Way To Go Steelers Way To Go!

I'm so excited the Steelers pulled through. They had me a little nervous, but I knew they could do it. I was able to watch the first half of the Superbowl and then I had to make the trip to work. I arrived at work knowing they were ahead and I only hoped one of my patients that night was watching the game. I got into a room around 8pm and sure enough the game was on and the Steelers were losing with like 2 minutes left. Unfortunately the family was rooting for the Cardinals and I had to contain myself as the Steelers marched down the field and made the game winning touchdown. Needless to say, I had a great night. I just hope the family didn't hold it against me.

The Merrill Family Goes To The Circus

The Circus isn't something I would shell money out for. I think my kids would certainly enjoy it, but I just have always thought it's way over rated and overpriced. I was really excited when my awesome sister Cami was able to get us free tickets because the Circus was coming to the Golden Spike Arena in Weber County which is who she works for. When Gage and Mike got home from skiing, I announced that we would all be going to the Circus that night. Gage and Landen immediately started whining both of them saying, "I don't want to go to the circus. I don't want to see the scary clowns." I had to literally drag the entire family. Even Mike didn't want to make the effort to go. Well, I wasn't going to let free tickets go to waste. We were going to go and like it!

We had to park really far away when we arrived. There was a huge line waiting outside to get in. Gage and Landen both saw the same thing and started whining about how cold it was and that the line was way too long. I started off with Gage and Landen telling Mike to grab Tanner, the tickets, and the bag and we would hurry and start waiting in line. Once in line, I realized that we already had tickets and I was sure this was the line to purchase them. Once Mike caught up with me I told him to go up to the door and show them our tickets and see if we could just go in. Mike reached for his back pocket and brought his hand forward empty. I asked him where the tickets were. He said they were in his back pocket and must have fallen out. Are you kidding me? Who knows where the tickets had fallen and there were tons of people. Anyone could have easily picked them up off the ground. By this time, Gage and Landen were freaking out about how cold it was. I started having visions of how Mike lost $500 worth of Disneyland tickets about 2 years ago and how in the world does he keep doing this?

Mike followed his steps back to the Durango and finds 3 of the 4 tickets. How he only found 3 I don't know. I guess I should be grateful he found 3. So I took the kids and went inside while Mike stood in line to pay $16 for a ticket. So much for our "free" evening out.


It was general admission seating and we got great seats. You can see the looks of pure excitement on my kids' faces. They just couldn't wait for the circus to begin!

Tanner thought he was so cool sitting in a big boy seat. He sat like this the entire circus! Who am I kidding? It was maybe 15 minutes of Tanner being totally memorized by the lights and sounds and just as I was thinking, "Wow, I can start taking my entire family places again. No more leaving Tanner at home with a babysitter," Tanner came to life. He kept walking the aisles and climbing up and down on his chair. He even whacked the guy in front of us in the head. That was embarrassing.

Once the circus started, Gage and Landen were hooked. They had a lot of fun. They couldn't believe there were no clowns involved at all. We all enjoyed the finale where 3 motorcycles drove around in the death ball. Sorry about lack of good pics of the actual circus. A camera is definitely on my Christmas list next year.

Gage Goes Skiing

Doesn't Gage just look adorable? Yesterday, Mike took him skiing for the first time at Nordic or is it called Wolf Mountain now? Anyway, I so wanted to go and watch but I didn't want to interfere and I thought Gage would do better without me there. Mike and I had been asking Gage this year if he wanted to try skiing. To our surprise he said yes. I don't even know if Gage really even knew what skiing was. It is amazing what a year does to a kid. For the past couple of years, I have been trying to get Gage to try anything from soccer (most of us know what a mistake that was because I think making him play is what traumatized him into saying no to everything else) to tumbling, basketball etc. Well, last year he finally agreed to T-ball and loved it and now he and Landen are enjoying tumbling.

