Don't you just love....

A great deal! So this week has been full of great deals for us. You might call us cheap, but we'd prefer money savvy, smart shoppers, well okay you can call us cheap. :)

Last Saturday, the Redfearns moved and while we're sad they moved, we are grateful to receive their leather couch and loveseat. We've never purchased furniture since we've been married. The first couch we had - GROSS. Came from DI, went to Jeff's cousin Marisa, then to Nathan's apartment (Mandy didn't want it when they got married - can't blame her) and then we took it because it was better than the floor or the camp chairs we had in our apt. We left it in Provo when we moved to Phx. I couldn't stand to take up room in the uhaul with that horrible couch. Makes me itch just thinking about that couch - sorry if you ever had to sit on that. Our next set of furniture came from Jeff's parents when the moved to Vegas they hadn't moved all their stuff from IF yet so a family in their ward gave them furniture and when we moved to Phx - 3 years later, they were nice enough to pass it along to us. We still have it and we've been in Phx for 4 years. We've always wanted leather couches, but have been too cheap or had to pay for other things instead (2 cars and 2 more kids. :) ) So these are our "new"-er couches and the other set we still have it's been moved to our room and Lucas' room.

Next great deal was from Fry's. Most of you know I have a small obsession with coupons - thanks to Coupon$ense. Erin would say I sleep with them, not true, but we do make room for them in the car to take on our vacations.... :) Fry's has been having great sales and even better, we now have a Safeway across the street from Fry's. Anywho, here's a picture of my last great deal for $28.01: 4 half gallons of milk, 9 boxes of cereal, 3 chocolate milks, bread, 2 bags of grapes, 9 boxes of granola bars, 4 oatmeal to go bars, candy corn, a febreze noticable, soft soap and a bag of chips.
Our next good deal would be halloween costumes: we borrowed Lea's skirt for Tinkerbell and Lucas' spiderman costume from Brynn and Abbey's lion costume has been passed down through my sister Kristin's family. Lea and Lucas have both been the lion. Lea bought wings and ribbon for her hair - $10 for everyone's costumes. Thanks for the costumes! :)



Last good deal of the week was the price of gas: I paid $2.47 today!! This is an unbelievable price since we were paying $4.09 a gallon during the summer which was unfortunately during our long summer vacation - we drove from AZ to ID to WA and back. Not cheap filling up the van every time.....although totally worth it. Today it cost me $30.00 to put 12 gallons in the van - just a little over half of our 20 gallon tank.

So those are our great deals of the week. More pics of Halloween to come as we go trick-or-treating tonight.

Happy savings! I look forward to the Halloween clearance as I didn't buy any candy - waiting for it to go on sale after Halloween. :)

Rollin', rollin', rollin'

Yesterday, Abbey was on the floor and moving around quite a bit. She can roll from side to side and then she eventually moves just by rolling that way. I didn't see her roll over the first time, but I looked down and she was on her tummy and so proud. She is now 5 months old and so happy. She wakes up smiling which is very different from anyone else in our house. Most of us are not smiling until at least 9 am. :)

Attempt #1 to roll over: Reminds me of the febreze commercials - maybe our carpet does smell that clean and good. :) Ask Abbey....


Attempt #2: Almost there - she gets stuck on the arm closest to the ground.

Made it!!! :) Her head looks huge, but it's just the angle of the picture.


And back again:

Go Blue Dinos!

Lea is playing t-ball - yeah! I've been waiting for some sport for her to be able to play. There are not very many options for athletics in our area unless we want to drive to another neighboring town/city. So I was very excited to sign her up and so was she. We went to Target when we found out what team she was on and she bought her own glove, ball and bat (pink of course) and a ball for Lucas (orange - it's his favorite color ever since he was a few months old according to Jeff and Lea).

They (the kids) voted at their first game to be called the Blue Dinos - fierce huh? She has played 3 games so far and is improving every time. Jeff and our friend Geoff Becker are the coaches. Jeff said at their last game on Saturday the kids actually made throws to first and Briant caught it before the runner made it to first base - watch out MLB. :)

This is a big improvement from the first game where most of them had never even touched a glove - well at least Lea hadn't. She has a bat and ball in the back yard, but has never put a mitt on her hand until the day she bought one. Here are some more pics:

Jeff helping Lea bat

1st game - they call out the lineup for every game and on both fields. Lea is #4 and is the third from the right.

Lea, Lucas and our friend Ethan (erin has this picture on her blog if you've already seen this before)

Playing 2nd base and going after the ball - someone else got there before her.
Lucas is the honorary bat boy. He's totally fine with the bat being pink - he just wants to play. :)

Tagged!

7 quirks about myself. So here they are - wow this is more information than I'm sure anybody will ever want to know.

1. I color coordinate everything! I mean everything. Dishes in the dishwasher, in the cupboards. Sippy cups, water bottles and absolutely baby bottles have to have matching lids - unless they came with the different color (like the sippy cups do sometimes). Ever watched Monk? I love his apt because everything is perfectly spaced, inline and organized. Not all areas of my house are this way, but there are some that must be or I will fix them to be that way.

