A little help from my readers...

I'm just curious to see where we're at with our grocery budget, compared with other families with similar number and ages of children.  I created the poll on the left side of this page so that my readers can anonymously help me answer this question.  So those of you that keep a good budget, or track your monthly grocery spending accurately, I would love to get your feedback by participating in the poll.  If any of you would be willing to give me more detail, such as number of people in your family, how many times a week you go to the grocery store, or anything else that you think I might find helpful or interesting, please leave a comment.  Thanks!

Sam's Birthday and Sophie's New-Do!

 Tomorrow my sweetheart named Samuel turns 9 years old. He is such a special child, and we're so grateful for him. Last week he brought home his midterm grades; he had 5 A+'s and 2 A's, and he was asked by his teacher to have me sign it, and he was to sign it after he wrote down a goal for the rest of the term. I told him that he's doing so well, there wasn't much room for improvement. He wrote down that his goal was to get all A+'s. What a funny kid. We celebrated his birthday with cake and ice cream and his present from me and his dad. Chris has been out of town at Supervisor's Academy all week, he came home last night, but will leave again tomorrow for another week, so we decided today would be a good day to celebrate.

In other news, Sophie actually came to me and asked to have me cut her hair....short!  I was shocked.  We've been trying to grow out her bangs since the summer, and I think her new style turned our so pretty and will help get her through the "transition period".  I just love that soft, sweet face!



Before





After







So cute!





Fall is the best!

We went for a short drive on this rainy, cool afternoon.  It's so beautiful here in the fall, though I can't believe how much the colors are already changing in just the 2nd week of September.

Pocatello Marathon 2010!

Okay, well the title of this post is a little misleading, since I actually only ran the half-marathon, but still...

I posted a detailed blog about my experience running the 1/2 this morning on my other blog:

www.amarathonmom2b.blogspot.com

I just felt like putting something on this blog as well, because it was such an event for our whole family.  The kids were up early with me this morning, asking me lots of questions and telling me over and over to: "Do good, mom!"  Chris has been an awesome support as I've been doing this training, and continues to be as I now will keep on with my training for the full marathon in November.  For the marathon we will be traveling to Colorado, and it will be a whole new set of experiences.  This morning, though, after Chris took me in to where I had catch the shuttle to the starting line, he fed all the kids some breakfast, got everyone dressed, then drove to spots where he could get a few pictures of me on my run.  He then tried to get to the finish line, where he and the kids could wait to greet me, and somehow he ended up having to park about 2 miles from the finish line area.  He and the kids had walked all that way from the car, in the hot sun, then after we met up at the end of my race, we all had to walk that distance back to the car!  The kids were (apparently) doing a lot of complaining during the the "waiting" periods of my race, so I just wanted to let Chris know how much I appreciate his help and support.  He is a great dad and an especially good husband.

First fruits.

It may only be the last days of August, but here in southeastern Idaho, it's definitely starting to feel like fall.  (The high temp today was only 58!)  The other day, Chris brought in these sweet, little pie pumpkins from our garden.  I roasted them and made (a ton of) puree.  I made some pumpkin-banana-peanut butter chocolate chip muffins that were so yummy, they didn't last in the house for 24 hours!  It's really nice to have a garden, small as it is.  We planted a lot of the pie pumpkins, which are doing really great and we should get about 20+ more of them over the next few weeks.  Chris also planted several rows of sweet corn, which also have done well.  Unfortunately, the beans, carrots, butternut squash and tomatoes have not done well and we won't be getting too much from them.  It is disappointing, but we'll take what we can get.  We're also getting about 5-7 eggs a day from our hens.  It's been so nice not to have to buy eggs, and we eat them everyday.

A wind of change.

Today the high temperature is only reaching the low 70's, and it kind of feels like fall has come already!  I'm sure we'll still have some warm days, but jeez, this summer has gone by so fast!  Over the weekend we took the kids and went to Salt Lake City to visit some friends who were having a get-together at their home as a sort of mini-reunion of missionaries that served in the San Bernardino Mission.

Chris and I, both having served in the same mission in California, are lucky to know and be close with the same mission president and some of the same missionaries.  Our kids LOVE going to their home.  Every day we are there it is "The Best Day EVER!"  The Blanch family is so kind, generous and fun, so it is always a nice visit.  It had been a few years since we'd been to their house, so it was a special treat.  The kids swam in their pool for about 8+ hours straight, and we had to pull them out to eat dinner.  It was a fun way to end the kids' summer vacation.

Then yesterday we returned home in the early afternoon so we could make it to our church meetings.  Chris is currently teaching a 12 week Sunday School course called: "Teaching: No greater calling."  So basically he's teaching about teaching!  He is a wonderful teacher and I love going to his classes.  I always feel so close to him as he speaks and shares stories and relates experiences, especially when he talks about his childhood.  Noah also had to give a talk in Primary, and he did a wonderful job as well.

After church, Chris gave each of the kids a father's blessing as he does at the start of each new school year.  This morning the kids were all up and ready for school by 6:30am.  I walked them to the school before heading out on my morning run, and they were excited.  Noah took off running, actually, and didn't walk with the rest of us.  Sophie just kept saying how much she was going to miss me, and that she put some pictures of us that she had drawn on the fridge for me to remember her by.  What a cutie.  They will be home in a few minutes and I am anxious to hear how their first day went.

The annual (going broke) back-to-school ritual.

Here we are again, at the beginning of another school year.  With three school-aged children and school budget cuts, the required supply list is getting quite lengthy!  Add into that the need for new shoes, jeans, lunch boxes and backpacks...aye carumba!!  It feels good to have the shopping done and be getting organized and ready, but my checkbook isn't feeling quite as relieved as I am. :(  I was pleased with the shoe purchase, though.  Payless is having their Buy One, Get One Half Off Sale, and we got a coupon in the mail for an additional 20% our total purchase, so were able to get a pair of dress shoes, and a pair of tennis shoes for each of the 3 older kids (6 pairs of shoes in all) for $50!  Not too bad.