What Was I Thinking?

Random Nov 2011 pictures

2012-01-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

yes, I'm still playing catch up from the end of last year. We spent Thanksgiving at Ryan's Grandma's house. The little boy kid table was too funny.

Collin and Liam loved to play in the little closet of toys more than eat.

Fam picture...

Hanging out as a BYU cougar. Liam looks SO much like Collin did in this picture.

Before church.

Hanging out in the hallway....

Smiley.

This is one of the funniest pictures of Collin. He wanted to wear my super warm socks. The ladybug was a "guitar" and he was giving me a concert while I got dinner ready. It's too funny.... So, yes there was our November in a nutshell. Now, on to December.

Liam's first birthday celebration

2012-01-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Liam has been off and on sick the whole month of January...it is getting "ridiculous" as Collin says. That being said, we kept his first birthday low key. These pictures are actually from the day after his birthday (the 19th is his actual birthday), but he was super sick that day, so we celebrated the next day. This outfit is SOOO cute. This picture doesn't do it justice, but it's an outfit he got from his Auntie Kari. SO snuggly.

We got to see Liam eat cake.... which unlike Collin (who had NEVER even had sugar before his first birthday), Liam had actually already tried bits and pieces of cake.

So, I made cake pops to make it more interesting. He didn't eat a ton of them...

But that may have been because he was not feeling well.

Lately his favorite thing is to play with these curtains in our living room. He likes to run in between them, etc.

Collin of course wanted to "help" him open his presents.

He got some fun things like some fun blocks, a little boat, a car, and some noise making toys of course.

He has been walking for 2 months now, so no big milestone there. Trying to get off the nursing thing? That is still a work in progress. We have regressed in a big way since being sick. He LOVES nursing. He will have a hard adjustment I'm afraid...

Happy birthday Liam! We are SO glad you are in our family!

Halloween 2011

2011-12-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yes, I love how I am getting around to finally posting about Halloween in the new year. Our ward has a neighborhood kid party for Halloween with little games and things. Collin was very excited to go. He was a dinosaur hatching out of an egg.
It especially looked cute to see him walking around with his little egg wobbling. Pictures don't do it justice.
Playing games was fun.
Liam was a pea in a pod. But, he didn't really want to stay still....more like crawl around everywhere.
The cupcake walk was a favorite.

As well as the donut eating. Yeah for Halloween!

Preschool zoo trip October 2011

2011-12-13T12:45:00.000-08:00

Collin's little preschool went to the zoo back in October and I got to be a "helper" mom. Granted, Collin has been to the zoo before, but it's been awhile. He got to ride in a fun little wagon.

Looking at the animals

Where do we go next?

Collin was a little scared of this elephant that blew air....but he LOVED to see the elephants eat.

And who knew giraffe's have blue tongues? I promise....they do!

We saw this one stick out his tongue and it was indeed blue! We had so much fun!

Going to see the Witches at Gardner Village

2011-12-11T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sadee and Ava came into town also in October for a visit, and we went to see the witches at Gardner Village. We bought treats to eat while we were there.
Of course, Collin is in his "I don't want my picture taken".
The hula hoop was a favorite of the girls.
Brianne was nice to carry Collin for awhile.
Liam, unfortunately, was sick.... he ended up being diagnosed with a double ear infection later that night.... poor baby...
Playing the piano
More pictures...
That night while at Jeff and Brianne's apartment, they played doctor and nurse. Too funny....since Brianne really is a nurse :)

Discovery Museum

2011-12-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Yes, once again I'm behind. Back in October, my parents came into town and took us to the Discovery Childrens Museum. SO FUN!

Collin LOVED (like this was a surprise to me) the building and construction section. You could build things and stack things, all things boy.

I just made this big stack tumble down!

Liam just liked playing on the cars.

Or eating the food on the farm...

Collin riding the big horse

This picture just makes me laugh so hard. SUCH a perfect display of our two boys' personalities.

Liam destroying the blocks upstairs.

Liam LOVED this little thing on the wall in the little little people section.

Dress up bird

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for taking us to such a fun place!

We will have to go again soon!

Love You More Thomas Nelson review

2011-11-07T20:12:00.000-08:00

I thoroughly enjoyed the book Love You More by Jennifer Grant. I have often wondered about families with adopted children in them. The first third of the book I enjoyed the most, especially when Grant shares her spiritual feelings and experiences about having children. I also especially
appreciated that she “knew” there was another daughter out there in the world, but that it would be from somewhere else in the world, not the United States.
Though this book is a true story, it reads like a novel in many ways. I especially enjoyed Grant’s writing about the challenges in facing adoption, and dealing with people’s questions when her daughter Mia joins their family. One of my favorite lines is when someone asks if Mia is her daughter and Mia says she calls her mom because she’s her mom. It’s interested to read
about the perception of adoption and how the world treats adoptions, especially
international adoption.
Mostly, I appreciated a family’s view of adoption in that they felt inspired to adopt even though they already had had natural-born children. I appreciated Grant’s experiences of traveling to Guatemala and the love she and her husband had for her daughter before she even came home.
Overall, this was a tender story of one family’s experience in the many emotions of adoption.

Liam's first BYU football game, with Collin :)

2011-10-27T13:47:00.000-07:00

The first weekend in October, my dad randomly called to say they had 2 extra tickets and would any of our family like to go to the BYU game. I debated and debated, but finally decided I would be brave and take both Collin and Liam. It was a Friday night game.... so off we went after dressing the part.
I knew Collin would love all the tailgating festivities. To be truthful, he enjoyed that stuff more than the game. I love this pic of Grandma and him walking over.
He got to throw a football for a mini football. "That's my favorite!"
A future quarterback?
We spun the wheel and got a reusable bag.

Liam loved listening to the dance band the most. He was SO intensely focused on that. Collin attempted to throw a basketball.
Collin, I can't believe, sat still long enough to get a Y painted on his face.
Liam giving the staredown.
Collin's face painted.
In the game, let's just say, between nursing Liam, Liam having a canption (yes even in a loud football game) and screaming if anyone else held him for a second besides me, and taking Collin in and out, we had to leave early.

The good news is stopping to nurse Liam on the way home, my dad and I turned on the game, and of what was a pretty sad game while we were there, ended up with the Cougars winning!. GO COUGARS!

Canning projects

2011-10-25T08:04:00.000-07:00

We have made quite a bit of canning this year. I think it has been our biggest year yet. The above is homemade concord grape juice, 100 percent juice. Our dear neighbor told us about a church farm that lets you come and pick grapes for free, so we went and picked our 4 buckets, and came home and made 23 quarts. It tastes YUMMY!
This is also another year of MASSIVE apple production on both our apple trees. I made more than I can post, but we did red apple pie filling, dried apples, diced apples in the freezer....
both smooth and chunky red applesauce...
Our raspberries did AWESOME this year! I have tons in the freezer, and I finally had enough to make my own raspberry jam. YEAH!
This has nothing to do with canning, but conference weekend I made pumpkin cinnamon rolls with maple frosting. YUM!
Our neighbor let us take a cooler of peaches from his peach tree, so I did a batch of fresh peaches.
And thanks to a friend at the gym, I finally got enough tomatoes to do one batch of salsa. Granted, I also made my sister's HEAVENLY fresh salsa recipe.
I truly felt like a pioneer and thanks to Ryan for helping me out so much with it. It's definitely a challenge canning with two little kiddos in tow :)

2011 O'Berry pumpkin weigh-off

2011-10-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had our first O'Berry pumpkin weigh-off with the pumpkins left growing in our garden. Collin's little "eebe" witnessed from afar.

Collin has LOVED watching the pumpkins grow, like his daddy.

Liam, well, he just crawled over to the bark. He thinks bark is ice cream by the way.

Starting the cuttings...

Liam staying still for one second. Actually, while posting this, it makes me want to have summer come back. Please.

The "big mac" pumpkins. They are quite large.

We had a record breaking year!

Don't you love how we color coordinate with the pumpkins :)

Happy carving everyone! I can't wait to make pumpkin puree out of these again!

A month of firsts

2011-10-06T15:59:00.000-07:00

We have a few firsts in September. Liam learned how to crawl forward at the beginning of the month, about 7.5 months. I swear the next DAY he learned how to stand up and hang onto things. He has NO fear, probably due to the helmet :)
Also, put Liam in the bath with Collin for the first time. It makes the bath time SLIGHTLY chaotic, but a little faster.
Liam fell asleep in his high chair.... and I made my own baby food. Pears is what he likes the most of what I have made.

