HOME!!!!

We're home now! What an adventure! Pictures to follow at some point lol.... the hardest part about a vacation is getting home and unpacking and getting back to the grind lol... Although there is a ton to do to get things back in order, it was so nice yesterday to realize that I don't HAVE to buy groceries in order for us to eat.... WE HAVE FOOD IN OUR FREEZER AND PANTRY!!!! Thanks to a wonderful couponing teacher and some sweet deals!!!!

Since we had some time to choose our own adventure home, we decided to stop at places we had talked about going to one day.... Monday was the day!!! Craters of the moon, Sun Valley, Pepperidge Farm thrift store, Indian reservation for fireworks, driving through the Sawtooths!!! All things on my bucket list lol.... not to add to it :)

Cooling off in Texas!!!

Tuesday we went to Lubbock Rampage water park. The temperatures have been in the 100s since before we got here to Lubbock and the wind has blown so bad since we got here most afternoons. We decided to take a day and relax in some cool water and a lazy river and tide pool :)

The boys all had a great time playing in the water and racing down the slides. When we first got to the park, there weren't many people there, but by the time we left there were a ton of people at the park.

I think Kyler's favorite part of swimming was the fact that he could push and pull the tubes around the river while the floater relaxed lol.... He pulled and pushed Tim around the river a few times; then he did the same for Aaron.

In the tide pool, we all got on our tubes and got into the middle of the pool at the front of the wave pool where the waves were made. We held onto each others tubes and enjoyed some big waves....that was really fun although there are no pictures.... I need to invest in a waterproof camera I think hehehehe ;)

We stayed from noon to about 4pm, then went for some ice cream...errr frozen custard YUMMY!!!!! For dinner, we brought home some J&M BBQ super yummmy!!!!!

ARCHES!!!

On our way to Texas, we were going to go by way of Rock Springs and Martin's Cove... however, as we looked at the map closer, we realized that Martin's cove and Independence Rock were about 400 miles out of the way :( Instead of going that direction, we decided to go back to our original route choice which was south through Arches and Moab.

The drive was just as beautiful as it was last year :) When we got to Arches and were driving around the park, the boys were amazed at the beauty. We parked at double arch and windows parking lot and decided to hike to double arch.

We had a great hike and a wonderful time climbing all over the formation and taking pictures. The boys had so much fun just climbing and posing and being silly :) We had some great laughs and got some hilarious pictures :)

Brandon and Tim were doing a photo shoot for a new verizon wireless ad ;) lol not really, but it looks good anyway ;)

Aaron and Dallin were my "thinkers"

All of them were hams for the camera!!!!

Even my caveman Aaron....

he also tried to be a muscle man and lift the big rock hehehehe

Chip off the ol' block

I've been couponing now since April and have loved finding some awesome deals and tons of FREEBIES :) I try to go without the boys so that I don't get upset at them for asking for things or making me lose my concentration. However, Dallin had wanted to go with me and learn some of the couponing magic that goes into the sweet finds that I've brought home.

When I take Dallin shopping with me, he's my extra eyes, he has found some interesting coupons... some are really good deals making somethings almost free.... then I look at the expiration date andthey have been 2007 and 2010 lol some shoppers haven't kept up on their coupons and have slipped these coupons onto th shelf instead of using the trash can lol... Dallin has really learned a lot about couponing and has even been able to get us some great deals. He loves helping me get things off the shelves or just count up items and make sure we have all of our coupons in place.

Yesterday, when I went to Walgreens, I took Dallin... he had a dollar in his pocket just burning a hole in it lol. I told him that there woud be a ton of transactions because I was getting some sobe lifewater that was on sale for 99cents with a register reward of 99cents thus making it FREE or something else FREE!!! but either way FREE STUFF!!!! As I was doing my transactions, Dallin was wandering the store looking for his own SWEET deal ;) He saw in the ad that there were store brand orange slices on sale for 49 cents. I gave Dallin a register reward to use to make his purchase... he got two bags of orange slices and one coconut twix for 57 cents :) YAY!!! He was sooo excited to get to use his very own "coupon" that's what he called it hehehehe

Another really sweet victory happened yesterday as we were driving to Utah.... Aaron had made some sandwiches for dinner and I had packed a ton of food, drinks and snacks... As we were eating and enjoying, I passed around a bag of m&m's for each of the boys. Aaron asked me "Is all of this food from couponing?" I told him it was all from couponing and was all super sweet deals, he then asked me "When I get married can you please teach my wife?" hahahaha this is such a change from a few weeks ago of Aaron's view of couponing I LOVE IT!!!! The boys have caught the craze!!!!

YUM YUM YUM!!!!

A friend from work that I had lunch with everyday told me about a meal she makes for her family and they love it... she calls it inside out pizza..... well I took that idea and decided to make pizza braids for dinner tonight using my Rhodes bread dough that I got on a great deal with coupons :)

I used two of the loaf rolls to make the pizza braids for dinner and left the third one on the counter to rise. With the third loaf, I made a triple berry cheesecake braid!!!!

The pizza braids were so yummy. Everything I used to make the braids were bought with coupons :) I used some pasta sauce, mini pepperoni, ground beef, itallian cheese with philly and of course the rhodes bread dough. I know they don't look professional but they sure were tasty the boys ate them up!!!! I think this is a new hit in our house, so I am going to have to be on the lookout for more Rhodes coupons unless I want to make the dough myself hahahaha

The berries that I used in the triple berry braid were blackberries from the bountiful baskets, raspberries from the berry farm in New Plymouth gleaned lastyear :) and blueberries bought from the bishop storehouse last year :)

The smell in the house is so inviting and pleasant!!! I LOVE IT!!! Can't wait to let the boys eat these berry braids for breakfast in the morning :) and can't wait to make these in Texas for everyone!!!!

oh by the way.... 10 DAYS!!!! Dallin is counting down the days for our family :)