Happy Halloween!

From our little Skeleton Kid!

I have been really proud of our bargain shopping lately. We have been in need of some items for Ben's new babysitting situation, like a pack n' play to sleep in and a booster chair for him to sit in to eat lunch and have snacks. My mother in-law has been letting use both of hers so we needed to get our own. We have a pack n' play, but it's what we used as a bassinet for Ben when he was born and up until about 2 inches ago he could still fit in. He's outgrown it now and has to sleep diagonally in it if we want him to fit! He deals with it, but it's not nice of us. So back to our bargain shopping, I got him a booster- but it wasn't necessarily a bargain- but we like it and he does too. However, Ryan got a pack n' play from Salvation Army in excellent shape (a little hard to collapse but not because it's broken or anything) for $5.99! On the decorative and not really necessary side of things, I got a really cool glass chicken (sounds crazy and weird and Country which is NOT me but not horrible for other people) at Goodwill for $5.99 as well! Old Navy is having an additional 50% off clearance and I got a nice sweater shirt for $2 people. All of Ben's clothes he's wearing this winter we either got as gifts or I got on clearance or for sale. I haven't paid anything more than $6 for an item of his clothing forever. Well, besides shoes- but those are always a little more pricey, but I still got them on sale.
I also got a "free" gift from Kodak Gallery loaded in to my account that would apply $20 towards my order, plus I got an additional $15 off coupon through my email=$35! SO I got 20 photo Christmas cards (which we all know aren't super cheap), several prints including an 8x10, a porcelain photo ornament, and something else (I can't remember what) all for around $6... just to cover the balance and shipping. We also each signed up for the Chicken Wave on Chick-fil-a's website where you enter to get free stuff. We got free chicken sandwiches! I have been enjoying finding these little loop holes. I still need to find as many coupons as possible on things as I possibly can only to spend like $2 on $100's worth of groceries. That's my goal one day.
Wait a minute... aren't grown ups the only one's that get excited about this kind of stuff?

Let's catch up.

What a busy week this has felt like. Yesterday was so busy for me that this morning I could not get myself up from exhaustion. Let's just say the day started at 5:45am and ended at about 10pm after a full day of work, driving in traffic, a Scentsy conference call, bed time for Ben and then baking not only Pumpkin Bars but Choco Chip cookies because my sweet husband just wanted some. I was pooped... and not feeling super great this morning-so I stayed home. I probably should've rested more, but I always seem to find a million things I "need" to do on my days off.
Friday of last weekend Ryan went with Jacob, Clint, Taylor and Geoff to go see a "guy" movie. And some of us ladies stayed home and watched Hairspray and smelled my new samples I got from signing up to do Scentsy. (If you're still wondering what that is- look at my web page from the link to your right!) Saturday we spent the morning getting some things done and then that afternoon Ashley and I got our craft on and made Christmas Countdown blocks! It was SO fun! We got a little high off the Mod-Podge (which apparently my mother in-law knows the inventor of...) but we made our cute little blocks and they turned out great! Even the guys who seem to care less about that stuff liked them! Ashley made an x-mas one AND a Halloween one. Mine are the ones on the bottom left and hers are the others! CUTE HUH?! The kit she got us came with the wood blocks and the vinyl lettering, which we decided was NOT a good idea to be in white nor did we care for the font. But we made it work by tracing the numbers with a black sharpee before sealing it with the Mod-Podge. Ryan gave Ben a haircut on Sunday. He's such a good kid. I mean he's wiggly and everything but he sits pretty still for being so young. And daddy is gentle with him and also very patient and that's great.We had our typical Sunday meal in which my hubby made THE BEST steak... lots of compliments and Ashley made YUMMY Cream Cheese Pound Cake. I tell ya, we love those Sunday dinners!
Last week we also went out to dinner with Nana (which Ben pronounces "Nanny") and Poppy to where else but Taco Mac. I got a cute picture of the 3 Smith generations playing a racing video game. I'm so glad Ben has a set of grandparents near by. I wish he had both sets- but I didn't really have any close to me so I hope that he has great memories of his grandparents. Both sides!
What else... here is the latest mound of dirt in front of the temple. It was strange because they gutted it out and you could see all the way to the back of it from the street! Maybe that's why they put the dirt there, who knows. But here's an update in case you were wondering.
That's all for now. I mean, really there's SO much going on. I am already selling lots with Scentsy and am hoping to have a par-tay up in Knoxville, TN for my cousin. We're thinking of changing our Thanksgiving plans, Halloween is Saturday and we still haven't even carved our pumpkins! We just BARELY got Ben's costume Monday. And I'm pretty bummed I don't more time to do everything and more time to spend with my kid. Not much I can do right now about it though. Okay... bed time.

