11 Years!

We celebrated our 11 year anniversary a few weeks ago. This is one of my favorite pictures of Donevan and I taken on our wedding day. It's hard to believe that was 11 years ago. As a child, I remember a saying that my mom had sitting on my Dad's dresser. It said, "I love you more today than yesterday, but not as much as tomorrow". If words could describe how I feel about Donevan those would be it. Everyday I love this man more and more and I am so lucky. I don't know how he balances his time between family, work, friends, and church but some how he has mastered it.

Here's just a few things we've been through together in 11 years

5 kids, 3 pregnancies (which equals 27 months of throwing up and Donevan taking care of me) 4 States (Utah, Virginia, Michigan, Idaho), 4 Babies in the NICU, 2 Houses, Many Apartments, Too many cars, Grad School, A life threatening infection, Graduations, Job Changes, Prayers Answered, Miracles, Testimonies Grown, Some tears, a lot of laughs, and much much more!

Thanks Donevan for being my prince charming. I'm so blessed to be with you for eternity!

My Latest Obsession!

My loyal readers know that I have been slacking on my posts lately. A lot of it is due to my 5 kids, but part of it is due to my latest obession. Couponing! My sister introduced me to this and I have been an addict ever since. Basically, it's the simple idea of buying when things are on sale and buying enough to last you until it goes on sale again. So you never pay full price for anything.
Plus you stack coupons with special store promotions and you end up paying rock bottom prices and sometimes even getting items for free. I have always been a bargain shopper and loved the feeling of getting a good deal. But, this gives me a bigger high than a good deal on a pair of shoes. Besides, I have 7 mouths to feed. That can be very expensive. My coupon obesession is time consuming, but I look at it as my part time job. If I take the amount of money I am saving and divide it by the time I am spending, I am pretty shocked at my hourly wage :) I wanted to share just a few of my great deals lately.


Total Items Purchased: 23
Total Savings: $58.08
TOTAL SPENT: $10.29
(All the BBQ sauce was free. The capri suns were .75 cents a box and the dressing was .25 cents each, shells and cheese were $1 a box)

This was my most exciting trip because of all the meat I got! (if you look closely there are 6 pkgs of boneless skinless chicken breasts, 6-1lb. pkgs of ground beef, 2 pkg bacon, a ham, 4 bags of cheese, 6 jars of spaghetti sauce, 6 jars of peanut butter and lots more!

Total Items Purchased: 97

Total Savings:$223.16

Total Spent:$149.52 (plus I am getting a rebate in the mail for the price of the ham $11)

A Sneak Peak At My Food Storage

I started my couponing in Jan. At that time, I had nothing on these shelves. Here is just a little bit of my progress in 4 months.

This is what goes on when Daddy is in charge!

That's Desitin and that's little sister Emma's Crib. This boy's journal is filling up everyday with some interesting stories. This isn't even the worst thing he's done this week. He drove our van into our garage door. No one was hurt, just a little damage to the door and white paint on the front end of my car. Yes, that's right readers...my 2 year old can drive.

Anti-Bullying Campaign

(ALL THE WINNERS)

The past few months I have been helping Donevan with a community anti-bullying campaign. We had a poster contest that 23 elem. schools in the area participated in and we ended up collecting over 1800 posters. This project took hours and hours of our time and it was completely worth it. Donevan and I both had a high after the success of it. We hosted a rally on Friday and awarded prizes for each grade level as well as three grand prize winners. (2 Wii's and an American Girl Doll with tons of accessories). We had a huge turn out and my 12 dozens cookies that I made wasn't nearly enough. Seeing how excited these students were and their success in winning was so rewarding. Among all the guests were the local news stations, the mayor, a state representative, a superintenant, and newpaper reporters. I am so proud of Donevan for bringing this all together. One parent commented on how she has done multiple community functions and never had so much media coverage. I think it all comes down to the kids and how important we all think our children are. They are our future!

Thanks to everyone who supported us in this project. My mother and father in law watched our kids many times so we could focus on this. Thanks to all our friends who came out to support us on Friday also. You guys are the best!

Here's a link to some news coverage and also the article printed in the local newspaper. I can't read the last line of the article without crying.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms36ix7zRhY

Printed on: Friday, May 01, 2009
The No Bully Zone
An anti-bullying event will be held at 4 p.m. today at the Idaho Falls Public Library.
By HEATHER WELLS


Carrie Shull hopes her son will never stand by and watch someone get bullied.
Last year, several boys held down her son, 10-year-old Spencer, while others kicked him. Several of his peers watched the incident, Shull said, but her daughter was the only one who came to his rescue.
"I want kids to feel like they can stand up for other kids," Shull said.
Donevan Neider, a local licensed clinical social worker, is optimistic a campaign he spearheaded will do just that.
Prompted by this incident and others (Spencer was treated for depression by Neider shortly after the incident), Neider decided to start a campaign similar to the one American Girl LLC hosted this year. Anyone could attend an American Girl store event to learn the best ways to stand up to bullies.
Children could also enter a Stop the Bullying poster contest and sign an online pledge.
The campaign used one of the company's dolls, Chrissa Maxwell, as an example. A book and a movie have been made about the girl, who moved to a new school when the "Mean Bees" set out to make her life miserable.
The book and movie explain how Chrissa found the courage to speak out against her bullies.
Neider hopes his efforts yield similar results.
The majority of his clients have suffered from the effects of bullying -- adults and children alike.
Neider hopes the campaign will teach local children how to identify bullying, help stop the act and talk to others about it.
Elementary schools in Idaho Falls School District 91 and Bonneville Joint School District 93 were involved in the campaign. Neider posted signs all over the schools that illustrated a No Bullying Zone. Students could also sign a business card signifying that they took an anti-bullying pledge.
The campaign also involved a poster contest in which students illustrated their own ideas of what a No Bullying Zone means to them. Neider received roughly 1,800 posters and had Idaho Falls Mayor Jared Fuhriman, the two school district superintendents and two people from the community help judge the work.
Three grand prizes will be announced today at a No Bullying Zone event at the Idaho Falls Public Library, which starts at 4 p.m. A boy and two girls will take home the prizes, Neider said. The girls will get an American Girl doll and the boy will get a Nintendo Wii.
A handful of second-prize winners will also take home goodies, including an American Girl movie and a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble.
Several class winners will also take home ice cream coupons.
Contributors helped with the prizes, Neider said, although he footed much of the bill.
"It was well worth it, especially after a mother called to thank me," Neider said. "Her son won one of the prizes, and he's been bullied before."
Shull is also appreciative of Neider's efforts.
"All those kids just stood around and watched Spencer get bullied," Shull said. "(Neider) is the best thing that's ever happened to our family."