MONSTER TRUCK WORLD FINALS!

WARNING PICTURE OVERLOAD!

We went to Las Vegas this past weekend and participated in the World Finals for Monster Trucks. My boys LOVE monster trucks, so this was an extra special treat to go to. We went with James' brother Paul, his wife and two boys, and James' dad. While the boys were playing at the Pit Pass (where you get to meet the drivers, get autographs and see the trucks up close) earlier in the afternoon, Michelle, Myself, Paige and Michelle's sister went and did a little shopping. Thanks Susan! We then all headed to the hotel to get checked in and relax and eat before the boys headed back to the stadium for the grand event. The boys had a wonderful time at the show that night, in fact Logan fell asleep for a little while, silly boy! They didn't get back to the hotel until 12:45 (1:45 UT time), they were exhusted! Michelle and Jace, Paige and I took our time eating, hung out at the hotel and then Susan joined us again and we went to the Advernture Dome to see what was up. Michelle and I decided to go on a ride, the roller coaster, while Susan watched a sleeping Paige and Jace, who didn't feel well enough to go with the boys. Boy was the rollercoaster fun, well kidna, I realize that I am getting to old for those kind of things and end up not feeling well afterwards. Not Fun!
Here Tanner is getting his shirt signed by Joe Miller who drives Iron Outlaw. Can you tell that he is excited?!Here the boys are posing with Jim Creten the driver of Bounty Hunter.

Sunday we headed to Bass Pro Shop and saw the cool salt water aquarium, where thay have all kinds of cool fish. The kids loved it and we walked around it a bunch of times.
I just had to add this last photo of Paige, she is zonked out in the car on the way home, with her hand folded. I thought that it was cute!

Thanks Paul and Michelle for a GREAT time, we had a blast. We will have to do it again next year!

HOT Internet Coupons!

I thought that I would let you know about some HOT coupons that you can print from your computer and save a bundle with!

*Smartsource has a $4 coupon they put out for any Pace product HERE ( it will automatically start printing when you click the link). With the coupon worth that much, I’m sure salsa will end up being FREE! But it gets better! I have been able to print 12 so far, so continue to hit the back button and see how many you are able to print! Time to stock up on salsa! And hurry, I don’t know how long it will let us all print these. I did have a hard time at first to get these to print, just keep trying and it should work.

*The second coupon is for Walgreen's. In the April Easy Saver Catalog there will be a $2 coupon good on any Fragrance Collection Soy Candle. These Soy candles are regularly priced at $5.99 or less. Pair the Walgreens coupon with this $4 internet printable and that will mean FREE soy candles! I know this is an early deal to mention, but I wanted to make sure all of you got a chance to print the coupon ahead of time just in case the coupon ends up running out. Be sure to hit the back button after you print, and you will be able to print this coupon twice! These would make a great gift or nice to add to your home.

Austin turns 11!

I can't believe that the time has gone by so fast, it seems like yesterday that we brought home our little Austin and now he is 11! He has grown up so much and is now a pre-teen. He is my responsible child (I think that happens with first born children), he is courageous, will stand up for right, he loves his brothers and sister ferociously, he loves school and learning new things, he loves be outdoors (takes after his dad with that), he has a contagious smile, he is full of love, he love to build things (give him legos and he will come up with a ton of different things), he is my little boy (well not so much anymore, seeing how he is almost as tall as me, give him a year or so and he will be taller)! I still can't believe that he will be in Middle school next year! It is crazy to think that he is getting older.

We celebrated his birthday on Friday with family and dinner. I am tired of the big friend party's and so we just had a little family over and chilled. He was very excited to get not one, not two, but three Nerf guns. Now he can play with his brothers and friends that have these guns. He was thrilled to have family to celebrate with him.

Happy Birthday Austin! We Love You!

Ready, Set, Go!

The boys had their Pinewood Derby this week and loved every minute of it. They worked and worked on their cars for a couple of weeks, with the help of dad. They took second in all of the heats that they raced, but that wasn't good enough for the finals. There were some pretty fast cars this year. Tanner stated, once we were on our way home, that his car did better than he thought it would do. Hooray for that! This was also Austin's last year participating, since he will be moving on into Boy Scouts. So it was fun to have the both of them to race this year and it will be the only time that we will have two boys in Cub Scouts at the same time. Good Job Boys!

*Austin's was a Hummer and Tanner's was a Race Car.

St. Patties Day Cookies

Here is another GREAT recipe from Everyday Food Storage. I just made them and they turned out way cute and the kids will love them. Check out Crystals idea for FHE using these cookies and the God Head. It is really a great idea!

Here is the recipe:

Fruit Jell-O Cookies
1/2 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup shortening (butter works well too)
1 3oz. pkg flavored Jell-O (lime or other green colored Jell-O)
2 eggs (2 T. Dry Powdered Eggs + 1/4 C. Water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 Cups flour (I used half white wheat, half all-purpose)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2-3 drops green food coloring

Mix first five ingredients. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and blend into first mixture. Roll into nickel sized balls, place three together and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls with flat cookie stamp or glass bottom. Bake 6 to 8 minutes at 400 degrees.

