I heart Savers

I believe strongly in the healing powers of retail therapy. However, I also believe strongly in respecting the limitations of one's bank account. 

Thus, my serious shopping addiction to Savers.

I love Savers. And D.I. And sometimes Goodwill/Idaho Youth Ranch. But mostly Savers. 

(At least here in Nampa. In Boise I prefer D.I., although the Savers is still good.)

I can't fully express the joy that I feel when I walk into Savers, particularly if I haven't been for a while. It may sound silly, or even sacrilegious (which is not my intention AT ALL) but I really believe that my awesome Savers finds are blessings for paying my tithing. Seriously. Granted, a lot of the things I buy there aren't strictly necessary for our family's well-being, but SO often when I need something in particular, I'm able to find it at Savers for a fraction of the cost it would be somewhere else.  Allow me to expand on some of my favorite recent Savers' purchases:

Sparkly fake TOMS.

 They make me so happy every time I wear them. The morning that Chuck was leaving for Scout Camp back in June coincided with a 50% off sale at Savers, so I sneaked out early while Chuck was packing up the car and found these shoes in my size for $1.50. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Obviously a blessing for supporting Chuck in his calling. Granted, they're not nearly as comfortable as I understand real TOMS are, but they were a dollar freaking fifty.

That same morning I found this shirt for $2.50 and I might actually love it more than the shoes; I go back and forth.

 I pretty much wear this shirt at least once a week and it makes me soooo happy. It's admittedly a guys' shirt but I figure any guy who's my size or smaller probably shouldn't be making babies yet anyways, so I didn't feel bad about picking it up.

Ohhh, the red wallet.

 Here's the story: Clyde had been asking for a wallet, so I picked him up a 'real' one at Savers a few months ago (spoiler alert: he's already lost it AND the dollar bill that was inside). Immediately Will asked for a wallet as well, so I told him I would look for one at Savers for him. The next time I went to Savers, Will announced beforehand that I was going to buy him a red wallet. I slowly nodded my head and said, "Yes, yes I am..." and immediately began hoping/praying/wishing that such a wallet would be there - AND IT WAS. For thirty-five cents.

This Savers find isn't as recent, but it's another one of my favorites. In the few weeks before Jack was born, I realized I was in need of a new diaper bag; the one I used with Clyde and Will had long since given up the ghost and I mostly just used a catch-all purse/bag to carry their stuff. In my head, I envisioned the perfect diaper bag: bright orange, rectangular-shape tote, lined interior. I did some browsing online but couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, and the bags that came closest were still like forty bucks. Nooo gracias. Finally, one night in mid-December I gave up and used a gift card to buy a $30 brown and blue diaper bag at Burlington. It was okay, but I didn't love it. I still had some time so I ran across the street to Savers and found this:  

THE PERFECT ORANGE DIAPER BAG. For five dollars. No one can tell me that God doesn't love me.  

(I immediately made the walk of shame back into Burlington to return the first bag, seriously thirty minutes after purchasing it. That's not awkward).

Speaking of bags, I found these two backpacks at Savers a year or two ago and the boys are finally using them, woo!

They're super cute and matching and orange and blue, so of course I'm obsessed.

Both boys are playing soccer this fall and we decided to get Clyde some legit cleats now that he's in the U-6 division. Naturally I decided to begin my search at Savers.

And boo-yah, that's where I ended it too. Awesome soccer cleats in Clyde's size for $6. And between his first two games, he's scored six goals so obviously they work!

Ohhh also on the sports front, I bought this tennis skirt a while back but finally started wearing it this summer for Chuck's and my tennis dates.

 I always wanted a tennis skirt growing up, so I feel like my patience finally paid off, fifteen years later :).

During the summer, we began going through Clyde's shirts and figuring out which ones were ready to be passed down to Will. Clyde was quite distraught that his beloved Yoda shirt was finally too small and would soon be Will's - Clyde has worn that shirt for quite some time, including at his fourth birthday party. A week or so after the shirt made the move to Will's closet rack, I miraculously found the same Yoda shirt at Savers - in a bigger size!

