High 5 baby, it was Lanes birthday!

This 5 year old boy ate every single ounce of his birthday up yesterday. Lane love, love, loves birthdays! Even when they aren't his own, for some reason it is such an exciting thing to him.

He was so easy to please. After we all woke up we headed to Dunkin Donuts for his birthday breakfast. This is a total side note but man I am sure disappointed in Dunkin Donuts. Their donuts are weak sauce, like half the size they used to be. Plus the frosting was barely there and at 99 cents a pop, I think Mid Western will be our permanent donut supplier for now on.

We went to grandma's house a little later to say hi and play for a bit, also so I could check out a boutique that was down the street:) Grandma bought him a Razor for his birthday! It brought big smiles to that face of his. Now he thinks he's the coolest kid on the block (actually he pretty much is the only kid on our block). I brought back some Ned's for lunch, a top contender of his favorite places to eat lunch at.

Randon came over in the afternoon for Lanes "party". Haha oh man, I am a crappy mom. Throwing any kind of party is not in my job description. My kids will probably never experience a really cool, fun themed birthday. I think the practical side of me has finally hit. Don't get me wrong I envy the moms out there that have their stuff together and can throw those intricate "milk and cookies" parties. Or the ones with the glass bottles where the colors of the soda match the plates and everything has a matching label print out with a cute saying on it. Seriously it's all adorable. Not for me though.

So now that you have the background in my party planning abilities we will que the party portion of the day.

One cousin friend to attend. Camo/army hats and plates. Shark birthday cake. And the best part of all is that there are 6 candles on his cake but it's his 5th birthday. Nice.

In keeping with the smorgasbord party theme we headed to the train park! They rode the carousel, train and played on the toys. Can you tell the train was their favorite?!

What kid party isn't complete without pizza! We went a little higher end than Chucky Cheese and tried out Spinatos. We had been hearing how good this place is so we had needed to try it out. Super good, another one to add to our favorites list. That man sitting at the other table with his back to us was SO NICE. You could tell he was a total kid person. Without him even knowing it was Lanes birthday he told the waitress to send the boys each a cookie and to put it on his tab! I love people like that who aren't all uptight and rude to little restless kids. If only Fry's had shoppers like him, I would shop there during the winter.

Grammy and papa came over when we got home and then even this morning my dad brought him a dozen donuts on his way home from the temple. He is so loved!

We love our little Laners to death! Happy birthday big boy!

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Foodies

Get in the car boys, we need to go the store (Fry's)

The one with popcorn and icee's?

No that's Target.

The one with hot dogs and juice?

No that's Sams Club.

The one with cheetos and string cheese?

No that's Walmart.

(note these are the items they eat while shopping at each store)

Sheesh.

They need to be referred to as snackies!

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BOOya for Halloween!

LETS HERE IT FOR:

Lots of Trick or Treating! 

 Rusty demanding to see and pet every dog at every house!

Casey refusing to not dress up!

Yummy homemade root beer and hot dogs at grammy and papas!

Carving pumpkins with the missionaries!

The Clouses rockin' Halloween party!

Coming home to water leaking out of the fridge all over the floor!

11pm bedtime for the kids!

Rusty barfing all the colors of the rainbow at 4am!
One child at school and the other napping so I can eat their loot while typing this!

We love ya Halloween!!



Octoba!

Wowzers, what a month... and it's not even over yet! No slowing down for a few months either.

One day during October break Valerie and I took 7, yep 7 kids to the Phoenix Science Center. I hadn't been there in years so it was fun to go back and the kids had a good time. 

My friend who lives down the street is my hero. Not only is she a cool friend who gives me all of her scrapbook stuff from her paper line that she owns. Or watches my kids on spur of the moment. Or gives me all of her super cute house decorations that she bought but it didn't work out in her home so here you can just have them. But most importantly (in my boys eyes) she is my friend who one night text me saying that she just dropped off a whole box of her sons Thomas the train set stuff on our front door because he doesn't play with them anymore! I am sure many of you know how expensive Thomas the trains are which is why I have never bought them. And there they were, a whole collection on my porch. Jackpot and score!

