Early FALL HodgePodge

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FALL has finally made it's debut!

The cooler air, which will hopefully last, has gotten me all excited for what

is to come in the upcoming months. Here are some things we have done lately!

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Our annual Udall girl gathering for the general Relief Society broadcast and

dinner at BJ's. Ha! Mom, I just now noticed that you are giving Abigail bunny ears.

Making lot's of pumpkin chocolate chip bread. We really have made it so much

that Lane reminds me to get pumpkin at the grocery store now.

Harvest time once again!

Cucumbers, all sorts of peppers, broccoli, zucchini & tomatoes will

be in abundance in a few weeks. I think it's funny that we even have a garden

because Casey is NOT a veggie eatin' kind of guy." The prophet said to plant a garden

so that's what will do"...

He's so obedient!

Warning: If you eat at Waldo's BBQ, make sure you tip good or else
they run you over with their tractor!

I really hope Lane didn't have bad dreams that night but it was kind of nice being able to dangle the treat that if he didn't sit in his chair and eat his dinner, we would take him
outside and make him sit by the slaughtered bicyclist.

I did a little FALL cleaning and re-organizing. The nursery is now finished complete with
de-junking ALL the toys, setting the crib up, getting the newborn stuff out of the
attic & washing and folding Lanes old baby clothes. It is so nice to be DONE! Yes,
we have not ONE thing left to do for this baby to come! It was fun going down memory lane going through all the baby stuff. I had forgotten about half of it & once
I ran across those baseball booties, I was ready to give birth right then just
so I could put them on him!

Im FALLing in love with this season already. If December 6th would come a little

faster, I would be in (baby) heaven!

Nodding My Head Like Ya, Moving My Hips Like Ya

Wahoo, throw a party! We are finally done with all the projects!

Sorry for the delay in the big reveal. I really didn't think it would take this

long to complete them. Life just caught up to us once again. Casey was

my miracle carpenter, painter, shelf hanger upper... So between that and work, he has been one busy man lately! Seriously, what would I do without him! I guess I could have taken some burdens off of him but let's face it, working a miter or skil saw is NOT my forte:)

Lane has made the transition from crib to big boy bed very well! I was expecting it to be really hard for him, but he proved me wrong! The very first night he hopped right in, gave us kisses and snoozed the night away! We haven't had any problems. So without further ado, here is Lanes BIG BOY ROOM!

Yes I know, you are thinking, we waited a week in a half for that?! Sorry if you were disappointed. I would LOVE to do more things with the room but it's just a little thing called a budget that is getting in my way! Hopefully soon I can add some more details that would make it perfect.

Oh, I guess we have run into one problem with the new bed. You see, Lane is a roller like me while he sleeps. Unlike his dad who lays down and wakes up in the same position in the morning. I was worried about him rolling off in the middle of the night and breaking his arm or something. I know there are side rails you can buy and attach onto the bed. However, being the cheap person that I am, I decided that you might as well learn young where the edge of your bed is:) I think he has it figured out now but for about 3 nights when I went to check on him, I found him all nice and comfy on the floor.

Poor thing. So recently every night when I tuck him in I say " hey, if you roll off your bed while you are sleeping, don't stay on the floor! Get up and get back in your bed!" The first time I told him this I think it clicked because his face read "oh ok, that makes sense". So for the past few morning when he yells at me to get him up (yes, he WAITS for me to come get him out! BLESSED CHILD!) he first informs me that he is not on the floor. Such a little cutie!

Part 2 of our revamping was a new home for the computer!
When you live in a 1500 sq ft. home and all the rooms are taken up, you
have to get a little creative to accommodate everything. Once again, thanks to Casey
and his mad skills, he build a little computer nook at the end of our hallway. If you have been in our house before, it's in the corner between the laundry room door and the entertainment center. I have been trying to describe it to a few people but they couldn't quite grasp how and where that would work so hopefully that helps you picture it a little bit better.

If you are wondering if that color is pink, you are most definitely correct!

I have been itching for something pink and girly in my house for awhile. Knowing I
wasn't going to be able to decorate the nursery pink, I took the plunge (with Casey's permission first) and actually did it! I was kind of nervous since this is a main part of the house and didn't know if it would all flow together with my other decor but I really like how it all turned out. The chandelier is my personal favorite:) Well it's a tie between my $5 Goodwill chair the we repainted and re-upholstered.

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It feels good to be done and living normally again! Well, it is a different feel. Now I can see Casey sleeping on the couch while I do my nightly routine on the computer in my blissful pink nook, Lane is sound asleep (hopefully on his bed) on the other side of the house and the crib is waiting to have a new occupant in a few short 9 weeks!

In the WoRkS...

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.j

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Progress is being made in the attempt to getting Lane's BIG BOY

room completed!

