The Morgan Bunch

My husband ROCKS!

2011-10-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

I absolutely LOVE Zac Brown! So, when Ty told me we could go and see him I was beyond ecstatic! I couldn't believe I was finally able to see him in person! It was a LONG day, but well worth it! The gates opened at noon and we literally had to RUN to get our first row spot!! It was pandemonium to say the least!

Thanks to Lorraine we got one of the last few front row spots!! Man, she's a fast runner!!

Thankyou Ty!! I will always remember this day!! You are the BEST husband ever!

After sitting on my blanket for 7 LONG hours- he finally came to the stage!!

He's an amazing musician!! They JAM out!!

Such a great night!!!

Summer trip to DisneyLand

2011-10-08T07:58:00.000-07:00

This summer we were fortunate enough to get to go to DisneyLand. It was a total surprise for the kiddos, they were SO excited to be able to go! The weather couldn't have been more perfect! Funny thing is, in every single picture someone looks miserable, why is that?!

It was a great trip, but a stressful one! Alexa was so scared to go on any rides, which blew our minds because last time we went she was on every single ride with no fear!! At one point she had about $15 in bribes from ALL of us to get on the water ride, lol! Did she get on it?? Yep! Man, that Alexa is a smart little girl!

Our Family ALL ready for some Disney!! (it wouldn't be us without some weird faces!)

Goofy Girls!!!

Alexa getting all Princessed up in the Bippity Boppity Salon!!
This was SO cool!

I literally took about 50 pictures, she was totally annoyed with mom!!

She probably had about 50 bobby pins in her hair! And glitter, OH my word, TONS of glitter!

Sporting his new Captain Jack hat! (this was his second one, he lost his first one on a ride) Crazy boy!

I'm still ALIVE!!

2011-08-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Yowzers! It's been since February since I've blogged, I'm just speechless! Blogging used to be an outlet for me, a way to stay in touch with family & friends and a way for me to remember the things that we've done over the years. I'm sad to see that I've blogged nothing since February-so many things have happened and I sure wish I would have documented more of it! :(

A quick (more like long) recap of the years events:

Ty's doing wonderful! We had a scare with his heart but after extensive testing, the results came back conclusive that everything with his heart was normal. To rewind a bit-he had random heart palputations and the Dr's were concerned there was something wrong. They ran tests on him for months and the end result was good! Sadly, our insurance still denied coverage for Ty but we'll try again next year once we're up for renewal. The Morgan & Sons business is doing great! It's amazing the reputation those guys have built and we are SO greatful our guys are working and building beautiful homes in this economy...we are truly blessed!

Paige turned 16 in July....this was a sad, sad day for me. When you have your kids at such a young age (I was 16 when I got pregnant with her) it's very emotional to see them at THAT VERY age you were when you had them! If not for her, I don't know where I would be! She was my ground when I needed one....everything I did when I was a young (dumb) teenager was all for her. Every decision I made, friends I surrounded myself around and job I took all revolved around her. Now, today this all sounds like a 'no-brainer'...but when your 17 years old, it's not as easy. She was my world! (duh, she STILL IS!) She's far better then I ever was at her age, I can't even believe I just said that! Oh well, I speak the truth....it is what it is! She just started her junior year of highschool, amazing! She has a boyfriend, yes, the "B" word! Ugh! Her world revolves around Mr. J. Mr. J is sure lucky that Ty & I like him!! ;) As for the drivers license.....I MUST have the only 16 year old on this planet who does NOT want to drive! Say what?! Yep, you read right....Miss P doesn't want to drive!! I can't seem to wrap my head around that one, but as her father says, if she doesn't want to drive yet there is a reason and we won't push her anymore. She'll let us know when she's ready.

Miss Kyla started 8th grade this year...in a NEW school! Alas, we have found a worthy Jr. High here in our city! All the Jr. Highs here are T-E-R-R-I-B-L-E!!! She was homeschooled for 6 months until this new school opened up, we are overjoyed! WE, as in Ty & I..lol! She's not too fond of the homework (long) everynight and the strictness of the school...but, WE are!! ;) She just turned 13 in March...(have I failed to mention the high dosage of hormones that come with 13 year olds?) She's doing so wonderful in school so far, we're so proud of her! This is going to be a great year for her!

The twins are good- they started 3rd grade this year (YAY!) and they turned 9 (sniff sniff). My babies are growing up! We all got the privelage to go to Disneyland this year with the family, it was such a great trip! All the kids had fun on the rides in the park except for Alexa. For being the happiest place on earth, I witnessed more kids crying then laughing! I've summed it up to this: Disneyland is a great place for all kids 13 and older! 13 and under, your bound to have them crying on every ride....not to mention, it's about the most stressful place for parents! Happy kids = Happy Mom.......Crying, Frantic Alexa = Stressful, UNhappy mom! It was still a good time though, even with the crying and near vomiting!

As for me, I am good too! lol. Aren't moms always good? I've been successfully working both my jobs which at times are VERY stressful and make me want to run away crying due to the overwhelming feeling I get, but, I do love what I do! I became a coupon instructor in March, I get great joy out of teaching people how to become financially secure just by learning to shop better. And, as if that weren't enough, I signed up to be the Vice-President of our PTO again this year. I worked PTO last year and it was rough....talk about ALOT of work! I love being involved and I love the feeling of accoplishment I get when we do great things at school...but I still can't help the anxiety feeling I get!

Once I get more time I'll get pictures posted of the spring/summer. Yikes! Talk about a hefty task!!

Craziness, just craziness!

2011-02-18T15:34:00.000-07:00

I was SO excited about this grocery trip I made today I JUST had to blog about it! Seriously, I CLEANED house this week at Fry's. I have the thought in the back of my head that Spring break/camping season is right around the corner so I figured I would stockpile some quick easy foods to last until summer.

***Keep in mind, I DID buy junkfood, but those raviolis are NOT something I buy my kids often and will last us about a year, especially since the don't expire until 12/2013!! OH, and they were only $0.09 each!!!

I got ALL this suff for a grand total of $12.01! Not shown are the 2 breyers ice creams. My favorites: hefty sandwich bags for $0.19, 19 raviolis for $0.09, 5 80ft reynolds foil for $1.69. All the candy & toothepaste were free!

This was my Albertsons trip, which I was a little disapointed with, I expected it cheaper.

$ 5.07

My Target Find: (I prefer free PB but this will certainly add to my stockpile without breaking the bank)

$0.51 each

My FAVORITE Target find today was this gum.

$0.24 EACH! I'm a gum eatin' fool!

Ok, this was probably the highligh of my week, besides my febreeze deal. I got ALL these gain dryer sheets for a grand total of: $1.56 ($0.26 EACH)

Seriously?!

I actually bought 4 earlier in the week but gave them away to people

So this is my absolute FAVORITE steal this week! I got ALL these free at Fry's because they were on clearance and I had coupons for all of them! Luckily for me, the luminary kits were $4 and my $5 coupons carried my overage on the reeds and candles. I left the store owing $0.00

It was a great week!

My little Artist

2011-01-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

I know they aren't the best pictures but Paige brought these home today from school, they were her art assignments. This was all done free hand. I'm so incredibly proud of how much an artist she is!! She truly has a gift and I wouldn't mind my house decorated in these fine ensemble's. Great job Paigee!!!

Our New Family Project

2011-01-31T12:27:00.000-07:00

We are the proud new owners of this 80-something travel trailer! We got it free from some friends of ours (I LOVE FREE) they so graciously donated this beauty to us since it was taking way too much room in their backyard. We were thrilled to receive it and to start the renovations. It was in pretty icky shape once we got it, but after a week of cleaning & gutting, it's starting to look pretty gosh darn good! Not to mention, fully loaded!

What was intended to be "Ty's Project" has evolved into a "Family Project". The kids have all helped and had fun while doing so! The girls spent the day sanding the floors and cleaning it with us, can't wait till it's in camping shape. We'll post pics once its done ;)

Finally...

2011-01-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

I have a spot for my family's food storage! Ty built me these awesome shelves last weekend and we were finally able to empty all the closets, cupboards, shelves and other areas I had stuff accumulated. Don't be fooled, I still have mass quantities of food inside my pantry and tons of toiletries in my closets still, but for now this is all the room I have to store.

Crazy? Maybe... Smart? Definetly! Wanna know why? Because everything I bought for my food storage, I did with coupons! I am a religious follower of 'The Krazy Coupon Lady', recently she was featured on the TLC show Extreme Couponing (hopefully you watched it). She has taught me so much and I'm so glad I have learned how to stretch my dollar, spend less & buy more! If you aren't a couponer, I encourage you to do so. BUT, you have to do it the right way and match the coupons with the sales. I average 80% savings each trip to the grocery store!

I think everyone should have a food storage, for many different reasons. 2 years ago, we were able to live off of our food storage for a very long time! It saved us so much money in the long run because when we lost our jobs we atleast had food...and plenty of it. My goal is to get my storage up to a 2 yr supply of food and a 1yr supply of toiletries/hygeine items...so far, I have met my toiletries goal and am working on my food goal. I just wish I had more room! lol

I bought 20 boxes of the Special K Granola, if you've never tried it you need too! It's excellent as cereal or on yogurt & ice cream ;)

Beleive it or not, the fruit snacks will last the kids 6 months...for reals!

My Little Angel

2011-01-05T15:01:00.000-07:00

....Snow Angel, that is. We got hammered last week with some freezing cold temperatures and about 2 feet of snow. One day our temperature registered at -30, brrrr! We set records that day! Hmmm, well now that I think of it, we've set records before here in Bellemont before..hence..Tornados!

Alexa was busy playing in the snow making snow angels...how cute!

Christmas Day

2011-01-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

We spent the day with the family and all the kids, it was great! The kids all had a blast. Bill cooked us some "grub" on the grill!! hehe You never realize the importance the bond of cousins is, until they are reunited with each other after 6 months. It was great to see them all so close and happy together.

The kids got to stay at Grandma & Grandpa Morgans house for 4 days while Ty & I headed off to Vegas the day after Christmas, it was amazing to get away with the hubsters!

Alexa & Annalese

What do you get a guy who is infatuated with guns for Christmas?? A gun encyclopedia! He doesn't look the least bit excited about it, nah, not him!

It's a pillow, it's a pet...It's a Pillow Pet! Anyone else have kids who had these things at the TOP of their lists' too?

Dominique

Alianna in her new skates, skating with her daddy. Isn't she edible?!

Sweet baby girl

Tyler & Brenton....cuties!

Paige & Alianna

Whitney & Tony...I LOVE this girl!

Kyla & mom

The boys playing xbox...they have literally tuned the girls out, lol

Buddies

He's so handsome!!!

It's VEGAS BABY!!!!

I think Robin forgot to Focus the camera!!!!

2 of my favorite people in this world! Billy and Robin you guys make our lives so much better ;)

2011-01-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

This year we decided to do Christmas at our home on Christmas Eve night since we had to wake early and head to the Morgans for Christmas Day. We have a tradition in our home on Christmas Eve that consists of a very fancy dinner with the kids (which they LOVE since they get to dress the table up all fancy and use all the fine china we have and drink champagne out of fancy glasses, ahem, sparkling cider in plastic flutes, lol) along with opening up 1 gift prior to going to bed. Well, this year we surprised them and let them open all their gifts instead, I love surprises! (so did they!) We ended a great evening playing all the new Wii games and fixing Santas plate. P.S. I'm so hooked on the dang wii! Talk about some fun family times! We hope you all had a fabulous Christmas!

All she wanted for Christmas was a new smart phone, (which we told her she would get when pigs fly) Guess th piggies learned how to fly, hehe

Happy Little Camper!!

Such a sweet boy!! His secret santa knew just what he wanted!

Ever seen a kid get SO excited over some electric princess toothbrushes?? I must say we have some strange kids!

Wait, is that what I think it is?? Maybe not, wait, yep....it is...a SMILE! Ugh, her smile melts my heart!

She's very orgnized and strategic with her present opening....she must her Type A thing from someone else

Alexa's throwin' that organization thing right out the window, to heck with that she says..she's on a mission! Funny thing is that we even had to fish some of her new presents out of the trash since they got mixed up in all her wrapping mess, hehe

He is his fathers son, he must guess what each gift is before he opens them! He HAS to shake them, feel them, listen to them and sometimes even smell them....scary thing is that he's never right!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

2010-12-24T07:16:00.001-07:00

Christmas!! We've had some amazing weather this past week, wouldn't ya say? The kids are totally diggin' all the snow, so is Bo.