Clyde was sooo happy that he spontaneously did a yoga pose. Or he was playing Kinect. One of the two.

Speaking of shirts for the little boys, we spent the summer finding new Star Wars options as well as Superhero shirts for Clyde and Will.

My favorite is the one on the bottom right that Chuck brought home from D.I. one day - it says "A wookie ate my homework." Ohhh, Star Wars humor :).

This picture isn't great, but these were the boys' church outfits when we were in Elko a couple of weeks ago (yes, I let my boys wear shorts to church when we're out of town... and for Will, sometimes when we're in town...).

 I just love their blue striped shirts (one from Savers, one from the Youth Ranch) and their brown striped ties (both from Savers). I actually bought a whole lot of adorable clip-on ties one day for a dollar each; most of them are awesomely wide and striped and slightly hideous and I LOVE them.

And finally, ALL summer long I've wanted a maxi dress. A blue one. For less than ten bucks. I've checked Savers and other thrift stores regularly, sure that one day it would be there - and that one day was last Monday! It was marked $7.99 but Monday is 25% day, so I paid just under six dollars. SO so excited.

  So the moral of this [long long] post is that I love Savers and Heavenly Father loves me and Chuck loves that my weekly therapy appointments are so dang cheap!

Holiday weekend in Elko

Labor Day weekend found us in Elko for our nephew George's baptism!

We drove down that morning so we met up with everyone at the church. Will and I spent most of the time in the hallway, but we watched the actual baptism and George looked so sweet! We're so proud of him for making such a great choice.

The whole extended family was there, plus some Thomas cousins (yay!) so we found a spot outside the church to take some pictures - both posed and candid :).

All 20 members of the extended Izatt family - for the first time in one picture!

Funny story: we were all lined up just waiting for Eli to come over, and he seemed to sense that the slower he walked, the longer he would remain the center of attention - so he meandered over at a very relaxed pace while we all laughed :).

After pictures we went to Melissa and Kevin's for the rest of the day.

A pretty intense NERF battle broke out, not surprisingly.

There was also LOTS of cousin/aunt/uncle bonding, our favorite!

Pops set up his pop bottle rocket station in the front yard. Clyde and Will both made rockets and LOVED launching them up into the sky! Jack preferred to burst into tears at the loud noises, so he and I didn't last too long watching :(.

Jack did have lots of fun hanging out with the Thomas cousins - Lehi, Lehi's brand new (darling!) wife Brei, and Rachel.

Mallory and Courtney and I decided to team up for a little project we started talking about at the campout in July: a lip sync to One Direction!

We printed out the lyrics, mapped out some choreography, and got in some practice time in the basement.

And here's the finished product:

My favorite part of the performance was early on when I fumbled turning on the headlamp and just gave up, haha.

Pictures of the group afterwards - I think the rock star look comes pretty naturally for us...

Sunday we got up early and made the drive back over to Melissa and Kevin's to go to church at their ward. Clyde and Will thought it was so fun to go to primary with their cousins :). Then it was back home to Mom and Pops'.

It was a beautiful day, so we spent a lot of time outside. Will got a hold of Grandma's Ipad and quickly recruited Rachel and Lehi to watch as he played Dragonville.

Amanda and Steve brought their dog Denali, and Clyde made excellent strides in working on his fear of dogs. Denali is the sweetest, most patient dog ever, so that helped a lot!

And of course there was a lot of fun to be had on the trampoline; I'm pretty sure Will spent most of the day there.

We set off the next morning for home.

 At one point we pulled off for some good ol' fashioned side-of-the-road-little-boy-peeing and found a cool rock quarry deal, so we let the boys run around and throw rocks for a bit while I fed Jack.

We had so much fun in Elko, even though it was such a quick trip. Luckily we're headed back for Thanksgiving so that will be fun - Mallory and Courtney and I just need to figure out what song will be featured in our follow-up performance...