Since the computer got kicked out of it's room that it has had all to itself the past 3 yrs, we

had to tack on an extra project to accommodate it as well! I have been loving the double challenge!!

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Hopefully MoNdAy will be the big REVEAL! In the meantime here is a

sneak peak of what is to come:

j

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*Sky Blue... I love you

*Poetic Pink, you make my heart skip a beat

* Asparagus, I love you as a color but not on a plate

* Beach White. Just like a real beach, just heavenly!

.*I can't forget to mention the not pictured best accent color ever made, Bison Brown, which will always be in stock at my home!*

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Thank goodness for "many hands make light WoRk"

Well, sometimes:)

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Little Lane Funnies:)

Our little Lane can sure make us laugh sometimes. I LOVE when he is

in a quirky mood and says FUNNY things! This week he has

given me the giggles one too many times!

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We have been starting to get things ready for his new big boy room.

I was painting a shelf and should have known not to start a painting project until he went

to bed but was ancy to get it done. Lane of course wanted to "help" so I taped off a corner of the table and let him have at it on his own project. I got out some old paint for him and when he saw them he looked confused and said "ketchup, mustard?" Only it was said in his lispy "lane"guage voice which only made it cuter!

When I take Lane a bath I usually just throw him in and give him a quick wash down without filling the whole tub up. Sometimes if I'm in the mood I will let him play for a bit while I pick up toys or check e-mails. I know, I am a bad mom. Please don't report me but I am always checking on him or yell for him to respond back so I know he's ok. So Wednesday while Casey was at mutual I let him stay in the unplugged tub with running water to play while I finished something up (yes, I am a water waster too). I yell to him, he responds back, things are good. A few minutes later he starts yelling AT ME to come here in a different kind of voice. I run in and I find the bath tub almost to full capacity with an inch of space left to the top. I screamed because it totally threw me off guard. I had no idea he knew how to put the plug in! He said (in water up to his neck) "mom, tubtub too big" YA IT'S TOO BIG, ya little stinker!

(it was much fuller than this before I took the picture)

This morning I had a visiting teaching interview. As a hand out they gave us a SunnyD bottle with a paper wrapped around it saying "Your service is the Son's delight" with a picture of Jesus on it. As we were driving to our next errand, Lane wanted the juice bottle so I gave it to him. He looked at it and said "mom, Jesus?" in his curious voice. I said, ya that's Jesus. Then he responded back "Jesus juice?" I busted up laughing and couldn't stop for the longest time!

I need to ask the Relief Society where I can get some more Jesus juice!

A GOOD Man!

... It seems as though our lives have slowed down and are back to normal as of this week.

* Vacations have come/gone

* Even though we are not in school, everybody else is which means we are

somewhat on a school schedule as well. (sounds weird, but true)

* swim lessons are officially over

etc, etc, etc

Being caught up in all the summer fun, I have forgotten how our little family life can require so much time and energy! The sad thing is; is that it's not really my time or energy, it's

THIS GUYS:

TIME AND ENERGY!

Casey has taken a beating by Lane and I lately! He does SO much for us all the time and I don't thank him enough for it. He is a silent server. He takes things upon himself that I would never think of doing because it's not "high priority" to me . He just wants us to have the best even if that means loosing sleep, money or his sanity!

Both our vehicles were in need of a major hose down. I was planning on taking mine to the car wash at the beginning of the week. Next thing I know, Case had it backed out of the garage and was giving it a nice detail and wax that took about 3 hrs of work when finished. I of course was grateful but didn't think too much of his hard work until Monday night rolled around. We were leaving Golden Spoon, he could see the clouds coming in. We booked it to the car hoping to beat the storm and get her tucked in the garage before the rain hit. Almost made it...1/2 mile too slow. Instead of complaining he just got some rags out and started to wipe her clean again.


Sunday our computer informed us that there were hundreds of viruses and trojans that have taken over ( pretty sure I am to blame). Since I am an invalid when it comes to fixing anything or even knowing where to start to fix things, I kindly passed the torch to Casey to take care of it. Off he goes to the computer room. Meantime, I do things around the house, watch Time Line on whether to vaccinate your children, take a shower. Now it 11pm. I go into the office and Casey is slumped over in the chair, lights fully on, sound asleep. I tap him on the shoulders and told him to wake up. He popped up quickly like nothing had just happened and started typing some random letters on the computer and hit enter! Haha. I told him to stop and just go to bed because clearly he was hallucinating. I left him be and come to find out he went to bed at 2am after it was all fixed and woke up at 3:30 to go to work.

