To Kraft or not to Kraft...

When shopping for groceries, you are constantly faced with a choice: Buy the name-brand product for $$$ or buy the off-brand product for much less $. There are some items that don't really matter when bought off-brand. For example: we use off brand cottage cheese, cereal, sour cream, cheese, milk, and other assorted items. However, there are some items that must not be sacrificed in order to save a few cents. Some of these items in the Peaden household include: Hidden Valley Ranch, Kraft Parmesan Cheese, and Campbell Cream of Chicken Soup.  (There are a few other things, but I can't think of them right now.) 

The biggest dilemma is knowing when it's okay and when the quality will suffer. I'm sure you know what I am talking about! I am always more prone to purchase the off-brand when I will save at least a dollar or so. I usually buy name brand on anything within 25 cents, because the cost doesn't seem worth the risk. 

This last weekend David and I decided to have a little taste test on none other than the fearless college staple, Macaroni and Cheese. 

I don't remember the exact prices, but I think that Kraft was around 85 cents and Western Family was about 30 cents. 

We let the noodles cook for the same amount of time, added the appropriate amounts of milk and butter and had ourselves a little taste test. 

At first I couldn't even tell the difference between the two, but after a short deliberation... both David and I decided that the winner was....

Kraft. It was only a slight difference, but definitely better. However, we still haven't decided whether or not it is worth spending the extra money to get the Kraft Mac and Cheese. I think that quality/cost definitely goes to Western Family.

Is there anything that you have to buy name brand? Or is it worth it for you to save some money?

The Adventures of Toy Story 3D at Midnight

Around 10:00 or 10:30 every night Shantel feels this inexplicable need to sleep. I personally don't understand it. Around 12:00 to 1:00 AM if feel as though I should probably sleep, although I am certain that I could stay awake quite happily much longer. This opens up a multitude of opportunities for me. First and foremost, midnight movies. My resume of midnight movies is impressive, I admit. It began with Lord of the Rings, and continued with Harry Potter. I really enjoy the atomosphere of a midnight movie on opening night. A couple of years ago, I discovered that Logan has a movie theater that shows movies at midnight every week! So my friends and I started Friday night midnight movie madness. Every Friday night we would watch a movie at midnight. It was fantastic. I love midnight movies.

Shantel loves sleep. Well...she loves movies too...just not at midnight. So...this means it is time for another adventure with David and Shantel. Shantel and I came to the conclusion a while ago that it was time for her to experience her first midnight movie. So we waited...and waited... and waited. We just did not see any movies that we felt qualified to be good "first time going to a midnight movie movies." If that makes sense. However, we could not wait until Harry Potter 7 comes out, that would be too long. Then...there was Toy Story 3...in 3D. It seemed like the perfect choice.

Around 11PM Shantel started serious work to stay awake. She put on a movie, she walked around, whatever it took. Then we headed over to the theater. It was packed with people all waiting for their own midnight showing (most of them were going to Eclipse and I felt grateful to be headed to theater 3 to see Woody and Buzz). We grabbed our cool 3D glasses and sat down. The movie started with a mini movie called "Day and Night." We were a little weary of the 3D stuff, but that sold us.

The movie was fantastic. I would say it is the best 3rd movie in a series that does not originate from a book I have ever seen. It was funny and intense. The script was well done and the end was...uh...touching...uh...well it was a good ending. We enjoyed ourselves and it was so good that Shantel had no problem staying awake.

This is where the story gets good, so don't stop reading now, I know that you are thoroughly tempted to do so. We drove home. I was very happy and very ready for bed. I brushed my teeth, took out my contacts and climbed into bed...and found that Shantel was not there. I looked around and Shantel wasn't getting ready for bed, she was finishing the movie she started before we went to the theater! Shantel at 2 AM decided that she didn't want to sleep yet! I felt so proud. So I closed my eyes and went to bed, while Shantel finished her show. So if Shantel ever tries to convince you that she influences me more than I influence her, just remember the adventure of Toy Story 3D at midnight!

P.S. Please see below for a full (okay, a partial photo recap of the evening, okay a very partial) recap.

This is Shantel. Look how excited she is to be up so late! 2AM, plus she looks really awesome in her 3D glasses.

