Couponing

So I have dabbled in the world of couponing before. I never truly understood it and I never really seemed to reap the benefits. I have now come to know that I was going about it all wrong! Nate has a super cute cousin, Alisha, that was so sweet and took the time to go over the whole process with me. Today was my first shopping trip taking advantage of price matching and coupon doubling at Walmart. I have to say, one trip and I am hooked! I love my coupon binder and I can't wait until my next set of newspapers come!

Here is part of my shopping trip today:



Haribo Gummy Bears - $0.37 each
Frosted Flakes - $0.25 box
Kool Aid 5 Packs - free
Comet - $0.97 each
5 Gum - $0.78 each
Cookie Crisps - $0.48 box
Lunchables - $1.29 each
Candles - free

Total before price matching and coupons - $39.02
Total out of pocket - $9.84
Total savings - $29.18 or 74%

I was pretty pleased with myself. I spent less than $10 for everything and it would have cost me more than that to just buy 3 boxes of the cereal at full price! Here are some pictures of my binder. I love it. It makes the system manageable for me. I was able to organize it just the way I wanted it and I am really enjoying the process.





Needless to say, I am totally hooked on couponing now! Thanks again Alisha!

Mustache May and Baby Jack

Oh man, so glad this is over! Nate's work is participating in mustache May. During the month they all grow out a full beard and then this week they all had to trim everything but their mustache. There is some sort of prize for the person with the craziest mustache. Since Nate is working from home the later part of the week he is already back to being clean shaven. Yay for me! Here is what he looked like a few days ago.



This last week we welcomed another new addition, cute baby Jack! Congratulations to Brandon and Julianna! I think he is so cute, he is just so little and he's darling with his curly strawberry blonde hair. Welcome to our family Jack!

Mother's Day, a New Addition, and a Baby Shower

It's been an exciting week for us! Sunday was Mother's Day and we were able to visit both of our moms. I made them each a personalized recipe binder with some of our favorite recipes and some family favorites.


On Tuesday we welcomed a brand new niece into the family. Lacey Nichole was born Tuesday evening. We got to see her on Wednesday and she is darling! She has lots of dark hair just like her older brother did when he was born. I can't believe how small she is! Congratulations Benji and Amanda.
We will also be having another nephew added to the family any day now. This morning I went to a shower for my other sister-in-law. Please forgive my photography, I can't seem to stop throwing up, so I just took pictures from my seat on the couch. Julianna got lots of cute things for baby Jack.

May Already

I know, I know, I've been slacking big time with the whole blogging thing. Life has been crazy the last month.
First things first, we moved! We've been in our new place for just over two weeks, and we are pretty settled. A few miscellaneous boxes to unpack and I need to get decorating. Nate's office needs to finish being set up, but other than that we are pretty much finished. Thanks again to all those who helped us with the move. Nate will be working from home 3 days a week and we are excited about that. Nate has a list of things he wants to adorn his office with, including a mini fridge. We'll see about that!
We had a pretty good Easter. I was really sick that day but we exchanged baskets and treats for the first time since we've been married. I even did an egg hunt for Nathan. We made a big traditional dinner of smoked brisket, asparagus, potatoes, rolls, etc. This was the most we have ever done for Easter and I think we will continue to go all out.
I finally decided what do for Mother's Day. For some reason I feel like I have to be super creative and make my gifts for Mother's Day. I've been procrastinating since I haven't felt very good lately, so I have a lot of work to do this week! My mom doesn't read my blog, but my mother-in-law does on occasion, so I can't say what my idea is, but call me if you want to use my idea. It will be easy to reproduce.
Yesterday we had a big birthday dinner for everyone on Nate's side of the family who is having a May birthday. We will be adding a new niece and a new nephew this month too! I'm getting excited to meet Lacey and Jack and finally see what they look like!

That is pretty much the happenings for us. I feel like between moving, unpacking, and doctors appointments I haven't been very much fun. I usually have at least one doctor's visit a week, and I am so sick of it all! Sorry to complain, but I just feel really down lately. My heart isn't doing better despite the weekly increase of my medicine dosage. The medication has two major side effects as well. One is that is makes my diabetes harder to control, so I've had to start an additional medication to help with my diabetes. I just had my A1C done for the first time since my diagnosis and it was 6.5. It is a simple blood test that sees how well my average blood sugars have been. Under 7 is acceptable, but my doctor would love to see mine under 6. So my score of 6.5 is not horrible, but I definitely have room for improvement. The test is done every 3 months, next time I want to be under 6.2. The second major side effect of my heart medicine is exhaustion. Never in my life have I been as tired as I've been this last week. Last Monday my electrophysiologist went all out and doubled my dosage and I have been exhausted 24/7. I wish I could describe how tired I've been, it is almost like an out of body experience. Every day feels like this incredible struggle just to make it through the day. I feel like such a slacker, I've been really bad about returning phone calls and emails (sorry Alisha! sorry Jennifer!) and I want to cry knowing I still have to make dinner tonight. I just feel like I am living in this alternate universe and I just want my life back. Feeling down about all of this stuff and really down about our infertility struggles this past week. Sorry, I am just not in a very good place emotionally right now and I just needed to vent.

Our Easter meal.


Super Nate found all the Easter eggs.


Last night's birthday dinner.


