An Elephant for a Quarter...

November 6, 2026

So I've always known this about myself...it's hard to resist a great deal. I think it's something about the combination of the bargain, the hunt, and the find. The good thing is that I get a lot of amazing products for a small percentage of the original price. The bad thing is that I sometimes end up with more of something I never really needed to begin with.

My BYU family money management class has helped me not run quite so blindly toward those yellow clearance signs—or at least to stop and think before jumping straight into buying. I still remember two quotes Dr. Poduska used to say: "An elephant for a quarter is only good if you have a quarter and need an elephant." And, "You can never get enough of what you don't need." Both are so true.

The past two weeks I've had some pretty good success finding amazing deals. However, I also jumped in a little too deep with one of them for sure. 

I found Halloween candy at Target for 90% off. I also found large boxes of protein GoGo snacks, Italian Ice, and Catalina Chex Mix for just 51¢ a box. Woot woot!

I had my seminary students in mind when I bought the GoGo snacks, candy and Catalina Chex Mix. I figured they would be great to have on hand for a quick morning snack or treat. (The Italian Ice is for Britney.) Unfortunately, the GoGo squeezes were a disappointment. They are super thick and way too sweet for my liking. So much for that great find. The Chex Mix, on the other hand, was a much better purchase. As for the candy, I may have gone a little overboard, but I don't regret it.

I'm on a couple of couponing Facebook pages where people from all over the country post the deals they find. Most of the time, when I follow up at my local stores, the items either aren't marked down to the same price or are already out of stock. So when I actually find one of these deals, it's pretty exciting!

Of course, finding a great deal and knowing when to stop buying are two entirely different things. I think I've mastered the first, but I'm clearly still working on the second. In the meantime, anyone need a treat? I've got more than a few to spare.😜

If You Pick Up Your Grandboy from School

October 29, 2026

If You Pick Up Your Grandboy from School…

If you pick up your grandboy from school, rather than getting in the car, you might want to walk down the path that leads to the duck pond.

And if you walk to the duck pond, you might decide you need some bread to feed the ducks.

So you’ll walk across the parking lot to the grocery store.

And if you go into the grocery store, you might pass the bakery. And if you pass the bakery, you might ask if they still give out free cookies.

They might not, but a sweet, twenty-something-year-old bakery worker might overhear and quietly use her own money to buy him a GIANT chocolate chip cookie. (And you might be dying just a little inside, wishing you'd just bought him the cookie yourself in the first place.)

And if you give a boy a giant chocolate chip cookie, he might take a few bites and decide he’s had enough. And since you wouldn’t want a perfectly good cookie to go to waste, you might end up eating most of it yourself.

And pretty quickly in the process, that giant chocolate chip cookie is probably going to make a giant mess. So you’ll have to walk all the way to the other end of the store to wash both of your hands.

And on the way back, the grandboy might spot the Hot Wheels display.

And if he spots the Hot Wheels cars, he’s probably going to sweetly ask if he can have one. And since you’re a Gigi now, you know the $1.99 purchase is well worth it.

And while you’re still in the store, you might decide to pick out a cute Halloween stuffed animal to give to the kind bakery worker who bought his cookie.

And eventually, you might actually make it out of the store and back to the duck pond!

And if you feed the ducks, you might discover that every duck, goose, and pigeon in the neighborhood wants some bread.

And when dozens of hungry birds start surrounding you, a little boy might nervously say, “I thinks I want to leave.”

So you’ll pick him up, and he’ll snuggle comfortably into your arms while calling out over and over, “WE DON’T HAVE SOME!” to let all those hungry birds know that no more bread will be handed out.

And if you finally escape the birds, you might need to stop along the path to play with your new Hot Wheels car for a little while.

And when you finally reach the real car, you might need to play inside the car for a good 45 minutes before getting buckled into the car seat.

And if you finally get him buckled into his car seat, he'll probably remind you that it's time for your afterschool daily drive through the neighborhoods to check out the Halloween decorations. And if he spots some especially spooky ones, you might want to circle around and drive past them a second time, just to get another look.

And when you finally make it home, almost two hours after school pickup, you’ll realize something…

If you pick up your grandboy from school, you might realize that one of the very best parts of being a Gigi is having time for all the little detours along the way.

Random October Thoughts

Random October Thoughts

Brian

He went out of town for five days. I missed him. He is the steady in my life. My safe place. It's nice to get a big hug when he walks in the door and just talk about our days together. Most of our days are pretty monotonous...but we share them anyway. I'm glad he is back home.

We have a cruise booked in November, and I am looking forward to vacation time with my guy.

My Gratitude Journal

I've kept one for the past six years. I started it at the end of 2020 when President Nelson gave the message, "The Healing Power of Gratitude." I try to jot down three things I'm grateful for at the end of each day. I love it. It helps me recognize big and small blessings every day. It's also fun to look back through those notebooks and be reminded of so many blessings I might otherwise have forgotten.

Almost always, on Thursdays, "girls' lunch" makes my gratitude list. Girls' lunch isn't really girls' lunch, the same way Taco Villa Monday isn't really on Mondays or at Taco Villa. It's the day my dad takes the girls to lunch. It's awesome having a weekly lunch with my dad and sister. (We miss you, Ang!) We talk about everything: my mom, the kids and grandkids, books we are reading, our callings, etc. One fun thing I realized this month at girls' lunch is that all three of us have missionaries out right now. Britney has her first, Braddock; I have our last, Aubrey; and my dad has Chris (and daughter-in-law Ang.)

