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)