Punxatawney Phil was right!

Move over Live 5 Weather Vipir! Apparently, the good old groundhog never fails to predict the weather. I had my doubts on Groundhog's Day when I sent Kaeleb off to school with no jacket. And, as you can see we have been enjoying some lovely weather... (sorry about the fuzz, the lens had a smudge, no doubt a tiny fingerprint)

This is us at Johnson Canyon with Nathan, Mary Lynne, and McKay last Saturday.

But, what do you know.... this week it was winter again! This snow lasted about 5 minutes, but it has rained and been chilly all week. Tried and true, Phil was right. (Check groundhog.org for more details!)

Here's the Brenster wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day!!

Who says you can't be rich, healthy, and save the planet all at once?

I have been so excited about some dorky things this week. Like most of you I am always looking for ways to save money on groceries. I keep trying to do the coupon thing like my savvy sister-in-laws and I am not having the best luck. (Maybe I need a mentor) It seems like the things I spend the most money on are dairy and produce, which there are not coupons for (except for yogurt sometimes) and the things that I find coupons for are things I either do not buy or can find a generic cheaper.

So, I have been super frustrated. This month I decided to stock up at Costco on things that are best priced there and it worked fabulously for me. Based on my estimations I think I will just need a few things at Walmart and I think I will have saved quite a bit of money. I am so excited!

The other issue I have is that, as you know, Kwint and I are major health nuts. It's not that we don't have sweet tooths, cuz we do, but we are into whole wheat and fruits and veggies and we don't eat a lot of boxed-treat-like foods. For whatever reason, healthy food just costs more. It makes no sense to me. For example, at Costco you can buy Krusteaz pancake mix in an 80 serving bag for about 6 bucks. The whole grain pancake mix is 8 bucks and only provides 30 servings. What gives?

Or bread- you can buy a knock-off Wonder bread for 99 cents but the Orowheat healthy stuff is 3 dollars a loaf.

So, I buy a bag of whole wheat flour for 3 dollars and make 10 loaves. I also found a recipe for pancake mix and made whole wheat pancakes that were great.

I love saving money. ah.....

Finally, I am becoming as obsessed with recycling as my sis-in-law is with coupons. There is a new recycle station by Albertsons that recycles everything. I have 5 garbage cans full or more each week that I haul over and feel so good about myself as I dump them into the bins. And, the cool thing is, on garbage day for the past two weeks there have only been 2 bags to be taken to the dump. I only need to take the can to the street once a month.

I love saving the world.....

My boys are all well. Kwint's new obsession is facebook. I have not joined yet. Many of you have told him to get me going on it, but I don't even have time to blog, let alone do that. I would get nothing else done because I would be on it all the time. He loves it, though and I am glad.

Kaeleb is a sweet little guy. His two best friends are moving away. Mikell is already gone and Hudson is moving next week. He is a one at a time kind of guy when it comes to friends, so it will be hard for him to make some new friends, but I know he will.

Kaeleb also has a new obsession- it is dipping graham crackers in milk.

Brennan has been talking up a storm! A few of his new words and sentences inlude "Go away" which he said to his blanket as he pushed it to the floor, "bubee" for his favorite blanket (which we call "funny blanket" because he cackles every time he sees it), "tuck" which he says when he or one of his toys gets stuck, and "boke" which is "broke." In fact he has a story...

While we were watching the Super Bowl he was playing with a balloon and kept biting it. We told him it would pop but he wouldn't stop. Finally it popped in face and he sat there dumbfounded for a few seconds. Then he said "Balloo-boon boke!" Every day, all week he has been telling us the story about "balloo-boon boke. Balloo-boon boke." It has been so funny.

Today while Kaeleb was dipping his graham crackers Brennan walked up and said "Dip. Ah wanna dip." Kaeleb loves it when he says sentences and tells us over an over all the things his little bro can say.

Anybody have any good ideas for separation anxiety? (Besides the cry it out method-it's not for us) Little Brenny just needs his mom and dad but we need a date sometimes. We always end up coming home early from dates or just staying home because he cries from the minute the door closes to the minute it opens again. We went to an EQ social on Friday and we only stayed an hour. When we got home he was red-faced with snot and drool running all over the place and he was so very sad. If nothing else, I suppose he will soon outgrow it.

That is that for us, I guess. I am sure Kwint is keeping everyone up to date on facebook better than I am here... but for posterity's sake I will keep on blogging.