August! (...wasn't that long ago, right?)

Well, here we go; it's time for the monthly deluge of pictures that didn't make it into a blog post of their very own and I would feel remiss if I didn't post them, regardless of the timeliness (or lack thereof) of said pictures. 

(Wow, that was a lot of words when I could have just said 'Random August Recap', eh?)

The first Sunday in August I braved church by myself with all three boys, which marked only the second time I had attempted such a feat.

I decided it's not that bad as long as I sit in the very back row and let the boys wrestle on the ground towards the end of sacrament meeting!

And just for fun, here's how dang cute they looked that day.

August wrapped up Chuck's and my weekly tennis dates (something about our babysitter Jared needing to go to ninth grade, darn it).

It was SO fun to go hang out for a couple hours each week; I'd forgotten how much I love tennis. I took lessons and played all growing up (it was seriously our family's sport) so it was really fun to play with Chuck... and beat him every week but one :). I think we'll try to play some more this fall, even if it's not quite as often.

Our ward had an open house early in August, so I put together a little display about Cub Scouts. We had fun visiting with friends in the ward - Grace came even though it was her birthday, so I led the whole cultural hall in singing to her :).

  And Jack was happily passed around until he finally passed out!

Okay, so technically this happened in July but I wasn't able to snap a picture until August:

Chuck was chosen as Employee of the Quarter for all of Detention, wooo! There are various perks associated with this honor, but my favorite is the sweet parking space :). I'm so so proud of Chuck's awesome work as a detention officer and assistant supervisor; he puts so much into his job and I'm glad he was recognized for it.

My cousin Cory got married in California this summer and in mid-August they had an open house here in Idaho.

Cory and his new wife Dee Dee with Grandpa Pat!

Four generations - me, Grandpa Pat, my dad, and Jack.

We rounded up all of the grandkids (seven) and great-grandkids (ten) that were at the reception right then for a photo op with Grandpa. I think in total, there are twenty-two grandchildren and thirty great-grandchildren... but don't quote me on that :).

Here's Grandpa with four of his five children: Terry, Randy, Cory, and Diane (just missing Lon).  Diane and her husband Brent just returned home from serving as mission presidents in the Baltimore Maryland LDS Mission, so it's been a long time since these siblings have all been together.

Clyde and Will stayed home with Chuck that evening, and Jack loved getting all of the attention - here he is snuggling with my cousins Kellie, Lindsey, and Lorrie.

My dad is quite the dancer; many of his evenings are filled with square dance activities and he's always trying to recruit me to join him, despite my lack of talent :).  I shuffled around with him for a bit and then he persuaded his sister for a dance - soo cute! It was such a fun chance to catch up with cousins, and Cory even ended the evening by playing guitar and singing to his bride!

We got to host some of Chuck's family overnight as they made their way home from cousin Lehi's wedding in Portland in mid-August. We left the little kids home with Chuck & Pops and the girls (Terri, Melissa, cousin Rachel, Mallory, Courtney, and ME) headed out to spend the day shopping - SO fun!

Courtney and I tried on hats, Melissa showed off her hardcore packing skills, and we all devoured our pizza at the Costco food court, yummmm!

I've definitely slacked off on my running this summer, but I make it out once a week with Holly no matter what - we take turns driving to each other's houses.

This night we managed to awesomely match without trying to, so clearly it necessitated a picture.

One benefit of Holly moving to Boise is that we've become fast friends with her next-door neighbor Madi, suuuuch a cute girl.  She got her GED a couple of weeks ago, so obviously we had to have a little party:

YAY Madi!  Thanks for being a trooper and sporting the graduation cap, haha!

And after we ran that night we decided we needed some pictures - (L to R): Holly, Jana, Courtney, Madi. Man, we're hot.

Chuck scored the best thrift store find I've seen in a while: a 50th anniversary edition of the game of LIFE in perfect condition for . . .

