Christmas Eve

     On Christmas Eve, we all went over to Karen's house for some yummy food and dessert. It was quite the turn-out... not everyone could make it, but we still ended up with about 25 or so. Adam & Janae were in charge of doing the christmas program and they decided to do a little talent show for all the kids before the nativity. Bryce, Makana & Carson sang Sleigh Ride as upside-down chin people; Gavin told some awesome Santa jokes; Aaron recited a Christmas poem; and Ruby sang a primary song. They all did so great, I am so proud of them! It takes guts to stand up in front of that many people and perform!
Next was the Nativity and it turned out so cute! Jonathan narrated the story; Ruby played Mary and Gavin was Joseph; Caleb and Aaron were Shepherds; Isaac and Carson were wisemen and they had real Frankincense and Myrrh; Bryce, Makana & Ruby were angels and looked so pretty! Janae put together the best costumes and the kids had so much fun!
     Once that was over, we had a surprise visit from Santa. All the kids sat on his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas. All except for adorable little Lilah... she was so scared of him and started crying so hard. It was so sad but I couldn't help smiling because she is so darn cute! When Ruby's turn was done, she  went over and sat down next to Matt. She looked at him with suspicious eyes, then looked at Santa, then looked back and Matt and says, "I don't think that's the real Santa... he looks a lot like your dad. Hey, where is your dad anyway?" You know, Santa's a busy guy... he needs all the helpers he can get, right?
     So here are a few pics I borrowed from Ali's blog until I upload my own pics. She is a much better photographer than me anyway. Thanks Ali!

All I Want for Christmas is...

     At the beginning of November, we told the kids to think about what they wanted for Christmas and make a list. A few days later, we get an email from Makana and this is what it read:
     "Hi Momma and Daddy, here is my christmas list. #1 - to see you, #2 - night-vision goggles. Miss you and luv you bunches!"
     WHAT?! Night-vision goggles? We'd totally expect that from Carson or maybe even Bryce (since she's a little bit of a tom-boy), but girly-girl, drama queen, pink princess Makana? We just laughed and thought it was awesome. She always catches us off guard with random little comments and things, so we should have expected something crazy like that. Later she told us she wanted a pottery wheel, so we got her that and decided to save the spy-gear for her birthday. Those kinds of things are much more fun in the summer anyway.
     Bryce's list wasn't quite as random: skinny jeans, clothes, posters for her room. The shocker was when she told us she wanted a Michael Jackson CD along with Owl City, Justin Beiber and a few other popular bands. Even though I have several of his albums, I was able to find an awesome Greatest Hits collection that had a bunch of old Jackson 5 songs too.
     Carson is pretty laid back and just goes with the flow, so his list was just as we expected: video games and Bakugons. Okay, maybe we didn't expect the Bakugons, but it wasn't really surprising. I, personally, thought they were stupid and pointless. I got him 2 or 3 and tried to find other things he'd like, but after he explained the whole point system and how complex they are, I got him a few more. To tell you the truth, I was a bit intrigued by how much he knew and Matt, being the little kid at heart he is, wanted some for himself so he could battle with Carson. It's kinda cute if you think about it, but I still have to make fun of him for it.

Abby & Us

Why in the world would we want to install new tile and wood floors in a house that was built only 2 years ago? I'll tell you why... Abby. Did you ever see the movie "Marley & Me"? That story might as well have been written about her. Abby is our floppy 80-pound White Labrador Retriever. I use the term "floppy" because that, in itself, describes her personality to a T. Being raised with three little 10-pound Rat Terriers has led her to believe she is only as big as them and, therefore, "flops" around like a lap-dog. So here's the story:

A couple weeks ago, Matt & I were heading out to go run some errands. We let the dogs out to do their business & when they all came back inside, put the three Ratties in their kennels & Abby in the bathroom by the front entryway because her's was broken at the time.

We were gone for about an hour & came back to this...

Whether she was retaliating or just plain bored, we don't know. What we do know is that when we got back, there was a big chunk of linoleum missing from the floor about 18 inches in diameter. There weren't enough scraps around that would match what was missing, so it took us all of about 2 seconds to realize that Abby had eaten the floor. That's right, she ATE the floor! Grrr! I was so mad, I couldn't even talk... and that says a lot about someone who can hardly keep their mouth shut long enough to breathe. So Matt fixed her kennel & she got to stay in there for the rest of the day... and maybe the next week, but I'm not getting into that part of the story.

