5 Years!

Justin and I just celebrated our 5 year Anniversary on Saturday, June 7th and it was such a nice weekend! My mom took the kids on Friday night and Saturday and we went to dinner at TGI Fridays and then went shopping at the Gateway and saw Indiana Jones at 9 PM. We decided to go to a late show since we never get to do that anymore! We stayed at the Scenic Motel because I bid on a silent auction a few months ago and won a 2 night stay plus a $20 gift certificate to TGI Fridays for just $45! However, the motel was just okay and not really a great place to stay.

On Saturday we got a dozen free donuts at Banbury Cross which I also won at the same silent auction as a door prize and got some chocolate milk for breakfast. Then we went to the Salt Lake Temple to do sealings but then Justin remembered that it was a Saturday in June and they would not likely be doing proxy sealings since they would need all of the rooms for live weddings which was true. We did a session instead and it ended up being a live session. We had a nice time and then stopped at my parent's to give them Tim's carseat since we forgot the day before. Then we ate lunch at Moki's, a fabulous little Hawaiian restaurant in Taylorsville and then visited Mark's Arc because Justin loves strange animals and he hadn't been there in years.

Then we headed to Park City where we shopped and shopped at the Outlet Malls and then we visited the Olympic Park for a bit and then went to Main Street and had dinner at Taste of Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant that was pretty good. We stopped at Scanlan to look at their beautiful pictures and then headed home after making a quick stop to buy a shirt at the VF Factory Outlets in Draper. As Justin would say, it was my kind of vacation! Going out to eat, shopping, and going to a movie :) I would agree and I loved it!!!

For my present, he gave me 5 dozen roses, they are gorgeous! I got him a new bike seat.

Budgeting revisited!

So, the month is over and I have to admit that I did not completely follow my budget. I tried my best but there were just days when I threw the budget out the window and had fun and there are always expenses that come out of nowhere. Instead of saving $500 like I planned, I only saved $150 but at least I did save some! Plus this month Justin got an extra paycheck and a check for doing some outside work which we saved all of which is great.

Some of the things that cut into our savings were Justin going to St. George for a wedding and hiking, wedding gift, bachelor party stuff and dinner, Mother's Day gifts, Justin bought a new processor for $100, GAS!, a donation to aid those in Burma, clothes for a family picture and some shoes for Tim and summer clothes for Allison. Man, we sure do have a lot of things to pay for each month!

Antelope Island Hike

On Saturday, I went hiking with Justin, Dave Sullivan, Peter and Amber to the top of the highest peak on Antelope Island called Frary Peak. The hike took about 5 hours round trip and it was a hard hike for me. The first mile or so is fairly steep and I was exhausted pretty quick. We all called it the hike that would never end. I also felt bad because our babysitter ended up babysitting for 7 hours instead of the 3-4 we told her and I also missed my niece Kyara's birthday party. All in all it was okay but I don't think I'll ever do the hike again!

Allison's Baby Blessing

On Sunday, April 28th we had Allison's baby blessing. It was a very easy going morning and things went very smoothly. I woke up at 6 AM to get the chicken in the crockpot and since Allison went to bed at 10 PM and woke up at 7 AM, I never had to get up at night...woo hoo!

The blessing went well and there ended up being 2 other baby blessings the same day which meant a crowded sacrament meeting and our large family didn't get to sit together. Afterwards we had our family over for lunch which totaled about 40 people...we have big families. Afterwards my brother and sister stayed and we played games and rode on my scooter, good times :)

Our family


Happy Allison in the morning


Happy kids in the morning


My dad holding a sleepy Allison


Happy girl waking up from her nap


Full shot of Allison in her dress made by her Grandma McMurray

Congratulations Mom!

My Mom just graduated with her bachelor's degree in Home and Family Living from BYU on Friday, April 25, 2008. She actually finished up her degree in December 2007 but she just walked on the 25th of April. I'm so proud of her and her accomplishment!!! Justin took the day off and we went to Provo for the graduation and then to the Olive Garden to eat and celebrate. It was a fun day!

My Beautiful Mom


My family minus Sherri and Amber


My Mom and Dad


My Mom and her Mom, Grandma Martin


My Mom and Grandma Griggs

Grrrr!

