Back in the Groove

It has been quite a while since I have really done a shopping trip at Albertsons. It has been a while since they have at a great sale that I was really interested in. Twice the Value (doubler) coupons came out Sunday. I finally got caught up on getting them all cut and set out today to use the doubles. All 12 of them. Gunnar and I had a game plan.

I ended up paying $3.96 for all of this! I was stoked and ready for the next sale. Things are starting to heat up at the stores now that the holidays are approaching. I've rerad over and over again that sales get really good around Thanksgiving and I think that is about right.

I was able to get all of the popcorn for FREE, all 8 of them. The cookie dough was also FREE. The walnuts were $.50 each. Nuts are sooo spendy in general so that was awesome. The veggies were $.30 each. So most of the overall total was tax.

Total overall cost would have been: $56.80

Mr. Potato Head Anyone?

This year my entire family (at least I hope so. I haven't talked to my parents and Brent and Noelle about it) are providing Christmas for a family through the C.A.T.C.H. program of Canyon County. The program strives to help 8 homeless families per year find a home to live in and then help them with many other things to get on their feet. Last week I was paying my water bill online and decided to read the city newsletter and there was the information to get involved. As a family, we have always done something like this every year. My mom has always been the one to find the family. I am so excited about this. Anyway, we haven't gotten the information yet, but I figured my chances were pretty high that there would be little kids in the house so I went for this deal.


Fred Meyer was having BOGO on Mr. Potato Heads. When I got there, they had three and they were all the same. I figured that I could donate the other or give it to Gunnar for Christmas. This guy goes in the tub too. The best part was the 3 coupons I had. I was able to get both of these for $6.49. That makes them $3.12 each! Is that not cheap and awesome. Mindy is going to see if she can find different ones at another Fred Meyer. They are selling pretty quickly with this deal posted in blogland.

Owl City

Do you like the new music on the blog? The song Fireflies has been playing on the radio lately and I love the words of it but at the time I had no idea what the title of it was or the name of the group was. With a lot of keyword searches, I finally figured it out. Introducing Owl City. I love it! I looked up a bunch of their songs on playlist and loved them. So different, with words you can understand, innocent and catchy. I set out to buy their CD yesterday. It was $10 at Walmart, last one, and is played constantly in the car. Gunnar loves it. I love it. I hope you do too.

Purple People Eater

Gunnar was absolutely excited for this year. We had his costume months ago and he talked about it seriously for about a month straight. The day finally came and for him, it was never going to be dark. Finally the time arrived and we headed out. Gunnar was a purple dragon. He likes to tell people it is like the dragon on Shrek (that is a girl dragon, don't tell him that). Our ward did not have a trunk or treat and boy am I glad that they did not. This was WAY better. It reminded me of the days when I went and such a thing did not exist. It was fun to run from house to house and get to know our neighborhood better. Every year I buy regular sized candy bars. We left without a single trick or treater our way. It also doesn't help that we were literally the only house lit up on our half of the long street. Now I have lots of candy. Anyway, the old fashion way is the only way in my book. It was fun to see Gunnar do his thing and the happy people handing out the candy. One house had popcorn balls, these gummy sticks, small candies and then regular sized candies for the moms/dads. Now that was awesome!

Jeff dressed up in his getup too which Gunnar was so happy about. Last year at the ward trunk or treat, nobody recognized him in it. Too funny.

I loved the round belly on this costume. So did Gunnar. He told more than one house that he had a silly belly and showed them. Many people thought he was a dinosaur at first until Gunnar pointed out the wings.

We went to many ward members along the way and many others as well. I loved going to the sweet older ladies homes where they had candy laid out on a silver tray. Most of the time the people would let Gunnar pick what he wanted. He also figured as long as the tray was in front of him, he would simply grab more. We had to stop him and quickly caught on to his tricks for the night. We had fun going to the Relief Society presidency members houses that I work with. Carol bought him regular sized M&M's which he was happy about. Next was the Mayes. Supposedly brother Mayes dresses up as Billy Bob with a firepit out front playing cajun music and blowing an airhorn. Their street gets TONS of trick or treaters and we missed all of the fun. Instead they invited us in for pumpkin bars and milk and great conversation. It was really fun. Gunnar helped their daughter in law open the door for trick or treaters. We had a really fun few minutes visiting them. We ended up not going to anymore of the houses on their street and headed to my parents.


