Morning Swim

Monday morning we went to a friend's house to swim and chat. Tate loved it and spent more time in the pool than the 3 four year olds. I only took him out once and that was to put him near the sprinkler which was turned on to entertain the older 3. He liked that too, but refused to crawl in the grass so he just sat there waiting for it to get him.

Rubi, Jeffrey, Ellie and Tate

that's my girl!

Tate and Ali and Rubi (sort of)

Tate's little friend Ali didn't really like the water. It was too cold for her. She would be ok for a few moments but then remembered it was cold. Tate was the one who outlasted everybody. This kid loves water. And by the end of it, he was tired and took a long nap when we got home. Thanks for letting us come play Wendy.

Monkey Bars and Muffins

I found some really yummy recipes that I wanted to use for healthier snacks for the kids. The first is Monkey Bars Kinda like banana bread and all my kids liked them which is an accomplishment in our house! And I also wanted to make enough that I could freeze them and put them in Ayden's lunches or use for after school snacks.
So I grabbed a helper and got started.

Ellie did a great job stirring and pouring in the ingredients once I measured them. Her favorite part in helping was that she got to wear an apron!
The recipe calls for whole wheat flour, but since I didn't have any I just substituted all purpose white flour and it turned out fine. I also used applesauce instead of oil and that made the bars moist and they won't dry out so much after I freeze and then thaw them.Once they were cooled, I put them in the fridge for a while to make them easier to cut. Then I wrapped them individually and put them in the freezer. I forgot to get pictures of the monkey bars to show what they look like.
The next recipe I tried was Apple Pumpkin Muffins ( you have scroll down to the middle of the page to find it). I liked this recipe because it uses pumpkin (yum) and apples together in a muffin (double yum). With this recipe you can either make regular sized or mini muffins. And I also made a small bread loaf with it too. We made a second batch and used chocolate chips instead of apples which turned out very tasty too.

Here are the finished products all ready to go for the freezer

So now I have over 50 individually wrapped snacks to pull out when the kids get hungry. I feel like I accomplished a great feat, even though it was only a few hours of baking. But it will definitely help on the food budget and snack prep in the future.

Will work for Food

Tate is so close to walking. He will take a step or two and then fall down. He's so close! So today I thought I would try and coax him to get it down. So being the great mom that I am I bribed him with treats! M&Ms to be exact. And it worked...

...at first, but then he got tired of working for his treats. So he refused to do anything but eat his candy. And being that great mom that I am, I gave in. 

I love this one. stuffin' the face

Note: he did not eat that entire bag by himself! Ellie and I helped with that task. The bag is actually empty and he's trying to get every last taste that he can. He kept putting his hand to the wrapper and then would lick his hand hoping for some more tasty goodness!

Great Savings and a Laugh

I  like to coupon shop and try to do as much as possible to help with our budget. I'm finding this task not so easy here. Food prices are much higher here than Utah and the coupons I get in my Sunday paper don't match the few sale items at the stores. So I am always very ecstatic when I get great deals like today......

•  Dawn Dish detergent $.49 each  (on sale for $1.99, used in store coupon for $.99 and mfc $.50 off coupon)

• Scrubbing Bubbles shower cleaner $2.50 each (on sale for 2/7, used $1 off coupon)

• Mitchum Deodorant  $.99 each (on sale for $3.99 used in store coupon for $1.99, used mfc $1 off coupon)             
• Grand total of $10.03

All of these are things I was needing anyway.  I have never used scrubbing bubbles cleaners but at that price I will definitely give it a try, especially when I need shower cleaner anyway! And the same with deodorant, I was in need of it and no one can argue with $.99 each! 
While I was in the store shopping for these few items, my sister waited in the car with Ellie and Tate (love shopping without kids, no matter how many items). And "Apologize" by OneRepublic came on the radio and this was the conversation that Aunt Dani had with Ellie...
 Ellie: "this song is lying. it's NEVER too late to say sorry."
Aunt Dani: "that's right."
Ellie: "well, unless this guy is dying, then it might be too late."

Great deals and a hilarious daughter, I'd say that's a pretty good day.

Wake up Daddy!!

Tate would play this game all day!

I saw this and thought how true it is.....

Do you ever notice when you're looking to buy something, you see it everywhere?
Say you're looking into buying a red Jeep;
you start to see red Jeeps all over the place.
It's not that there actually are more red Jeeps, you are simply more aware and notice them more easily.

The same is true with the Godhead;  our Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.
When we are looking to invest in a relationship and seek them out,
we become more aware of their existence in our lives.
We see their workings all over the place.
We more easily recognize the promptings of the Holy Ghost,
we see the Lord's hand in our everyday life,
and we notice the blessings that come each and every day. 

I am very grateful for the knowledge of my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost and my relationship with each. It's amazing how many blessings we can find, even in the middle of trials, when we take the time to notice them. I am  grateful for how the Lord has guided and directed me in my life.  And know as I seek them, my life will be blessed and full of joy.