The boys were in the bath and Casey walked in the door from mutual with the crate of train goodies. They were out of the tub in a flash and we literally could not drag them away long enough to put on their jammies. Instead we watched them play straight naked for almost an hour! The next day they played with them ALL. DAY. LONG. You could say the trains are a BIG hit. Ginger, you will never know how much you are loved over here.

Lane had his primary program in church. I was a tad nervous if he would even participate. Last year he wanted nothing to do with it. He cried during every practice. Luckily a year can do wonders. We bought him all new church clothes. He looked so handsome. He had his part memorized but he refused to say it by himself in the microphone. Little stink. I am fine that he didn't. I was happy he was even willing to sit up on the stand! Baby steps with this boy.

Here comes the eventful part of our month. Wednesday morning, 5am, Casey kissed me goodbye and headed off to work. Next thing I know I was woken to him back in the bed. He was complaining that the side of his stomach was hurting. On the drive to the yard was when the pain started and it kept getting worse with no relief. After getting gas (in the trucks:) he realized work was out of question so he came home to lay down. Well laying down was not helping at all. The pain was unbearable and he had starting throwing up and was drenched in sweat and pale as a ghost.

I kept asking him what I could do and was trying to help him anyway I could but quietly I was kind of freaking out. He finally obliged to getting a blessing and letting me take him to the hospital. Yep, he agreed to let me take him to the hospital. Now I was really quietly freaking out. Doctors or Urgent Care are always out of the question for him. I called my dad to come give him a blessing. We put him in the truck and off to the hospital we go. My mom was so nice and came over and watch the boys.

Luckily when we walked into the ER it was empty! The front desk lady could tell he was in deathly pain so she quickly slapped on an ID wrist band and whisked us back to triage. Casey's mom made it down and waited with us for the doctor. So after a much needed IV line with some pain killers and a CT scan we found out Casey was the proud father of a kidney stone. I think we were all relieved to hear that. Not that we were glad he had a kidney stone but we were all thinking (or at least me and him) that is was appendicitis and that he was going to have to have surgery.

They released him not long after saying that he should pass the stone on his own and to watch out for it. That day and the next were pretty rough for him pain wise but we think he has hopefully kicked that kidney stone to the curb!

So if you are interested in what a kidney stone looks like, here ya go!It's that little black pebble thing in the bottom left corner of the zip lock. It's amazing how such a little thing can cause so much pain! I am truly convinced that kidney stones are just as, if not more painful as child birth!

As for our little orphan children during the hospital episode, they got to spend the day at grandmas! Lane asks every day if we can go play at grandmas so I know they were in heaven. My poor mom. She mentioned that they were outside most of the day, and I don't doubt it. I think all 3 of them slept really good that night. They were also able to go to their ward Halloween carnival with them.

Lane had his Halloween parade at his school. He was very insistent on being Batman this year. I had to start hiding his costume because he would wear it everyday if he could. We have for sure gotten our moneys worth from it and it's not even Halloween yet!



I loved seeing him come home from school with all his different Halloween crafts. Unlike his Valentines costume (remember?) he was more than happy to sport the spider hat.

And this, hehehe. I have to hid this paci from him too because he prefers it over the normal ones! It's funny because as I was downloading these pictures I realized that he is sitting on his Mator toy that has bucked teeth. What a coincidence.

A lot of other stuff occurred that I could throw in but I would hate to bore you. However, I would like to mention a really fun date night that we did. If you are looking to do something different go to an Ipic movie in Scottsdale! It's a theater that has reclining leather seats and a waitress that serves you your food! Ya, it's awesome. Harkins wont ever be the same. I forgot my camera when we went but we will for sure be going back. The best part was when we were walking back to the parking garage and there was an older couple staring at the back of our car. When we got to them they asked  if our car was a Rolls Royce, haha. If only! That pretty much made my day.

Started out crazy. Ended happy...and still a little crazy

It is never a good sign to start your week off with getting stung by a scorpion! There it was the quiet of the night. Kids sleeping soundly, Casey on the computer being a good boy watching a talk by Elder Bednar. I was laying on the living room floor watching The Office. Definitely not as good as Bednar  teachings.  Watching tv while laying on the floor is my nightly ritual. My eyes and ears are going caput. If I sit on the couch, I can't see. I have to crank up the volume almost all the way up which will not only wake up the boys, it will wake up the whole neighborhood. Solution, lay point blank under the tv with 2 pillows and a blanket for added comfort.

