Christmas Picture Overload...

Christmas was quite eventful this year as always. It all started Christmas Eve at my sister Missy's house...

Here is Grandma and the grandkids singing Silent Night:) I learned that my kids don't know the words to Silent Night:) LOL.


Here are all of us that participated in the Ugly Christmas Sweater contest this year...and a few other little kiddos that decided they wanted to be in the picture, too. Mike had an ugly Christmas jacket this year, but decided he'd rather watch football than be in the picture!
And the winner is.....


My brother Matt! Isn't that hilarious:)

Mike and I...I had to let you see his ugly jacket...there was slim pickens this year at good 'ole Goodwill...Oh well there is always Ebay next year, right Lindsey?

Lukester in his new Christmas Jammies.

Madi in her new High School Musical PJ's and her cousins Taylor, Eliza and Alexa....Obviously they were looking at the other cameras!

Madison had to leave cookies and milk for Santa... and her pathetic mother forgot to make them earlier so instead of some fresh baked cookies, Santa got some EL Fudge cookies! (Come to find out, Santa will eat just about anything:)

Madison opening gifts Christmas morning!

Lukey opening gifts!

Madi's favorite gift from Santa...her kitchen!

Lukey's favorite gift from Santa...Rockband:) This was actually our family gift, which we've already had a blast with! I was only okay with this purchase because of the Wii fit... so far I love it:)

Our famous Christmas morning Orange rolls:) YUMMY!

We then headed over to Mike's mom's house to open some more fun gifts and eat once again:)

Madi got some cute Fancy Nancy books from Sean and Whitney and more fun toys from grandma and grandpa:)

As if they can't get enough at home they had to play Rockband at Grandma's house.

And we wrapped up the day at Grandpa Russell's house with lots more fun toys:) We were wiped out by the time we got home! Christmas was lots of fun...but I'm sooooooo glad it's over:)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

The calm before the snow:)


Lukey enjoying the snow...I think he's going to be my little snowboarder!

Madison playing in the snow! (Thinking: Wow, it's really snowing!)

Our little itty bitty snowman!

What it looked like by the time we got home last night!

Madison's dream came true! Can you believe how much it snowed here yesterday? WOW! That was awesome! Madison said, "I'm so excited! I can't believe it is snowing in Las Vegas, mommy!" The kids had so much fun playing in the snow! I went to my parents house around noon and it had just started snowing. About an hour and a half later it was a winter wonderland! I was afraid to drive home, but finally around 8:00 last night we made our 20 mile an hour journey home:) (Hey...I've never driven in snow!) I just wish we could have a white Christmas...wouldn't that be awesome?

Family Traditions...

My friend Natalie blogged about some traditions their family has and I thought they were fun! I love having Christmas traditions! A few of my favorite are:

~Christmas Eve we always have the kids open up a new pair of pajamas to wear to bed. We've done this in my family forever. I remember when we were younger me and my cousins all had cute little matching pajamas.

~Christmas Eve we have also started the "ugly sweater" contest. We started this tradition a couple of years ago. You've probably read about it on a previous post. We basically find the ugliest Christmas/Holiday sweaters we can find and then have a contest to decide who found the ugliest one. It is a lot of fun! I didn't think the guys would go for it at first, but they did and they end up finding some hilarious shirts/sweaters:)

~At Mike's mom's house we play BINGO...sometimes at Thanksgiving and sometimes Christmas. It is so much fun. His mom buys lots of fun gifts and we play like 10 rounds of BINGO:) It's lots of fun!

~Every year we buy a new ornament for our tree. It usually has something to do with what went on that year...Like my first year of teaching we bought a teacher ornament, when Madi was born a new baby one, etc. (I think a lot of people may do this??)

Anyhow, I want to know what fun traditions any of you have...I just might steal them:)

Thanksgiving Day...

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is already over and the Christmas countdown has begun! This year has flown by! Thanksgiving Day Mike worked at the hospital until about 4pm. That night we went to my parents house and had Thanksgiving dinner. I think I've gained 5 lbs. this weekend:) Anyway, we had lots of great food and we all enjoyed (the girls of course) looking at the Black Friday ads. My mom is a Black Friday fanatic...she wakes up and is at the stores bright and early. I on the other hand would rather pay the regular price for something than to wake up that early and deal with crazy people who all want the same things. So I get the best of both worlds...I sleep in, and I give my mom my list of deals to get.


Mike and I


Madison and her cousins Taylor, Cadence, and Arielle.

