He's back... and he brought a friend.

Andrew got a little tired of couch-surfing so he's moved back... and brought a kitten with him. He said it is our Christmas present. Lucky us.

2 dogs.
2 cats.
4 kids.
1 husband.
(joey the fish finally died... just in case you were wondering)

Lucky me.

My mommy loves me! Even if she is crazy....

Every time my mom comes to visit, she says I need new dishes. I say.... "what's wrong with dollar store santa dishes??" But now that my kids are older and the chance of broken dishes is less (I hope :) I agreed that I need new dishes.

Red. Of course.

So.... the UPS man came today and delivered 7 boxes. 2 more on the way. BIG boxes. Now that's a lot of dishes. 144 to be exact. I called to ask WHY she gave me that many dishes. Well.. here is the crazy part. She only meant to send me 3 boxes but accidentally pushed the order button a few extra times. We figured this out after only a few phone calls to India. And lots of laughing. Can't wait for Mr. UPS to come pick up the extra boxes in my entryway.


I was supposed to wait until Christmas to "get" my dishes. But then I spilled a mountain of packaging peanuts all over my floor. What a mess to clean up!!! So I called and told my (crazy) mommy that I should be able to use my dishes before Christmas for all my pain and suffering. She agreed.

I love my mom!

The boxes....

and the peanuts

(before they all spilled)

The old mismatched dishes....


The shiny, new, RED dishes. So pretty!

Lentil Burgers.....

I finally made good on my promise of Lentil Burgers. They were tasty! (Well... not so much to Shea, but she's about as picky as they come. Drives me crazy!) Andrew even ate 3! So, for only $1.50 I fed my family of 5. I'm pretty sure that's the record in our house.

And the best part is that they are healthy. I'm figure I'm never going to give up sugar so it makes me feel better when I eat healthy. Snickers tastes even better after a lentil-burger!

3 hours later: Shea saw this picture and said it looked like we had poop-on-a-bun for dinner. Just thought I would share :)

A so sad goodbye....

Our family has suffered a great loss.
The pink car is gone.
To a better home.
A home with mechanical talents.

I had to break the news to Kayla this past week. Not so fun for me. Or her.

We bought this car in 1998 and Robert drove it during his doctorate (he is obviously a manly man - it was just as pink then). Kayla bought it when she was 16. (no - we don't believe in giving our kids a car... she paid for it) Then Kayla drove it for 5 years until her mission.

It's so strange to not see that cute pink car in front of our house.
But it had a good life... and good memories...

34 miles to the gallon!

We drove Kayla to the MTC in it. Crowded, but I wanted to be crowded before saying goodbye.

No one ever got a ticket in that car. Probably because it wasn't my car.

It was always dirty. Again, probably because it wasn't my car.


Here's a photo of the day Kayla got her car... back when I used to scrapbook.

I want to be a farmer. Really.

I want to live HERE.

Where I can be a farmer.

Look, I made apple pie filling and apple jelly today!

Is it ok if the jelly is runny like syrup? It's so pretty, I don't mind if it's runny like syrup.

Caramel apples!!!

Family home evenings.... not just about lessons!

Sawyer Family first annual
Creative Caramel Apple Night.

sour gummy bears on caramel apples. what's wrong with that?

Bangs and Bands

When Kayla was little, I always cut her hair to have bangs... and as she got older she didn't want bangs and begged me to let her grow it out (at about age 10). Fast forward 12 years and now Shea WANTS bangs. Begged and pleaded for bangs.

I finally gave in.
Doesn't she look older?
I don't like that. But it is cute.


Braden had a marching band fundraiser dinner last night. The band played the Fox NFL theme and it sounded great! Of course as soon as I tried to get a photo, my handsome son hid behind someone else. If you look hard enough, you can see an eye.

Frugal Challenge

This has been a fun month.... I am taking my frugal challenge to the next level.

Because I am crazy.
But a good crazy.
A nice crazy. Lentil burgers for dinner. Robert is SO lucky.

I'm sticking with my $300/month food budget and ended up at $299.21 for October. Got some great deals on cheese and chicken so my freezer is getting stocked up. I also had my inlaws here all month and fed the missionaries a few times. Andrew isn't living at home... but still raids the pantry. So I feel it's working out well and hope to keep to my budget even with all the Holiday baking/cooking.

So now to my NEW frugal challenge. I want to pay my house off. Yes.... we can blame it on Tammy, but really I have done so much reading about the market and being financially independent that this just makes sense. The difficulty is that I want to do it in 60 months and we still have to:

Live
Eat
Save for missions, college, weddings
Vacation (that is VERY important to me!)

Our current income/expenses don't fit into this goal, but I firmly believe in the power of goal setting and working hard to achieve something difficult.... it wouldn't be a challenge otherwise!

So... each month I will put the percentage I have paid down our mortgage and how much is left to reach our goal. I need to average 1.67% each month. A very lofty goal as I already know there will be some months I can't meet this. Luckily I have a flexible income. I just need to flex it to become higher :)

October house goal: paid off 1.40%. 98.60% left.

Happy Birthday Kayla!!

Last Sunday was Kayla's 22nd Birthday.... and yes, it was VERY hard to NOT be able to talk with her and wish her happy birthday!! We made her promise to take lots of pictures and send them right away. Here are a few of my favorites....


Sister Graf decorated their room....


Wendy and her kids surprised Kayla with birthday cake.


Cheesecake (Kayla's favorite!) from the Relief Society President

So rainy... (isn't it beautiful!?)

Sister Sawyer and Sister Graf...

Kayla and Laura, an older sister they often do service for. If you receive Kayla's emails from me - this is the lady that tried to poison Kayla with rancid guacamole. So funny!

Photo by their favorite tree...

Random beautiful shot of my baby!

Happy Halloween!!

Here's a few snapshots of Halloween at the Sawyers....

Vampire Sasha.

she loved the costume.

really.

Shea and Robert painted this at

their Father-Daughter party

Shea carved a panda bear pumpkin.
all by her self.
really!


Three witches....

Brenda, Kiersten and Shea

In front of my neighbors house.

because it is cuter than mine.

really.