Hobbies... Part 2

This post was supposed to be after Jaden's post, but I am trying to multi-task and did not do a very good job of paying enough attention to details. Oh well. Here we go anyway!



My hobbies have varied throughout my lifetime. There's crosstitch, tole-painting, scrapbooking, card-making, jewelry making, beading, quilting (this is a new hobby) I sew with a friend every Thursday, and am learning so much. I am almost done with a project I am so excited about. I will be done next week and post the finished product. The other big hobby/project that I do is couponing. I have always been frugal and very careful in spending. But, I have been couponing for about four months and have been so amazed with the items I can get for free! My supp;ies of items are increasing dramatically and I am spending little to no money in the process! I am amazed at what coupons, doubling coupons and combining them with the right sale can really make things cheap! Here is a picture of the stash I got this morning. Three of my friends went with me and we went at 6:30 this morning. It was so nice without kiddos and we had free reign of the store. 7 cheeses, 5 flatbread melts, 2 airwick refills, 2-6 packs angel soft toilet paper, 4 Smart Balance butter, 2 V-8 Fusion, 1 Marshmallow, 2 cottage cheese, 2 Country Time Lemonade canisters, 4-8 packs juicy juice, 2 lunch meat packages, shaving gel, 1 tobasco sauce, Peanut bars.



Total spent: $30.81 Total saved: $115.53



Yes, totally worth the hour and a half of preparation, the drive to St. George, and it was so fun with my girlfriends! Thanks, girls!

Stay tuned for some more great finds!

Hobbies...

At our house, I paint faces all the time. It's fun and the boys just love it.
This is Stanton's catterpillar that turned into a yellow butterfly with pink hearts. They always choose intering things! Jaden has always wanted to be an author/illustrator since he could kind of say the words. Not surprising, since his Grandma Connie is an artist and his mother is a closet wanna-be children's author (someday). He loves to do different art projects and play in different mediums. The boys always give me very interesting requests for face painting. Then, Jaden always looks at the finished product and laughs, telling me how funny I am. I really don't try to be. I'm just artistically challenged (big time)! So, today, I told Jaden he could choose the objects and draw them himself on everybody. Stanton was already done, so he did himself, Easton and me.
He chose to do a red and black version of a bee on himself. He thought he was so clever with the color combination. He just snickered the whole time!

He painted this ladybug on Easton. Of couse it didn't make it long enough to dry completely. Easti loves getting things on his face, and touches it as soon as you set him free. Then he rubs his hands on it. In about two seconds, it's a smeared mess. But, a happy boy is always wonderful!
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This is the catepillar he was so excited about. I never do them right!

My favorite. A big red heart with the words, I luv you. How could your heart not melt? He made me guess what he was drawing and he just giggled at all the things I would guess. What a sweet little boy. He is growing up too fast!

Don't mind the tired face or nasty hair. It was in a hat all day.

I am so grateful for boys that will try new things and have the confidence to laugh at things. What wonderful self-esteem and talents they have. I am so blessed with all these little blue monkey boys!

Happy Mothers Day

This year for Mothers day, we had two very sick little boys we were up with all night. At about three am , Jason told me Happy Mothers Day. Yes, I was in the bathroom helping a vomitting child. Not a very nice thing to say to me. I did make it to church and Jason stayed home with Stanton and Easton. Jaden did a great job singing in Sacrament and my Sunbeams were obviously fed too much sugar for breakfast. They were seriously out of control! But, I got my little flower and went home happy. The economy and uncertainty of our future at this moment has made us step back for a moment and realize that we can do without a lot of things. Mothers day was a great beginning to that. I had Jason make a screen for my garden so that the critters stayed out and he fixed my brakes. So now I don't squeek, and my rotors will survive. My veggis should grow nice and big and I am very content and happy with these small, inexpensive gifts. He mopped my floor and helped clean up. It was a nice day. My mom brought me flowers and Jaden made an adorable little plaque. The reason he loves me the most: I let him play Club Penguin. Nice! I guess that is the most endearing quality my son loves the most. Oh well, he's six. All in all the day was nice and I had fun. Even without presents! I hope that everyone else had a wonderful Mothers Day and that it was filled with kind, loving words and lots of loved ones.

