Chelsie Coupons

Recently I have started couponing. I've seen those Extreme Couponing shows and thought it would be awesome to get $800 worth of food for 58 cents. I haven't made it to that level yet, just starting out small to figure out whats going on, but I have found that I really like it! Its kind of fun to look at the coupons and find deals at stores and then see how much you can save. Sounds kinda nerdy, I know, but... oh well. I like it!  :)

On all of my coupon outings so far, Scott has been so nice as to come with me. But today for some reason I was feeling like I could face the stores alone. So I set out with a plan, and coupons in hand, with plans of saving around $20 on a few things. Also, this was my first time at Walgreens.

As a preface to the following story, let me say that I do NOT like being noticed a lot. I am much more of a person that likes to go to a store, get my things, check out, and blend in with the crowd of people also at the store that are also getting things, and purchasing them. It actually makes me nervous sometimes that I am going to be the only person at a restaurant or store or wherever I am going. So when I walked into this Walgreens, I was immediately uncomfortable because I was pretty sure the only people there were me and the employees. I didn't really see anyone else. But I had my plan, so I was going to follow through.

Couponing lesson learned, don't go shopping on the last day of a week long sale and expect to still find everything on your list. So after going up and down just about every aisle, and not finding everything I needed, I decided that I was done and would just check out with the things that I did find. Still not seeing anyone, I made my way to the front of the empty store to the checkout counter, where I placed my few items and gave the cashier my coupons. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, there is this HUGE line behind me. I mean, it was like everyone that was in the store, that I hadn't even seen before decided that this exact moment was the perfect moment to pay for their stuff, too. And joy, there is only one checkout desk open, and to top it off, my coupons are not working. This is seriously the kind of stuff that happens in my nightmares.

As the cashier rung up the first coupon and it didn't go through, she tried again, and again, and again. Doing the exact same thing every time. We were standing there for like 5 minutes as she is doing the same thing over and over to get this coupon to work, which clearly its not, and people are STARING AT ME! Like, looking around the person in front of them to see what the heck is taking so long, staring. Even the little boys behind me were making noises of discontent. Finally the dear cashier called up a supervisor to over-ride prices so they could get me out of there and worry about the coupons later. I was SO embarrassed! Pretty sure I practically ran out of the store just so I could get out of there. It might be a little while before I brave the couponing world by myself again, things just seem to go so much smoother when Scott is there. I just don't know if I could take 2 embarrassing situations like this in 2 weeks.

Valentine Beauty

Our sweet little girl turned 9 months old just 2 days after Valentines Day, so we thought it would be cute to take come pictures with a Valentines theme for her 9 month pictures. We are really pleased with how they turned out, especially because we took them in her room with our little point and shoot camera! Here are a few of our favorites, enjoy!   :)

Also, at 9 months old, Brylie is 18 pounds and 29 inches long! That puts her in the 57th percentile for weight, and the 93rd for height! We have one long and lean baby here! We love this little girl so much, and are so grateful for her sweet spirit in our lives!

Our Year In Review

Even though its now almost the end of January, I am still kind of in the "think about last year and how blessed we are, and then try and make this year better" mode. So here was our last year in review, in a nutshell.

January

• I started work on my final project to complete my Bachelors Degree, the dreaded Teacher Work Sample!
• In the middle of my pregnancy and feeling pretty good! I think this was the one month that I wasn't congested and feeling miserable from some sort of sickness.

February

• Completed the Teacher Work Sample, and PASSED IT! Woot! 
• Over halfway through my pregnancy, and finally starting to LOOK pregnant.
• Celebrated Valentines Day with flowers and a big balloon on my desk at work from my cute hubby. (I think my students might have been more excited about it than I was!)
• Got the crib for the nursery and started to decorate and get ready for baby!

March

• I redid an old dresser and painted it white to put in the nursery to hold the bundle of clothes that we already had for Brylie.
• Family baby shower in Idaho!
• March must not have been too exciting, because that's all I remember.  :)   

April

• I graduated from BYU with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education, walking at 8 months pregnant! (Let me tell you, that was one long and HOT ceremony! But well worth it!)
• That same weekend I had my baby shower, thrown by my lovely mother, and my side of the family finally got to meet Scott's side of the family!
• I finished LOTS of projects to get ready for the baby that would be born soon! 
• Scott and I got to go to our first live session of Conference! Thanks Meg and Micah!
• Scott finished another semester at UVU, another one down... lots more to go!  :)

May

• Brylie Suzanne was born, and almost a week early! WOOT! I guess all that walking and lunging really paid off!
• I finished my internship and have missed teaching ever since.

 June

• Scott's dad came from Reno to visit his new baby granddaughter      
• Took Brylie to the ranch for the first time, and at 3 weeks old we had her on a horse! (Held tightly in my arms, of course, and supervised by Scott and my parents.)

July

• Brylie was blessed by Scott on July 10th. It was a beautiful, perfect day! Luckily it didn't rain and we were still able to have a get together outside afterwards.
• Brylie and I went on her first road trip to Yellowstone!
• Scott turned the ripe old age of 24 and started a fantastic new job at Mozy!  :)
• Brylie went to her first rodeo! The 4th of July rodeo in Oakley, Utah!

