Our Very Merry Christmas

Posted by Alyssa



















Since we live in the same city as both of our families, let me just say each holiday is crazy! Somehow we split each day in half and spend each half with each family. So, Christmas Eve and the first half of Christmas day we spent with my family. Christmas morning we opened presents at our own house and then went to my parent's house to open some with them and eat a yummy breakfast. We then went out to the desert to ride horses with my grandpa and some cousins (Kasey and Becca Self,their 5 kids, and Amanda Self). Mike got to ride and then came back and took Connor on a ride. Connor loved every second of course and had fun playing with his cousins. I just watched, took pictures, visited, and held Jake. I wasn't in the mood to smell like horses all day! After riding for a while, we went back to my parents house and made Christmas lunch. Ate some more yummy food and then headed home so Connor could take a nap and I could make a brownie trifle for Mike's family's Christmas dinner. We then headed into town where we ate lots more yummy food, opened presents, and visited. Talk about a fun, busy, & long day!


Mike and I have figured out a secret to Christmas shopping. Get the gifts the day AFTER Christmas! :-) Friday night we were going to go see Bedtime Stories, but the theatre was so packed, we decided to go another day and enjoy it more. Instead we got a smoothie and went to Sam's Club where they had all their Christmas stuff 50% off. Before Christmas shopping, we went as a family one night to Sam's Club and Connor saw a PegPerego jeep. After pulling him away from it (while he cried and yelled "Drive! Drive!), we just laughed it off. It was $500. But, last night it also was on sale for $250. I did my research and this is on Amazon for $600 and Ebay for $700!! Holy cow! Now, I'm all about a good deal, but that's still a lot of money. Well, we now are just going to take back the train table my mom bought for the boys and put that money towards the jeep. We paid for it with some of Mike's Christmas bonus that was on a Wal Mart gift card, and didn't have to pay anything out of pocket for it! We stayed up till past midnight last night putting it together while watching Season 4 of The Office (we've had to wait a whole year to see it! We just couldn't turn it off!) Once Connor got the key for it this morning(it doesn't start with it though, its just a play key) and started driving it in our living room (only about 2 feet in each direction constantly ramming into our couches), we couldn't get him off it! Thankfully it's now in our garage where he can drive it around our cul-de-sac. He's so proud of the fact that he has his OWN key to his OWN jeep (if you knew Connor, you'd understand how obsessed he is with keys and driving cars).


Mike and I have been married for almost 4 years and I have always wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer. I have always mixed everything by hand or using my hand mixer. So, when I saw that I could get the professional 6 quart one for only $197, I was all over that! It's normally $500 and was on sale for $400. I got an extra 30% off with my Kohl's charge card (this is my only credit card and for this purpose, I can get anything for 30% every month!), free shipping, earned $60 Kohls cash back, and got a $50 mail in rebate. It's red and matches my red and white cherry themed kitchen. Merry Christmas to me!


For Mike, we'll be getting ammunition for our safe at home. Since we will soon be having a stupid president, prices on ammo are going to be insane and we wanted to stock up before that happened. So, this year for Christmas Mike got himself a rear view camera for his truck (I didn't think there were any more toys possible to put on that thing, but leave it to Mike to find it!) so he can see when he's backing up and have 3 night vision cameras on it so that if someone tried to damage or break into it, he can catch them. Now while Mike works on his truck, Connor can be along side him working on his Jeep because it has a fake engine under the hood along with tools to play with. Boys and their toys.......


I can't believe another year has already passed. Mike and I now have TWO sweet boys (its still hard for me to fathom) and our house is never boring! We were so blessed this year and have enjoyed being surrounded by all our family and friends! We're so grateful for all you do for us!

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A Perfect Day in Disneyland

Posted by Alyssa











Well, after our first day of torture in the cold and rain, the second day made the trip worth it! It was sunny and beautiful weather. Connor loved riding all the rides and was constantly absorbing everything in everywhere we went. We even got to see reindeer and santa! We didn't get a picture with him though because the line was incredibly long. He still isn't at the point where he understands all the little Christmas details, which I'm perfectly ok with right now! His favorite part was driving his car on Autopia. Both boys did great and Mike loved the jogging stroller. Not once did he want to give up pushing it! We did end up leaving at about 4:30, which meant we missed the fireworks and falling snow afterwards and see the Cinderella castle lit up. But I did a great job imagining it as we drove away! :-) We were all excited to see Connor's reaction to the Christmas Parade (especially my dad) but of course he fell asleep right before it got to us and missed the whole thing. Mike tried to wake him a couple times, but he was completely out! I'm starting to learn that things never go the way you plan with kids in the picture. I can now say that I've seen how gorgeous it is in Disneyland at Christmastime! The decorations everywhere were beautiful and got me in the Christmas mood! Thanks to the fact that we had my parents and brothers to help us, Mike and I got to ride some rides together and we went shopping in Downtown Disney and got my favorite ice cream- chocolate peanut butter Hagen Daaz! We love Disneyland!

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Disneyland!!!

