Coupon Record!

Today I saved $86.22 with my coupons at Target!! My receipt said $110 is what I saved since they were counting another $25 based on everything being on sale that I bought. I had 55 coupons to use at Target today! Isn't that CRAZY?? It is, I am totally crazy, but its so awesome!! This is an all-time record for me..really the sales this week at Target are great and match those up with double-coupons and then the gift cards, etc. they offer and you can get some awesome deals!! I'm a happy camper....$86!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Let me tell you...krazycouponlady has all the tips you need. I just matched her tips with the ad prices and coupons I had and Voila!! Lots of savings!!

Backyard Changes

Well, as you know I love before and after photos. So I had to get a bunch before we started tearing up our yard! Here is our backyard before all the work started.

As you can see the raised area behind the basketball standard is all grass. Let me tell you mowing that has not been fun for Scott!

Scott recently moved our swing set and then started digging up the sprinkler lines so he'd know where the lines were. He didn't want to damage any of them when we started taking out the grass for our new patio area.

As you can see the area up top has a lot of grass and so we are going to split that area...part garden and part bark. Then we'd like to plant bushes in between the blossoming pear trees. That way we'll add some more color and functionality to the yard. I have a bistro table and some chairs to go up where our bench is. The kids loved it but it was getting too wet by the sprinklers so we moved it back to the porch and once all the work is done we'll set up a little eating area up there! I'm excited to see it all come together!

Backyard Continued...

Well well, this is what our yard looked like by mid-day on Saturday! Yikes! My Uncle Scott was ripping up our sod with the backhoe and I was holding my breath as I watched our backyard turn into a major construction zone!

Here's Scott getting ready to dig out the area for our garden to go...after Uncle Scott pulls the grass out of course!

Within an hour they were leveling the area for the patio and putting the forms in. Concrete will be poured by Scott and Scott in the next few weeks. For now I just have to keep my boys out of the dirt! Ahh!!

By late afternoon we had the upper area dug out, leveled, and--thanks to our neighbors who were putting compost in their garden--filled with compost! Yeahoo!! We are ready to plant our garden. We'll wait till after Mother's Day though so we don't have any frost issues. We need to get a dump truck to haul away all the dirt on our basketball court now!! The upper dirt area will be filled in with bark. Scott didn't want to have to keep mowing that upper level!! There is too much grass to mow anyhow. So our upper level in our yard has been turned into a garden plot...more to come in the upcoming weeks!

Fun Last Week

I didn't post last week, but not because we weren't busy doing things, just because I was too busy to sit down to the computer! Here is the family having baking time together. We made lemon bars and snicker doodles! Yummy!

Dallyn learned to ride his bike without training wheels this week. He really should have learned last summer but with our move and my headaches we just didn't take the time to teach him. He's thrilled to be riding free now!

Riding with big brother was fun this week too!

Cameron practiced his talent of drawing with this amazing chalk dragon!

Spring Time Fun

This was the scene at my home on Saturday morning. I had 16 girls here stamping cards and gifts for their Moms for Mother's Day. We had a great time and the girls are really getting the hang of stamping. Gratefully this was not the first time I have stamped with these girls. Since they had some experience it made for a smoother class. With Kaylie and I we were able to manage the madness of the

Here are some of the girls with their projects--many are hidden inside the bags so their moms won't see them!! Some of the girls had to leave early so not everyone is in the photo!

Happy Spring! I love Springtime....especially following winter here!

These are my friend Cherise's beautiful tulips..nope, they aren't mine. I wish though! They sure are cheerful aren't they?

What I've been up to....

The past week this has been my project! Yes, 84 shower invitations that I stamped and sent off last weekend!! My wonderful husband cut all the cardstock after I designed it using my cousin's wedding colors of yellow and teal. My wonderful friend Kami came over and helped me dry emboss them with the Big Shot. She also was an awesome help with the attaching of the ribbon. I stamped LOTS of flowers and printed off the details for the shower. Kyler helped me put on the postage and mail them. It was a lot of work but they turned out really beautiful and hopefully people enjoy and appreciate them!!

Boys Dressing Up!

The other day the boys were so cute playing dress up. Here Cameron is being a warlock and Kyler is a wizard. Our friend Carter is being a knight. Aren't they so cute??

