My favorite boys

This past weekend we traveled to West Jordan for Maria's bridal shower and a lovely visit with the Barrus family. The weather was so nice on Friday and the boys were outside constantly. It was so fun!

The boys.


Nephew and uncle. Aren't they cute together?



Brandon was teaching Scott how to jump on the trampoline.

Who knew plastic slides were so tasty?

"Mom's finally letting me get behind the wheel!"

"Peek-a-boo!"

We love our sweet Scotter boy. Scott's newest achievements:

• walking all around the condo and outside by himself
• finding his ears and sometimes his hair when asked
• getting his canines in--he now has all of his teeth except for the very back molars
• putting himself back to sleep at night and during naps (this is our favorite!)
• clapping hands and hand movements for "Hooray!" when we sing "If You're Happy and You Know It"
• folding his arms for prayer
• first words: Ma (mama), Da (dada), dah (dog), bah (ball or book)

We love you, Scott! You are growing up so fast!

Thanks, Brooke

Little Mitchum Man

Triumphant shopping trip!

Cute little summeroutfits, and a much-needed new white dress shirt

Isn't that the cutest little monkey? Can't beat $3.20!

So I've always been the kind of person to look for deals at sales, and I'll use a coupon if I happen to have one--but I wouldn't say I was a coupon-clipper, per se. Until today.

Brooke has really been inspiring in her posting of deals, but it all seemed too confusing and time-consuming, especially the Walgreen's ones. But, I decided about 3 weeks ago that I would buy an organizer and start clipping coupons, just to be more prepared as I shop for things we normally use. Like I said, I'll use a coupon if I have one.

But I soon learned that after clipping all the coupons in the Sunday paper, it doesn't take that much longer to go through the sale ads and match up your coupons with what's on sale. And then it starts to get exciting.

For instance, today at Walgreen's I bought 3 Mitchum deodorants, 1 large bottle of Johnson's new Body Care lotion, a Glade Scented Oil warmer and refill, 2 bottles of baby juice, and a 16-pack of Energizer batteries, ALL FOR THE PRICE I WOULD NORMALLY PAY FOR A 16-PACK OF BATTERIES. Insane. I didn't know I had it in me. I even used Register Rewards and everything!

(if you'd like the details of how I got these deals, let me know. I don't want to bore the non-couponers out there :)

So thank you, Brooke. Your enthusiasm is infectious. I still have a LOT to learn (I'm a little nervous to try anything like this at Albertson's, but we'll see :), but I am definitely seeing how this way of buying things we use will really save us money--plus, I don't think I'm coming down from this money-saving high for awhile.

PS: I also got 5 of the cutest rompers for Scott (he needs some summer clothes--plus he's grown out of all his sweat suits and shirts) AND a new Church shirt for Brandon all for only $36 today at JC Penney's. Hooray for sales and a 20% off coupon!

I'm hooked, can you tell? :)

Scott walking

No firewire port on the new computer, so I can't get video off my actual video camera yet. Hence, you're stuck with this quality offering from the six-year-old Kodak Easyshare camera my grandpa gave me for Christmas back in the day. (Thanks, Grandpa!)

Yes, yes, the child is walking. Came on kinda fast, in retrospect. He'd been cruising around the furniture and walls for a couple months now, but only last week sometime did he decide he could take a couple steps on his own. And now, if he takes his time, he can get wherever he wants. It's fun.

Brandon the lumberjack

About three weeks ago I decided I didn't want to shave for a while. As this is the first time in about nine years I've been able to go without shaving, my plan worked. Here are the results.

Problem is, my facial hair is ridiculously wiry. It makes shaving a pain, and apparently growing it out is like letting a wild animal loose. The hairs go everywhere and don't look very good. 

Can't win. I think I'll shave it sometime this week. 

GPS, and what we would have done without it

An addendum to that last post by Mandi, where she briefly notes that we almost died getting her electric piano.

I would just like to say that our Garmin GPS device thingy was a lifesaver that night. Mandi and I are both extremely directionally-challenged (Mandi is more in denial about her condition than I am), and anytime we need to find somewhere new it takes us an inordinate amount of time to arrive at the correct destination. It really is sad.

That's essentially what we were up against that Sunday night a couple weeks ago... trying to get from Provo to a place in Logan and then continue on to Idaho Falls using a route we'd never driven IN THE BLIZZARDING SNOW OF DOOM.

The entire trip took about two hours longer than it should have, but without the Garmin, I think we'd still be lost. When visibility is about 20 feet, it's helpful to know that you need to turn left in half a mile. On a dark, snowy night, in a part of town that has almost no streetlights and reading street signs is nearly impossible without getting out of the car, Garminta's calm and slightly authoritative voice guided us every step of the way.

Sure, Garminta is kind of dumb when it comes to the location of gas stations and fast food, but that's a small dent in her shining armor of safe travel insurance.

So thanks, Mom, for the great present. It is serving us well.