We can't wait for Christmas this year, this one will be such a special one since our family is so spread out now and we don't get to see each other as often as we would like. Then it's off to Sin City for Ty & I the day after Christmas, woohoo!!

Have a Wonderful Christmas Everyone and enjoy the special time with your families!!!

Kyla & Alexa playing at the Park across the street from our house, this is how much snow we got from 8pm-6am the next day! (hey, this is alot for us!)

My beautiful Tree looks like it's a cotton tree!

Bo LOVES the snow, he races back and forth, over and over again!

Truly Amazing! The beautiful scenery out my back door, I could look at that everyday!

Is this not the most precious thing you've ever seen? I love that girl!

RIP Stephen Foxhoven

2010-12-20T13:18:00.001-07:00

My cousins Husband passed away on Friday December 17th, 2010. After a motorcycle accident the day before Thanksgiving in 2008, which had him in a coma for the past 2 years, he was called up to the Lord to be free again. May he finally be in Peace and be Jessica's guardian angel. May Jessica find the strength to get through this difficult time knowing he is in a better place and watching over her now. He was taken too young at the age of 24 but, he will forever be with you Jessica...

What's a Fathers lesson to his Daughters??

2010-12-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Well, for Ty, it's teaching the girls' all about Firearms. One of our most precious privelages as Americans is the right to posess firearms, a privelage that Ty has been unable to have for so many years. Almost 15 years ago Ty got introuble and lost his privelage to ever own a gun, this past year he was finally awarded his civil rights once again. (After a 2 year fight) Needless to say, this is a HUGE accomplishment for Ty one that he will be forever grateful for.

Ty is so passionate about teaching the kids how to use & respect firearms in a way that is safe. Paige is our biggest fan of target shooting and can I tell you that girl has good aim...so ya' better watch out! Ty is taking Paige on her first hunt next fall for Wild Turkey. Tyler already got to go on a boys trip hunting for squirrell this last October. What great Father/Child bonding!!!

Thanksgiving Happiness

2010-11-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving this year was a quiet one yet, a fabulous one! My cousin from Tucson came to visit us for the week and we were privileged enough to spend our Thanksgiving in beautiful Sedona. Sedona has become one of my newest favorite places to visit. Regretfully, I didn't get any pictures of the surroundings BUT I did manage to buy myself a new camera on Black Friday, which quite frankly felt like the longest day of my life!

This was the first Thanksgiving I've ever had with snow, talk about magical! It was certainly a white little winter-y wonderland!

Now, we're all geared up and ready for Christmas!

My cousin Emma with the girls

Aunt Liz & Lacy on Thanksgiving

Bill & Kris on Thanksgiving

Bo having a blast in the snow, his new favorite thing!

What a beautiful sight!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Halloween in the Morgan home this year felt a little bit rushed, un-organized, unplanned & completely chaotic! It felt like we had 1 day to put it all together, including costumes, and it lasted for THREE days! I'm still recooping. ...the things we do for our kids!

We started Halloween on Friday night at our schools Halloween Fall Carnival, it was a blast! I'm on the PTO board so we had to organize & run the event for the night...hence, why I'm still tired! Ahhh, the lovelies of having such a large family..I put them ALL to work! lol With everything we have had going on lately with the house, it's pretty amazing we were able to pull it all together in such a short time and make it a great halloween for the kids.

The kids' pumpkins they did by themselves (with a little help)

We made the kids pumpkin shaped pizzas, this was kyla's roasted sweet potato pizza that she loves (weird, right?! But it's good)

Beautiful Kyla!!

I asked him to be scary, LOL!

Paige and Shelby

THIS is why I was so tired~! 13 items we baked for the cake walk...if I have to smell another cake/cupecake cooking I'm liable to jump infront of a Semi!

This was a funny game, all the kids were playing to win those silly bands..you should have seen the line!

They both won some though..;)

Paige & Kyla at the cake walk (they ran it for me) LOVE these girls!

Ok..so Tyler had been doing the cake walk for 2 hours and had yet to win a cake. Kyla decides she wants to try it and wins the FIRST time! My heart would sink everytime Tyler's number wasn't called :( He finally won a cake at the end of the night, you should have seen him leap out of his chair with an ear to ear grin once his number was called, precious!

Alexa and her Vampire friend

There was my sweet little buggers, all night long!

It was such a great evening!

My Poor Animals...

2010-11-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

The things you find when you share a camera with your kids! Not sure when they took them, all I know is they are super cute!!!! Bobo is such a little trooper!! ;)

Yes, that would be bo's BFF! Literally, they must be married in dog/cat lives and not know they are different species!

Massive Destruction

2010-10-07T16:06:00.001-07:00

At 5:15 am yesterday morning we had 2 tornados touch ground in our neighborhood. One touched down on my street, the other up the street. I'm still so speechless, I don't even know the words to say to express the fear I had as I walked out my front door and witnessed a massive detruction such as this one.

By the grace of god my family is unharmed, as well as the rest of my community. Even though 32 homes need to be rebuilt. So many of our friends & neighbors are suffering huge losses. I can't thank those enough who called us continuously to check on us and offer any help needed.

This house was 3 houses down from ours, they lost their entire roof..it collapsed on them in bed but no one was harmed...its a miracle!

This house had the same thing, notice the garage is gone with the roof, they are lying in the forest behind the houses

This was walking up the stairs in our friends' house helping them get their kids' clothing, roof is completly gone

this was their kitchen entry...glass all over the floor

Their cars

This house was 2 houses down from me, total devastation!

This is my house! Someone was watching out for my family...thank you god!

Our backyard, the most of our damage...

I will never forget this day

End of Summer BBQ

2010-10-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

As promised, I have some pictures to upload from our bbq. We had some great people share the day with us, too bad I don't have a picture of Robin & Keith! They are friends I met on a meetup group, I'm so glad to have met them because our kids are almost all the same ages and they get along so wonderfully.

Paige and her BFF Shelby upstairs being goofy

Kyla the diva...lord help us all!

Alexa and her sweet little friend Aurora playing grown-ups

Luv this girl, so beautiful!

The parents~

This is Shelby & her mom Loraine, they are so awesome! I'm so glad Paige has made such a great friend!

My favorite friends~The Hoys! Love these peeps!!

Time Flies!

2010-10-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

Holy heck, can you believe it's already beginning of October?? My entire year has just flown by like a rocket! I'm going into my favorite time of year..hip hip hooray!!

It's been forever since I've blogged, but I have been extremely busy and overloaded with other priorities. This PTO position I'm holding seems to be taking a heck of a lot more time then I expected, but I still love it!
Kids are doing awesome and I'll blog updates once I have more time!

Heart-throb

2010-09-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Ugh...he still makes my heart go pitter-patter!

I have the best hubsters ever!!

We had our first Morgan BBQ here last weekend with some amazing friends (more pics to come soon) and this great man cooked like a pit master ALL afternoon long!!

Ain't he so dang cute?!!

Goodbye diet...hello cakeballs

2010-09-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

(I know these look like little skulls or something grotesque, but my lighting was horrible! Don't let the picture fool you)

These are the most yummiest things I have ever eaten, so rich and delectable, I could hardly stand to eat just one. I got the recipe from one of the other mom's in my PTO group. She had brought these yummy little balls into one of our PTO meetings and all of us parents where in cake ball heaven! If I could do one thing different, I would substitute the white chocolate for white almond bark, the chocolate is super pricey and SUPER sweet.

Here's how to make them:

1 box of cake mix

1 tub of frosting

1pk white almond bark (if you use chocolate instead, you will need 2 packs)

Bake the cake as directed

In a large bowl pour frosting in the bottom of the bowl

Once cake is done baking, pour hot cake into the bowl of frosting, mix well until it's one big gelatinous mess

Make bite size balls (should make 40-45 balls)

Place on a cookie sheet and freeze until well formed & cooled

Melt chocolate and dip your balls in the chocolate

Freeze again until hardened

I stored mine in the fridge but you can also keep them in an airtight container

YUMM-O!!

I'm in heaven...

2010-09-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

with all these neat little treats I get from my bountiful baskets. I can't believe how excited I get every second saturday of the month when it's my day to pick up my basket. I'm not kidding when I tell you it's like Christmas morning for me, I never know what I'll be getting. (or maybe it's like opening up a box of chocolates, lol)

Several people got me turned on to the bountiful basket program, for those who don't do it, you're missin' out on a whole-lotta goodness!

I was SO excited when I got my basket this morning I had to share, it was simply AMAZING!

We ordered 2 baskets this time around plus we ordered some of the extras and they were well worth it!

This was our salsa pack, I made some yummy salsa verde & red tomato salsa out of this. I had to laugh at that tiny miniature garlic tho, I could use that all up in one dinner dish!! (I've never bought the italian pack but after this awesome salsa pack, I will definetly buy the italian one next time around!)

This 9 grain bread is great! Ty just loves it! The tortillas smell so good, what a great bargain for 7 dozen tortillas.

This was our fruit portion of the basket, mind you, this is just ONE of the TWO fruit portions I got! Talk about generous!

And my favorite, the veggies!! For those of you who know me, you know that I could eat veggies all day long, I love them & crave them!! Ya, I know, what happened to my kids?!!

This was the veggie portion of our basket, and yes, its just ONE of the TWO I received! What you're not seeing is the other 3 packs of baby portabellas I got. For the record, I received FOUR baby bella packs today...these alone are almost as expensive as the cost of 1 basket! I was doing my happy dance when I saw all the corn (12 ears total) and the butternut squash, I have a new love for butternut squash and the kids could eat the corn raw!

I also got a 36 pound box of apples!!

This week was GREAT for baskets!! Now I need to think of a bunch of recipes for the week with all this yummy food.

Mommy rambles on again...

2010-08-27T08:04:00.000-07:00

I've recently come across some really good scriptures that I felt I had to share. In my life, it seems that about every 6 months I am needing a re-boost in my positive energy, things to be thankful for and the regaining of my faith. For me, it's so easy to get lost in the everyday whoas, then I start getting to that place of negativity that I don't like to be in. Once you are in that place, you know it, because you lose sight of what is right with your life & your situations.

Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE being ME! I feel I have the best life, best family, best friends, and the best situations, but with 4 kids (2 of which hate living here and hate their schools) and trying to re-establish a business in a new place...getting into a negative downward spiral is not good for me or my family. Mom needs a re-vamp in order to re-vamp my kids, right? Afterall, moms are the rocks of their families!

"What is the difference between an obstacle and an opportunity? Our Attitude tward it. Every opportunity has a difficulty, and every difficulty has an opportunity."

This is so powerful to me! It just proves again, that our attitudes in life can get us through anything. Looking back on all our moves we took to get to where we are now, I realize that they were all little stepping stones with a little bit of difficulty and alot of opportunity. That opportunity has made us who we are today.

"Some people are born into wonderful families, others have to find or create them. Being a member of a family is a priceless membership that we pay nothing for but love"

Amen! No matter what life throws at us, no matter what dysfunctions come about, I know that I come home every day to an amazing family. Ty & I have created a family that is all ours! I always dreamed of a perfect, large, loving family and to know that we have created that for ourselves is pretty amazing! Another example of your thought process, it doesn't matter where you come from, you can have ANYTHING you want!

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.

You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves. "
~ Abraham Lincoln or Rev. William J. H. Boetcker

Ok, so this one is a little off the rocker of my subject but I seen it and I felt moved! I am so disapointed with the way things are right now in our government and when I voted, I wish I could have seen how things would have been 1 1/2 years later. For that, I take part responsibility since my vote was directed to the democratic party..ONLY because I thought it would change things. Well, it most certainly did! When I read this, I felt like they were talking directly to me! As an employer, I feel I have gotten the short end of the stick since our government seems to think we should keep giving and expect our people to quit working. I mean really, why work when you can get paid more to not work, right?? Wrong! Even though I am very outraged with certain government matters, I will continue to shoot for the stars. I will continue to strive to be the best American I can be, I will continue to teach my children that hard work & devotion will get them anything they desire, I will continue to try to see the best in our economic situation and have hope that it will change soon.