Random Septemberness

2011-10-06T15:47:00.000-07:00

Yes, you get a bunch of posts from September in October. My apparent "priority" of journaling blog posts is falling by the wayside. These are just some random pics from earlier in September. I loved the above picture of Liam, maybe because he was wearing shoes :)
How about those GORGEOUS raspberries? They did AWESOME in our garden this year. Maybe due to super hot September weather, but we could get a bowl like this about every 3-4 days. Heaven.
I know it appears I only take pictures of Liam in his BYU shirt. I don't, just post those ones :)

Playing with the bigger white pumpkin we grew in our garden.

Mailman Collin

2011-09-09T15:03:00.000-07:00

Collin's new favorite game is to play "mailman". He loves to deliver packages.
Usually, his "choice" for packages is these little brainy baby matching cards we have. Most days, I only get one package at a time.
This night, he was being so fun and silly, and I got the entire BOX of packages. Score from Mailman Collin!

Collin's first day of preschool

2011-09-09T14:45:00.000-07:00

Collin had his first day of preschool this week. For me, I honestly don't care if Collin "learns" one thing, other than just has somewhere to play and interact with other kiddos.

Having the "perfect" first day picture was too hard....so here is Collin in all his glory. The little train backpack/suitcase I found at a yard sale. Collin was SO excited all morning long to go.

All the drive over to Miss Emily's house, I heard "I'm going to preschool Liam....I'm going to preschool." We were both so excited, we got there early. Oops :)

The best part of preschool? It is at the home of my dear friend, "Miss" Emily....she and I have been friends since we were two years old, and WE went to preschool together. I know it will be WONDERFUL for Collin.... and he kept his frog on the log the first day, so, so far so good! Yeah for school!

Collin's "real" big bed

2011-09-04T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday one of our projects was to get Collin in his real big bed. Granted, we were all sad to see the car toddler bed go, we have all been excited to get the new bed up.
Collin looks so small in it still. But, we got some Lightning McQueen sheets....they were a hit.
Thus, we had to do some rearranging of furniture....
Here's to hoping it helps Collin sleep better at night.... so far, not so, but I am still very hopeful.

First Cougar Saturday 2011

2011-09-04T14:09:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we all wore our new BYU gear for the first game of the 2011 seasom.... Collin of course wouldn't sit still.
Liam has looked like a linebacker for several weeks now...
The boys together

Go Cougars!

Random Sunday pictures

2011-09-04T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have again vowed to be better at this blog journal thing. I love the picture above of Collin...since it captures a true smile with eyes open.
Here is one of our linebacker Liam...he LOVES to be outside just like his brother. Happy Sunday!

Our Cougar linebacker

2011-09-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

So, yes, finally another post. Here is a recent pic of Liam all ready to be the next Cougar linebacker :) GO COUGARS!

A new post...kind of....finally!

2011-08-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

I admit.... I have been a lame blogger for 4 months. Life got the best of me, our camera died, we couldn't figure out how to get pictures to post, and then....well, you get the picture. Life is still getting the best of me blogging, but I still have goals to try and do something once a week so friends/family can see our family, which basically means our two little boys.

The above picture of Liam was when he was almnost 6 months old in our pumpkin patch. He has to wear a helmet to help the flat spot on his head. More about him in a future post.

Collin turned three a few weeks ago.....and so did his attitude. I say that with some joking, but some not. I'm open to inspiration on how to get 3-year-olds to sleep through the night and listen...at all :) But honestly, he is such a cute fun little boy. He starts preschool in a few weeks, whoa....I feel old.

I know this is a lame post, but just wanted (since I mostly do this blog as my journal now) let you know how things are going at the O'Berry household.

Thomas Nelson Review-Finding Purpose Beyond our Pain

2011-08-01T13:35:00.000-07:00

It took me a little while to get into this book, but overall I very much enjoyed it. The book starts with the premise of pain not being an enemy, but a help in our growth. I appreciated the specific "pains" divided into the chapters of injustice, rejection, loneliness, loss, discipline, failure and death. My favorite part/chapter of the book was a personal training plan, chapter 20. I am a runner (though not very fast) and I appreciated how our faith can become like a training run. I liked the crowd of witnesses idea and carrying only the bare essentials.

The second half of the book I enjoyed more than the first, although the last couple of chapters were a bit too much on the "Jesus saves" blast for me. I do agree that in our lives pain can be a champion for our growth if we allow it to be. I also agree that when we turn our lives over to Christ, then we can overcome any challenge and receive help for our challenges. I especially enjoyed the specific stories and experiences the authors included in the book. These experiences made the "meat" of the book more real for me to believe.

Overall, I thought this was a good book and would recommend it to others.

Liam is 3 months old!

2011-04-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Today Liam turns 3 months old. He celebrated by rolling over when I wasn't looking! This pic was from 2 days ago, all cute and ready for church...and before the blowout!
Yeah Liam, we are so glad you are in our family! Sorry the picture wouldn't right itself!

First bike ride of 2011

2011-04-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to take Collin on a bike ride this spring for ....forever. FINALLY the weather cooperated last Saturday when Ryan was home and could stay with Liam. This kid LOVES to be on the bike....he had to get all his gear on.

He looked so cute.... gotta love him all decked out.

Granted, I really need to get back in gear with the bike rides. Ryan adjusted me seat so it feels much better....but still, the hills (okay, slight inclines) in our neighborhood makes me realize it's been awhile for this preggo mama since she rode a bike.

After, Collin refused to take his helmet off.

A little later that afternoon I found him trying to get his own helmet on while we cook. Collin loves to cook with me. Can't tell you how many times a day I hear that chair scraping the tiles of our kitchen floor :)

My new love

2011-04-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of months, I have discovered a new love. Cooking and baking. Being in the kitchen. Granted, with two little kiddos, I don't get to do as much as I wanted (Why didn't I discover this love back when it was just Ryan and I I ask?) but last week I finally made a decent homemade pizza. I have made homemade pizza before, of course, but this one the crust actually turned out and it looked worthy of a picture.
Plus, I'm SO excited to try out all our garden veggies this summer on different versions of pizza.

Random cousin pics

2011-04-19T13:04:00.001-07:00

These were just some more fun pics from Idaho. Sadee absolutely LOVED Liam..."I love Collin too Alisa, but I have seen him a lot. I need to hold Liam now." She was a great little helper.... and entertainer. LOVES Sadee!

Had to get a picture with the tangled hair. Love that hair.

Avaholding Liam.

Collin wanted a picture then...once again, I always seem to get a picture that fits everyone's personalities to a T.

We are so silly!

Leos

2011-04-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Our last visit to Idaho, Sadee and Ava were DYING (did I mention how many times you can hear the word Leo's in a day?) to take Collin and Liam to Leo's. I had never been either, and granted, the food is okay, but the best part for Collin were these little toys you could ride on. This super nice random grandma gave us some leftover tokens. I knew Collin would be fine just sitting on them....

but once he knew they could move? He was in heaven.

The spaceship one was very cool. Two people could sit in it...if you are squished :)

Of course we had to ride the bulldozer...

But Collin loved the train....what can I say? He LOVES trains.

Sadee liked the motorcycle. She looks so big...

Thanks for letting us come. Liam...he just hung out in the car seat. They also had this massive slide Collin got to go down "by myself" and he thought he was all that.

Random recent pics

2011-03-30T14:22:00.001-07:00

I know....I only post once every several weeks, so then you get a million posts, okay, just several. Church this past Sunday. You can't see them, but Liam is wearing the CUTEST little shoes. I know.... boys aren't really a fashion statement in clothing compared to girls, but I am in love with little baby boy shoes.

Can you see the little lion in the jungle gym?

Collin is my son

2011-03-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went on our first "extended" family outing as a family of four. I know....two months later, we finally ventured out. We went to Leatherby's, a family ice cream place within walking distance and we had a coupon :) I thought for sure Collin would love the HUGE ice creams there, but no, he went straight for the bowl of hot fudge that accompanied our sundaes. Yes, he is my son. Loves chocolate. LOVES it.

He was being so silly when we took pictures. But, again that is Collin.

It was a little chilly so when we got home and after the bath..... I introduced Collin to the "Rice baby". I LOVE this thing...you heat it up in the microwave. The whole night Collin kept saying, it's warm, it's warm. Yes, son, it is.

Our outing got a little crazy in that Liam didn't care too much for the place, and Collin near the end wanted to run around like he normally does, but it was fun!

Mommy and Liam

2011-03-30T14:13:00.000-07:00

One of these pics I like more than the other. Can you guess? This one because I feel like my normal self (no glasses)....too bad I can't see without them and wearing contacts kills my eyes.....

I liked this smirk on Liam...it is coming out more often these days :)

Liam's second home

2011-03-30T14:08:00.000-07:00

So, we had this bouncer with Collin...and used it a lot. It has become Liam's new home.... when I'm fixing dinner, or when we eat....or when he wants to play with his little blue elephant. He talks to it. It's cute.