This is me. Look how happy I am. I just got to go to a midnight movie with my favorite person in the whole world. That is why I have such a good smile.

Thank you all who managed to read this entire post. I do apologize that I am not nearly as entertaining as my beautiful wife Shantel, but I just needed to post so everyone could see what a positive influence I am having on her. Also, I highly recommend that everyone go see Toy Story 3D, it really was super!

California vacation anyone?

Great news: Wendy found our camera at her house! This means that at some point you WILL be getting a wonderful update with all of the many pictures on that camera. However, that day is not today. Today we are going to go on a trip to California.

Friday June 25, 2010; 9:58 am- David and I were talking about how nice it was that we didn't have any big plans for the weekend and that we didn't have to drive anywhere. (We have been doing a lot of traveling to see family the last couple of months.)

Friday June 25, 2010; 10:00 am- Received a phone call from Davids dad asking if we would be willing to fly to California on an all expense paid vacation.  However, there was one stipulation: we drive a moving truck home.

Friday June 25, 2010; 10:30 am- David books our tickets to Oakland California. I frantically start calling around trying to put things in order for the weekend. This included telling my boss and co-workers that I could only be at work for an hour and a half, canceling my visiting teachers(Sorry Shawnee!), and desperately trying to find someone to teach the Relief Society lesson for me on Sunday.

Friday June 25, 2010; 1:00 pm- After packing faster than we ever have before, and lighter than we ever knew was even possible, we were on the road out of Logan - headed to the airport.

Friday June 25, 2010; 3:30 pm (approximately)- We arrived at the airport and killed a couple of hours before our plane left at 5:00.

We took pictures. 

We Read. 

We made funny faces. (We did a lot of sitting, but kept ourselves quite entertained.) 

We posed. :) (Had to have proof that we were actually in an airport, right?)

Friday June 25, 2010; 6:00 pm- We had a two hour layover in Phoenix, where the temperature was 110 degrees. Luckily we only felt the extreme heat on our walk from the airplane through the tunnel to the airport. 

We did more of the same things that we did in the Salt Lake Airport. Took pictures, read, ate, laughed etc...
Friday June 25, 2010; 8:00 pm- Got on our airplane to Oakland. Unfortunately, David and I weren't able to sit by each other because our tickets had been booked last minute. As I was talking to the girls sitting by me, one of them asked if I was staying in Oakland that night. I laughed as I realized, and then told them, that I had no idea. I was just along for the ride.

Friday June 25, 2010; 10:30 pm (Exactly 12 hours after we booked our tickets)- We arrived at our final destination!

Welcome to Oakland!
Cal and his brother Brian picked us up at the airport and drove us to a little town called Sabastapol. I admired the beautiful outline of the palm trees against the night sky and then promptly fell asleep.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 1:00 am- We arrived at Aunt Carolyne's house.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 6:30 am- We were woken up by a loud barking noise, the door opening and a HUGE dog trying to jump on our bed. (Sorry, no pictures... we were too sleepy and desperately trying to protect ourselves from Molly.)

Saturday June 26, 2010; 7:00 am- We took a nice little walk around the neighborhood while we waited for everyone else to wake up.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 8:00 am- We went to breakfast at I-Hop with Cal and Brian.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 10:45 am- The last of the items got packed into the moving truck  and we started making our way back to Utah.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 1:00 pm - Stopped for lunch and fuel in a small town (we have no idea what it was called or exactly where it was) as we were driving through the Sierra Mountains.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 4:00 pm- Kept driving.

Saturday June 26, 2010; 6:00 pm- Arrived in Winnemucca, spent an hour and a half trying to find a hotel that was non-smoking, less than a million dollars, and had enough space to park two extremely large moving trucks.  Then ate dinner at a wonderful little pizza place before falling asleep while watching a movie in our hotel room.

Sunday June 27, 2010; 8:00 am- Woke up, ate breakfast and got back on the road. 

Sunday June 26, 2010; 5:00 pm- Arrived safely home in West Jordan, where we had a delicious dinner waiting for us. After a couple of hours of hanging out with the family, we headed back to Logan. 

What a weekend! We had a great time, and were glad that we were able to help out. However, I can honestly say that I hope we just get to stay home this next weekend!