Update

2010-08-17T19:57:00.000-07:00

We made it through the treacherous move, at many times I thought I would never get through it. I never realized how much stuff we had until I sat there in the garage of the new house, drowning my unpacking sorrows in my glass of wine, thinking to myself "geesh, how the heck did we acquire SO much stuff?" A couple of times I even looked over to my mother-in-law and saw the look on her face and it just confirmed what I already knew, we MUST downsize our belongings next move!

With the moving done, unpacking almost done and the cleaning 75% done, I can now say that I am comfortable in my new home. ;) It took us 3 days to get here, but I am oh-so glad I got here! It's always hard to move our family since we tend to move quite a bit, but I always know when my kids are happy...it's when I hear many giggles and see lots'o'smiles...which I seen today. But then again, the satellite man came to hook up our TV today so I wonder if that had something to do with it....hmmm?? O well, either way, I'm thrilled!

I haven't had time to snap pics of the inside, but I HAD to share the impeccable views of the pine trees we have here, it's so serene.

My view out the back it's just incredible!

Our backyard view, I mean seriously, does it get better??

The view from my front yard, literally 10 steps away. Talk about an amazing park!

Slightly Compulsive...

2010-08-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

That is how I feel about my new love for grocery shopping, hehe. I'm hooked on saving money! I get the biggest high when the checker tells me I have saved over 90% of my grocery bill, it almost makes me want to break out in my 'happy dance' right there infront of her, lol!

Every so often I get looks from annoyed shoppers lined up behind me as they are waiting for the cashier to finish scanning the gazillion coupons I have handed her, sometimes I've even caught them rolling their eyes and even packing up their items and head to another lane. Does this bug me? No, not anymore. My thoughts are this: You go ahead and get annoyed, pack up and leave, that's OK with me...I will just sit here and keep paying $0.10 a box for cereal, $0.03 a can for spagehettios and $0.19 for my papertowels while you full price! And while I'm skipping out of the store with all my free catalinas for MORE FREE groceries and you're drowning in the debt of your groceries, you might just think twice about snubbing a crazy coupon lady in the grocery store again!!

My newest shopping adventure

I purchased:

2 bounty papertowels

9 boxes of kleenex (No hoarding here, it's all for school folks)

5 jugs of Sunny Delight

2 packs of feminine products

1 box fiber 1 granola bars

1 bag chex mix

1 bag quacker chips (not shown, I ate 'em)

3 boxes of cocoa puffs

1 box trix

3 powerades

2 gallons milk

1 bag of ruffles

1 package of the new Mac & Cheese

1 bottle of dawn dishsoap

Total BEFORE Coupons & V.I.P. Card: $90.42

Total out of pocket for me: $6.99

Coupons are great!!

Guess who's back??

2010-08-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

ME! There has been so much stuff going on lately I don't even know where to start! We've been so busy that I haven't even had time to do much couponing, can you believe it?? Me neither! So, what does a loyal couponer do when she doesn't have time to coupon shop?? Yep, she doesn't shop! Now that all my cupboards are bare and I have some time off, I'm shoppin'...hehe.

July was just a crazy month for us, Ty & I were the busiest we have been in ages (this is a good thing). With much time spent away from home and many things to get done prior to our move, I took a week off of work...well, sorta.

Things are going great and finally starting to all come full circle...

We have indeed locked in our new house in Flagstaff that we are so anxiously awaiting to move in to. I still have to pinch myself when I talk about moving to flagstaff because I feel it's all one big dream and not a reality. It's such a gorgeous place and it's hard to believe we will be living there. Our house is perfect for our family, the backyard is enormous and the park across the street is just that..10 feet away. This my friends, will be my kids' playpen...I can't wait!

The business Ty's mom & I started in Flagstaff is going quite well, seems like there is more work for us up there and the potential is much greater then here in Prescott. Who Knew?

Morgan & Sons Construction is going amazing, the guys have more work then they know what to do with. It's been many years of waiting but we are hoping this will be exactly what the boys need to get going.

Once we move, Ty will be home more..YAY!! These 14-15 hours days are killin' us!

But you know, all good things have to come with one not so good thing, right? Last week my car was broken into in my driveway, well once the horn started going off these nice folks decided they would cut all our battery cables to shut the power off. No harm done, except one of the three wires they cut ran the entire computer to our car. After being towed to the mechanic, they were able to fix it for us. They even opened our garage door too, PEOPLE..don't leave your garage clickers in your car!! It could have been worse, I'll take a $300 fix any day rather then someone harming my family. Obviously these people needed the $0.50 in my car more then I did!!

I can't wait to share photos of our new house, I'll keep you posted....

Happy Birthday My Babies!!

2010-08-04T14:01:00.000-07:00

July 26th 2010, my babies turned 8 years old! My heart ached this day! Those sweet little babies that used to crawl around the floor everywhere and used to lay in each one of my arms to take a nap are growing up faster then I can beleive. I've heard people say (ahem, ME) that they can't wait for their kids to grow up and move out....but the truth is....I desperately don't want any of them to grow up and I surely don't want them to move away. They were so excited to finally be 8 years old!

We celebrated their birthdays with many little presents and a trip to the community spalsh pool, they loved it!

Happy Birthday my little angels! You both have always been a little gift from god and I thank him everyday that I was lucky enough to be a mom to an amazing set of twins! You were both very healthy when you were born, which was a miracle, and you've been going strong ever since. One day when you both grown up you'll realize how blessed you both were to have been born with your very best friend, your friend for life! Mom & Dad love you so much!!!! Happy 8th Birthday!!

Bieber Fever

2010-08-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, thats what we had...literally! July 25th I took kyla to her much anticipated Justin Bieber Concert. Let me just start by saying how hilarious it was to watch 13,000 little girls (and even some GROWN women) screaming and going crazy over a teenage little boy who maybe weighs around 90 pounds, soaking wet!

I think I was deaf for about 2 days afterwards, I've been to some concerts before (even a rock concert) and I've never heard music so loud before in my life!! Kyla had a blast, it was a great mother-daughter date night. That is, until she got it....that is the bieber fever. Yep, she almost passed out! We had to leave a little before it ended because she almost collapsed in her seat, LOL! Ok, it's totally not funny but it's really kinda funny. :) Here's a picture I snapped with my phone since no cameras were allowed, he's harnessed to a huge heart (hmm, wonder whos idea that was) and he's singing all the girls a love song with his guitar...you should have seen the girls under him, you'de of thought he was Michael Jackson or something! Sheesh!~

All grown up

2010-08-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

On July 15th, 2010...my first baby girl turned 15 years old! I look at her with such amazement, I'm so proud to call her my daughter. I'm so proud to see her growing up to be a wonderful young lady with many great qualities and talents. It puts a huge lump in my throat to realize how quickly my time with her has gone. In 2 weeks she will be a sophmore in Highschool, say what? She'll be driving in 11 months, one day she'll even have a serious boyfriend (one day, very long from now). Makes me very sad!

We celebrated her birthday by allowing her to get her nose pierced, yes thats what I said, her nose. Can you say, OUCH!? As you can see by her picture, she wasn't very thrilled with her smiling for the cake...love kylas hand on her face, don't ya? Thats what you call sisterly love.

I love you Paigers!! I hope you enjoy your sophmore year and enjoy your new school and make many great new friends. I hope you know that your dad and I love you more then we could ever express to you, you're very special! I love you!!! Happy 15th Birthday

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

2010-07-17T11:57:00.000-07:00

So this week I didn't have many groceries to get but stopped in to safeway to take advantage of their killer general mills deal, KILLER it was!! Check this out...

I Purchased:

2 boxes of golden grahams

2 boxes cinnamon toast crunch

2 boxes of cocoa puffs

2 boxes of granola bars (free w/purchase)

2 bags of nut clusters (my favorite)

3 onions

hamburger buns

bag of ice (not pictured)

My total after coupons & e-coupons: $0.80!!!!

My friends, that is a 99% savings

To all my fellow couponers: SAVE & USE all your e-coupons, it will save you bundles!! It's the best feeling in the world to save this much money, it puts an immediate smile on my face everytime :)

Big Lip BooBoo

2010-07-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

2 days ago, Ty took Alexa to the dentist to get a filling and this is how she was 4 hours later! ( By morning, the entire lip was blistered & pussing)

At first we thought maybe she was having an allergic reaction to the numbing medicine, but her breathing was fine and she was 'normal' so we figued maybe they gave her too much numbing medicine and maybe it would wear off. Meanwhile, I decided to call the dentists emergency hotline number anyhow.

I waited ALL night for someone to call me back, I called twice. Nope, no call. In the morning ty comes to wake me up and tells me she is even worse, it was blistered, pussing & oozing from the outerlip as well as just as swollen as it was the night before. Here we are now, 15 hours after her filling and we are still swollen! And yes, still no phone call from the emergency on call dentist.

I take her in to the ER and they tell us that it looks like some sort of burn or infection. To him, it was very hard to tell exactly what was going on, he diagnosed it as "Trauma to the lip". He said many things could have happened, either one of the chemicals/solvents they used could have burned her outer lip (hence, all the skin was gone from her outer lip & this explains the blisters, this was ty's thought all along) OR he thought maybe if they had her lip stretched it could have cracked and she might possibly have gotten an infection. (explaining maybe why the puss was there) He examined everything and said it didn't look like a bite since there were no lacerations and it didn't look like an object hurt her. He put her on antibiotics right away and advised us to go back to the dentist and ask them what happened. Which we did.

Obviously, the dentists said this is 'normal' and said alexa just bit herself. But it's obvious that couldn't even happen, not where her blisters were. She was blistered, not bitten! Serisously, this is NORMAL??? They were absolutely rude & didn't seem to care much. As a mom, I felt completely useless in helping her feel better. Nothing I could do would make it better, but I will learn from this experience & I will research more about the people who will have contact with my kids. And, to make it even worse, Alexa said the Dr poked her in the cheek with the tooth scraping instrament to get her to turn her head...Nice Practicing Dr!

Happy Fourth of July!!

2010-07-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

What an incredible 4th of July we had! We took the kids to the neatest celebration in Prescott, it's been around for years but we have never been there...it was amazing! The kids had a blast & the food was GREAT! I even managed to get a little sunburned, ok, more like fried! :(

patiently awaiting rides

Cute face painting

such a little hambone!

Dad holding all the snacks

The Berry-go-round. Lexa started out on the ride, then we had to let her off..hehe

Tyler was the only one brave enough to do the bungee

And away he goes... he loved it!

My life as a working mom...

2010-07-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

It's very simple, it's exhausting!

graphics for moms

Lord, please give me the strength to get through these next few months! I'm on a working streak with work in 2 faraway cities, it will all be easier soon!

Fathers Day Celebration

2010-06-21T15:38:00.000-07:00

Gotta love a Father's Day in our home!! It's sure to be one with LOTS of food and whole lotta little chillens runnin' all around! Hopefully you all celebrated your Fathers Day in style and let the dads sit and relax for the day, that is, once they were done with their honey-do list for the day!! hehe. (I'm happy to say Ty had none! lol)

Ty was SO happy this day!! Aint he cute??

Kris with her boys (psst..aren't those 2 little ones at the bottom the cutest things you've ever seen??)

Bill & Billy

Little Alianna was sick that day, but she's still adorable...even if she's puking!

There's my crazy girl!!

Annalese isn't photogenic at all... nope..not her! hehe:)

Me & my sweet girls, OK..can we just at least act like we want to take this picture?? :)

I've said it before, but I serisouly LOVE this girl! She is the best aunt ever! Our kids are so lucky to have her in their lives!

Last but not least, our YUMMY crab boil dinner. Looks Delicious doesn't it?? It was GREAT!

Happy 33rd Birthday Tyrone!

2010-06-20T17:15:00.000-07:00

June 16th, 1977, Kris gave birth to this amazing man who has blessed me with 18 of the best years of my life! Not only is he the best hubby on this planet, he's also the most amazing father, son & brother. He is always there for his family, no matter what!

I find it rather funny that as the years still keep passing on, he still gets embarrased when we make a big deal of his birthday and sing him Happy Birthday, lol. He's so humbled. What he doesn't understand yet, is we are celebrating 'him' and how wonderful he is & how blessed we are to have him!

Tyrone Alan Morgan, I fell in love with you the very first time I seen you & I will love you until the day you die! You are my life, always & forever!!

we made him a yummy strawberry ice cream cake, yumm-o!!

What a STUD!!

He loves his Mama!!

