Follow the trail of bread crumbs...

and what do you find???


Scarlett


Having the time of her life!


Not looking remotely sorry.

Parks & Lemon-Basil Chicken Deliciousness

We took time out from couponing to see if Scarlett would enjoy the park.

Apparently there are loads of parks in our area so I printed out directions to five of them and we excitedly headed off to find the first one.

It was also the LAST park we visited for the day. I really think Scarlett would have liked the bucket swings--I mean she loved her baby swing and she knows no greater joy than getting tossed in the air like a rag doll.

There was a moment there when it really could have gone either way...

Unfortunately it went the wrong way, another child at the park took that moment to weep, wail, and gnash his teeth. Which started a chain reaction. Scarlett started crying causing another boy in the swing next to her to start crying and so on and so forth. So we picked a different piece of equipment hoping for a more positive outcome.

Scarlett couldn't seem to figure out why we were laying her down on the slide. She kept trying to sit up. She thought it was great watching me go down but when I took her with me she made no expression whatsoever. She seriously could not have looked more indifferent. I did feel her tense slightly when I went down the covered slide but that was about it. We may wait a while before we try the other four parks.

On another note I cracked open my Betty Crocker book again and made Sunday dinner.

I'm working my way through the poultry section and I realized that I was cooking the recipe pictured on the cover of the book. This is my 256th recipe of 563! I thought it was picture worthy.

I highly recommend the Lemon-Basil Chicken deliciousness. We wish we could share it with you.

Do you have any coupons?

I've found a new hobby or as Wes calls it "a way of life."

Okay, here's the story. I went to Costco TWICE last month and bought only the things on my list, in other words not a bunch of extra junk we didn't need. I bought things such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, paper towels, dish washer detergent, laundry detergent, TP, deodorant, paper plates, plastic cups, sugar, flour, formula, diapers...i don't know what all else. I spent just over $100 each time I went! Well, I was feeling a little depressed from saying goodbye to two of my dear Ben Franklins and I came home and watched Extreme Couponing on TLC. Now those women and the man truly were EXTREME. I actually now follow one of their blogs and they're not as extreme in real life as they were portrayed to be on the show...TLC hyped it up a bit. Anyway, some had like over 300 packages of TP that they literally paid pennies for...buckets full of deodorant, toothbrushes, toothpaste, floss...shelves of detergent and canned goods. As I watched them ring up their goods, for 90% or less from the retail value, I thought, I'm doing something wrong here! Now, I don't want 300 packages of toilet paper. . .but ten free ones would be nice! So, I started couponing.

I've only been doing it a week, but once I get an idea in my mind, I can't rest until I've got it good and under way. I now have a binder that keeps all of my coupons categorized and organized. I absolutely love it! It's like one big giant Sudoku puzzle and my mission is to align all of the pieces together and figure out how I can get the best deal possible. Here is my last week's purchases. Just because I love to share my sweet savings and deals, I will occasionally post what I got on the blog and how much I paid for it! Just for reference here is one of the ladies from the show Extreme Couponing's website. She was the one with the little boy that was dumpster diving for Sunday papers (which I must say, I have not done.) Her site is very useful when beginning to coupon. Another site I use is from a lady in my Ward who is great to follow because she gives a lot of the national deals like CVS and Kroger, but she also mentions a lot of local deals as well. Her husband works in the Young Mens with Wes and they're a super nice (and big) family!

thekrazycouponlady.com This is the TLC lady's site.

mylitter.com This is the lady from my ward's site.

Here's a picture of my own krazy couponing:

All of this was $18.51 out of pocket including tax. For the record, the Milky Way bars were completely free with the coupon and sale, normally Wes and I would not buy 4 candy bars just for kicks!


Here's a picture of my enormous binder. I feel a little ridiculous hauling this through stores, but it makes couponing SO much easier! Wes has had all sorts of cheeky little comments to make at me because of it.

Christmas 2010

Well, the Harris Family had a fabulous Christmas this year. We went to Georgia and spent time with family, dumped the mini Harris off with my mom and headed down to sunny Florida to hang with Mickey and friends! We had a great time! Here are a few pics of our trip.




We tried another picture with Santa, this time with the whole family. Things went a little better. Although Scarlett wasn't about to turn her back to the Jolly Old Elf. This Santa is actually a good friend of my moms. He doesn't normally look so Santa-ish, but he's been growing out his beard since August and has apparently made a pretty penny during the holiday season playing santa. I thought he looked great and he visited Scarlett for free! So, in review, we paid 0 dollars to continually strike fear into our poor Booey Woo's heart.




