Trip To Utah

-2012-

The trip started with what elts- Pup Pancakes! And lots of good food to come, homemade and from all the great Utah places we miss so much.

The weather could not decide what it whanted to do as we had snow days and beautiful spring days.

Decorating Easter Eggs- so many to decorate!

Bing made Easter Dresses for all the girls and also one that matched perfectly for each of their dolls, so much work, but how cute do they all look!

Laddy and all the boys!

Bing and Laddy- We all love you bolth so much!

The kids after the Easter Egg Hunt.

Marzipan Cake- Yummy!

Jump and Jump!

Out of order but Easter Morning Picture.  Cute but very small baskets, as the usual large ones did not fit in our carry ons.

The Salt Lake Temple Picture.

The flowers were absolutly beautiful and our kids are not to bad either!

Happy Easter! Our fire place matle all done up for Easter.
And the kids decorating Easter Cookies- Yum!!!
We will be in Utah this year for Easter (a long awaited trip) and so we decided to get an early start on the holiday. As soon as the "Green" for Saint Patrick's came down, the Easter stuff whent up.
Bring on the Easter Bunny!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Mia out in front of our little Tulip Garden.

All the kids in their green. No pinching here!

And the traditional "Green Feast". We had Paige and Brandon over for the night and had a lot of fun. The kids played while the parents talked about every thing over the last year and just had a great time.

Here is to the Irish!

Pine Wood Derby 2012

Well it is here again, the annual Pine Wood Derby!

Mommy and Cayden getting his Wolf Badge and other awards.
Cayden at the end of the track waiting for the cars to come down.

In the end his car came in 5th out of 19, so not to bad I guess, but next year we hope to take it all! He had a great time and that is all that matters I guess. Ya can't win them all!

Great Job Cayden!

Kitties!

You all heard the story of how Mia and her brothers adopted two stray cats several months back. Well one of them kept getting bigger and bigger and we decided she must be pregnant. So Daddy put a box and a blanket on the front porch several weeks back thinking that a stray would never use such a spot and guess what- SHE DID! On Cayden's Birthday she (Socks) gave birth to four little kittens in Daddy's Box! They are very cute and as you can tell from the look on Mia's face, She is very excited. Now she not only gives them food but milk as well. We can't argue with her, the mommy needs milk!

Happy Birthday Cayden!

Caydens traditional Cookie Cake- Yummy!

The Boys at his party. A Scavenger hunt, Pinata, Pizza and presents, what could be better, Oh- Cake and Ice cream!
Everyone had a great time! Happy 9th birthday Cayden!

What's Been Going On?

Valentines breakfast made by Mom- Yummy!
Mia waiting for the cookies to be done.

Cayden building something great out of Legos.

Brenner with his nose in a book.

And Mia with all her "Stuffed" friends.

Costco update-

The Wet/dry vacuum that I bought at Costco thinking that I got an ok deal on it for $38- On sale today at wall mart for $24.95.

Give me a break! Took our cards back today and got our $55 back!
Costco is a Joke!!!

Costco?

Now I realize that I tread on dangerous water to even suggest to you all my true feelings about Costco because everyone that I talk to is infatuated with every thing that is Costco, but I am going to step out on the plank anyhow.
As our kids are now a bit older and going through milk like crazy, Nikki and I recently bought a card ($55). We were excited as everyone elts has had one for years and we just have not for whatever reason. We got our card, walked through the cavernous store, the produce, the meat, the bakery and on and on. We did look at prices but without giving it much thought, everything was just so huge! We did buy three gallons of milk (in funny square cartons with an inch and a half of air in the top and very large mouths that spill everywhere as you pour). Exiting we all shared a pizza and a couple of drinks from the eatery and all was fine with the world.
About a week later It was time to go and reap the deals of buying in BULK! As I wandered the isles looking for things that we purchase regularly I was a bit perplexed-

Kroger/Walmart Vs. Costco
Milk 3.10 vs 2.99
Saved .10

Chicken Breasts

3 lbs for 6.49 vs 9 lbs for 21.99
Lost 2.50 (WHAT!)

Bread

One Loaf 2.00 vs Two loafs 4.00
A Wash (but have the extra
loaf to go bad in the pantry)

Dish Detergent

75 oz. 6.50 150 oz. 13.99
Lost 1.00 (and the bottle just
about broke my wrist to lift)

Laundry Detergent

This was not even close as the Tide
Detergent and even the Kirkland brand

were all over 22.00 a bottle for the same extra
value size of Sun for 14.00 form good
old Walmart.
Would love to wash with Tide but have
never been able to afford to do so!