Anyway, Mike took half the day off and rented skis and a helmet for Gage. Mike borrowed special short skis from a neighbor so he could help Gage more easily. Well, they arrived at the ski resort and purchased their tickets and what do you know? Mike set the tickets and coats in the truck and was helping Gage put his gear on and somehow locked his keys in the car. Seriously? Mike calls me telling me I need to drive up there (I didn't have a clue where Nordic was) and unlock them. The worst part was the tickets and coats were locked in the truck so they couldn't even start skiing while they waited. Well, as luck has it some guy heard Mike talking and said that he had a Chevy truck and sometimes the same keys work. What do you know? That guys own truck keys unlocked ours. Kinda scary if you think about it.

So, they finally got to start skiing. Mike bought $10 passes that only allowed them to stay on their "Magic Carpet" hill. Well, they were having so much fun they upgraded to normal lift tickets so they could go down a real mountain! I couldn't believe it. Mike said Gage did awesome and loved it! I guess Gage would just take off down the mountain with Mike shouting behind him "Lean on your left!" or "Lean on your right" or "Slow down Gage! Make a big pizza!" I guess Gage crashed into the orange safety net a few times taking it down with him occasionally. Overall, they had a great time and we have plans to go again next Friday. I am going to go this time and get some real footage.

Reach For The Toothbrush

Ok, I really need to start letting my kids do things for themselves but it is so much easier and faster if I do it. I still brush Gage's teeth for him (he is 6 1/2 years old). I just feel like if I do it, I know it is getting done properly. No cavities thus far. Anyway, I always have to tell Gage to close his mouth because it lets me get in the back. So Gage and I had the following conversation:

Me, "Gage, close your mouth a little so I can get in the back."
Gage, "Mommy, you need to get the ankle toothbrush."
Me, "What?" (I couldn't understand what he was saying because he had a mouth full of toothpaste.)
Gage replied as he shoves the toothbrush out of his mouth, "You know mommy, the ankle reach toothbrush because it reaches your teeth all the way in the back."
At this point I realize he is trying to say 'Angle Reach'. Me, "Do you mean Angle Reach?"
Gage, "That's what I said, ankle reach toothbrush."
Me, "Where did you see that?"
Gage, "On a commercial while I was watching Scooby Doo. It said the Ankle Reach Toothbrush is bent so it helps you brush your teeth that are all the way in the back."

Gage will make a great salesman one day.

Side note: Gage is currently in Speech Therapy for some articulation problems he is having. It's a long story that hopefully I will get around to blogging one day.

Maybe A Little Too Cheap

Growing up my parents (my dad mainly) would always remind us that we weren't paying the electric bill so we needed to make sure to turn lights, tvs off etc when we left a room. With money being kinda tight right now (I haven't worked a full pay period since October), I am trying to tighten the belt. It is also a pet peeve of mine to have lights on upstairs when we are downstairs and vice versa. Anyway, this morning the kids were dancing in the living room with the blinds closed and the lights on. Well, kinda the same idea. You don't really need the lights on if the blinds are open with plenty of light. I said to Gage and Landen, "You guys don't need the lights on. You are wasting electricity and that is wasting money. Let's turn off the lights and open the blinds." As I am sitting down here in the computer room a few hours later, the boys are upstairs in their room playing. I heard Gage say, "Turn off the light Landen. You are wasting money!" Ok, maybe I'm being a little too cheap. I busted out laughing!

Cousin Sleepover

Gage is off track along with his cousins Maddison and Brayden. We had a cousin sleepover the other night. I thought having 5 kids in the house would make things a little hectic but I actually got a lot done. It might have been due to the fact that 4 out of the 5 kids (Tanner being number 5) have a Nintendo DS.




They were all playing Super Mario Brothers. Ok, so maybe I let them play with the DS a little too long. These games are sooo addicting!

