New Years Eve with the FAM!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Tonight at the stroke of 10 o’clock we went outside with the kids to ring in the new year. The kids yelled and screamed, used poppers, confetti, blow horns, and every other kind of noise maker known to man.

The kids weren’t satisfied with just making noise in our own front yard, so Dan led the “noisy parade” (Blow horns, whistles and all) around the neighborhood and even out onto Columbia Center Blvd. to make sure everyone knew it was new Years Eve. I think they were successful ;)

The kids played in the snow, built a snowman, and made a huge wall of snow to hide behind during their snowball fight with Dad.

No one was throwing snowballs at me because I was holding the camera most of the evening, but they all really wanted me to put it down so I would be fair game, so I had them pose for this one last picture and then put the camera away and told them ready…aim…fire, and that is exactly what they did. Everybody get MOMMMMM!

Towards the end of the evening Dan took the kids for rides behind the truck, around the cul-de-sac. They love doing this!

Apparently a neighbor did not love us doing this because after a few short rides we got a friendly visit from the Kennewick Police Department asking us to stop. (I’m pretty sure alerting the whole neighborhood, with our little parade 30 minutes earlier, was probably not the smartest thing to do right before doing this activity :)

Ky was the last in line to go for a ride, so he didn’t end up getting his turn. SAD :(

Ky’s life lesson learned tonight: Always go first…when doing something illegal :)

After getting into P.J.’s and warming back up, we had a little party with a ton of snacks, sparkling cider, games, and movies.

A few of my brothers and sisters dropped by to join the party, after a dance was cancelled due to ice. So it was more food and games with them.

And then another midnight “Happy New Year” to make it official.

Christmas Morning at home.

The BIG family SURPRISE!

New coats, snow pants, sleds, and a gift certificate for a 3 night stay at a lodge and 2 days of skiing, for the family, while we're there. I love the idea of giving a family vacation for a gift. It's a gift that keeps giving and giving because of all of the fun memories that will be made.

Santa left a HUGE stocking, just for me, last night. I think he got wind that stockings were my favorite thing about Christmas when I was little and missed getting all of the fun stuff that comes in a stocking. Santa totally out did himself this year with how much stuff he brought me. And I understand Santa did the same for all of my brothers and sisters at their respective houses too. A big thanks to "the Santa from my childhood", that was a really fun surprise :)

Homemade blankets from mom.

Alaina jammin' out on her Karaoke Machine.

Things were a little tight this year for our family unfortunately (such is the life with a self-employed husband with 2 start up businesses in a tough economic time) so Dan and I decided to forgo any Christmas gifts for ourselves. We also made sure that the only gifts the kids got us were homemade or made at school for us. They always get excited about those kinds of gifts anyway and we made sure to make a dig deal out of them so they knew we appreciated our Christmas too.

Once all of the kids were done opening their gifts and starting to play with them on the floor, Dan winked at me from across the room. He reached under the tree and grabbed a wrapped gift and then got up and walked it over to me. He leaned over, kissed me, and whispered in my ear, I love you Stace...Merry Christmas.

I opened my unexpected gift. I have to admit, at first I was mad at him for getting me a gift because we agreed NOT to do so this year. But, I opened it with my face getting a little hot from frustration anyway.

To my pleasant surprise....

It was a little spiral bound, homemade book entitled...

It only took reading the cover to bring me to tears. Dan is seriously the most amazing man ever, I often feel so unworthy to be married to him but I love that I have been blessed to have him as my companion in this life. AND....he pulled this gift off with out spending a dime. Just time....Just thoughtfulness....Just love.

The book started all the way back with memories from Highschool. Each page had a different piece of "Our Love Story", he added pictures that went with that story, asked the question, Do you remember when..., then wrote a page worth of all of his memories of that time in our life.

It was so sweet, and over 50 pages long.

Here's how a few of the pages started out.

-Do you remember when I came home from my mission, meeting you for the first time again, and thinking... Wow, I am really really really glad to see Stacey again. (Then all of his memories of that day)

-Do you remember going out of town with me to the coast with Annette and Jacob? Do you remember how I kept going back and forth in my mind about whether or not I should try to take it to the next level with you that weekend and really try to turn our relationship up to a boyfriend girlfriend level? (then a page worth of pictures and details of his memories from that trip)

-Do you remember how excited I was to marry you?

-Do you remember my nerves the evening I sang you a love song in front of a hundred people?

-Do you remember being pregnant with our first baby?

-Do you remember leaving our children for that trip to Cozumel? Or that trip to Hawaii?

-Do you remember making out in the snow in Utah on our Anniversary weekend?

-Do you remember those hours I spent composing my thoughts and ideas for this little book?

