Feeling all Grown Up!

See this beauty?  Well on June 25th, it will be ours!  All 2510 sq ft and four bedrooms of it!

We are so excited to own our own home! This will be a very exciting new adventure! You can expect lots of pictures of it when we get all moved in and decorate the place!

We are definitely feeling the outpour of blessings from our Heavenly Father, Chad graduates in 2 days, he has a fulltime job as a Tax Accountant starting Monday, we found an amazing house.  Life is good, REAL good right now! I am so excited that my next post will be about Chad's graduation! We have been dreaming about this day for years and although it has been hard, especially with having a family, it has been so worth it!

Slightly Addictive (but in a good way!)

So I started couponing about 6 months ago.  I only coupon for non food items because we live with my folks and put money towards the food every month and my mom does most of the grocery shopping (she is a couponing pro, seriously! and yes I do love not having to go grocery shopping very often!)  A couple of weeks ago I got the idea that I wanted to take a picture of everything I have gotten for free (only paid tax on)over the last six months. 

I mean look at all that stuff!

And this is all stuff in my stockpile, not even counting all of the stuff we have already used! I also didn't get the 5 snuggle fabric softeners and Baby Alive baby doll pictured.

If you have any questions about couponing visit the right side of my blog! lol I will get off my soapbox now, but first I just want to say that this post is not meant to boast, couponing has blessed my life so much in the last few months that I wanted to share it and maybe show some skeptics out there that it does work! And, it was hard at first and no I don't feel the need to get every deal there is every week. In fact during this semester I have missed many deals because I didn't have the time.  But if I can spend time every week saving money instead of having to get a job to help out, I would much rather do something that I think is fun.  Warning: it IS slightly addictive!

Thatcher the Guinea Pig

We decided Kaylynn is old enough to help take care of a pet and after a lot of research we decided that a guinea pig would be a good fit for us.  We had so much fun picking the perfect little guy out at the pet store and we came home with the very adorable and fun Thatcher!

If you are wondering how he got his name, Thatcher is or should I say was on Chad's list of potential boy names and I have never been fond of it...so Chad said he would be okay if we named the guinea pig Thatcher and I would be off the hook for having to consider it as a boy name!

If you randomly stopped by our house you would see a huge pile of unfolded laundry Madison sitting in front of Thatcher's cage, she loves to watch him play!

He's such a cutie!

Kaylynn is in charge of feeding him everday and she holds him a few times a day as well.

Easter!

The Easter Bunny visited us the week before Easter because we were supposed to be out of town for Easter but it didin't work out.

The Easter Bunny was super nice and put together some great baskets for the girls!

In the hall before they saw thier baskets!

Kaylynn ran to her basket immediately and began pulling things out.  Madison did what she usually does and ran after Kaylynn and was really upset when Kaylynn wouldn't share her toys with her...

She totally didn't realize that she had her own basket full of stuff!

oooooo it's all mine!

The girls TOTALLY didn't cooperate with pictures, oh well!

We hope everyone's Easter was filled with light and knowledge of Chirst's resurection.  I will forever be indebted to my Savior for dying and living again for me and my family. 

"And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all. which we give of him: That he lives!

For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard a voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father."  Doctrine and Covenants 76: 22-23

Easter Eggstravaganza!

Every year our local zoo hosts an Eggstravaganza the week before Easter! There are egg scrambles, activities, the Easter Bunny and lots of vendors with free stuff!

Kaylynn with her "loot"  She had a blast, but there were SO many kids I actually picked her up and ran her over to an unoccupied corner!

We were running seriously late and hadn't anticipated the long line to get into the zoo and we missed Madison's age group for the egg scramble.  She didn't mind because Kaylynn was very willing to share!

It was great to spend some much needed family time together!

Attempted 18 month portraits

In an attempt to save time and money we decide to take Madison's 18 month portraits at home right after church (since she was dressed up)  Naturally she did NOT want to cooperate.  She wanted to run and climb...

We did succeed in getting a cute shot of Kaylynn

All Madison wanted to do was climb the chair...so  naturally...

she did a not so graceful front flip face plant off the chair.

Photo session done.

Sidenote: Don't you just want to squeeze those adorable chubby thighs?

Unavoidable Future Weddings

A couple of weeks ago Kaylynn and I were looking through Chad and I's Wedding photo album.  We were having a good time, Kaylynn kept telling me that I looked like a princess and that my dress was absolutely beautiful (yep, I was feeling pretty good about myself!) She then asked me the sweetest little series of questions,"Mommy do you still have your pretty dress?" Me: "Yes I do, why?" K: " Can I wear it for my wedding when I go to the Temple?" Me: "Of course you can, but if you want to wear a different dress that will be okay too."  K "Can I see your dress?"  I got it out for her to look at and then she asked to try it on.

Madison really loved how it felt under her feet and walked on the train almost the whole time Kaylynn was wearing my dress...so naturally I stuck her in it too and well, she had a very different reaction than Kaylynn.

Yep, that was the look on her face the instant I put her in it and it stayed that way until I got her back out!

This is what you do with a veil when you don't have any hair to put it in! All in all it was a very fun afternoon with my girls!