List of recent happenings!

Here is a list of all the fun, and not so fun, things that have been happening at the Larsen's:

1. Camping in our house (pictures to follow!). We decided late Thursday night to go camping one weekend. By the time we got to the camp site it was full and so were all the ones around, so we decided to camp in our house. Creed and I set up the tent in our kitchen area and we roasted marshmallows out on the camping stove. Sarah LOVED it! Thought it was the best thing ever and wants to go camping again. Hopefully we will be able to go soon and do the real thing!.

2. Picking fresh fruit- Here in Washington you can get fresh fruit just about anywhere and it is really fun to pick!

3. Going to Powell's bookstore to find a canning book. Powell's is a bookstore in Portland that covers a whole city block. It took a little while to find a canning book that we thought would work for us. The store is so big that they have a map, yes a map of where to find certain books. It really was crazy! What really made us laugh is Creed asked if they had a few different books and they didn't, we were in awe that it was so big and yet they didn't have a few books. Oh my!

4. Canning-Creed got me some canning equipment and since we had the canning book and fresh fruit I decided to can. I canned peaches, blueberries, raspberries and made raspberry jam and vinegar. YAY for learning new skills!

5. Visiting with cops. Yes I have been pulled over twice and Creed once. The first time I was pulled over it was to tell me I had a light out in the front. The second time is a little tricky and makes me feel not so nice towards cops. This cop first cuts me off so that he doesn't have to stop at the light, which then means he has to drive behind a building in order to get back to the road that I am turning right on. He then pulls me over and tells me that I didn't signal (there is NO WAY he could have seen if I signaled or not and just for the record I did signal!) Then proceeds asks why I don't have a front license plate. I say, oh we just moved for Utah and you aren't required to have one. He then calls me a liar and says that there are only two states that don't require one, Georgia and Florida. I say, oh well I lived there for five years and I never had to have one. He then says you are just lucky that they didn't give you a ticket because it is required. (He is a city cop, not even a state cop, so really I didn't care what he said). Then I can't find a valid insurance card (I had five and they were all expired). He leaves me to sit in my car for 10 minutes with both kids crying. Then comes back and tells me that he could give me a ticket for each of the following: failing to signal (which I am positive he couldn't see!) $140, no valid insurance card $550, no front license plate $140, failing to get a washington license within 30 days (didn't know it was a law!) $120, failing to get our car licensed in Washington within 30 days (once again, we had no clue!) $120. He was nice enough to let me off, thank goodness, but let's just say the story doesn't end there! In order to get our driver's licenses and car licensed we have to go to Vancouver and Creed has to go because the car title is in his name and he has to be there to sign and have a valid Washington license. So I had to pick him up early from work. I brought all the paper work and we went to get our car's emission tested, we failed the gas cap test and had to get a new one, then go back to get a passing paper. Then off to the ONE driver's license office that is open. Where they proceed to tell us we don't have enough paper work, we need one more item to prove we are who we say we are. So a drive back to Battle Ground (20 minutes). I run into the house and grab our whole safe, wanted to make sure I had everything. Then back to Vancouver. On the out of Battle Ground Creed was speeding because we had to get back before the office closed and guess who pulls us over, the cop from this morning. He would have given us the following tickets: no front license plate $140, failing to get a Washington driver's license and car registered $120 each, plus the speeding ticket. He let us off because it was the first time he had ever pulled someone over twice in one day. Go figure! So even though he let us off, he was pretty rude and I am not a fan of this particular cop! Needless to say we made it to the driver's license office on time, and found a place that was still open to weigh our car (Washington sure needs a ton of useless information in order to get new plates!) We didn't make it to the auto licensing office, but Creed can go there today after work. It is open till 6.

6. Currently we are melting. It was 103 degrees yesterday and is suppose to be just as hot today and we do not have an air conditioner. Our land lady said that we wouldn't need one! Well to show her we are currently seeking new housing with an air conditioner and another bedroom so that we have an office! Though our land lady doesn't know it and it might not happen till September, who knows!

7. Saving money. I have become obsessed with coupons and saving money. So far we have spent $27 on food two weeks ago, $29 last week and I haven't gone out this week. And we have been eating really healthy, salads with chicken, steak and squash, roast with potatoes and carrots, a stew with left over's from roast night and some other veggies added and of course pancakes and eggs. And we were able to get diapers for Madalynn for $4 a package, crazy I know, but it is true! So we ended up with 11 packages of diapers. So we needed a bunch of wipes, so I found a deal and with some coupons got us 10 boxes of wipes for a total of $25 plus a $5 coupon to go back to the store with. Man do I love saving money! And these are for Huggies diapers and wipes. If you want to try saving money and finding good deals go to one of my earlier posts on this and I love the Savvy Shopper website!