August

• Scott started another semester at UVU
• We celebrated our 3 year anniversary with dinner at Outback Steak House!

September

•   Brylie started giggling!
• Really, that's about it for September! haha 

  

 

 

 

October

• My brother Brady came home from his 2 year mission in Uruguay! We sure missed him.
• We went hunting, and didn't get a thing! But Brylie rode 4-wheelers with me and loved it so much she fell asleep! :)
• It was Brylie's first Halloween! She totally rocked an adorable lady bug costume. Pretty much the cutest lady bug I've ever seen.

 

 

November

• Thanksgiving! It was Brylie's first time out to Reno. She was a great road trip companion for us and loved getting to meet the rest of Scott's family.
• We got our first, really nice family pictures taken! 

December

• I turned the big 2-4! Scott surprised me by getting me a MacBook Pro for my birthday, and then taking me to the ropes course at Provo Beach Resort. Highly recommend that place if you haven't been, its SO much fun!
• Brylie's first Christmas! She got to meet Santa at the mall, and didn't even cry until the very end. She just kept looking at Scott like, why did you just put me on this weird man's lap and walk away? Then she would look at Santa, then back to Scott. She was a bit confused! haha
• Baby's first snow! 
• Brylie's first taste of wrapping paper, and opening presents! She loved it!

 

Here is to a great 2011, and looking forward to a fantastic 2012!
   

   

Merry Christmas!

Yes, I understand that this post is a good month late, but... better late than never!

Christmas has always been exciting for me, mostly. Sometimes I would get Christmas/Birthday presents because my birthday is so close to the day that we celebrate the birth of our Savior, which is not always superb. But for the most part, Christmas has always been magical, and this year was EXTRA magical now that I have my cute little daughter to introduce to all the greatness of the season.

Even though Scott fought me on this, I had our Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving. My reasoning is that we were going out of town for Thanksgiving, and why not come home to the Christmas spirit? So I put everything up one day while he was at work.  :) Not to worry though, we decorated the tree as a family.

I don't know about anyone else, but there is just something so torturing about seeing wrapped presents under the tree, just knowing that there is something there for you but you can't see it. This same feeling only intensified when my wonderful mother-in-law sent us a package that was jammed full of even more gifts for us. Seriously, the anticipation kills me. Knowing this, and probably because he was sick of me begging to open presents early, Scott and I opened a select few presents on Christmas Eve. Brylie had no idea what was going on, but she LOVED ripping the paper! And trying to eat it. :)  I considered just getting her boxes and paper for presents, but what kind of a mother would I be if that is what I got her for her FIRST CHRISTMAS?!

Finding things in her stocking from Nana

Eating her presents

The next morning, Christmas Morning, we got up and got all ready to go to church. Our ward wasn't having sacrament meeting until 2:20 in the afternoon, and seeing as we were planning on spending the day with Grandma and Grandpa Thurgood, we went to their ward's Christmas sacrament meeting instead. It was really nice to feel the spirit and be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas on Christmas day.

After church, we headed back to my parent's house, changed into our Christmas pj's, and Brylie was spoiled with all the presents that Grandma and Grandpa got for her. Seriously, we probably could have piled her presents all up, and they would have been much taller than her!  :)  Again she had fun tearing the wrapping paper and trying to taste each piece.

Surrounded by Presents!

Thrilled with her first Christmas!

It really was a great Christmas, and we were luck enough to have my brother Brandon be here, right before he left on his mission to Argentina! We were excited to share Brylie's first Christmas with my family, and what a great day it was!  

Merry Christmas!  :)

We Wish You...

Happy 4th of July... and Happy Halloween... and Happy Thanksgiving... AND a Merry Christmas, although the Christmas post will come later!

I realized that I haven't posted about anything having to do with what we have been up to on holidays, so here is a quick catch up on our major holidays since, oh... the 4th of July! (Yeah... I really need to be better at blogging! )

4th of July, our extended family on my mother's side usually goes to the Oakley rodeo and that's just what we did this year, too! Brylie was all of 6 weeks old, but she did great! She slept through the whole thing. It was SO fantastic! It might have helped that I had one of her ears pressed against my chest, and the other covered by a blanket and my hand, so she was having a peaceful nap while the rest of us enjoyed the wild and crazy rodeo. It was really fun! I hope this is a tradition that we can continue for a long time!

(Picture coming soon)

Next we come upon Halloween...

Scott and I have never been big on dressing up and such, but now that we have a baby, we HAD to dress her up! Especially since I found this adorable lady bug costume at the Holy Cow Boutique! So our Halloween festivities involved carving pumpkins (which never made it outside, despite our intricate workings of the pumpkin's faces. They rotted really quick, for some reason.  :'(  ), and then dressing Brylie up, taking pictures and heading over to my parent's house to show off our cute little lady bug! It was a fun Halloween!

Dad and Brylie carving pumpkins

 

Our little lady bug, all ready for some trick or treating!

