Courtney's Coupon Conquest

I don't usually shop at Albertson's because it's so expensive, but this morning I braved the snooty shoppers (jk) and made the trip. Here's what I bought:

9 boxes of cereal (good kinds!)
1 box of Bisquick
2 bags of spinach
1 lb of strawberries
1 gallon of milk
1 bag of chips
2 cans of diced tomatoes

All for a grand total of... $25!!! Everything I bought was on sale and I also used some coupons. I love saving money!

TODAY I DID 43.5 POUNDS OF LAUNDRY

All Hail to Dr. Fjeldsted!!!

John and Trudy visited us last week as Paul took the next step to becoming a dentist at his white coat ceremony as he took the dental oath. I can't remember it exactly, but it went something like this: "I promise to be the world's coolest dentist by having games in the waiting room and flat pannel tvs on the ceilings in the oporatory rooms. I promise to get people excited about flossing! I promise to work only Monday through Thursday from 10-5 and snuggle my wife all day every other Friday. I promise to go boating every Friday I'm not snuggling my wife. I promise to take long and frequent vacations. And last but not least, I promise to put in long hours while I'm in school and graduate with lots of debt!"

It really was a great ceremony and it got us all so excited about Paul going to USC! I had no idea what an accomplished school it is- I was thoroughly impressed. After the ceremony, John and Trudy took us out to an AMAZING dinner at The Chart House. It's right on the ocean near Malibu and as we ate we could see the waves crash onto the shore. WOW!

I'm so proud of my hubby! Someday he's going to be one great dentist!

The Main Event: Lake Oroville

Monday morning we made our way to Lake Oroville for a week of waterskiing, fishing, sun bathing, wakeboarding, and relaxing. You know how by the end of some vacations you've had a great time, but are ready to come home? That wasn't the case for us this time- we were wishing that it would never end. Truly, we couldn't have asked for a better ending to the summer.

And Then We Paid A Visit To Mr. Hearst

Our next stop was in San Simeon at the famous Hearst Castle. I don't think you can appreciate the enormity of this man's "little ranch in the country" as he called it, unless you've seen it with your own eyes. Mr. Hearst hit it big as a newspaper tycoon and built a mansion late in his life in San Simeon. His family donated the castle to the state, and now tours are given of it several times a day. We're hoping to purchase it back from the state after we pay off Paul's student loans.

The Vacation Began With A Trip To Our Homeland

We've ended our summer in a great way- a week long family vacation on the water. We left LA Saturday morning, and since it was going to be a long drive to the Bay Area anyway, we decided to make a few stops along the way. Our first stop was in Solvang, California. It's a little Danish town tucked away in the mountains near Santa Barbara. We ate brunch at a Danish pancake house and then walked through the village. Paul kept saying he felt like he was finally among his people. After only a few minutes of being there, phrases like "Welkomen", "Privuet", and "Guten Taag" kept popping out of his mouth... over and over and over again. You may know that "Privuet" is Russian and "Guten Taat" is German, but that didn't stop my over-excited hubby.

Summer Lovin' 2008

The summer should be a season full of sunburns, running through the sprinklers, popsicles, lazy afternoons, marco-polo, cannon ball competitions and sun-bleached hair. Unfortunately, as both of us are full-time employees, there just isn't quite enough time to get it all in. Our summer break now is scattered over a day here and a day there. Here's a slideshow of what we've snuck in when we could.