The "Star of David"

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My brothers seem to keep things interesting around my parents house. I was going to write a post about this but decided to copy and paste the one Stephanie wrote instead! She is a way better writter then me anyway:)

As I've said before, I love homemade ornaments and cozy Christmas trees adorned with noodle glued memories. It's been a while since I really looked at the ornaments on my mom's tree, but was happy to see some of the ol' "originals" still intact....

This hair was brought to you by "rags". :)

I don't know what school year this was, but my mom really knew how to rock our 80's bangs.
Mason jar lids really had their season in decorating...

And a personal favorite....
Davey love handsome boy around nursery age.

Well, apparently David was seen this year, scrutinizing this very ornament. The cogs and wheels in his mind must have been turning, because a few hours later, a new and improved version was drying on the table.....
And the Star of David II was born.

Davey was gone when we fixed it to the top of the tree, but was thrilled when he got home to see his mug in it's "rightful" place atop the pine. Unfortunately, while trying to stand on a chair to get the best picture on his phone, the Droid was dropped and had to be replaced on Christmas Eve. So while this is a seemingly cheap star... Davey paid in the neighborhood of $100 to see it shine. :)

Never a dull moment! What are we going to do while he is gone on his mission? Bieber and Craig will pull through.

It Was Good



(don't make fun of the non matching, off center font colors. I hate when I delete by accident and don't have the patience to start over)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TOMORROW!

We can't wait!

Giddy Up

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Rudolph with your nose so BRIGHT...

"Mom, where is my shiny nose"?

(Reindeer ensemble courtesy of Goodman progressive dinner last night)

What's Been Cooking, Good Looking?!

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The Mother invited Marcie and I to a Saturday day date to the Christmas Idea House! This was my very first experience with the Idea House so I was excited to go.

We charted the Greyhound bus (full of the Red Hat Society gals) that drove us to the Las Sendas house chosen for this years boutique. Funny thing was that Casey had been pouring concrete right next door the whole week before. He said it better be good because they have been hauling in a ton of stuff for days. I was happy with my purchase...homemade cinnamon rolls made on site.

I told Marcie the Desert Club is going to beg me to use my home for next year;)

 
For FHE we took the boys to see the lights at the Temple. First we went to dinner at LJ's. Rusty boy has unfortunately learned what the good stuff is. I only say that because he is now MESSY when he eats. He has a deafening scream if you don't offer up what's on your plate. He can straight up eat a whole ice cream cone. He polished off a whole drumstick at my parents the other week. No joke... the thighs don't lie!

I recently received a new church calling after serving in the primary for 4 years. I am now in the Relief Society presidency. NOT president, 2nd counselor. This past week was a little bit of a doozy. I managed to make it through my first lesson on Sunday then be in charge of our Christmas progressive dinner on Tuesday night. I had a blast doing it but the combination of doing both at the same time were not good for my nerves! Wednesday morning I'm pretty sure I layed in the La-Z boy chair half asleep with the boys running a muck until about 11 in the morning.

I am so excited about this new change for me and to get to know the sisters in my ward a little better. I put together these  ornaments for them to take home for their Christmas tree.

The weather has been A-MAZING. We like to play in the backyard and eat our CUTIE oranges. (aren't those things heaven to peel)!

Who's got a beard that's long and white? Santa has a beard that's long and white! Who's got a laugh that says HO HO HO? Santa has a laugh that says  HO HO HO! Must be Santa, Santa Clause!

Bass Pro Shop has free Santa pictures.

 However, if you go on a busy weekend say at 6pm, you may get in line and start waiting your turn. A worker might start to announce that you now need passes to see Santa. You may say, ok give me a pass but they might say, well I don't have any more. Come back at 8 when we close and you may get to see Santa.

You might start to say, I looked online at your website before hand to see all rules and regs about this whole free Santa business and nothing on there stated you need to get a pass. Friendly worker may reply, well we don't have it advertised because we don't know what days we will do passes, sorry. You may say sorry my rear and start walking over to customer service because you may have a kid now crying because he can't see Santa due to no pass rule.

You might explain so called situation to 3 different employees (who are very nice, and so yourself:) until they apologize repeatedly and move you to first in line to see Santa! Moral of the story, CALL BEFORE GOING!

Rusty Boy is 1!

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Wednesday was a bittersweet day for me. My little baby turned one.
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As I was driving to the gym Tuesday night I passed Banner Gateway. I had mixed emotions as I drove by. Part of me wished I was back at the hospital with a tiny newborn in my arms. The other part was happy I wasn't driving there at midnight in labor and walking the halls till 4 in the morning like last year!
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We celebrated low key. Like really low key. Poor daddy had to work late plus Thanksgiving was the next day so we kept it mellow by visiting Grandparents with an offering of cupcakes:) Rusty enjoyed all his wonderful presents and the cake he got to eat. The candle was the best part. Once it got lit his face got very serious trying to figure out what the heck that thing was.
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This last picture is my favorite. I was taking the cake away because I was done with pictures and boy did he not like that!
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If I knew I was going to have kids that turn out like Rusteeze I would have 10 hands down. Ok, maybe not 10 but I wouldn't hesitate to have a lot.
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He is the most social, easy going kid ever! He will cruise around the cultural hall at church until somebody picks him up. He will chill with that family for a bit then get down and roam until the next family adopts him for another 10 minutes. He could care less who is holding him. I could drop him off at a total random strangers house and he wouldn't mind a bit.
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He has an unconditional love for flip flops. If you have them, he will find them. He loves to pop up and suck on the round plastic thing that holds the straps together on the bottom. It's really gross. We had to make a rule for Lane that he can't leave is sandals on the floor because Rusty will go to town on them.
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The little man is officially a walker! It is stinkin cute. He has a bad waddle with the biggest bow legs and raises both hands in the air. I don't know how he's doing it? He can say the usual momma, dadadada, hot, ouch and yuck (my favorite).
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Rusty, you put a smile on my face every day! We just love you to pieces. Happy Birthday!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday Laners!