For Thanksgiving, we made the long trip out to Reno to see Scott's family. I was worried about making such a long drive with a 6 month old, but she did GREAT! She didn't cry or fuss, and as long as we kept her comfy and full, she was happy the whole way! It was nice to get to see everyone, and introduce Brylie to lots of the members of Scott's family who hadn't met her yet. We ate good food, got pictures taken of all the grandkids, and had some good family time!

What a cutie! I just can't get enough of this face!

Tired baby. Not such a flattering picture of me, but... oh well

Spending time with Grandpa McCage and cousin Dylan!

 Happy Holidays!!!

6 Months Old!

I've decided that I really need to blog more. Even if nobody reads this, its a way for Scott and I to remember our lives. I always think when cute or fun things are happening that I will remember them forever, but I really couldn't tell you all the cute and fun things that happened last week, let alone for the last 6 months of my cute little daughter's life! So... this is my new years resolution, a little early. Blog more!

Our little Brylie is 6 months old already! I think she does better at her doctors appointments when Scott comes, because when its just her and I that are going, she cries a lot more. She had her 6 month shots, and did pretty well, seeing as she had already been crying before getting the shots, so there wasn't much of a change when she got them. haha. But once I held her she calmed down and we were able to have a good day.

She is growing and growing! She is now 16 pounds 14 ounces and 27 1/2 inches long! That puts her in the 67th percentile for weight and the 97th for height! We have one long little baby! She has been rolling all over the place, and we are starting to have to watch where we put things on the floor, because sooner or later, if Brylie wants it, Brylie will get it! She isn't crawling or anything yet, but she puts her face on the floor and then starts to push with her feet. She really has to figure something else out soon, I worry that she is going to have permanent carpet burn on her face from trying to push herself around.She is also developing quite the fun personality. She laughs at just about anything (and when she laughs at me in the grocery store, it makes me feel pretty fantastic. I'm funny, and I don't even have to do anything! haha! Maybe its just my looks.) and we catch her smiling at us all the time. It melts my heart when she is sitting on my lap and turns around just to look at me and smile, then turn back around and continue playing. I can already tell that she is going to have a spunky personality, kind of like her mother, and I am loving it!

We also had a friend in our ward take some family pictures for us. This is us, as of a couple weeks ago! We love them SO much! You should check out her blog HERE. She is fantastic!  :)

                  

A Portrait of...

Its been a long time since I have posted! I always seem to be running to try and keep up with the laundry and dishes and a now 5 MONTH OLD baby that I completely forget about updating this blog. But there has been something on my mind lately that I feel like writing about. Its kind of personal, so I don't really know why I am writing this so publicly, but hopefully someone can benefit from my thoughts, so... here it goes.

It seems like my whole life I have been chasing this image of perfection. The image that not only the media puts out there (the tall, skinny, beautiful woman) but also the image that I think I have placed on myself as to what the perfect woman should be. And it seems like time and time again, I never quite meet that image. Now don't get me wrong, I am a fairly confident person and am comfortable with who I am, but I still am always thinking that I should be better, or there is something more that I need to do.

And then I had a baby, which let me tell you, does NOTHING for your body, and is also quite the reality check. I thought I knew what it would take to me a mom, but nothing could have prepared me for the real thing. So then I added another image that I needed to meet... the perfect "stay-at-home mom" image. I am so blessed to be able to have a husband that works hard and is able to provide for our family so that I can stay home with our adorable little daughter and focus on raising her. But I struggle to meet this image of being the perfect mom. My house is NOT always clean, the laundry is not always done, I don't always have dinner ready when Scott gets home, I don't look perfect every day. In fact, some days I don't even shower or put make-up on, or change out of pajamas. Brylie is not always happy, I don't always know what to do for her, and sometimes she hangs out in a white onesie while I sit next to her in my pajamas. This is not what my image of the perfect mom and wife is.

I had been feeling like I would never reach that portrait of perfection that I thought I needed to for a while. I still haven't met it, as I type this on my living room floor that is covered with toys and other random objects that I should probably clean up. Anyways... I went to the Relief Society meeting and cried through basically the whole thing. The talk that really got to me was by Elder Uchtdorf called "Forget Me Not". (If you haven't heard it or read it, you need to. It's fantastic.) Basically it comes down to this, the Lord knows who I am and what I am doing. He knows how hard I try to do good things every day. He knows that I am not perfect, and He is just fine with that. He also knows that the people that I think are perfect, aren't. What matters is that I am trying to do my best, and as long as I keep trying, the Lord will continue to bless me.

I am coming to grips with the fact that I am not the portrait of perfection. Life is not easy, but its not supposed to be. It is through our trials that we become better people, and through our trials that we draw closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So I am going to keep trying. I won't always have the laundry or the dishes done. My house won't always be clean, and I won't always be showered. But I will keep trying to make every day better than the one before it, and be the best mom and wife that I can be. Life is good, and really, I am loving it. Being a mom is the hardest thing I have ever done, but it is so worth it! I'm so grateful for the gospel that gives me strength. I am so blessed!  :)

And of course... pictures of our little princess: