Merry Christmas...

We just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season. I have some fun news. So here's the news we are pregnant and expecting in June. I thought that like all my other friends I should have a June baby too!!! We are excited for Kaden to be a big brother to either a brother or a sister. will blog our holiday pictures later but thought I would get the secret out since soon I will be showing...I already kind of am!!!

Website

So I didn't make it very clear what the website was and a couple people have asked it is http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com
Have fun it has deals from state to state. However the Utah state is the best so even though we aren't in Utah anymore I still use that state and then see if the same deals are running at the stores near us.

Here comes santa...

So Santa goes all around in Spokane he was going to be at our apartments over the weekend. After Kaden's nap we had about 15 minutes till he left for the next place. I almost didn't take him due to the freezing weather but haven't had the chance to go to the mall santa and thought every kid needs to see santa. So I went out in the 5 degree weather (yep at night it's 10 below with the wind chill). We froze (the walk isn't that far) but the wind was howling and blowing and I was freezing. It is the kind of wind that takes your breath away. So Kaden was not happy he cried the whole way to see Santa and the whole way home (hence the red nose and grumpy look on his face!) I would have driven but I figured the parking lot was literally ice since they don't plow anywhere here. I didn't want to drive on a sheet of ice, have to scrap the car off and sit in the freezing car the 4 minutes to see Santa.
Actually seeing Santa was uneventful but Kaden loved the little bag of treats Santa gave him. Look at the poor red hands that was like 15 minutes after being home too!

Pinch your pennies...

Okay so this friend of mine showed me this website pinch your pennies and I thought it looked like a lot of work, but it was truly easy and I have never felt like my house has so much good food. I printed off the deals highlighted what I wanted to buy and printed coupons if some were needed. The great part about it is I saved almost as much as I spent. Now for the even better part...being a poor law student you find yourself getting really creative. Chris and I love good food but to eat out it gets extremely expensive so we don't do this very often. I like to cook but I hate having a huge clean up. This week with me out of town and Chris so extremely busy he told me he might have one night that he could come home for dinner yes!!!(I had been taking dinner to the scool which it never tastes as good when you drive the 20minutes and it continues to cook in the container). So I thought we will bring a really good dinner in to say thank you for your hard work and slaving away at school. I got on the handy website and for less than $15 dollars made a surf and turf lobster and NY steak dinner with cheese fondue fruit, homeade bread and steamed veggies. The lobster was the best I had ever had (and I got it on sale for super chep!) The lobster is still on sale through today Chris is begging me to go get more! It was supper easy to make throw the tail in tin foil and then put it in a pan of boiling water for 1 min per ounce! YUM YUM!!! We would have spent that much or more going to PFChangs or Olive Garden and I liked it so much better!

Snow fun!!!

This is the best after a cold day in the snow. I only love hot chocolate though if it has a lot of whipping cream I think that is why starbucks is always so good...Kaden was so cold after our adventures in the snow because he kept taking his mittens off. His hands were bright red and really warm (you know that feeling when they just hurt). I put some exactly like this in a sippy cup and he downed it and kept begging for more...my kind of guy!
I was so sad that we were leaving Utah and there was not an ounce of snow anywhere. Then the day before we left it snowed all day. Kaden loved it. I tried to take him in the house twice to warm up and he cried every time I tried to take him in.

He thought this snowman was so fun to build although I don't think he could see very well what he was doing!

And a huge thank you to my mom. She is so great with Kaden. When I am getting inpatient and frusturated with him she kindly takes over she does such a great job that when we are there Kaden is usually asking her for things instead of me. She helps out so much and it is always a little bit of a break especially when Chris is so busy. So thank you thank you mom! She even got the flu and was throwing up and was still a huge help. I think we gave the flu to everyone this week...opps. It was also fun to see so many friends in Utah. I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and people in my life. I wish I could have seen more...you all are so incredible and I am constantly impressed by how much you overcome and accomplish in your lives (all of you!!!)