Tuesday Lane randomly started a fever around noon and was throwing up. A fun unexpected surprise to add to your week! His fever ended up getting to 104 so I decided to take him into Twilight after hours since he was pretty lethargic and couldn't stop shaking from his high temp. As I am loading him into the car and strap him in his seat he starts throwing up. CRAP! I knew that was the last thing I wanted to smell for days and remember, Casey JUST cleaned it a few days prior! So I start catching it in my hands and chucking it out the door onto the garage floor till he is all done! Of course felt so bad for Lane because he was MISERABLE but I must say I was pretty darn good about not getting any in the car! Casey is gone during all this doing his churchy duties so I text him telling where I was going. I felt bad having him come down since he was still sleep deprived from the previous night and thought he could finally catch up on some good Z's. Being the good dad that he is, he of course came down and waited the 2 hours with us. Lane just slept on his lap the whole time and I know Lane was grateful that he was there too! I could have taken the sweetest picture of the two of them asleep in the waiting room but I spared Casey the embarrassment that time!

My little sicky. We had some good quality couch/jammie time for 2 1/2 days.

you know he must have not felt well because he NEVER just
sleeps on the couch like this!

my other sleeping beauty

Casey usually wont go to bed without me. I am a night owl so
this is where he spends the first hour or so of his sleep.
(can you tell which couch we favor most?)

Casey truly is my saving grace! Not only does he do wonderful things for us, he defiantly keeps us laughing with his goofy personality and puts all the fun into our family. Most of you may not believe me because of his shyness (I think it's an act to fool everyone) but it's true! Ask any of his sisters, they will tell you the same thing! He loves to get a rise out of anybody that he can. The best is when it works with his sister Valerie and she starts to beat him up...literally! She is the only person I know that can do that! His laugh while she has him in a choke, pinch hold is comical!! I have learned that the way to his heart is by having home made baked anything in the kitchen when he get's home from work or by kind words or deeds of affection through out the day. He constantly is giving me the giggles and I wish everybody could see what a laid back, fun loving guy that he is! We just love him so much!

Pagosa Springs

We sure have been spoiled this summer with another wonderful vacation! This time it was with Casey's parents, the Stahle's and the Sherwoods. Jaynie Stahle was kind enough to arrange for us to come stay in some time shares they own. When we found out they were in Pagosa Springs Colorado, we had to jump on board since that is where Casey and I went on our honeymoon. Pagosa is an hour away from Durango and is the cutest, most quaint little town with not much to do but relax, eat and enjoy it's beauty!

First things first we had to get there and what not a better way than cramming 6 adults, a car seat with child, plus luggage in a burb! It was about a 10 hour drive and I was kind of nervous on how well Lane would do. Thank goodness to a big screen dvd player and Open Season 2 (the animal movie as Lane calls it) we had very minimal incidences:)


I have no idea how many times Lane watched that movie, I had many others to choose from but for some reason he HAD to watch his beloved animal movie. You can see how upset one can get when they don't get their way...

A lot of site seeing was done. Jaynie is known as the Pagaso Queen and has been there many times. She took us on scenic drives with pretty views of the mountains around us.

I love his face in the picture below. Mary made a comment , something about taking away his red shirt that he carries around with him if he didn't smile and that was his reaction back.

He was also determined to get that squirrel to eat popcorn out of his hand.

On one of our drives Casey and Kody started to torment a bull which decided to almost give them a run for their money... I kind of wish it had because that would have been a great picture!


We brought up a bike for Lane to ride and played some baseball in the late afternoons



Pagosa even has a ZOO. Lane kept wondering where the monkeys and giraffes were but the elk and bears made up for it.

We had to get our soaks in at night. Pagosa has natural spring "hot tubs". They stink like sulfur and rust your fake jewelry but none the less are very relaxing! The Colorado river runs right in front of them so that is kind of cool too. Since I couldn't get in them Lane and I hit up the heated pool area.

We shopped down town,


"fished" in the river. (behind us you can see all the hot springs).


played games into the wee hours of the morning,

there was a lake behind our time share that Lane made sure we visited every morning. They went fishing once but had no luck catching anything.

I was most excited to go to the Choke Cherry Tree store where they make the BEST carmel's EVER! We even had to go twice to get our fill of yummy goods.

As always, fun things must come to an end. We enjoyed spending time with such great company, especially Papa and Grammy! What GOOD people they truly are!

Now, I am the worst when it comes to getting back in the groove of things after getting off schedule. I mean like not unpack for a good week and just grab things out of my suit case until it eventually unpacks it's self. I don't mean to toot my own horn here but sometimes, SOMETIMES I can surprise myself. All in one day after getting home I:

unpacked ALL of our bags,


washed, dried and folded all of the clothes,


went to TWO different grocery stores in one day (which I NEVER EVER do) and made

chicken caesar flat bread sammie's for dinner

plus these yummo desserts for many thanks to wonderful people


not to mention put a few things up for sale on Craig's list, watched some Curious George with my

little monkey, drop some moose poop and savory Pagosa carmel's off at my fams, and

last but not least have a low key yet rewarding FHE with stories from The Friend with the loves of my life.

There must have been something in that Colorado water... I wonder if I can order some online:)