Summertime and the livin's easy....

2010-06-14T12:47:00.000-07:00

Isn't that how the song goes..? Spent the afternoon with the kiddos chillaxen at the pool, talk about some nice weather we've been having here these past few days! The twins have finally mastered all parts of swimming & they are PRO'S!

(Tyler's a swimmin' fool now)

What a handsome little bugger!! Love the Mohawk!

Alexa, A.K.A. "The Boss"

Happy Birthday Grandpa

2010-06-01T19:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight we celebrated My Father-in-Law's birthday. He turned a young 58..Woohoo!! He Looks great! We made him our famous Ice-Cream Triple Chocolate Fudge cake...mmmmm

Happy Birthday Grandpa!! We love you!!

from this side it looks like the candles read 85...hehe

Our sweet little niece Alianna, she looks like a miniature whitney :)

the sugar overload is starting to kick in..Tylers going a little nut-so. I think that cake must be around 2000 calories per serving, horrible I know..lol!

Can't forget the Tedsters, that's grandpa's sidekick! Teddy is ~~super duper spoiled~~ very loved!

Woo hoo...it's the start of the Summer!

2010-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I thought this warmer weather would never get here! It's been great enjoying these cool night & mornings and warm days, ugh, I'm in heaven!

I've arranged to take off 2 days a week this summer to spend with the kids, so far I'm lovin' all this time on my hands...it's been a while!

So, what does summer mean to the Morgan Kids??

For Alexa it means grabbing all the items she'll need for the next 8 hours and heading out the door to play hard with her BFF Imani. We won't see her till lunchtime, snacktime & dinnertime

For Kyla it means an abundance of video games she's allowed to play, for as long as her little hearts content! No Joke here my peeps! Occasionally she'll stop playing to answer her phone and yack a bit, notice her phone is in reaching distance?? :)

For Paige it means lounging like a cat all day! This was a lucky day and she was home but lately she's been out & about her with new BFF Jessica. Those 2 are inseperable....aww, the simple joys of being a sophmore again..

For Bo, well, I think it's quite obvious isn't it? He gets pampered like a newborn baby! He's got his whole human family home with him all day to spoil him and play with him, he LOVES his summer vacations with his humans! Look how good the girls are to him? He get's MY pillow.

For Tyler, well, we couldn't find him for our summer pictures. He mysteriously went MIA with the brandnew bag of popsicles that I bought. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't eat his dinner tonight! lol

What's a boy to do?

2010-05-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

When he has 3 sisters who love to tourture him? Instead of saying no, he decided he will join in on the nail polish fun and paint his entire face with black nail polish. Yep, he did! Ty caught him outside with black painted eyebrows, a black mustache & black toenails...LOL! I could hardly contain myself!

That poor sweet little boy had to wash his face for about 20 minutes before it all came off, his response: "I have mean sisters". Indeed you do my little buggers! It took all I had to keep a straight face through the whole event, ugh, I'm such a mean mommy!!!

isn't he just adorable?? I mean serisously!

his poor little face was beat red!!

I can't wait!

2010-05-30T18:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, here I go again...yacking about my excitment to move to flagstaff. I seriously can't wait to move up there and enjoy their beautiful town & forests. C'mon, is that not the most beautiful scenery or what?! It's so peaceful! Not to mention, the people were so amazingly nice...every single person we seen said hello with a kind smile..this is my kind of place!

We spent the day up there yesterday searching for houses & narrowing it down to the specific neighborhoods we liked, the problem was that I like ALL of them! I've never been to a place where I have enjoyed literally the whole town, normally I am scouting out the areas I feel will suit our lifestyle the most. Flagstaff has it all, in all areas. The homes were amazing, your true "All American Home". Lush green landscaping and bountiful trees abroad. The neighborhoods had children all over, there were huge parks in every neighborhood we looked at. My kids were in heaven, every park we seen we were forced to stop..lol.

We think we have it narrowed down to about 5 areas, I know, it's alot huh? hehe. Ty wants simple, I want square footage and the kids want grass, but we all want affordable...lol. It will be quite the hunt.

We're movin' on up...

2010-05-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

to Flagstaff Arizona, that is. The decision is 99.9% positive as of now. Talk about a whirlwind of moves we have made these past few years, you'de think by now that our kids would be used to moving..NOT!

We're not sure how long we will be living there but hopefully we will all adjust to the winters fairly quickly, did I tell you that we will be moving there in the middle of winter?? Ugh, yuck! We're gonna turn into little eskimos..hehe.

Flagstaff has the most beautiful summers, trees, natural forests and it's such a diverse community. Flagstaff is also where the hubster works, he will get to spend more time with the family instead of commuting several hours each and every day, which is torturous for him.

It's kind of exciting to move to a whole new place again, but also sad to be leaving a place that we have grown to love like Prescott. Who knows, maybe we'll just end up back here afterall...hmmm

Vegas trip

2010-05-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

The vegas trip was a nice break from reality, ~~we lost our asses~~ we were thrilled to have enough gas money to get home!! YAY!! Kris, luckily for her, had better luck then us!! She was a winning machine, the stars were cetainly aligned for her that weekend.

It was a nice, relaxing weekend and I can't wait to go back because I think I still have some partyng in me, lol. We enjoyed ourselves on our final night at my most favorite restaurant, Benihana. For those of you who have never been, you HAVE to go!! It's the best experience ever!!

Ty & I at Benihana, I HATE this picture of myself!

Bill & Kris

They both really enjoyed themselves, it was so neat to watch them having so much fun!

Mothers Day

2010-05-11T06:10:00.000-07:00

Talk about a nice relaxin weekend! Very seldomly do I get to relax and kick my feet up and let everyone else do all the housework/mom work, but this Mothers Day was such a nice change of pace and talk about a treat for mom!!! In all honesty, it was VERY hard for me to sit back and relax and not feel the urge to jump up and fold laundry, I kept staring at that huge pile of laundry and it was all I could do to not think about how much work I would be doing monday if someone didn't get to folding, and quickly. lol

These are my beautiful Calla Lillies Ty bought me, along with a card that had me teary eyed, he always knows how to do it right!!

Is this not the cutest little thing you've ever seen? It's a recipe holder, love it!!! Even better, she made it all herself ;)

This was my FAVORITEST part of Tylers book he made me...he's the best!!

Hopefully you all had a fabulous mothers day also!!!

Viva Las Vegas

2010-04-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

And we're almost off! Just one more day and we'll finally be nestling our little partying feet on that fabulous ground they call the Las Vegas Strip! Well actually, we'll probably be cozying up to the pool rather then the party scene this time but it will all be a welcoming experience and one that is well deserved for sure!! I'm super excited to be going with Ty's parents since we have never been there with them before, hmmm...wonder if Bill might just bust a move there??? Nah, I didn't think so! If I REMEMBER to bring my camera this time, I'll snag some pics of the crazy time and post later, lol

The Hardest Decision...

2010-04-24T13:23:00.001-07:00

This week I had to make one of the hardest decisions I have ever had to make when it comes to my kids' schooling. A part of me felt sick to my stomach, but the other part of me was selfish and felt the need to protect my twins from other students horrible rude words as they get older.

The 3 younger kids started a new school this year that has a different way of teaching, which has taken the twins on a rollercoaster ride learning how the phonogram system works (which I STILL don't understand how to do it). This school bases their whole criteria on this particular phonics program, so when the kids don't know how it all works, it dramatically affects their grades. Alexa has been struggling just to get by and these past few months have made it clear she will have to be held back and repeat 2nd grade again. Tyler on the other hand is doing better.

My fear is that they will be teased and made fun of because they are twins in seperate grades, twins who will not graduate together. After talking to several people & teachers, we have decided to hold tyler back as well. I know this just sounds aweful, but they have an incredible bond as twins and I am just so scared as to what this will do to them in the future. Will alexa one day feel like the dumb one?? Will kids make fun of them?? I feel confident that this will be the best thing for them in the long run and I feel they are still young enough where many people won't say things to them yet.

After talking with Tyler's teacher, she agreed that this would be so beneficial for Tyler as well, since he is just squeaking by. Like I said, I was feeling just sick about this until she explained to me how exactly it is that their birthdays play a huge roll in their development. If you have a 9month old baby and a newborn baby, obviously the 9mo old will be more developed and advanced then the newborn...BUT...they will BOTH start school at the same time. WHOA! My twins are the newborns. So really, they have done phenominal thus far and will even be more succesful having one more year to learn all this stuff over again. She has also so graciously agreed to be the kids' teacher next year...we just love her!

Craziness on the internet..

2010-04-24T12:48:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago, I read a post from one of my fellow blogger moms out there who just went private due to her childrens pictures being STOLEN from her very own blog!

I put so much stuff on my blog (when I blog) that I felt it very necessary that I make sure my family and children are safe from online predators who have sick intentions. How scary, right?

According to her, not only can people stalk you online but they can also find out very easily where you live, but also what school districts your kids would be in...not to mention now they know what your kids look like and what their names are...too scary for me! PLEASE all my blogging mommies out there, be safe and protect your kids!! And yourself!

And... there in...

2010-04-16T15:42:00.001-07:00

Yep, Kyla is officially the owner of her very own Justin Beiber Tickets! She's been desperatly waiting for these for weeks now... Happy Birthday sister!!!

Easter Camping Trip

2010-04-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Annual Easter Camping trip was a success!! The weather was perfect, company was fantastic and relaxation was accomplished (somewhat). The kids had a blast as usual, but we were all anxious to get back home to our nice beds~~:) Here are just a few pics I snapped of our trip, in pure Tracey style..I forgot my camera at home again so these are from my phone.

Can you beleive that the creek was warm?? AND, bo LOVED the water!!!

Happy Easter!!

Our month in review~

2010-03-28T13:54:00.000-07:00

March has just flown by so fast I can hardly believe it will be April next week, Say What?! It's already past the beginning of spring and yet again, we are expected to see snow this week...*sigh*, ugh!

This month was a busy yet, exciting month for us. Not only did I celebrate my 13 year wedding anniversary with the most amazing man on the planet, but my sweet little Ky-monster turned 12.

Ty had been out of work for several weeks, which prompted me to start browsing "frugal living" websites looking for ways to save a buck here and there and now I have developed a passion for this way of life. So much so, that I have been approached by 2 coupon sites offering to pay me money for signing up with their sites and hosting there advertisements on my own site..wow! Luckily for us, Ty has been working for the last 3 weeks and work remains steady but I will still continue to live frugally and shop for deals to ensure more money is always is my pocket! I love it! By the way, in the last 4 weeks, I have saved a total of $682 off my normal grocery bills buying things I would have normally bought prior...woot woot! I haven't hit a $100 grocery weekly bill in the past 4 weeks!!!! (we used to average around $200 week)

The weather has been ablsolutely stunning these past 7 days! I love to see my kids being able to play outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. We borrowed some bikes from Ty's Parents (for us) and we took a family bike ride both days this weekend, just awesome! Never knew how out of shape I really was until I almost died halfway through the bike ride!!!

My best news yet, I have commited to working ou 5 days a week and so far I feel phenominal!! We have a beautiful gym at our community center and Ty's mom & I have been working out there...what a great feeling to give back to myself for a change!

How has your March been? I hope you have all been able to get out and enjoy this beautiful weather and have fun with your family!

Meet, HIM...

2010-03-27T14:54:00.001-07:00

His name is Justin Beiber, not beaver as I have accidentally called him. This boy, ahem, heart throb,has stirred my household up over the past few months. I have NO idea who he is or what songs he sings besides the infamous.. "I'm like baby, baby, baby..Ooohh like baby, baby ooohh" (I know right, what a cool song) but now I am officially in the mix to sit about 20 rows away from his stage in a few months and be in the middle of utter chaos, surrounded by hundreds of little teenage girls screaming "I Love you's" and crying at the sight of this bonefied stud muffin.

Kyla wakes up every morning to his poster, RIGHT smack dab next to her pillow might I add. hehe. She almost cried when she watched me hit the submit button on the ticketmaster website, THIS is how much she LOVES this boy...kinda scary right?

She has been grinning ear to ear for the last 4 hours, guess mama did good on this one..YAY!!! PS, had it not been for the fact is was her 12th birthday present, I would NOT be subjecting myself to such torture..lol.

Ya' think their excited??