For some reason, of course, the cutest smile picture in the bouncer has to turn sideways for no apparent reason.

This was the official day we started not wearing pajamas all day.... we had some outing...oh, to the doctor I think. At his 8 week check up, he weighed 10.8 pounds (21st percentile), and was 23 inches long (52nd percentile). YEAH LIAM!

Collin's first Bubble Bath

2011-03-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm a slacker. Collin didn't have his first bubble bath until recently, and yes he is two. Now, every day is a request for "bubble bath!" Ummm.no. Those bubbles get a little crazy.

Sadee and Ava meet Liam, and fun times

2011-03-07T09:43:00.000-08:00

So, Sadee and Ava have been dying to come down and meet Liam....due to a variety of circumstances, they just were able to come this last weekend, later on Saturday night. The four cousins together. You should have seen HOW excited Collin was to play with these girls. Not even kidding....none of them went to bed until almost 11pm, and Collin got to attempt his first sleepover (he woke up around 1230 am, and came into his own bed upstairs). But he was so touched "Sadee made me my own bed mommy". It was too cute.

The first thing they said about Liam was "he has crazy hair!" Granted, I knew that already (I call him my crazy mad scientist because of his crazy hair), but it was funny that someone else noticed. Sadee holding Liam Sunday morning. She looks SO big.

Okay, same picture, but I had to take this to send to my sister with his little hat on, kind of, because this is an outfit my sister gave to Collin WAY back in the day, and now Liam gets to wear it :)

And Liam has REALLY started liking the mobile. This isn't a surprise for me since Collin did too, but Liam totally is getting into it. The pictures don't do it justice, but yeah, he was kicking and smiling....

And kids are just so amazing with imaginative play. This was some awesome tunnel thing they invented to crawl through and jump on. I love when kids get together to play...

Makes and reminds me of good times when I had more of an imagination when I was growing up. Something must happen to that because now I feel so much less creative.

Thanks girlies for coming to visit us! Come again soon!

Just hanging out

2011-03-07T09:40:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, this is where I hang out pretty much anytime anyone wants to eat in my family.... but, at least I was wearing pants today!

Liam's first day at church

2011-02-27T15:30:00.000-08:00

Today was the first day our family of four ventured to church...at 9am. I was feeling quite brave. Everyone did great.... Liam slept most of the time.... and Collin made it all the way through sacrament meeting.

Afterwards, Liam was being so happy and smiley (yes, we have had the first real smiles the last couple of days!) that I just left him in the car seat and tried to catch it in action....alas, no. But think of this as one of those cartoon books in flipping the pages.... since they are all very similar.

Not quite mom

I'm getting ready to smile

Nope, you missed it again.

Maybe I can try one more time.

Sorry...

But he really was being SOOO cute....he is getting so big already!

Collin's first tie

2011-02-27T15:28:00.000-08:00

Today in getting ready for church, Collin wanted to wear a tie like Daddy. Granted, I wasn't thinking we would wear a tie this early in life, but here we are... Collin's first tie. Granted, the smile is SUPER cheesy, but still :)

Bounce house...part 2

2011-02-27T15:25:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Collin's cousin had a year old party, and there was a bounce house. Granted, Collin had a bounce house part 1 experience when he was much smaller, so that was mostly just sitting house. It took him awhile to get "warmed up" to the idea, but once he did...

he was loving it, even though he was still one of the smallest kiddos there.

Of course, I tried to get a cute picture, but he couldn't sit still long enough for that :)

Liam's nightgown :)

2011-02-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

Collin had these little "baby nightgowns" that he never got to year, but I finally got one on Liam the other night. He looks like he is not enjoying them too much, but his mommy sure enjoyed them changing his diaper in the middle of the night.

And since he has started to lose his hair, I just call him the weird crazy scientist :)

Tummy time with Collin

2011-02-27T15:18:00.000-08:00

So, not that these are all pics of tummy time....but here are some cute pics of Liam with Ryan. Liam sleeping.

Collin LOVES to do tummy time with Liam. We call it Liam's exercises.... Collin gets in his face, but it's still fun.

He has even done the airplane a few times. YEAH!

Few days old Liam

2011-02-02T14:14:00.001-08:00

So, I do have some more recent pics of Liam, but haven't gotten around to downloading them yet.

The pic below I was trying to duplicate a picture we had of Collin.. it looks a bit different since Liam is wearing different clothes, but the face is the same. He looks a bit zoned out and jaundicy in these pictures, but granted, they were like when he was 3 days old or something. He looks more non-jaundicy now....and he is 2 weeks old.

The good news for today is that we have stayed in the same outfit since this morning. I may be speaking too soon, but YEAH!

Baby brother is here!

2011-01-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Well, little Liam Joseph O'Berry is here! YEAH! He actually came 4 days before my due date (totally thinking I was going late like Collin), and boy did he show us who was boss. I didn't feel my first contraction until about 5pm, and he was born at 644 pm. Needless to say, in that short amount of time, we almost didn't make it to the hospital, a different doctor had to deliver him, and no epidural. But, we are so glad he is here! Collin has been SO excited to meet "baby brother". Here is their first, and definitely not last, picture together.

Collin is always saying "he has a lot of hair on there" and "he has a nose like me" to Liam. It is so cute.

It felt so surreal to have such a fast, intense experience. We didn't even get our camera out until after he has here for 2 hours. This picture is from the day after.

This picture I feel like he looks like Collin....but he looks somewhat different to me as well.

Sleeping...so far he sleeps....a lot, except at night, but what can you expect from someone that made a grand entrance in about an hour or less time of pain? :)

We are so glad you are here Liam! You are so cute and fun to be around already!

Football fan

2011-01-05T14:39:00.001-08:00

Grandma got these cute football slippers for Collin. I just liked the picture.

Christmas Day 2010

2011-01-05T14:27:00.000-08:00

These pictures are a little bit out of order in sequence of events, and granted, I didn't take near enough, but still wanted to do a post about Christmas. Sadee and her "tangled" hair in all its glory. Seriously, that hair is craziness waiting to happen. It made me happy I just have boys.

Ava was more my style. She got a remote control Strawberry Shortcake car. Collin got a little remote car too, so they had a HEY DAY zooming those cars around.

Stockings were/are always a big deal with me.

And every year, including this one, my dad/grandpa, always says Santa didn't come.... and then goes to get the stockings.

The funniest thing in the girls' stockings.

Collin hanging out with grandpa on the bed. We always have to open the stockings by a big bed.

Collin was most excited about this "treats". That's all he wanted Santa to bring him..."treats". Peanut butter M&Ms are his favorite.

Santa also brought him a race car track, which was very fun. And a couple of big trucks, also fun.

He got some other fun toys. Every time he went to open a gift, it was too funny. We would hear him yelling "ITS....ITS....ITS" and then silence once it was opened.

The thing that was the most fun, even though the wheels have issues, was this gift from my sister.... from a long afar ago time. It doesn't go super well, but Collin loves to sit on this little motorcycle. We had such a fun Christmas this year!

Christmas Eve 2010

2011-01-05T14:21:00.000-08:00

We went up to Idaho for Christmas this year for a few days. It was so fun to be around Sadee and Ava, and they sure loved Collin. Fun picture before our Christmas Eve dinner.

Tradition continues. When we go take a drive to look at the lights, an elf brings a present. Collin got some "carry along" books, tractor, emergency, and train. He LOVED them of course.

He would not put the books down to see anyone else open the elf present.

Sadee and Ava got the new tangled barbie doll. They are ALL about Tangled this year.

This is what a girl would look like in our household. I guess if you play with girls who love to dress up, they dress up boys. Even though I was like, come on guys, Collin made a cute girl :)

The "big" TV

2011-01-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Ryan's dad made this the best Christmas ever. For many many moons, Ryan has wanted a big TV... we have made do with other tvs, but his dad got him a big TV. I don't know all the "cool" features about it, but... Collin and I had a fun time wrapping it up and planning a scavenger hunt so he could find it.

That night, Ryan was so excited. It was fun to see him so excited. And I do enjoy the TV myself as well.

Elves at Gardner Village

2011-01-05T14:14:00.000-08:00

Yes, so I'm so behind. Even though it's a new year, these are from December 2010. We went and saw the elves at Gardner Village one day. It was fun. We love to walk around there.

Obviously, our camera still has issues staying non-blurry, but oh well. Collin and I's name wasn't on the naughty list...

but Ryan's was, right next to naughty. Collin now often says "I'm on the naughty list". It's too funny.

Trax and temple square

2010-12-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

This last Saturday, we took Collin on the train (trax) to see Temple Square. I knew the train would be a bit hit, since he is kind of becoming obsessed with trains. Yep, he sure was. He was talking about it all day Saturday, and then when we got on the train... yes, he loved it. He loved to go over the bumps, the beeping noises, and to see the train floor move when it made turns.

