Summer Lovin'

A penny saved . . .

I love using coupons. With gas and grocery prices on the rise,
I am more glad than ever that I do.

People keep asking me to post and brief explanation of couponing on this blog. Here it goes:

1. You need to subscibe to the Sunday paper, this is where I get most of my coupons. I get 6 Sunday papers delivered to our home. I suggest getting one per person in your family.

2. Organize them by week, date them and keep them together. (There are three different types of coupon inserts Red Plum, SmartSource and Proctor and Gamble)

3. Hold on to the coupon until a great sale comes along and matches the coupon.

4. Find a website you like that does all the work for you, they oganize the coupons and match coupons to sales for you and rate the deal, 5 star deals mean it is time to stock up.

5. Some websites I use or have used are : pinchingyourpennies.com (free) , grocerysmarts.com (also free, the password for Utah is g84csg. You can have them come to your home for a presentation that is great for beginners, it is very clear. You can contact them about getting a password for your area) and couponsense.com (this one costs money and is also in AZ for all those AZ friends of mine) I have never used these, but have heard of them: couponmom.com and thegrocerygame. com.

Be patient while you start building up coupons and soon it will get easier. You will start to see trends in sales and you will know how much to pay for certain items.

I have couponed for about three years and in that time have never paid for :
toothpaste, toothbrushes, deoderant, razors (the good kind), shampoo & conditioner, salad dressing and more. I shop for items when they are dirt cheap and buy as many as I have coupons for (this is why I get six newspapers, so I can stock up)

I pay very little for groceries and have a large food storage. Even though I have done this for three years, I continue to be amazed at the savings I recieve and the quality of the items I am getting. I get a huge variety of things from toiletries to groceries to cleaning and laundry supplies. If you aren't couponing, get started! It is WELL worth the little effort it takes. I am happy to answer any questions you have or help you learn these websites. I love to see other people succeed in saving.

Dinner & movie

Did you know if you test drive 1 of 8 chevrolet vehicles at a Rocky Mountain Chevrolet dealer, they will give you a $40.00 gift card to Wingers or TGIF and two movie tickets? All you have to do is take a car for a test drive. Click here for info.

We all scream for ice cream (and cookies)

Simple Summer Dessert
1. Make some chocolate chip cookies (or buy some)

2. Crush cookies on the bottom of a spring form pan and drizzle with Magic Shell. Freeze for a few minutes.

3. Place cookies around the edges of the pan

4. Fill with a half gallon of your favorite vanilla ice cream and drizzle with Magic Shell again. Freeze for a couple of hours.

Just great

I tend to worry.

Aaron is in the Philippines.

This is what I saw this when I woke up :

A photo of what looks like Manilla right now, the city Aaron is in.

I sure hope he knows how to swim.

Just Like Her

This is my beautiful neice Meghan who flew on an

airlplane all by herself to come visit.

When she arrived Julia (was in her pajamas) looked at her very carefully,

left the room and came back looking like this:

What a deal!

If you want to learn how to shop like this:

(click on image to enlarge)

and you are available this Tuesday evening (the 24th), email me, leave a comment or call me and I will give you the details. If you don't want to learn how to shop like this, I think you are crazy, it's true. This is my reciept from a shopping trip a few weeks ago. I got 5 kitchen cleaners, 6 boxes of band aid's (Hello Kitty and Barbie, mind you), 4 boxes of Post cereal, a Kraft salad dressing and some fruity mento's to keep my kids quiet in the car. All that for ONE PENNY. (This is a FREE class and a FREE service) You wouldn't believe what I pay for our food, shampoo, baby wipes, razors, deoderant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, the list goes on and on and on! A lot of times this stuff is free, like my reciept shows.

Father's Day

I wish everyone could have met my dad, what an amazing man! I want to share a few things about him:

- FUNNY, HILARIOUS as can be, he would often have everyone rolling w/ laughter!

- Smart with a capital S! Sharpest mind, the amount of knowledge his mind held was amazing.

- Nicest, most sincere, kind, humble person on this planet, he made friends where ever he went, no matter who was there. We never went anywhere, ever without him knowing someone.

- Patient, I do not have a single memory of him raising his voice or EVER getting mad.

-Spriritual, loved to read the scriptures and loved to learn about church history

- Athletic, awesome at any and every sport he ever tried

-and Handsome to boot!

My mom's place

I asked my mom if she would mind if I shared some pictures of her house. It is such a beautiful place to be. Here are a few of my favorite views, if you haven't been to visit her, you really should. It looks like a magazine:

looslitaken.com

Here are a few more of my favorite pictures from our shoot by Peter Loosli @ looslitaken.com Ava

James

Adalie Jo

Julia

Family Pictures

We have a friend who is a WONDERFUL photographer. There were so many good pictures, I could NOT decide which to order. Here are a few of the pictures he took. I am going to post more of my favorites soon. Click here to visit his website, and click here to visit his blog if you need a good photographer call him, we are SO very happy with the results. Thank you Peter!!

Looslitaken.com