Update

James was called back today by his former employer. He knew that is was a possibility, but didn't think that 1.) it would be so soon and 2.) didn't think that he would get called back, being 16th on the call back list. So for now he still has a job, starting on Monday he will be working 3-12 hour shifts beginning at 7 pm-7:30 am. Yucky shift, but he will take it, for now. This may be a temporary job, or work its way to permanent later. We really don't really know for sure.

The reason for the callback, is that Nestle has granted the plant to continue to run their product, although the plant will not have a license to Nestle's product. So even though Nestle was the whole reason for all the problems to begin with, they are still going to let the plant run their product. I think the whole situation is lame and confusing. I can't imagine what the employee's there think.

James and I are still wondering if he needs to look for another job, if this doesn't work and they lay him off again in the future, but we feel blessed that he did get called back and that he has a job. So for now we will be grateful and thankful for this turn of events.

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I went to Walgreen's this morning to get some more Shampoo, they were out, but I did get some curl spray gel and a few others things for free. Here's the proof!

1 Fructis Spray gel- FREE
1 Fructis Mousse- FREE
1 Fructis gel- FREE
4 Glade Lasting Impressions Air Freshners- FREE
5 Crayola Explosions kit- $2.39 each
2 Paint pads- $1.59 each
1- Crayola Glitter kit- $2.59

The kids will each get an explosion kit and the rest will be for birthday gifts. Can't beat it those kinda gifts!

UNEMPLOYED

For those of you who aren't family and don't know, James got layed off this week. The plant that he works at had their Nestle product pulled four weeks ago and since then we have been on a roller coaster. The plant was diligently trying to get Nestle back, but Nestle wasn't havin' it, they ended up paying some millions of dollars and took their contract away. This event has caused the layoffs of 80-90 employees, only leaving 24 employees to continue to run the plant. CRAZY!

We, or should I say "I" have been mentally gearing up for it for a few weeks now and am feeling better about the situation we are now in, UNEMPLOYED. James hasn't really been happy there for awhile now and we are hoping the he can now find something better. He has a few job options that he needs to check into and are hoping that they work out. If not he will collect unemployment until he finds work and along with my money from babysitting we should be able to continue living like we are now, not that cutting back wouldn't hurt us any. We also have some money in savings that we can use to help make up the difference if needed. I feel like we are prepared to handle this the best we can, we have food storage, money in savings and not a lot of debt (our house and two credit cards) to worry about. We have incredible family support from both sides of the family and are there for anything we need.

I am very proud of James. He is very resilent and hard working. His parents taught him at a young age to work hard and never give up. Thanks Lolly and Sherman, for the great job you did in raising your son. He has never not been able to find a job, if needed and we hope that his many skills will help do whatever he needs to do to provide for his family.

Now all we do is continue to pray and keep our fingers crossed!

Funny things kids say

The other night we were heading into town to have dinner with James' mom and dad and Paige sneezed and this is how the conversation went:

James: "Bless you"

Paige sneezes again

James: "Did you blow your brains out?"

Paige: "No, my brains are in my ear."

James: "Your brains are in your ear?"

Paige: "Yes, my brains are in my ear. (pointing to her ears)"

Oh how I love to hear my little ones learning and talking more. I treasure this time, so much I wish that they didn't really learn how to talk and would talk like this more. I LOVE IT!

$.99 Shampoo, Again

Again at Walgreens this week, they have the Garnier Fructis Shampoo on Sale for $2.99, use the Easy Saver Coupon and save $2, making them $.99 each. You only need one coupon and can get as many (a reasonable amount) with the one coupon. Why not stock up or at least get one pair for this price?! You can't beat it!

Here's what I got:

*I plan on going back, since I left my $3 coupon for Walgreens at home, to get some more shampoo or hairspray for free!

CREATE, Please watch!

This is an amazing video and I love it! I have seen it a few times and get cold chills every time I do. I love Pres. Uchtdorf, with his rich accent and spirit about him. His words are really powerful and inspiring! It makes me want to be better, do better and remember who I am at all times.

I couldn't figure out how to download the video itself, so here is the link. Go and watch and be inspired!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhLlnq5yY7k

FIXED, Hopefully!

Well I have finally fixed my address for my blog. If any of you have had our address on your blog roll, to update you when I post and it has never worked, I am sorry. But I think that I fixed it! You can now add our blog to to your blog list and it will update you and when you click on it, it will take you to our blog and not a video of James' derby car. And if you don't have a blog roll, you really should add it to your blog. It saves me time and headache. I don't have to look at everyone's blog to see if they have posted anything new, it will automatically update when you do. I love it!

*Let me know if this doesn't work for anyone and I will look into it and see what else I need to do.