He wasn't quite as big of a fan of the lights as I thought he would be, but it was still very fun. I've decided we will have to ride the train again in the daytime.... without quite as many people. It was pretty crowded, but it was a fun time.

OUr first "thomas" pajamas

2010-12-13T18:03:00.001-08:00

I know it's not the best focus, but a friend is lending us the Thomas the Train pajamas. They are a HUGE hit!

Decorating for Christmas 2010

2010-12-13T17:54:00.000-08:00

We put up our Christmas decor the day after Thanksgiving. Collin LOVED decorating and all things Christmas this year, which made it even more fun.

My favorite new thing is the Fisher Price nativity scene his grandma got him. Baby Jesus has been lost, found and lost twice, and is now I think permanently lost. Luckily, Mary and Joseph have picke up the slack.

Collin loves to take them everywhere, they watch him eat, they watch him sleep, they do lots of things, and they talk. It's so fun to talk to him about Baby Jesus. Right after we say Baby Jesus, he usually says "baby brother in mommy's tummy" so it also helps us talk about the baby brother coming in about a month...

Yeah for Christmas!

First snow of 2010

2010-12-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, we had the first massive snowstorm in Utah. It's hard to tell from this picture, but half of one of our big trees came down in the night.... you should see all the branches.

It snowed....and snowed....and snowed.

Finally, I got out Collin's massive snowsuit so he could help daddy shovel. Poor daddy, he had to shovel at least 4 times that day.

Collin loves the snow. Ironically, now, all our snow is basically gone.

Volleyball shoes

2010-11-16T15:33:00.001-08:00

I'm not sure why some pictures stand to the side. Collin loves to wear my "workoutshoes" around the house. He calls them "volleyball shoes" because I always wear them to YW volleyball. I have to keep telling him volleyball is over, now we have basketball coming up!

Trip to Idaho and playing in the snow

2010-11-16T15:28:00.000-08:00

So, despite our camera having issues, I'm still trying to take pictures. Apparently on our recent trip to Idaho last weekend, I only took pictures of the "playing in the snow" event. Collin totally looked like he belonged in the movie A Christmas Story. He just waddled around.

Everyone ready to go play!

I knew Collin would like playing outside, but oh my goodness, he didn't care if his boots and socks were on, gloves were taken off several times, and he did NOT want to come in.

Thanks for fun times in Idaho with snow!

We also had coloring contests. Collin HAD to sit up by Sadee and Ava. And when he got ahold of the markers....oh dear.

Random pics of Collin

2010-11-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

Hey, so recently I found some random pair of pants for church for Collin in the closet that actually stay on him! Our camera has been having "clear taking picture" issues lately, but here are some cute ones recently. Before church, anytime Collin smiles now, this is what you get. Cheeser.

Or not staying still.

A couple of weeks ago I attempted potty training for 1.5 days. Collin was VERY into it for about half a day, and the other part, could care less. Other than showing me everywhere in the house he had peed besides the toilet. We'll try again soon, but had to get a pic in his little underwear.

It was cold one day awhile ago, so I bundled up Collin in the "full out play" outside gear with boots and everything. He looked huge in all that clothing :)

New church clothes for this winter.

And longer hair style...but only until I can get it cut! It is getting crazy!

We also had to break out warm pjs. These are Collin's favorites because there are "moose" on the feet.

Halloween party 2010

2010-11-16T15:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I'm a little behind in posting. These are some fun family pictures taken at the Barnhisel Halloween party. I'm so glad they have a party, so we can come! Collin was a pumpkin, Ryan was the pumpkin farmer, and I was the standard witch.... but not as cool as some other witches that came. Collin wasn't sure if he should be scared of Darth Vadar, or attack him.

But, he became a fan of the light sabre.

The pumpkin farmer and Yoda together.

Collin's little cousin Kyle was Yoda, oh my goodness he was so cute. He is about 4 months older than Collin.

I think Collin's favorite part was the donut game. Now, Collin is familiar with donuts, because his mommy is a spoilover and often has to buy him one to survive a trip to the grocery store with him. This game you weren't supposed to touch the donut to eat it.

Yeah right. Collin just ran over there and POUNDED that thing.

He tried to actually eat another one too. Thanks for fun Halloween parties!

Pumpkin patch

2010-10-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that pumpkins are a big deal in our family. Well, just down the street from us is this little pumpkin patch I have been wanting to take Collin to, so after work we went as a family. Collin was in heaven wandring around the pumpkins and the "scary" things. He is OBSESSED with skeletons (their eyes especially) and witches and all things Halloween. It's pretty fun. We have a couple of houses on our street we visit every day to see all the tons of stuff they have up.

Collin liked this little sign.

He tried to lift several pumpkins..."heavy".

They also had a huge teepee you could go inside and see scarecrows. Collin kept running in and out of the teepee, he was a big fan.

He had so much fun we will definitely have to go back.

This spider was SCARY for Collin. He LOVED it. You know, him and all things scary, "big pider".

I fix it

2010-10-14T11:04:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my parents were in town for the BYU game. My dad helped Ryan put in a new faucet (again), but this time Collin was ALL about helping. Who knows? Maybe he will be a plumber.

He just kept handing tools to Ryan and saying "I helping".

For a couple of days, Collin was all about wearing this "witch's hat". Don't ask me how he knows about witch's hats. Now the gummies that were inside, oh yes, he knows about those.

Collin LOVES the red spider at our house. It is "scary!"

October trip to Idaho

2010-10-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

Our October trip to Idaho was fun. Collin was SO SO SO excited to play with Sadee and Ava and to go to 'packu's house" (grandpa's house). Seriously, the Friday we left, he could not stop saying packu's house, packu's house. While there, we got to give Ava her birthday present. She turned 5! WOW!

Just a cute picture of Ava and Collin.

While there, the girls were begging to take Collin and I to this "huge" park that had like 7 parks...finally during the conference priesthood session we got over there. Sadee posing.

Quite the model isn't she?

Collin, on the other hand, just loved to run around. He is all boy.

They had a little green slide that he loved because he could climb and go down all on his own, plus it was green.

"Mommy! Green slide!"
Of course a cheeser grin.

Then everyone had to roll down the hill. Before I knew it Collin had rushed up the stairs to roll down. Where he learned this? I don't know. It must be ingrained....

He seriously was laughing so hard while rolling down. It was too funny.

Fun pics of Collin

2010-10-14T10:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, I never do posts on this blog as much as I want to. These were pictures we took of Collin about a month ago. He looked so big and grownup.

Especially with his long locks combed!

The pumpkins are arriving

2010-09-16T14:18:00.000-07:00

Every year since we have lived in our house, we have planted a pumpkin patch. Ryan is very good about growing them and watching over them, and now so does Collin. He LOVES to go out with the "pumpkin stick" and count the pumpkins (he can count to three now) and study them, and tell us which ones are orange. Though are pumpkins are smaller this year, we picked the first one and named him Gorbert and put him in Collin's room. He LOVES it!

I also am going to try and cook something with one of the pumpkins later this fall....

Baking

2010-09-16T14:16:00.001-07:00

These brownies I got off the utah deal diva blog....can I just say I thought they were going to be of the devil, and they were? Random post, I know.

Canning, reading, pottying :)

2010-09-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

So, apparently, I have totally decided to stop blogging for awhile....no, it's just with my free hour during nap time, I choose to do other things, but am finally doing a post.... This is Collin trying to look Harry Potter like. Yes, our family is Harry fans.... so good thing Collin was deciding to be one too.

At the park a month or so ago wearing matching shirts.

Hey, who knew I could can green beans from our garden? Hopefully these babies will taste good sometime in the bleak mid-winter.And yes, canned salsa wtih stuff from our garden as well. This salsa is so YUMMY and the woman in our ward who helped me can WHIP out 7 quarts in under 2 hours. She is superwoman.

And Collin now reads a zillion books a day....or wants to be read a zillion books a day. I don't mind. Every week I get the max from the library (30) and you would think this would take 3 weeks to read through? Nope, I have to hold him off to make the list go longer than a couple of days.

Usually he will say "mommy, read" but sometimes he will read on his own and it is really, really cute to me. Yeah for books!

Another thing Collin has discovered with new vigor....

the potty. And yes, for some reason the picture wouldn't turn, and no we aren't quite ready (well, I'm not) for potty training, and yes his legs still don't have any rolls, but yes, he loves the potty.

And I haven't scanned the pictures, but for those who haven't heard, Collin is going to have a baby brother in January! YEAH!

