Snow days, sick days and more snow days.

It's really been kind of a crazy month around here.  It started off like a typical November, and we made it through our trip to Colorado and the awesome marathon experience with picture perfect weather, but we did have the issues with the stomach flu virus going through our family.

That has all changed, though.  For the past couple of weeks, we've been experiencing extremely cold temperatures - lows have been in the negatives, and highs in the teens - and tons of snow!  Coming into this Thanksgiving holiday week, the kids had a snow day from school on Tuesday, and so have been home for 6 days!  The roads are terrible, and Chris has stayed busy at work.  We were able to make it out to the in-laws of one of Chris' brothers for Thanksgiving day dinner, though the drive to their house (about an hour away) was a stressful one.  Once we got there, the kids really enjoyed getting to play with their cousins, and we had a wonderful time visiting with our family and enjoying some really good food!  When we left, we brought one of the cousins home to spend the night - a special treat for Sophie - to get to spend time with another girl!  Today we woke up to more snow coming down, and it still hasn't stopped.  And even though I have been very healthy for months, I think all my training has finally caught up with me and I have a terrible sore throat today.  So, we stayed home from church today, enjoying the peace that the fresh snowfall brings, and are going to do a Family Home Evening tonight with the kids since Chris is home from work.

On Saturday, Sophie will be getting baptized and so we have a few family members coming over for that.  I just hope the weather doesn't make it impossible for them to come.  She is so very excited to be 8 and to get to have her special day.

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Rim Rock Marathon, 2010

We just returned home last night from an incredible experience in Colorado.  Even though some of our family members were afflicted with a stomach virus, we still enjoyed some amazing sights, food and memories with friends and family.  My first marathon was a success: my friend and I finished the marathon and I'm minimally sore today!  It was an emotional, mental and physical challenge, but the feeling of accomplishment is indescribable.  I'm feeling extremely grateful right now for such a loving and supportive husband, and also the friends and family that have helped and encouraged me along my journey.  We were able to celebrate our sweet daughter's 8th birthday while we were there, and now we look forward to helping her get ready for her upcoming baptism.  I've posted a more detailed account of my race and the days leading up to it on my other blog: www.amarathonmom2b.blogspot.com

Here come the holidays...

This year we decided to be both thrifty and frugal with regards to Halloween and it's festivities.  I told the kids about a month ago that we weren't going to be buying any new costumes or accessories this year.  At first, they griped...for about a minute.  Then they spent several hours rummaging through bags and bins of dress-up and play stuff, and here is what they came up with:  We have a hiker, a hunter, a hula dancer and the cutest puppy ever!

We also didn't buy any pumpkins to carve.  We had a garden full of sugar pumpkins this year, so since they are not great for carving, we let the kids paint some instead - equally entertaining!

Our main Halloween activities took place today.  We started out going to a "trunk-or-treat" this afternoon at a shopping plaza parking lot where businesses were handing out candy. 

Then, since we had a couple of hours before time for real trick-or-treating, we went to the dollar theater and saw "Toy Story 3".  (The kids already saw it with grandma and grandpa when it first came out in theaters, but Chris hadn't seen it, and the kids were more than happy to see it again - it's a great movie!)

After the movie, we headed back home where the kids had a quick pit-stop, then I took the three older kids out trick-or-treating while Chris stayed at home with Nicolas, who said, "I have enough candy, mom!"  :)

After the kids had their buckets loaded up with sweets, we went home where I made some homemade vegetarian pizza (yum!), and we watched scary movies.  As you can see, a couple of the kids didn't last too long at that point!

So, in the end, we spent:

$0.00 ~ Costumes and accessories

$10.00 ~ Gas to drive into town

$12.00 ~ Cheap movies

$0.00 ~ Pumpkins

Total = $22.00

Much less than in years past, and we still heard, "Best Halloween Ever!" from all of the children.  Now on to planning for a frugal Christmas!  :)

Most Excellent Week.

This has been a good week for our family.  We closed on our home refinance, which thanks to the currently low interest rates, is going to save us over $300 a month.  Then, since Chris had a couple of days off, we planned a special family outing, finally getting the opportunity to make use of a gift certificate we were given for a free stay in a suite at a wonderful hotel on the river in Idaho Falls.  The kids had a great time swimming and playing all day, and Chris and I both made use of the awesome Jacuzzi tub in our room.  Being gone on the weekend meant I had to do my Saturday morning 14 mile long run (www.amarathonmom2b.blogspot.com) in an unfamiliar locale, but it was totally worth it.  I was able to run along the greenway of the Snake River, with a view of the LDS Temple.  After I had my long run out of the way, we made the additional hour drive up to the Jackson Hole area of Wyoming, one of our most favorite places on earth.  We spent hours driving through the mountains, seeing tons of wildlife and enjoying the gorgeous fall foliage.  We were relaxed, happy and content to just be with each other.  If you're interested in seeing my photo album from this trip (which includes lots of really great wildlife and landscape photos), check out my Facebook page: Priscilla Bake's Facebook Profile

Family Photos.

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!