October in a nuttshell (be prepared some of this is scary)

Oh what a month! I cant belive it is already November! We are counting down the days until our baby girl arrives (no name yet). Also, we were so lucky to have Nana out our way to visit. Evie loved every moment of it and we look forward to her coming back soon. Fall has always been my favorite time of the year. I love the colors, smells, and yummy foods. We discovered an awesome little farm near home where we could find our pumpkins, taste fresh pressed apple cidar, and pick our own organic produce. (Time for homemade applesauce) My cousin Nicole had a wonderful baby shower, I just love being pregnant the same time as a friend. Then Halloween came and...well you can look for yourself. Lets just say that my husband is a very confident man. Our friends had a fun adult only Halloween costume party and Dave wanted to be something...original. So here is a glimpse at our October!

Nana and Evie with her new Princess puzzle. She loves this almost as much as her princess shoes Nana bought her. She has a blister on her foot because she wears them 24/7.

Growing up WAY too fast!

This is Evie picking out her pumpkin and below she is simply claiming it. It took us a little convincing to get her off.

Evalyn refused to touch the pumpkin seeds. "Yut" she says.

Nicole and I at her shower, only a few weeks to go!

Ok so here is Richard Simmons and I after the Halloween Party. (I warned you) This is one of many pictures I will treasure for years to come. (How do you like my Mumu?)

And finally, our little lamb! Evalyn loved trick or treating this year. She was so sad when we informed her we had to go inside.

We have had a fun month of  birthdays, canning, eating lots of peaches and icecream, but mostly of PROJECTS. We have both had a summer of pulling weeds, picking up rocks and spreading top soil. And we are so glad to have a front yard, almost backyard as well. I have been painting, and sewing while Dave has kept busy with sawing, sanding, and coating. And I am proud to say we are FINALLY finished with our floors. One sanding, two coats and a hotel room later and we are done.  I will have to post pictures of all of this in a week or two. In the meantime here are a few other things we have been keeping busy with.

Time with Daddy

Watching Elmo videos on You Tube with Daddy

This is Evalyns favorite thing to do with dad while mom is at mutual. Daddy walks into the office for anything and Evalyn is right at his heels asking ELMO? ELMO?

New Sleeping Habbits

Trying to get Curly Sue to eat something (ANYTHING)

Making pizza dough

Cleaning up the flour from the Pizza dough that somehow ended up on the other side of the room.

AND...

Daddys Birthday! (She is such a little daddys girl lately)

Shoes, The Big Girl Potty Chair, Petting zoo, and Did I Mention SHOES?

First of all, at 17 1/2mo. Evie started using the big girl potty chair. Why did I think my 17mo old was ready to sit on the potty?
SIGN #1:tugging on her diaper trying to tell me she had wet.
SIGN#2 Taking off her diaper if I did not change it within approximately 30 sec.(not cool when its a poopy)
SIGN #3 Teaching herself to say "I wet".
So it was off to Toys R Us to find the coolest potty chair ever in order to keep her interested. The first day we set it up she went potty, then the next day she pooped in the big girl potty and I thought she was going to have a nervous breakdown. "What the heck was that?!?" was the look on her face. So ever since then, she has still told me "she wet" a few seconds before she does, so we have been working on timing. Then today she came up to me and said "potty". So we headed to the chair and sure enough she went! YAY I may not have two in diapers after all. She HATES putting her diaper back on, so we will keep working on timing a little longer and then buy some pull-ups.


EVIE TALKING ON THE PHONE ON THE POTTY

EVIE HAVING A SNACK WHILE WAITING ON THE POTTY

AND FINALLY THE PROUD "I JUST WENT ON THE POTTY, FACE"


Gardener Village has a petting zoo going on right now so we called up our good friends the Bevans, and headed out for some shopping(or dreaming) and to see the animals. Evalyn was loving every second. She was going right up to them, petting and trying to hug the goats etc. So fun. These are some of the pics I was able to get.






MY FAVORITE PICTURE


EVIE WITH HER BUDDY TATE



If you know Evie, you know that her favorite things in the whole world are shoes. She loves her own, her Moms, and even her Dads. And as we learned on Sunday, even the Young Women's in the ward.(she is a little thief) She has recently learned how to wear my flip flops in between her first two toes, and adores prancing around in my high heels. Unfortunately these shoes always end up somewhere like the basement stairs, stashed behind her rocker (for safe keeping along with spices from the kitchen), or in her infamous secret stash, our master bathtub. If we are ever missing something (sippy cup, shoes, keys,hair brush etc) we know where to look. I have way to many of these to post, but here are some of her as she has been learning how to put them on in the correct way.

New blog and Grocery smarts stuff

So to answer a few questions, yes I am still holding an enrichment with Shauntel (the grocery smarts lady) and it is September 10, at 7:00pm. (Sarah you should come!!) Also, I have decided that since this is my family blog and I would love to someday get it published into memory book form, I am starting a new blog for my hobbies, crafts, stuff like that. So, I will give you info on the grocery smarts stuff from the new blog so I can keep it all separate. Also, when Shauntel comes to Enrichment I will ask her for other state passports such as Idaho and Washington. If anyone else would like me to check for their state let me know!!
Ps-new blog still under construction I will let you know.
Thanks!!

A message to the Women in our lives

Now this is shopping!!!

