Random Sampler

I forgot to put the picture of our fun girls night awhile back. These kind of nights don't come often enough so it was fun to catch up with these girls at the Cheesecake Factory while Stephanie was in town!

Who loves the Ipic? I do, I do! We went back to the beloved Ipic theater for our 2nd time with some of  Casey's family. We all got gift cards for Christmas so we didn't waste any time using them! We went to Sweet Republic for ice cream afterwards. Fun and Yum!



For New Years I have a hard time setting goals because I pretty much never complete them. If I do set some goals, they just hover over me and make me more aware of all the stuff that needs to be done instead of being unaware of what could be done. This year was no different. No goals in place. However I did end up dejunking a bunch of closets, drawers and cupboards a few weeks into the new year. I am starting to think that maybe if I never set them, things will actually get done around my house!

One of the projects was turning my linen closet into a toy closet. I was sick.and.tired of the boys dumping every toy they owned all out in the living room then not playing with any of it. I was spending WAY to much time cleaning up the messes and was tempted to throw every toy in the garbage until I got this idea from my friend.

 You get plastic bins and categorize all the toys then you lock them in a closet. When the kids want to play with a toy they have to come to you. You unlock the door, let them choose only 1 bin at a time and when they want to play with something else they have to pick it all up before you get a new bin out.

I thought it was a genius idea so I got to work. My linen closet was a disaster and needed to be cleaned out anyway so I killed 2 birds with one stone.

linen closet before

new toy closet!

This system has been life changing!! The boys actually play with their toys now. Since they are categorized they have more fun because they can focus on a few toys instead of being overwhelmed by every toy being dumped into one big pile on the floor. Plus they know they have to clean up before I unlock another bin. I am in heaven.

Grandmother had a birthday last week so we brought her In and Out for dinner, which is one of our boys favorite things to do! We also brought cupcakes because what is a birthday without cake?! The best part about eating at grandmothers is that you get to drink out of gobblets. No matter what the meal or how old you are. She has a cupboard full of them. All shapes and sizes. You can see the one Lane always fancies in the pic below. We love Grandmother and are so thankful to have her in our lives!

I {heart} our families!

During Christmas break my family (minus missionary David) had our pictures taken. In my family this happens very rarely. Usually about every 5 yrs. Up until a year ago the big picture above the fireplace in my moms living room was taken when I was 12!

I thought they turned out superb (thank you Kacy Hughes Photography) and hopefully these pictures can take place of the Contempo studio shot with the Limited overalls and Mervyn's adorned attire.

Can you tell this was one of the last shots? Restless kids means sunglasses and suckers!

I think both Casey's and my family are pretty great. I couldn't ask for better grandparents or aunts and uncles or cousins for my kids to have in their lives. We pretty much hit the jackpot in the family department. Just like all families, we have our highs and lows but we always remain close through it all.

Did you know that both sets of our parents are friends with each other? I think that is just about the neatest thing! I also think its crazy that both of our dads are serving as bishop at the same time. Even though Casey and I do not live at home anymore, I without a doubt believe that our little family is being blessed by our dads faithfully serving as Bishops in their wards. There humility and sacrifice for serving the Lord brings tears to my eyes. They are wonderful men. They are wonderful examples. They are just wonderful! As are our moms. They sacrifice and serve just as much. It takes a strong woman to be a Bishops wife, and that is what they are! I think they need to make a reality show called Bishop's Wives and air it on BYU tv:)

(this is the only picture I have of everybody on the Goodman side. I turned it into a mouse pad to give to my MIL for xmas)

Mommy, I drew a picture of you!

Now we all know that this is false advertisement.

Yes, we addressed the issue immediately. And yes it will be addressed again in FHE.

Apparently some little boys in preschool have some eye candy moms at home. How thoughtful of them to teach Lane how to draw so voluptuously.

Casey was so nice to say that he didn't see the resemblance. I hope he was meaning my pig nose or 8 fingered hand.

For the records

I forgot to put this in the last christmas post.

Because someday I vow to turn this 4 and on going years of blogging into a book of memories.

I keep hoping (and really wishing) that somebody might just do this for me?! I saw that on a blog once. I super generous friend did that as a gift. That would be the best.gift.ever. Hint, hint. You would be my favorite person in the world. Promise!

Goodman Christmas card 2011

Great Balls of Fire

Goodness, gracious we have had a FULL past few weeks! I compiled everything from the week of Christmas until today in one post so watch out, its a doozy!!

Lane and Rusty enjoyed every Saturday of December at Grammy camp! They played, made Christmas crafts, and had yummy lunch each day. Let's just say that was the best Christmas present ever. Casey and I were able to spend those days shopping and quite frankly enjoying the peace and quiet. 

We had our Goodman progressive dinner and at the end the kids dressed up and acted out the nativity.

Christmas eve we ate dinner at the Goodmans then went over to my parents to make gingerbread houses. We didn't use those gingerbread kits so the frosting wasn't as hard as it should have been. Casey had a rough time making ours stay up. A few days later on pinterest I saw a pin about using hot glue to keep the graham cracker frame together and using the frosting to decorate. Duh! That would have saved some grief. Next year, if I can remember.

Grandma has an infatuation with dancing stuffed Christmas characters. Kind of fun when they are all going at the same time.

Bright and early Christmas morning. We opened gifts then headed off to 9am church with my parents. Can you tell Lane had been up for a bit and Rusty well, not so much.

After church was more presents time! Do you love the movies my mom got us?!

Cheers to the fathers amazing biscuits and gravy.

This year the adults played Christmas Minute to Win it. Casey and I came in dead last.

We went over to Goodmans in the afternoon for more gifts, a mexican dinner and some games of what's in my undies:) For some reason this is the only picture I have of over there.

That following week the girls spent the day out in Scottsdale shopping and fine dining at the Grand Lux!

New Years Eve! The boys came home from the dunes in time to celebrate with us. Just Dance, sushi and fireworks!

Being consoled after burning himself on the nose.

I think Lane thought we were going to sacrifice him to the fire.

I think my goals for 2012 is to wear more makeup and to actually wear real clothes.

Rusty goals are to try to only eat one popsicle at a time.

My mom was daring and decided it would be fun to take a family bike ride to Tempe Town Lake. It was way fun. We stopped in for dinner at 5 Guys and Yogurtland for dessert.

The last day Stephanie and Travis were here we heated up the hot tub. I need to get the picture of Travis saving Rusty in the (cold) swimming pool after Rusty decided to go down the slide. I am forever indebted to Travis for jumping in and catching him! If not I probably would have tried to scoop him to the side with the cleaning net. That water was cold!

My boys are going to miss their buddies. They left to NY this afternoon. I am sad. They are sad. We are all sad. We partied hard for 3 weeks straight. I think they saw each other almost every day they were here. Luckily they will be back in March for Marcie's wedding! Christopher and Jael move to UT on Friday, too. How come everybody is leaving? We must smell bad.

Ok, I think I am done now.