All-American weekend

After a fun-filled week of shopping for curtains, doing laundry, and visiting teaching, I was grateful to spend Thursday night at home with Thomas. We had a quiet evening here and watched the new Alice in Wonderland. It's different, huh?

Friday night, we made our way north to the Draper temple to attend an endowment session. The Draper temple is this lovely, very square building. I find it magnificent. When we came out of the temple, the weather was so nice. It had cooled down a lot. The sun was setting and the sky was beautiful! We brought the camera along and were looking forward to taking a few photos for you, only to discover that the battery needed to be charged. We hope you enjoy these photos of the temple.

Saturday, not long after we woke, we heard many loud sirens somewhere nearby. I rushed to the front window at a couple different times to see what was going on, but couldn't catch a glimpse. About 15 minutes into this ruckus, the various sounds characteristic of a marching band met our ears. This time, when we (both) looked outside, the sight of the Freedom Festival's Children's Parade graced our eyes.

In the afternoon, we went grocery shopping. Thomas' coupon-clipping really is growing on me; it's awesome to combine coupons and price-matching at Walmart and watch the final price drop drastically at the end of a shopping trip. I highly recommend it. It takes a little bit of work (and sometimes a bit of restraint - you only really save if you're saving on stuff you'd normally buy!), but it's totally worth it. Yesterday we cut over $16 off of our total (combining totals at Walmart & WinCo). 28-cent cans of tuna make it a lot easier to begin our own food storage!

Yesterday evening, we joined our friends Katey and Ashton for a Salt Lake Bees game! We had great seats, just off of 3rd base. Not long after we were seated, the sun went down enough that we were in the shade. It was a close game; the Bees won 6-5 against Reno in the final inning! We got to see the team mascot up close and because the Bees scored over 5, everyone got a Subway coupon. (We even got out of the stadium quickly enough that we were able to grab a free loaf of bread just outside).

We hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Independence Day!

oxox

Saving Through Scavenging

Lisa has been tried and tested with her husband's incessant freebie-seeking and deal-hunting habits. However, we both agree that it's worth it. As an example, yesterday we went shopping at Walmart and WinCo. Through a variety of ads in the mail and coupons collected, we were able to redeem quite a haul, at just under $13 of real savings with nine (9) coupons and three (3) price matches. Below are the free things we got in one "fowl" swoop (like our neighbors the turkey vultures):

In other news, we got sick for free these last few weeks (not pictured). However, despite it all, we were able to enjoy the company of Lisa's mother and sister for several days:

And a few pictures showing one facet of Lisa's creative side:

Oh, and check out Lisa's sister's blog here. She's a talented GIMPer.

Free Oreos and Other Great Things

Today, for the first time, Thomas and I decided to use some coupons when we went grocery shopping. SUCCESS! It felt so very good to watch the dollars come off the total! We've decided this should become a habit.

Also, due to Thomas' faithful following of blogs like Hey, It's Free! we were blessed with coupons for free Oreos! Yes, folks, we each got a free package of Golden Double Stuf Oreos. Hey, I'm not complainin'!

In other news, we toured 2 apartments today. Up till now we've only been looking online for housing. It was nice to actually get to see some places we could call "home" in the not-so-distant future. If anyone knows of cheap married housing in the Provo area, let us know! We're still shopping at this point.

We're keeping up pretty well with our temple attendance. Thomas and his roommate haven't missed a Thursday since the beginning of the semester, and I've been taking the opportunity to go on Friday mornings.

I've been thinking about random things outsiders wouldn't know about Provo:

• Just about everyone jogs. Seriously, even in crummy, cold weather, you see crazies out there in shorts jogging on just about every sidewalk. At all hours, too, it seems.
  
• Unicycling is a pastime enjoyed by more people than you'd think, and the percentage is probably near what you'd find amongst circus performers. No joke. This past week, I saw a kid unicycling his way off campus while reading a newspaper.
  
• At least 90% of drivers are really bad at driving. If you drive much, expect that for every 3 red lights you are stopped at, you will see one car run a red light. Pathetic!
• Parking - especially south of campus - is horrible. If you get home after about 10:30 PM, you might need to circle the side streets for a while to find a spot.

That's about it for now. It's been a long day and I'm ready for some shut-eye!

oxox