Christmas CHEER!

I love how in addition to old traditions, new ones get thrown in too! For instance, the adult Goodman party has made its second appearance this year and I hope it is here to stay!

This year we played a game in couples where you have to unwrap presents one handed... with a snow glove on to reap your reward. Of course there is always a bonus gift and this year it came down to the wire of sudden death. Valerie vs us. We came out victorious with some extra x-mas cash:) But let me tell you she is a tough cookie to beat!

We have been in cousin heaven! Collin and Weston are here from NY so it has been non stop play time. I don't think these boys ever leave each others sides when they are together.

We had our annual Udall cousin gift exchange and Lane was so excited to be in the big kid group and exchange presents! There is a rule that you must hug when you swap gifts.

Can you tell Lane had some anxiety over hugging a cute girl cousin. Hehe.

Ok, pressure is off. I can look at the camera and smile now.

 Thanks for having a birthday Craig so we could celebrate at Amazing Jakes!

I am happy to announce that these 2 love birds are engaged!! Whoop Whoop! (sorry your eyes are closed Austin)

I entered a blog give away a few weeks ago, totally knowing I wasn't going to win. Because I never do. ever. Much to my surprise I received an email that made my day. Scratch. Made my the rest of the year!

Check out what I won!!

We made arrangements to meet at Hobby Lobby so she could give me my prize. Um, I would have been happy with just the box!

I rushed home to open it up.

I think the banner adorns my "dinning room" quite perfectly.

I have the anthro card tucked into my wallet waiting to be used on our (new) traditional

girl Scottsdale shopping trip next week.

Pretty sure I am wearing the scarf tonight.

THANK YOU Jilly and Mia from

Girls with Good Taste!!!

Who loves Christmas cards? I do! I love walking by my card wall. I catch the boys stopping and checking them out daily.

CHEERS that:

Goodman progressive dinner is tonight. Smiles.

Rusty calls oranges peaches or pumpkins.

Lane play's the Mr. Grinch song over and over on you tube.

my new flat iron will arrive (hopefully) before Christmas.

It will all be over way too soon.

However:

I will not miss the TJ Max/Marshalls/HomeGoods commercial with the teens

who didn't make the Glee cast.

Making a list and checking it DONE!

This week was stress balls for me. It felt like it was hovering over me for over a month. I felt a little nauseous every time the first week of December was brought up. The first week of December I was supposed to teach Relief Society then throw our Relief Society Christmas dinner 2 days later. The dinner was more on the fun side but teaching...not so much. Teaching stresses.me.out. Bless all you Gospel Doctrine teachers out there, I might have seizures if I ever had to do that. I swear I spent hrs and hrs preparing that 30 minute lesson. After it was all said and done I always wonder why I freak out about it so much but that is something I will never get accustomed or used to doing.

I did love the topic though. Having a Christ centered Christmas. I feel like this year my mind has been wondering more towards the true meaning of Christmas instead of the commercialized side of it. I think it's because Lane is old enough to understand and grasp the concept. It's weird how they can grow and mature that much in just a year. Last year I was still wondering if he even knew who Santa was! It has warmed my heart to see him learn why we celebrate Christmas.

As we were putting up our nativity I explained to him who was apart of Jesus birth and why they belonged in the nativity. I quiz him every now and then to see if remembers and he does! He was even able to give his primary talk, wait scratch that. I was able to give his primary talk (that kid is so shy) of the story of Jesus' birth and how we can read about it in the scriptures. We brought the Nativity set and put each piece out as his talk unfolded.

I also found some great websites that have awesome FHE lessons on Christmas that focus on Christ.  I guess you do learn and grow from your church callings:)

So check,  church lesson DONE!

Christmas dinner, turned out wonderful! Well for me I thought it went good, I hope others feel the same. We have amazing people in our ward. Judy Cotter is one of them. We had the dinner in her backyard. She is the lady who has a-z when it comes to decorating and parties. We just asked to use her backyard and when we went to set up it was like walking into a Christmas themed wedding reception. Pictures do not give it justice.

We had a yummer dinner and a great program. There is a girl in our ward named Courtney Cotter. She is 20 and has an amazing voice. Last year she entered a radio contest where you had to write and perform an original Christmas song. She blew the competition out of the water. This song she wrote and sings brings tears to my eyes every time I hear it. The song is her feelings on how Santa is really a depiction of Christ.  She was so nice to perform it to us at our party. You can watch it on this you tube video but even better, you can buy it on itunes! She just released her 2nd album so I can't wait to buy one and put it in my car. Listen to her song, you won't regret it!

(I can't figure out how to get the actual video on here, urr)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7dHSsio1zE

Like I said, this was more on the fun side. Plus it I had wonderful help.
But check, RS Christmas dinner DONE!

We have been doing some fun non stressful things too.

We went to the temple lights.

Had FHE with grammy and papa and made gingerbread houses.

I saw this on pinterest and have had it on my to do list.

It is santa hat party mix. You can find the recipe on pinterest. I also saw it being named white trash mix, funny. There are not santa hats in the WT mix.

Oh , but in lieu of the craisens and dry roasted peanuts use peanut and peanut butter m&m's. You will thank me later.

Oh, Oh. Next time I am saving myself the extra hour of dipping the hats and just throwing the caramel bugles in the mix and letting the m&m's color it up.

Santa WT mix, DONE!

It is a tasty treat. Very sweet and salty. I still have a coating of sugar lining my tongue.

Double Holiday

Not only was it Thanksgiving last Thursday, it was Rusty's birthday too!

Our little turkey turned 2 years old!

( don't you just want to eat him up!)

Birthdays at our house aren't complete without balloons and donuts!

I am way lacking in manly birthday wrapping

We had our big Thanksgiving feast at Grammy and Papa's house.

I want to slather him in butter and eat him like that roll!

What a year to be thankful for!

                                     Happy Birthday Rusty boy, you bring our family lots of joy!Birthday Rusty boy, you bring our family lots of joy!!

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!

.

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!

.

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.