2010-03-20T15:59:00.001-07:00

Just had to snap a few pictures of the chillens on their way to see the newly anticipated: Diary of a Wimpy Kid. They have been anxiously awaiting to go to the theater, Ty was nice enough to snag us up some tickets earlier this morning for the afternoon show (has been selling out quickly).

Aren't they so dang cute??!!

BTW, the movie was SO cute! I personally really liked it...it's a must see for the kiddos, very funny.

Just a suggestion

2010-03-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, I've gone off the deep end and made myself a new blog site! Can you guess what it's for??? YEP!! You got it! This way I don't have to bore my family & friends anymore who come to my site to read about our family, not my savings...lol.

You can check it out if this sorta stuff interests you:

One Frugal Momma

13 yr Wedding Anniversary

2010-03-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our 13 year wedding anniversary. I am married to the most amazing man alive and he has blessed me with an incredible, fortunate life with 4 of the most wonderful kids ever!

We've been on this journey to "Forever Together" for the last 18 years, I realized the other day that I have been with this man for literally HALF of my life! WOW! There is no other person in this world who gets me more then him, who knows my strengths and weaknesses and who can read my every thought! We are so much alike, yet we are so different.

When I think back on all the past years we have had and all the many experiences we have shared as a couple, it makes me know that we were just..''meant to be''. He's the other part of me, that I could never live without.

Happy Anniversary Ty!! I love you!!

Spending my dollars with sense

2010-03-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

A few new favorite sites to share with you that helped me save BIG. Here's just a list of things I bought at the stores today for FREE: (or almost free)

*6-boxes of barilla wheat pasta (frys) FREE
*4 boxes of J&J dental floss (frys) FREE
*5 Reach toothbrushes (Frys) ~I paid $1 for all of them
*6 boxes of Dial Soap (frys) ~I paid .90 for them all
*4 bottles of suave kids' body wash ~I paid .25 for each (safeway)
*3 boxes of quaker oat squares cereal (safeway) FREE
*6 degree deodorants (CVS) I paid $1 for all 6 =0.15 each
*4 sub lunchables (safeway) FREE
*2 reeses PB cups packages (safeway) FREE

Now, walgreens has so many great deal...I was able to buy all my things at walgreens today for FREE, PLUS I got back another $4 in free shopping money. Hense, notice I keep buying things at walgreens every week rolling my register rewards over and over and never have to pay out of pocket. LOVE IT!

~~My hubby thinks I've gone crazy!!!~~ Yah, crazy for saving money!! I did so good this week that even Ty was somewhat excited (I said somewhat!)

Check out these new sites:

The crazy coupon lady
My frugal adventures
Saving Cents with Sense
Saving for someday

Another great deal

2010-03-11T07:33:00.000-07:00

Starting this weekend (3/14) CVS is having a sale on degree products.

Click HERE to be directed to the webpage to print the deodorant coupons. According to the fine people at BeCentsable here is the deal:

Buy 6 Degree Deodorants at $2.50 Each

Use 3 ($3 off 2 degree coupons)

Total Due: $6

Get Back: $5 ECB (just like registar rewards)

Final Price for EACH deodorant: 0.15

***WORKS FOR DOVE & DEGREE***

Check this out!!

2010-03-11T04:28:00.000-07:00

There are some major sales out there this week at the Grocery Store, mainly safeway. I made out with some amazing deals and wanted to show you how I did it so you can do the same.

Safeway has some great Catalina coupons still going on too, for those that don't know what Catalinas are I will explain. It's a coupon given back to you after you checkout for cash twards your next purchase on anything you chose to spend it on (besides liquor, RX, cigarettes)

At Safeway~ buy 5 selected items, get a $5 discount at checkout. You can mix and match any items and you can buy up to 20. I'll tell you how I did it

These are the Items priced at $1 AFTER discount:

Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks (gushers, fruit roll ups, fruit by the foot)
**$1**
If you buy 5 this is how you can do it
use a .50/2 from coupons.com (Safeway is doubleing all coupons to $1)
use a .50/2 from smartsource.com
You will pay $3 for all 5, BUT you will get back a Catalina for $3.50.. for a profit of .50cents
You can't buy 10 of these in the same order and double up on your catalinas, FYI. I turned around and bought 5 more with my catalina, Paid $1 (with a coupon) and instantly got another $3.50 back...you can keep doing this over and over.

Nature Valley Granola bars (which also include those yummy sweet & salty peanut ones too) **$1.50**
If you buy 10 this is how you can do it
use (4) .40/1 from coupons.com
use (2) .40/1 from bettycrocker.com
use (2) .40/1 from couponbug.com
Plus grab the 0.40 e-coupon from cellfire.com AND the 0.40 e-coupon from shortcuts.com
You will pay $6.00 for all 10, which comes to .60cents a box
(you could even use your catalina from fruit snacks to help buy these)

Nature Valley Nut Clusters (YUMM-O) **$1.50**
If you buy 5 this is how you can do it
Print out as many $1.00 coupons as you are allowed (I did about 10) from the above sites.
You can also upload coupons to your cellfire & shortcuts sites too
you will pay $2.50 for all 5, which comes to .50cents a box

Chex Mix Bars **$1.50**
with free printable coupons from the above sites, you will only pay .90cents a box

Post Cereal~ buy 4 boxes and get $3 catalina back, buy 5 boxes and get $4 catalina back. Includes these cereals: great grains, honey bunches of oats $2, shredded wheat, honeycombs $2, raisin bran $1.50, grape nuts, fruity pebbles. These are even better if you can get coupons for them. You can't combine this catalina with the fruit snacks catalina, atleast it didn't work for me. I had to buy seperately

Other great safeway buys:
Oscar mayer SUB lunchables (without the drink) .99cents
use a .75/1 from coupons.com
final price~FREE (I snagged several of these)

I ended up paying about .22cents a box for all the things I got yesterday, and I got about 50 boxes..LOL. PLUS, I also received $17 in catalinas for my next trip to safeway that I still need to use. :) (on top of the other catalinas that I already used)

FRYS:

Dial Bar Soap **$1.00** (3pack, certain kinds)
if you buy 2, use (2) $1/1 from coupons.com
final price~FREE

Walgreens:

Kotex products are $2.99 for each 18ct box
If you buy 3 this is the best way
use (3) $1/1 from couponbug.com
you will pay $6 for 3 boxes, PLUS get a $5 catalina back from Walgreens for a final price of .33cents a box

Grape Nuts are $1.75 box
If you head over to postcereals.com and register, you get a free cupons for $2 off any box of grapenuts or shredded wheat. Take that in to walgreens and yor cereal is FREE.
There are so many other great deals out there this week but these are the ones that I thought were the best $$ saving ones. It seems like alot of work, but I get most of my info from 3 fabulous sites and THEY do all the work for me.

Check Out This Site

2010-03-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

I have stumbled upon yet ANOTHER fantastic site for savings! Check out my link to the left~ My frugal Adventures has AMAZING info for all local stores. Safeway has a KILLER sale this week so make sure you check this site.

ALSO~ After checking her site head on over to:

www.coupons.com

www.couponbug.com

www.bettycrocker.com

and print yourself all those free coupons so you can get all those goodies for 0.50Cents or FREE!!

Weight Loss update:

2010-03-05T16:43:00.001-07:00

6 Pounds I've shed so far!! SUPER EXCITED!!! Wish me Luck for this weekend with a big dinner event planned for saturday~

I think I can...I think I can...I think I can..:)

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Hat's off to the Hubby

2010-03-03T18:27:00.000-07:00

While Ty has been off work for these past few weeks waiting for old man winter to get the heck outta here, he was so kind today to offer his services to me and come work with me. He was super cute cleaning out those laundry mats, and might I add, a GREAT hard worker!! He's the best husband ever to help me out, even though its not something he really cares to do! He saved me payroll money and I had a great time working with him, I even treated him to lunch!! LOL!

Love you honey!!

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FREE Return Address Labels

2010-03-03T18:20:00.001-07:00

I just ordered mine and all I had to pay was shipping~Only cost me $3.48 for 140 and their super cute!

HURRY, ends soon

Go to Http://vistaprint.com/freereturnaddresslabels.aspx?affid=cd50&gp=3%2f3%2f2010+8%3a16%3a06+pm

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A Salute to my Savings..

2010-03-03T17:48:00.000-07:00

So you all know by reading my previous posts that I have become OBSESSED with coupon clipping and stalking all my favorite $$ saving sites. Along with stalking these sites, it's also been a GREAT tool to inform me on all the sales at my local stores. Its a MUST for all moms!! PLEASE just give it a try. What a great site, they teach you SO much about how to be a bargain shopper, which I always thought I was until now.

So after clipping all my coupons online, (printing I should say), I found that I could print numerous coupons for the same product and WOW what a savings it got me. I gave it a try for 2 solid weeks and I'm overly excited about my savings, I just HAD to share it with you all.

Here goes:

Albertsons~

2 packs of chips ahoy
2 gallons of milk
3 jars of skippy peanut butter
1pk of gum

Total price that I paid: $4.26
(Total savings $18.46)

Walgreens~

6 boxes of kleenex (yes, we use this much)
colgate toothpaste
dental floss
cough drops

Total Price that I paid: $10.74
PLUS I received $5 back in register rewrds to use at my next purchase, so I actually only paid $5.74)

Frys~
HERE'S THE BIG ONE FOLKS

My total grocery bill was $292.17

My VIP savings were:$106.64
My Coupon Savings were: $68.34

TOTAL PRICE I PAID: $117.19 BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

I Also received ANOTHER register reward for $8.00 off my next purchase at Frys/Kroger. So it was like really paying $109.39

With the tools from these sites and a little bit of work from you, you are totally able to do the same thing. I bought only the things we had coupons for and I totally stocked up on things I would have never been able to afford otherwise.

Remember, it looks like alot of work, but only took me about 2.5 hours each week, thats it!

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I'm HOOKED!!

2010-02-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

Totally obsessed, almost turned compulsive, HOOKED, I tell ya! My new FAVORITE blog site to stalk is http://becentsable.blogspot.com/ and I have been religiously searching, printing and saving more money then I have ever saved before in all my coupon obsessive days of being coupon obsessed! lol! (sorry, I get reeeally excited about these things, can't ya tell?)

I check this website as often as I get online every day, and today I just found another site called Cellfire. For those who don't know about it, you can upload great coupons on to your shoppers card (like frys or safeway, there's a bunch)and you never need to clip again! The coupon savings come off your bill once you swipe your card!

The bonus for me?...Ty HATES, passionatly HATES having to present a coupon to buy something..I sent him to Frys today with his handy dandy little Fry's card and I still saved with my coupons...BRILLIANT! Just Brilliant!

**go to becentable and search through all the old posts and you will come upon the link for cellfire** Also, make sure to look at all the neat freebies on there as well, I've already got 2. PS...don't do the shamwow one, it's really not free and such a waste of time!

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To really teach or just preech? This is the question...

2010-02-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

It's already a major pain in the butt that we can't bake our children foods to share at school like we used to back in the day, but serisouly, to replace my home cooked semi-healthy treat with friggin pop tarts??? Seriously?? THAT is supposed to be a healthy alternative? C'mon now!!

While watching my famed FOX news this morning, I saw that this is happening in NY. Why do I care about what is going on in NY?? Well, DUH! If it passes in NY, it will only be a matter of time before this ridiculous stuff passes in our hometown.

Bake sales raise alot of money for schools, in NY they did away with the bake sales and replaced the bake sale revenue with vending machine revenue. With childhood obesity at an all time high in America, this doesn't make very much sense to me.
As parents, we all try to teach our kids to eat whole healthy foods with only a little bit of splurging, but how is supplying our children with a vending machine full of PROCESSED foods everyday helping the obesity problem in our country?

Bake sales usually last only a week, vending machines are permanent. Now you do the math, it seems to me that the schools are choosing to make more revenue over teaching healthy habits.
So the question remains, are we really teaching? Or just preeching?

No Brownies, but doritos and poptarts are really ok?? Am I the only parent who has a problem with this? Many of these mom's who bake for bakesales/childrens classrooms (myself included) love their children and would rather make their children something from scratch instead of buying something pre-made with ingredients on it that you can't even pronounce or understand. Seriously, when I need a dictionary to read the food labels, I certainly would rather my kids having the darn brownie made by some bake sale mom! Whatever happened to the good ole' days where you could make your kids cupcakes for their birthday and bring them to school? Or you could make holiday treats for parties at school? Seems to me that when I was a kid (BTW, bakesales were the highlight of my twilight back in the day) there wasn't such a big problem with childhood obesity, we all survived without vending machines and we all ate lunches our moms made for us. OH...and we had P.E. back then too. Don't even get me started on the lack of P.E. in our schools...another subject for another day!!

