’s not something that I can really control with something tangible. Apparently lack of modesty is a PWS thing .. and let me tell you it’s not fun! Poor Jeramie. She just doesn’t understand that it’s a problem, and it’s hard to convince her otherwise.

Then once we get her moved we have to decide who will share a room. Not to mention redecorating Baylee’s current bedroom that is pink. Whomever shares a room will move into Baylee’s room since it’s slightly bigger. Should it be Jackson and Wyland sharing still, or Wyland and the baby since they’re younger?? I just don’t know (totally open to suggestions and the reasons why).

This was a little bit after we started (I almost forgot to take my "before" picture)

After (we have started by putting luggage back there)

But that's it for now.

So a few weekends ago we began the big basement project. We started with the storage under the stairs and completed it. I even set aside the items I will try and sell online and took pictures of them to post the ad’s. My hope is to just sell them for super cheap to get rid of them, perhaps making a tiny bit of money that can be used towards our decorating expenses. Next we’re moving on to the storage room which is a total mess. Wish us luck!!! I’ll continue to post before and after pictures to document our ongoing progress. We’re hoping to have the entire “project” finished by the time our baby arrives. Then we will move on to repainting our main level.

Next up:  Storage Room

Grocery Shopping

So when we were saving for our big vacation we had (well and still do) a $100 a week budget for grocery shopping.  I was working REALLY hard to stay within budget.  I'm not sure if others are going to think this is a lot or not.  This is for 5 people (plus my mother in law during the week) and we don't really eat out.  Then Jeramie's two boys every other weekend.  And I do believe that 13 year old and 9 year old boys eat more than my husband does!!  I do not look forward to feeding Jackson and Wyland at that age.  This grocery shopping does not include what I spend at Costco each week either, that's a separate budgeted amount.  I've always been a devoted Target shopper for my groceries.  We have a routine every Sunday, I meet my mum and sometimes my brother Mike at Costco, we grab lunch and then shop there and head straight over to Target to do the remaining.  The kids like to come and it always seems to turn into an all day event.  Since my kids don't leave the house for daycare or anything and I'm not home during the day I feel bad that they don't get out all that much so this is how they end up in my shopping cart.  I will also mention that this isn't recommended.  Sometimes I feel like I can't even think when I'm juggling the kids as well.  But if I take all the kids shopping on Sunday then Jeramie cleans the house so it's a good trade.  Anyway, I don't even remember why but for several weekends in a row my mum was out of town and so I was on my own for grocery shopping.  So I got a little crazy and tried some new stores.  Now I've already told some folks about this experience and some do not agree with my findings.  I don't think I buy things that are out of the ordinary. 

Of all the places I shopped I still prefer Target for the shopping experience itself.  However, I ALWAYS go over budget no matter how hard I try.  I know it's because of all the other things they have available there.  This includes the toy section that I usually let my kids choose a "prize" if they are good. The fact that I know the store so well is a big bonus.  But aside from that I don't think of them as "expensive".  I think they're average.  They don't have the killer deals that other places have, but I'm also not willing to drive to 5 different stores each week to pick up just the deal items only.  I always end up with other stuff that more than counters for the money I saved.

Smith's was probably my worst experience of all.  I couldn't find ANYthing.  Now I know that part of it is that I'm not used to shopping there but I wasn't used to shopping at any of the other places either and things were still logically organized.  Smith's on the other hand just didn't have things where you would expect them.  I came in BARELY under budget but definitely paid way more for some things.  I think they have a good bakery department though.  Lots of yummy looking treats, but I can't speak for how they taste.  Their produce section on the other hand seemed really small.

Harmon's is just too expensive.  They have a great variety of stuff and the store is really nice. But everything is expensive.  They do have the best cheeseball in the valley though and I will go there specifically just for that.  I like that they offer me stamps at the checkout too.

Albertson's / A Fresh Market is expensive too.  I would go there over Smith's but I think they're more expensive.  But at least I can find things when I'm there. 

Walmart was pretty decent.  If it wasn't for another store blowing them all out the water Walmart probably would have been the winner.  They are a great alternative.

I had planned to try Macy's but never made it over there.  Maybe one day.