They end up getting more trick or treaters than we do and they live in the country on a dirt road. I have somehow got to get more trick or treaters to my house next year. Just one would be nice.

Heidi/Ren and Brent/Noelle went to their wards trunk or treat, so they dressed up. Everyone was an Orioles fan except for Noelle. She was the Paperbag Princess. Supposedly it is a childrens book that she loves but none of us have heard of it. She looked great regardless. She did mention that another little girl at the trunk or treat was the same character.

Gunnar and Auntie No No organized the candy by color. He was so incredibly generous and would share anything that you wanted. He has also rationed it which I am completely surprised about. He is not gorging like I thought he would. He is probably so proud of it, he wants it to last. He did have to work for this.

Something that I did learn, traditional trick or treating yields WAY BETTER candy!! We mainly got chocolate. The trunk or treat last year brought lots of sugary stuff and little candy. Surprisingly he did not get a single sucker this year. Last year he got lots.

I am already looking forward to next year. Three year olds make halloween so magical and fun and halloween is by far not my favorite. He was so fun to be with. Right after Carol's house as we ran to another, Gunnar told me "mom, my tummy loves halloween!". He got excited about the life sized witches on porches, strobelights making it hard to see, lit up pumpkins, other trick or treaters, scary masks greeting us at the doors. He loved it all. He told me that trick or treating was his favorite thing about Halloween last night and I don't even think he was refering to the candy.
I am off to eat a candy bar!

Kaika the Dog

Ever since our sweet Rusty died this spring, Gunnar has latched on to Kaika...the one that never really liked him. We usually hear growls from her every day and crazy things coming from Gunnar. She tolerates in so incredibly well. I think she actually, secretly likes him. Gunnar wants her in the house all of the time because, "she is my friend best, mom." Kaika I think likes the one dog life. She got a new bed shortly after Rusty died. She gets to go to grandma and grandpas because she actually gets along with other dogs and we feel bad for leaving her home. She goes on quite a few walks. After the week long greiving she went through, she adjusted quite nicely. She adjusted enough to let Gunnar enjoy a show on her.

The Great Pumpkin Carve 2009

For this post to make a little sense, I first need to mention that Brent and Noelle are living in Caldwell! They have moved here to go to BSU and we are quite excited. My parents have living space above their shop and that is where they are staying. No it is not attic size, it is more the size of a one bedroom apartment. Actually bigger. It is big. Anyway, Noelle's parents helped move their stuff down last weekend and one thing led to another and a pumpkin carving contest was on for Monday night. I think a little of the pumpkin carving thing stemmed from Ren and I learning from Rillz a couple of months back that he has never carved a pumpkin in his 30 something years of living...ever.

The rules of the carve were anything goes, except for things that may blow up the house or cause a major problem. We had a two hour time limit as well. It was quite funny. As we all slowly arrived, we started learning that we had all been online looking at designs and stencils throughout the day. This was serious stuff. My dad used power air tools that sounded like the dentist. I hate the dentist.

While we so carefully worked on our pumpkins, Heidi and Katie (Noelle's mom) decided that it was their job to sift through guts for the seeds to roast. I even finished my pumpkin and helped the process move along. We had 3 or 4 cookie sheets FULL of seeds. They were so good afterwards too.

Every body did such a great job. I think Ren was the only one that did not completely finish. He picked this enormous pumpkin from the pile. It was big but cool. Gunnar was so incredibly thrilled with his Thomas pumpkin. He even had a blue glow light in it making it Thomas.

Everybody had a great time. Rillz was hooked on pumpkin carving and loved it and everyone walked away with great pumpkins and super fun memories. Also, how lucky were we to have every single one of our family members together. Mark and Katie just made for extra fun.

The Sick Has Latched On...

...and won't let go. When I saw that Heidi had posted about being sick, I figured I better. Mindy already has. This stinks, it is the pits. I have some sort of cold that won't let go. It will never leave. It has latched onto my body and won't let go. It is an annoying monkey on my back. I am sick of not being super motivated. I am sick of not wanting to wake up early and do something. I am sick of coughing nonstop and having a stuffy nose all the time. It has now officially been a week and this can just go away.