One last question, when was the last time you baked your kids a brownie, cupcake or cookie and you added fake flavoring? Fake food coloring? Preservatives? Flavor enhancers such as disodium inosinate and disodium gyanylate? Ya, me neither!

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A weekend with some great friends...

2010-02-22T17:39:00.001-07:00

This last weekend we went down to the valley to see our nieces & nephews for our nephews 6th birthday party. After the party we headed over to some of our dear friends' house for a night of hanging out & good times. It was SO great to spend time with our friends Billy & Robin. It was such a great time!!

I just had to share the adorable pictures of our room that they had prepared for us at the 'Ludwig Inn'..lol. Much to my surprise, she had the room done up for us with all my kids' favorite candies (And, uh, thanks for the candy robin the kids had a MAJOR sugar high that lasted up until sunday evening..:))

It was like our own hotel room, what a NEAT idea and I was lovin the whole thing!! She even had the fridge stocked with Beer for Ty and his Monster Drink...oh and beef jerky for the kids! SO CUTE

Do you see the adorable set up?? Coffee & coffee pot!! Even HOTEL SOAP for Kyla (she collects it, weird I know)

Hmmm...wonder what they would charge us if we ate the candy??? LOL

Lexa just LOVED the set up too!!

Robin & Billy~ we had such a great time with you guys and it went by way too fast! You are both so good to us and the kids, we couldn't ask for a better set of friends!! I love you all!

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On that road again...

2010-02-07T12:53:00.000-07:00

I'm back on the wagon again to get myself in shape and lose those nasty unwanted pounds I have put on over the last 5 months. Last year, around April, I was so happy with myself because I had been to my lowest weight since I have had my last 3 kids..(huge goal for myself)

Since then, I have gained back 20 pounds of what I had lost. Every morning I wake up and I feel gross & uncomfortable...it is definitely time to make a change and STICK to it! I've been blaming it on the stress & the other crud we were going through, but now I am realizing that my life is exactly where I have always wanted it to be...everything is fabulous...so I am out of excuses!

Tuesday, I will be 32 and I want this year to be the best year for me physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually. I want to feel good about me again!

I have tried many diets from low calorie, low carb down to plain ole' no fat! What have I learned from all these diets? That I HATE diets! This time around, I will stick to what has been tried and true before, eating the foods I want but keeping them in reasonable portions and keep practicing the food laws: Eat what grows in the ground, no processed or refined foods and no sodium. Oh yeah, and exercising again!!

Wish me luck!!

For those that are watching what they eat too, I wanted to share a great website I have been using for years. She has many things on the site and mainly focuses on Weight watchers, but her meal plans & recipes are perfect for anyone. If any of you have any great food sites or recipes, please share with me!

http://www.dwlz.com/

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Calling all Mom's out there...

2010-02-05T17:31:00.001-07:00

I want to share one on my new favorite sites with you all...I was turned on to this website about 2 months ago and since then I am proud to say I have saved around $15 from the coupons she puts out. I know I know, it's not that much, but it's still $15 PEOPLE!! The coupons are great and easily printable. (Trust me, with a family of 6, I can use ALL the help I can get) The most recent coupon was for Chocolate cheerios, which I picked up today for a whopping $1.25! WOOT WOOT!!

For those Facebook mommas out there, add it as one of your fans and you will receive all the coupons right on your FB page.

http://becentsable.blogspot.com

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2010-01-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

The move is finally done and can I clarify again how much I HATE moving!!!! WORST thing ever!! Either we have way too much stuff, or we have way too many kids!! lol.

Ready to settle in and and get comfy.... I LOVE our new home!!

We had so many great friends & family who helped us get through this move & we couldn't have done it without them all. We love you all!! Thanks again for everything!!

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Anxiously waiting..

2010-01-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

I have been glued to my computer for the last week awating a response from a woman who was looking for me to give me information about my father, much to my disapointment I still have not heard anything back from her. :(

I'll fill you all in....

Ever since I was 3, my father has been absent from my life. He and my mom married before I was born, it was a very painful & abusive marriage for my mother during that time. So, when I was 3, they divorced. My mom continued to raise me as a single mom & my father never came back or tried to contact me, for 29 years to be exact.

It's always been my burning desire to meet him or frankly, just to know about him and know why he left me. I understand the fear behind my mom keeping me away from him, but as a child who has had an absent parent in their lives, you always have an empty feeling that's undescribable to those who have never experienced it. So many people in my family don't understand why I would want to meet him and honestly, I don't know either. A part of me is very angry at him for being so selfish and not caring about my feelings as his daughter. I'm angry that he took the easy way out and never gave my mom a penny to help raise me, which she so dearly needed. I'm angry that he doesn't realize how much it hurt growing up without a father.

Then on flip side, I feel sorry for him. I would hate for him to think I hate him, because I don't. What if he really wants to know me and contact me, but he's scared, just like me? What if he does think about me on my birthday? What if he's alone & miserable? What if it made his life complete to know I turned out great and have a wonderful family life? These questions drive me crazy!

So, I have tried to find him for years. At one point, I even hired a PI, which she found him for me...but I chickened out! I know, stupid right? Well she came back to me with some hard information. For starters, she had a hard time finding him due to how many times he moves. He moves about every 6 months which makes it VERY hard to track him...almost like he's running from someone. Could that be me? Another reason I chickened out. She also said he was in prison for 2 years for aggravated assault, 4 counts. I chose not to contact him since I didn't feel comfortable then, but I regret it now.

I do believe people can change & I hope he has too. 3 years ago I put a post on the internet looking for him & requested information from anyone who may have it. Well last week while doing my usual google search for him, I came across a woman who put a post out for ME. She said she was looking for me, to give me some information about my father, however, she wanted to remain anonymous. It was kind of bazaar but I quickly responded back to her and have heard nothing since. I keep hoping and praying that she will get the gull to respond back to me. I need to find out on my own if he is the same as my family says or if he has changed.

My great friend "B" found me his address, which I have since mailed him a letter. I will keep you all posted...I hope this works out so I can FINALLY get closure. Whether he wants to have a relationship or not, I can handle any outcome.

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Poor Vikes!

2010-01-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not one that gets overly vicious about sports (KEYWORD: OVERLY) but there's just something about last nights NFC Championship game that still infuriates me! I agree that the saints should get a chance to head to superbowl, but do I think they deserve it? No! Those ref's called many calls that I was in absolute shock over! I know its very unlikely, but I believe it was a fixed game. (shocking, right?)

I won't go too much into my boring details incase any of you are saints fans (sorry) but I am NOT happy with the outcome of that game! I hope we have better ref's for superbowl sunday and I HOPE and PRAY that the saints won't win! Dear Colts: Don't fumble the ball & protect your QB because these guys play dirty! Much love to my favorite QB's Kurt Warner & Brett Favre..hope to see you both next season!! **sniff ~sniff**

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She's done it again

2010-01-25T08:48:00.000-07:00

I always make fun of my Mother in Law because she always has to change her decor in her house, ALOT! She always says she needs change, she gets sick of the old and wants new...guess I should clarify people; we're talking strictly furniture here..LOL!!

It just dawned on me this morning, after I changed my blog again for the umpteenth time now, I'm a change addict too! Maybe I don't change the decor in my house, EVER, but if I look at how many times I change my blog, change my hair color, change my makeup colors and my clothing styles....I'm the same way. Now to only figure out who spends the most, with the cost of all my hair color..I think I might have her beat! Oh brother! Time for a change!

It's finally out!

2010-01-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

She's had this loose tooth for weeks now & it finally came out tonight, she pulled it out herself! It bled & bled for about 30 minutes too..lol. She's a happy camper waiting for the tooth fairy tonight!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-12-31T14:43:00.001-07:00

Seriously, It blows my mind how fast the year has gone by! I'm so so excited about this new 2010 year, fresh slate sorta~

Not sure about all of you, but I have many, many, many resolutions this year..some of which are old resolutions I never fulfilled last year..hehe. But my 2 most important resolutions this year are just that, the most important!

~*~I vow to be a better mom & not sweat the small stuff, I need to relax a bit and have more fun with my kids. (I think this is a feeling most moms get, or atleast the ones I talk too)

~*~I am making it a point, to NOT make it a point to lose weight (maybe then I'll lose weight :)~

I wish you all a New Year with much Love, Joy, Laughter, Friends, Family, Health & Wealth.

PS...Oh and JOBS!!!

The girls' new hobby

2009-12-30T16:02:00.001-07:00

The girls have been extremely bored these past 2 days and decided that they would learn to sew with the new sewing machine my grandma gave them, afterall, what else do you do when everyone else in the house is under the weather. Look at these cute things they made in literally 1 hour. They purchased all their own fabric, ribbons & thread...pretty neat huh? Now they want to make pajama pants next~ too cute!!! ( I take NO credit in teaching them how to use the sewing machine, they did it all themselves!) Way to go girls!!!

My Family...

2009-12-27T11:34:00.001-07:00

My entire family (minus a few) were at my home for christmas this year. It has been a long time since we were all together, but we had a BLAST!! My family & Ty's family really hit it off and had a wonderful time together. It was a great night spent at the Bon Fire!

Below:
My cousin Emma, Me & my Nana (grandmother)

Below:
The Morgan Family~ Ty's Parents to the right and this is all their kids & their grandkids. (Plus Aunt Liz is in there too, kris's sister)

Below:
Emma, Me & Nana having fun at the fire (maybe a little too much)

Below:
Emma, Our Tata (grandpa) and me. I love this man, he's the best!!

Below:
Me & Emma with Nana & Tata...aren't they soo cute!

New Pictures of the Kids

2009-12-20T07:07:00.001-07:00

Now these are more appealing to me :) Enjoy!

Get that sickness outta here!

2009-12-19T05:48:00.000-07:00

OH NO!! We can't POSSIBLY have sick kids right around the corner from Christmas! Of all the times for my kids to get sick, they get sick when I'm about to fill my house with 25 people for the holidays! Tyler was throwing up all day friday, Alexa is now developing a terrible cold and kyla's cold seems to be coming back! I'm crossing my fingers for no more pukers! I still can't get that icky smell out of tylers mattress~eww!

Gearing up for christmas

2009-12-16T07:37:00.001-07:00

Well, I don't quite know where to start. We decided to have our good friend Jana over with her 2 boys to have a whole baking day, which went wonderful by the way! I always love to spend time with her and her family! The plan was that the following morning, we would all head over to the mall and take a family picture. WELL....

The pictures turned out less then perfect for what I expected. For starters, it was a chore to get my kids out the door that morning, the rain was coming down like a geyser and it's the first family picture that none of my kids were color coordinated! It's the little things like these, that drive me bonkers!! All morning everyone was fighting and the house was absolutely CHAOTIC! Alexa REFUSED to wear something decent, along with ripping out her hair during one of her fits that I spent 20 minutes curling. Tyler would not take off that Jacket, kyla would NOT let me do her hair to save her life (and what the heck is up with the leg being up??? Seriously!) Paige was slouching in one picture to the point she looks completly bored out of her mind! Ty was dying from the heat of the fireplace, which at one point he was completely red (more then normal folks) and sweat started pouring from his forehead!! LOL. Did I mention I felt like the size of a house? Yes, I have gained some weight these past few months, but BOY O BOY does it show in a picture!! As much as I would love to just erase and re-record, I must still share this picture as a memory of where our family is today.

I always look back at our family pictures over the years and I'm totally saddened at how fast the time has passed by and how grown up my kids are getting. I'm not so sure what was going on in the Morgan household on this particular picture day to have it be such a hectic mess, but one thing is for certain, I will look back on this picture one day and miss being in that spot on that day!
I love those little stinkers more then they will ever know!!!

