Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone

We spent thanksgiving this year with the second year med students and their families in D.C. The day was spent cooking food, playing football, watching football, movies, playing games around the table and a lot of visiting. We had such a wonderful time and of course the day after Cami went out shopping hitting black friday sales as we drove home from D.C. We stopped in a few different cities one of which we had another thanksgiving dinner with my cousins that I havent seen in years. It was so fun to see them and their beautiful families. The kids loved playing together and Josh and I got to relax for a few minutes. It was so nice. Thanks again to Sean and Cait for inviting us up to your parents home. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Ingredients

BREAD PUDDINGS:
4 large eggs
2 (15-oz.) cans pumpkin
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12-oz.) French bread loaf, cut into 1-inch pieces (about 10 cups)

CARAMEL-PECAN SAUCE:
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation
1. Prepare Bread Puddings: Whisk together eggs and next 8 ingredients in a large bowl until well blended. Add bread pieces, stirring to thoroughly coat. Cover with plastic wrap, and chill 8 to 24 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 350°. Spoon bread mixture into 11 (6-oz.) lightly greased ramekins. (Ramekins will be completely full, and mixture will mound slightly.) Place on an aluminum foil-lined jelly-roll pan.
3. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes, shielding with foil after 30 minutes.
4. During last 15 minutes of baking, prepare Caramel-Pecan Sauce: Heat pecans in a medium skillet over medium-low heat, stirring often, 3 to 5 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant.
5. Cook brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 3 to 4 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and pecans.
6. Remove bread puddings from oven; drizzle with Caramel-Pecan Sauce. Bake 5 minutes or until sauce is thoroughly heated and begins to bubble.

TRY THIS TWIST
One-Dish Caramel-Pecan-Pumpkin Bread Pudding: Prepare recipe as directed in Step 1. Spoon chilled bread mixture into a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil. Bake, covered, at 350° for 35 minutes. Uncover and bake 15 minutes. Proceed with recipe as directed in Steps 4 through 6.

I made these two Sunday's ago for a kick off to Thanksgiving week. They were to die for good! Our guest was super impressed and I would totally make them again in a heart beat! The recipe is from Southern Living mag. Probably one of my favorite magazines out there.

my mom's sugar cookies

i know everyone is kind of partial to the sugar cookies their mom made growing up but i have to say that my moms were by far the BEST! i was feeling homesick a couple weeks ago so i made fall sugar cookies. WARNING: if you make them you will eat them!!!

Cookie Recipe:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions:
Mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extract and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Heat oven to 375ºF. Lightly grease cookie sheet. Divide dough in half. Roll each half 1/4 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut into desired shapes with 2- to 2 1/2-inch cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheet. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Mom's White Butter Frosting:

1/2 stick butter (hard)

1/3 stick veggie flavored crisco

1/2-1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 or more boxes of powdered sugar

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp. milk (add more if needed to make smooth)

Put in mixer and mix it up. oh i want to make more.

on our christmas lists this year

Brooklyn: ANY girl toys... poor girl has one baby doll and a stroller (that's it!) i guess she has her dollhouse too. but honestly not much.

Brody: the letter to Santa above if you cant read it...come on guys cant you understand scribbles...

transformers...optimus prime and bumble bee (he is way into these right now!)

a flash light

buzz lightyear camera

more legos

a ball

he wants a choo choo train like in polar express

a hot wheels track

a foosball table like at grandma and grandpa binghams

tinkertoys

lincoln logs

and lots of CANDY

Cami: way too much stuff to even list....haha....i know maybe someday i will get whats on my list

Josh: for Cami not to spend money! just kidding although i think he wouldnt mind that. Josh needs things more than he wants them such as books for school, reading glasses, etc. Not much fun stuff if you ask me!

What's on your list?

Walgreens Shopping 101 article

There is a great article on this website about Walgreens Shopping 101 and how to do it. It is on her second page.

http://www.fistfulofcoupons.com/index.php?paged=2

Couponing Tips

There are a lot of tips that I have learned on how to coupon but to be honest I am still a beginner myself. I just started doing it in August and I am still learning the ropes. So the first thing I did to get started was to ask experts that I know...two in particular...my sister in law who lives on the west coast and a lady in my ward who lives on the east coast. why does it matter where you live? because there are definitely different grocery stores on the east coast compared to the west coast but at the same time there are still Walgreen's, CVS, Rite Aid, target, etc. after talking with both of them I decided to start collecting coupons.

Tip #1: cut all coupons even if you dont think you will use it!

To collect coupons you can do this in many ways I personally subscribed to the Sunday paper, look for blinkies in your aisle as you grocery shop, most grocery stores and especially walgreens have catalinas---SAVE THEM!!! Also there is a magazine called All You that you can buy at Walmart that has a lot of coupons in them. So thats how I started I started collecting coupons and I got a organizer to keep them...well organized. Everyone divides there coupons up differently and once you start you will find a system that works for you.

