TEXAS! Longest post ever... :)

We're back! We've actually been back for a week, but we've been recovering from being gone so long. :) There's a million things I could say about our trip, but for the sake of time I'll give a few highlights of each "stop" throughout it. Overall, it was an awesome trip for Beck and I!
Oh, and of course, the ONE thing that didn't make it to Texas with me was my camera. It got left in Lindsay's car when she dropped us off at the airport. :( Thankfully, my phone has a decent camera on it! Ok, here we go... I won't be offended if you don't read all--or any--of this. Feel free to just look over the pics if you would like. :)
Salt Lake:Our friend Lindsay was going down to Utah to hang out with her brothers, so since she's amazing she let Beck and I tag along with her. We stayed in my aunt and uncle's condo in SLC Friday night (thank you, Kent and Sue!) since our flight left so early the next morning. But we still had time to have a little fun before we hit the sack. We hung out on Temple Square (the weather was perfect!) and hit up Taco Bell.





Plane ride: We got to the airport a few minutes late (my fault), and then my bag was 10 pounds over, so I went from a light carry-on bag to a stuffed carry-on bag and a huge backpack, not to mention a 25-pound baby. And of course, my gate was the very last gate, and I was coming from the very first check-in spot, so I had to haul, while carrying about 70 extra pounds. Great start to the trip, eh? :) Beck did awesome on the flight though, and didn't cry once. He loved the lights, and the people, and the windows--pretty much everything. It was so cute, every time someone came over the loudspeaker, he would jolt and then look around the whole time trying to figure out where the voice was coming from, and then give me a look like, "Mom, don't you hear that?!" It was so funny. While getting off our first flight, an amazing couple helped me carry my bags, and it turned out they were headed to San Antonio too, so they took my bags and my baby and let me rest during the layover. And then we sat by each other on the second flight. They were definitely angels sent to help me survive! :) I appreciate them--and the Lord for sending them to us--sooooo much.


Elise's:It was so fun to see Elise and her little family! Dallin is so grown up now, and it was so fun to meet Tanner for the first time. And of course it was great to see Elise after a year and a half! And David, too! While there, we went shopping, went to a little Mexican restaurant, made and glaze-frosted amazing sugar cookies, went to the park and fed ducks, witnessed how crazy/energetic Beck is, played Rummikub and just caught up on life! Elise was a great hostess and was very accommodating, and made great meals every day. Thanks for letting us come visit, Elise! Here are a few pics:








Granddaddy & Hanne's:Adam's grandparents live just outside of San Antonio, so Beck and I were able to stay with them for a few days too! Beck is their only great-grandson, and they were finally able to meet him. And let me tell you, it was love at first sight, both ways! While there, we saw cows and chickens, rode on a tractor, shopped (thank you, Hanne!), ate some amazing bbq at the City Market in Luling, ate real schnitzel and other yummy cooking of Hanne's, and banged on the coffee table (Beck did, anyway--he was obssessed with the thing!). It was so cute to see the instant bond between great-grandparents and great-grandson. Now the only grandparent Beck hasn't met is Great-Grandma Jojo. :( Hopefully sometime soon! Here are some pics:









Houston: Granddaddy and Hanne were nice enough to pick us up from San Antonio, as well as drive halfway to Houston to meet up with my fam, who hadn't met them either, so that was fun! We had lunch at Schobel's (thank you, Granddaddy and Hanne!) and then said goodbye, which was so sad. :( We stopped by a cool airplane museum on our way out, and then headed on to Houston. ANd there we basically had a mini family reunion; we had everybody there except Adam and my brother-in-law, Alex. While there, we ate a lot of yummy food (Los Cucos, Rudy's, Chick-Fil-A, Church's Chicken--all amazing!), shopped, played games, made homemade chicken divan and fudgy brownies, got lost and/or stuck in traffic (x 10), went to an aquarium, looked at Tim & Aimee's soon-to-be house by a beautiful lake (which I got 19 mosquito bites from!), took a tour of historic Houston homes, went to the coast (Galveston), went to a Halloween play date and carnival/trunk-or-treat, had cousin pictures taken of Jared and Beck, experienced IKEA (LOVE it!), almost got in two car-wrecks, and I also finished the 7th (and last) Harry Potter book while there! We attempted to go see the 6th Harry Potter at the cheap theater in celebration, but we got lost. :) It was so good to be together again as a fam, and was so nice to get a break from changing diapers--thank you, Mom!






























Plane ride #2: This time we were running late again (someone was blocking our car to get out of the parking lot), and my bag was 15 pounds over this time! I'm not usually so unprepared, I just didn't have a scale. So I ended up with a stuffed bag and backpack again, but thankfully there was another angel on this flight! I was the last one to board the plane, and there was a lady standing right at the front that said, "There you are! I heard a baby and waited so I could sit by you and hold your baby." Something out of a fairy tale, right? I couldn't believe it. She sat across from me and played with Beck almost the whole time! I also sat by a very nice man and had an amazing flight attendant who did so many little things to help (thank you Morgan of Southwest!). I was so grateful I was surrounded by helpers/angels on all of our flights!