Here I am on It's a Small World. We were the only ones on the ride that we ever saw. So, we were able to enjoy 358 rounds of It's a Small World alone. This ride was being renovated when we went to Disneyland so it was Wes' first time to experience this wonderful, musical, cultural adventure!




While we ate at the Les Chefs de France, Ratatouille came by to visit. A quick word about our eating experience here at WDW. We bought the dining plan, which a lot of people said wasn't worth the money. We beg to differ. We made our reservations almost 6 months ago and they were worth every bite and minute we spent planning them. Our best eating adventure was at Jiko The Cooking Place. It's African food and I think Wes about died and went to heaven there.





This is a ride I rode when I was 8 years old and visited Disneyworld with my family. I was really scared to ride it back then because I thought maybe the ship would fall out when it backed up into this hole. Thankfully it didn't either time I rode it.




This was one of our favorite rides. Its Toy Story's Midway Mania. It's all carnival type rides except for instead of actual ring tosses, it's virtual 3D. I really can't explain it, because it would take more typing than I have the energy to do, but it's really really fabulous!




Speaking of Toy Story, here is a float from the movie in the Block Party Bash at Disney's Hollywood Studios.




This was a stage production of Beauty and the Beast. It was really good except I thought the Beast's human form was a little wimpy...as you can see in this picture.




After watching Apes play on this playground for about 1/2 an hour, Wes decided that if he were an animal he'd be an ape. His exact words were, "You may think I'd want to be a flying animal, but they're only flight nothing else. Apes are small enough to swing through trees, but big enough to fight and defend themselves." Anyway, he gave those apes a lot of hard thought and decided they were pretty cool.




Another Wes favorite was the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House! He probably took about 100 pictures of this fake tree. He's convinced we need to build one in our backyard some day.




Wes saw the Sword in the Stone and practically...actually literally skipped over to it and thrusted the camera at me saying, "Here, take my picture!" Then proceeded to climb up onto the stone and pull with all of his might while grunting from the effort. I'm pretty sure about 4 different families stopped to watch the spectacle.




So, for most of our trip, the crowds were really not too bad. However, this is the last day and they were getting a little...muchier.




We spent about 45 minutes watching this guy do glass blowing. He was trying to make a vase, but the top broke off. So, he made it a candy dish instead. It was pretty awesome!




It was surprisingly cold in Florida. During the daytime hours temps were a perfect 65 degrees, but at night they got colder than we had packed for...hence my disney jacket and scarf!




Here's Scarlett and Wes Christmas morning. Nana took good care of her and we are very thankful for the worry free vacation and the QT (Quality Time...in case that's a phrase only my family uses) we had together! Thanks Mom and Jerry!

Scarlett In!

Mommy and Daddy forced me to do a little photo shoot under the tree. Don't ask why they felt the need to do half the shoot with me in nothing but a diaper. They can be SO uncouth!




"But I don't want to do this! I'd rather suck on that camera!"




"Fine, but ONLY because Daddy's making such funny faces behind Mommy."




"This little chair is interesting, it's just about my size. Maybe I should sit on it."




"Nah, its too small. I'll just rest my arm on it like this."




"Here Mom, let me take a look at that last picture. Did I look natural?"




"Look, Dad, don't try to pose me! We do it my way or the highway!"




"Well, what do we have here?"




"Hey there little fella! How are you?"




"Wait a second you look familiar..."




"I remember you!"




"I did not appreciate you ripping me out of Mommy's arms! I don't care if you are a jolly old fat guy!"




"Take that...and that!"




"I bet this beard isn't even real!"




"What? I was just LOOKING at the DVD Player. I wasn't going to push any buttons!"




"What's that bright light?"




"Daddy, I only need to touch it once. It's so pretty and sparkly!"




"I..I'm just going to bring it in for a closer look."




"HAH, you fall for that every time! Yep, right in the mouth there. Mmmm, tastes hot."




"Why do you two feel the need to take away everything I find that's interesting? I don't want to play with any of those toys, I want to play with loose cords and electrical outlets!"




"Thanks for coming by everyone! I hope you have a Merry Christmas. May you find an extra bottle in your stocking on Christmas Day!"

Scarlett Out!