A cute one

Busy Weekend

Well it was a busy, but really nice weekend. Friday afternoon I decided to have my babysitter come over and watch the kids while I and had a little "me" time. I did a little shopping and got my nails done. Saturday I worked for a few hours and then came home so Tom could play golf with my parents and a close family friend. They all came over after golf and we had a very nice visit. Skip to the big moment of the day, Taylor decided to stand up all on her own smack in the middle of the room. It really was pretty funny because we all had basically given up on her standing/walking before her first birthday (April 2nd). She was just playing with one of Thomas' toys and she popped right up. After she did it a few times we took her outside so I could try and get it on camera.

Still no walking. but this was definitely a step in the right direction. I ended the weekend with a massage and a pedicure and dinner with the family. All and all, good weekend.

Of course now it is Monday and I am counting down the days until Hawaii.

I just get so EXCITED

So, it certainly isn't like I was raised to be frugal, in fact I would not even consider myself frugal in any sense of the word. I have though, become a lot more conscience of how I spend money. I try to save whenever possible and rarely buy things if I do not feel I am getting some sort of deal. My big thing in the last year has been GROCERIES. Grocery shopping is one of our biggest expenses in the house and is definitely an area where we need to pay closer attention to what we buy. Anyway, there is this thing out there called the "Grocery Game", you may have heard about it. In a nutshell it is coupons combined with the ads that the grocery stores put out, to get you the VERY best prices. Now, I cannot truly participate in the grocery game because I only shop at Safeway (it really doesn't bode well shopping at competitors), a big part of the game is shopping at ALL chains. So I do a little grocery game of my own with just Safeway and let me just tell you that it really does pay to use coupons.

Click on picture to see my receipt better

This is my receipt from this morning, it was not my weekly shopping trip, just some things that I needed and a few that I would need soon. There were only two items in my cart that I did not have a coupon for. My total for all was $28.23 including tax, I bought 24 items and I saved $49.94. I just wanted to share because if any of you do not think it is worth it to clip coupons, I can prove you wrong.

Happy Shopping!!

My Future Income

Today's photo and what I am hoping will bring me riches in the future.

My "little" Client

After a few days of slacking off on the photography classes (I never was too good at keeping up in school), I took Taylor to the backyard for a little photo session. She was a great "little" client today, in part because she did not want to move in the grass. As most babies are, she was very unsure of the grass, what it was and how it felt. I got a great photo for our lesson this week (picture #1) and tons of other ones that I was very pleased with.

Calories, Calories, Calories.........LOVE IT

One of the best parts of the Ostrich Festival and my pic of the weekend.

Ostrich anyone??

Well, my parents had this wonderful idea to go to the Ostrich Festival yesterday. I had no clue what it was and am still a little confused as to why it is called the Ostrich Festival when I only saw a couple of them in some makeshift, fenced area. Anyway, it was basically a fair with all of the fair essentials. My mom and dad and the kids and I went and it was a blast. Thomas had no fear when it came to all of the rides, it was great. He made me laugh a few hundred times.

Can't go to a fair without riding the Carousel

"I'm ready!!"

Mommy and Thomas

Just along for the ride

Happy Friday...

Well another week gone. I swear time goes by faster and faster everyday. We went to my parents house tonight to visit with some friends of theirs from high school and as usual my kids try to be the center of attention (mostly Thomas of course). It was a nice night and of course I took my camera. I have a couple pictures for today. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Does anyone see a pattern?

First I just want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes, my day was somewhat peaceful but did end with a nice dinner out with my hubby and my parents (NO KIDS).

Pretty uneventful today, though I did do a little shopping with my birthday money. Bought a new swimsuit for Hawaii!! I picked up my camera hoping only to catch a few good bath time photos tonight, but no such luck. Bath time only brings tears these days, but I thought I would share one.

Nothing makes her happy

365 to go....

Well today is my 29th birthday and for any who know, I am not a big fan of getting older. I will admit that 29 has not been nearly as hard as a few of the past, but nevertheless I now have 365 days until the big 30.

For my 29th birthday I thought I would share a few things that make this day and all others so special for me:

I have a husband that adores me and let me be honest I do not make it easy all the time.

I have two amazing kids, being a mom is the most gratifying job I have ever had. They make me smile at least 100 times a day.

