Geocaching: The Thrill of the Hunt

So Billy and I went geocaching over the weekend.  Billy found out about it through a blog, but it's basically a treasure hunting game that people participate in all over the world.  They have an official website, Geocaching, where you can read more about the game and how to find caches.  It's a GPS-based activity, so you have to have a good GPS.  Billy bought a nice Garmin after his birthday last year just so we could do this!  

It's pretty simple...you go to the website and pick a location close to you or where you would like to go searching.  They give you the coordinates for the location of the cache, and you just plug it in on your GPS and off you go!  We went to Peaks View Park for our first excursion.  It took us a while to get familiar with the GPS, but we finally figured it out and went searching.  When we finally got to the coordinates, we had to just look around for a good spot where we thought it would be hidden.  I saw a large tree off the trail that had a big opening at the bottom that I thought would be a good spot to hide a cache.  I pointed it out to Billy and he walked down there and looked, and there it was!  The box had some random items that you can trade for (basically take an item and put something in the box in its place), but we just signed the paper saying we found it.  You have to make sure to hide it again, so after we did that we went off to find another one.  

We couldn't find the second one (we read that whoever hid it didn't have very accurate coordinates), so we gave up on that one.  It was 30 degrees outside and we had been there for about an hour, and we were afraid that Ellie would get too cold.  I had her bundled up in her snowsuit which kept her very warm and comfortable, and I think she enjoyed it.  She likes being able to see everything, so I had her in the carrier and she was quite content and didn't fuss at all for the whole trip.  All in all, we had a lot of fun and we look forward to doing it again (maybe when it gets a little warmer!).

Billy and I are the types of people who like to talk about the future...not to try to plan things (because we all know what happens when Kristen and Billy try to plan out their lives...we ignore God's will and focus on our own).  Instead, we like to talk about our plans for raising Ellie and any future children we may have.  We really enjoyed the geocaching experience, and we talked about how this would be a great way to get our children in the outdoors as they get older.  It is so important to us to instill good values in our children...and that includes a love for the outdoors.  When Billy and I were kids, playing outside was the thing to do.  Sure, we still watched TV...but when the weather was nice, we went outside to ride bikes, play on the swingset, jump on the trampoline...whatever.  In our technology-saturated world, it's hard to get kids to go outside and play anymore, because it seems like it's so much more fun to have your imagination handed to you in a convenient toy or movie.  But it's not more fun...it's just easier.  We want our children to have the opportunity to develop an imagination, and part of that is playing outside.  Geocaching seems like a great way to get kids involved in the outdoors, and it's fun because it's all about the exploration.  As a side note, for those of you who are familiar with the national parks, they have these little booklets that are like passports, where kids can get their passports stamped at each national park they visit.  Billy and I have already decided that we are totally doing that with our kids, because the national parks are awesome!

Now that I'm off my soapbox about the outdoors, I'd like to update you on my deals from last week.  I totally meant to write a blog last week about what I had purchased, bu time slipped away from me and I'm just now getting to it.  First, I went shopping at Kroger and got a few cool deals, like a box of Maruchuan Yakisoba noodles for free (plus overage), three boxes of Hamburger Helper for 75 cents each, four cans of Campbell's condensed soups for 75 cents each, and two bags of frozen corn for 50 cents each.  I spent $20 at Kroger on my groceries.  Yay!  

Then I did my other shopping.  I went to Target and got a four pack of lightbulbs for 29 cents, plus two loofahs for 50 cents each (gotta love the little dollar area of Target!).  The lightbulbs were on sale for $1.79, and I had a manufacturer's coupon and a Target store coupon totaling $1.50.  At CVS, I bought two bottles of Dawn Hand Renewal for 25 cents each!  They were on sale for $1 each, so I bought two and used two coupons (one for 50 cents off, one for $1 off--so one was 50 cents, and the other was free!).  Everything pictured below cost about $23.

Later in the week, I went to Sam's Club and bought ground beef, chicken, and paper towels.  I got a 12 pack of paper towels for $12, which I know isn't the best deal but I can never find good deals on paper towels so I just went for the convenience of Sam's Club.  I got 5 pounds of ground beef with the lowest percentage of fat (can't remember what that's called) for $15, and then I got a 6 pound package of chicken breasts for $11 at $1.79 per pound.  I used to think that it wasn't that great of a deal at Sam's, but after I paid attention to the prices, I realized that even on sale, the cheapest I can find it at Kroger is $1.99 per pound, and Sam's has it for 20 cents cheaper.  Plus, I like being able to go ahead and trim my chicken and cut it up as needed for my meal plans, that way I don't have to do it the night I cook it.  So, groceries for the week totaled $47, and now I don't have to buy any more meat for the month!

Last night I made Italian Chicken for dinner.  It was a new recipe, but soooo easy!  You just put 6 chicken breasts in the crockpot, squirt a bottle of Italian salad dressing over them, and cook on high for 4 hours.  I didn't need that much chicken, so I used 2 regular-sized chicken breasts and 2 small ones, and used a little over half of the salad dressing.  I still cooked it for 4 hours, although I don't think they needed that much time.  It was very good!  I liked that it was so easy and didn't require any work from me other than putting it in the crockpot, and the salad dressing also gave the chicken a great flavor.  We used the Kraft Tuscan style Italian dressing because it's our favorite, but any would work. 

I also made homemade rolls this past week (one night last week and again last night).  I finally pulled out the bread machine we got as a wedding gift 4 years ago and tried it out.  The recipe came from Money Saving Mom (I'm obsessed with that blog!).  It's called Bread Machine Buttery Rolls, and they turned out pretty well.  I need to get the hang of making them though.  The first time, they came out very dense.  The second time, they came out fluffier but more like mini loaves of bread than rolls.  Both times they were good, so I'm not complaining.  I just need to experiment more!

On a completely different note, I was reminded yesterday in church about how God knows each one of us in ways we can't understand.  I thought about Psalm 139, and how it talks about God knowing everything about us.  I think about Ellie, and how He created her to be who she is today...He formed her sweet little nose, and gave her hardly any hair (but that's okay, it's still cute) and He knows everything about her.  He loved her before we even knew she existed, and He knows who she'll be when she grows up.  It's amazing to think that we have a Creator who loves us so much, that even after creating us and giving us life, He also sent a Savior, His own son, to give His life to pay the price for our sins, so that we can be holy and blameless before God.  

  O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
    You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
         You understand my thought from afar.
    You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
         And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
    Even before there is a word on my tongue,
         Behold, O LORD, You know it all.
    You have enclosed me behind and before,
         And laid Your hand upon me.
    Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
         It is too high, I cannot attain to it.
    Where can I go from Your Spirit?
         Or where can I flee from Your presence?
    If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
         If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
    If I take the wings of the dawn,
         If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
    Even there Your hand will lead me,
         And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
    If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me,
         And the light around me will be night,"
    Even the darkness is not dark to You,
         And the night is as bright as the day
         Darkness and light are alike to You.
    For You formed my inward parts;
         You wove me in my mother's womb.
    I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
         Wonderful are Your works,
         And my soul knows it very well.
    My frame was not hidden from You,
         When I was made in secret,
         And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth;
    Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
         And in Your book were all written
         The days that were ordained for me,
         When as yet there was not one of them.
    How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
         How vast is the sum of them!
    If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand
         When I awake, I am still with You. 

Psalm 139:1-18