Fall Outings

Me and Ashley get super excited for Fall. Because we always get to go and do fun things together. Ryan feels like the leaves and trees are dying and that it's just the precursor for the wretched Winter. But not me... I love it. And I love all the holidays that come along with it. That being said, we're starting to feel extra "Crafty" lately too, which if you REALLY knew me- you'd know that I appreciate it, but don't do it very often and don't really feel like I have a knack for it. I have to say I'm pretty excited though because we're going to attempt to make some countdown blocks this weekend for Christmas. They have ones for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas- if you're interested in buying a kit you can check them out HERE. I think they'll be SUPER cute. This weekend, the men are going to see a manly movie together and us ladies are going to be crafty. And really, I just love Christmas decor. I have the last few days of Nov off and am TOTALLY going to decorate the house! Isn't it weird that Thanksgiving is almost a month away? And that Halloween is already next weekend? Whoa. Oh and I ordered Ben's Halloween costume today. I am SO excited... but it's a surprise!

The last three years we've been to Burt's Pumpkin patch to get pumpkins with the Terry's and Clint and others that join us. The last 2 years we've added in the Apple Festival and it's quite fun. We got to go do that this weekend and it was FREEZING cold! Which is quite the opposite of how it was last year, we were dying of heat last year. But we appreciated the cold because it made it feel like it should've- like FALL! The leaves were gorgeous and where we go to do all of this in the North GA mountains really is beautiful. While at the Apple Festival, the Terry's got some apples and me and Martha purchased honey raised from bees in GA. The Davidson's bought some other things and we all had our share of friend fair food. There were fried Oreo's (yes, and apparently they were delicious), Funnel Cake that was to die for, fried chicken and fries, and I had roasted corn. YUM! Poor little Ben's fingers froze, but he refused to wear my gloves for longer than 2 mins. And he had a little bit of a break down at the Apple Festival, which he really never does. I could probably count on one hand how many times he's freaked out like that- he's very easy going. But he's teething and he wanted his binky and was cold and we didn't have it and he didn't understand and just kept crying "na, na! na, na!" People were giving us the "you are horrible parents" stare... so we left everyone behind and climbed (almost literally) the hill back to the car. The shuttle bus line was OUTRAGEOUS. We got him to the car and within 5 mins on the road to the Pumpkin Patch- he was OUT. Poor kid. Other than that- he was a trooper. The pumpkin patch was PACKED! There were SO many people there! It was still cold and muddy and crowded but SO FUN and we got ourselves a couple pumpkins and some squash and all that good stuff and now it's time for us to carve! We love going with our friends to things like that and hope to carry on the tradition!

Last week was Ben's first week with his new Babysitter Megan. It went really well, except for him teething and having a fever most of the week. I even stayed home with him Wednesday, he needed some mommy-TLC. But it was SUPER comforting to know that I could still take him Thursday to Megan's house in his jammies and know that he would be taken care of. She wrote a really sweet blog post about it and recapped their week and how much fun he's having there. We are indeed SO grateful that the Lord matched our families together. :) Here is her post. There's a little video of him too learning to be near the kitties they have. So cute. He has a an old cell phone we found for him and he likes to hold it up to his ear and say "hello?!", so he's trying to hold the phone up to the kitties ears to say "hello!". I love my kid... I'm so grateful to have good peeps watching him. RELIEF.
I will write more about our weekend tomorrow. It's 10pm and now with our new childcare situation I have to wake up about an hour earlier so that I can drive him up and away from the direction of work and get on a HORRIBLY congested 400. It makes it all worth it though to have him there.