Grandpa and Luke

Madison, Cadence, Luke, Arielle, Taylor, Chloe, and Christian.

Madi and Lukey

I'm so excited for Christmas. I love this time of year. Madi and Luke are both at a fun age and are looking forward to Santa coming. Madi keeps asking me when it's going to snow...Uh...we live in Las Vegas Madison...that happens like once every couple years on some random day where no one is expecting it! Poor girl...She was already to go outside and play in the snow like Caillou. Looks like we'll be making a trip up to Mt. Charleston.

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas Tag...

My friend Mindy did this tag and I thought it was fun! On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me....
1 embarrassing moment: I know this sounds dumb, but I can't think of a time where I was really embarrassed...I know I've made myself look extremely stupid before, but nothing that stands out!

2 best friends: Mike, mom and sisters

3 things you buy regularly: milk, cereal, Diet Coke (I know I haven't quite given up my addiction yet!)

4 places you want to go (and might actually really go): Hawaii, Japan, On a Cruise, Disneyland (again)

5 goals for the upcoming year (that you might actually do): work out 5 days a week, Be organized, Read my scriptures every night, Pay off debt, Get out of the house before noon.

6 things most people don't know about you: It takes me FOREVER to get me and my kids dressed for the day (I'm doomed if Madi has morning Kindergarten next year!), I love to scrapbook, I write down everything (otherwise I would forget), I love it when other people admit their faults (is that horrible or what?) I think I just like being reassured I'm not the only one that is not perfect, I'm a people watcher (I love watching the weird things people do, or sometimes great things they do!), I love to find a good bargain (but, I also have no problem paying money for something I want really bad!)

7 things you would never say: A curse word of course (hehe!), "I want a cat." (hate them), "I am so skinny!" (Unfortunately I love food too much!), "I hate you!" (to any member of my family, I have no problem saying it to other people. LOL), "No, I don't want that piece of chocolate!", "I hate living in Las Vegas!" (I love living in Vegas/Henderson...home sweet home!), "I hate shopping!"

8 things you love about the Christmas season: The smell, Being with family, after Thanksgiving sales,Christmas Lights/Decorations, Hot Chocolate, Ugly sweater contest, Seeing my kids faces Christmas morning, my dad's homemade fudge.

9 things you say to your kids: "I love you!", "Give momma kisses!", "What in the he*! are you doing?"(I know I'm horrible!), "Do you want to go in time out?" (as if they have an option!), "Which book do you want to read?", "Whose momma's baby?", "I'm going to count to three...", (Tucking them in bed..."As snug as a bug in a rug!"), (When they wake up..."Hi Sugars! Did you sleep well?)

10 things you do a lot: Laundry, Clean the house (which it never looks like it:), cut coupons (I'm getting good at this coupon thing!), change Luke's diaper (the kid craps like 5x a day:), Make dinner, Straighten my hair (it takes forever and drives me nuts!), grocery shopping, go to Target, Iron, blog.

11 things you would rather not live without: my family, the gospel, a hot shower, diet coke, my bed, my van, my cell phone, the internet, good health, a home, my scriptures.

12 people to tag: Tara, Mandy, Katie, Corey B., Heidi, Natalie J., Natalie L., Erika, Lindsey, Kristin, Nikki, Carly...or anyone else.

I'm going insane....

Mike left to Virginia yesterday morning. He is there until Sunday night for a continuing ed. course...I'M GOING CRAZY!!!! I miss him a ton, and I feel so sorry for anybody who is a single parent. He has only been gone 2 days now and my kids are driving me nutty!! I guess I just didn't realize how much Mike helps me out when he gets home from work until now. I love my kids a ton, but it is taking everything inside of me to be patient w/them. Tonight went as follows...Madi going poopoo on the toilet, putting too much toilet paper in the toilet, flushing the toilet, the toilet overflowing...ME freaking out!!!! About 20 minutes later coming in the family room to see that Luke was hitting our LCD TV with a butter knife, and in his words, "Playin' like Peta Pan!"ENOUGH SAID!!!!!There are scratches all over the TV but it could have been worse!I guess I should be lucky Mike isn't here....He has time to calm down once I tell him! Daddy, please come home before mommy loses her freakin' mind!

No more Binky!

I just had to update everyone with the pacifier drama...It is a thing of the past! We had one "NaNa" left and we accidentally left it at Claim Jumper. We figured that was a good time to get rid of it:) Luke has been binky free for a whole week. The first couple of nights were a nightmare, but now he doesn't even ask for it anymore! It's just one less thing we have to worry about bringing when we walk out the door:)