Meat
3.99 to 4.50 a pound from Costco

3.99 to more at Kroger, But often on sale

for 3.50 or less. Never on sale at Costco.

Everyone says how wonderful the cuts are

at Costco. Am I to believe that 80% ground

beef is any different or that the pot roast is of

better quality at Costco vs Kroger. I don't think so.
Cows are Cows and truth be known, they all come

from only several suppliers nationwide!

Butter

Now here is a deal!

8.00 for four 1 lb blocks

Kroger 3.00 for one lb block

2.50 on sale

Savings of 4.00 and enough butter

to last 4 months!

Cheese worked out to be cheaper

by .50 a pound and eggs were cheaper

by a few cents as well. I found a Gallon

size can of sliced Black olives for 6.99

(1.99 per can otherwise) that would have

been an exceptional deal. But where do I

put the extra after I open it for a handful

of them for our pizza!?!?! In small

Tupperware in the fridge!

Many other things were not cheaper when the comparison is done oz. for oz. and lb. for lb.

One more- Tires for the Armada

We do need new tires and I priced them the other day at Kaufman Tire. I was shocked that they were over 40.00 a tire more than two years ago. They came to just over 800.oo for four with a wheel alignment and thought that for sure Costco would finally come through for me. Costco tire- 221.00 per tire is 884.oo and the alignment was extra!!! Even with their coupon for 70.00 off four tires, they still came in more! Long story short- At 10 cents here and a quarter there, and being taken to the cleaners on just about everything elts- NO THANKS!!! We drive an extra 8 miles to get to Costco and Pay 55.00 to be a member, We have 90 days to go get our money back and unless I can make 55.00 back on .10 milk purchases (550 Gallons), I think we will go and give our cards back!

Christmas Day- Horay!

Christmas Morning

Santa came!

Brenner and his RC Car- Super Happy!
Cayden, and you guessed it... More Lego's. As you can see- ecstatic. And Mia and her American Doll. So very happy to have Emily! The traditional breakfast pizza and fresh squeezed Orange Juice! Later that day (after a nap of course) we had french dip sandwiches with the Douglas clan and opened more presents with the gift swaps. A truly wonderful Christmas, we could not ask for more!
Merry Christmas to all our family, near and far,
We love you all!

Christmas Cruise

Christmas Cruise

Another cruise you ask? Well Nikki had the time off of work and we were going to go to Charleston or Branson or some place up north. But it always works out to be cheaper for us (without airfare) to go on a cruise- so we did! It turned out to be much warmer too which I liked allot! Of the five, We had two days at sea to just sit in the warm sun in a lounge and just RELAX. It was truly a vacation!

Every one at the dinner table. As this only happened twice the entire cruise with kids choosing either friends or Camp Carnival over dinner with mom and dad, it was fun! Mimi... open your eyes! Off the ship in Key West. This was one port that Mommy was very excited to see as we have been all through the Caribbean but never to Key West. It was very clean, built up and no one heckled you to buy junk- I guess is is in the states is why, but it was so nice! Out side the Key Lime Pie Factory just resting in the warm coastal breeze. We got a very cute ornament for our tree in the shape of a slice of key lime pie- too cute! That night at dinner.... Clink! The next day in the Bahamas. This day Mia stayed with Mimi and Granddaddy and the rest of us went off to get some sun and go snorkeling. Cayden and the fish right off the pier. The water was so blue and you could see strait to the bottom. Cayden out snorkeling. We did take an underwater camera for pics this day, but to go and get them developed, who knows, do they still do that!Brenner driving the boat back to the ship. Towel Animals! As Mimi and Granddaddy passed theirs down the hall each night, we always ended up with two! Oh the joy!!! Mia, Daddy and Leo or head waiter each night for dinner. He was very good, and made the cruise so much fun. Picture time out on deck! The sunset picture. Thanks for getting up from your nap Granddaddy to be our photographer! Christmas in the spectrum. Seven floors of garland, it was very pretty! The last day it even snowed inside this area and we all sang Christmas Carols, very fun!

Oh- all great things do come to an end and being that this was the 24th of December we needed to get home for Christmas! See ya later!