Tyler had quite the group greet him at the airport. Our friends, Chuck, Rachael, Bryce, and Champaigne were here. They have been stationed in Japan for the past 7 years and I am so glad it worked out that they were able to be here at the same time he came home. We didn't tell him that they were here, so he was quite surprised when he saw them. Jason's parents were also there and brought Camila, Shawna, and Ashley.
When they got home from the airport (our flight came in 2 hours later) Rachael and the kids had decorated the house all up and got pizza. Rachael is the party queen! Thanks guys!
There is no way that we would have been able to go if it hadn't been for Jason's parents. They kept the kids for both us and Jason's sister. Thank you so much Flora and Danny.
We had a really good time on our trip and I'm glad my 6'4" baby is home. :)

WAITING . . .
Here he comes!
This is Bryce and the next one is Champaigne and Colin. (I can't believe that Colin let someone take his picture!) Tyler was 3 when I met Rachael, so they have been friends for a long time. They are all such good friends. We are SUPER glad that they just got stationed in Utah. We wish it was here, but at least Utah is much closer than Japan. :)

I wanted to share what the pilot of the plane did when Tyler landed in Salt Lake to transfer planes. When they landed the pilot came on the speaker and said "You may have noticed that we have a soldier on board. Out of respect for him and what he is doing for our country, I ask that you all remain seated until he gets his things and exits the plane first." I thought that was the coolest thing. Tyler did say that he was a little embarrassed, but what an honor!

This is what happens when you get 2 - 17 year old boys together who haven't seen eachother in 2 years. They started wrestling and Tyler put Bryce's whole back through the wall. You can tell by the light switch that it wasn't a little hole either. The boys were very good about fixing it pretty much themselves, with a little guidance from the dads.

TYLER'S HOME

Go here for 2 free tacos tomorrow from Jack in the Box. Just print out a coupon for each person. This is going to be our free dinner tomorrow night.

Get your FREE Chocolate from Mars here today and every Friday through September 25th. You can request your coupon for a free single size Mars candy bar starting at 9 am. They have 250,000 to give away each day this promotion runs and you can claim a total of 4 per household.
Wait for a buy one get one free sale and get two free candy bars! The coupon came in the mail on a large size postcard type flyer.

Trip to Fry's today

Fry's has a great ad this week! I spent $48.79 and saved $148.30. I had coupons for EVERY single item that I bought. I even got a WOW from the cashier. :) On one of my trips through the store a while ago there was a tearpad of coupons for $1.00 off produce when you buy 2 Kraft salad dressings. Kraft always has coupons for the salad dressing which I can usually then get for free, so I grabbed a few of the produce coupons to use with them. Today I got to use those. I got 5 bottles of dressing for free and then got free lettuce and free bananas.

When I mention my deals my sisters always ask "How do you do that?" So, here you go guys. :) I looked at the Fry's ad today and when you buy 10 of certain items, you get $5.00 off. I matched the coupon with the sale. That way I get TWICE the savings. A sale and a coupon. Looking at this, I can't make a dinner with 10 boxes of yogurt and salad dressing, but I add the items to my stock pile and they always get used. Salad dressing make great marinade. I have found that I spend ALOT more money when I am out of something and run to the store. I always end up buying more than the item I went for. So, now I have a nice stock pile and rarely have to run to the store. I used to plan a dinner menu around what the family wanted and now I plan the dinner menu around the sales and they rarely complain, and when they do TOO BAD!! :)

It has taken me awhile to get the stash of coupons that I have, but I just kept collecting them and now have a huge stash and am able to buy everything (almost) with a coupon. Cellfire.com and shortcuts.com are 2 sites that you can enter your store card information and then load coupons right onto your shopper card and when you check out it automatically takes the savings off. Coupons.com is a wonderful printable coupon site. They put up new coupons all the time. There are alot of manufactures who offer coupons on their sites. You have to sign up for their newsletter alot of times, but I have a special e-mail account for all of those so my regular e-mail does not get overloaded. It takes time and patience though. Saige actually said the other day "You love your precious coupons more than you love me." No Saige. . . I love you way more, but it's because of the money I save with my coupons that you are able to have the things you have. Kids just don't understand. :)

Here is the newest picture that Tyler sent to me. He said they take their guns everywhere. The only time the gun leaves his sight is when they are in the bathroom and then they have a buddy who stands outside and holds it for them. While talking to Tyler he always called it a "weapon", if they call it a gun they get "smoked" which means they get in trouble and have to do pushups. He sounds like he is doing great! I can't wait to talk to him again this Sunday.

Our trip to Williams

Daniel at the top of Williams mountain.

Saige
I have never seen so many ladybugs ever.
I could have stayed up there all day!

Daniel usually hates his picture taken, but while we were up there he kept asking "mom, get a picture of me over there, and here, and how bout there." I love that I got so many pictures of him.

A caterpillar sack that we found.

We found out when we were driving up to Williams that a few of our friends had planned a day trip up there to find a camping spot for next week. So, we were able to meet up with them and spend a few hours fishing. The only thing caught on this trip was a crawdad.

Every time we go to Williams we have to go see the gunfight. The kids have seen it probably 20 times, but they still ask everytime we are there to go.

Daniel got a haircut as soon as we got home.

We had a great time. I didn't want to come back to the heat.