Monday Drugstore Deals

Here are yesterday's drugstore deals. At Rite Aid I got 12 D batteries and a bottle of Orajel for $17.xx after coupons. I will get $15.99 back in rebates, so it cost ~$2 for all those batteries! These are going in my emergency supply stash for our flashlight.


At Walgreens I got 2 Revlon blushes, 4 tubes of Desitin and 5 bottles of Robitussen. It cost me $22.xx out of pocket after coupons and I got back $9.79 in rebates and $23 in register rewards. So this one was a money-maker!

Christmas Morning

This was technically our first Christmas morning in our new house (we moved in at the end of December last year), and it was so much fun! We actually slept in, which was really nice after our busy Christmas Eve festivities. Then we opened our presents, and played Rockband 2 for a little while before heading off to our families' houses.

The presents under the tree. Thanks again, Santa Lynne!

Apparently Chris has issues when we take photos of ourselves by holding the camera out in front. He thinks that his head always looks big, so in this photo he's trying to hold his head as far back as possible. See how we're almost tipping over? See my hand in the background trying to shove his head forward? Yeah.

Rockband 2 with a microphone! (Chris's favorite part is the singing...guitars will follow later.)

We had a very merry Christmas and especially enjoyed spending lots of time with our families and getting time off work!

Breakfast in Bed

On Chris's actual birthday, I woke up early and made him a surprise breakfast in bed. It was a Sunday that I had choir practice, so it was SUPER early, but Chris was a good sport. He said he didn't even hear me in the kitchen making cooking noises or smell the cooking bacon or muffins, and I was amazed!


Chris doesn't like "sweet" breakfast foods (like pancakes and waffles -- all the things I LOVE), so I made him non-sweet breakfast foods. There were eggs (I'm not sure I'll ever be able to make them as good as Stan - I'm still going through Stan-eggs withdrawls), hash browns, chocolate chip muffins, sausage, bacon, english muffins, and fruit.


Then Chris got to open his presents from me, which included a freezer-load of Omaha steaks. Yay! This was something Chris had actually asked for. I think their advertising got to him because when he ripped the page out of a magazine and gave it to me he was practically salivating. But we cooked a couple of the steaks for dinner a few days later and they were REALLY good.

Happy 90th Birthday, Grandpa

Here's a picture from my Grandpa's 90th birthday party. We had a lovely dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and watched a little photo montage of him through the years. All of his children and grandchildren were there, it was a fun evening.

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

Tucker and Nora Jane Say Hi

Chris and I have been watching our niece and nephew, Tucker and Nora Jane, while my brother and sister-in-law (and the rest of the fam) are in Hawaii. We've been having a lot of fun with them, they're such cute kids! And they both wake up smiling every morning! It's so cute, I had to give you a peek.

Here's a video of Tucker from this morning, saying hi to mama and dada.




And here's a video of Nora Jane from this morning.

Happy Birthday to Chris

On Sunday we celebrated Chris's birthday with the Spencers. We had a big family dinner, cake and ice cream, presents, and a little Wii action. It was a fun night.

We also celebrated our niece Hannah's birthday at the same time. All the kids teased Chris that he had to have a tinkerbell cake.

Luckily, Chris's mom came through with his favorite -- turtle pie. Mmm!

Chris opening his presents...

Singing "happy birthday" to himself...

And blowing out the candles!

Happy Birthday, Chris! Love you!

Diaper Cake

Last week I got a call from a lady in my mom's ward. She was throwing an impromptu baby shower for her sister who just adopted a baby, and she wanted a diaper cake. My mom told her that I'd made them before, so she called me and asked me to make her one. This is how it turned out.


I used a pack of Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive size 1 for the top and middle layers, and a pack of Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive size 2 for the bottom layer. I rolled 'em up, wrapped 'em in ribbon, stuck a dowel through the center and, voila! A diaper cake. I think I'm getting better with practice, they get cuter as I go. My apologies to Emily who was on the receiving end of my first attempt. Better have another baby so I can do my penance with another one.

Michelley's Big Game

This post is an ode to my little (big) sister, Michelley. She plays basketball for Westminster and had a game this week versus the University of Utah women's team up at the Huntsman Center. We all went to dinner at Rumbi's before the game.

Stub and Annalisa.

Grandpa, dad, Amy, mom.

Then we headed up to the Hunstman Center to get good seats and watch the game.

Amy and Annalisa.

Michelley's cheering section.

The whole time we were watching the game I was just so in awe that we were actually sitting in the Huntsman Center watching Michelle play. How cool is that? I remember when Michelle was a shy little 4 year old with big blue eyes, and now she's like this amazing grown up who's going on to do great things!

The jumbo-tron.

The pre-game huddle.

