Yeah!

*Happy 16 Ben*

My baby sister Kelsey just got engaged!!!! (on my little brother's birthday) Yeah. It's crazy to think that she is old enough to be taking that step in her life. I can remember her so well as a cute little kid..doing gymnastics. Playing the piano, being crazy with friends. Spitting crackers on my stalker, (ya you heard me right)...and always standing up for herself. This is so exciting and I can't wait to help her plan and be as involved as she wants me to be.



Her beautiful ring.



The cute couple. Kelsey Raymond will soon be Kelsey Gibbons.

Eclipse

TEAM JACOB!!!!
Karen mad me snuggle up..promise. I was too far away for her liking the first few times!



Karen for team Edward.

We had a few seconds to get these pic's before it started!
I was lucky enough to be invited to an advance showing of Eclipse by my friend Laci. Her cousin in law rented out a theatre and she offered tickets to anyone who wanted to buy them. OF COURSE!! So we got to see it 5:30 today (the day before it came out officially) Now I want to know how I can do that for Harry Potter... anyway, I got tickets for Dave and I and My Aunt Jenni and Uncle Corey. Dave unfortunately forgot he had to go out of town tonight and had a flight scheduled to leave during the movie! :( He couldn't change the flight...So he had to skip out. I invited Karen to come along instead. It was a blast. I LOVED the movie. I did hate how they changed so many little things and added weird things...(not the Bree story, those actually did happen just not in "Eclipse", but in: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner") because you wonder why they have to change such small things...but the story was the same, so it was awesome.

I really liked how everyone looked better than in the other two movies, with the exception of Jasper. His hair was hide-ous! But Alice looked MUCH better, Bella looked really pretty (it's about time), Rosalie was gorgeous (except in the flash back, yuck) And it was fun to see the new characters, however small their roles were.

They cast Bree perfect, and Riley...and I didn't mind the change of Victoria. Dallas did an awesome job. I loved Seth and Lea too. We'll see how they do in the next movie when they have a bigger role. And Maria from Jasper's flash back was also awesome. I actually didn't mind Dakota in this movie. I might just be used to the idea of her in the role, but it didn't disturb me :)

The action scenes we pretty gross. But I did enjoy a little action to counter balance the love. My uncle said he wanted to see more blood :) but we had to remind him that vampires don't bleed. The sound they made was perfect for when the vampires break. Awesome. I really think that Dave will enjoy this movie because of the action scenes. He may be rolling his eyes at other parts, but that's okay. We'll see.

Parts I particularly loved were...all the flash backs, Charlie's sense of humor, seeing more of Bree's side along with the Cullen's, and I am very happy to say Kristen's stuttering and creepy blinking were absent. (and of course seeing the Harry Potter trailer on the big screen.) I'm excited for you all to see it.

The four of us after the movie.

Shopping

For a few months now I have been doing this coupon shopping technique that I learned at a class hosted by Karen. All you use are the coupons from the Sunday paper. I started by having 2 newspapers delivered to my house. After much success I had two more delivered. The max I can get is four or I'd probably do at least one more! Any way I was waiting for a good trip to document and I had a great one the other day. So....



This is what I got. I paid $10.50 for the lot. I saved $27.07 which is 61% Woohoo.

This is the breakdown:

Kroger Cake: got paid $0.11
Kroger pinto beans : got paid $0.32
Dawn dish soap: paid $0.59
Cereal (Honey Bunches of Oats with peaches and with strawberries, Honeycomb, and Golden Crisp): paid $0.75 each (got 10)
Texas Toast croutons : paid $0.29 each (got 4)
Ivory body wash: free (got 4)
Pizza rolls: $0.25 each (got 3, I would have got paid $0.05 for each if I got 10 participating items, but I didn't have enough coupons..still $0.25 is still awesome!)

And just recently I got two packages of string cheese for $4 (which is AMAZING for string cheese, I think I saved $6.50..they were the big packs..) and then I got a $5 dollar rebate. So after I get that I will have been paid $1 for them! Awesome!

