An Unexpected Move

As most of you have probably heard via Matt's Facebook message, we will be moving back to TX at the end of October.  It was a major surprise!  On August 23rd Matt was informed his work would be opening a new office in November and would like Matt to be the one to open it.  After a lot of research, prayer, and a trip to the Temple, we knew that it was right.  Despite the shortness of time, and the amount of work and sacrifice involved, neither of us has felt stressed.  Instead we both have felt a strong peace and calm.  I know that this is the work of Heavenly Father guiding us to where we need to be.

To answer some of your many questions:
- Matt will finish school through correspondence, and will get a straight History degree instead of the Ancient Near Eastern Studies Degree.
- We will not be selling our house here, instead we will rent it out.
- We will also be renting a place down there, rather than buying.

There are still a lot of details yet to be worked out.  And we will miss all of our friends and family here.  But we do want to have a big get together with everyone before we go.

many crafts

I've been working on so many projects lately, it will make your head spin.

I made baby hats, baby leggings, and bath bombs to give as baby shower gifts for the 3 showers I was invited to.

(here is a link to the tutorial I used to make the hats)

Our Serendipity Gourmet Bath business is still on hold.  We are hoping to start selling again after Matt graduates in April.

I made a cute jewelry/hair clip holder to put in the bathroom. 

I made Levi a few shirts.  Here is a link for the tutorial I used to make the shirts.

I am almost done reupholstering my glider chair.

I am still working on Levi's toy chest for his room.

And I am working on our Halloween costumes for this year.  I will be Princess Zelda, Levi will be Link, and Matt will be Gannondorf.  Here is my post from last years Halloween.

Sometimes I think I may have bit off more than I can chew.  But at least the important stuff normally gets done.

Couponing

I have entered the exciting world of couponing.  While I have used coupons casually in the past, I never became very successful at saving money with it.  For the first time I did some research on the subject and found a lot of good advice at how to really save money.  The site I found the most helpful was The Krazy Coupon Lady site.  I highly recommend it for anyone looking to start clipping coupons.  At first I would spend hours looking at everything, feeling very overwhelmed, getting lots of headaches, and not really accomplishing much.  But after a few months at it, I no longer get so many headaches and I can normally save at least 50% if not more on a shopping trip.  I do still get a little overwhelmed though.  I have been doing well enough that Matt got us a subscription for 4 Sunday papers (up till now I have been getting coupons from neighbors who don't use theirs). The best trip I had was last month at Smith's when I bought 10 boxes of cereal, 2 cans of tuna, and 2 cans of vienna sausages all for $8.32.  I saved 78% that trip!

I know that I am just getting started and that I will get better at this as I go.  But for having only been doing this for a few short months I'm impressed at some of the deals I have been getting. 

Toothpaste for $0.24 a box.

Wipes for $1.24 a bag.

Crayons for FREE!!!!!

Oh the joy coloring brings Levi, and the joy I get and not having to pay for this wonderful form of entertainment.

This is my coupon book.  I take it with me every time I go to the store.  It is a bit of a pain to have to carry along with a 16 month old, and a diaper bag.  But the savings are well worth it.  It's so nice to be building our food storage while saving money.