Looky! Looky!

Ok, so I've joined the coupon movement.... Look what I got for $9.55! (including tax!)


So for a total of $9.55 I got:

6 boxes of Total-10.6 oz each
4 boxes of brownie mix
2 boxes of Fiber One bars
2 Wish Bone salad dressing

But I think what I got yesterday was an even better deal! For a total of $9.50 I got:
2 boxes of Total-10.6 oz each
2 boxes of Golden Grahams- 12 oz each
4 boxes of Trix-10.7 oz each
All liquid laundry detergent-32 loads
1 brownie mix
1 cake mix
1 small Skippy peanut butter

It's very nice to stock up my pantry, and getting so many things at a great price!!

We are SOOOOO Excited...

That Travis is done with school!!!

We (me and the kids and Travis' parents) drove up on Thursday, April 30th to meet Travis at a hotel in Ogden. We were soooo happy to see him after being apart for two weeks! The kids ran into his arms when they saw him, it was awesome!

The kids had a hard time going to sleep sharing a bed, so Travis had to lay between them for a little while.

So the next morning on May 1st, we went to the first ceremony. Needless to say, we were all a little excited! Elora kept giving Travis kisses, and they would not leave his side!

In between ceremonies we killed time by going to the Treehouse children's museum. We had a lot of fun!

We had lunch and then went to the next ceremony for the College of Science and Technology. Travis received his Bachelors of Science degree in his major of Automotive Technology.












I actually had teary eyes sitting through the ceremonies and thinking about the long road we've had in the past 5 years.

To say that I was happy was an understatement. I mean, we've been looking forward to this day for a long time! We haven't known anything different since we got married almost five years ago. So it is very nice to have Travis come home after work, and not have to worry about night classes, homework, tiredness, online classes, deadlines, both working and going to school full time.... Everything! We can actually spend more time together as a family.

We could not be happier! I am so proud of Travis and all that he has accomplished!

Happy Family...

Proud parents...

Proud graduate in beautiful Ogden...

Elora liked Daddy's hat...

I just liked this photo of Max with the lighting...

And now we can breathe a big sigh of relief! Phew! Travis is DONE with school!

Happy Birthday Max!

Max turned 2! on April 20th. (I can't believe that my kids are getting so big!) But since Travis made it in town for his birthday weekend, we celebrated the day before, on a Sunday.

Max LOVES Wall-E, when he asks to watch it, he says, "Wa-Wee, Wah-Wee..." in his cute little voice. So I made a Wall-E cake for him, and he absolutely loved it!

He got a little fire truck, which he LOVES! Anything to do with trucks and cars is his favorite. He always says, "Honk, honk, beep, beep!"

And when he opened a bag with a present in it, he made a surprised/happy gasp. It was so funny! (yes, I had shopping bags for gift wrap.... it was a week after our move...)

He had no problem blowing out the candles...

Here he is playing with his new little Wall-E. As you can see, he loves it!

Easter

Easter was on the day after we moved, so it was good to be in St. George and to be able to spend Easter with family.

Here is Elora in her new Easter dress, but she would not smile and look at me for a picture for the life of me!

First, we had an Easter egg hunt for the little kids. Here they are waiting to race out the door to find the eggs...

Yes, Elora had a pumpkin for a basket... I forgot to bring one for her... Candy still goes in it, right?

Here is Mya, (Dustin and Charity's second child) I can't believe how big she had gotten while we were away in Ogden.

The cutest picture that I got of the grandkids was unfortunately without Max, because he would not sit down without Travis or me.

So we tried setting him down, and then hurrying out of the picture. So we got one of him running towards us...

Then we had the big boy Easter egg hunt. It was so funny to see the guys racing around to get as many eggs as they could get...

Ella, Grandma, and Jaci...

Moving... (The First Time)

Alright, here we go, let's play blog catch-up.... phew!

After my parents left town on April 7th, we really got down and ready to move on the 11th. (Yes, we're blogging about April now, stay with me, 0k?)

Packing everything in boxes was loads of fun.... not... :)

But the kids kept themselves occupied pretty well for the most part. Here, they are coloring while I was packing...

We (and many helpers, thank you!) loaded everything up Friday night the 10th. That night we slept in our empty apartment in sleeping bags. We didn't have much of a problem sleeping, because we were all soooo tired! (Moving is exhausting!) The next morning, we got some last minute cleaning done, then headed down to St. George! We will miss you Ogden!

That night we (and many helpers, thanks to Travis' family) unloaded the u-haul into our much smaller apartment. I wasn't sure everything was going to fit! But I found a place for everything in every nook and cranny.

The kids had fun playing in the boxes... They looked like little puppies, it was so cute!

So on the Monday after we moved, April 13th, Travis went to a few interviews for jobs and then headed back up to Ogden to finish his last three weeks of school. That first week after we moved in, I got pretty much everything unpacked except for a few boxes in the office. Travis came back home that next weekend, April 17th, to have one more interview with Midas. He got the job, and we thought it was going to be great! But it didn't turn out that way.....

Wahoo!!!

We are so blessed!

We just found out that Travis got a new job that will be very nice!

So, to sum it all up....

We knew we were supposed to move to St. George, so we moved into a place that was a great deal (But with some complaints that we didn't find out about until after we moved in). Then two weeks later, found out that it's getting foreclosed and we have to move out. So we found a very nice place that's bigger and better for an awesome deal. It's a 3 bedroom town-home with a one car garage in our old ward, so we already have lots of friends, and plus, it's just an AWESOME ward. And we'll be living next door to a friend of mine. So there is big blessing number one-I'm so excited to move in!


So then, Travis moves down after graduation, and starts his new job at Midas. Not at all what he expected... The pay is worse than we thought it was going to be, not a good work environment, and plus Travis remembered why he prefers dealerships over independent shops. Just a lot of things that made Travis (and me) not happy with his new job. So... last Wednesday, the manager of the Stephen Wade Toyota repair shop called and wanted to know if Travis was still looking for job... yes! (Well... not still, but again looking for a job) So he interviewed with him, and yesterday we found out that he got the job!! With better pay than he was getting in Ogden and at Midas(Not hard to do on that one...) And better benefits(dealership usually always have better benefits) with health insurance for the whole family!! Needless to say that we are excited! So there is big blessing number two.

And here is another interesting twist to the story... Two weeks after Travis started working in St. George, we found out that Chrysler/Dodge is shutting down a bunch of franchises, and Hinckley Dodge in Ogden (Where Travis used to work)is one of them. We found out that they laid off 6 people from the service and parts department so they can keep the service deparment open... at least for a while... If we were still in Ogden, Travis for sure would've been one of those people who would've got laid off. So we are very blessed to have moved beforehand and not had any period of time with no job and income, phew! So there is big blessing number three!

And of course, we have many more blessings. But we know for sure that we are where we need to be, and where we are supposed to be. Things might not work out the way you expect, but if you are faithful, they always work out in the way that's best! We are so happy! WAHOO!!!!

How It's "Supposed" To Turn Out...

Lately, I've been a little disappointed that everything is not turning out how they were "supposed" to... I thought I had it all figured out, but apparently Heavenly Father has other plans for us... And it's all part of the "Bigger Plan." Read more about that on Nienie's blog here. (If you haven't ever read her blog, you really should, it's inspiring. She's a Mormon blogger that got in an airplane accident, and is still recovering, and blogs about it all.)

I know my problems are small compared to many. But we're all just trying to figure out this life of ours, and whatever problems or trials come, we can get through, and learn what we should do about it.