I got a little hot so I lifted the blanket off of my feet when at the same time I felt a little prick and instant stinging. It was a feeling of you know exactly what is on you so you rip off the blanket, stand up faster than you ever have before and do a wild crazy thrashing of the body dance to make sure the little devil is off you!

Casey hopped up off the computer chair just as fast as I went from laying on the floor to standing position in point zero seconds flat. He knew without even asking what had just happened. He told me to go wash my foot while he hunted the little sucker down. Casey found it underneath the entertainment center almost 10 minutes later.

 I got violated on my middle toe and luckily the venom never went up into my foot. My toe just felt like it was 3 times it size and tingled like your mouth feels after you get your teeth worked on at the dentist. After I washed it, I poured super silver on it then rubbed magnesium oil on the sting and I really think that helped keep the "poison" from traveling. I seem to be the tastiest in the house because I am the only one that has gotten stung by a scorpion. This makes it the second time for me. Of course I would feel horrible if the boys got stung so I hope it never happens. But Casey I think your turn is next;)

The next morning I can't find my deodorant, just the lid. You see Rusty likes to throw my shoes off of the shelves and climb up and play with all of my lotions, jewelry and that morning I guess my deodorant. It drives me beyond crazy when he does this! For the past month my shoes have not stayed in their designated spot for more than a few hours. If I can't find him or its really quiet I know straight where to go!

So no deodorant anywhere. Whats a girl to do? Steal her husbands. Yes, I sure did. I had recently bought Casey a new scent from Old Spice for when the stick he is using now runs out. Holy canoli I smelled hot that day! And when I say hot I mean the best smelling cologne on my man that I could smell and snuggle with you all day long, hot. It's called Komodo. Go buy it for your husband, boyfriend or the boy you sit next to at school or at work TODAY.

A few hours later after sporting men's anti-perspirant I go to fold the laundry. Low and behold my Lady Speed stick. Nicely nestled in the pile of clean clothes. How thoughtful Rusty.

Rusty is a good boy, he is just getting more mischivous. He is very quick to catch onto things. He is talking really good these days. He is still my cuddler and loves to read books. He picks out his favorite one and knows the characters names and helps me read it.

He still loves his paci more than ever. I have slowly started to try to detach him from it each day. And I mean literally detach him since he has it clipped onto his shirt 24/7. I take it off  and tell him to go put his paci in his bed. He is really obedient about it but after 20 minutes I cant handle the whining of "paci, paci. where it go". I cave. However, yesterday before church I had him throw his paci in his bed before getting in the car. I secretly went and got it and put in my purse just in case of a melt down. On the way to church he was crying about not having it but I kept telling him that it was in his bed, remember? He totally knew it was a lost cause be he knew where it was at home. He came to grips with it and went the whole 3 hours with NO PACI!!!

Lane is still my shy boy but is slowly breaking out of his shell. I pray hard for this every night. Next year he will be in kindergarten so I am really hoping that this year he can figure out that new people and situations are not scary! He is just something else. I love him to death. He really is so sweet and tender hearted. He is ridiculously smart and so assertive.

Last week we were driving in the car and all of a sudden he was crying about something (which is not unusual) . I kept asking him what was wrong and finally he broke and told me that he didn't want hair on his legs. What?! I told him that everybody has hair on their legs and he said, well my hair on my legs are super long. I was trying so hard to keep from laughing because unfortunately he kind of does have hairy legs. He inherited that from his uncle David I think. With lots more coxing, I think I convinced him that hair on legs is not a big deal!

I was cutting potatoes thinly to bake and to look like french fries for dinner the other night.  Lane walked in the kitchen and asked what was for dinner. I told him french fries all excitedly. He took one look at them then said those are potatoes, not french fries. I told him that french fries are potatoes. He said nuh huh, french fries are french fries.

I did sneak in some fun. I look forward to going to the relief society broadcast every year with my mom. Afterwards we meet up with the Udall girls for dinner. I love my family! We ate at Tia Rosas, caught up with each other and had some good laughs.

