EXTRA EXTRA...read all about it! River City Church Missoula in the News!

Recently Brian was contacted by a reporter from the University of Montana's school newspaper asking to write an article about our church. Of course, he gladly jumped at the opportunity to share about River City! So last week we spent about an hour with her having lunch and talking about the church and then she visited the church this past Sunday. The article came out in today's paper and it turned out pretty good. When you are asked so many different questions you are never quite sure what is going to come of all that you have said...kind of a weird experience. Anyway, you can check out the article here There are few questionable things...like saying that we have "new age" worship music. Other than that, I thought it was well written. Hopefully it will bring some new people to check out the church! Let me know what you think!

Bring on the savings!

So...I have been checking out a few money saving blogs and getting tips on how to use coupons. I already know how but I wanted some ideas of where to get more. So I gathered up some coupons mainly printed off the web and went off to Walgreen's this morning with my flyer in hand. I guess it is a challenge for me to see how much I can get for free. Anyway, the above picture is what I ended up with. Over $100 worth before the sale price and after coupons and the rebates it cost $15.75. That includes the auctomatic shower cleaner which I am not to sure about but what the heck it was free and 8 bags of Halloween candy that I will put away for trick-or-treating. The neighborhood we are in is pretty popular on Halloween so I needed to stock up. I might even have Brian hide it so the kids or I won't think we need to get into it before Oct. 31st ;o) So I was pretty impressed with my trip to Walgreen's. I might have to try this out weekly....it is only a couple blocks from our house which is nice too. If any of you want the links to some of the sites I found let me know and I will post them. Happy bargain shopping!

Kids eat free!!

With Y2.008K approaching (that is what Brian is calling the failing economy) we have decided to try to tighten up the belt (the budget belt that is!) I have been trying to think of ways to save and was inspired by a couple things on Oprah this week. She has a show featuring a bargain shopping family this week and I was reminded of a few things. Firstly, they talked about restaurants that have "Kids Eat Free" deals. So I looked up the restaurants in our town and I found 3. Mondays and Thursdays IHOP has a kids eat free deal from 4pm-8pm. On Tuesdays, Denny's offers it from 4pm-10pm and lastly Perkins offers free meals for kids on Wednesday from 5pm-9pm. In most cases you get 2 free kids meals per adult which would cover our family. Granted these aren't our favorite places to eat but if we want to go out on a budget this is a good option. If you want to find places in your city, click here. Secondly, I learned that our Walmart matches any advertised prices so I can go through the Wednesday grocery ads and plan my meals based on what is on sale, make a list, and then go to just one store to buy all of the groceries. I just have to make a list with the sale prices and Walmart will match it...a good savings of time and gas not to have to drive all over town! I am also going to start being more vigilant about using coupons. Let the savings begin!!

House progress!

Siding is going up this week! It still needs caulk and touch up paint and then it will be finished. The sewer guys are also finishing up and then they will bring in yards and yards of fill and cover up the front and create a hill going down the side of the house.

The living room fireplace was framed in plus insulation went in. We should be ready to drywall next week!

Our electrical and fire sprinkler systems are finished which means we can move on to drywall! We live too far away from a fire station apparently so we were required to put in a sprinkler system.

The view from our front porch. Not too interesting...I just thought I would take a picture in this direction to give a perspective of our neighborhood. We are at the end of a cul-de-sac, but our lot is 1/2 acre and our neighbors is 3 acres so we have quite a bit of space between us and them. We are planning a circular drive so we will not have much lawn to mow in the front which Brian will appreciate.

My handsome boy!

Before the haircut...

The after picture...what a handsome boy!!

Jordan decided a couple weeks ago it was time for a haircut. He said "Maybe, if I get my haircut you can style it...like spikey and stuff!" I thought it was so cute that he is starting to think of things like that! So we went to get it cut but he decided he didn't want to go to short this time...maybe the next haircut we will. So for now there are no spikes, just a little gel and he is off to school with the messy look. It took me a day or two to get used to. One day he walked in the door with Riley and I almost asked Riley who the new neighbor was but caught myself. Kind of funny! We are getting to used to it now and Jordan seems to really like it so that is good! Just thought I would share the before and after pics!

Happy Birthday to my Bubba!

Yes I know it's cheesy...but that's what I call him! Today Brian is celebrating his 37th birthday....we have nothing too exciting planned...he will be helping our electrician friend wire our new house and then spend the rest of the day planning some more for church tomorrow. It has been a crazy week around here between house stuff, church stuff and just plain real life. Brian did take 2 days off at the beginning of the week to go hunting with Riley but came back to 98 e-mails and a wife that had 50,000+ words to say because she had been home with the kids for 2 days ;o) The kids also made him a cake last night and the Beeson's popped in for a visit. We had cake, visited for a minute and then fell into bed we were so tired. I also got Brian 4 magazine subscription for his birthday...I have been catching him reading my "Better Homes and Gardens" and "Family Fun" and thought he needed some magazines he would enjoy. I order from a company Best Deal Magazines and they always have great deals. I got his subscriptions for less than $4 each for 1 year...3 hunting magazines and 1 business magazine. We are soooo looking forward to the house being done...this building stuff is fun but exhausting! I'll post some new pictures soon of all of the updates. We are hoping to start siding the outside next week and start drywall pretty soon too. Dave just told us we will probably be ready to paint the interior the 1st of November....so we will be planning a painting party...consider yourself invited ;o)! Well I need to go for now....I am going to help with the wiring too...gotta build up that sweat equity!