'tis the season

I have two blog posts I want to write. This first one is for Oatmeal Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yes, you heard right. YUM. It's the season to make things pumpkiny. And my friend gave me this idea to make these cookies from some that she bought from the Target bakery. I thought, I can make those... so there.
Here's the recipe, some of you have asked:

Oatmeal Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip Cookies
(I forgot the butter in this picture... but you get the idea) 2 c all purpose flour
1 1/3 c quick or old fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt (or a little more...)
1 c butter (2 sticks softened)
1 c packed brown sugar
1 c granulated sugar
1 c pure pumpkin
1 egg (yes, I promise that's enough)
1 tsp vanilla
1 c (or more) of white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Combine dry ingredients together; flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl blend together butter, brown & granulated sugar and egg until fluffy. Add vanilla and pumpkin and mix well. Add flour & oat mixture, mix well. Add chips!

Drop dough with a spoon on a slightly greased baking pan (try and make dough balls). Bake for approximately 12 mins if you want chewy cookies, or 14-16 mins for a more dry cookie. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 mins and move to parchment paper or cooling rack. Enjoy their yumminess! They were a total hit at work today... I got a "divine" "the best" and "the bomb-diggity". Smiles!

All Things Bright and Beautiful

I've been thinking, which could be dangerous. But I was thinking about wanting to go camping and how it seems like EVERY time we plan a trip- it falls through. Then I was thinking about how I used to go all the time when I lived in UT and with my dad when I was little in AZ and how I just love it. THEN I was thinking about how it's pretty here in GA, but there is so much beauty out west as far as "nature" is concerned. So I wanted to share a few of my favorite places I've been in my life... just some.
The Grand Tetons, WY. Awe inspiring. And let me tell you, oh so cold in the winter! But also gorgeous in the summer!
Southern UT, Horseshoe Bend. Near Moab. That whole region including Moab is beautiful. This is the only picture I could find from that trip, cheesy face and all.
Cannon Beach, OR. Oregon (that I saw) in general. I was only there for like a total of 2 1/2 days... if that and I fell in love. It was Fall and the leaves were beautiful... it was a perfect combination of two of my favorites- ocean and mountains.

The High Uintas in UT. One of my FAVORITE places in the world. So many good memories there, and a place with so much to see and so much beauty. I miss it SO much. (wow! Look how small and cute my butt was!)
Yellowstone! Such an amazing place. I can't wait to take my family there on family vacation one day!
The Alpine Loop, American Fork Canyon UT.

Zion's National Park, UT
Sequoia National Park, CA. Such a beautiful amazingly cool place!
The Grand Canyon, AZ. I grew up just about 70 miles away from the Grand Canyon in Flagstaff and didn't really appreciate it as a kid. I had the opportunity to hike to the bottom one year with a Geology class at UVSC (now UVU) and will now always have such an appreciation for it's beauty and awesomeness.
Somewhere in Eastern, UT. Another Geology field trip, this time with USU. I think it was near the Bookcliffs or Vernal... but it was a LONG time ago and I forget.
I'm so grateful I've been able to get to see SO many beautiful places and know that Heavenly Father has created all of them for all of us to see and appreciate. To me, these places are so humbling because it reminds me of how little I am (literally) in this LARGE diverse world and how around EVERY corner there is something new to see and discover.