Motorcycles

2010-08-17T08:55:00.000-07:00

It's no secret that Collin is all-boy. Really. He LOVES motorcycles.... so anytime we see a motorcycle driving by us in the car or on the street, "motorcycle!" At a recent ward party, a nice nice ward member let Collin try out the motorcycle. I LOVE this first face. It's like he's trying to be a mean motorcycle-driving maching man....

Once he saw the motorcycle, it's like forget anything else. He kept on going back and back...

I'm not quite sure I'm ready for him to be driving one yet though!

Gardening this summer

2010-08-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

It's been fun (always actually) to see the garden grow this summer. This summer we planted eggplants for the first time, and though they struggled for a bit, they are going gangbusters. We have already picked probably 8 or so and still tons on there. Collin loves to carry in the food to mommy.

Our favorite way to make eggplant is eggplant "cake" for Collin or eggplant parmesan for the rest of us. Collin loves it and so do we!

This is the first year my green peppers are outgoing my tomatoes.... but I finally found enough red tomatoes to make this....the YUMMIEST fresh salsa in the entire world, courtesy of my sister's recipe. That's half the reason I want to do a garden each summer...this stuff. It is HEAVEN!

Yeah for gardens!

Collin turns two!

2010-08-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, Collin turned two. Since he is SUCH a fan of tractors lately, I made him a tractor cake. I was actually quite pleased with how it turned out, considering the random directions (very little) and picture I tried to replicate. True success was when Collin yelled TRACTOR CAKE about a zillion times that day :)

For his birthday, he got this little car I found at a yard sale. He is a fan.

We met some of my family in Brigham City at the community pool there. Oh my heavens Collin had such a blast on this little slide. ..

So much so I made him put on a life jacket because I started getting nervous.

He went down this slide NUMEROUS times and since he could go up the stairs himself, he was "all that" and a bag of chips.

Sadee went down the big waterslide. I did too, hollering the whole way. I guess it has been awhile since I have been down a waterslide.

Ava liked to go with her daddy.

After swimming, we treated everyone to pizza and breadsticks at Pizza Hut.

Collin even ate some pizza, YEAH!

After pizza, we went to the park to eat cake and open presents. Sadee and Ava of course loved this part.

We sang.

Sadly, the cake eating wasn't QUITE as intense last year (I'm not sure if you remember, but he POUNDED that piece of cake on his one year birthday), so I guess he is too used to eating sweets, shame on his mama....but he loves black licorice.

Finally, go to it Collin!

Now Collin fully knows what "presents" are. He got quite a few, but his favorites were the cars and dinosaurs from Sadee and Ava and the "fire truck" given to him by grandma.

Wow, what is in here?

Thanks to everyone for helping Collin celebrate entering the world of terrible twos! The GREAT news is that at his 2 year check up this week, he was finally on the chart for weight, the 1th percentile, but still :) YEAH! First time ever Collin! We love you!

Partying in Idaho again

2010-08-04T13:11:00.000-07:00

Collin and I recently spent some more time in Idaho....and what did we do? Party, of course minus one day my mom and I were both sick with who-knows-what but we could not move. No partying that day. One morning we went to the "silver slides" park. I love how little kids call parks by names of things in the park. It's the best. I thought this picture was so cute of Sadee and Collin. Not because they are matching, just cute...

The huge long slide was a little too long for Collin to go by himself, so I made the girls take him.

Several of the days we went into the turtle pool....man how this brings back memories when I was little. My grandma had a little green turtle slide pool, we played for HOURS in that thing. I think these kiddos could have too, especially Collin.

Ava spraying the hose in her face, Collin would not stop laughing, thus more spraying.

Collin LOVED this little slide. In fact, as some may know, he doesn't even need a swimming suit on to love pools. Anywhere there is a pool, something with water in it, he crashes right in. This kid LOVES the water.

One afternoon we went to feed the ducks at the river. Collin could throw that so far. And he LOVED the ducks.

He kept trying to say quack....too funny.

Two cute girls.

One day for dinner, we brought in the little table. Collin REFUSED to eat anywhere but down at the table. He wanted to be exactly like his cousins.

Playing outside was a must. I know Collin could live outside, but when you have cousins to play with, then you really can.

Ahh...the discovery and magic of sidewalk chalk. He came in each time totally filthy and happy.

Sadee was a true artist.

This little puzzle my mom has saved for 33 years.... please find the little pig grandma! Collin is so sorry he hauled it off somewhere. He could put this puzzle all together 'HIMSELF'....yes, he is all about I DO IT! these days.

Hanging out in the garage.... I think they were supposed to be on a bus or something. These girls sure love Collin. Thanks for letting us come and party!

5 years

2010-08-04T12:53:00.000-07:00

Last month, Ryan and I celebrated our five year anniversary, which is a feat in and of itself. But, when my mom told me she would come down and babysit Collin for a night, we took her up on it! One of our MOST MOST favorite places to go is the Melting Pot. Granted, we have been there before, but this was the first time "after Collin" and the relaxation and quiet, was seriously, perfect.

Ryan and I kept saying (as much as we truly love love Collin) how nice not to have a toddler next to you throwing food, saying Mommy! Daddy! It was truly a nice dinner.

And you CANNOT beat the flaming turtle for dessert!

We got a room in the Armstrong Mansion Bed and Breakfast in downtown Salt Lake. Not far, but so quiet and relaxing. We heard no one at all the entire time we were there....until the next morning for breakfast. We stayed in the May room.

And it was especially nice there because the week before this Collin had decided to become a vampire, staying up all night or not going to bed until midnight.

Our room was simple but elegant. Perfect for us. Just what we needed.

This place is so beautiful from the outside.

Our room was to the far left with the three little windows.

That next morning we woke up to a buffet breakfast, which was HEAVEN. They also had brochures about the Armstrongs. Man, they were cool people.

Then we went to the Bountiful Temple and did a session. Thanks for five wonderful years sweetie! Here's to many, many more!

The car bed

2010-07-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

For the last month or so, I have been wanting to get Collin out of his crib.... yet, after last week's terrible "vampire" nights, I finally decided I think he hates his crib. Thus, the new car bed. This bed was given to us by some very nice WONDERFUL friends that their son grew out of, so all day I kept telling Collin, when daddy gets home, we get to set up your big boy car bed. He seemed excited.

Last night was our first go sleeping in the car bed. It didn't go quite as well as I had hoped.... but hopefully little by little, he will sleep in it.

But, he sure was excited when I said this is your own bed. Collin, you are getting so big! Here's to hoping you sleep better tonight!

Happy belated Independence Day!

2010-07-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Summertime---FINALLY!

2010-06-29T09:08:00.000-07:00

I have always been an early riser, and I guess Collin takes after me. Summertime FINALLY has arrived, and you think he would sleep in? Oh no, last week he was out with grandma by 710am, dressed, and doing the lawnmower. Silly Collin.

But, man he loved it.

Here is him when I said smile Collin. I LOVE this picture. He is SO happy to be out with his lawnmower at 7am.

Collin's hair cut

2010-06-29T09:06:00.000-07:00

Our GREAT neighbor and friend down the street cut Collin's hair last week. He looks SO grown up now...and now his hair isn't crazy-mad-scientist. YEAH!

Flowering clematis

2010-06-29T09:04:00.001-07:00

I love our clematis this year. Finally after 3 years, it is really taking beauty on by storm!

One word-lawnmower

2010-06-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Collin has loved lawnmowers for quite awhile. Recently, his grandma got him a bubble lawnmower. Oh my, little did she know. We do it in the garage.

Even outside when the grass is wet.

Even as I write this, he is shouting, LAWNMOWER right next to me. Guess we know what we are doing today.

Collin's first trip to Temple Square

2010-06-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

I know...for being only 15 minutes away, how sad that we haven't taken Collin to Temple Square yet. My mom was in town last week so after work, we took a picnic and walked around. We really liked the Salt Lake temple model they have, but Collin only lasted there for 2 minutes. Overall, he enjoyed it, but mostly wanted to run around :)

This was us chasing after Collin...

Just a cute picture.

Collin's first trip to the zoo

2010-06-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

The one nice day we were in Idaho, we went to the Idaho Falls Zoo...right during Collin's nap time, but he LOVED it. Once he got out of the stroller though, not so much success in getting him back in...He loved the petting zoo. No fear of the goats, like any animal. Just walked up and said "hi".

Sadee tried to be as brave as him, but not quite. She did get quite scared when Collin "ate" a piece of the goat food....but we got it out okay. PHEW!

They had a little play area, we took pictures.

Ava loved this little egg.

Collin was tired of pictures by this time. HIs favorite animal? The flamingos...probably because they were SO loud :)

But, we did have so much fun at the zoo.

I thought the tigers were the coolest.

Thanks for letting us come to the zoo!