Our big boy turned 4 yesterday! Birthdays are so exciting for Lane. Whenever he hears of anybody having a birthday he makes sure that they have a birthday cake and candles to blow out. Needless to say  he was counting down the hours until his big day. Actually he would constantly ask "mom, is my birthday today"? Hallelujah I could finally say yes!

His day started by going to pre-school in the morning. He came home in an extra good mood and wearing a birthday crown with the number 4 all over it.

Later in the afternoon he chose to go goofy golfing with his 3 favorite pals Randon, Kennedy and Val! We also had a pizza party that night with the rest of our families.

Lane...oh that boy. We sure love him but sometimes we wonder where that kid came from! It's a good thing that when he is sweet he puts it on thick. Even if he can put a damper on your day we know we would be miserable without him!

Happy Birthday sweet boy. We love you!

Girls Night Out!

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Stephanie had the great idea of going to the Mindy Gledhill concert last night. I am all for a kid-less adventure! We were excited to have Valerie come with us and my mom ended up meeting us there too! Mindy put on a great show. Her voice and songs are refreshing to listen to compared to the usual radio artists.

The highlight of the night was meeting Stephanie Nielson! This picture almost didn't happen. After the concert, we went up to the front where the rest of the masses were trying to get a picture with NieNie. We decided to go around to the side of the stage were it was less crowded. As we were walking up she had a lady body guard person trying to escort her away to a backstage room. Right as she was approaching the stairs to leave our Stephanie squeezed between the "body guard" and asked NieNie if we could take a picture with her! She said of course! After my mom took the picture she said it was nice to meet you then walked away back stage. It was awesome.

We must have been on a high or something because we decided to go to Cheesecake Factory afterwards. We attacked the menu and ordered roadside hamburger sliders, reese's peanut butter cheesecake, brownie sundae and a hot fudge sundae...no joke! We walked in at 9:30 and were the very last to leave after closing which was 11pm. Seriously half the lights were already shut off as we were walking out!

It was such a fun night doing girly stuff with some of my favorite people!



Mixer

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One of Rusty's favorite pastimes is to unload all the water bottles from the pantry onto the floor. About twice a day I find myself restocking them back on the shelf. Yes I could easily move them up higher but it entertains him and it allows me to get things done... or sit and watch tv in peace:) It's funny because Lane would do the same thing. Can you tell who is who?

You can usually find Rusty crawling around with this toy broccoli in his mouth. He is getting close to full on walking. Oh my!


I have been enjoying a few Goodwill projects. I found both these dressers for a whole dolla! The brown one I kept as a night stand next to our bed and the ivory dresser I just sold at our garage sale. I forgot to take a before picture of the ivory dresser. Imagine your great grandma's living room, the Brady Bunch or the old Matta's on Main Street waiting area and that's what it originally looked like.

I have been wanting to do a garage sale for FOREVER! Easy money in my mind. I had the goal last year but it got too hot and it never happened. Well Casey was sick of squeezing the car between 2 massive piles of junk so we put it on the calendar for the 10th time and guess what, IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED! It was a huge success. Not only did we have the typical garage sale stuff, we made breakfast burritos and had soda for purchase as well. I thought we were pretty fancy.

So my friend (name will remain anonymous) gave me 3 garbage bags full of "treasures" after cleaning out her house. As I was digging stuff out of them getting things arranged on tables, I came across 3 bra's that were inside. I almost didn't put them out thinking nobody would buy them. Well I am proud to announce that the very first 3 items sold were...the three bra's! It was hilarious. Gotta love good ol' garage sale hoppers or buen viejo tolvas de venta de garaje:)

The Squeakquel of the Lawn Ornament

Cheers to a fun filled week of Happy Halloween festivities!

Lanes preschool had a parade and carnival. He wasn't digging the fact that he couldn't roam and do as he pleased without staying with the class. Half of the time was filled with tears because he WANTED TO GO BOWLING! We were both being tried of our patients that morning. It did end up being enjoyable once he got what he wanted (darn kid.)

We went to the State Fair. Love, love the State Fair! Especially happy hour, half price entrance plus $1 rides, food and games!

Sporting his spooky Walmart wear

Saturday was trick or treating day. Lane was ALVIN from Alvin and the chipmunks, not a baseball player like grandpa thought. Rusty was a GARDEN GNOME, not Santa Clause like Lane thought:) Lane had his costume picked out many months ago. I saw Rusty's little number at the store and laughed my head off then threw it in my cart. The beard and hat lasted a whole 10 seconds but he was still so so cute!

The only bummer was the lack of Butterfingers this year. Not a single one!