My exciting bargain!

So, I have a REALLY hard time buying anything over $50.  Sometimes I like that, other times I don't because I seem to settle with lame stuff sometimes.  But when I find something worth more than $50, but I buy it cheaper, I dance around my house, go out on my balcony, and yell to the world that I just got a bargain!  That's a bit of an exaggeration, but that's honestly what I feel like doing!

So, let me share with you my latest deal.  We recently moved into a new apartment which I love.  We have pretty french doors that go to our awesome balcony.  But it's 4 doors wide and so I've been stuck on what I should do for curtains.  Buy FOUR panels?  Heck no, at $25 a piece, I just couldn't do it.  So I found some cheaper ones for $13 a piece, but they were boring.  Then I found some super great ones on clearance for $7.50 (normally $30!)  But there were only 2.  So I've been troubled.  Well, I just got an email from JcPenney (one of my all time favorite places to shop) which said, "Hey, we miss you! Here's 25% off your next purchase!"  Cool. So I go on over there and lo and behold the curtains are on mega sale THIS WEEK! I find these pretty babies:

Normally priced at $50 per panel!  Well, they were on sale for $15.  Already a sweet deal, but thank you to JCP emails, I got myself an extra 25% off!  So, I bought 4 panels and the total cost was $47.  I got $153 off.  You better believe I danced around for that one!!!!

Now I have to wait 4-7 days until I can go pick them up at the store because I'm too cheap to pay for shipping. I'm just hoping they look okay.  I'm a bit nervous that it'll be too busy with four panels...but we'll see!  Now, let's hope I can return the curtains I've already purchased and don't want anymore :)

Bargain shopping + coupons bring me so much JOY!

Broken car on a Sunday

We got back to Virginia on a Saturday night and the following morning was Stake Conference (a special church meeting for our area.)

We woke up and got ready to go and went out to the car 30 minutes before the meeting started. It take less than 10 minutes to get there, so we planned on being early. Well, our car sometimes gets stuck in park.  Usually we jiggle the gear shift thinger and smack the dashboard and do all sorts of creative things to get it going.  It's worked for us so far.  This time nothing was moving it out of park!  We were stuck.  We tried to call some people but most people were already there and with phones off.  So...we decided to walk.  I jumped out of my heels and put on some comfy flats.  Well 2.3 miles later, we were 45 minutes late to the meeting and had huge blisters.  Half way through our walk Steve took his socks off and gave them to me to use.

Cute, right?  

But we made it for the 2nd half of the meeting and it was wonderful.  We felt the spirit.

As we walked we talked about showing God our willingness to obey.  We had prayed that the car would start but told God that we would do what we needed to in order to show him our willingness to obey.  I don't know why he didn't just start our car so we could go to conference, but I'm grateful that we got to prove to Him that we want to obey and that we're willing to.  

Maybe that sounds cheesy...but it was good lesson for us and in a way a profound experience that maybe we can use to teach our children :)

A week of Burrup-ness in Provo

My brother Jon and his cute wife Nicole graduated from BYU so my family was coming down from Washington.  I decided to go up from Mesa and meet them!  And it was a joyous reunion, I love them!  

I got there a few days before them, so I got to spend some time with the Provo Merrill bunch.  These boys are awesome.  Jenni was with us too, and she has all the pictures! So...talk to her if you want to see more :)

These boys made a mean ritz chicken dinner.  Delicious!

This boy loved all of Jon's cool things.

Dinosaur museum

They are so cool

This is Christian. He leaves for Peru to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a month.  I think he looks so handsome in this picture.  I am going to miss him!  

This is Nicole.  Nate loves her.  She's going to be a rockin' mama!

This is Jon.  You'll rarely see a picture of him without Nicole in it because he's completely in love with his wife.  It's cute.

These snow cones were amazing.

A pizza night at some italian place.  It was goooooood.

This just made me giggle.

The cousins finally made it!!! Tanner and Austin, the twins, and new baby Weston.

Graduation day!  Believe it or not...Nicole has a baby inside :)

Awwwwww, I love him.

Aubrey and Weston, just a few months apart.

The party wore these babes out.

We have a plan that these 3 babies are going to be BFFs

We spent a day at Boondocks (My mom has most of the pictures of the go-karts and stuff)  Nate loved the arcade.  He was crazy about getting tickets!

I got to do a lot while I was there.  I met up with Courtney, Danielle, and Allison (my high school friends) and that was so much fun. I went to a baby shower for my dear friend/old roomie Nichole. I got to see my cousin Dot and her adorable kids. We strolled around BYU campus. We swam at the hotel.  We ate french toast at Kneaders (a MUST.)  We visited the duck pond. I stayed up late playing games with Jon. We played volleyball. We had a blast.

August in Mesa

We have been so blessed with opportunities.  Steve enjoyed his summer associate program at the firm here in DC, but was lucky enough to do 4 weeks with a firm in Arizona too.  That didn't give us any summer breaks between his program and school, but we're glad we did it anyways.  We got to spend a month in Mesa and stay with Grandma and Grandpa Merrill again.  We love them.  

Aubrey grew up a ton while we were there! These babies grow WAY too fast.

Mike got his wisdom teeth out.  Woohoo!

Em is such a good little aunt :)  The kids love her and she was a great help to me!

Checking out the park on a hot Mesa day

Nate experienced playing in a very watered yard.  I grew up with sprinklers, not irrigation so it was new for me too and we had a good time :)

The kids loved playing with Mike too.  He's got a way of calming crazy children down :)

We went goofy golfing!

Nate loved all of Grandma's toys.  This was definitely a favorite.

The swings were another favorite

My project while Steve went to work.  I made finger puppets for my sister who just had another baby.  I was pleasantly surprised at how they turned out!

Mel came and stayed for a bit!  Love that girl!!!

The neighbor's swing was a hit for both Nate and Aubrey

Nate, our little helper :)


We had a great time and the more time I spend there, the more I want to live there someday.  We love it!

When you're the best of friends

Big brother is already her hero. She squeals every time he looks her way :)

And he adores her! I love it when I see him talk to her and try to make her laugh.  Sometimes he'll just walk over, rub her cheek and say something (I'll assume it's "I love you") and then go back to whatever he's doing.

These two bring us more joy than anything else in this world.