It's Been a While

A lot happens in eight months. That is roughly how long it has been since I have posted anything on our blog.
We reccently returned from a family trip to northern California. We saw the sights in San Francisco, and visited Rob's family in Hollister and Gilroy. We had a great time!
In October we are expecting our fifth child. Miracle of miracles it is a girl! We are really excited and a little nervous for her survival in our house full of boys. Needless to say October is not coming fast enough!
Life is busy and I can't promise that I will be a consistant blogger again but we are all alive and well.

Crockett Family 2009 Newsletter

Luke's first visit to Disneyland n Rob and Christy see Wicked in Hollywood n Christy begins work on Rob's parents house,while they are on their mission n Porter starts soccer n Tate becomes a smooth operator with the girls in the neighborhoodn Ayden finds his singing voice n Lukey imitates every sport on television n The twins are potty trained! (cue the hallelujah chorus) n Rob gets S.C.U.B.A. certified n Christy travels out to California and helps her sister get her baby room ready n Rob travels to Montana a lot for work n We help take care of a serious (50+) mouse problem at Grammy and Grandpa's house while they are on their mission n We burn the clothes we were wearing when we dealt with the serious mouse problem n Christy participates in the Ten Virgins program the Stake put on n Porter's friend takes a vacation to Navoo and Porter misinterprets Navoo to be Planet Naboo off of Star Wars n Porter asked " Why don't we ever go to other planets for our family vacation? n Welcome Grammy and Grandpa home from their mission n The big reveal of Grammy and Grandpas dinning room/kitchen renovation n Pyrotechnic bonanza at the Crockett house for the 4th of July n We can applesauce from our apple tree n Christy falls down the stairs and tears several ligaments in her back n Porter starts 1st grade n The twins start preschool (once again cue the hallelujah chorus) n We all get our passports n Grammy and Grandpa take the whole Crockett family on a 7 night Mexican Riviera Cruise n The twins have their Birthday on the boat n We swim with Dolphins n Rob competes in the ships belly flop contest n Lukey misses us all while we are away n We miss Lukey n Rob competes in the Red Rock Relay in St. George n Christy has a weekend in St George all to herself n The Headless Horseman visit our house for the annual Crockett Family Halloween bash n All the kids need therapy because the Headless Horseman has left a lasting impression on them n Rob and Christy go to California for their nephews baby blessing n Rob and Christy go to Disneyland while they are their with out the kids n Luke turns 2 n Luke throws 2 year old tantrums now n Christy earns her Young Women Recognition Award, again n

We have had a wonderful 2009 and want to wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas! May the true reason for the season bring you peace and joy the whole year through.
Love, The Crockett's - Rob, Christy, Porter, Tate, Ayden, & Luke

Happy Birthday Baby

Little Lukey turns 2 the 1oth. Our little baby is turning into a little boy. He loves to play with any type of ball. When he watches baseball he spits like the players do. When he watches basketball he shoot free throws right along with them. He is our athletic little man.

Happy Birthday Kiddo!

Family Cruise

Thanks to Rob's parents our family and all of Robby's family were able to go on a cruise the first week of October to the Mexican Riviera. It was a Blast. We ate and ate, snorkled, swam with dolphines, and had the time of our lives. Here are some pics from our adventure.

ps We left Luke at home with friend so he is absent from the pictures

Happy Birthday to my two boys!!

Happy Birthday Tate & Ayden!

Sunday the 4th is my babies 4th birthday! It seems like just yesterday that I was pregnant with them and could feel them fighting over space. Now they are becoming good friends (finally!) This birthday will be extra special for them because they get to celebrate it on our cruise with their cousins, grammy and papa, and aunts and uncle. Happy Birthday my baby boys!

Coupon Mania

I have been couponing for almost a year now and lately many of you have asked about it. So I thought I would do what my sis in law does and post a picture of my spoils after a shopping trip.

This particular trip I purchased :

• 2 six pack doubles rolls of toilet paper


• 8 Oscar Myer lunchables


• 6 bags of jet puff marshmallows


• 3 large boxes of Jell-O


• 2 Hidden Valley Ranch Mix Packets


• 2 bags Kraft shredded cheese


• 2 bottles balsamic vinegar


• 2 bottles kraft salad dressing


• 1 box Ritz Crackers


• 1 box wheat thins


• 1 bottle BBQ sauce


• 3 boxes kraft mac n' cheese


• 2 boxes kraft pasta salad


• 1 canister crystal light drink mix

For the grand total of $20.63. Part of my method is that I don't shop at just one store. This purchase happens to be from Albertson's but I never buy anything else from there except the sale items for which I have coupons. This afternoon I'm heading up to Smith's to get milk, eggs, and cereal for a dollar a box. I never pay more than a dollar per box for cereal and I typically have 30 boxes of cereal in food storage. I spend about $120 per week on groceries (a little bit more on the weeks when diapers are needed) and that covers everything-snacks, personal care, food storage, basics- everything.

In the past my sister in-law and I have taught a class on couponing that covers everything from tricks of the trade, methods of organizing coupons, store policies, to Beer rebates (yes I said beer rebates) We also frequent http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/. It is a free site that pretty much takes the guess work out of couponing and makes my life a whole lot easier. If there are enough of you still interested in couponing let me know and I would be happy to give an informal how to at my house.

One Little Monkey Jumping on the Bed

Our little "monkey", Luke is quite the little jumper. Every chance he gets he will climb up on the bed and jump, jump, jump. It is hard to believe that it was almost a year ago that he had his scary adventure at primary children's. We sure do love this little guy. We are very blessed to have 4 fun cute boys!

Kindergarten Graduate

Porter officially graduated from Kindergarten last Thursday. They had a fun little program. I was more emotional his last day of school than I was his first.

Some of you may know that I love twinkies! So much so, that we had a twinkie wedding cake. So you can imagine how proud I was when Porter shared his favorite part of the school year at graduation and said...

Translation:"I liked eating twinkies at recess"

GOoooooooo JETS!!!

Porter has been playing soccer this year and loves it!!! Every game day he sports his lucky faux hock. Go jets!!

Happy Birthday Porter!

It is hard to believe that it has been 7 years since Porter was the first to join our family. He used to look like this.....

And now he is our big boy who looks like this....

(That is Porter on his new 20" bike that he got for his birthday) Wow they get big fast!!

For his birthday we told him that he could choose 3 friends to take with him to Boondocks. He chose Porter S., Wesley, and James. They had a blast!!

Love you Heaps Po Po, Happy Birthday!

Channeling my inner Edward Scissor hands

For years I have wanted to purchase two spiral topiary trees to put in the pots flanking our front steps. But, alas, I couldn't bring myself to pay over one hundred dollars per tree. This year I thought to myself, "I know Dwarf Alberta Spruce's are used to make them and I also know just a plain tree is far less expensive than the ones sculpted into a topiary. Why can't I make one myself?"
So with my brilliant plan in motion I researched how to prune a spiral topiary on the Internet, headed to the store and purchased 2 dwarf Alberta spruce tree's(for $25 dollars each), returned home, and channeled my inner Edward Scissor Hands.
I was very nervous but what else could I do except jump right in and start snipping away? Below is the process of my work:

The tree before it had encountered my clippers

Marking off the tree with ribbon to ensure that I would have and even spiral

Ta Da! Behold my spiral topiary!! I did it! And I did it for half the price it would have cost to purchase one. Next I shall sculpt a shrub into a bust of Abraham Lincoln :)

Every year we go to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point. We went today to visit this year's festival. The tulips weren't quit at their peak but the daffodils were gorgeous! Here are the pictures from our visit.