If you need a tree....

Best Deal Holiday Trees: 6 ft pre-lit $39.99 + More
The Target Ebay store offers this 6′ Prelit Alberta Spruce Christmas Tree – Clear lights for only $39.99. Shipping is free. There are several other holiday tree options that have been marked down as well. This is a great way to save on some holiday decor.
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Stacey Pictures - photo credit Mary Peterson

I got some awesome pictures taken of Stacey for Halloween and her 3 year old pictures.  By the way, did you know she's THREE????  They're darling and I wanted to share!

The Happenings Lately

I thought we'd just give a family update.....

Adam:
Adam has been LOVING being a realtor.  He's been getting pretty busy starting a couple of homes and closing on his first home (existing listing) this coming week!  YAY!  Between real estate and his mornings at FedEx, he's been running pretty crazy.  The only nice thing is that he's enjoying what he's doing so that's nice.
Sara:
I've had a lot of homes to clean lately and a lot of hair to do!  That keeps me pretty busy.  I'm also teaching piano lessons on Monday nights still.  My piano kids are all progressing well so that's been nice.  I've been going to the gym lots trying to get back in shape.  So far it seems like I'm not making much progress but I'm keeping at it.  I have just fallen in love with this Zumba class on Wednesdays.  The instructor is awesome!  She keeps the class really high intensity the whole time and has some really fun dances.
Stacey:
She has been in swim lessons until the past week; she got an ear infection.  Today was the last day on antibiotics and I picked her up some earplugs, so hopefully that helps.  She was doing awesome in her class; she'd progressed to the "Beginning Pre-School" aka "Squirt" class which was just the kids with an instructor.  She did everything she was asked and loved it.  I'm hoping to sign her up for the next session in June.  We've started preschool classes (well, today was the first day) and so far it's going well :).  She loves her "babies" (stuffed animals) and is very motherly.

We are looking forward to our upcoming vacation down in St. George for Memorial Day weekend.  FUN and SUN!!

Easter

I thought I'd just post a few fun pictures from our Easter egg hunt down at the Bullocks!

Cleaning Items

With all my house cleaning, I've found a few items that work the best for me and which I really love.

The first one is:

My Shark Lift-away vacuum.  I've loved this for ease of use, quality of suction, price and the 5-year replacement warranty!

The second one is the Old English spray bottle.  It is so nice and easy to use, and to just spray it and wipe it up is so nice!  I haven't found another product for wood that gives as nice of a gleam and works as well.  This is also awesome for the metal balusters on your handrail.

I also love the smell (mint) and cleaning power of the Lysol toilet bowl cleaner.
 













I guess I'm a fan of Lysol because I have had great success and ease of use as well with the Lysol all-purpose cleaner for kitchen and bathroom countertops. 

For window cleaning, I've gotten it down to a science. You must, must, must use a window cleaner!  *Trust me, the first time when I just tried water, FAIL!  Because I clean a lot of windows, I buy a huge bucket, but I've also used this one and it has worked really well.

Your other essential tools are a scraper, squeegee, and washing brush.

With those tools, cleaning windows goes pretty quickly!

I just wanted to share what I've found that works for me - I've done a lot of experimentation and these have all worked out for me!

Love,

Sara

3 Gardens

So after my first year gardening (with Paige's assistance, of course), I've learned a few things and made some pretty rookie mistakes.  I took a 6-week class from a guy who works with the USU agriculture department for years and had his own home garden as well.  The nice thing is that all his information is from and for Utah.  I've laid out a few steps I've used this year before I even bought my seeds.


1.  I sat down with Mom and we decided what vegetables we wanted to grow this year.  I made a full list so I had all the vegetables in one place and could go from there.
2.  I looked up all the vegetables to find out what their growing requirements are and whether they're for the Spring Garden, Summer Garden, or Fall Garden.  (Oh, by the way, there are 3 gardens to plant!)
3.  I then drew up a garden plan.  I laid out the garden based off of a few things: whether the plants like full sun or partial shade, watering requirements, planting time, and height of the plants.
Here is my plan:

Once I wrote up my plan and decided where to put all my plants, then I ordered seeds. 

They're on their way and the Spring Garden will go in ASAP (from Guerney's with their half-off coupon).  The Spring Garden consists of the lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and peas.  I'll start some of these indoors and transplant them outdoors as soon as they come up; others I'll just sow directly in the ground.  I'll harvest them before it gets too hot and then re-plant them either in July or August so they come up again in the Fall Garden when it's cool again!

Also, before planting make sure to create your watering plan (I'm using furrows both to walk in for weeding and watering ease) and make sure to fertilize and till your garden. 

I'll update with the Summer Garden - to be planted after danger of frost, in Utah usually after/around Mother's Day - in my next post!

Beauty Buzz - Gallon Sale!

So I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the shampoo and conditioner "Moisture Recovery" by Joico. 

If any one remember what "Mira-9" was like, their conditioner is very similar.  It helps with fly-aways and is great for every day usage.  I have used this on all my clients, family and recommend it to anyone who is struggling with their hair dry or fly-away.  This leaves your hair smooth and able to comb through right out of the shower!  I can comb Stacey's hair with a comb after her bath and have no problems getting through it.

Next month (all month) the Joico gallon containers will be on sale for $22-ish dollars per gallon.  This is only a twice-yearly sale and it's only for beauty professionals (which just means I'd have to pick it up for you). 

These are great to use!  You can just fill your existing containers using these and they last you forever!  We bought our last ones a couple years ago and I bought 4 shampoo and 4 conditioner!  I will be buying more for our family next month and if anyone is interested, let me know!