Alexa decorating her cookies

Tah Dah! I think most of these are baby haydens but some are the twins'

My sweet little bugger! (you should have SEEN how many sprinkles they went through..lol)

Mama and Lexa

OK...so here it is...the dreaded pictures!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

First Snow of the season

2009-12-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

Yep so it is...the first snow of the season for us up here in the beautiful pines of PV. I woke up this morning to the wonderful views of snow out my back window. It was all grand and great, until I had to drive in it. There was about a 20 car mess trying to get out of our community, cars in the ditch, stuck in the median and jack-knifed. It was so scary. It took me 3 times to get out of my community and all three times I was just about sick to my stomach at the thought of the inevidable. I love the snow...just not driving in it. I have love for all you minnesota, washington and illinois snow drivers!!! For the record; this is the WORST snow I have seen here (ice wise) since we have lived here in over 3 years.

Below you see bo in the last picture...he was acting like a crazy man out there in the snow~too bad he hurt himself so bad that this evening he can barely walk...my poor bubbers! He LOVED it though..he was racing around the back yard like a maniac at 5 am in the morning...lol.

Let the constructing begin

2009-12-06T12:36:00.001-07:00

Ty has officially started to re-do my old schwinn bicycle that I used to ride when I was a kid. With the help of his brother, they have taken the bike completely apart. They are going to sand it, paint it and make it all brand new for Alexa for Christmas.

For those who don't know about this bike, I'll share with you the story of how it came into my life. When I was 8 years old my grandfather bought me this bike for my birthday, I remember it well...with its old blue scratched up paint, white glitter banana seat and the big white basket on the front. I thought I was lance armstrong on this bike let me tell ya, I thought I was hot stuff!

Then around the age of, um, lets say 12...I hated this bike, with a passion! It was too old school for me..I wanted a BMX, but NOPE! My tata was a man who wasted nothing, if that bike had 2 wheels and would still pedal around then it was good enough for me. According to him, that was a "perfectly good bike"!! So what did I do you ask? What a typical spoiled brat would do, I REFUSED to ride it. Instead, I took up rollersating to get around. (which I ended up breaking my arm at his house, see he should have listened to my requests in the 1st place)

The bike was then passed on to my poor little cousin. She too, hated that bike. In the same fashion, tata told her the same thing he told me : "thats a perfectly good bike!". She even recently told me she had tried abandon the bike in the wash near their house in the hopes of maybe getting a new bike...but those hopes were squashed when a local neighbor walking in the wash noticed a bike that he had seen one too many of my tata's grandkids riding on and doing the "good neighbor' thing they do...he brought the bike back to my tata's house. Needless to say, my cousin was furious that this bike had been recovered...but tata was THRILLED!

So about 5 years ago, my tata gave me my bike back so my kids could ride it. At first I was horrified to see that same old, dingy bike arrive back at my door. It has since become a family heirloom, and it has touched me that my tata has kept it for all these years and never tossed it out. It has many memories of my childhood, as I'm sure many memories for him as he remembers all his grandkids riding this bike. (and now we're all grown up) If you can beleive it, my kids LOVE this bike! So we thought it would be a great idea to take this perfectly good, solid constructed bike and fix it up since it is afterall, a classic. And a classic in my family.

My tata doesn't know our plans of fixing up the bike & this year he will be spending christmas with us...I can't wait to surprise him and alexa with a brand new shiny pink schwinn. (Shhh..don't tell mom) OH, and the funnier thing is my cousin who ditched this same bike will be here too..LOL. I'll post pictures once it's done.

Lexa's new haircut

2009-12-05T14:05:00.001-07:00

Alexa badly wanted another 'short do' and since I know what she will do if we don't comply with her hair requests, we cut her hair today. I am not the mom who really likes my girls to cut their hair short, but she is very able to wear a short haircut and rock it! She looks so cute!!! 1 down, 3 to go before christmas.

Thanksgiving is the start...

2009-11-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

to BLACK FRIDAY! Oh yes, you better beleive my butt was at the store at 3:45am waiting to get, well, I'm not sure exactly what I was going after this year really. I just had to go! I was able to start my christmas shopping and slowly I will finish it all by the time christmas comes. Nothing is better then the larger ticketed items kids request as they get older...joy! Atleast the 3 younger kids are easy to please still :)

BTW...walmart was still a mad house!! At one point I asked myself WHY I was even there! It's amazing to me how many adults will act like such immature children over stupid $10 toys. I mean really, I'm seriously thinking the $5 I save on that same $10 black friday toy..isn't worth practially loosing a limb or getting the back of my heels bloody. Don't get me wrong, I consider myself to be a Black Friday Pro Shopper...but I'm certainly not vicious; unless I'm forced! After last year when someone stole, YES I SAID STOLE the wii out of my cart...I'm a little bitter :)

Tylers Funnies Part 2

2009-11-18T05:22:00.000-07:00

Our conversation last night at dinner:

Alexa: mom, tyler has a girlfriend

Me: What?

Tyler: Well mom, there is this girl at school...she has had a crush on me and I've had a crush on her...so we decided we'de just get together

Me: What do you mean "get together"

Tyler: ya' know...we're going out now mom! (almost with like a DUH mom attitude)

Paige: Well make sure you don't kiss her tyler

Tyler: Oh we can't Paige, we aren't allowed to make out at school anymore!

Me: SPEECHLESS!

Trading Tuesday

2009-11-18T05:10:00.001-07:00

CUBAN CHICKEN~~

Chicken leg quarters (or breasts if you prefer) I made 10 pounds..

Mojo Marinade ...Goya brand

1/2cup diced white/yellow onion

1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 limes, sliced in wedges

Marinate the chicken in the mojo marinade for atleast 4 hours. We did ours overnight. Chop onion & parsley and place in a bowl together and refridgerate for an hour so the flavors can mary. Place all the chicken on a baking sheet sprayed with PAM, bake for 45-55 minutes at 350; or until cooked through and has roasted color to it. The legs take much longer to cook then the breasted chicken. Once chicken is done, squeeze with 2 limes and cover with your parsley/onion mixture.

We served ours with pan roasted/carmelized veggies & couscous with parmesean & pine nuts.

CousCous: make according to directions on the box~I make 2 servings which is 2.5 cups chicken stock with 2 cups couscous. I add an assortment of seasinings, just depends on what I am making. This particular one I added garlic powder, kosher salt,pepper, toasted pinenuts. Once the couscous is cooked I added the parm cheese, fresh parsley, green onions and some olive oil until the mixture was no longer clumpy. The kids like it.

1st Place Champions!

2009-11-14T15:29:00.001-07:00

So it is, they have won their division. She played 10 games while being completly un-defeated. Talk about something to be proud of! These girls did an amazing job and their teamwork with each other is what brought them to the 1st place trophy. I'm so proud of her & her team!!

The last game was probably the best game they have ever played. The other team played very well and made our girls really work hard. The majority of the game I was at the edge of my seat, while screaming! (I think I will be out of a voice tomarrow) Ofcourse, I was screaming nothing but goodness to my kyky...lol. :)

I have to say that Girls are the most aggressive soccer players I have yet to see, and also the most compassionate. Kyla has played in this league for several years and is friends with many of the girls on her opposing teams...
When kyla came up to me after the end of the game, I was immediately praising her and giving her many of hugs and she turned to me and said that she felt really bad for winning because the other girls were so upset & she had seen one girl crying. At that moment, I realized how much MORE then soccer kyla has learned from her years in sports. She knows what it feels like to be on both sides of the fence, she knows when to gloat and when to be compassionate. I'm so proud of her for GREAT SPORTSMANSHIP!

**but she is still excited about collecting that 1st place trophy on tuesday** By the way, kyla is trying out for the traveling soccer team on tuesday night, which would allow her to keep playing into early spring. I'll keep ya posted

Paige's Orthodontist Visit

2009-11-12T20:31:00.000-07:00

Today Paige went into the Orthoditist and had her consult. The Dr was so nice and made her feel so comfortable about her upcoming procedures she will have to get.

Soooo...just for you mom, here's the update. She has impacted vampire teeth that are criss crossed up in her gums. The Dr is hopeful they are not infused to the bone, but says they may be very hard to get down, like about 6-9 months. She will have to go to the dentist and get her baby vamp's pulled out, they will then have to cut a small hole into her upper gums (the back side) to try to get to the vampire adult teeth and they will attach a bracket and wire. THEN, the orthodontist will put her braces on and slowly try to get those vamp teeth down. It will be a LOONG procedure but the outcome will be so beneficial for paige. In the event the vamps are fused to the bone (the x-rays are very hard to tell) they will have to be surgically removed. The ortho dr. said he can move other teeth to be in place of the vamps if thats the case.

The dentist is trying to see if our carry -over dental coverage will cover the pulling of her 3 baby teeth they need to have pulled before they can put the braces on. If insurance covers this, which we arent sure because it is VERY limited insurance, it will save us $360. She should have the braces on by January and the payments are very reasonable. I'm just so grateful we are able to do this for paige since she is very self concious about her teeth. The overall outcome: A Happier more confident Paige!!!

Veterans Day Program

2009-11-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Our school does a Veterans Day Program every year for all the local vet's, active armed forces,
and all of our local police & firemen. The program was SO AWESOME and the kids obviously all worked so hard on their songs. I was amazed at how many veterans showed up to be a part of this event...the veteran sitting behind me even had tears in his eyes.

The had all the flags of all the armed forces, gave all the service men handmade cards and sang them a big thank you song! It literally brought a tear to my eye to see all the old vet's in their uniforms who came to watch our kids. Ty said it was the best school program he has ever been too. Our only regret, is that we didn't invite Grandpa Bill to join in on the Veterans day tribute...he would have loved it! I was so proud of the kids!! (And the teachers who put so much thought into such an overlooked holiday)

The first video is of my niece's class (Annalese) you probably can't see her but she is at the very top sorta left of the middle.

The last video is the twins' classes. Alexa is on the bottom row in the middle (red shirt) and Tyler is on the very top row all the way to the right in a blue shirt (good luck finding him). Sorry for the shakiness....parents were walking all around us it was hard to keep the camera still.

Thanks to Britt!

2009-11-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

I was inspired by a friend of mine, Brittney, who recently started going back to the public library after several years. Inspired by my love of reading, and my memories of my 'old library' days, I figured I would give it a shot and go back.

Can you beleive I was in there for over 2 hours!? Our newly built library is a bit out of the ordinary, but I was having quite a good time looking for books. Not only did I get many cookbooks (which I don't have to buy now) but I also got movies, and Paige got CD's and movies too. Paige was even able to type up her essay while she was waiting for me to finish..how GREAT is that!!!!

How funny that Paige ran in to so many of her friends from school in the library too. (guess it's the hangout spot...LOL, not when I was a kid, LOL) Once the twins and kyla heard wind that we went to the library, they are dying to go tomarrow and get their share...lol. How sweet!

So for tonight....Ty went to get pizza and we're veggin' out to a movie night (thanks to the library) in our living room. Thanks for the Inspiration Britt!! What a way to save some money...Love Ya Girl!

The Season Of Giving

2009-11-06T16:57:00.000-07:00

As you can see, I am so excited about the upcoming holidays that I have already changed my blog layout again,lol. ThanksGiving is not my most favorite holiday, but I love when it gets here because it means we are almost to Christmas. The Christmas season in our home starts right around a week before thanksgiving, I know, crazy right?

I'm not sure what it is about the season..whether it be the smells of baking, the christmas music in the stores, the old movies played on tv, the excitement my children get waiting for santa or just the fact that I get to drive around and see christmas decorations and trees & lights. Whatever it may be, this type of year is my favorite because it makes me feel so GOOD! I love to give to people, I love to see people smile because of something I have done for them, and I just LOVE how other people feel the exact same way!! This sounds corny, but people are just more beautiful around christmas...don't you think? The joy of giving to others is by far the best feeling I could ever have. We are going to try to instill this again into our kids this season and let them each donate gifts to other kids in need. We were going to try to adopt a family, but due to our finanical situation we are unable to this year...however,I heard today that you can also donate time to your local churches (even if your not members) and you can help wrap presents and put together the food/christmas boxes...what a great way for our family to help someone elses.
That's what it's all about!!

Need I say more?

2009-11-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween Pictures

2009-11-01T20:00:00.001-07:00

We hosted Halloween this year at our home and all I can say are 5 words...KIDS KIDS & MORE KIDS!!! We had our kids, our family's kids and the neighbor kids. It was less then calm to say the least, but very very fun!