2. I keep items in their original packaging for as long as possible. Wedding presents I only use every once in a while, but I still keep them in their box. (we've been married for 7 years....) My acrylic blocks for scrapbooking are in their plastic wrap - I use them and then put them back in the package. I also neatly fold and often re-fold my wrappers from candy or fast food and then throw them away.

3. I love, love, love snickers ice cream bars, fun size, king size and of course cold stone: cream ice cream(can't think of the real title), snickers, caramel and a little chocolate. As a side note - I also love fruit in my ice cream: strawberries are my favorite with raspberries a close second.

4. Drinks: Dr. Pepper, not Mr. Pibb, Dr. Pepper. I got this habit from my mom. :) I have a hard time finishing a 20 oz or even a can of soda. Jeff likes to tease me that I'm afraid of the last 1% of the drink because that's what I usually leave behind. I just tell him it's backwash and I'm not drinking that. It's a banner day, when I finish an entire can or 20 oz bottle..... quirky yes, but that what this list is for.
Milk: I like milk - it has to be super cold (no leaving it out on the counter or I will throw it out and get a new glass), and of course it cannot be on or near the expiration date by +/- 2-3 days. I will not, WILL NOT drink the milk if the expiration date has passed. I don't care if it's still good - I will not drink it. Same goes for most foods in the fridge.

5. ICE: I love ice! Especially from Sonic, at the hospital and there's a gas station by my doctor's office that has this awesome ice! It's the small cubes - not really sure how to explain it, but if you've ever had a Sonic drink, you know what I'm talking about.

6. I do not try new foods at restaurants. I order the same thing at every place.

Last but not least:

#7 and probably the quirkiest unless you think the other one's are :)
I will change the sheets on the bed if they are too "messy". Need to be crisp, clean sheets that fit snugly on the bed - Straight lines, no lumps or wrinkles. After a couple days - they start to bug.

I just realized there are so many more than 7 quirks that could be listed!!!

One more just for kicks: I am a social crier - just watching someone else get emotional triggers the waterworks for me. I already have sensitive eyes, but I cry very easy. I cry over the Biggest Loser and Extreme Makeover home edition. I get emotional when my friends and family are struggling and when I see others helping and reaching out. I'm already tearing up just thinking about the times when people have helped me without me asking for help (I don't do that very often). I love to see dads get emotional and soften their "tough guy" appearance.


So there you have it - I'm sure it explains alot and raised a few questions about my sanity. I tag whoever reads this blog and wants to divulge their quirks to the rest of us...... especially Jenny - I'd like to see her true colors. :)

Before I was a mom.....

Sometimes I forget that my friends and I actually did other things before we ever were moms. For example: my friend Erin was a gymnast and also coached. Gymnastics was something I have always enjoyed watching, but was never brave enough to try. I also couldn't part with the other sports I enjoyed playing.

So here's a list of things I was before I was a mom: (these are things most people don't know, unless we've been friends since before I was a mom)
1. Athlete (although in high school, I spent a lot of time watching games instead of playing....)
-Soccer- played soccer from around age 7 til a junior in high school - played some intramurals at BYU
-Basketball - same as soccer
-Softball - played until I was a Freshman in high school
-Volleyball - only played 7th & 8th grade, some church ball and the yearly games at Twin Lakes.
2. Student - preschool through finishing BYU. :) Preschool was my favorite... :)
3. went to movies because they were cheap (so am I) - 50 cents in Provo on Tuesdays
4. Waterskiier - not so much anymore because we live to far from my parents who own the boat and well - just not as fit as I used to be..........ugh.
5. Cheerleader - unofficially. No I never wore those outfits - besides I can barely stand talking to people - why would I want to cheer in front of a huge crowd.....I went to a lot of football games in my younger days and a lot of baseball. Jeff is proud that I know just as much as he does about football (sometimes more...) :)

Now that I'm a mom:

1. Taxi - currently a mini-van fam. Which I love!!!
2. Chef - my famous dishes are PB&J, enchiladas, chicken nuggets, and I pour a mean bowl of cereal. It's a big hit among the customers.
3. Interior decorator - it's a work in progress
4. Fashion Consultant - I try to let them (and this includes Jeff....) have their artistic freedom to express their personalities with a little guidance from myself. :)
5. Hair dresser - I love to fix Lea's hair - I'll post pictures of her cute hairdos.
6. Doctor & nurse
7. maid - I dislike this part. I don't like to fold laundry (which is usually apparent by the piles of laundry around the house) and I hate doing dishes. I don't mind if they do not pile up - it's when they pile up in the sink that I get overwhelmed.....
8. I'm trying to get back to playing sports - I play basketball once a week and volleyball twice a week with other moms during the day.
9. Teacher's aide: Help Lea with her homework and learning phonograms.

Who were you before you were a mom or dad?

Yeah for us! :)

Well here goes.... we're entering the 21st century and have joined the blogging craze. Not sure how often we'll be updating our blog, but keep checking for new and exciting things from the Risenmays. :)