Shopper's High

I can't help it, I am a sucker for that "high" I get when I save so much more than I spend at the grocery store! This week was AMAZING! I spent $71 at Albertson's and saved a whopping $209! Don't do the math cuz I already did--that's a 75% savings! One of my favorite parts is shocking the checkers. The checker today was actually a manager and kept commenting about "how well" I was doing. When the total finally came up, he circled the savings with his little fingernail like they do at Albertson's now and could hardly believe it. As I was walking away, the bagger said, "Wow! I have to take notes!" Then the checker said, "Yeah, some people really know how to do it!"

I couldn't help taking a picture of my "goods," but I promised my kids I wouldn't do it every time. As I was placing all the items on the dining room table "just so" in order for everything to be visible, Kacey commented that she hoped no one came over while my display was up!

My Champion!

Kennadi and I flew to Reno last weekend for the Nevada State Gymnastics Meet. I love to go to Kennadi's meets. I love the time we get to spend together, and I love to watch how all her hard work pays off. The last meet Kennadi competed in was in Long Beach, California where she competed on a broken foot. Even with her broken foot, she took second place on vault at that meet. Since Long Beach, Kennadi has been in a funky "boot" and enduring physical therapy in hopes that her foot would be healed enough for State because this is the final meet of the season for Level 7 gymnasts.

Kennadi didn't disappoint! Although her vault was not up to her personal standards, she placed well. The most exciting part of her meet was the incredible 9.70 that she pulled off on beam. Not only did this earn her the title of Nevada State Beam Champion for Level 7, it was the highest beam score awarded!

Needless to say, I am a proud mom! Thanks for a great weekend, Bubby--I love you!

My Awesome Sister

Last week was crazy busy! The best part of the whole week was when my sister and her family visited from St. Louis. THEY DROVE!!! She must really love me...


I love that Kennadi and Sophie are such good friends, and the Maddie and Kami could hardly get enough of each other. I love that Ryan fits himself in wherever the girls will let him! His personality is so refreshing, and he never fails to put a smile on my face.



PJ (I insist on that being my nickname for him even though everyone else calls him Phillip) was especially fun this trip because he can really communicate. I forgive him for calling me "Uncle Sissy." I got to the point where I could even understand him through his binky. My favorite part about Phillip is that when he is tired, he curls the hair on the top of his head around his finger.



I'm so grateful my sister wanted to spend her birthday here. We had so much fun going to see Steve Wyrick (an awesome magician) and eating at an old-time Vegas Italian joint. Jason and Dave managed to keep us laughing.


We played "Cities and Knights" (not the benevolent kind, Nenn) which I don't think I won once. I'm going back to playing with Kami and Kennadi so I can win once in awhile!


Even though it took Bobo and Dave something like two days longer to get home than they planned, I know they'll make the drive again! I miss you already, Bobo!

Happy Birthday Old Man!

Jason celebrated his 40th Birthday yesterday! Hard to believe he is as old as my parents were when I thought they were practically ancient!

There was no breakfast in bed this year since Jason wanted to take charge and make sure breakfast was prepared his way. Actually, he got up and prepared bacon and eggs for the whole family--what a guy!

I think Jason's favorite gift this year (and mine, too) was the book of letters I gave him from friends and family. It was my goal to gather 40 letters from as many people that know and love Jason as I could find. I got 40+, which wasn't a surprise since everyone who knows Jason loves him. I feel blessed to be married to the guy everyone wrote so fondly of in their letters. We laughed and cried and had a little explaining to do. The explaining had to do with letters from friends circa the teenaage years... It was all in great fun, though. It became abundantly clear (though I've suspected all these years) that I am getting the payback through one or two of my own children for Jason's shenanigans as a teenager!

Yeah, me for finally posting to me blog again!

