Floatin' Down the River

I haven't been so diligent in my posting of our summer activities so I thought I should get caught up. A couple of weeks ago we went to Vernal with the fam to go white-water rafting down the Green River. It was a lot of fun and it was good to visit Vernal (I hadn't been there in two years!) Jared had fun too because G'ma has a problem with pigeons and she let Jared use them as target practice. He got four but 15 more came the day after we left. At least I know that he'll have something to do every time that we go.

I'm in LOVE with The Grocery Game!!!!

Yesterday I went to Albertson's and got a cart full of food. When my total first rang up it was $197.00. After my coupons and Preferred card, my total was $85.00!! I saved $112.00!!!! I'm such a dork but it actually is a "game" to see how much I can save. I get so excited after each trip that I can't wait to look at the bottom of the receipt when they hand it to me (remember when they used to tell you how much you saved? I think my trips would be a little more exciting if they announced my savings to everyone else in line behind me). I also call Jared and my mom while I'm in the parking lot and make them guess how much I saved for that trip.

I first heard about The Grocery Game from my cousin Erin. It is an online service that goes through all the sales (advertised and non-advertised) and coupons and creates a list telling you what are the best deals at your grocery store. They have a 4 week trial that is FREE!!! Once you sign up, then it goes through and tells you what to do. They use the coupons that are in the Sunday paper and they give advice on how many to get for your size of family. They use the idea of "stockpiling" so that you always have food in your pantry thus eliminating unnecessary trips to the store. If you decide to give it a try, use my email (khristen1(at)hotmail.com) because I can earn free weeks.

Have fun and let me know how it goes!

On the Road Again...

This last weekend we spent in Lake Havasu City, AZ. I would have called it "sunny" although that would have been a HUGE understatement (120 degrees is more than sunny). With this trip we decided that we would hit two birds with one stone: 1) Amber's (Jared's sister) baby shower, 2) Mini Anniversary celebration (it's all about the bath tubs--I'll explain more later).

1. Amber is having a boy in August so we went down to celebrate one of the showers. (I was sad to learn that Kim had one of her showers that same day but I am happy to know that I have a few more options to shower her with gifts.) She is really excited for baby Spencer to come and she hopes that she is ready. Amber is a great cook and a great hostess so we always enjoy staying with her because of her hospitality. We always come home from Havasu well-fed--especially for Thanksgiving.

2. We also went down to celebrate our Anniversary which doesn't really happen until next month but here's the story. Back when I worked for Studio Il Bagno (selling plumbing fixtures) I sold some very high-end imported brands of faucets, toilets, and tubs. We sold a particular air-jet tub from BainUltra. I was able to go to the factory in Quebec City for a week and learn all about the tubs. I already loved the tubs before I went because they are completly sanitary--this contrary to most "jetted" tubs. Now for your tub lesson of the day: typical jetted tubs use large jets where they suck in water and shoot it back out at the user. This would be fine and dandy except that there is water always in the system; thus having a black sludge come out of the jets when they are turned on. If that sounds gross then try this one on for size--most hotels use these types of jets in their rooms/suites so you are essentially bathing in someone elses bath water. YUM!! Well, with BainUltra, they use an air jet system that uses air to create the massage so no water or crud is left in the tub. In addition, 10 minutes after the cycle is done and the water is drained, the air turns on again for a minute and blows out any water that could possibly be left in the channels keeping it hygenic.

To tie this all together BainUltra has a place on thier site where you can "experience" one of their tubs and it lists several hotels. When we were planning our honeymoon we wanted to go to to one of these hotels because now I have a jetted-tub-phobia. One of the hotels was the Heat in Lake Havasu. So that explains why one of our nights we stayed in a hotel--the bath tub. There were a few other perks that made Jared never want to leave: Tempurpedic king-sized mattress complete with six fluffy pillows (80% duck feathers 20% duck down to be completely correct) and a view of the chanel and the London Bridge (imported from London--true story). Needless to say, we will be going back to Havasu for Thanksgiving and this time we want to try one of thier suites.

The Summer of Travel Has Begun

In May our friends from Ohio, Brendon and Jena, were in town for Brendon's brother's wedding. It was a very short trip so we randomly decided to go on a vacation together over the 4th of July. We tried to choose a place that was inexpensive for both couples to get to and so we chose Chicago. I absolutely loved it because of the architecture, history, food, and friends. We stayed in the Palmer House Hotel which was a historic hotel that has been in down-town Chicago since 1871 (of course it has been rebuilt a couple of times and we stayed in the building that was completed in the 1920s).

We did a lot of walking (just ask Jared) but we saved a ton of money because we rode public transit. For the 4th we went on an architecture cruise around the city that ended with fireworks.

Pictures are still to come since Jared and I invested in a Kodak disposable camera for the trip and we have to get it developed.

I am currently in the process of packing to leave for Lake Havasu, AZ this afternoon. I'll let you know how it goes.