Thanks again mom...your the best! Can you believe she is a grandma? I get asked all the time if we are sisters.

I Hate Delta airlines!!!

Okay I know hate is a very strong word, but I will never fly on Delta again. First of all I was traveling alone which is never easy with a toddler so I asked my mom if she could get off work and help me go through security and to the gate (I didn't know you could do this but the last couple times I flew Southwest alone they suggested that I have an escort). So she was nice and offered to come help. We get to the airport and my mom and I can hardly get to the counter with all the stuff required to travel with a toddler she thought we might need more than two of us. We get to the counter after wating in a line and the lady says to check my bag I need to go and get in the other line (where 2 people are working and not very quickly) and then the guy tells me it will be 15 dollars, what!!! (I know my bag weighed 50 pounds exactly) but they now charge for one bag and it didn't matter that I made my reservation before the fee change. I pay the money and tell him I need a security escort pass he tells me they don't do that (I told him that southwest always does...well he says Delta DOESN'T!) Then I tell him I obviously have too much to take to the gate alone and will he wrap up my car seat and check it here he says yes he will take care of it (however not nicely he was quite RUDE!). My mom suggests that we should ask TSA about a escort pass because I have my hands full and have had the flu and don't feel great as is. The TSA guy says that we need an airline to print one out we told him the agent said they didn't do that (the guy says yes they do maybe you should ask another agent or just fly southwest, when the TSA guy suggests just flying Southwest I thought yeah I know I was trying to save some money but with the new rules on luggage I don't think I was saving). I was running out of time to go back down stairs to try to get a pass so I said goodbye to my wonderful mom and through security I went. Kaden is screaming and throwing a fit because he wants the milk that is in the sippy cup going through the scanner. In all the furry of trying to undress myself AND undress kaden AND get out liquids AND put the 10 plastic bins through the scanner AND find my ticket AND collapse the stroller while EVERYONE is inpatiently waiting the sweetest TSA guy noticed I was struggling and was so nice to help us get everything through security. I thought okay I can do this and then on the other side realized I had too much stuff to push in the stroller, too much stuff to carry and couldn't keep it all balanced and chase Kaden as he ran every which way (the escort would have been nice at this point). So Kaden goes running away as I am chasing a stroller full of stuff and goes crashing on the tile floor bonks his head so hard and is screaming so hard he is coughing and chocking himself and everyone is staring as I am the spectacle trying to carry a millon things, a kicking crying toddler and push a stroller (an escort would have been nice at this point). We get to the gate and I am on the edge of tears as the Delta lady is tagging my stroller and trying to ask what is wrong. When I tell her my frustrations she blows me off and backs up the agent downstairs (why ask if your are just going to be indifferent and rude) so here we are waiting no really chasing Kaden ALL over including down an emergency exit ramp, towards a runway while literally every passenger is watching trying not to laugh or feel sorry for the poor sweaty, red faced frazzled mom with too much stuff. So we are boarding the plane and my banana republic bag carrying odds and ends breaks. I have pieces of trains from IKea random diapers, clothes from banana and other odds and end things and my other carry on (the diaper bag) is already so full the zipper won't close. So here I am with millions of loose articles dropping things every three feet trying to hang on to Kaden by his hood while person after nice person is offering to help (all of which are passengers not Delta employees). I of course am to stubborn for help but finally one persistant young man took Kaden and some of my loose items and helped me to my seat and to get things in the overhead while the stewardess' all just sat by and watched. We sit on the plane for 20 minutes until the captain calls overhead that his seat won't adjust and matience is working on it we will be off in 15 minutes. 30 minutes later they say it is unfixable and we will have to deplane (meanwhile I am trying my hardest to entertain a very busy 18 month old. So now I have to repeat the ordeal again getting off the plane waiting around for the next plane and then reloading (where did the really nice gentleman go...I need HELP). Well we get on the new plane and Kaden has a blow out (I hate changing diapers in the tiny airplane bathrooms) I am unsure if we are going to take off right away so I ask the steardess if I have time to change it (she wants to know how long it will take I don't know 2-3 minutes?) She tells me I probably don't have time and should wait until after take off, however as we are literally sitting for 30 minutes waiting to be cleared for take off I decide to change the diaper (you know how the soft bum looks after sitting too long soiled and probably also know how that goes in the tiny little bathroom with no changing table...sorry whoever had to clean that bathroom or use it after us!) So the plane eventually is ready for take off Kaden was an angel on the flight he fell asleep during take off and slept the whole time. We get off the plane and I think oh we made it all is well (however what am I going to do when I have more than one child to fly with...oh yeah fly south west). So all is well, UNTIL I get the car seat it is not wrapped in plastic (or taken care of like the rude guy at the counter said he would do) and one of the buckles on the car seat is missing, so unsafe to use and how do we get home? We improvise and do the best we can as parents as safetly as we can since no one is open at midnight at the airport to ask for help or a lost and found. I called the next day and talked to the head lady over baggage she seemed very helpful and said she would send out messages and someone would get back to me (yeah right I will be shocked after my experiance if they do, in the meantime we are staying close to home until we have a fully functioning car seat again). Sorry for this enormous long venting session and sorry if you are a true blue Delta fan...I have personally decided that they are trying to cater only to the bussiness traveler and could care less or even try to make it difficult for families so they will chose not to fly with them and will choose to fly with the very accomodating Southwest!!!