-PS... One last thing. Do you remember this? Me & You, in the kitchen, you on my back, me lifting you with my butt in the center of your stomach, and me not having enough control of myself to avoid what would become one of my more embarrassing moments thus far. Do you remember that?

Yeah... me too. Wish we had a picture of that one. It would have made a great page, I am sure:)

Dan, thanks for making me feel so special today, I love you to pieces.

Christmas afternoon with the Rose’s

Going “old school” with a little game of Rock’em Sock’em.

Dan keeping warm with his 2 in 1 hat and face shield. Sweet!

Mom opening the photo album I made her. I put pictures of all of the grandkids and did a little year in review for her. She liked it and thinks I should make her one every year. We’ll See ;)

Leslie had my kids sit in a circle to receive the gifts from her family. She then told them not to open them yet and went on to read one of those stories that say left and right like 100 times. Each time they heard left or right in the story they switched their gifts around the circle until the story ended and they finally got to open the present in front of them. It was a FUN way to do a gift exchange! Gary getting excited about the dish towels he just opened. YAHOOO!

Greg and Brittany modeling a couple of the awesome singing, dancing, light up hats we received from Santa this year.

Fun Times with the Rose's!

Christmas Eve Brunch

Christmas Eve started out at Grandma Rose's house for our annual grand-daughter brunch. It was fun to visit and spend the morning with grandma, my sisters, and a few of my cousins.

Grandma Rose is turning 90 this next year. She is 90% blind, her hands are crippled with arthritis, she has a lot of aches and pains throughout her body, and is on oxygen 24/7. You would think that would be enough to make anyone cranky and to give good reason to complain about life, but not my grandma. She just keeps moving forward, serving, loving, and lifting others; especially her grand daughters. I always feel so loved when I'm around her.

My grandma is my most favorite person on the face of the earth. She is smart, witty, and always full of good advice. I love it when she shares a funny or romantic story with us from when she was a teenager. I cherish every minute that I get to spend with my grandma and I hope to be just like her someday. Love ya Grandma!

Christmas Eve with the Ostler’s

After having a big Christmas dinner with Dan’s family, we laid out all of the school supplies that we had brought for our Christmas Service Project. Back at Thanksgiving time we started this project by sewing bags. Now it was time to assemble them with all the needed supplies. With the kids help we made an assembly line and got all 50 school bags filled with supplies for a little boy or girl in need. The kids had a fun time doing it and it felt good to do something for others on Christmas.

While a few of us adults were cleaning up after our big project, Dan, “the babysitter” occupied the grandkids with a little game of untangle the knot.

All of the cousins exchanged a gift, and then we finished out our day with a few games, some visiting, dessert, and watching the nativity video, starring all of the grandkids:)

Next stop… Home to get into our new Christmas P.J.’s and get into bed before Santa comes!

Christmas Eve...Eve. -Sister's night out

With all of my sisters in town for Christmas, we couldn't possibly pass up the opportunity for a little "sister's night out":) We had a blast together getting pedicures, going to dinner and then to a movie. Thanks for the fun tonight, we'll see in the morning at Grandma's Brunch.

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

After loosing one of his front teeth yesterday, Kase has been trying his hardest to wiggle the other one loose just in time to sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" before Christmas is over and it's to late:)

Good luck buddy.

Kase’s 6th Birthday!

We whipped up some homemade birthday invites using the picture below. The invitation read…

KASE WANTS YOU to come to his 6th Birthday Party!

We decided to celebrate Kase’s birthday a little early this year; before school let out for Christmas break. His birthday is actually 2 days after Christmas so it was nice having it a week early because lots of his friends were able to come and it didn’t get lost in the shuffle of Christmas festivities.

We celebrated another great B-day at Garland’s Gymnastics with all of his friends, cousins, and siblings. A gymnasium is an awesome birthday venue in the dead of winter, it is just one big indoor play land. All of the kids had a blast!

Kase’s favorite part of the day was, of course, the BUNGEE!

Making a WISH!

The big SURPRISE from Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and Leslie’s family.

Happy Birthday Kase-A-Boy! Love Ya!

A Christmas from the past.

I was looking for a Christmas story to give as part of my young women lesson this week at church. I was reading through a few stories online and found tons of great ones on service and the true meaning of Christmas. As I read them, I started reflecting back to Christmas' from my childhood and one in particular when I really discovered the true meaning of Christmas.

Thought I would record it here for journaling purposes...

Up to the age of 11 Christmas was mostly about getting, but on that Christmas I came to understand the true meaning of Christmas. I truly discovered for the first time that giving feels better than receiving.