Love,

Sara

Money Saving at the Market

I have found the most amazing thing! For a long time I have followed a blog/website called "Coupons 4 Utah."  (www.coupons4utah.com)  I have done a couple of things with it off and on when there's something that catches my eye.  For example, I know some of you went down to the Shade Shirt sale last year, but I haven't really done very much with it other than when something catches my eye.


Over the past couple of weeks though, that has changed quite a bit!


I decided to try to use the site for actual grocery coupons and mixed the coupons with the Smith's Mega Sale Event that was going on.  It was so awesome!  I've never done anything like that before and it was pretty cool to see my total at the checkout go from $179 down to $84.  I got All Laundry Detergent for $1.50, 10 oz. Skintimate and Edge Gels for $1.00, LA Looks Gel (Stacey uses it) for $.25 etc.  I've never really used coupons or ad matches before and although I find that it takes me more time to both put together a shopping list and shop, the savings I get are pretty much worth it.


Since I don't get the Sunday newspaper, I'm restricted to printable coupons.  Usually you have to install the coupon printer on each site but then they'll print just fine.  I've found that some of the policies are that you can print 2 coupons per device (no photocopies), you need to cut your coupons out before you get to the store, watch expiration dates, and let them know up front that you have coupons and/or ad matches.


A couple other sites I've used are:
The Krazy Koupon Lady (for Julie)
Coupons 4 Utah
Freebies 2 Deals
Utah Deal Diva
Saving Cent By Cent


The nice thing about these sites are that they do a lot of the work for you!  For those in Utah County, Tuesdays are double coupon days at all WalMarts and I believe that Julie will have the same thing in some of her stores.


Hopefully this may help some of you especially if you want to put in any kind of food storage etc.  So far I've found that the most effective way to use the coupons is to combine them with sales.  Also, as a side note, WalMart will pretty much match any other store's sale as long as you have the information of where and what price the item is on sale for.  I've only been using this for a couple of weeks and only for things that we already use, but thought I'd share!  It's so easy, all it takes is a little time and prep work!


Good luck Sisters!

A Day Out of the House

I'm sure that all of you know, but Stacey and I are gone A LOT from home.  We're usually gone for most of the day as we are either running errands in the car or cleaning houses.  I know that most of you don't do this as often, so maybe a couple of tips might help on how to survive being gone all day with little ones might help....


First of all, I usually try to prep her the night before and tell her what our schedule is (or failing that the morning of so that she knows what's going on and isn't surprised.).  Some days now she'll ask if she can just stay home and sometimes if someone is going to be home she does. 


The other days she's with me, we make sure we're prepared for an extended stay away from home.  First of all, we have found that a couple of "car toys," toys that are only used in the car, are pretty effective.  Her favorite one is her magna-doodle.  It lets her draw and play around without having to worry about dropping things and then crying because she can't reach whatever she dropped.  I also make sure to have something tucked in my purse that may be a quick snack or drink.


If we're going somewhere for the day, I let her get her suitcase packed.  We got her a little soft-sided suitcase for Christmas and that works really well for us, but any kind of a bag would do.  I allow her to pack (all the way full if she wants) several kinds of toys - whatever she wants to play with that day.  The items that she packs changes depending on her mood that day and I really let her have a say in it so that she feels like it's her pack.


I also make sure to pack plenty to eat for snacks and meals while we'll be gone.  If we're gone for 5-6 hours, I'll make sure to have a couple of snacks, drinks, and a meal for her to eat.  I try to pay attention to when she's getting whiny or upset and ask if she's hungry.  I try to tell her what I'm packing for lunch so she knows what to expect for the day.


I have also found that especially while in the car for long periods of time, switching things up helps too.  I try to have time where we listen to songs, some times when I'm just talking to her with no music on, some times when she's playing - either with the car toys or my phone, and some times when we're singing songs she's learning together.  I sometimes even just tell her stories. And the best times are when we're talking and just laughing together in the car.  She likes to "scare" me by roaring and I'll play along with her.  Switching things up in the car helps keep her (and me!) from getting too bored or antsy.


And finally, I try to make sure to keep her updated as to where we are in our errands/cleaning/time frame.  If we're chasing, I'll update her as to how many stops we have before we get to go home or what's coming up next.  I find that it helps a lot when she knows what's going on and isn't just "along for the ride."


I'm not sure if this will help anyone, but hopefully it'll help in some way!


Love,


Sara

New Book Series - Ranger's Apprentice

The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan (Australian author)  is a fun and rather quick read.  The one nice thing is that the series is complete, he just did, I believe, his last book this last October.  Most of them are available digitally as well as in print so if you have a "reader" you can just read them off of there when you're rocking children etc.  The books are clean with no language or questionable scenes and I have really enjoyed them.  Apparently Danny has read them as well and loved all of them!

The series is about Halt, a Ranger (spy), and his new apprentice, Will.  The first book begins with Will being a young boy and it's all about his growing, learning under Halt, finding out about himself and his parents and growing up to be a honorable man.  The first book is "The Ruins of Gorlan."

Pumpkin Streusel Bars

I have had several people ask me for the hot pumpkin streusel bar recipe that I made over the holidays.  I thought to kick off, I'd share so everyone has it!

Pumpkin Bars

1 pkg yellow cake mix (save 1 Cup for topping)
1 egg
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup melted butter

Mix and press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

1 small can pumpkin
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 beaten eggs (just enough to mix, not firm or white)
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2/3 cup milk

Mix together and spread over bottom layer.

1 cup reserved cake mix
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened

Cut into a crumb mixture and press lightly on top of pumpkin.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.  Test with a knife in the middle for doneness.  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

-Sara