Lastly we conquered 2011 family pictures! I do professional pictures every other year so this year Marcie was kind enough to be our photographer. I think she snapped 400 of us but of course only 10 were decent and the others turned out like this ↓

or this ↓

 or this ↓

I love them all, crazy or smiling! It is interesting to compare these pictures to last years. Both boys have grown up so much. Every September when it's time to do pictures, it seems like we just did them. I better enjoy these ones because before I know it it will be time to do them again!

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Where to Begin

I guess it's only been a few weeks but it seems like ages! Whenever I have sat down with the intentions of blogging, I sadly end up on hulu catching up on my shows. Why is reality tv my weakness in life? 

To make up for my guilty pleasures, we have been up to some good around here:) We were able to watch my 2 nephews for 4 days. My boys were in pure heaven the whole time. On the last day they were here, their dad came to pick them up but Lane was gone to school so he wasn't able to say goodbye. When he came home to their bags gone he about lost it. I have never seen tears of pure sadness from him before! He was devastated his buddy was gone. It took some major bribing to get him to stop crying.

While they were here we went to Langley Market to get some eggs from their chickens and to get a treat. We went out back to hang out and for them to run around. All of a sudden I could hear Rusty screaming so I  turned and saw a chicken grabbing hold of his paci, yank it off the ribbon clip thing and take off running. I had no idea chickens were so aggressive! It was actually kind of funny. There was no way I was putting it back in Rusty's mouth no matter how much I cleaned it so the chicken has a new toy. Now whenever I tell Rusty to go find his paci at home he tells me chicken has the paci.

I picked up this paint kit at Micheal's  80% off. The boys painted those animals for seriously 2 hrs. The only down side was that they smelled like cheap plastic. BAD. The second day I couldn't take it anymore so I let them choose one then tossed the rest.  Mean, yes I know but their brain cells will thank me later.

It was fun but it definitely solidified to us the fact that our house is maxed and only good for 1 more child. When we have our 4th it will for sure be time to move...and get a burb.

On Saturday we made a day trip up to Showlow for Labor Day weekend. We went with Grammy and Papa which of course made it more fun. We had 2 reasons for going, the first to see Grandpa Goodman and his Uncle rope in the rodeo.

The second, to go to the most fabulous garage sale a girl could ever ask for! One of my friends told me about this man named Lamell who lives in Showlow. Lamell travels around and gets wood, tin, moulding you name it from old buildings that are being torn down. He then takes it home and re-sales it. This is all right up my alley so I got his phone number and gave him a call. Come to find out he had just gotten home from Kansas with a trailer full of stuff and was going to have a huge garage sale on Saturday. How totally perfect seeing how we were going up for the rodeo!

When we got there his yard was completely overwhelmed with stuff. The picture doesn't even show half of what he had. There were 2 huge long trailers connected together in an L shape full of antiques, odds and ends, furniture, old doors, you name it. I could have stayed all day. We filled the back of the suburban with our finds and Lamell even offered to drop off a headboard I bought  when he comes down to Mesa in a few weeks. We even went back with Aunt Shirley a second time!

 The boys loved the rodeo. They got to ride on Willy. Both a little hesitant about the whole horse thing but eventually lightened up once they learned horses were not scary. Such city boys!

We swam on Monday and ate at my parents. This Labor Day called for enchiladas!

I have been re decorating a bit. My little side table next to the couch wasn't cutting it anymore. I am excited about it's new look. Here is the best before I could find.

Here is the after. I found the lamp base at Goodwill for $4. I spray painted it  and added the burlap and polka dot fabric to the lamp shade as well as the flowers. The big frame was my birthday present. I L-O-V-E-D the frame but not the paint job that was on it. It was off white with big brown spots all over it. Just think cow print! So I painted it to the color it is now. I couldn't find a mirror to cut to size to make it fit the frame. Well, that wasn't over $50. Solution: Casey went to Lowes and had them cut a piece of glass for $13. At Hobby Lobby they have spray paint called looking glass. It pretty much is a sprayed on mirror color. It did the trick. The square picture frame was one of my finds from our Showlow garage sale.

Add some more unfinished projects, talks in church, swimming and more swimming, and the usual daily grind and there you have it!
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