Seminary

Pressing forward. I am relistening to the Y Religion podcast series on gospel teaching, although I just listened to it for the first time in August. There are ten episodes that are about an hour each, and the topics discussed include asking good questions, teaching with the scriptures, actively engaging students, teaching the one, etc. They are well done and very helpful. I think I'm in a better place now to retain and apply what I'm learning.

Thanks to the school schedule, I had a two day teaching week in October, and it was amazing.

I worry about how little I really know about what my students are going through. I have a handful who come in upbeat and happy to be there. Another handful look pretty miserable. One student told me flat out how much he hates seminary (and school). I feel for him. My kids told me that on the regular. I told him to hold on...college is so much better. Luckily, for my fragile ego, that same week, a parent shared with me how much her son loves seminary.

A father of one of my students just passed away. Heartbreaking. Another student is so attached to their phone that it is causing real life connection problems all around. The parents are so worried for their child.

I am pressing forward, hoping that all the sacrifices made by the students, parents, seminary teachers, and YM/YW leaders will help these kids come away knowing that their Heavenly Father loves them and that there is a plan of happiness

Christmas

It's coming! All of our kids will be home for the holidays. All of our Vore cousins will be in town too. It's exciting. My niece Erin called and has fun ideas for the cousin gift exchange. She volunteered to head it up, and it felt nice to pass the baton to the next generation. We will have a lot of littles...four new babies in the past year. (Wells, Cal, Saylor & Graham)

Aubrey

Mission life can be such a roller coaster. She's had two really good weeks, and after some of the harder ones, I'm especially happy for her.

And Now One Million Pictures:

Aubrey was able to FaceTime with Grandma and Grandpa Gwilliam when Brian was in California visiting them.

Our family friend, Alma Merriman, is in town for about two weeks and has been staying with us. She is so kind and loving. She has been helping care for my mom some nights because one of the caregivers had a baby. We have been making time for walks, watching the new church series: Dedicate, visiting friends from the ward and playing with Kaide.

BYU Babeeeee! Brit and girls came over for the big game. BYU was ranked #8 and beat #2 ranked Notre Dame. Woot woot!

Parker always seems to have connections and was able to score seats for the game.

The girls and Alma mostly painted while Brit and I watched the game. We all did a lot of visiting throughout though. (They left just before halftime.)

I was super impressed with their creativity.

Char and her peacock

Ella and her hedgehog

I just think this picture of Kaide is adorable...giant helmet, tiny cards, intense game.

I started putting up a question of the day for the seminary kids to answer as they come in. It's been a fun way to get them talking, laughing, and sometimes having a little friendly debate before we officially start class. 

A new baby will be added to the mix. They are due early January. What a lucky little boy to join Tanner and Erin's family.  Aren't these pictures beautiful?

Erin is stunning.

Charity was in town. She and Jake stopped by the Sunday night gathering. It was fun to catch up with them and meet baby Graham.

Couch: Megan, Erin, Charity and Graham Floor: Ella, Brit, Char

Megan getting to meet her newest nephew.

Adam getting to hold his newest nephew.

Brit won the Great Aunt Award by playing lots of chess and checkers with Noah and Kaide. (She's a great aunt in both senses of the word.)

Family Home Evening lesson. Tanner taught about developing our talents using the October 2026 Friend magazine. He talked about how Jesus learned and grew as a child and then had us go around the room and share something we were good at. Kaide got to look at a page filled with different activities and circle the things he likes to do. Tanner tied it all back to how we can learn, grow, and develop our talents just like Jesus. We finished up with a quick game of Hide and Seek before heading over to the Birds for Sunday night.

It was fun to see FHE through Alma's eyes. Her eyes were glowing as she talked about what a beautiful blessing it was. I agree. So grateful we have had this guidance through the church. It continues to bless our family.

Kiade's first Primary Program

Brinley sent this sweet picture of Cal a little more bundled up and ready for the cooler weather.

Keeping Up with Kaide

October 15, 2026

I get to pick up Kaide from preschool two or three afternoons a week, and I love having that time with him.

Last month, we had a little routine going. He would come in and wash his hands (he loves using his stool and being so independent.), have a snack—usually fresh fruit and pumpkin seeds or graham crackers and milk—and then do an interactive reading lesson on my phone, followed by about 5-10 minutes of Khan Academy Kids. After that, it was rest time for about an hour. He would play quietly in the front bedroom while I rested or took care of things around the house. Then we'd head outside to play, walk to Gram and Grandpa Vore's, play store or do whatever he chose until Erin or Tanner came to pick him up.

This month, he seems to have gotten a little tired of the reading app, so we've dropped that from our routine. He's also getting a little bored with the toys and games we have at the house, so I've been scrambling to come up with new activities or dig out some old favorites.

One afternoon, I took him grocery shopping with me. I'd forgotten just how much longer grocery shopping takes with an inquisitive four-year-old as your sidekick. Whew! We did manage to find a fun photo op at Sam's Club and stopped to enjoy our fruit and a pretzel on our way out. 

I was excited when he wanted to pull out the jumper for the first time in months, but that only lasted about 15 minutes.

I found our old Bubber set (it's similar to kinetic sand but can be molded and played with like Play-Doh). He was a fan! I also pulled out the paints, but those only held his interest for about five minutes. If it's not too windy this week, we may make a trip to the duck pond. Wish me luck—not with the ducks, but with keeping up with a four-year-old who needs a constantly changing lineup of activities (and a Gigi who wants to spoil him!)