My parents, who are my role models in almost everything I do. I am so thankful to have the relationship that I do with them.

My sister, who is the one person I can always count on to tell it like it is. I really cherish that because very few people will do that.

All of my friends and extended family. I have always considered myself lucky to have married into a family that is so loving and close and to have made and kept some of the greatest friends anyone could have.

Now onto some other important business, my photo for the day. It is March 11 and I am happy to say that flip flop season is in full swing. Nothing is greater than being able to throw on flip flops for 9 months out of the year. Anyway, Thomas left one of his 7 pairs outside and well you know the rest.

Happy Summer from Arizona to all you other cold places!!

What a day

Well I should have known by the way the day started that I would be posting about it later. Rather than come into our bedroom when he woke up this morning like he normally does, Thomas decided to play in his room. You might wonder why this would be a problem for me, well I will tell you. Playing in his room, not the problem, waking his sister up to play in her room....THE PROBLEM! Okay fine, I drug my tired butt out of bed to deal with them, I even whipped up a batch of banana bread, but at 7:15 when Taylor was already fussy and ready for a morning nap I really wasn't happy. I met my girlfriend Sarah and her daughters for a little shopping trip, pretty uneventful there, well if you don't count the fact that a 4 year old and a 3 year old have no ability to listen. After shopping I took the kids to see my dad at his work, Thomas loves seeing all of the Safeway trucks and my dad loves it when we come and visit. So it is always a win win. I came home with two tired kids and that is always a good end to busy day.....except when one wakes up grumpier than when she fell asleep. Enter photo I took of her after her nap.

First let me just tell you that this was only one of many pictures that I took of her. I have absolutely no clue why she was crying, but this went on and on. Now my daughter likes to be held and although that is fine and dandy, I do not like to hold her 24/7. This happened to be one of the times when I was refusing to cave in. I am not going to lie, that I was cracking up laughing while taking this picture because there was no reason for her to be crying. I guess it is just one of her "not so good" days because she is now in bed (probably for the night), this crying fit never really stopped.

On another note I did take a few pictures of Thomas while he was playing outside and I thought I caught a few cute ones. I hope someday I look back at how hard I thought this photography thing was and laugh, but I don't know.....just when I think I have figured something out I get confused again.

"What are you donin' mommy?"

First Assignment

Well, I am not sure this photography class is going the way we thought it would. I am a bit afraid my mom has changed her mind, but I am not going to let her. As usual I worked all weekend and did some much needed cleaning in my office/craft room (my hubby did all the yard work), so I did not get any practice with my camera. I picked it up again today to take some pics for our first assignment. I am anxious to hear what the instructor has to say about the picture I chose.

Anyway, I thought I would share.

"You can never have too many flowers."

Our other member

I rarely talk about our dog Riley. I know I have mentioned her in past posts, but probably only to vent of frustration she is causing me at the moment. Although she can be a pain with the best of them, she really is a good dog. Truthfully if is weren't for the two kids tormenting her 24/7 she might even be a little more like my moms dog. She doesn't make the best photography client, but she sure is a pretty dog (maybe a little bias).

Challenge for myself

In the spirit of taking this photography thing and trying to run somewhere with it, I have decided that I will challenge myself to post of new picture everyday. I have read many blogs that do the whole 365 thing and I guess essentially this is what I am doing, beware my photography skills are beginner quality at best. My hope is that this little challenge will help keep me motivated and make my class a little easier.

Should I listen to mom or not???

It has arrived

Well I stayed home all day yesterday waiting for the UPS delivery. It really felt like Christmas all over again. I finally got my camera and I LOVE IT! I have to admit that it is a bit overwhelming going from a little P&S to a camera with all the bells and whistles. My mom found an online course for her and I to take and it started yesterday, so I spent my morning reading. I feel lost already, but I am sticking with it. I think it is a good thing we are doing this together, my mom and I, that way neither one of us gives up.

In other news my little Taylor got her first haircut on Tuesday and although is was painful, it was worth it. I am not sure she would agree, or the lady that care her hair for that matter, but it was for me. She has little bangs now and no more hair in her eyes. I am still waiting for the day when it is longer and I can do something more with it, but I will settle for this now.

I know I am bias, but she is my little cutie!!