I bought my first two papers for $52 each for a year. Not bad a dollar a paper..then they went on sale for $39 for a year so I got the other two! Now they are on sale for $20!!!!!! $20 for a whole year! That is amazing. If I could get more I would! I only get the Sunday edition for the coupons, and I have already saved WAY more than I paid for the subscriptions and it hasn't even been 6 months yet. I actually enjoy going to the store now and can't wait to see what I'll get for cheap or free each week. I know I'm kinda a nerd. But I LOVE it. Poor Dave has to hear it every week when I get back from the store. But I just think it is so cool....

This week we...

Played with lots of blankets,


Ate lots of chocolate,
Got hair cuts,

Lounged on the couch,

Played playdough with out a shirt and with a nice headband (thankfully only one of us did that!)

Had a few birthdays,
Visited old high school's,
Saw old houses, (this is where I live right before California...)
Got bored...sometimes,
Had fun,

Saw family,

Acted a little crazy,

Met new people, (this is Silka, my cousin's girlfriend...she's awesome)
And made a fun contraption. (by Eric)
It was a great week and I can't wait for the next time!

Our Last Day

In celebration of our last day together we wanted to have fun. We took the girls to the pool in the morning. Aubree is getting braver. She actually got in! (She had a few bad scares and a couple mild ones last year so she is VERY cautious in water.) She let Dave take her into the deep end and throw in the air. She rid his back and swam on her own. I'm so excited she's moving past her fear.

Soph who I thought was a fish, turns out that she is cautious too! Who would've guessed? She sat on my Mom's lap the whole time. My Mom gradually moved so the they were lounging in the water and Sophie discovered that she did like it and was having a merry old time. She still didn't want to leave Grammi's lap. But she had a lot of fun in it!

Then they went out to lunch with some friends and to run errands. We met up with them to finish errands and eat out. My Dad wanted to end this trip with a little In-N-Out. Fine with me :) After, we went to the park and played. Frisbee, swings, lake, beach, sand....but no pictures :( At home we put the girls down and stayed up talking. Eventually we put on Big Fish (one of my favorites) And the night came to an end. It's always sad when it's over. But we had fun times. And I've been lucky to see them a lot recently. And who knows...maybe I'll see them again real soon :)

Cami's Wedding

Today was my cousins wedding. In Logan. NOT fun with two little kids and no husband. I drove up with my parents and first was the sealing ceremony. Kelsey and Guy watched Aubs and Soph so I could attend the sealing. It was beautiful, the sealer was very tender and it added to the spirit. It was the first time I got to meet her, now husband, Anders. They are super cute together. It was neat because all 7 of my Granni's children were able to be there. It has been at least 10 years since we were all together! The pictures went really quick, thank goodness, because we aren't immediate family. It was fun to walk around the temple grounds and the girls loved it.

The happy couple

Sisters

With Mom

My Granni and Grandad with their 7 children. Oldest to youngest from the right to left

Shari, Cindy (mother of the bride), Becky (my Mom), Jared, LeAnn, Caryn, and Jenni.

Next was the luncheon. It was at this really beautiful restaurant. There was a room in the back set up for us. And really delicious bread in the center of each table. The girls weren't doing so well by this point. I tried to feed them, my Mom walked around with them, and I used every once of bribery I could come up with. But they were done! I'm usually selfish and stay and just let the kids be miserable so I can enjoy myself. I know so selfish. But they let me know that was not going to happen this time. I was frazzled, they were disturbing peace....so we left! I didn't even get to eat the delicious food :( And it looked SOOO good. Oh well I knew they wouldn't last for the reception, but I thought at least they'd last through the lunch. NOPE. At least they slept the majority of the 2 hr. drive back home. I think I would have died, already being in a stressed mood and having two whiny children for 2 hours. I was blessed there.

Family fun.

My little cousins.

More cousins.

Bride and groom, with parents.

They had a few wonderful moments, like this...

Eric and Cha

Mom and Dad

My sister told me the reception was beautiful. I wish I could have gone, but it wasn't to be this time. It was still a fun day being with my family and getting to see people that I haven't in a long time.