Halloween has become one of my new favorite holidays to celebrate, it's really one of the only holidays (next to christmas) that our kids look forward too. What I love about halloween is that it's a time when you can decorate, party, dressup and have lots of fun; and it doesn't involve me buying them tons of presents. I mean seriously, what a great holiday!!

Ty missed out on halloween this year since he was deer hunting with billy :(. I meant to take more pictures but with all the kids I didn't have much time before half of them were out the door. Me, Ty's Mom & his 3 sisters took all 13 kids trick or treating!! YES, I said THIRTEEN kids!!! Brave women we are, huh? lol. But we ended up not losing any little tricker treaters so I guess we did good...

I'm was such a flustered mom that night that I forgot to snap a picture of kyla (sorry sis) but I swear I will steal the picture that Hayley snapped and post it on my blog, otherwise I will make her re-wear her costume..LOL!! HEY, a moms gotta do whatta moms gotta do in order to capture her memories, right!?

I ended the night sitting up with my daughter Paige and her friend and we just talked and hung out for a couple of hours until the wee hours of the morning while everyone else was crashed....it was so cool to hang out with Paigers like that.....great times! (well I'm sure she didn't think it was so great the next morning when I made her and her friend go pick up the pumpkin goop from the 3 punkins they smashed the night before, little turds...they didn't think I would find out!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Markel in his scary mask~ (chelseys son)

Tyler as his scary vampire...

Little Allianna..I couldn't get her to smile not ONCE!

(Hayley's Daughter)

Halloween Pizza's the kids made...how cute!

Cute little Punkin!!!!

Kyla's friend stayed the night, she's SO CUTE!

Alexa's Pumpkin she carved {notice the dimples she did}

Tyler's Pumpkin

Awww...what a bunch of happy little pumpkins

Dominique dressed as a genie...what a pretty color on her

(Chelsey's daughter)

Annalese dressed as a sorceress (hayleys daughter)

There's Hayleys little punkin...

Brenton, I can't remember what he was (chelseys son)

There's my scary little sweet vampire again (tyler) I LOVE the black locks!!

Here's my little witch (no pun intended) Alexa

so cute....

Paige and her Friend~ this girl is such a sweetie. They looked adorable & had a blast!

This is Mishon, Nick and Paige. This picture was so funny because when asked if nick wanted to get in the picture he said 'YA' and he jumped right smackdab in the middle of these two beautiful girls, we were all laughing our butts off. He's a sweet kid!

It just blowsmy mind how grown up my daughter is getting, she's so beautiful.

After trick~or~treating kyla and kiki played a game of checkers before hittin' the sack

The boys patiently waiting to play their game of checkers..

Atlast! They finally got to play their game of checkers before they too headed off to bed. These two boys get along SO GREAT!

Let's Go 'Wheels'...

2009-11-01T19:47:00.000-07:00

Kyla is rockin' her soccer this year! She is doing exceptionally well, her effort alone this season is better then I have ever seen her play in the years past. She is learning which positions she is good at & her coach this year has given her the ability to man those positions to allow her to keep learning & excelling. A couple of the parents told me that they named her "Wheels" because of her speed and footwork. They said she has the best footwork they've seen. (Proud Mommy Moment)

They are still undefeated; 8-0. Saturday was her first of three tournament games (which they won) if they win 2 more they will take 1st place. Even if they don't make it to 1st place, I am so proud of her for her dedication to her team this year!! Like I've said before, there is no better feeling then watching your kid out there doing something that they are good at and they love! (Another Proud Mommy Momment!)

Our Family Happenings...

2009-10-28T11:09:00.000-07:00

Our Vegas trip was amazing! We had the best time together and got to spend a couple of days with some great friends of ours.
Ty was on a winning streak, the second day we were there he won $250 on a slot machine off of $5. We have never ever ever ever won money like that in vegas, so needless to say we were MORE then pleased. On our last day in Vegas Ty did it again, he won another $197 off $10. It was great! Our total tallied up winnings were $620...can I get a Whoot Whoot!

This was him right after he hit the winning, notice he is kinda smillin'

Uh-oh, looks like Ty's happy...Ching Ching !!!! ( looks like mama's even happier, lol)

As for the rest of us....

Morgan & Sons Construction is officially running business. They are doing their first job and they are all so excited to be on their own, I'm very happy for them and I know they will do amazing! They will make it big one day & one day we will look back at all these hardtimes we have been facing and know it was all worth it!

Kyla is still undefeated in her Soccer games. It is now 7-0. Whitney said she was a bit more agressive this saturday at her game, nuh-uh! She's a little firecracker & I'm proud of her for all her determination and the drive she has for a sport she loves.

Paige is due for her orchestra recital this month, I'm super excited to see how well she will do. She seems to like it. She does have a boyfriend now, His name is Ben. I'm dying to see what he looks like, LOL! She tells me I embarass her..LOL...WHO, ME?? No Way! lol. Paige has to get braces, we have an appointment in November to go to the orthodontist and see what he says and how much they will cost...*sigh* ...never ends!

The twins are doing good...they are getting so excited for Halloween this weekend. I can't wait to dress them up...hehe. We are having all the kids over here for halloween so hopefully it will all go Smoooooth.

I'll Keep you posted on halloween pictures...

Thankful Thursday

2009-10-22T04:49:00.000-07:00

I am so thankful that Ty & I are able to get away and head over to sin city. My most favorite place to go next to San Diego. I'm gonna put on my dancing boots and paint the town with my favorite person of all, Ty!!

3 days might be a long time in vegas, but we have friends meeting us up there also to help us kill the time...WATCH OUT PEOPLE, it might get a little crazy!!!

Wish me luck & maybe we might win a few dollars.

Trading Tuesday

2009-10-20T06:13:00.001-07:00

This is a recipe we have been making for years, but the potato salad is a new one. Please don't judge the recipes off the pictures, my camera takes the WORST pictures! Kinda like not judging a book by its cover....same thing. This sandwhich is very light, fresh and healthy. The potato salad has the potential of being very fatty if you fry the potatoes...BUT we baked them, we don't use that 'F' word in this house!!

Tuna on Baguette

(serves 4)

2-3 Ahi-Tuna fillets
Lemon Juice
2 TBSP capers
1 fresh baked baguette
dash red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1/3 cup finely diced red onion
1/3 cup diced black olives
3-4 TBSP olive oil
handful of chopped parsley

**Slice the baguete lengthwise to make 2 halves, hollow out the majority of ech half. Drizzle some olive oil on each half & bake in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, until brown & toasted

In skillet, fill skillet with 1inch of water, 1 TBSP lemon juice, dash of pepper flakes, & bay leaf. Add the tuna and poach tuna for about 15 minutes or until cooked through (do not boil, lightly simmer)
Once tuna is cooked, remove from pan and shred in a bowl. Add capers, olive oil, parsley, red onion, black olives & more lemon juice to desired liking. We use enough olive oil so it's a bit wet, but not soaked. Place the tuna inside the baguette and cut. It's yummy!

Baked Potato Salad

4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 egg, diced
dill, chopped or dry
parsley, chopped
Mayonaise
Mustard

Put your diced potatoes in a bowl with olive oil and all your desired seasonings (we used dill, steak seasoning, paprika, salt/pepper, garlic powder) and toss together until potatoes are covered in oil dressing. Place on cookie sheet and back at 375 for 30 minutes, or until tender and crispy. In another bowl mix the rest of the ingredients together forming the sauce (I usually add a little milk to my mayo/mustart mix to thin it out a bit since we don't like it clumpy)
Once the potatoes are cooked & cooled, add to sauce. It's different and still hits the spot!

My poor pictures make it look yucky! Sorry..but I promise it's good~

All just a Hoax....

2009-10-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Seriously, I just can't beleive this! These children should be removed from these parents since it is obvious the parents have some serious issues. I was panic stricken as I was watching this on TV,my heart ached for the parents...and it was all fake! Pardon me for saying, I think they are sick-o's! What is the craziest, is he already has a TV deal from this..???? What's wrong with America?

Colo. sheriff calls balloon saga a hoax - Life- msnbc.com

Drumroll Please......

2009-10-16T06:22:00.000-07:00

Dah-da-da-Dah.....My very first canning looks like a success!!
I canned some of our gazillion jalepenos we had in a vinegar-y liquid. They are Ty's Fav's, so lets hope I did it right & we don't get that botulism! lol. Thanks so much Sara for the recipe. I think this will be an addictive obsession for me now..I'm thinking I want to make the cauliflower So-Hot mix next..mmm. Now I need to get Sara's recipe for Apple Butter, my FAVORITE!

FYI..the pickling spice I bought has cloves & cinnamon in it~so I did not use. (Eww)

Thankful Thursday

2009-10-15T06:26:00.001-07:00

Wow, first Thankful Thursday in a while, Yay for me! I just love having time to blog and fart around on the computer...so you can only imagine what my Thankful Thursday insert will be about today...Yep...having time!

This week was a rare one for me work wise, I had only 1 job that took 2 hours...THATS IT! So I have had the unusual luxury of being able to stay at home and spend it with the kids (since they are on their october break as well). During these last 7 days, I have been able to do many things I haven't had the time nor the energy to do..like clean all the dark areas in my house and all the dreaded organizing of my closets and drawers. All I have to say is one word, YUCK! For someone like myself who owns a cleaning business, which I train my employees to clean things to my standards of perfection, it would only seem appropriate that my own home would be held to these same standards of perfection, right? WRONG! I have realized, I am a surface cleaner.

Yes, I am the person who opens up the tupperware cabinet & throws in the clean tupperware and quickly shuts the cupboard before things start to crash out onto the floor. I am the person who doesn't know what to do with a peice of paper or mail & I throw anything & everything into a drawer to get it off my counters. I do the same things in all my closets too! Well, NOT ANYMORE! During this week, I have had the time to clean everything out & organize it all...awwww...I love this feeling :) My packrat days are done!

I've also really enjoyed the time with my kids, sadly, we don't get much down time with the kids during the week since we are working and very busy in the evenings with sports & errands. It's been a nice change & I even sorta miss being a stay at home mom. I'm thankful I have another 3 days off with the kids to enjoy. It's a good thing I have started back up with the treadmill because with all this baking I've been doing, I'de be doomed with out it.

Momma's goin' crazy

2009-10-12T14:51:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness if that doesn't say it all, I don't know what else will. This momma has surely gone crazy, I'm seriously 10 seconds away from calling in the help from Nanny 911...no joke!

Trading Tuesday...On Saturday

2009-10-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have been so lazy and behind on my blogging, especially my recipe trading. I could wait till Tuesday to post this recipe, but then I can't promise I would have time to do it then either! I seen this recipe on a TV show and I tweaked it a bit to our liking. The kids and ty LOVED it...hopefully some of you will like it too.

Breakfast Hash & Eggs

You will need:

1 pk pork chorizo
1 roll pork breakfast sausage
1/2 pound beef hamburger ( I used 2 frozen hamburger patties, LOL)
2 peeled potatoes, cut in small cubes (not to big, think canned hash sized potatoes)
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper
1/2 cup diced onion
6-7 eggs (or how ever many you like to eat)

***I added NO oil, there is enough fats from the meats***

Put all meat in your cast iron skillet or regular non stick skillet, start to brown. Add peppers and onions to meat after you break down the meat. Once the meat is all mixed up and almost cooked through, add the potatoes and stir. Cover the skillet with lid and let simmer on medium until the potatoes are cooked through. (you want the hash to get a bit crispy, but not charred) When potatoes are cooked through add eggs on the top, reduce heat and cover the pan until the eggs are cooked to your liking (DON"T touch the eggs while they are cooking because you don't want the yolks to break)

Plate and eat....It's very good. Even with the chorizo, my kids didn't think it was too spicy, perfect blend of flavors. Enjoy!

Paige's Freshman Picture

2009-10-05T05:49:00.000-07:00

Here's Paige's Freshman year school picture. Gosh, she's sure growing up fast!! She's 14 in this picture. Also just another update, Paige is really liking her highschool. Tri-City Prep is such a good school & she loves it! She's keeping an A-B average and she's learning to feel more comfortable asking questions when she doesn't understand things. YAY PAIGE!:) She's getting a letter of reccomendation currently from her teacher & we are going to submit the entry packet into Embry Riddle...for the next 3 summers she would be elidgable to participate in the college (beginner of course) summer program for HS students. In this program she would be staying at the dorm Sun-Thur and taking their courses at the school. How neat, we're excited for her. Keep you posted. :)