Whew, that's tiring just thinking about all that we did again. Beck and I were so exhausted by the end, we were happy to get home! Adam picked us up from SLC and after hitting Tucanos (yum!), Beck and I were both able to sleep a little bit on the way home (yes, he is getting better about falling asleep in his carseat!). It was such a great trip!
...I hope at least my mom or someone looked at this whole post because it took forever to do! At least it's done, finally. :)

Beck is crazy :)

We're flyin' to Texas on Saturday, so since I won't be posting for a few weeks, I thought I'd share a little video of our crazy son. :) This was taken the other day when he decided he didn't need to take his usual three-hour afternoon nap, so in this video he had been up for over eight hours--and he still had soooooo much energy! I honestly think he is a literal ball of energy that somehow took human form. But we love him. :)

Texas, here we come!

(A big scary cow/bull/massive beast we encountered in Texas in 2007!)

Well, we as in me and Beck, anyway! Unfortunately, Adam can't come with us. :( By the time we get back (we leave in a week and will be gone for two weeks), Beck and I will have been away from Adam for a month so far this year! So wrong! But it's just the way things work out sometimes, I guess. But despite that sad fact, I am way excited! I'm going to be in San Antonio visiting Elise (wahoo!) and then in Houston visiting my brother and his little fam. Also while we're there I'm going to be meeting up with Adam's grandparents who haven't met Beck yet, so that'll be way fun! And I get to meet up with my friend Stephanie, too! AND, my parents and my sister are going too! So all in all, I'm pretty excited.

The only other sad fact about this trip is that I'm going to be traveling by myself with Beck--ah! I'm actually not too scared, but it will definitely be a new adventure. Any advice on traveling by yourself with an 8-month-old?

LDS General Conference--watch it! :)

I'm so excited to watch the second day of LDS General Conference today! ANYBODY is welcome to watch/check it out. You can view it online here:

Long-overdue Beck update!

Beck is 8 months old today! I really can't believe it. He is more cute and fun every day. He is getting so grown up, and feels like a little best friend to me and not just a baby, ya know? He is so funny, and cute, and squishy, and so happy. I'm sorry I haven't given a "milestones" update recently; here are a few things Beck's up to lately:

--says Mama, Dadda and nanananana for "no"; I was pretty skeptical that he actually associated what these words were, but especially just the last few days, he says them at the perfect/appropriate times, so I'm pretty convinced!
--army-crawls really well now
--makes all sorts of noises, including raspberries, cute "ooooohs", grunts, and trilling (like with Spanish r's)
--sits up really well
--is starting to get down the "pincer" grasp, where they pick up little things with their thumb and pointer-finger, which is adorable!
--still is a bad sleeper, but I guess nobody's perfect :)
--weighs about 23 pounds (weighed 20 @ 6-month appt.) and is getting really tall!
--reaches out for people, which is soooo cute
--is getting four more bottom teeth within the next week or so, we're pretty sure
--loves drinking from straws and cups, but not sippy cups
--very cuddly, especially when he's sleepy, and he'll just hug/hold on--so cute!
--is still pure energy
--loves everybody, and is pretty much loved by everybody too!

A couple cute videos:
Beck's latest noises


Beck army-crawling
This is from more than a week ago, so he's gotten even better since then!

Somebody loves polka-dots...

I was picking up before bed last night, and happened to have three different bags of mine in our entryway--notice any common theme? :) I thought it was so funny, I just had to take a picture. The even funnier part is that as I was taking the pic, I noticed I also had Beck's polka-dotted blanket hanging by them as well. What can I say? I have a mini obsession. :)

More amazing deals--Albertsons double coupons through tonight! And Beck's first haircut! :)

I just had to share some amazing deals I got yesterday, thanks to Albertsons' sales and double coupons, plus a little planning, of course. :) So, I don't have time to make an itemized list, but I got all of this--retail value of $70--for $7!

I have some extra Albertsons double coupons available if any of you want some! They're only good through tonight, so let me know asap! They are most amazing when you pair them with a high-value coupon ($.75 or $1--Albs will only match up to $1) and a sale. One quick example: I had a few $1 off any 1 McCormick spice, and Albertsons has their McCormick grinders on sale for 2/$4. So I used two $1/1, and two Albs double coupons, and ended up getting the grinders for free! I just had to pay tax. The most I paid for any of the items shown (besides eggs and bread, which I just picked up while I was there) is $1; most were $0.50.

Albs is also having an awesome promotion on Nabisco snacks and Special K products, so I'm headed back tonight to get some more amazing deals.