Posted by Alyssa







After leaving this morning at 5am, we made it to Disneyland! We're here with my parents and brothers Rees and Ryan. We found out the day before leaving that it was going to be cold and rainy.....but we weren't expecting this! There are now reports that its supposed to snow here for the first time in 17 years! It is STINKING cold, windy, and pouring outside. So, yes, after we could finally check into our room, we are now enjoying Disneyland in the hotel. We tried to ride a couple rides (all inside rides), eat lunch (inside), and walk around (NOT inside). Lets just say that by the time we finally got to check in, we were all soaked, freezing, tired, and grumpy. My Christmas present was a double Schwinn jogging stroller and it is a lifesaver already! The thing rides super smooth, the boys are comfortable, and it kept them mostly dry (except their feet). I'm glad I got to open my Christmas present early! Right now you can't even see outside our room window because the windows are covered in frost. So, for now, we're just waiting for it to stop raining so we can actually enjoy this vacation. LOL, silly me. I'm just gonna say this is going to be an adventure!

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And That's How You Do It!

Posted by Alyssa




Ok, so everyone asks me how I end up making money when shopping or getting a bunch of free or super cheap stuff. Here's how I did this week at CVS and Fry's. The first picture is from my trip to CVS. It is missing one pack of diapers (which is already almost used up!) Overall, I spent only about .38 cents out of pocket (because I paid with ExtraBucks and they didn't match the total exactly)! I still have over $150 in Extra Bucks to use before they expire (leftover from the awesome Thanksgiving Day freebies). AND I earned $35 more extra bucks to use! Also, you can get $1 per pack of Huggies back from The Caregivers Marketplace, so I'll be getting back $5 from them!
The second picture is my trip to Fry's. I spent only $25 and saved over $60! They're tripling and quadrupling their coupons right now and are also accepting competitor's coupons-which I took advantage of!
So, what's the secret? You find super good sales at stores and then use coupons on top of the sales. Most of the time, you can get free stuff doing this (esp. when they double or triple coupons). For example: Fry's had their Bar-S hot dogs on sale for $1. I had some .25 cents off coupons, which when quadrupled, made them free!
Where do I get all these coupons? The internet sites (like Smart Source and Coupons.com), the Sunday paper (we only get the Sunday paper just for the coupons and get our money's worth!), and mailed coupons from Companies.
Here's how I do it: I have a ton of blogs on my "bookmarks" under my Google tab (some of my favorites are to the right on my blog). I try to visit these almost every day and they tell you exactly what is on sale at certain stores and what coupons to use. A lot of times if its an internet coupon, they'll have a link that takes you directly to print the coupon off. They do all the work-they're the smart ones here! So, when printing coupons, use it from their blogs (if you can) because they make a little money off each one you print. I hope this can help you guys! I will say it does take some time and committment, but it's saved us a ton!

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My boys

Posted by Alyssa







These are my recent photos I wanted to share of the two little boys who have completely stolen our hearts. For those of you who don't know Connor, well....he's quite a character! It's almost impossible to put into words what the little guy is like. He's got a mind of his own, he's obsessed with keys, cars, and phones. He has quite the collection of toys (mainly thanks to Grandma Colvin), but never plays with them. He'd rather walk around and take things apart, play in our carsm or study stuff. Sometimes it's a good thing....sometimes not. He's a one track minded boy that knows exactly what he wants and theres no distracting him. He's a total people person. Today when we got home our neighbors were outside while the kids played in the street. Connor looked at me as we got out of the car and said, "People! Play! Outside!" He's always quite the entertainer and is totally loveable. All it takes is one smile from him and you're wrapped around his finger. I don't know how, but the kid never runs out of energy! He's his dad to a T (both looks and personality!)!

Then there's our little Jakie boy. I can't say enough that this kid is seriously what Mike and I needed! He's the sweetest and happiest little guy I've ever seen! All you have to do is look at him and he'll give you the biggest smile. He is so good natured and has the sweetest spirit about him. He loves to baby talk at you and makes himself laugh when he squeals as loud as he can. And let me just say, this guy is a chunk! I think Connor was just as fat, but it still cracks us up how much their skin can stretch and fill up with dimples all over! It's been fun seeing his looks constantly change and now you can start to see the mix of genes in him! We are so blessed with our little boys!

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I'm a Dove Chocolatier!

Posted by Alyssa

After reading an article on how some moms are earning money on the side in a Parenting Magazine, I discovered Dove Chocolate Discoveries. People host a chocolate party and I'm the chocolatier that brings the chocolate! I do a short presentation and then people can eat and mingle while looking through catalogs. So, I'm making a little bit of money by going to parties and selling chocolate! I'm just starting out and have had a lot of fun with it already! So if any of you want to host a chocolate party, let me know! :-)

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For Starters.........

Posted by Alyssa

After following family and friends' blogs, I decided to finally make our own! My favorite blogging is on a bunch of sites where they give you tips for couponing, free stuff, and frugal shopping: which is what I'm all about these days! So, I'll give you links to some of my favorite and hopefully you can use them to help you save money as they have us! These women are awesome!

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