On this particular Christmas our family, and a couple other families, decided to provide Christmas for a family in need. We were told what the family needed and everyone was given assignments of who to buy for. Christmas Eve came and we gathered to wrap the gifts in preparation of the grand delivery. The family in need had a girl my same age, and for some reason, as we wrapped the gifts, we noticed that her pile of gifts looked much smaller than all the rest of the piles that evening. Our parents began wondering if they forgot about her, and feeling bad that she wasn’t getting as much, the conversation then shifted into one that suggested I should go into my room and find something I thought this girl would like, wrap it up, and give it away. My heart sank. I felt so selfish, because I really didn’t want to give anything away. The things in my room were my prized possessions and the last thing I wanted to do was give it to some girl I didn’t even know.

Well, long story short, the adults in the room convinced me that we were so blessed and had so many things; the least I could do is share “something” with her. I went to my room in search of something I could easily give up. I was considering things like, old stuffed animals, opened fingernail polish that I didn’t use anymore, a picture hanging on my wall that I was ready to take down anyway, and a pen holder from off my desk. But then my heart softened and I considered for a moment what the savior would want me to do. I left my room with my FAVORITE jewelry box under my arm and marched straight to the living room to wrap it before I changed my mind.

When we showed up at the family’s home to deliver their Christmas to them, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was in total disbelief at what I saw. The mom and dad with several small kids were in a house that had absolutely NOTHING in it. No furniture, no microwave, no tree, no toys. NOTHING. My heart sank for them. I saw the surprise in their faces when we poured through the door with armloads of gifts, a decorated tree with lights, and food. I could feel their appreciation; they looked at us like we had saved their lives, like we were their “Saviors” for this tough season of their life. My heart swelled in ways that I have never forgotten. It is hard to describe in words, what an experience like this will do to ones heart, but to this day its brings tears to my eyes thinking about how special that evening was for me. At that moment, I was so grateful that I gave this girl the most prized possession that I had in my room at the time. My favorite jewelry box. I was so glad I listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in choosing what gift to give. Can you imagine how rotten I would have felt if I had chosen to give her a half empty tube of chap stick or a half ripped poster of “New Kids On The Block” from off my wall? My thoughts were full of gratitude to God for this experience. All I could think from that time on is “what else can I give away”, “how else can I help families like that”, “what can I do to have those special feelings again and again”? It definitely taught me that Christmas is about the spirit of giving and of doing to others as Christ would want you to do.

Dan and I work so hard to keep the true meaning of Christmas in all we do around the holiday season. We hope our children understand it and learn to love it for the Christlike Love that can and should really shine though this time of year.

Cooking with a 2 year old

Tonight Hudson wanted to help with dinner. Sure... Great... I thought, I need to involve the kids more and teach them as I work around the home. I usually just want to send the kids outside and tackle the house chores or family projects on my own because involving kids usually leads to frustration on my part. I like things done RIGHT, and QUICKLY, and WITHOUT DRAMA OR PROBLEMS.

Dan usually has the patience to deal with the kids while doing household chores. But me....Not So Much.

Anyway... I thought that this time around I better just let the kid help and use it as a bonding moment for he and I. WHAT WAS I THINKING??!!

I had 3 pots simmering on the stove with different foods going into each. Hudson was anxiously waiting to help with his packets of seasoning and potato mix. While I stepped away from the stove to get the phone....It happened. The helping began and so did my frustration.

Jax took one of the packets of potatoes and ripped the package in half, at full speed, pulling one arm to the left and the other to the right. It was just like in the movies when the item gets ripped apart so hard that nothing but a giant puff of floury cloud envelops the room as the dust flies everywhere. OH MY GOODNESS.....not funny.

I had potato mix spread throughout all of the wrong pots. It contaminated 3 different recipes I had going and as a result of the powder falling on the burners....flames started jumping out of each burner putting me into panic mode and filling our house with that lovely burnt instant potatoes stench that only a mishap like this can produce.

So....super mom comes to the rescue. I clear the pots, stop the fires, fix the food the best I can, and keep my cool with my son, sort of.

But....as I bend down to start sweeping up the mess on the floor at my feet, to my not so happy surprise, here comes another cloud of exploding potatoes over my head and all around me. Oh Yeah.....you guessed it....he wasn't done helping and he thought it was time for that second batch of potatoes to get started. I evidently was taking too long.

Uggggghh!!!!!!!!! Here is the mess AFTER I had already done a bunch of damage control and cleared off the initial mess of pots and fire.

UGH..."You're killing me smalls."

I think I will leave the teaching moments to Dan. At least he chooses his teaching moments more wisely. For instance, when I told him it was his turn to work with the kids on dinner the other day, he showed them the right way to order McDonald's thru the drive thru. The time before that, he showed them the right way to do it at McDonald's in the restaurant. He tells me his next opportunity he will show them how to do it at a Mexican restaurant. He is so good. :)