The Geek

I have been married to my husband, Joe, since June of 1997 (coming up on 15 years holy smokes!).  We met when I was just a wee lass of 18.  I SWORE I would not be that girl who got married at 19, but when the one that was made especially for you shows himself in your life wrapped in a big bow as a gift from God you kind of have no choice.  So yes, I was a young bride of 19 (and a half thank you very much), but while that wasn’t my plan I quickly learned that I am not in charge of this show down here on earth.  We wanted kids right off the bat, but that proved to be a little more difficult than we thought.  After close to 4 years of waiting, we were finally blessed with our first daughter with the little help of some magic pills .  Since we then figured out how to get the kids here, they just kept on coming… We now have 5 in all:  Jillian is almost 11, Jakob is 8, Jarrett is 6, Jocelynn is almost 4, and Jaxson (no pill surprise baby) is almost 2.  Did you see a theme there??  Yes, I’m just that cheezy! These kids make me crazy most days, but they are my life!!  If I don’t answer my phone or don’t return emails promptly, more often than not, one of these 5 is the reason.  My priority is my family but I do enjoy a little side gig that has truly blessed my family more than I could have ever imagined. 

About 3 years ago, we were struggling financially and I was getting kind of tired of stacking 4 kids in a two bedroom condo.  A girlfriend of mine invited me to come to her house for a coupon class.  Well, I was desperate to cut down on the monthly budget and so I was open to try anything.  That night literally changed my life.  I learned a few simple tips that began my couponing adventure and I was able to take my then $1100 a month grocery/household budget down to around $475 a month for a family of 7!  Don't worry, I will be spilling all my secrets with you guys. Being frugal for me was born out of necessity, but it amazed me how easily it translated into every aspect of my life.  After I realized how well couponing worked for my family, I started teaching those coupon classes.  As it turns out, I am kind of good at it.  I now teach in-home classes in Las Vegas, and I am traveling a few times a month to teach at large couponing events in Northern and Southern California.  Who would have thought that after 3 short years, I would have opportunities to share what I know with hundreds of people at a time! 

While couponing may seem to a large part of my life at the moment, there are other things I do for fun.  I love to get my hands dirty and make things – wood crafts, cross-stitching, crocheting, painting, crafting, house honey-dos.  My goal for the year is to read more books.  Thanks to my new Kindle Fire I am hoping to accomplish this.  Hopefully I can broaden my library outside of The Twilight Series and Hunger Games (I’m a sucker for an easy read).  So far I have already read The Help and Killing Lincoln.  The only thing that could possibly thwart my progress reading is Pinterest!  That is the new evil in my life {sigh}, and it only has proven to feed my crafty bone.

Here’s a little known trivia fact about me:  I have a Grammy.  Yep.  The real kind.  Until Jaxson was born with some complications and kind of put my life on hold for a bit, I spent the previous 9 years of my life singing with Gladys Knight and the Saints Unified Voices choir.  We made a few CDs (one of which won the Grammy for best Gospel Album 2006), and toured all over the US performing for large church groups and sharing the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  I truly enjoyed my time here sharing my testimony of our Savior through song, but the travel schedule became a bit too much to handle with 5 babies at home.  It was time for me to hang up the choir robes.  My favorite moments being in this group were the times I was asked to interpret our songs in American Sign Language.  I did a little of that in my previous life too.  When I was able to do this I felt like I was really able to express the love felt in each song we sang.  So neat!!  {Great, now I miss it}

Before my mommy days, I worked for a few great companies doing accounting, customer service, and office managing.  That may explain my need to put things into spreadsheets every 5 seconds and why I feel such a strong need to organize everything in sight.  It all has worked well for me these past 2 years as manager for the Las Vegas Grocery Smarts division {how official did that sound?}.  I had been teaching GS classes for just over a year when the previous manager moved out of state.  I took over at that point and while there have been many hurdles and difficult moments, there have been just as many successes.  As I evaluate where I am right at this moment the phrase that best describes my feeling is, “How on EARTH did I get HERE?”  Most recently, Jen Freeman at Tip Resource, asked me and one of my other instructors, Shannon Jones, to help her out with her episode of TLCs Extreme Couponing All-Stars.  Let me tell you that was a total blast, and such a surreal event.  Not sure I’ll ever do it again, but I can cross "10 seconds of fame" off my bucket list.  Jen and I have become such good friends and you may see me post some things on her blog from time to time.

Another adventure I have recently embarked on is contributing to another blog that is meant to be inspirational to all sorts of women in all sorts of walks of life.  It's called SmittenBy {too cute right}!  I will post a monthly tidbit there, but you really should check out all the other amazing women who are writing there.  Truly I am blessed to work with such stellar women!! 

From time to time, you may also find me sneaking in to write for the Las Vegas Review Journal.  This isn't anything official really, it's not like a regular column, but it sure is fun to have yet another place to spread the good news about couponing!! 

Now my days are filled with running my kiddies to their various activities, being wife, mother, and housemaid, planning for the 70 kids I serve in my church calling, hanging out with my hubby, teaching classes, and just being a goof ball!  I love every minute of it and I hope to share a bunch of those minutes with you chatting about how easy it can be to change your life simply by understanding and using your coupons!!