Anyway, this little conundrum gave us a chance to explore other options rather than just laying down a replacement patch that would never look as good as it was before. When we built the house we got mostly the basics and decided that if/when we had to replace something, we'd upgrade to something better, so we decided to attempt puting in tile even though neither of us had done it before. I was so excited to do it that I decided to document our progress. Here goes...

Removing the sub-floor

(this was probably the worst part of the whole job)

Setting out the tile to make sure it's all going to fit

Matt measuring for cuts

Poop shoot

After seeing what was underneath the carpet, we decided to soak the floor with a really strong enzyme cleaner and cover it with an epoxy sealer. Then we thought, "While we're at it, why don't we just extend the tile to the bottom of the stairs and just get rid of that section of the carpet?". Then, of course, I started thinking about what could be on the floor under the rest of the carpet and decided to rip it all up, soak it, seal it, and install the wood flooring we had sitting in our garage.

Thought about doing a border but decided that it looked a lot better at Home Depot than it did on our floor.

It totally looks like I posed for this, but I didn't. I'm just that good.

Here are a few pics of the nearly-finished product. Let me know what you think!

To-Don't List

If there is one thing I am absolutely certain of, it's that I suck at lists. If by some miracle I actually create one, all hope for actually doing it is gone. This is why I have created my very own "To-Don't" List. Normally the word "don't" has a negative connotation, but I've found a way to turn it around and make it good. The thing that's great about it, is that if I don't do something I put on the list, I feel accomplished. Some of these things I may have done in the past, but once I added them to the list, I remembered to not do them when the opportunity arrived. (I'm not telling which ones I have actually done)

Here are a few examples of what is on my list:

1) Don't attempt to cut a frozen Snickers on your leg with a Leatherman tool.
2) Don't underestimate the power of duct-tape.
3) When drowning in a lake, don't get distracted by the shiny fish that swims by.
4) If you come across an alligator while strolling along the hilly brush, don't assume it's fake.
5) More importantly, don't call it a crocodile unless you're sure it's a crocodile.
6) Don't leave silly putty in the pocket of your hoody and forget about it until it's been through the dryer.
7) Don't be the nice girl/guy at the bowling alley and offer to retrieve a ball that didn't quite make it to the end of the lane.
8) Don't run into the tree in the middle of Chik-fil-a's parking lot.
9) Don't shave your legs with an electric turkey knife while standing in the bath tub.
10) When forwarding email and adding your own comment that may insult and/or offend the original sender, don't accidentally hit "reply" and send your message back to them.

Feel free to share your "To-Don't" suggestions with me & I'll add them to my list. I really think we can make a difference in this world by helping each other avoid these kinds of things, which in turn makes us feel more confident and happy.

Oh my gosh, she actually updated her blog...

After 9 months of hearing people complain about staring at the same not-so-awesome-anymore story with the same not-so-awesome-anymore picture I captured and edited of David Archuletta, I am actually going to click "publish post" and let you all know that there are things that go on in my life (besides going to an American Idol concert) that are worth talking about. To tell ya the truth, I have 7 partial-posts that I just never published for reasons unknown to me. I probably saw something shiny and got distracted. However, after reading over my clever headlines and enticing intros, I decided I'm going to eventually finish them and stick them on here... as soon as I remember the rest of the story.

The Last Resort

So I get a call from Becca saying, "Hey, I have an extra ticket to this concert, do you want to go?"

I reply, "Oh, that sounds fun, what concert?" Of course my first thought is Tim McGraw - we've had this tradition of going to see him every year - so, naturally, I'm super excited.

She says, "Well, let me just tell you what happened... blah blah... so-and-so backed out and now this person won't go if they aren't going... so basically you are the last resort & I'll have to eat $67 if you don't come."

Okay, so it wasn't really like that. She actually said that she'd rather I go because we always have a lot of fun at concerts together.

"Oh yeah, it's the American Idol Concert" she spits out with a giggle.

I pause for a minute, waiting for her to tell me she's joking, but nope... silence... I couldn't help but to laugh too. You think I wanna fork out $67 to see a bunch of people do karaoke?! Yeah right, I'd rather spend my money on shoes... maybe.

Okay, so I was actually way excited. I religiously watched every episode this season - thanks to DVR - and thought the top 10 finalists were awesome. Not to mention the fact that David Cook is freakin' hot & David Archuletta is from my home town.