alaska in pictures

Our trip to Alaska June 21-27 this summer was fantastic. It was just the 2 of us and we had such a great time. We were in awe of our surroundings, but most of all, we grew in love and admiration for each other. Here are some of our photos. Enjoy.

11 years

Happy Anniversary! It's been 11 years, I can't believe it. There's something about 11 years on the 11th. I like stuff like that. I know I'm weird and that's ok. Here we are hiking on a glacier a couple of weeks ago on our anniversary trip (for 10 years) to Alaska. It was great. More to come on that.

way behind....

Since I last blogged, we have had a LOT going on! (thus the reason for the lack of posts.) We have had Mother's Day, Mother's Day Tea at preschool, last day of preschool for Nora Kate, last day of school for Samuel (which I will have to blog about later as we have pictures in our new camera, AND he got an award for straight A's for the ENTIRE year!!). We have had Nora Kate's birthday, my family visiting for Nora Kate's birthday, Josh's family visiting for Nora Kate's ballet recital, field trips, field trips, and more field trips.... I barely remember May it went by so fast! These are pictures from Nora Kate's ballet recital. It was so much fun and she loved being in the spotlight. You can see in the pictures that she was pretty full of herself! I personally love the one of her in the dressing room. It was buzzing with excitement in there! She couldn't wait to get on the stage. Next year she wants to take ballet and tap!

We are getting ready to leave for our 2 week trip to visit family in OH, KY, & MN; then Josh and I will take our trip to Alaska to celebrate our 10 year anniversary (which was last year, so I guess we are really celebrating 11 years. Our anniversary is July 11, so it is 11 years on the 11th!!) I'm sure I will have a lot to blog about after this trip!

new blog

I am excited to tell you that I have started a new blog! This one is called 'Love Hazel' and will be mostly for sharing the things I have sewn or am in progress of sewing. I may occasionally have a different type of crafty thing in there, but that will mainly be it. I love to sew and have been doing a whole lot of it over the last few months to a year and will be excited to share that with you through this outlet. There is also a link on that blog to my etsy shop that I started in March, also called, Love Hazel. This blog will continue to focus mainly on family stuff. If you are interested in what I am sewing or crafting, please check it out!

when did this happen?

My little boy climbs trees now. Tall trees. He is so sweet, and funny, and sweaty, and dirty... and so handsome. And best of all, he has a really good heart. 5 more days of 2nd grade. I can't believe how fast he is growing up. I love him.

another giveaway

There's another giveaway on wondermommy! More fabric and patterns too! Check it out!

I'm hooked...

I'm hooked. In January my neighbor told us at our monthly neighborhood bunco how she had been saving so much money with 'couponing', yes, I think it's a verb. I was slightly interested, but not so much. Then, a couple of weeks ago a friend told me how they were having triple coupons at Harris Teeter that week from Wednesday through the following Wednesday. Now this got me thinking.... wow, if I had some coupons I could probably save quite a bit.... So, I bought the Sunday paper and clipped my coupons then off to Harris Teeter I went on Tuesday. I have to say that I was a little leary as I usually shop at Walmart except for meat and some produce because the prices there are consistently lower and Harris Teeter (or Harris Cheater as I sometimes refer to it) is one of our most expensive grocery stores, but I took my chances. I was instantly very suspicious of everyone in the store upon walking in as they were obviously there to get all the good deals I was after. (hello? can you say paranoia?!) I became very competitive and took a quick look at my list and decided the toothpaste was a deal not to be passed up and went there first. After getting that in my cart I was slightly relieved. It turned out that out of 3 possible free items, I was only able to get one as the others were out of stock, but I was ok with that. Anyway, I ended up getting all the above items for $33.71 and this includes tax. I saved $30 in coupons!! I have to say that I was thrilled! I came home and told my neighbor about my savings and she said, "That's good, you'll get better." She bursted my bubble just a tad as I thought I had just outwitted the supermarket world with my savings, but I was still very excited! So, I am following a few local websites and blogs that post the weekly good deals with sales and coupons and if there is anything that I **need** (this is key), then I will go take advantage of that deal. I have been saving my receipts this month so I will have to add up all my coupon savings at the end of the month to see how I do. It definitely makes grocery shopping more exciting!