Happy 40th Birthday Dave

Dave

The boys..

ok..we'll be serious!

The girls taking advantage of Dave....

Me and Dave
Josh and Jen

Suzann and Scott

Trisha and Tracie

Larry and Nacole

Jeff and Robert

So after stressing and planning what to do for Dave's 40th Birthday, I decided to invite a few of our closest friends and head to dinner at Lucille's BBQ, a favorite place of ours. We had a great time eating and visiting and definately laughing a lot...my throat was sore the next day. All of our friends that we invited were able to make it but one couple. It was small but full of BIG fun. After dinner we headed to my girlsfriends house (she graciously offer..so so nice!) for cake and presents, slide show and a little pool. We again had a great time socializing with our buds. Tonight we will be celebrating quietly with our family..enjoying dinner at CPK and cake at home. Thank you to all of you who have made Dave's 40th birthday memorable and special! Happy birthday Dave, we love you! ps...he loves the Apache Helicopter!

Happy 10th Birthday Abby.....

About 2 Abby 9
Abby and her girlfriends Friday night after dinner.

Our Abigail Lorraine turned the big "10" yesterday August 18th. We celebrated over the weekend by inviting 4 of her friends to dinner at Spaghetti Factory, then to the movies to see Bandslam and back home for a sleepover. Abby had a great time and I think her friends and sisters did too! Yesterday Dave and I brought pizza to Abby's school and enjoyed lunch with her and her friends. She then celebrated at cheer practice that night and shared homemade cupcakes for everyone! I think she enjoyed her birthday and is already making a list of things to buy with her birthday money! Thank you to all who made her day special!

Blog to check..

My friend requested the address to one of my favorite coupon blogs... it is cloud9couponing.blogspot.com. If you go to this blog...she has links to many more. krazycouponlady.blogspot.com is one of my favorites. Hope this helps!

That Was Fun!

Ok, so all my life I have been a "pick it up and buy it" kind of girl. I know horrible, but it is true...I have gone through my life at different times attempting to do the coupon thing, but usually I forget the coupons at home or don't plan ahead. Well during my trip to Seattle my sister Sarah and my Mom told me about their coupon adventures and how they were really working at saving money on groceries...everything really. They turned me on to some cool blogs that follow deals, coupons, sales ect. I have to say I have become a little addicted to reading those daily...even sometimes going back for seconds. Well anyways, so I have been doing this for about a month now and I have definately seen savings..it is amazing what you can learn by actually "reading" the grocery ads that come during the week...my favorite mail now. So today after careful planning I set out to Von's and Ralph's. Von's is the same as Safeway. I didn't even hit my beloved Winco. Anyways, I was pleased after I was finished shopping at both stores. Funny thing was, my girls got a kick out of it too!

Von's OOP- $63.78

Savings- $82.79

Ralph's OOP- $36.82

Savings- $59.06

Total Cost before Savings- $242.45

Total Cost After Savings- $100.60

Total Savings- $141.85

Yes...I know there are some of you out there that could of probably cut that number in half...but since none of our stores double anymore and I worked with what I had...I didn't do to bad. I was kind of proud actually. Anyways, I thought I would share with you my adventure and challenge you to create one of your own! Happy saving! :o)

I Survived The Sleepover!!!

Amber's birthday was on June 15th...because of soccer we decided to hold her big 8th birthday sleepover on Thursday. No I never do things simple as my sister would say...but as my mom would say...our family is full of traditions! This is ours...we have a huge, crazy, fun sleepover for their 8th birthday. We had girls from church, soccer and school,15 in all, but it went well! The girls had a blast together and it was a great way to kickoff the summer. BUT, with that said, I can proudly say that I survived my final major sleepover...

Thank goodness!

Raeley, Amber and Jade
Twins, Savannah and Madelyn(Shield fans, they were Vic's daughter)
Amber and Madison

Thirteen...missing Ashlyn and Eva the camp leaders. That pool saw A LOT of action over the last 24 hrs..The girls had a blast. I thought it might wear them out...not so much.
"Amber's Tent"....Where all the fun was! We had a camp
theme this year. It was a lot of fun. The tent is huge, but we barely
fit all fifteen girls inside. Needless to say, they were NOT cold last night.
Eva and Ashlyn....the camp leaders! They
were so helpful! You have to love those "older"
children! Thanks girls!
The cupcake "Birthday Cake ".

Amber's new bike. We drove to three different storeslooking for that perfect bike..and in the end, we ended up back at Target! We LOVE Target!

Happy 8th Birthday Amber!

Born June 15, 2001

About 4 months
About 4

Present

Happy Birthday Amber-Lizzie! We love you and can't

believe you are already turning 8! You are the baby of

the family, but you are growing into such a big girl! We love

you and we are so happy you are part of our family!

Happy Birthday!

USA JR. NATIONALS

Abby and her CSA cheer team competed on February 28th in the USA Jr. Nationals. The competition was held at the Hyperion Theater at California Adventure. The Hyperion is where the Aladdin stage show is. It was really fun! The girls did great, although they did not place...due to a last minute change in scheduling by USA, we found that they moved our team to the wrong division..one that was at a higher level...We didn't know this until later and STILL thought they did great! Abby nailed her stunts and smiled through the whole routine. Now we are gearing up to head to Las Vegas for the next competition..I am sure they will be great and WE will have lots of fun!

Outside the Hyperion

A few teams lining up for awards.

The team outside the Hyperion following the awards ceremony

Abby and her best buddy Abbie...

Having fun playing at California Adventure following the morning competition.

Cal Cup 2009

Olimpia

Cal Cup 2009

A few months ago Ashlyn had the opportunity to join a Club soccer team. The photo above was taken of her playing in her first tournament game with her team Olimpia. It was really exciting. The above game they won 3-0, going on to win the next game 2-0 and finally tieing the 3rd game 0-0. They won their pool and went on to play the following weekend in the Quarterfinals where they lost after a great effort. Olimpia is a Bronze East team moving up Silver in the Fall. I mention this because they lost to a Silver Elite team in the quarterfinals. I wish I could take credit for the picture..but it was professionall taken by an action shots company. I think it shows Ashlyn doing what she loves..playing soccer! Now they are on to another tournament this weekend..Wish her luck!

FINALLY!

Finally, I am so happy to have my blog back to normal. After having Cutest Blog on the Block webpage down and messing up my gadgets, I finally have it back to were I want and not just a boring black background! Yeah! I know sad, but I am really happy!

A Visit from Seattle

We had a great time when my parents came down for a week long visit. My mom was full of project ideas and by the end of the week had me all set up to add food storage to our collection, files to my filing system, and with the help of my dad, a whole new toliet system! But I have to say that by the end of the week, she was band from saying the "C" word (clean) the "O" word (Organize) and the "P" word (Project). No really it was so nice having them here..we miss the already and hope they come back soon.

I know this was a famous scene from the war..just can't remember what it was called. I think every little boy was tempted to look up her dress!

We took a day trip to San Diego and walked the waterfront down by the cruise ships and the aircraft carrier. It was a cool day especially when the fog started rolling in.

Amber and Papa at Olivera Street.

Mom decided to make fleece blankets for the girls for Christmas. It was a really fun project and the girls enjoyed being part of the process. Even the trip to the Fashion District in downtown LA was exciting..can't say I'll do it again though! :)