Rebate Chasing

Some of you are probably aware of the fact that Tricia has taken up coupon clipping/rebate finding lately. It's time-consuming, but can be a big blessing, especially in building up a year's supply of certain items. Well she came across an interesting deal a few weeks ago.

SanDisk (creator of memory cards used in gadgets like digital cameras and cell phones) has an interesting rebate program going on where the more memory cards you buy, the more you get back per card in rebate money. For example, if you buy one card, you get $10. If you buy two cards you get back $15 per card. And if you buy three cards, you get back $20 each, or $60 total. Well, normally that wouldn't be very enticing to us, except that during the "cyber Monday" sales of early last week there were some very good deals on memory cards. They usually sell for at least $40 each, but there were a few online retailers selling them for only $20. Well, doing the math, Tricia figured out that if you bought three cards at $20 each, you'd be spending $60 total, and you'd be getting back $60 in rebate money. That's a pretty good deal.

So, she bought three memory cards, gave one to me for my camera (it stores around 5 times as many pictures as the card I was using before), and sold the other two on eBay for about $20 each. So, by doing a little research she was able to get net $40 and a new memory card for my camera. And that's what rebate chasing is all about.

PS--This promotion is still running, by the way, if you want to try and make it work for yourself. There are a few conditions to the rebate, but I'm sure Tricia would be happy to explain it if you care to try.

The Random Late Halloween Post

Yeah...This post is only two weeks late. But as Livi says: "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit!"

More Running

I thought I'd offer a little update on the running. Tricia has been pretty consistent, running 2-3 times per week. I suppose she's probably averaging 2-3 miles per run as well. Saturday was her day for a long run through August, while she trained for her Marathon Relay. She ran the Provo River Parkway Marathon with three other neighbors (they each ran around 6.5 miles, so 26 in all) on 6 Sep.

I've been running a 5k each week for the last month, and will keep on doing it until the weather gets too ugly.

Last Saturday was our first chance to run together. Usually we're doing the "I'll watch the kids while you run" routine, but we had a chance to run a 5k together as part of our Stake's Fall Olympics activity. Thanks to Grandpa Jeff and Grandma Sheree for watching the kids so early in the morning. Tricia will tell you that having me running next to her was distracting. Whether it was or not, it was kind of nice to be able to run together, but I don't expect it to happen again anytime soon.

Yuba Lake

We had our annual family summer trip last week. We went to Yuba Lake (again) down in Central Utah for a few days of swimming, boating, playing games, and getting rained on. We had a really, really good storm Friday afternoon, flooding the beach. Half of the family was out on the boat, and most everyone else hid out in Grandma's trailer. Tricia and I just stayed in the tent with Jarom. We got a little water seeping through the bottom of the tent, but once again, the tent was perfect for the bad weather.

Anyway, other than a few sunburns, we had a great weekend, and can't wait for next year's trip (wherever we end up going). On to the pictures!

Tricia's 5k

Yesterday was the 2nd Annual Lehi 5k Run/Walk, organized to be part of the festivities of Lehi's Roundup Week.  Tricia has been running for several months now, a few times a week, and been building up her stamina and endurance.  Yesterday was her first race. We all woke up really early (for a Saturday anyway) and headed downtown to get ready.

The race started at 7:00 sharp, at the Lehi Legacy Center.  We all watched as the horn sounded and off they went.  The kids and I wandered around for a bit, and then made our way to the finish line.  At about 7:30, we cheered Tricia as she ran across the finish line.  We're all so pleased with the hard work she's doing and glad she did so well. Congratulations!

Mommy waves to the kids as she finishes the race

Nine Years Later

Depending on when you ask me, I might tell you that the last nine years have seemed to last forever. Or else I might say that I can't figure out where the time went. Either way, they've been nine mostly excellent years. Where were we nine years ago? I'm glad you asked.

Matt & Tricia Nine Years Ago
We were both in school at BYU. I had been home from my mission for a short six months. I was working for my brother-in-law and his partner at a company called Grandway, handling the shipping/receiving in the warehouse. Tricia was working at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, handling most of the money that came in and out. We had one car (Tricia's little blue Chevy Cavalier) and frequently took off for a few days after work on Friday. We traveled all over Utah camping, hiking, and doing pretty much whatever we felt like, whenever we felt like doing it. We had callings as Primary teachers in the ward, teaching the 5-yr old sunbeam class. We lived in a basement apartment that belonged to Tricia's uncle and aunt.

Matt & Tricia Today
We're both out of school. I've graduated from BYU with my Bachelors Degree in History. Tricia was within a semester or two of graduating when she left, expecting our fist child. We have three great children: Olivia, Anna, and 'baby' Jarom. Each is an invaluable part of our family, and we love them all. I'm working for Cheetah (an off-shoot of the original Grandway), and running the office and operations. Tricia gets to stay at home being a full-time mom, maid, cook, chauffeur, and chief financial officer. She's obviously working harder than I am... We have two vehicles now: my 'commuter' Jeep, and the family Chevy Tahoe. Both are much bigger and more expensive than our first, but both are more useful, too. We hardly ever leave the house (unless you count going to work, church, the library, or Wal-Mart), and especially not to go camping or anything like that. Once or twice a year is more than enough for us. It just takes too much effort for it to be exceedingly fun anymore. We both still teach in church, only I teach in the Sunday School and Tricia teaches in Relief Society. Please give us the 5-yr olds again! And we're living in a modest home in West Lehi, with plenty of yard-work and other projects that need to be done.

And where have we been in between? Well, we've been on two cruises to Mexico/Central America. We've been in the Cub Scouts and in bishoprics. We've been in the Emergency Room with sick/hurt kids. We've been in plenty of arguments. We've debated everything from baby names to paint colors, and just about everything in between. We've been in shape and out of it (mostly in lately--good work on the running Tricia!). But mostly, we've just been in love. For nine years.

House of Giggles

Our home is a house of giggles.

Livi began her nightly prayers as usual, blessing all her loved ones and asking for help to be good. She reached the part of her prayer where she began to bless her Uncle Nathan who is serving a LDS mission in Brazil.

"Bless Uncle Nate in Brazil, that he may be healthy and strong. Help him to serve well and to learn porkajeez . . . porgadeese . . . porjajeeze . . . porjakeez . . . porkageese . . . pordajeeze . . . "

By the third or fourth attempt at saying Portuguese, the once quiet and reverent tone of the girl's bedroom was beginning to be disrupted by Matt's attempts to stifle his laughter. Tricia, coming into the room at about the third attempt quickly dodged into the other bedroom as to not become a distraction with her giggling. Livi, the trooper, tried and tried to say Portuguese a task she has been completing nightly for the four months Nate has been in Brazil. Finally when Anna began to giggle she had to stop and giggle for a minute too.

After calming down somewhat and practicing the right way to say "Portuguese", Papa told her to finish her prayer.

"Bless Uncle Nate in Brazil, that he may be healthy and strong. Help him to serve well and to learn . . . porkajeez . . . porkageese . . . porajeeze . . . . . . "