Tell Me How...

My friend Jade has this great series she does on her blog she calls "Tell Me How...". She posts all sorts of questions and her friends give such awesome answers. I always read all the comments, since her friends always have such good suggestions. Recently, she's done "Tell me how... to deal with dust" and "Tell me how... to unpack." I've always thought that a blog is the perfect platform for something like that... what better place to get advice than from all your friends?

So I'm going to start my own "tell me how..." series. My first question: Tell me how... to date my husband (when we have no money and a 9-month old).

I'm pretty sure that many of you are in a similar situation. We're trying to grow Cory's practice, so disposable income is pretty sparse. Add to that the fact that Spencer goes to bed between 7:30-8:00... so we don't "go out" much. We don't have a lot of money for movies, dinner out, or mini-golf (things we used to do). Plus with Spencer in bed, it's not like we can go anywhere. Now yes, we have family nearby who are always willing to babysit... and we do take advantage of that. But I'm talking about stuff Cory & I can do at the house, for free/cheap (besides watch a movie). What do the rest of you do when the kids are in bed? (aside from crawl, exhausted, into bed yourselves). What are some good dating ideas? How do you keep your relationship strong? (cheesy, I know, but still a valid question).

And Jade, if you're reading this (and I know you're a little busy), feel free to post on your blog.

Let the commenting begin... :)

9 months

Spencer is 9 months (wow!) old. He mastered crawling a while ago, making us both very happy. He's quite fast (he's got a "turbo" speed that cracks Cory & I up). He's pulling up on things and will take a few baby steps. He's got stranger anxiety and loves to be held by mom or dad. He's very interested in food... eating it, watching it be prepared, etc. When I make dinner, he's in the kitchen, constantly at my feet. He watches the stove, the microwave, and loves to pull stuff out of the cupboards and look into the fridge. In short, he's happy and healthy and active.

He loves to play under the table.

In the fridge.

Loves Dad (and loves Dad to hold him!)

Such a cutie.

Get out the camera, and he's such a ham.

Mmm, food.

A typical dinner preparation at our house.

He loves the bath (thanks mom for the tub!)

We finally unpacked our last 2 boxes. They were all of our framed pictures, artwork, wall hangings, etc. Spencer was in paper heaven.

Cute, cute, cute.

He such a boy.

Pulling off his socks remains his favorite game.

Playing "catch" with Dad.

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to spend time with both families. It was also fun to spoil Spencer and see him experience his first Christmas. We sure love him!

Reading with Uncle Joel

Thanks Mom for such a cute outfit

Christmas Eve

Christmas morning

Christmas morning

Playing 'Bond' on the Wii

Christmas Day with Grandma Bingham

Oooh look at all my presents!

Day after Christmas... eating lunch with Dad. I love this face: "Dad, I want some..."

If you get near his mouth with food, he opens like a baby bird.

I'm sorry, but I think he's the most adorable baby ever.

Reading "Brown Bear" with Grandma Tina.

Couponing

I've started "couponing" in the last month or so. I never really bothered to do it while we were in New York, mostly because there was just one grocery store near us (and it wasn't that great) and a Walmart. I would clip the occasional coupon, but that was about it. About a month or so ago, a friend on Facebook posted this blog that she follows that steers you towards some great deals and I started reading it religiously. From that blog, I found 2 more to follow. Now I read all 3 every day. And they always have fantastic deals.

So now that I've started couponing, I must say, it's pretty fun. I love getting stuff for free. Thanks to my mom, I've learned to shop sales and recognize a good price. I cringe when I have to buy something at full value (thanks a lot, Mom!) Couple that upbringing with some savvy couponing and I've been able to get some awesome deals on stuff.

So since I use this blog (partly) as a journal, I'm going to occasionally post some of my more awesome finds. I know this will bore some people, and I certainly won't post everything I buy, but I want to be able to look back and see some of the more tremendous deals. So without further ado, here's the first one.

All this stuff for only $6 (thanks Smiths!)

And $10 at Target (the Tabasco sauce is never on sale).

Oh and in case anyone is interested, the 3 blogs I read are:

http://moneysavingmom.com/

http://hip2save.com/

http://www.freebies2deals.com/

November & December

Here's some pictures from November and half of December.

(The first 4 should be at the end... but I don't want to spend the time to fix it...)

Christmas lights at Temple Square.

Dad combed my hair...

We went for a fall hike up Farmington canyon. Weather was gorgeous and it was beautiful.

Like father, like son.

First snow.

His hair is getting really long and it's so adorable.

New snowsuit.

He loves Cory.

So cute.

It was too cold for Turkey Bowl, so we all played dodgeball instead. Very fun and much warmer!

Watching the dodgeball.

First Thanksgiving dinner.

Playing with cousin Fisher.

Helping with laundry.

Impressive he managed to back in there.

He loves french fries. Loves them. (Don't worry; it was homemade).

Yoga baby... downward facing dog...

Helping with the Christmas decorations.

Helping me with couponing.

Helping with the dishes.

Eating dinner with Dad.

Playing bongos with Dad.

He loves the Christmas tree with the lights.