This photo is also from last night, two of my favorite guys!


Not sure if they are tired of jumping, or tired of me taking pictures :).

Why I Don't Bring Nate Grocery Shopping

We had to go get some groceries tonight. Midway through the trip I told Nate, "I feel like I am grocery shopping with a little kid!" True statement, here's why. Grocery shopping takes a LOT longer when I bring Nate, he thinks everything looks good and likes to dawdle. Me, I bring a list and I know exactly what I need during the trip so I don't have to back track. I also don't like it when I have to stop and wait for him to catch up, why can't he just walk alongside me? We were walking past the freezer section and Nate saw those Kid Cuisine frozen dinners. Do you know the ones I'm talking about? The blue boxes with the penguin on the front? He told me that he would always ask for them when he was little and he never got one. So then I felt totally bad and told him he could get one. He also ended up getting these airhead flavored popsicles, he really wanted to try the white mystery flavor. Long story short, I love Nathan, he is amazing, and tonight he reminded me that I love how young at heart he is!


P.S. Does anybody want a Kid Cuisine, I don't think Nate will really eat it.

A Slight Change of Plans

Oh man, I swear my head is going to explode. I have no brain power left. Nate and I have been on such a roller coaster since Valentine's Day. Right around then is when we first had the Blackberry job come into our lives. Nathan wasn't even looking for a new job, they contacted us. After weeks of interviews, phone calls, prayers and the like, we really felt like Texas was the right step for us. Earlier this week Nathan turned in his notice to his current employer. Nate is an awesome employee, they asked Nate if they could give him a counter offer to tempt him to stay. Nate said yes, but that we really felt like we were supposed to go to Texas. They countered, and we turned it down. For weeks we had been praying and felt like it was meant for us to go to Texas. Nate's current employer came back with another counter offer. We were totally surprised. This offer was amazing. So with more thought and prayer (I am pretty sure I've been praying non-stop since February) we suddenly started to feel very positive about staying in Utah. I haven't slept in two nights because I feel like it is such a huge decision, one of the biggest decisions we've ever had to make. We came to a consensus, we are staying in Utah! We are still going to move into a new place close to Nate's work, but it will not be 1200 miles away! I know our families are excited to keep us close. I feel like a huge weight is lifted and I am really excited for this new chapter. But please, no more big decisions right now! I've had all I can handle for a while.

Big News Y'all!

Nate and I are moving to Texas!!! Nate has accepted a position with RIM, which is the company that makes Blackberry. We are moving to Irving, Texas, which is right by Dallas. We are moving in two weeks and we are really excited!

Heart Update

I had my appointment with the electrophysiologist this morning. He confirmed what the previous doctor had said. Surgery is an option, but it's not ideal for my exact situation. With the surgery I run the risk of needing a pacemaker. Not exactly great news. Surgery may be required down the road, but for now they are going to try and control everything with medication. My new medication will most likely make me very very tired for a week or two, but once my body is used to it the tiredness will go away. The medicine also makes diabetes a little harder to control, so I am going to have to be really careful there too. I see him again in two weeks and we will see how things are going.
That's the news for now. I am so glad we are just a few hours away from the weekend! I can't wait to see my husband!


Oh my gosh! Look what I found! Further proof I really need an iphone! See Nate, I could even work from my phone!

10 Years

Today marks the 10 year anniversary of my dad's death. It's weird, it seems like it was so so long ago, but I remember so many things about that day. He died just 3 weeks after I turned 15. I don't think I've ever mentioned my dad on this blog before. I didn't agree with a lot of his choices or actions, but he is still my dad. Here's his picture. Sorry about the quality, it's a picture of a picture. I don't have it hanging up, but I do have it saved. I think it's the only one I have. I'm not super sad, it's been a lot of years and I think I'm just used to it. What does make me a little sad is the fact that he never met Nate, that he wasn't there at my high school graduation or my wedding or other big moments. I am a little sad that my kids will never know one of their grandpas. Anyway, I just thought I would mention this day.

Our Weekend

Friday I had my heart appointment. We went over my test results. The ultrasound of my heart looked great, which means there are no structural defects. Good news! The results of my halter monitor were not good. My heart beats way way too fast, even when I am sleeping. My doctor compared it to someone who is always running. My heart beats so fast that it is just working too hard, leaving me exhausted all the time. There are times when the actual beats of my heart are incorrect as well. This leads my doctor to believe that the electrical currents of my heart are misfiring. So I am off to see a doctor who specializes in heart electrical activity on Friday morning. He will be able to tell what exactly is going on with the currents and to determine if I need surgery. It would be a simple surgery and would fix the problem permanently. In the mean time I have started a medication to slow my heart beat. This should help me not feel so exhausted and out of breath all the time. It is nice to know what is going on, and I will have the rest of the picture when I see this next doctor on Friday.

Friday evening Nate and I went his cousin Brittany's wedding reception. Everything looked amazing. Here is a picture of the happy bride and groom.


Early Saturday morning we took both of our cars in to get oil changes. Unfortunately my car had a couple issues. We had spent $500 by 10 am! Gotta love days like that. Oh well, I can't really complain, we have had relatively few issues with our cars. Now I just need to vacuum out my car and wash it, and it'll be perfect!

I think that is everything. This weekend flew by way too fast. I can't wait until Friday night!