Boys Will Be Boys

Many of you know of Landen's obsession with cars. He spends countless hours driving his hot wheels cars around on the carpet of his bedroom floor. For his birthday, he received many nice tracks and city type buildings to drive his cars around in. However, Landen continued to prefer to drive his hot wheels and line them up on the floor in his room. For Christmas, I picked out the cutest hot wheel rug for Landen's room so he could at least drive his cars on the rug. It has race tracks and parking stalls. Landen loves the rug, but he drives his cars around the rug instead of on the rug. All of this kneeling on the floor has taken a toll on Landen's pants. The other day I realized he has ruined 6 pairs of pants since school started in September. Only 2 of the 6 were Gage's and the rest are brand new from school starting or from his birthday in November! I also noticed today he has ruined a pair of sweat pants. Mike and I have started making him change into shorts when he going to play with his cars.

Go Steelers!

Baltimore Ravens 14 Pittsburgh Steelers 23

My dad is a huge Pittsburgh Steeler football fan. Growing up, I was a daddy's girl so in turn I became a Steeler fan as well. So, I am super excited they are going to the Super Bowl. The only downside is that I am scheduled to work that night. I will get to see the first half of the game before I have to leave for work. Hopefully, one of my patients is a Steeler fan. They better win or it will be one long night at work!

Go Coach Mommy Go!

So I have a new church calling. I have slipped through the cracks for awhile because I work a lot of Sundays, but they finally got me. I am the Young Women's athletic coach. I almost busted out laughing when the Bishop told me the calling. I asked if this was a made up calling just for me, but apparently it is really a calling. I actually was excited because I had another motive in mind. I thought this would be a great way to get to know some of the teenagers in the neighborhood in order to see who would want to babysit my kids. Since we have moved here, I haven't known who to ask to babysit my precious, calm, children.

Well, we had our first basketball game last week and forfeited. I felt bad because we still scrimmaged and we are good. I am bribing the girls with a pack of gum every time they come to a game. Thank heavens for an awesome dad with perks. Hopefully it works.

I was telling Gage and Landen yesterday that we were having basketball practice at the church gym and they could come and run around. Landen said, "I am going to cheer for you mommy." I replied, "Landen, I'm not going to play. I'm the coach." Landen instantly said, "I'll cheer for the coach then." Sure enough as I was shouting words of encouragement to the girls during practice I could hear Landen saying, "Go coach mommy go!"

How Much Did I Spend?

So I am trying a new way of buying groceries in order to help cut costs as well as hopefully build up a little food storage. The idea is to collect coupons and only use them when an item is on sale. Hopefully, you have a few coupons for each item on sale and you stock up on the item. So, Albertsons (I never have shopped at Albertsons before, I am usually Walmart through and through) had a big sale last week and this is what I got.

Here's a list in case you can't see everything:

2 Boxes Instant Potatoes

9 Boxes of Tuna/Chicken/Hamburger Helper

2 Boxes frozen vegetables

3 Boxes Brownie Mix

1 Pantene Shampoo

1 Pantene Conditioner

Dozen Eggs

4 Bags Malt O Meal Cereal

20 Yoplait Yogurts

1 3 lb Tub of Butter

1 Bag Baked Lays Chips

1 2 lb Block Cheese

1 5 lb Bag Potatoes

9 Rolls Toilet Paper

3 10 packs of Minute Maid Juice Boxes

3 Boxes Toaster Strudels

24 Bottles Dasani Water

16 20 oz Bottles of Powerade

And I have a $15 in store credit on my next purchase!

I only spent $60 which I thought was a pretty good deal and I still have that $15 when I go back. It was definitely a lot of work. I spent about 2 hrs the night before cutting coupons and getting my list organized. Then, I spent roughly 2-3 hours at the store because you had to buy it a certain way. Anyway, I think I am going to try this for a few months and see how it goes. There is a whole other world out there of coupon people. I had no idea so many people did this. I guess people lined up outside of Albertsons at 6 am on the 1st day of the sale. I don't think it's quite worth that much effort, but I'll see how things go.