What I do in my spare time

Sometimes I spend up to 20 hours a week doing one of my newest hobbies. It is pretty time consuming, and just a little addicting.......

So what is it you ask?

Couponing

That's right, I am a big couponer. I spend most of my free time scouting out the best deals and coupons. When I go shopping it is a major event. It takes me up to two hours to write out my lists and then up to another hour to clip my coupons and get them organized. Then I shop for two hours or more and I come home with loads of groceries for a much lower price.

I LOVE it. And it really is addicting. So much so, that I can never go back to the way I used to shop. Pay full price? No way. Pay anything at all? For some items, never!

I can't even tell you how much money I save. And how much more I am able to get because of those savings.

It is more than worth the time and effort. I even consider it my part-time job: to save money and make the most of every dollar the my husband works so hard to make. It makes me feel like I am contributing in more than just the homemaking and mothering. It is very fulfilling!

So if you're looking to save money and live on a tight budget, try couponing. I promise you that it can and will make all the difference!

Some days...

Some days can be so hard. Princess gets in one of her "moods."

Everything I do is wrong. Some days she just has these massive meltdowns. Some days I feel so overwhelmed. Like no matter what I do, it just won't be right.

Some days being a mom is so so hard.

And then I look at those beautiful blue eyes. Her curly blonde hair. I see her sweet smile and hear her say "I love you mommy."

And I remember.

That my baby girl is a Daughter of God. That He has entrusted her too us; to love her and to guide her.

What a tremendous blessing and responsibility I have from my Heavenly Father.

And despite the hard days I am so grateful for the greatest blessing of all.

My sweet little girl. My Little Princess.

I love you little girl.

A Confession

If you know me, then you know that I am a graduate of Brigham Young University. I graduated in August 2010 majoring in Family Life and minoring in Music.

I had a great experience. I loved being there. My classes were amazing. My teachers were amazing.

I love that school and I am very proud to be a BYU alumni.

However, I have a little confession to make......

Before I attended BYU I was not a fan. I would even go so far as to say that I had a deep LOATHING for Brigham Young University.

Growing up in Provo was hard sometimes. You felt trapped. EVERYONE was Mormon. You were never really challenged and it was easy for my peers to just float along.

For some reason BYU represented a future that meant that I would be trapped forever. That I would never have major life experiences. I would always be in Provo.

This was so terrifying to me. I had some big dreams. I wanted to go to New York and be a big star. I wanted to have "real" life experiences. So I dreaded the thought of going to BYU of all places. A school full of "zoobies". People that were all the same.

I also couldn't stand the prospect of being stuck with the same people from elementary, middle, and high school for another four years! I never had many friends and I always had a hard time fitting in. So the last thing that I wanted was to go somewhere where people already knew me. I wanted to start fresh. Be who I wanted to be, instead of who people had already decided I was, whether or not that image they had created was who I truly was.

When it got time to applying for college I realized that my options were few and far between. Essentially it was BYU, BYU-Idaho, or BYU-Hawaii. I hoped that I would get into Hawaii but that didn't happen. I was accepted into both BYU and BYU-I. I decided very quickly that Idaho was it. That there was NO way I was staying in Provo. So I visited the school a few times. It was nice. But it just didn't feel right. AT ALL.

A few things happened (like hitting a deer and breaking down near Logan, UT) and I eventually decided that I would attend BYU after all.

At first it was like eating something that you knew would give you a horrible taste in your mouth. In fact I didn't enjoy my first semester very much. But then I married my sweetheart. And things slowly started to change. I took one class after we got married and mostly just worked. Then we decided to take a leap and move to Colorado to help my brother in-law after his wife died.

Colorado was and is still one of the most life changing experiences I have ever had. I grew a lot. I realized what was important and I realized what I wanted to do. We both did. So after 6 months in Colorado we ventured back to Provo to start a new saga.

BYU was totally different this time. The campus was so beautiful I realized. The people were actually really nice and came from many different walks of life. Sure I occasionaly saw people that I knew from high school, but it was never a big deal. I didn't let it be so. I loved my classes. I loved going through the college experience with my husband. Every tiny thing about BYU had changed for me.

In reality, I had changed. I was no longer the person I had once been. And this new person was perfectly suited for the BYU experience.

Friday Friday

So...today got super duper busy and I wasn't able to write one of my good blogs....

Oh well there is always tomorrow!

The Bucket List

For awhile now I have wanted to get my "Bucket List" written down.

I have a lot of things that I would like to accomplish and many experiences that I would like to have.

So (in no special order) here is my bucket list. Enjoy!

JG's Bucket List

Serve a mission with my sweetheart

Visit a country on every continent
Go to the following countries: England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Spain, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Greece, Egypt, Israel, China, Japan, India, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Kenya, South Africa, Russia, Canada, and Indonesia.

Get a Masters Degree

Go on a cruise

Run a 5k

Learn photography

Play Meg or Jo in "Little Women"

Play Christine in "Phantom of the Opera"

Buy a House

Buy a new car

Go to "Wizarding World of Harry Potter"

Knit a baby blanket

Achieve my goal weight

Be an extra in a commerical, tv show, or movie
Learn to make floral arrangements
Purchase a baby grand piano
Build the movie theatre room of our dreams
Write a book
Send in a vocal recording to a label
Audition for a singing tv show
Write down my life history
Have ALL the temple work for both sides of my family back to the 1600's finished
Learn to play "Claire-de-lune" on the piano
Learn French

a Princess, a Hero, and a Witch

Five years of marriage and we had yet to dress up for Halloween.

So I decided that this year was going to be the year that we wore costumes!

Princess already had a beautiful Cinderella dress that fit her really well and she was really excited to dress up and be pretty.

Isn't she a sweetheart?

For years I have wanted to dress up as Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter movies. I finally plucked up the courage (and the money) to do it! I think I pulled it off pretty well don't you?

Daddy dressed up as Clark Kent/Superman. I though it fit him well. He is MY real life superman.

 We celebrated Halloween a little early by going to the Ward Trunk or Treat on Wednesday Oct 26th. I decorated the trunk with spiders and spiderwebs and gave out the candy while Daddy took Princess around to get candy.

Can you tell we had a blast!? I had forgotten how much I love dressing up and "playing" a character.

I think what I loved the most about our costumes was how well they seemed to reflect our individual personalities.

Can't wait for next year!

NaBloPoMo

Every day for the month of November I am going to blog. That means 30 posts in 30 days!

I got the idea from my cousin (mycamokids.blogspot.com) and I think that it is an absolutely great idea!

I am super excited to do this. I have a lot of things that I want to share and I think that it is going to be a good month.

So come back tomorrow (and the next day.... and the next....and so on and so forth) and get ready for my very own NaBloPoMo!