Send Me On My Way

I'm way over due to write a post. It's been rainy again the last three days, it was this morning and then luckily cleared up in time for my lunch hour. It was BEAUTIFUL! The leaves are really starting to do their changing thing and the sky always looks so perfectly blue and clean and fresh and the clouds so white and fluffy and all the colors so vibrant. Some of the reasons to love Fall. Another is the less humid and cooler weather.
Saturday we spent with Ashley (Jacob was out of town with his parents) listening to some General Conference, helping around the Terry house, washing the car, shopping at IKEA and watching Ben explore there and loving it. We got him a little $3.99 potty to "practice" with. Something just to get him used to the idea of where that stuff goes! he, he! But we're not really in it to force him in to it too early. Anyway, he really enjoyed walking around and exploring there. That place can wear me out too! We had "Conference-fest" at our house Sunday. We plugged the laptop up and watched it over LDS.org and enjoyed it. We had soup, rolls and the staple sausage dip for lunch and ate out on the deck and in the house and enjoyed each other's company. We had about 12 for lunch and after, not including us- so the house was pretty full. But we, of course, love that.
So what's going on right now? Both Ryan and Ben are asleep. I'm listening to iTunes (for the moment Feist) and am thinking it's time I go to bed. BUT... I want to make sure I keep up with my blog/journal.
We're making a big change in childcare for Ben. We have been praying a lot about alternatives, especially lower costing ones lately. Our EQ Pres and home teacher came over a couple Sunday's ago and we happened to mention we were still looking for someone to watch Ben and he said a couple had recently moved in to the ward from Alabama and she (Megan) used to do some childcare before moving here. He gave me her info and I emailed her and she wrote right back. She and her husband are looking for work and this is right up her alley and she is able to watch him the time we need her to and at HALF the cost of what we're paying now. She doesn't have any kids of her own yet, so Ben will be the one and only. There are definitely PROS (mostly) and CONS... the CONS are that he's going to miss his buddies. He's a social little dude, and so it'll be hard to go from constantly being around little kids to none at all. But we'll find alternatives, and a PRO is that he'll be getting one-on-one attention. I only wish it was mine. There are several other PROS and we are just really grateful that the Lord provided for us and really for them as well, they need the money/work. The daycare directors are saddened that he's leaving... but I'm sure we'll be back once in a while. Some of the mom's of his classmates (even the ones he's bitten!) are up for play dates, so we'll definitely do those too. We want to have more kids and feel like we need to save a little first, and cut some costs down... and this has to be one of them. I met her at Enrichment and liked her a lot, and then her and her husband came over Friday night for dinner and we all chatted for hours with each other. Seems like he and Ryan will have a lot in common. So we both feel good about it and if it doesn't work though and he's not happy- we'll rethink things. I think she'll be a good fit for him and we're crossing our fingers all will be well.
Ben is just a smarty pants. He's saying or repeating a lot of words. We did an iChat with my mom tonight and he was doing his best to say "grandma". He says "cah-cah" for cracker, and he can say "hello" or even "hola". We're working on "I Love You!", he knows to say something but it sounds nothing like the phrase. But we're getting there! He's also started to say "amen" before I even do when saying prayers. I'll say "in the name of Jesus Christ..." and he'll say "Amen" before I finish! Too cute. He's very friendly. When people walk by he'll wave and said "HI!" to them. He loves to ride in the car with the windows down and if they're not he'll say "outside!" In general, he loves to be outside and is always asking us if he can go. He's got the kissing on the lips thing down, no more baby-open-mouth kissing. I'm the special one that gets them though, he doesn't do that to anyone else really- maybe Daddy once in a while, but mostly me. Yesterday I went to get him out of the car and I said "give me a kiss" and he grabbed my cheeks with both hands and planted one on Moments like that make my heart happy.
This weekend I get to have my hair cut, thank goodness by a cute girl that moved in to Ashley's ward recently. We're trading a hair cut/color for family pictures! She and her husband have the cutest little girl and so it should be lots of fun. I want to get Ryan's sisters kids together for some pictures too.
Here is his last school photo for a while, he took it about a month ago. He's so dang handsome. He didn't feel much like smiling though that morning. But we have some others that turned out pretty good.
Okay. My ears hurt, my eyes are tired and we have to wake up SUPER early... blah... I need a sleep in day.