Pictures in need of posting

Here are a few pictures from the summer that never got posted.

Alex and Grandma picking Apples from the apple trees in our yard

At the Cody Dam Alex hitched a ride. You can see from her hair that David was SUPER FAST

Alex's face pretty much sums up her excitment at idea of the carosel at the fair. she rode the horse for a couple loops and then I held her for the rest of the time.

This is a good example of how helpful Alex was during the packing process.

Alex was overjoyed with the results of turning the cheeriobox upsidedown.

Grandpa thought Alex might enjoy playing in the wheat bin.

Kisses to the bear at Grandpa's house.

At Grandpa and Grandma's house they have raspberry bushes. David and Alex went outside to gather a few, and without shoes Alex was fairly content to just stand on the edge of the garden and wait. But then she got inpatient and fought her way into the middle of it all to find her own.

Alex and I at the top of Pompey's Pillar.

David, Tyler, Alex and I next to Clark's (of Lewis and Clark fame) signature in the rock Pompey's Pillar.

Alex walked up pretty much all the stairs.

Over the 4th of July we got together with all the Asay's. Our cousins little boy Nate, and Alex are about the same age. They were following a bug around and I think it accidentally got squished. Here Nate is Asking, "Where did it go"...........

And Alex in reply.... "I don't know, where is it?"

Home Sweet Home

(Here is a picture to go with the last post, Alex and I at the trail head to go to Spirit Mountain Cave)
To say that life has been a whirlwind the last week would be a HUGE understatement. Between moving, unpacking, seeing family, seeing more family, school starting for Tyler, Alex’s hip appointment, temple dedication, cupcake night, and all the other "little" things, I feel like I've had no time to breath!
We are finally settled (for the most part) in our little house, which is a LOT bigger than I had imagined it. Tyler's school is going well, and so far I've successfully avoided letting him practice starting IV's on me. There is a lot of noisy construction going on right outside our house, but we are loving living above ground even in the sweltering heat. Alex has her own room, and therefore life has improved already about 150%.
I've been swaying back and forth between excitement at being back in Utah, and deep feelings of annoyance and frustration with the state.
I miss the quiet of Montana, the open space and the clean air. I miss going to bed to the sounds of cows and waking up to the sounds of chickens instead of falling asleep to traffic and waking up in the morning (and throughout the night) to car alarms, traffic and construction.
I miss walking out the front door and having chickens for Alex to chase or sheep for her to play with, and a huge grassy yard where she could wander to her hearts content. Our front yard here stretched right into busy center street and our back yard is full of sharp prickly grass and hornets. Although I am gratefull that the Brady in-laws and their nice backyard only live a couple blocks away.
I DO NOT miss the spiders though. Or the mosquitoes, or the beetles, flies, and many other insects that would come visit me in my bedroom, bathroom, living room, and all other living spaces in Montana. I generally love the bug freeness we are experiencing in Utah.
I like that when I want to go for a walk there is a beautiful trail, or miles of neighborhoods to wander through instead of a gravel driveway that ends in a busy street with no shoulder to walk on. I have had a very strong urge to pick up some pepper spray though, after a few creepy encounters . Something about the “big city” has me all nervous. With all the cars and houses so close, I feel like I hear someone breaking in my house every 15 minutes.
I like seeing the Brady's and playing with them. They are a very "game friendly" family and i've enjoyed the cupcakes, popcorn and board games again. It's nice being in a place that has "things". Like great restaurants and some variety and competition in stores. Pretty much anything we could want to do is only 20 miles away at most. Unfortunately with all the traffic, those 20 miles may take you a long while to drive.
Most of all I dislike the traffic and the clones. I was so excited to go to the store yesterday. There was this great deal in the Smith's add for cereal. On top of that I had a lot of coupons to sweeten the deal. I arrived at Smiths to find that EVERY SINGLE item I had a coupon for, was already sold out. I was stunned. In Montana people don't use coupons, and no matter how good the deal is, the store rarely sells out of something. Then I realized I am back in Utah, where there are 5,000 other people just like me. Grocery shopping was the highlight of my week in Montana, It was so relaxing to peruse the isles, even with Alex. Now wherever and whenever I go, there are hoards of college students walking around with their friends laughing obnoxiously loud and throwing giant beach balls at each other. I’m sure this has something to do with the beginning of school for BYU and UVU, but whoa, worst shopping trip ever.
I am excited for things to cool down and settle down, and to get to know my neighbors and ward members. It’s been a CRAZY week, but I am optimistic (although I have no intention of living in Utah forever, sorry Tyler).