Trying to bribe the ref before the tip-off?

Michelley #25.

Some of the action.

Here are a few more pictures of the action. Michelley talking to the coach, sitting on the bench ready to start, running through the tunnel, and huddling at center court before tipoff.

And here was our halftime entertainment - some awesome people-watching. I give you -- the lady with BIG hair, and the man with an awful taupee/mullet.

(sorry they're blurry - they were halfway across the arena)

We thought Michelley played great and we had so much fun coming to watch her. I can't get over how grown up she is. You are amazing, Michelley!

Bambara's

Last night Chris and I went to my company Christmas party at Bambara's - the 4-star restaurant at the Hotel Monaco downtown. It was super gourmet but really yummy! Chris's caesar salad was essentially four whole leaves of romaine lettuce topped with two whole anchovies and dressing. Ew! But the appetizers and our filet mignons were fabulous! I even tried the calamari, which is daring for me.

They had a private room set up for us, which looked out onto main street and 2nd south. It was a gorgeous view! We sat and talked and laughed for a long time, and didn't end up leaving the restaurant until almost 11:30 PM. The only thing that would have made it better was if they'd given us the next day off to sleep in. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas...

...and Happy Gas Prices! Yay!

Priceless

Black Friday at Target

DVD boxed sets -- $13.00
Guitar Hero for Wii -- $59.00
32" LCD TV -- $199.00

Catching some Zzz's in the checkout line?

Priceless.

No Parking

...in the tree in front of my office building, apparently.

The price of 2 Utah BCS bowl tickets?

For Chris and I, it's $14.68.

Last week the University of Utah held a food drive competition with BYU, like they do every year the week of the big game. The MUSS, in an effort to increase donations, held a student competition. The student to donate the heaviest poundage of non-perishable boxed or canned food items purchased on a $15 budget (before tax) would win two tickets to Utah's bowl game.

If you've read any of the below posts, you know I'm sorta good at this kind of thing. When Chris found out about this competition, he called me pretty excited. And if you know Chris, you know he doesn't usually get excited about things.

So with three day's notice, this is what we came up with, using as many internet-printed and sunday-paper-clipped coupons as we could rummage up:65 Canned tomatoes

42 Baking Soda
24 Progresso Soup
21 Del Monte Veggies
16 Cake Mix
6 Baking Powder
4 Corn Starch
1 Canned Bean
1 Canned Fruit
= 180 items weighing in at 172 pounds

Total cost out of pocket: $14.68

Apparently we were the heaviest donation by far - no one even came close to us. Bowl-game, here we come! Who says it doesn't pay to shop with coupons?



Conversation preceding the below picture...
Me: "Chris, sit in front of the food and smile so I can take a picture."
Chris: Lays down on the ground underneath the food and makes an "it's falling on me" face. "Take my picture like this, first!"
Me: "Why? Can't you just smile like a normal person?"
Chris: "No, this way is much cooler! It'll look like the food's going to fall on me!"

....Seriously? Do all guys do this or am I the only one married to a two year old!

BCS-Bound, Baby!

Go Utes!

(Hey, look --I actually got them to hold still and smile for the camera!)

Jeremy, Chris, Sam, Devin, Jaron, and Corey before the big game.

*Note to all the eligible ladies out there: Aren't these guys cute? If you're in the market for a hookup, call me! I'd love to get a few of these boys married off so Chris and I can do something other than play rock band with "the guys" every Saturday night (no offense guys, still love you). Married friends are a good thing!

Twilight

This is where I was on Friday night.
I've seen it three times and counting!

Thanks girls, for a fun night!

Thanksgiving

(Me doing some testing at work last week)

In the spirit of November and Thanksgiving, I thought I'd post a little bit about what I'm thankful for lately.

Last week when I was running an errand for work, I drove past the location of a company that I interviewed with my senior year of college as I was job hunting -- we'll call this company Parrco. I actually interviewed at 5 or 6 places, and I got offers from all of the companies I'd wanted except for Parrco. I couldn't figure it out -- I'd felt so good about my interview there, and I felt really comfortable with the work atmosphere. But they kept stringing me on and never actually got me an offer in-hand.

The day came that I was supposed to start letting companies know whether or not I'd accepted their offers. I had planned on turning down all of my offers in hopes of getting one from Parrco (stupid, I know). I sat down on the steps outside of one of the buildings on campus and dialed my current company (we'll call them Bellco) to tell them I was turning down their offer. The president of the company began to ask me questions as to why, and to give me his thoughts on my situation. All of a sudden, I felt so calm and comfortable, and right then I knew I needed to accept this job.

I called with the intention of turning them down, and ended up accepting the job where I've been now for almost three years. I know without a doubt that this job was the right place at the right time for me, and I've absolutely loved it.