Time in Idaho

2010-06-29T08:31:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Collin and I spent a week in Idaho. The weather was yucky most of the time, but we got to go see swimming lessongs. My, how memories return. I learned all about ham sandwich, soldier, fishie, fishie, etc.

Sadee also (afterwards one day I stayed and got in the pool with them) taught me all she knows about swimming, which apparently is now everything.

She tried to show me how to backfloat...it was too funny.

Considering at one time, these girls were so scared to get in the water, they have come a long way.

We also went to a couple of Sadee's t-ball games.

Ava and I hanging out on the stairs before a game.

Being silly with sunglasses.

Love that Sadee lost another tooth while I was there. This picture it's like THERE IS THE HOLE!

Watching t=ball is so funny. Half the time no one knows what they are doing, but then once in awhile, a great move happens. Sadee running for home.

Batting, but not watching the ball :) gotta love those. It was great fun!

Morning before church.0

2010-06-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have totally slacked on the blog since summer began. I guess we are too busy out partying. Here is Collin a few weeks ago before church...and needing a haircut!

Utah Museum of Natural History

2010-06-08T07:49:00.000-07:00

Last night for family night, we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History. I just found out the first Monday of each night is free and they are open until 8pm...so I figured, even if we only made it 20 minutes, it's free. It is a very old museum and not very big. This was a little teepee in the anthropology unit.

In the fossil section. By the way, this is how Collin smiles when you tell him smile, squinty eyes and everything. He liked the fossils.

But, you should have seen the number of WHOAS we heard from Collin when we saw this big guy. Collin REALLY liked all the dinosaur things...but I figured he would. He's a boy.

We also tried out this little cabin. Collin of course didn't want to stay in it when I wanted a picture.

I would have to say though, Collin's favorite section was the "bugs alive" section, or something like that. All these stuffed animals from the wild....and anything and everything that looked like a kitty (fox, badger, coyote, mountain lion), it was too funny. Kitty was EVERYWHERE.

Overall we had a great time, and lasted almost an hour.... I'm not sure in my opinion, at least for someone Collin's age, it's worth the price of admission but in 2010, every first Monday of the month is free, and it was a very fun family outing.

Good deals and Colln's corn picture

2010-05-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Over the last week, here are the good deals I have gotten. Rite Aid last week, I got all of this for 3.69, but only paid 2.69 since I had a 1.00 rebate check!

Collin POUNDING the corn on the cob from the co-op. Seriously, I ended up giving him my piece. Now I'm REALLY hoping our garden corn on the cob works out.

Food from the co-op for May 15

Okay, so I lost my sheet of paper where I wrote everything down, but let's just say the highlight was corn on the cob and peaches. WAHOO!

Walgreens this morning, I basically made 6.10 to get all of this. I paid OOP 2.49 but also rolled 9 dollars in rewards, and now have 9 more dollars to spend. And my husband will smell "manly" with his jello.

Smiths coupon event. I paid 37.00 for all of this, but realized after I got home the Dawn rang up at 2.99 not 1.49, so I'm going to take those back and get my 10.00 back, so really only 27.00.... WAHOO! I was able to stock up on some pantry items and I also got some 99 cent ice cream. Gotta love ice cream!

Time in Idaho

2010-05-17T09:01:00.000-07:00

Last week, Collin and I went up with my brother and sister-in-law to spend some time with Sadee and Ava. One morning, I went and ate school lunch with Sadee. How times have NOT changed with elementary school.... so and so and to sit by so and so..... everyone compared lunches, Sadee was showing off to everyone.... I forgot to take a picture of Sadee and I, but I got one of her and her "bestest bestest friend" Jasmine. We also got to go swimming at the Collette's again. They had these little car floaties. Collin LOVED it. He LOVES the pool, loves loves LOVES it. He goes and gets his swimming suit and will not stop saying Pool until we go.

We also got to play in the hot tub. Collin wanted to walk around the edge. He actually wanted to just walk off into the deep end... he is a tricky one...

This place really is awesome. They are such a nice family to let us come and hang out.

Jeff with Sadee and Ava in the hot tub.

Ava trying to get brave to go down the slide.

This was one afternoon when Collin was laughing HILARIOUSLY at something the girls were doing. I wish I had recorded it....

Just hanging out.

I LOVE these windows that look out on the waterfall mom. Seriously, Collin LOVED to have these open so he could see the "water".

Sadee and Collin

Finally, Grandpa took Collin out to play in the dirt, sticks, waterfall....what more could a boy ask for?

Thanks for letting us come and play!

Maybe next time we won't have to wear jackets :)

Deals for the week of May 3

2010-05-06T06:18:00.000-07:00

So.... here are my deals for the current week. I don't go to Winco very often, except when they send the coupons in the mail. Collin and I made a trek over this week and got all of the above for 28.00! WAHOO! I grew up in Idaho, and for awhile my parents lived literally down the street from a Winco. They have this AMAZING grainy bread (purple packaging) for only 98 cents. Yes, 98 cents. I bought three of them and now they are all in my freezer. YUM!

So, Walgreens I stopped by this week as well. I got all of the above for 53 cents, plus I still have a 2 RR to use...granted, I did use a 3.00 reward up, but still!

Rite Aid trip this week. LOVE Rite Aid. I just recently discovered my new wellness card basically takes 20 percent off everything you buy. I thought it was just Rite Aid brand stuff, but no, everything. The exciting thing is that the posterboard (which I needed to buy anyways for Primary) was on clearance for 24 cents and the seeds....were 50 percent off, plus my 20 percent off, so I got those for wicked cheap. I got all of the above and with the rebates, will be making 1.50!

Again, Rite Aid.... this one I basically got some stuff for my mom and it ended up being basically free after the mail in rebates.

This is a new dish I made off of UtahDealDiva blog. It looks somewhat weird, but it was YUMMY! And it had lots of veggies like fresh spinach, broccoli, broccoli, carrots, but YUM!

I went to Smiths and stocked up on yet more cereal for our family. 15 boxes of cereal for 13.60, less than 1.00 a box....and they have good deals on cereal (different kinds) again this week. I may have to go back...

And last of all, this week's co-op venture. It was FREEZING outside for the pickup, but yummy foods. Here is all I got for 15.00

Fruits:

9 bananas

7 kiwi

1 canteloupe

1 honeydew, I think

3 packs of blackberries

9 apples

Veggies:

1 romaine lettuce head

1 bunch of spinach YEAH!

2 artichokes

2 cucumbers

1 pack of radishes

Spring at the O'Berrys

2010-05-05T17:32:00.000-07:00

So, one thing I do love about spring (when it decides to show up in Utah the right way) is our front yard. It gets SO beautiful. My dad really knew what he was doing in helping us get the right shrubs, bushes, and flowering plant. I also bought some tulips a few years ago, and now they have really multiplied... We planted that little tree new this year. It is so cute! It will be the perfect tree to light up at Christmastime....

Love this bush. It stays yellow for over a month.

And I love all of our flowers. Gotta love spring!

Last week's good deals

2010-05-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

I have really been slacking on blog posts. Oh well. I am still trying to use this to help me keep track of spending, so here are my deals from last week.... All of this at Rite Aid for 7.43 total, pretty good considering originally it would have been above above 40.00.

My sister-in-law told me about this deal where the pop-tarts were on sale at Fresh Market with an instore coupon and a MC coupon, so I got these for basically 1.50, plus they are the pop-tarts that can add up to a free movie pass. WAHOO! Yeah for free summer movies.

Again, Rite Aid. All of this for 9.20, and I was able to help my mom stock up on air fresheners for her rooms at school....a SMELLY place in the springtime. I was just excited about the kitchen trash bags. I needed some, and they were on B1G1. So, originally this would have cost close to 40.00.

But the best deal last week, free shake at Iceberg. For those who don't know, you can get a free shake on your birthday. You have to show proof, but the shake was HUGE! Granted, I thought it would just be a small sample shake. NO WAY! I put this in the freezer, and I had free ice cream for a few days. WAHOO!

Springtime

2010-04-19T11:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm not sure WHAT is with not putting the pictures the right way. But hey, I think spring may finally be coming around the corner. This last week, Collin and I have spent a LOT of time outside. This last weekend, we got to try out sandals. And luckily, Collin's hat from last year, still fits his big head :) Daddy and Collin putting food in the bird feeder.

Collin REALLY likes helping do this and loves looking for birds.

Going on a walk... we go about a million times a day. He still is okay going in the stroller sometimes, but mostly he just wants to walk now. We go down to "the circle" about every day. The circle is just the end of our street cul-de-sac, and visit with our friends the McAllisters.... we love them.

Yeah for FINALLY being able to wear t-shirts. It is LONG overdue!