Yay for couponing! Let me know if you have any questions or would like any doublers! Or if you want to take a field trip to Albertsons with me tonight. :)

Also, here are a before and after pic of Beck's first haircut!




And one more pic, just because he is adorably happy here!

A few cute pics!

Bare-chested and seven months old!

I just had to post a few cute pics from the other day. We were in Idaho Falls when Beck pooed and it got on his onesie. I didn't have an extra one on me (his diapers pretty much never leak), so he went bare-chested. Thankfully he had shorts on, so it wasn't completely ghetto, just a little redneck. ;)


It was also funny because it was on his seven-month birthday, and these are the only pictures I took of him all day--bare-chested and crazy! :)
Don't you love his camo hat too? Adam is very proud of it. :)

$25 in free groceries @ Albertson's, through today (Tuesday)!

It's true! And amazing! And really easy! Just go to Albertson's and get a copy of their ad (usually in the front entryway, but if not just ask for one at the Customer Service desk). Buy $25 in participating items, and at the register it will print out a $5 Albertson's voucher and a Kraft rebate form. So you pay the $25 up front, but as long as you use the voucher (within two weeks) and submit the rebate, you get it all back! Let me know if you have any questions, or just ask an employee--they are generally really nice and helpful.

Fyi, the $5 Albertson's voucher is one per transaction, and the $20 Kraft rebate is one per household/address. (I did it twice, for me and my parents, so there's $50 worth of food shown in the pic, not $25.)

Yay for free food! :)

Absence does make the heart grow fonder :)

(Funny random pic from our trip!)

So for the last week I have been in Boise (and still am through next week), helping my parents move. I loooove Boise and totally want to end up here but I couldn't help but miss a few things about little ol' Rexburg. And since I've been kind of bashing on Rexburg lately, I thought I'd be a little more optimistic and think of a few things I miss about it:

-Adam!
-no traffic
-being able to get anywhere in like 5 minutes (even if there is only two places to go!)
-all the coupons and specials for poor college students
-the mild summer weather (most of the time)
-the temple
-Porter Park
-our friends!
-walks

Ok, that's all I can come up with. :) Here's one more cute pic from our visit so far:

This was after we had Beck babysat. He should have slept for three hours while he was there that afternoon, but I guess he didn't sleep at all!!! It literally only took him not even 10 seconds to be completely passed out on my shoulder--and this is a kid who is never easy to get to sleep! I was amazed and amused, and thought it was totally cute. :)

Amazing deals!

That's my excited coupon face. :)

I got so many good deals today that I just had to share! Look at this list and guess how much I paid for all of it, just for fun. :)

1 bottle of Kraft Miracle Whip ($4 retail)
2 bottles of Kraft Mayo ($8 retail)
2 refrigerated pizza crusts ($7 retail)
2 bottles Jet Dry ($8 retail)
1.5 pounds Jennie-O deli turkey ($9.00 retail)
2 bags frozen veggies steamers ($6 retail)
1 bag Oroweat thin hamburger buns ($3.99 retail)
1 24 oz. bottle Nalley pickles ($4.50 retail)
2 Coppertone sunblocks ($21.99 retail)
4 All laundry det. bottles, 38 loads each ($24 retail)

So like $100 retail...





All for $27! Yay! Hopefully someone is excited with me. :)

Beck @ 5 months!

Well, he's almost 5 1/2 months now, but I wanted to celebrate his 5-month mark. :)

Some of Beck's milestones this month:
-solids, which he absolutely loves
-juice, which he always makes a sour face at, but always wants more :)
-rolling over!
-two teeth!
-becoming obsessed with faces, and the grabbing of them :)
-his continued obsession of trying to shove absolutely anything in his mouth!
-discovering his manhood in the bathtub ;)
-becoming best friends with his feet!
-laughs when tickled now, instead of looking confused


Some other fun/funny things that we love about him lately :) :
-that he's still so cuddly (I hear they grow out of it soon!)
-his grunty laugh
-when he moves his arm up and down when he's excited (hard to explain, cute to see!)
-his waking up routine: he wakes up with a glazed look, coos to himself softly for a minute or so, stretches while releasing built-up gas :) , then finds Mom and gives a huge smile :)
-his love affair with his bottle!
-that he's funny and doesn't even realize it

p.s. Sorry I suck at blogging lately! I promise I'll be better when Adam's finished with this insane semester!

Garage sale tomorrow--Sat., July 11--in Rexburg!

Hey everyone! Me and a couple friends are doing a little garage sale tomorrow, and you should all come! :) Here's the info:

Multi-family garage sale! Must come see. :)

BABY items--clothing, swing, jogging stroller, bouncy seat, carseat/stroller combo, diapers, more!

SCRAPBOOKING items--paper, cardstock, stickers, embellishments, carriers!

OTHER items-- graduation cap/gown, some adult clothing/shoes, office organizer, other household items!

320 W. 5th S., Rexburg