The End of An Era - Sympathy, Please

Okay, so most of you who know me know that I LOVE a good bargain. And, you would also know that my entire wardrobe and that of my family has come from Mervyn's. Having a friend who works at Mervyn's, I get the inside scoop to all the great sales. I have been able to clothe my family for next to NOTHING for the past 9 years. Truly, you can get an entire outfit for a toddler boy (pants and a shirt) for $3.00. I became a master at combining discounts and sales and looked forward to Mervyn's clearance sales like they were holidays.

That being said, it was devastating to learn that Mervyn's is going out of business and is closing EVERY store for good. Our store will be open until December 31st. After that I will have to find another source of bargains to clothe my family. I cannot tell you how heavy my heart is and how desperate I am to find another store with deals as good as Mervyn's. I think it will be very hard to top the deals I was able to get at Mervyn's. I've had friends and family tell me about other "great deals" they get at other stores, but seriously, Mervyn's topped them all. Any suggestions? Where do you get your best bargains?

Dinosaur Park

Okay, with UEA weekend came a bit of pressure to go and do something fun. Leon did not take any time off of work, so we pretty much stayed at home and played. But, Saturday we decided to bag yard work and go somewhere. Being such beautiful weather, we picked the outdoor dinosaur park in Ogden. It was a bit of a drive, but that made it seem like more of an outing.

A Leon classic.

After the dinosaur park we found a couple of geocaches in a park nearby. The kids sure love geocaching. It's like a treasure hunt where you have no idea what the treasure will be or what it will look like. Another group found these same geocaches earlier in the day and left some LAME, girly stickers, so the "treasure" wasn't all that exciting this time. But, the kids always enjoy the thrill of the hunt just as much as the "treasure" at the end.

The Simple Things

Sometimes it's the simple things in life that bring the most frustration and the most joy. My "toy room" is case in point. I try to be an organized person, but with four boys, it's an uphill battle. I have given up and generally try to avoid the toy room. When the going gets really tough and I've had just about enough frustration, I call in reinforcements by the name of "Robyn" (name may or may not have been changed to protect her identity). I've used "Robyn" a couple of times in the past and know she has a way of setting me straight with her BRUTAL honesty. Everyone needs a friend who isn't afraid to tell you what's what and doesn't judge you for the AMOUNT OF TOYS you have or the dust bunnies and DEAD FLIES in the window sill.

My goal was to get EVERY toy in the house organized into one room. It has been a major irritation of mine to try to put a toy away when its home could be in one of five different rooms. With "Robyn's" help we managed to transform the chaos into order. The boys have actually played in this room and with toys they haven't played with in a long time because the pieces weren't all together. At night (now, I know the novelty of a clean, organized toy room hasn't worn off yet), the boys are happy to clean up and put everything away where it belongs. (If you noticed I made labels with words and pictures to make it easy for everyone.)

Now, when I walk past this room, I get a little bit of joy and satisfaction - thanks to a friend I like to call "Robyn."

First Snow of the Season

Waking up to snow on the ground was exciting for most of the boys. However, Landon was a little confused and upset by it. He has been asking about upcoming holidays and has been confused to see Halloween and Christmas decorations both at stores. We've been telling him that first it's Halloween, then Christmas. Upon seeing the snow Landon said, "Oh, did we miss Halloween?" and starts to cry. I guess he thought snow meant Christmas and that he had missed Halloween. (And, yes, it was Sunday. No judging, please.)

Conference by the Fireside - Ahh...

Isn't this just the perfect picture?

Four boys listening to the prophet by a cozy fire. Ha!

(Skittles and candy corn work wonders.)
Whoever invented "General Conference Bingo" should get the Peace Prize. My boys actually look forward to Conference and sit quietly (well, relatively quietly) listening intently. The deal is they can either eat the candy on each "Bingo", or go for "blackout" and eat the whole board at once. For some reason, they all thought "blackout" sounded like a better deal. It was literally the last 30 seconds of President Monson's concluding remarks when Dallin heard the word "obey", giving him a "blackout." I tried explaining to them that eating each "bingo" would give them more candy in the long run, but they didn't believe me. Oh, well. It kept them entertained for two hours. Maybe I should come up with "Grocery Store Bingo" to get all four boys to behave through Macey's. Hmm.