Daddy's Day

My Dad's Birthday. Him and my Mom went out all day doing the things he wanted to do. He went to lunch and dinner and saw his Mom and sister. Among other things. My Mom had me order a german chocolate cake and Kels picked it up. When they finally got home after thier day out together we had cake and ice cream and played battle of the sexes. The boys won by one point! We let them :)

Toy Story 3

My family is in town for my cousin Cami's wedding. And we are having fun. Aubree is obsessed with the Toy Story movies and so we wanted to go together. I took Aubree to her first movie (besides going as a baby) when Shrek 4 came out, but she was too scared to watch. So we went to try again, with my Mom, Dad, Eric, Carlee, My family, Kelsey and Guy. It was a fun movie. I especially loved the very beginning. (by the way, what was that short before the movie? SO weird.) But the most fun was to watch Aubree and Sophie. Sophie got so excited and kept pointing at the screen when the main characters would appear. Then she would turn around look at Dave and babble while continuing to point. She did really well even though Dave had to take her down to run around. But she stayed for the whole movie. Aubree also loved it. She couldn't keep her eyes off the screen. And she kept jumping from me to Kels to Carlee. It was a fun night and I am proud of my little troopers.

The Big 5-0

June is a crazy month in my family. In my immediate family we have a birthday every week. If you count my cousins, Aunts, Grandparents and close friends then there are around 20 birthdays! Whew. It's almost worse than Christmas (for the budget) especially when you add in Father's Day. But it is a month full of fun. This year was my Mom's big 5-0 birthday. And my Dad went all out. He contacted EVERYONE with ties to my Mom. Family, friends, her old Bishop when she was a teenager...old roommates etc.. and had us all write a note to her telling her how special she is, happy birthday, or whatever we wanted to say. He printed them all out and made a book for her. Then when they came out here her threw her a surprise party. He had a friend design a 12 foot banner to hang up, asked Kelsey to blow up a million balloons to decorate with, had my Granni and I make her favorite cake, and invited all the friends and family.
She knew something was going on, but I think she was still partly surprised.
Aubree found this doll and named her "Addie" she kept her wrapped in the blanket and with her at all times!

My Dad made sure he had 50 candles and 5 of us lit them all.

It took her a few breaths, but she got them all.
Then my Dad had a game for us. 25 questions about my Mom. With two bonus questions including an essay! It was awesome. He really captured her personality with in the questions. My Uncle Chuck won, but I think Carlee got the same score? And Dave and I were 1 question off of his score.
Then it was time for the music. My Dad played a song he wrote for my Mom. "Right Here is Fine." (I don't know it that's the name...but it makes sense.) And then Cherie Call, who is an amazing artist, sang two songs. One of my Dad's favorites "Home", and then one of my Mom's favorites, which is mine too, "It Passes all my Understanding". It was a surprise to have her there and my Mom was touched. (He tried to get Peter Brienholt to come too but he was in California :( ) Then my Dad played one more song. I don't know which one it is, but it was beautiful.
Aubree was really CRAZY during the songs and Soph had just about had it so we had to take off to put them to bed.

But my Mom had a great time and my Dad did an awesome job making this big day feel special. After we left he played a slide show he made of my Mom called "Zero to fifty in 14 minuets 36 seconds and 7 frames" He was pretty proud of that. We got to watch it the next day and it was AMAZING. He had his voice dubbed over and had world events that were going on the year and day of her birth. As well as throughout her life. Music that coordinated with the years and of course many fun and crazy pictures. If you weren't able to see it you should (Jenni) let me know.

On a side note. We tried to lay Sophie down around 8:30 because she was SO tired. They had a pack and play and a nice quiet room. I laid her down with some milk and left. She cried, but I thought it was pretty normal. Dave went down about 5 minuets later to check on her. She wasn't in the pack and play. She was trapped in a bathroom..she had bunched a blanket up in the corner of the crib, climbed out, went in the bathroom and shut the doors. When Dave found her she was sitting in the corner screaming, it was pitch black, and she was just terrified. She was crying so hard that she was convulsing and it took a while to calm her down. Poor thing. Later we found a big raspberry on her arm. I'm assuming from when she crawled out. It broke my heart but now I know, no sleepovers in a strange house. And she is too good of a climber. I hope she doesn't remember that she can do that....