$200 a month for groceries?

In May I have decided to try this program I heard about at a recent Stake Relief Society workshop. One of the classes was about being frugal, and the teacher shared a link that I went home and looked at. It's an article about how to live off $200 a month for a family of 4. I thought that seemed impossible, but the teacher said she tried it and it works! So here's the link:

http://www.budget101.com/frugal/frugal-living-articles-3/

Here are some ways I'm going to save money:

1. Make my own bread (I have a breadmaker).
2. Make a different treat each week for school lunches, instead of buying prepackaged goodies. I'm really excited to try homemade granola bars!
3. Continue my once-a-month cooking (OAMC), of course!
4. ONLY shop once a week--no impulse buying!

OAMC is actually one of the chapters in the article, so I was already living somewhat frugally! But I still can't get a handle on the grocery budget--I ALWAYS exceed it and it drives me crazy! So if I can stay around $200 a month (which is what we lived off in our student days at BYU) then I will be so happy! Do you think I can do it? Any other ideas on how to save money? I will let you know how it goes...

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy birthday Mom! We love you! Thanks for being such a great Mom to me (and Grandma to my kids). Hope your big (should I say it? YES! 50th!) birthday is wonderful!

No fair!

Well, I didn't have much to blog about lately. Until today, when I got the official amount of my citation fine = $456!!! Why would the County of Riverside be charging me this insane amount of money? Well, when my sister Callie and her family were in town a few weeks ago, we were going to meet up at a park in Murrieta. I was driving, and went to turn right on a red light to get to the park. All of a sudden the stoplight takes a picture of me. At first, Joel and I thought, no big deal--I don't even have a front license plate (it got lost somehow) so they won't catch us. We were wrong. We got something in the mail last week with pictures of our car before the red light, after the light, me driving, the back of our van, closeup of license plate, everything! They are saying that I ran a red light, even though I was turning right. The first letter didn't say how much the fine was, so today I got the bill. I AM SO MAD! I feel like if I decide to fight it, it won't even matter, because California is so greedy and needs every dollar they can get to fix this budget crisis. But really, all I did was not make a COMPLETE stop on a red-light right turn. The funny thing is, until last October (when I had that little fender bender--my fault--in a Stater Bros parking lot) I had a perfect driving record (if you don't count the time I hit an open car door driving to seminary with Callie when I was 16). So in 6 months, I've managed to get in a accident, AND get a ticket. I've never even been pulled over! And the REALLY funny thing is, I failed my first driver's test because I didn't stop before the crosswalk line on a red-light right turn. And now, 12 years later, a camera catches me doing it and I get a ticket. That's life for you!

Should I fight it? Anyone else gotten a ticket lately? I'm not sure what to do.

Utah Trip

Our first snowman in Utah. The morning after we got there it was snowing. Blake wore one of Julianna's coats because I don't have a winter coat for him!

Sledding on April Fool's day! My mom found a great hill for us to use.

Blake had the most fun sledding. He even went by himself!

Playing in the snow as a family! There was about a foot of snow!

The first time this van has seen snow!

The view from outside the temple--gorgeous! It's set on a tall hill and overlooks the whole valley.

The BEAUTIFUL Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

Joel and I on my birthday before we went to the temple.

Our second snowman--this time it's life size!

The Living Planet Aquarium in Sandy. It was so crowded, but very fun!

Easter egg hunt in the snow! This was a first. They loved the snow!

In the conference center before our session on Easter morning.

View from our line at the conference center. So cold and snowy!


We had so much fun on our trip to Utah! The snow was a huge bonus for the kids. It was nice to spend Easter with my mom and Dad, and to see my Aunt Jenny and Uncle Jeff, and cousin Rhonda and her husband Jordan for my birthday. And of course attending conference on Easter Sunday was such a special event. We're so glad we went.

Recent pictures

Blake and Will, his cousin. They had so much fun playing together! They're at just the right age to play.

Karina with Bradley, Lily, and Callie with Olive.

Callie with Olive and Cindel.

The cousins playing together!

Blake and Julianna before church yesterday (because they looked so cute!).


We're happy that Callie, Craig and their kids can be in California for the week. It's been fun so far, and it was fun to get together to celebrate Adam's birthday on Saturday. Fun family time!

Blake's "badness" and a beehive

Sometimes when Blake doesn't want to listen to me I try to use his favorite characters to persuade him. Right now he's OBSESSED with "The Incredibles." So he wanted to go outside, but he left a big mess of playdoh on the floor. I said,

"Blake, you need to pick up your playdoh before you go outside."

He pauses at the door.

"Blake, Dash from the Incredibles is a good boy and he picks up when his mom asks."

Blake thinks for a second, "Well, I'm bad Dash."

I've been outsmarted by a 3-year-old. I'm going to have to use some new tricks, I guess.

In other news, we discovered a beehive in our neighbor's yard. It's in a tree right on the edge of his yard, bordering ours. Yesterday after church, we opened the blinds to the front yard and saw a HUGE swarm of insects. We looked closer and saw they were bees! So the swarm died down after a while and we noticed the beehive in the tree. Our neighbor said he'd take care of it--I sure hope so! He said a few years back they had the same problem--same tree, too. Here's a picture of the beehive (that big brown thing in the center of the tree):

Never thought I'd be able to look out my window and see a beehive!

New things

New living room set...finally! It's so bold but I like it! This is the first new piece of furniture we've ever had, besides our mattress.

New niece, Olive Meg Huston, born Feb. 20th to my sister Cindel and husband, Ryan. I got to see her this weekend in Long Beach. She's adorable, and likes to sleep! Julianna didn't want to be in the picture--we tried several times.

New mother, Cindel! She looks so good and she's a great mom!

New nephew and new niece together at Bradley's baby blessing yesterday in San Diego. Was Blake really that tiny? Wow!

And here's the shocker....drum roll...NEW HAIR FOR ME! (Sorry not a good picture--I took it myself and don't have a lot of makeup on...oh well!) Now you can scroll up and see what it looked like before, and now after. I LOVE IT! The highlights really made a difference, and the length is perfect. Sorry family, I did cut my hair, A LOT! But I really like it.