Shop 'Til You Drop

Cliff gets a profit sharing check every quarter so we save our big purchases for those times. This quarter, we didn’t have any big purchases, but we did have a lot of little ones. Elizabeth needed summer clothes and new shoes. So Saturday was our shopping day. We left the house at 10 in the morning and didn’t get back until 8 that night. Here’s the run down of the places we went.

Post office: Cliff has this thing about our outgoing mail sitting in the mailbox overnight. He will only drop mail in there in the morning; otherwise he has to take it to the post office.

Old Navy: I figured this would be the best place for new clothes for Elizabeth. She didn’t like the long shorts and the short ones were too short for my taste, so we picked out some skirts. They were all either pink or purple. We also found her a bathing suit that was pink with a tutu, like a dance outfit. Cliff also bought Catherine a Super girl shirt, while Elizabeth got Wonder Woman and Hello Kitty.

The Mall
Payless shoes: They were having a sale so we ended up with tennis shoes, two pairs of sandals, and two pairs of church shoes; all for Elizabeth. I was going to make her pick one pair of sandals to put back, but daddy let her have them (that old softie!)

Hot Dog on a Stick and Panda Express: Refueling for the grueling day ahead!

Torrid: New swim suit for mom. I’m a size 1 in this store! That’s why I love it.

Disney Store: We can’t pass up this store during a trip to the mall. We leave with 4 new stuffed animals (Pluto and Pooh for Catherine, Snow White for mom and Perry the Platypus for dad), two pairs of pajamas for Catherine, and four pairs of pajamas and three shirts for Elizabeth. We successfully avoided buying the toy that Elizabeth wanted by taking the name of Santa Claus in vain.

Then we took a little break at the indoor play area where I noticed that the dress that Elizabeth was wearing would shortly be making its way into the “too small” pile.

Next we left the kids with Grandma Merrill so Catherine could take a nap, Elizabeth could play with her friend Jackie, and mom and dad could go to some stores by themselves.

The Studio: The adults only store. You don’t want to know what we bought here.

Sketchers: New shoes for mom. I need to break them in before our trip across the country. We went into a few shops in the outlet stores by Sketchers, but didn’t buy anything.

LDS Distribution Center: The new one opened on our side of town last year. We bought new garments for mom and dad and scripture stories for Elizabeth. They are the “scriptures” that Elizabeth and I read every night.

To finish off the mom and dad shopping time, we went to my favorite shoe store, Red Shoes, and two other adult only stores. I didn’t get new shoes, and I won’t tell you what we did get.

Then we called Grandma and found out that Catherine was still napping and Elizabeth was eating so Cliff and I ate dinner at the Palace Station buffet. Not a good choice. Then we picked up the kids and went to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart: Bought all kinds of things including a bathing suit for Catherine, and we ran into Jack and Kim’s family. They were all weathered from being at Scout Expo all day. As we walked away, Cliff joked, “Well, I guess we won’t see them for another couple of months!” (‘cause they’re usually so busy with dance and scouts and primary and bishopric stuff.)

Then finally we were home! I put the kids to bed in their new pajamas and the next morning we found Catherine had taken hers off in the night and was sleeping naked. Isn’t that just the way of life?