Life and Death at Spirit Mountain Cave

To memorialize our last week in Montana, my mother, David, Alex and I decided to go on an adventure, in Wyoming. I need to explain something first. Ever since I was about 7 years old I can remember listening to this book called "Tennis shoes among the nephites" on tape. There are about 10 "sequels" to this book and they are all fascinating. It starts out as a story about 2 kids, who discover a tunnel inside a cave that when followed long enough, will take you back in time thousands of years to Nephite (ancestors of the indigenous American Indians from the Book of Mormon) times. They grow up, but always seem to find themselves returning to Book of Mormon times and having adventures. I honestly think I have "read" these books more than any other person alive, seriously. Well, in the book this magical mountain cave happens to be in Cody, WY. Just a few years ago I found out that this Mountain actually exists! I was mesmerized and dreamed about hiking up and searching for this cave. This summer on my Wagon trek, I was talking to a guy who happened to be the principle at Cody high. I asked him if Spirit Mountain Cave actually existed and he said YES!!!!! I was so excited. I went home and googled it and called the BLM and everything. Well, as part of our vacation, my adventurous companions and I decided to go explore Spirit Mountain Cave.

Now, I used to be hard core. I've done a lot of really cool and really brave things. I don't mean to brag, I just feel this is important background information. I've swam through a tight underground tunnel that connected two small caverns inside a cave, I've rappelled down a waterfall, I've been spelunking more time than I can count, and explored a handful of the stand up and walk around type of caves too. I've braved the bat cave and even gone back to help others 'experience' it, I've been fishing in a tiny boat on the ocean, I've been fishing in quite a few interesting and sweet places actually. I backpacked through Europe at 19 with a friend and no knowledge of any useful European language, I've climbed MT. Timp in the middle of the night, I've shot both a deer and antelope (running at 150 yards). I slept under the stars in wild burro country (wink, Gwen), I married a wildland firefighter, the point is, I used to be cool.

Let me also explain a few things about my mother. She is REALLY brave. She has done a LOT of things that I would never be able to. She still does things that I never could muster up the courage to do. She is amazing, and very brave, except when it comes to heights.
My mother is terrified of heights. Terrified. I can remember as a child walking out on rickety old bridges made of broken boards while on vacation, and then jumping up and down just laugh at my mother's horrified face. It is probably because of this, that I have also, slowly, inherited this fear from her, and will probably have an equally naughty child.

So we drove to Cody, WY, found the mountain and started up the dirt road switchbacks. Mom was squeamish from the start and David and I laughed while telling her she was being silly, and there was nothing to be worried about. I kept saying that we should switch spots and I would drive (very easy to say from the back seat). We made it about 1 mile up the switchbacks when the narrow road located between the mountain side and a cliff, seemed to head straight off the side of the mountain. Mom couldn't take it anymore, and the only place my prodding and goading got me, was in the drivers seat. The best part of it, and something I think only my brothers will truly be able to picture and understand, is that Mom couldn't even be in the car, and insisted on walking up the road until it was safe. At this point I realized we were in a pickle. Mom could not get us up or down, and I think I was only a fraction less terrified (actually having the urge to walk myself), there was no way I was going to let David drive, and therfore I had to do it.
Well, that wasn't the last spot mom had to get out and walk, and I don't know how I got us up that mountain. I kept thinking to myself, that the worst case scenario would be just parking the car where it was, walking down the mountain into town, and sending someone back up to rescue the truck. Pathetic I know, but that was my back up plan. By the time we reached the turn out, Alex had learned the word "OH NO!", I'm not even kidding. She kept saying it over and over in the cutest concerned voice. Even on the path to the cave there was no sense of safety as we were walking on the edge of a mountain. Thank goodness David was there. He carried Alex the whole half mile there and back and didn't even harass mom and I for being chickens. We made it to the cave, took some pictures and headed back.