Jaden Fly-n-high

So, I am a little techno-challenged and could not figure out how to get both of the pics from the ride to post together when I sent from from picassa. Oh well, I will figure it out soon. So, this is Jaden's first little jump with his bike. He has been trying to figure out the wheelie thing for a while, and this hill helped him a ton! He looks so cute! What a fun time it has been getting him to ride. He loves it so much, he even cried when we left. Music to his dad's ears!

High Flyin' Boys!

We went out riding in the sand and I took some pictures of the boys on their bikes. We got some good ones and had a lot of fun! Jason is still a little hottie!

Stanton Turns 4!!!

Stanton turned four on March 18. What a fun time! He had a family party first, then we had a few friends at the park. He wanted a pirate party so bad and it had to have a pirate boat. This is the first birthday he has really been able to tell me what he wanted. And, he held nothing back! He told me in many details how he wanted hs wooden pirate boat to be. Needless to say, we didn't build a wooden pirate boat. Instead, he seemed very pleased with his pirate ship cake I made. It was suprisingly easy to put together, and the funnest part was probably the candles coming out of the side, like cannonballs! It was perfect March weather, with enough wind to use all the kites we bought for favors. He had a lot of really great friends come and he loved all the fun presents. Thanks for all your support. We have worked hard to get where he is today! This is the cake he had at our house. I did not make this one. It was found at Lins. It was cheeper to buy this than the frosting and sprinkles he wanted. It's really cute, and was quick for me!
Stanton's favorite food is bacon and eggs. At our house, when it is your birthday, you get to choose what we all eat for every meal you are home for. So, for breakfast, we had bacon and eggs. He wanted that for lunch and for dinner too. Jason came and took us to McDonalds for lunch, and I pepped it up at dinner. We had pancakes with strawberries, whipped cream and strawberry syrup. We of course, also had bacon and eggs (thank heavens we have chickens). So, by the time cake and ice-cream came around, we were sugared out! We had over half the cake left! But, it was a fun dinner.

He got a suitcase, which he calls his new backpack. He loves Lightning McQueen. He thought it was awesome.

He is adorable!

In the past year, Stanton has improved in speech and behavior dramatically. He only spoke a few words at three and was so incredibly shy and afraid of people. He now has a very large vocabulary, much more self-esteem and is so funny! He loves to do things that make his muscles work and loves preschool people don't scare him anymore, and he is very friendly. He is going to speech therapy once a week and has really come out of his shell. He loves his brothers and can be so sweet. He has been a challenge for me since he was born. I was not prepared for what came. I am so grateful for the things I have learned through Stanton and how much we have grown together. I have learned patience and understanding and to love all accomplishments in life. He is an amazing boy and has a Christ-like meekness, which people identify with, and they soften when they are around him. How blessed we are to have this sweet boy in our lives. Thank you for being you. We adore you! Have a wonderful year. We are excited to see you grow and learn so much.

Cow Dung Run

Jason and Jaden participated in the Cow Dung Run in Delta on March 15. They had fun, but it was only 13 degrees when we entered Delta! Jade got an awsome start, but finished second to last. He cried the entire race, but he did finish! He had cold hands and was so upset over it. I am very ill-equipped for this type of weather! Jade said he was just so happy he didn't lose and get last place. Jason says that's a boy thing. Finally, the finish line

Jason's run went well. Here he is with two of the boys just hanging out to get his finishing order.

This is his last lap of the race. He fell and his feet were tangled up in the handlebars... Another rider had to stop and help him get untangled. He still took second place in his class. It is craziness to me all the stuff he goes through, for the possiblility of a trophy. There isn't even cash invloved in these races!!

This is a checkpoint and coming into pit road. He said while he was tangled in his bike, he was thinking that he was being crazy about racing, and probably wouldn't do it anymore. Well, the next night, he was telling me to get the next application ready and sent out. So, Wendover, here we come on April 15. Back to Delta in May, and maybe a bit of a break for the summer. Who knows????

He sure looks cute, though!