Where is Parrco three years later? You know, the company I wanted to work for but never got an offer from? Out of business. Technically they got bought out by another company, underwent many changes, and they're not what they were anymore.

Long story short - this Thanksgiving I'm thankful for my job, and I'm thankful for the guidance and revelation that each of us can receive if we desire it. I know that without it, I wouldn't be where I am today or as happy as I am today.


...and if any of you read this entire post, you deserve a gold star. :)

Monday Drugstore Deals

A little bit slow this week with my Monday drugstore info, but nevertheless, here it is.

There is a great P&G deal at Rite Aid this week. Buy $25 worth of P&G products and get a $10 Rite Aid gift card back by mail. There's also a $5 off a $25 purchase coupon good til the end of December when you sign up at Riteaid.com, so you're really paying $10 for $25 worth of stuff. And if you have coupons, it's even better!

I bought 20 boxes of Puffs (with lotion!) and 1 Febreze Noticeables kit. It cost me $0.79 + tax after coupons and rebates. I don't think I'll be needing any more tissue at my house for a good while!


Amazingly enough, I DID actually fit them all under the bathroom sink where I store tissue. Phew!

Stayfree at Smith's

Smith's is also having some good sales this week - not to be outshadowed by Albertsons'. Their Stayfree products were on sale for $2.50, with an additional $5 off at checkout when you buy 10 packs. I had 8 $2 off MFQs, so it ended up costing me $4 for 10 packs, or $0.40 each. That's a savings of $27.


Can a girl ever have too many feminine hygiene products? I think not.

(Chris, being the good husband that he is, never complains when I come home with more bags of it even though I already have a bathtub full. I think it's because the more I have on hand, the less likely it is that he'll ever have to go to the store and buy any -- because, ugh, how embarassing would that be?!)

Hot Buys at Albertsons This Week

This is a great week at Albertsons. They're having a General Mills/Unilever promotion where you buy $30 worth of qualifying products and get $15 back at checkout (three $5 catalinas) to use on your next purchase. Pretty sweet deal!

I got up early yesterday and hit Albertsons before work on the first day of the sale. They were having some issue with the catalinas not printing but the associates at my store was SOOOOO helpful and we got it all worked out.

I bought 66 products in 6 transactions. I did them right in a row so I'd use the $15 catalinas from the first transaction on the second, etc. I ended up spending $21.79 out of pocket for 66 items, and I've still got $15 in catalinas left over. That's $0.33 per item even if you ignore the $15 I've got still to spend!

To top it all off, I saved $293.06 between store sales and coupons. Totally felt like a smart shopper yesterday. :)



P.S. Got my camera settings fixed. Hallelujah! How embarassing for me -- I'm supposed to be a techy!

Monday Finds

Here are the details of my Monday drugstore escapades.

At Rite Aid, I got 8 boxes of Kotex (free after eight $1 coupons), 2 packs of GUM toothbrushes (free after rebate), 2 packs of Tampico Flavor Pops (75% off clearance), and some candy corn (50% off clearance).

Total OOP, $2.47 after rebates (most of that is tax).


At Walgreens, I got 4 Boxes of Celestial Seasonings Herbal Tea (free after coupons), 2 Glade Wisp candles, 2 Herbal Essence shampoos, 6 Schick Quattro disposable razors, 4 Almay mascaras, 2 bags of 75% off candy corns (yes, one is already half-gone in this picture), and 2 packs of headbands as fillers. Oh, and a bag of shredded cheese, because I needed a filler.

Total OOP, $3.87 on a gift card, and $17.98 coming in rebates. Plus a free haircut for the Herbal Essence shampoo.

Pres-dog

On Saturday we babysat our nephew, Preston, so Chris's sister and her husband could celebrate their anniversary. We were worried he'd be bored at our house since we don't really have any toys, but he seemed to have a fun time with us anyway.

He loved playing peekaboo with our fireplace (because it goes through to the kitchen). He laughed and laughed and laughed at that for a long time (...even though I didn't catch him smiling here...)


He also loved playing with Chris's hat and sunglasses and putting them on his head just like Chris does.

He's at the age where he loves to imitate, and it's so cute. I laid down on the floor in our family room while Chris and I were watching a football game, and he came and laid down right next to me and imitated all of my movements. When I clapped, he clapped. It was so cute!


Later that night we went over to my parents house to help take some photos for my little sister Amy and her Monster Mash group. Preston was the life of the party and all of the kids wanted to pick him up and give him high-fives. They even put this mullet wig on him and he loved it!


We had such a good time with Preston, he's just such a laid-back baby. I told Chris's sister that we want to babysit him again because it will be good for Chris! (wink, wink)