I think driving down is worse than up, and I was terrified (though trying to play calm and cool for the sake of the women and children). I can promise you right now, the only way we got down was because of the very fervent prayer we all said before we attempted our decent. Mom was in the back with a hat over her face, counting to distract herself. David was trying to engross himself in the PSP so he wouldn't look out the window. Alex sat in confusion wondering why grandma had a hat on her face, and I was white knuckled and tense as a board. We made it, and it wasn't that bad either. When we were finally on flat earth again I felt as if I had scaled Everest or completed the Ironman, such was my feeling of accomplishment.

The adventure wasn't over for my poor mother though, who had to watch me and David take Alex out over the Cody Dam. We ate lunch at Buffalo Bills hotel and drove to Worland to relax, and enjoy the evening. I woke up with terrible shoulder pain which I am sure is from tensing up so much while driving that tighrope. We are safe at home now after enjoying a grand adventure together, and I can now return to getting my adrenaline rush from killing spiders(at 3 yards with a can of Lysol).

Pictures to come later

We had our family pictures taken right before Stephen left on his mission. So as not to drown you in pictures, I'm going to spread them out a bit over the next few days, and show you my favorites.
Tyler is now in Utah, being productive and getting the dog, house, and school stuff all set up and ready for Alex and I to join him. We miss him terribly, but I can fully admit that we are nothing but big distractions, and this set up is better as I am terrible at letting Tyler do homework instead of playing with me.
I am trying to not think about leaving, and therefore am doing a terrible job of packing which I know will make for a stressful last day here, but there is something about coming down to crunch time that I think makes everyone bond more.
I noticed it when Stephen left on his mission, We barely interacted the 3 months he was here, then the last week before he left for Brazil it was like everyone suddenly made the effort to hang out, talk and spend the time together. Suddenly when Tyler left, the same thing has started. It was a big reminder that the end of the carefree Montana summer days was coming so we had better play, laugh and have fun before it was all over.

Oh what have I become.

Alex figured out how to get what she wants from the cupboard without asking. Those are raisins.

I was never like this in high school, or even really in college. Not even after I got married did I like cooking or sewing or cleaning. All I can figure is that at some point right after I gave birth to Alex I was possessed by some kind of homemaking demon.

I started dabbling with sewing and crafts after Tyler and I made the move from our apartment to his parent's basement. Over the years I had collected all these sweet t-shirts that hadn't beeen worn in forever (due to huge belly, and professional job), and for some reason I decided that becoming a mother required that I start dressing like an adult. So I cut them all up and decided to make a t-shirt quilt. The quilt is pretty sweet but I sooooooo regret destroying my amazing wardrobe, and find myself frustrated everyday at having nothing to wear.

I believe the cooking fascination began around that time as well, my mother in law is this amazing cook (as is my mother) who makes everything from scratch. I remember when Tyler and I were first married we would go over to their house from our apartment and I would think "there is nothing to eat here" because their cupboards were full of things like flour, sugar, spices and in general, ingredients. Not prepackaged, pull out of the box and nuke, sorts of things. So spending 6 months around that, and having no other responsibilities other than Alex, let me learn, and eventually love to cook.

Last of all, the coupons. When we moved to Billings, I decided to take upon myself the cooking and grocery shopping duties. At one point I was so frustrated with buying cereal because it was so expensive and everyone would just inhale it, and then I stumbled upon the magical world of coupons.

I have decided that couponing is like a game, suduko or something. You can manipulate the cards in a million different ways, the fun part is trying to get as much as possible by paying as little as possible. Whenever the Sunday and Wednesday papers come out, I grab the ads like David does the comics, and then collect each coupon or sort through each add playing out different scenarios in my head. A few days ago I had just put Alex down for a nap and was sprawled out in the living room with a pad of paper, a pile of coupons and the Albertsons ads in front of me. David walked in and said "Do you do that for fun or something?". Oh yes.