Last couple weeks couponing

2010-04-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have slacked in posting my deals for my own benefit. This was last week's Rite Aid trip. The below picture cost me 2.25, and included diapers and fabric softener. YEAH! Smiths this week had a good deal on oatmeal, which my mom can use lots of, and Collin sometimes likes. We got 15 boxes for basically 7.00, about 40 cents a box. The coupons I don't think are valid anymore, but it was great. The peanut butter my sister-in-law bought coupons on ebay, so I got 12 jars for about 80 cents a jar, plus a free movie ticket! YEAH!

My food from the co-op this last week I will list below.

Fruits:

1 canteloupe/melon

1 pack grape tomatoes

1 blackberries

9 bananas

1 pineapple

11 apples

Veggies:

1 broccoli

2 of 1lb carrots

1 pack mushrooms

1 Romaine lettuce

1 Swiss chard

15 large red potatoes
Now granted, the potatoes weren't WAHOO for me (hello, I'm from Idaho and can get free potatoes from my brother-in-law), but again, overall, great deals on produce. If anyone is interested in the details of where it is, my sister-in-law Shanna (shannasteals.blogspot.com) just did a post about how to order it.

And this morning at Rite Aid, I got the 2 packs of diapers and tampons with coupons and after rebates, a grand total of 3.00 and that includes 1.13 of tax.... so basically 1.00 for a pack of diapers. WAHOO!

Again, I love Rite Aid :) They also have a new wellness card you can have, that basically accrues points. I just accrued my first points this morning.

Sunday morning

2010-04-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

Recently, Sunday morning found Collin in his new church shirt, yes, much too big, but it matches his eyes EXACTLY and we all know his eyes are killer, so we hung out in his room. He likes to stand up and jiggle the crib lately.

He also likes to see the viewfinder in the camera....

Of course, for some reason, the cutest picture would NOT change layouts.... but here is Collin in his little spike.

Fun times

2010-04-09T10:53:00.000-07:00

Still catching up from the week. Here is Collin ready to go swimming. All the time when we were in Idaho, he would go find his swimming suit and say "pool". He does the same thing now, minus the swimsuit, only because it is in a drawer he can't reach rather than a suitcase on the floor.

Playing at Sadee and Ava's house. Collin LOVED to be pushed around in the little mini van.

And boy did he think he was cool sitting up at the bar with Sadee and Ava.

Co-op from April 3rd

2010-04-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

Here is what I got last week from the co-op. Again, all for $15.00.

Fruits:
1 package of strawberries
7 bananas
1 package blackberries
8 oranges
7 apples
1 pineapple

Veggies:
5 Roma tomatoes
1 onion
6 yams
4 yellow squash
1 broccoli (and it was BIG)
1 Romaine lettuce head
9 corn on the cob

WAHOO for the co-op! We have been enjoying the food all week!

Easter egg hunt

2010-04-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

In Idaho Falls, it was FREEZING outside, so they moved the Easter egg hunt Saturday morning inside. We barely found out about it in time, so here is Collin and I inside the fire station. We just watched the bigger kids hunt, I wasn't about to have Collin running around in the little kid area just eating chocolate. HA HA.

Ava waiting to get candy

The onslaught begins. Sadee just stayed in one little spot and got a LOOT!

I mean, this was easier than Halloween. Stay in one spot, 10 minutes later, a HUGE truckload of candy. Man, I wish I was 6 again...

And this was GOOD stuff. Skittles and Snickers. My favorite.

Sadee was pumped.

Ava was also excited in her sweet way.

Collin just wanted to get on the fire truck....so we did after the hunt was over.

Collin liked the fire truck best. He kept saying "truck!" with real enthusiasm.

We also got to meet Sparky, the fire dog. And Sadee and Ava shared their chocolate.

Easter eggs and basket

2010-04-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

So, the Easter basket brought an early gift to Sadee and Ava. This basket (really, we don't know who this Easter bunny is) was OUT OF CONTROL. The picture doesn't do it justice. Opening the basket was like 2 girls' dream...

Dying eggs we did at least twice. Collin was more content to sit in the back. Sadee and Ava really got into it.

Several of the eggs "had injuries" like back surgery, brain surgery, one eye, etc.

But, I said those eggs we can still dye. It was hilarious all the things they were making up to solve the egg crack problems.

Collin eating yogurt. Not really caring about eggs.

Sadee with her favorite egg.

"Brain surgery" egg with Ava.

Yeah for dyed eggs!

Dancing and Easter cupcakes

2010-04-08T10:33:00.000-07:00

So, while in Idaho Judge Shwana made an appearance at dancing. And so did Collin. He really had some good moves, it was funny. Then one afternoon, in my creative spell, I made cupcakes (which really looked more like muffins) for the first time I can remember. Ava helped me start them since Sadee was taking a nap, but then they wanted to frost them pink.

Trying to control 2 girls who REALLY like treats, was too funny. Some of the cupcakes had frosting. Some had sprinkles. All tasted YUMMY!

Ava eating a cupcake. We gave one to Collin, but he, ironically, hardly ate anything.

I just love these two girls!

A big house to explore

2010-04-08T10:26:00.000-07:00

Last week, Collin and I went to Idaho to help babysit Sadee and Ava. My parents have a nice wonderful big house that Collin was LOVING exploring. For a little while he stayed in the main room...

But not for long. He LOVED the bedroom of grandma and grandpa. And emptying our suitcase about 10 times an hour.

There is a hallway he LOVES to run down. Can you get the picture that Collin loves having a spacious house to explore?

He also found a grocery cart. I found this too funny because he comes with me to the grocery store. He was even trying to load up food.

Thanks for letting us play in your house Grandma and Grandpa!

Weird toys

2010-04-06T20:44:00.001-07:00

Okay so Collin's new favorite toy is... the sun protector for my car. You know, the thing that you put up in your car to block out sun while you park it? Yes, my friends, he played with that for almost 20 minutes today...enough for me to get dinner somewhat organized. It makes me wonder what any other person's kids out there like to play with? I could use some new ideas.... and hey, if I can find items around my house, awesome.

The other thing that he was obsessed with today? One of the "sticks" (from our catalpa tree) and poking it in the heater vent. Now, I'm not so sure the heater vent thing is a good idea (which we are working on) but playing with the catalpa sticks? Oh you go Collin, we have those aplenty!

The purples are here....finally!

2010-03-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

The purple crocuses are always the last to come out, but finally, they have started! YEAH! I have noticed this year I even have some "mutant" colors of yellow in the crocuses. Yeah for spring starting to arrive....FINALLY! Minus the dumb hailstorm this morning...please be strong daffodils. You can survive to bloom!

Couponey news for March 21st

2010-03-26T10:36:00.000-07:00

This week I went to one of the day old bread stores. I'm excited to say I got all this bread, plus some animal crackers Collin ate while in the store for about $4.50. YEAH! I also went and volunteered at the Deseret Pasta Plant. Granted, I don't have a picture, but I got some cheap pasta there as well. Our family eats a lot of pasta. Noodles is the one thing Collin does like sometimes.

Got the above at Wags for free and will make a couple bucks on it after sending in for the Oil of Olay rebate. YOu can still do this this week, use coupons and you can get the smaller lotion for free this week on sale...so two things for free and moneymaker!

Again, love Rite Aid. Got all of the above for basically $3.00. Five candy bars, 2 things of diapers, and 2 fancy hair products and a fancy cleansar. YEAH RiteAid!

Thanks to my dear neighbor Jenny, she told me about this great find that at the Fresh Market up the street, these sausages were on sale for 10/$10, plus there was a coupon, so I got both of these for $1.00 total. Now, I'm looking for a good recipe.

That's all the coupony news this week.

He likes peas!

2010-03-24T11:20:00.000-07:00

Many of you know Collin is not a huge fan of eating... other than chocolate :)

Last night I attempted to try peas. I had tried them awhile ago and I couldn't remember if he liked them or not. How EXCITING to see a child POUND some peas. Seriously, they were going so fast in his mouth at one time, I was wondering if he was trying to eat a record.

I also was honestly wondering if the reason he likes peas and kinows their name is due to one of his favorite books, What are you so Grumpy About? There is a hilarious page about gravy touching peas and Collin points to all the peas.

But, hey, who cares? This boy actually pounded some food!

Riverton Poop

2010-03-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend, some friends of ours had mentioned they were going to get "Riverton poop" for their garden and I was interested. They get it super cheap from the Equestrian Park in Riverton. These friends grew AMAZING corn so I'm always looking for some way to get ours to grow better. Three years and running and if we get more than 4 ears, it's a miracle. I asked my friend if we paid her she could bring us some....Last Saturday afternoon, they brought some and it was warm enough outside, the fam decided to watch Daddy work hard at moving it, smells and all.

Though Collin had to be trapped in his stroller (I did NOT want him playing in the Riverton poop) he quite enjoyed the movement.