I LOVE this photo!! Kyler is a spider wizard!! Complete with jewelry and a broomstick..why do little boys have to grow up to be big boys? =(

My other boy...being a true cowboy! He's wearing the vest and pants that used to be Scotts when he was little. Even the cabbage patch horse was Scotts!! Talk about vintage toys.. =)

Dallyn was so cute to bring me this handful of flowers he picked for me. I just LOVE these sweet acts of kindness from him. Now I have a great bowl of dandelions on my kitchen counter.

Jim's Visit

Last weekend we had a family dinner here at our home with a bunch of Scott's family. Scott's Dad was in town helping his sister with her home so we figured it was a great occasion to get together. Here is Scott with his Dad and his younger brother Brad--visiting from CA too. Lisa, Lara and their families were here too but I guess I didn't get any photos of the whole group! It was great to have Jim visiting if only just for a night!

Baby Days are gone...

Sometimes I feel a lot of sadness that I won't have another baby in my life again. Looking back on these photos brings tears to my eyes. How do they grow up so very fast? It doesn't seem that long ago, really...my baby is 3 3/4 as he is proud to tell everyone!

Look at these little toes....oh how I love babies!! =) Hmm....looking back...remembering.....hmm....

Not much has changed...

This is a flashback from 3 years ago. This is when Cameron turned 6. Look how little he looked? Yes, I have straight hair so this was pre-cancer days. What a different time it was!! But as you can see...the gifts were all Star Wars ones so nothing much has changed there.

Kyler and I came to bring treats to his Kindergarten on his birthday!

Kaylie gave him a neat card and Legos!

Little Dallyn gave him Legos too! It's fun to flashback sometimes!

39 Cents a box for Cereal???

Target is my new favorite place to shop with coupons!! Last week I saved $58 in coupons at Target!! $58!!! It was amazing! I had double coupons for so many things..I got free toothpaste...it was on sale for $1.50 (Kids Crest) and then I had a $1.00 target coupon and a .50 cent manufacturer coupon! Voila..free!! I got chex cereal for $1.50 a box....after my $1.00 off per box coupons and the sale price. I got Chex Bars too for just over $1 a box with my coupons and their sale prices. I try to use my coupons when things are already on sale and I save a boodle!

I also got 7 Generation Cleaner free last week...it was on sale for $2 and I had a target coupon for $1 off and a newspaper coupon for $1 off...yeahoo!

I went shopping early this morning to get some things I needed for preschool and I got some items from my "Target Deals" list for this week. I ended up getting Special K granola for just .49 cents a box! WOW! They were $2.39 each on sale and then I had a coupon for $1.00 off each box. If you bought 5 boxes ( I had 5 coupons) then you got a $5 gift card to Target. So you credit back $1 for each box and I then got the boxes of cereal essentially for .39 cents each!

Post has a $2 coupon on their website too and I printed it off and was able to get a box of their cereal for .49 cents. Had it been on a good sale I might have gotten it free!! There are some amazing deals out there if you know where to look! My favorite new site is http://thekrazycouponlady.com You should check it out..it is AMAZING!! =)

Hugs,
Heidi

Camping at Crystal Hot Springs

Scott has been really busy at work lately so doing anything major for spring break wasn't really an option. We were lucky enough to get away for one night though and go up to Crystal Hot Springs to camp. It was great to get away....Scott played football and Frisbee with the kids.

We went for a walk.....

The next morning the kids braved the cold and fed some ducks...

Flat Stanley came with us camping...he wanted to check out the Hot Springs too!

Ladder Ball

Last year we got a ladder ball game to take camping with us. This was the first time our kids were able to play it and they had a great time!

Kyler is saying "Oh yea!" It was so cute!

The views were beautiful!

Spring Break fun at home

We hadn't taken a photo of the kids with their new cousin Tyler! He came to visit the other day and so we took a photo! He is the kid's first boy cousin on my side of the family!We hadn't taken a photo of the kids with their new cousin Tyler! He came to visit the other day and so we took a photo! He is the kid's first boy cousin on my side of the family!

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Laura gave Cameron this hat for his birthday. Can you believe this? Star Wars and Legos combined? It doesn't get any better than this!

Here is Cameron playing detective. I just thought it was so funny how he stacked up all these pillows and sat back in his chair, scratching his chin and thinking of crimes to solve. It was like something out of a movie! Now you can see what we did on our spring break!

The other kids got into it too..here they are all dressed up as detectives! Don't you love childhood??