I think this week was my most successful of all. Albertsons is having a deal where you buy $30 of these certain products and then they will give you $15 worth of coupons for your next visit, to use on ANYTHING you want. Basically it's money you just have to spend there. Depending on how you think about it, you are either getting that $30 worth of stuff half off, for $15, or huge savings on your next trip for whatever. So Monday I went and shopped. I paid $31.41 for my groceries and got my $15 toward the next purchase. I came home happy.

Well, turns out, on Wednesday the ad stated that the same deal was going on for another week! By then I had time to think about what i would have done differently, AND I still had my $15 coupon. So I set out the perfect scenario, went, and made a killing. The glorious thing about this trip was I had a LOT of manufacturer coupons for those special $30 worth of items. The $30 price you have to hit is BEFORE you factor in coupons, so after my coupons were factored in, AND I added the $15 of free money from the last trip, I only paid $7.67 for the $30 of stuff. ( If you factor in the $15 of coupons I got for spending that $7.67, then it's like they paid me $7.33 to buy all that stuff. ) Thats not all, I had more planned out. I separated my transactions into 2 piles. Paid for the first, got my $15 and then paid for the rest with that free $15, bringing the rest of my groceries down to $12. (or that's what would have happened if they hadn't messed up, but they did, so I still have the $15 for my next trip).

When I try to explain the beauty of all this to Tyler, or really anyone, their eyes glaze over and i can tell they doesn't really care, but to me this is like reading reading sports scores in the paper. (You should have seen Tyler when I was taking the pictures, he was rolling his eyes at the absurdity of it )


For all of this (plus some more not pictured we already ate), I paid $51.08. Normally this would have cost $163.84, that's 3 times as much as I paid.

For just this, I paid $7.63 , plus got a $15 dollar coupon, so it's like they paid me $7 to buy this.

I know you must be looking at it and saying, "It's all junk food." It's not, but I did get a lot of the ice cream and brownies and such because we are having our primary class out for a party tonight and I wanted there to be a lot of cold treats for such a hot day (also that is what I had the most coupons for, making it all very cheap).

Well there you have it, I'm so proud. If I were you, I would grab your Albertson's ad, log on to coupons.com, and match up the coupons with the things you can buy. The sale alone is a great deal, but by using a few coupons you can REALLY get your money's worth.

My first garage sale!!!!

I always heard people talk about how hard garage sales are. I remember thinking "yeah right, you just sit there for 5 hours." Oh I was wrong.

So Tyler and I are dejunking for our move to Provo in about 2 weeks, and I had mentioned the idea of a combined yard sale to a friend and neighbor about a year ago, and she concurred it would be a great idea. So we finally did it!

After a week of planning and work we had our garage sale on Friday. We researched and decided to just try a 1 day sale, Of course that day it would rain, and rain, and rain(after a week of hot days full of sun). After that frustrating day spent rearranging everything under tents and in the garage and having very few visitors, we decided to extend the sale a day (because we had sold just about nothing).

Overall it was a great experience. I really enjoyed spending the time with the Spratlings and getting to know their family a bit more. It was fun watching Alex play with all the toys and we even came home with a few barbies curtsy of Hannah, Bailey and Sidney. We had high expectations that were not nearly met, but we all dejunked a lot, learned a lot, and came away with a few of each others treasures. Tyler and I traded a nice hanging shelf we just didn't have room for, for some small luggage pieces we had been searching around for, 3 barbies, 3 frames, and one of those princess canopy's (I said it was for Alex when she gets a bed, really I wanted it for myself).

Other pluses.....We found a ton of old toys from my childhood in the granary and have been playing with then ever since. We bought a ton of muffins and otter pops to sell, sold about 1 of each and then consumed our daily allotment of calories in costco muffins alone. Got to spend a lot of time, chatting, visiting, and playing outside.

Best of all we got rid of our couch. I can't even go into the details about that couch and the love hate relationship I had with it. But it's gone now, and i never have to think about it again. In the end, that was the best gift the garage sale could have ever given me.