So, I decided to go to the mall for fun today and when I tried to start the car, it was completely dead...I'm so bummed! I know it's my fault though because I let Tim play in the car yesterday and he left the headlights on, and since it was daylight when he came in, I didn't realize they were on. I turned off the hazard lights and the inside dome light but didn't think to turn off the headlights and as a result, the car is dead and needs a jump start. I'm just bummed about being stuck at home......

Budgeting!

Next month (May) I am going to try my hardest to stay within the budget I have set for my family. I started doing a budget over a year ago and to this day, I have not stayed completely within the budget ever! I love doing my budget but sometimes it makes me sick to think of all of the money we are spending monthly! Well, that is going to change next month and I am going to do it ;) I just need to learn how to say no when something comes up that we really don't need especially when we have spent all of the money allowed in a particular category. Also, it will be a little tricky since we now have a new monthly expense since we just bought life insurance. Also, Justin gets 3 paychecks instead of 2 in May which means extra money. We need to save that money for school though because he is starting in August!

It will help that we are going to get money from the government which we are allowed to spend beyond Justin's paychecks so hopefully we will do it! I will post again at the end of the month to let you all know if we succeeded or not!!!

I'm Bored!

I don't really have anything to blog about but I'm bored and figured I would do a post. Lately I've been watching the Gilmore Girls faithfully and I've been enjoying it. I am even watching it right now. Both of my kids are asleep (yeah!) and Justin will not be home until 9 PM tonight (boo!) Luckily my brother and sisters are planning to come over tonight to eat our taco leftovers from Allison's baby blessing (oh yeah, I could post about that!) There are several cleaning projects I could be doing but instead I am vegging in front of the computer eating nachos, watching TV and just enjoying the nice weather!

I am excited however that Justin has decided that we can spend our government check to boost the economy on outside furniture. We already bought a patio set and swing and we are planning to get a gazebo, a grill and potentially a playground for the kids...it's great! I thought he would want to save our money for his schooling this fall but he has decided to follow what the president wants :) Since he was in the mood to shop on Saturday, I jumped on the idea and we finally got a patio set and swing that we both love, yeah!

Well, enough with the chit chat...I think I will go and download the pictures from Allison's baby blessing and post about that wonderful day :)

This is our patio set:



This is our swing:

Timothy's 2nd Birthday!

Well, Tim has finally made it to the terrible twos and I don't think he is acting terrible yet unless it comes to Allison. It's not like he doesn't like her because he always wants to get her when she is crying and wants to see her a lot. He is however mean to her in many ways such as hitting, kicking, rolling her over, ramming her with toys, standing on her and basically mauling her at every turn. I'm just not sure what to do with him!

On his birthday I took him and Allison to the mall so he could play in the kid play area and then got him a happy meal at McDonald's. Then we had a small party with my sister-in-law Liesl and her kids since they were over for piano lessons at 4:00 PM. I made hot dogs and mac-n-cheese and Liesl brought chips and dip. We ate dinner, opened presents and had cake and ice cream. I was surprised that Tim could blow out his candles! He had a great day and I had a great day spoiling my cute little boy :)

Tim with his new car!


Tim about to blow out his candles


Tim after he blew out his candles


Tim with his cousins Brynn, Ryan and Dan who were over to party

Music from commercials

Lately I have spent a lot of time watching TV since I have a newborn who likes to be held. I have noticed that I like a lot of music from TV commercials and have tried to find them to add to my music playlist. Some of my favorites are:

New Soul by Yael Naim on the new MAC laptop commercial

The Way I Am by Ingrid Michaelson on the Old Navy sweater commercial

Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie on the Kohl's commercial

There is a song I like that is advertised on a tissue commercial but I haven't found it yet. It is the one where they have everyone share their issues and cry on the couch in the middle of the city. Hmmm, maybe I'll see it again some day.

(Thanks Natalie....the song is called Let It Out by Starrfadu :)

There is also a song on an SUV commercial that I haven't seen for a while and don't know the song yet. It's the one where the girl is looking through the sun roof at the view of the city at night and not paying attention to her friends. It has no words so I'll really have to see the commercial again in order to find out the song. If only I could remember what vehicle they are advertising....ha ha ha!

Anyone else have any other songs on commercial ads they like? If you want to hear these songs, please listen to my playlist below :)