The winner when it came down to it was WinCo!!  It's close to my house and literally on my way home from work, which if I'm shopping without Mum this is very convenient for me.  You just can't beat the prices.  Let me give you an example, Hot Dogs 96 cents!  Big boxes (we're talking the big family size) of cereal $1.98!  And I'm not talking the no-name kind, I got Kelloggs Fruit Loops, Frosted Flakes and Apple Jacks.  Reiser Macaroni Salad $2.38 (normally in A Fresh Market this costs $6.99).  Plus they have a pretty large selection of brands.  There are still some things that I can't get there that I still end up at Target for.  But overall their prices are absolutely ridiculously low for the exact same brands you would buy at Target or anywhere else.  I can't speak for their meat or produce because I buy all that stuff at Costco anyway.  Those prices I quoted they were from this week.

Now while I probably will never religiously shop there every single week because I still enjoy our Sunday routine.  If I ever deviate from the routine I guarantee I'll be at WinCo.  Their prices are outstanding and the quality of the stuff is great.  I've never gone over budget there.  Some other key factors that assist in me controlling my grocery bill is don't take the kids for two reasons.  First they always want me to buy them a toy and it's so hard to say no.  Secondly they distract me from the job at hand and I start making bad decisions and then just rushing to get out of there while not thinking about what I'm doing.  When I shop with a list (because as you know I'm a menu planner) I only get what I need and don't end up throwing lots of stuff away, oh and I don't forget things either.  If I'm alone I do well too, I don't dilly dally looking at stuff I don't need and then end up picking something up.  I'm usually very focused and try to be quick while I do it to avoid distractions of those evil things I don't need.  But it isn't nearly as fun either.  I think perhaps part of the happy medium is I need to convince my Mum to go to WinCo on Sunday's too, then it's the best of both worlds!!  Oh and if I shop on another night on my way home from work then I don't feel guilty for not taking the kids.

Menu Planning

As most of you know I work full time, 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday. So most days I get home from work around 6pm at the earliest. I will be the first person to say that working full time and balancing my roles at home is really really hard. I’m always looking for the most efficient way to do things. Cooking meals is one of my least favorite things to do. I used to love cooking ... when I had more time that is. Now it’s just one more thing I have to do every day. I have toyed with planning meals in the past and it never really seemed to take. I am the worst grocery shopper as well. I have my kids with me and so that just adds to the chaos and makes me feel like I can’t even think about what I’m trying to do. So in a combined effort to reduce stress (at meal times and during shopping trips) I came up with a new way of meal planning. My new meal planning method has also contributed to my success with our current “Healthy Diet”. One thing I started doing was typing up all my favorite recipes and saving them on a thumb drive. This way I can access them more easily. See I make a very detailed shopping list well ahead of time every week based on what meals I’m making that week. When making my list I have the ability to look up the recipes right there on the computer so that I can make sure that if I have what I need I don’t buy it again. This is SO much easier than digging through multiple recipe books until I find the book with the correct recipe. Plus I put all the recipes into a 3 ring binder so I have them right there when I cook as well. Another benefit is that when someone asks me for a recipe I can email it to them so easily! I only type up the recipes that I’ve tried and I know that I like.

So each week I now plan out our dinners for the entire week. Half the battle each night after I would come home from work was just trying to figure out what to cook. Now I don’t even have to think about it. Sometimes even Jeramie will look and see what we’re having that night and begin the process. It’s SO much easier. Once I’ve mapped out what we’re eating then I make a list of the things I need at the store. I no longer buy things that I just end up throwing away because they go bad before we eat them. I don’t make multiple trips to the stop for just one thing because I forgot it. I’m not stressed about trying to figure out what to make. I even PLAN for my leftovers. Yet another waste saver! Oh and no more thinking, “What sounds good for dinner tonight?” Because the stuff that sounds good is never good for you. No more running to McDonalds because I can’t decide and I’m too tired to cook. Plus I don’t stress on the nights that I don’t have a lot of time to cook either. I plan Lean Cuisine Nights. This means all I do is throw an assortment of veggies in the steamer and microwave a couple frozen meals. I know the processed stuff isn’t as good for you but when I work all day and even have the smallest commitment in the evening, a 20 minute meal prep is a lifesaver! Plus I can plan those meals on the nights that we have other things to do as well.

All in all I’ve been consistent with my current method of doing things for a month now. It’s been a huge stress reliever. I don’t throw away nearly as much wasted food. With the exception of 1 week I save money at the grocery store. And we’re eating healthy as a family. So what about you? Plan meals? Wing it? What are your successes and things that haven’t worked out so well?