Once you have coupons get to know your grocery stores: which grocery stores double your coupons, which ones triple. Meaning if you have a coupon for 0.75 cents then the grocery store will double or triple that coupon giving you more money off that item.

Next get to know Walgreens and RiteAid. Especially Walgreens!!! Most of the free stuff I get I get at Walgreens. They have a system called Register Rewards. When you buy an item that has a register rewards attached to it after you purchase you item. A register reward will print out of the catalina and that register reward is as good as cash at Walgreens. Beware they do expire in two or three weeks. So for example the first time I went to Walgreens and started couponing I used the coupons I had to buy items that had register rewards attached to them. My first trip was came to $20 out of my pocket but I got $15 in register rewards back. The next week I went to Walgreens I only bought items with more register rewards attached to them and I paid with my previous weeks register rewards...so how much did I spend the second week out of pocket cash maybe a buck or two. This is called rolling your register rewards. I know it sounds so confusing but once you do it you will understand.

Finally I look at these websites daily to see the current deals out there:
http://www.commonsensewithmoney.com/
http://www.fistfulofcoupons.com/
http://frugalchicliving.blogspot.com/
http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.frugallivingnw.com/

I also subscribe to a website for like $5 for three months or something like that it is called:
http://www.refundcents.com/

So those are most of my tips I will post more if you have questions or anything let me know. Good luck and oh I almost forgot most of these websites help you get started as well and tell you how to start couponing.

brookies head

our poor baby has had multiple head injuries and they just seem to be getting worse and worse. she is learning how to run and for some reason once her bonk starts to get better she falls again and the bump on her head grows and grows. at brody's last soccer game she fell on the pavement so now it is scabbed over as well. i am sure people think we abuse our child. i wonder if it will ever get better?!

another birthday

we had a special birthday last week...DOGGIES! Brody has a stuffed animal dog that is pretty much apart of our family. Doggie turned three just like Brody last week and we had to celebrate. we invited some girls over from our ward for dinner and a party. they were so sweet and such great sports to celebrate with us. i am sure they thought we were nuts. brody loved every minute of it and they all put on a dance party with a band. he now has a crush on Holly who is 11. Brody loves older women. Happy Birthday Doggie!

what did you score today?

with my couponing i made money with these purchases: $18 in my pocket...what a great feeling!

my stash of free stuff minus the big box of irish spring soap.

our new fridge

a ward member was getting rid of a fridge so josh and i took it--for free! SWEET!!! old

new

halloween

this year for halloween brookie was a ballerina and brody was supposed to be james bond (he was for our ward party) but the day before halloween i went to old navy and bought the monkey coustume for $2. i was saving it for next year but josh and brody convinced mommy to wear it this year. so you might see it two years in a row. for halloween we had a party at our house with all the med students and their families. we had a great time being together and the kids loved all the candy they got. so much fun.

Carving Pumpkins

these pictures are out of order but here we are carving pumpkins for halloween 2009. brookies was a B with stars around it and brody's was his own creation. he told daddy to cut here and daddy cut there. it was fun up until mommy locked all of us out of the house at 9 o'clock at night with no key (my mom is going to die since she has told me way too many times to make a spare key and i still havent!) we walked to our neighbors house and used their phone. it cost us $50 to unlock the door! ouch! it kind of ruined the whole night. brody loved carving pumpkins and brookie cried when she touched the stuff. she is such a girlie girl!

Music HELP!

I am in a music rut...have you ever been in one? I need some new tunes to listen to that are both soothing, calming, and also i need new exercise music. I am bored with what has been playing on my ipod and on the radio. HELP!!! any suggestions would be fabulous!

do NOT buy

i was running out of mascara and tried this one. this is by far the worst mascara i have ever worn in my entire life! do not waste your money!!! thank goodness it was free from my couponing (is that a word?) otherwise i would be super mad. it was so bad and i am so cheap that i didnt wear mascara for almost two weeks until i was able to get a different brand for free.

what landed on me a few nights ago...

i jumped out of bed and flipped on the light. josh killed it and then i cried and cried and couldnt fall back asleep. i was totally completely grossed out and i still am when i think about it. so gross!!!

leaves, nuts, and little feet

we have the perfect little circle near our house with sidewalks to ride bikes and for little feet (brookies) to walk all the way from our house and back without help from mom. we walk on our circle quite often. we have accumulated lots of nuts (thanks to brookie) and lots of sticks and pine cones (thanks to brody). it is quite cute to watch brooklyn trying to hold all the nuts in her hand. when she drops one she says uh oh and bends over to pick it up. in her attempt to pick it up she drops more and more out of her hands. our circle walk takes us about 45 minutes to complete with her picking up nuts but it is a sweet memory that i will always cherish.

Go Strikers!!!

books, dancing around, and lots of smiles

i havent updated lately because besides our normal life we really havent been up to much. but i have no complaints there since our normal life is pretty fun and full of laughter and lots of slobbery kisses. we are looking forward to trick or treating this weekend with our kids and partying with friends.