Groceries, Groceries, Groceries

SUBTOTAL: $166.30

OUT OF POCKET:$46.28

TOTAL SAVED: $120.02

The look on the face of the guy ringing me up:(you guessed it,) PRICELESS

Summer Fun

This summer has been full of fun, especially for Evalyn. We were able to go to Washington and visit our Family. Evalyn loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa and playing with her aunt Mikayla.
Then for the 4th of July, we stayed close to home for a traditional small-town celebration. We started with the town BBQ, and Evie received her first balloon animal (well, flower) and managed to pop the whole thing (about 15 different little parts) before we made it the few blocks home to get a picture. Then that night Kevin and Nicole came up for dinner and we grabbed a spot near Memorial hill for the fireworks show. Dave was prepared with a six pack of Martinellis and the camping grill for Smore's. YUM.
Then it was off to Tahoe to spend the week with Daves Family. The drive wasnt too bad, Evie was great. Tahoe was beautiful and we had so much fun with the family. Right before we left, Dave and I discovered the most beautiful cove. It is now our own private beach, totally secluded and secret! I would tell you how to find it, but its a secret!
Then it was back home for an ultrasound and a Mommy-Daughter picnic with Evalyn.
We sure have had fun so far! OH AND WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER GIRL! THAT'S RIGHT, EVALYN IS GOING TO BE A BIG SISTER! (weird to think about when she is so small)
WASHINGTON





FOURTH OF JULY

FIRST SMORE

FIRST SPARKLER

WATCHING FIREWORKS



LAKE TAHOE AND DAVES FAMILY


READY FOR THE BEACH

FUN WITH COUSINS






FALLING ASLEEP IN NANA'S POOL

OUR SECRET BEACH

Fathers Day

Evalyn had a lot of fun making her hand prints for Fathers Day as a gift. We used chocolate pudding and the truth is, she ate pretty much all of it. Dave LOVED his little gift.

You know that sinking feeling you get in your stomach?

I have a confession, I am HORRIBLE lately at birthday dates. I am not sure what my problem is. You know that feeling when you remember something super important...(a few days too late?) I HATE that feeling. Well, I have done it once again. SARAH BEVAN, if you are reading this HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY!(june 13th) I have to say, it has been so nice to have to (unfortunately) live in a state away from your family and meet a friend who feels like they truly are family. Thank you SARAH for being such an awesome friend. We really miss living so close to you and Ryan. I hope you had a great weekend. And I hope we can celebrate with lunch soon!

Announcement

So I said the last two and a half months had been...different. This is because I was not sick with Evalyn and I was not anticipating the constant nausea that has been my companion from week five until 12. YES, we are expecting our second baby and so excited. It still doesn't seem real because I have only been able to concentrate on the sicky part, but the last week and a half has been very bearable. So I figured it was time to make a blog announcement.
Our little one is due December 20, and I will do everything in my power (which isn't much) to make sure he or she is here well before Christmas! Hopefully the sickness is over and I can start enjoying life again. Evalyn has no clue what is coming. She is still a baby herself after all. So, 13.5 weeks down and ... I don't want to count how many are left. I enjoyed every second of my pregnancy with Evalyn, so I am praying this one will turn out to be just as wonderful (now). We have a little over 5 weeks before the ultrasound, so any guesses??!?

It has been thunderstorms and rain here for the last week or more and rain is in the forecast for at least another week. I am ready to get some sun, but I can't complain, I love the rain. (Especially thunderstorms, I keep praying the lights will go out) However, the rain is making me realize it is time for a trip home. I miss the smell of the trees, the moss, the FRESH air. And I especially miss the view of MT. Rainier. So, time to schedule a trip!!

Just a little plug...

Well the past two and a half months have been...(I am trying to think of the appropriate word)... different. I will explain soon but in the meantime I have to put in a little plug for my new hobby.

Imagine this grocery bill: Amount due $33.00 amount saved: $137.00 This is an actual receipt.

I realize this sounds very "homemaker" but hey that's what I do right? And I love every second of it. (not exaggerating) So, for all of you grocery shoppers out there I have hit the jackpot. Some of my friends told me about grocery smarts a few months back and I am finally starting the process. You go to grocerysmarts.com, enter the passport code for your state, choose the grocery store you shop at and the website matches the stores weekly ad (aka items already on sale) with manufacturer coupons for those items. Mostly found in your Sunday paper. You do not sit and clip coupons(who has time?) You only cut the coupons you need that week, and grocerysmarts tells you exactly where to find them. Sometimes you are even getting items for FREE! For example: Lets say Yo+ yogurt is on sale at Albertsons for $1.50 and grocerysmarts tells you where to find the coupon in your sunday paper for $1.50 off Yo + yogurt, TADAA!!! free yogurt. Also certain times throughout the year you can stock up on diff. items like during the Quaker oats sale, and Campbell's soups that are on sale at the beginning of the school year. You end up getting them for cents per can.
One of my friends who uses grocerysmarts informed me she pays about .50cents for her cereal.
So, in short, I am stocking up on my papers and almost ready to start. The new button on our blog, theobsessiveshopper.com, takes you to a site where Shauntell Ottley will teach you everything you need to know. She is even coming to teach an Enrichment for us. So visit the site! The passport code for Utah is g84cso.

I will keep you posted on my success!