SIXTY-FIVE CENTS. Are you kidding me? Love Goodwill. We played it that night, and hilariously I ended up having three sons, which I take as a sign that I nevvvver have to be pregnant again, wooo!

This series of pictures is what you get when I get home from the school open house before Chuck (he had met us there straight from work but had to stop and vote for the school levy)

and I don't have the energy to get all three boys in the house by myself and also I feel pretty good about how my hair looks (it's down for once!) and I have the camera handy.

Chuck and I decided to make our foray into the world of little girls by watching our friends' sweet girls for the day a couple of weeks ago.

Ivy LOVED Jack, which is excellent since she and Addie are getting a baby brother early next year!

We decided to be real ambitious and walk to pick up Clyde from school - just under a mile each way.  The kids did amazingly well, considering the distance. I love how Ivy and Will held hands on the walk there, but on the walk back Clyde stepped in, hahaha.

Random hilarious story: we were sitting around the dinner table eating some delicious Kraft Macaroni and Cheese one night when I pushed Will's water bottle towards him and said, "Here buddy, take a drink."

Will didn't miss a beat, he stuck his fork back in the bowl and (in a hilariously low, growly voice) said, "I just want foooooooood" before shoveling the forkful into his mouth. Chuck and I pretty much died laughing and then took this picture as a re-creation of the actual event. And then we laughed some more.

Finally, we all faithfully donned our blue and orange attire for the Boise State season opener against Michigan State.

Suuuuch cute little BSU fans! 

The whole fam. 

Obviously the game did not go as we had hoped, but we're confident that this will still be a good season and we're excited to watch the team's skill and confidence grow in the coming weeks. The only way I'll be truly distraught is if we lose to BYU next week...

Clyde is SIX!

 
Clyde turned six on Saturday, although (like a boy after my own heart) he managed to stretch the birthday festivities out over several days.

 First up was a little shindig at school on Thursday afternoon. I took in cupcakes, Mrs. Holman gave him a special crown and a bookmark, the kids all sang and the whole thing was just adorable. His little classmates were all darling and sweet and it was SO fun to watch him in the classroom setting.

 That evening, with very little pomp or circumstance, we Chuck gave Clyde a new Star Wars lego set. He promptly spent the rest of the night putting it together and playing with it.

Oh, and the next morning before school too.

Friday after school we packed up Clyde and Will and took them to Grandma Pam's for a birthday sleepover. Jack [sadly for me] did not stay over. That night Clyde opened his present from Grandma - an Avengers lego set! He was so excited that he called us twice to detail its coolness and report his progress as he put it together.

 

 And the next morning (his actual birthday), Grandma Pam hooked Clyde up with birthday pancakes, wooo!

Good thing, because after that the poor kid's bday got a little lame since we buckled him in the car for a five hour road trip :(.

 

 Luckily the destination was well worth it: Elko, Nevada for cousin George's baptism! Ever since the boys realized this overlap of their 'special days' back in June, they've been soooo excited that George was getting baptized on Clyde's birthday.

That night, he was treated to a special 'happy birthday' duet courtesy of Uncle Quinn and Aunt Eden over the phone and was the happy recipient of special emails from Uncle Sam and Aunt Terri recalling favorite memories and expressing birthday wishes.

Finally, on Sunday evening we wrapped up the four-day birthday extravaganza by celebrating with cake (with lit candles, despite the wind resistance) and ice cream at Grandma and Grandpa Izatt's house - with the whole extended family there! 

(and yes, that paper birthday crown made the road trip with us).

Clyde is such a darling six-year-old and we love him so much. He is such a great big brother to both Will and Jack and we really rely on him to step up as the oldest, especially when Will is having a hard time. Star Wars is still his primary obsession, but he's found room in his heart to love superheroes as well - Batman, Ironman, Thor, the Hulk, Captain America, etc.

We LOVE you Clyde Monster! Good job turning 6!