Lady Luck

Kennadi's gym hosted the annual "Lady Luck" meet at the South Point Hotel last weekend. This is the first meet of this competition season, and it's a biggie! Over 1200 girls from 25 states compete at this three day meet. This is Kennadi's first season competing at level 7 as an optional gymnast. Basically that means she has her own routines choreographed for her on each event. Here's the lowdown on how she did:

Starting things off with a bang, Kennadi earned a whopping 9.35 on floor which earned her second place on floor. Next came her least favorite event--vault where she blew the judges away and nabbed first place with 9.45. On uneven bars, she kept up her streak and took second place with 9.25. Finally...it was her final and typically best event--beam. Unfortunately, she didn't do quite as well as usual and took fourth place. We were so proud and beaming that we hardly noticed the lower-than-usual beam score, and it was still good enough to earn Kennadi 2nd place all-around.

Equally exciting was the girls' team score. For those of you less familiar with gymnastics, the team score is calculated using the three highest scores of all the gymnasts on your team. Due to injury and illness, we had only three girls competing level seven. It leaves little room for error when you have to count every single score! Most teams had at least six girls' scores to use. Needless to say, it was thrilling when the girls pulled of a second-place team score that was just .5 of a point behind first place and more than 3 points ahead of third place.

WAY TO GO KENNADI!!!

I Can't Help It

I promise not to do this every time I shop, but I just can't help it this time. I had to fill a prescription for Kennadi at Smith's so I decided to pick up a few things while I waited. Without going into the boring details of how I did it, I just want to say that I got all the stuff in this picture--$40 worth (though I never wouldn't have paid retail) for um...NOTHING. I mean, less than NOTHING! Seriously, I got $6.17 back from the cashier and that even includes the prescription!!! The cashier was dumbfounded and laughing as she handed me my cash!

We Made Christmas!

In 17 years we've been married, I can honestly say this was the best Christmas ever! We decided to make eachothers' Christmas presents this year. Though my fabulous idea initially met with murmuring, everyone stepped up to the plate and really put their hearts into gift giving this year.

The day Kami and I spent working on her gifts was one I will never forget. Several times Kami said, "This is the best day of my life!" It was truly special to see how proud she was of her creations and how thrilled she was to make them. She made a scrapbook for me (I didn't help with this one), pillowcases with iron-on pictures for Kacey and Kennadi, and shirts with iron-on pictures for Jordan and Jason.

Kennadi started the earliest on her gifts by knitting hats (and one scarf) for everyone. She surprised herself with her newfound skill and loves to knit now.

Jordan worked hard on a craft kit for Kami, cookie-in-a-jar kit for the ever-baking Kennadi, fudge for Jason (he also gave Jason some much needed wiper blades that weren't quite as home-made), bath salts for me, and an extremely time-consuming rag quilt for Kacey. I was so proud of the effort that went into that quilt. Not only did Jordan take the time to lay out the squares in a fun pattern in Kacey's team colors, he learned how to sew!

Kacey made fuzzy flip flops for the girls and painted a "Magic is Life" painting for Jordan. She gave Jase and me a picture of herself and wrote a story. It was the story of her life to now. It was so clever and so funny. We laughed and cried and Jason read. I will take a story like that for every Christmas over any other gift from her!!!

Jason wrote down his favorite memory of each of us and put it in a picture frame along with a favorite picture.

I gave Jason a framed picture of us that my friend took (I know, I didn't actually make this, but I intended to do something cool with the framing and it didn't quite turn out as cool as I thought.) I made a necklace for Kacey, a charm bracelet for Kami, an apron for the ever-baking Kennadi, and a magician's cape for Jordan. I was actually giddy when it came my turn to distribute my gifts, knowing the time and love I'd put into them.

I remember well the years when my mom would hole herself up in her sewing room for weeks on end working on Christmas. She always worked so hard to make beautiful quilts and jammies and dresses and dolls. I finally understand that more love went into those Christmases than even time and skill.

I don't know which was the greater blessing--the time spent making gifts or the gifts made with so much love that I received. All I know is this is a Christmas I can never forget!!!