Holiday traditions?

I was just thinking the other day about what kind of holiday traditions I would like to start with my family. I should probably start while Kaden is little. My family did not have very many traditions or things that they did every year during the holidays. The one thing that we did do was each year we got a new ornament from Hallmark, it usually sings or moves or something fun like that. We got out our tree this year and Kaden can hardly keep his hands off of it! It is the loudest tree around that sings and makes a popcorn sound (constantly) and most of the little ornaments are like toys because they move and have bright lights. We have only had one causality though where my ornament with a trumpet player and drum player got their hands ripped off and they heads bit off!! And then one afternoon I had to rescue Kaden I heard him squeal as he lost his balance while standing on the arm rest of the couch trying to reach an ornament. He fell head first into the tree and was stuck! So the ornament thing is truly special and exciting at our house, but I need more ideas to make the holidays more magical!! Any good ideas, I would love to hear them?

Miss you dad!!!

Kaden and I have stayed to visit with friends and family! While it is fun and there is lots to see and do we miss Chris. I think we made a good decision though because he is studying constantly for finals! He has one down which he rocked and 4 or 5 more to go...yeah! We love you & good luck this week!

Thankful, thankful...

Chris and I took Kaden down and around the Temple grounds. They have the lights up and beautiful decorations. I just love Salt Lake and Temple square around this time of year. It is just magical and it perfectly depicts the birth of Christ and the beauty of the season!

It was so beautiful in Utah this past weekend. It was kind of chilly for Ty's wedding but the next couple of days felt like spring days! Typical I guess for Utah to have unpredictable weather but it was so warm it made me excited for spring.

I love this picture. Chris is so detail focused lately and finds beauty in such abstract things. We were passing and he was like look how cool the reflection of the temple is in that picture it is beautiful...

This week has been busy and crazy but so much fun! We came home to visit my family for thanksgiving and for Tyler's wedding. We had a great time visiting everyone and seeing all our family. It was nice to have a wedding because we got to see all our extended family...

I had to put this picture in. I was holding Kaden and thought he had his fingers in his mouth the whole entire time during pictures. When we were done with pictures I looked down at him and realized they were in his nose!!! He never does this! So now the one day he was picking his nose is documented in wedding pictures foreveeeer (it probably won't be his last day of nose picking, gross!) It only got worse from the nose picking, he threw up at the reception and to make matters even worse Ally, Chris and I were throwing up the next day yuck! I haven't thrown up in years it is awful! I was just glad it was a 24 hour type thing!