We had to borrow a wheelbarrow from our other nice neighbors and Ryan went to work. You can see the "outside working hat" in full gear. He bought that on Cruise 2 on the beaches of Mexico. I thought it would never see the light of day, but ironically, it is a summer staple now.

Collin intently watching his milk, between watching the poop.

We got enough to cover all of our garden area and now it looks all fancy schmancy, despite smelling a bit :)

This made all of us VERY happy....the strawberry patch is starting to green up! YEAH!

Here's to hoping Riverton Poop will bring the O'Berry garden into its full glory! Thanks so much Cyndi and Ryan!

Couponing for week of March 15th

2010-03-18T12:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I have come up with a new way of posting all my good deals. I know this is mostly for my benefit, but it may help some of you. Granted, I know by the time I will post, many of the deals, can no longer be had, but that's why I have all the "frugal" links on the side of my blog. THOSE people, they blog, a LOT and they are GOOD, which is why I won't post all the specifics of that. My favorite bloggers are hip2save.com and lately utahdealdiva.com and my sister-in-law, shannasteals.blogspot.com. Anyways.....humor me people. I want to be accountable to myself.
When I first started "couponing" as I call it about 18 months ago, I started signing up for free samples, coupons, etc. Now, the mail is AWESOME because at least a couple of times a week, I get free stuff...and coupons, and gift cards, so. Here is some of what I got in the mail today. Free sample size Oil of Olay body wash (from Wal-mart, yes I never shop there, but I do request freebies). I also got a couple of free diapers, and my $10.00 Kmart gift card from buying some candy awhile ago.

Hello co-op. This week was the first time I went to the site in West Jordan. It didn't appear to be as much stuff (it only filled up half the laundry basket this time), but still very good. I'm most excited to find out how to eat the weird purple stuff that I don't exactly know what it is and the little orange kumquats. One of the coolest things about the co-op is it has helped me try new things. I also got to meet some very nice, but tired, firemen today since I went to the wrong place in the beginning. Overall, I still think it is great to just go and buy all your produce for 2 weeks at one place. YEAH! This week we got:

Veggies:

2 asparagus bunches (HELLO! I already warned Ryan more of the TO DIE FOR carmelized bacon asparagus coming up this week)

1 celery bunch

1 yellow cauliflower

1 romaine lettuce

2 bunches green onions

1 purple leaf thing (yet to be identified :))

Fruits:

2 mangoes

1 pack of strawberries

7 bananas

10 roma tomatoes

2 appearingly "regular' tomatoes

17 little apples---not sure what kind these are

16 kumquats---which I"m anxious to try :)

I think in my search for good deals this week, I went to the most stores I have been to in awhile. Kmart...I NEVER go to Kmart, but my sister-in-law (shannasteals.blogspot.com) scored a great deal on toilet paper there. After the coupons, rebates and catalinas, all of this toilet paper will basically be about 2.00 for a 12 pack! WAHOO! And it is the NICE kind :)

Also at Kmart score on super cheap diapers. Granted, the coupon that processed these I don't believe is out there anymore (see hip2save for details) but I got these packs for about 2.50 each. Someday, we will move out of size 3. I have a lot of size 4 stored up, but Collin just hasn't got there yet :) I NEVER pay full price for diapers and I have never bought diapers at Wal-mart. I truly believe you can get cheaper diapers elsewhere :)

Earlier this week, I went to the Smith's Megadeal promo...as some of you may know, our family (mainly, read Ryan here) can go through A LOT of cereal. I'm actually trying to be better about making homemade breakfasts on weekends so we can have more variety), so I had to go. I'm lamenting the Albies cereal deal this week since we no longer have Albies around where you can get a TON of cereal for FREE but alas... I paid a little more than I like to for these boxes, but they were HUGE and most of the boxes I got had $5.00 worth of coupons in each box, which was AWESOME! They are all high value coupons and some is even off of bread, milk, fruit, etc. for future deals I want to do. I ended up paying for all of this $47.00 and it ended up being basically averaging less than $1.00 per item. It put me over my budget this month (I think), but I stocked up on pasta basically for the next year, and also got a lot of cereal that will hopefully last us longer :) The Smiths mega promo continues through Tuesday.

I also went to Rite Aid the first part of the week. I am lucky that where I live, all of these stores are within 5-10 minutes of my house, so it is not a big deal to go there. Collin and I have our little "outing" each day. Rite Aid I got some cheap stuff for my mom, some cheap candy, and though they were out of tissues and diapers, still got all of the stuff below for around 8-9.00. The cool thing about RiteAid, is instead of just depositing my SCR (single check rebate checks) I am totally geeky and cash them and put them in a ziplock bag in my purse so then I just keep
"reusing" that money so it's less OOP (out of pocket) for me. It has actually been REALLY cool to have my budget for non-food stuff go way down because I reuse my "free" money. I'm acutally going to start doing this with all my rebate checks now. I just get out my little ziplock bag and pay away, in cash. I'm so geeky.

Also went to Wags, Walgreens, for the first time in awhile. Since Collin and I have had REALLY bad colds this week, I got a ton of tissues to resupply all the tissues we used.... I got all of this for basically less than $6.00. I saved more than $35.00 on that trip. Plus, I got some fun seeds to plant in our garden, if SPRING ever shows up!

This came free in the mail this week. Vocalpoint.com. Join it people. I have gotten so many cool free products and coupons by randomly signing up for stuff. This was totally free, super cool packaging and BRAND NEW Pantene fancy shampoo. My hair will be thanking me. I have also got free tuna fish, Kashi cereal, cheap fruit snacks, by joining vocalpoint.

Whew! I believe that is the longest post I have ever done. But, I just wanted to share all my great deals with myself (as an accounting thing :))

GO COUGARS!

2010-03-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

Those of you know, at the O'Berry home, we celebrate GO COUGARS! I swear Collin said it for the first time today. This is Collin celebrating going to the first overtime....

This is Collin celebrating the Cougars making it past the first round in the NCAA tournament. Seriously, he kept saying "GO GO GO!"

This is Collin when I turned my back on him to do the dishes after the game ended. This is another favorite, taking off the heater vent. See that mischievous smile? Oh yes, it's there.

But GO COUGARS!

Latest Collin's favorite things

2010-03-17T11:37:00.000-07:00

Recently, Collin has been discovering some of his favorite things.... The mouse on the computer...oh yes, he knows how to click and open tabs like the best of us.

Sometimes drinking milk.

Giving you the staredown....again, only sometimes with this one.

Smiling, when he has spiky hair.

When I say "Collin" he runs into this little space in our living room.... thinks he is hiding, little does he know his mommy is on to him.

Playing at Tiny Tim with daddy.

Going to the park. It is now so bad that if I saw the word "park" he has a fit if we don't go. Same with "outside", so I have to start spelling words now.

Last week, we finally got about 50 degrees and we went to said park. Little did I know there would be 3 dogs there, ANOTHER of Collin's FAVORITE things. He literally ran up and down the park chasing after the doggies.

These nice ladies with the dogs were so nice to Collin. They let him pet and play with the dogs.

Yeah, and they also gave him this dog "ball toy" thing...and he was NOT giving that thing up for nothin'. The ladies finally just said we'll come and get it before we go. I think he liked to think of it as his light sabre....or sword.

Watch out world!

Since we are both snotty-nosed lately, we do bubbles inside. Someday, we will get to play outside with the bubbles, I'm sure.

Collin gets SO excited when he pops a bubble.

Granted, I don't have a picture for his favorite favorite thing. "Chalklat", yes chocolate. This kid LOVES chocolate, he knows what it looks like, where it is hidden, and what it is called. Seriously, it's his fave.

Happy St. Patricks Day!

2010-03-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Says this little Green-shirt, bigger size shoes, runny nosed little toddler! Love, Collin Ryan O'Berry

Bread dough

2010-03-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

Please tell me someone who reads this blog knows how to make better "pizza" dough than I did this evening. Granted, it was basically a first for me, and granted, I did follow the recipe exactly, but yes, the grilled zucchini and chicken pizza was edible, but the dough?

Let's say it resembled Craters of the Moon more than "baby's skin" (which is what the recipe said it would!)

Anyways, on to my next cooking project :) HA HA

I love RiteAid!

2010-03-08T12:38:00.000-08:00

So, it's been awhile since I have gone to Rite Aid and felt like I really "scored". Since I have been doing the coupon thing for more than a year and a half now, I'm amazed at what really cool products I can try or use for basically free! Granted, some of this is for my mom (who doesn't exactly know how to coupon without my help but believes in it) but basically after the rebates, this will cost me all of $2.00, less than the sales tax. It probably cost more than $50.00 regularly, so WAHOO! Yes, call me a coupon geek. But, now my hair and face will look amazing for my geekiness :)