Anolis carolinensis

We had a great Christmas! We went to a party at Kim and Kurt Acton's house on Christmas eve, and we had a great time! We ate lots of yummy meats(Kurt and Bob were in charge of the food;) and I made cookies for everyone to eat. We had a white Elephant gift exchange... but it was just more of a $10 or less gift exchange. The kids all got something from Mom and Bob, and we just sat around and talked and had fun.
When we got home, we opened our PJ presents and made some sugar cookies for Santa. The kids all decorated one, and then I decorated one and we all took a bite of it.








All of us taking bites and doing cookies
So, for months, all that McKie has wanted is a lizard. So we told him if he was good, maybe Santa would bring him one for Christmas. We went up to Billings to finish our shopping and went to petsmart to get the lizard stuff. Well, we waited there for around 30 minutes to get someone to help us, and finally, when she came, she said there wasn't a set-up there for a tropical environment, only one for a desert environment. I didn't think that a simple little lizard needed much, and I didn't think the small lizards that were out in the sandhills needed a tropical set-up. BUT... they do. So we contemplated wether to just get a bigger lizard and use the desert set-up, but it would have been $40 more dollars, and I didn't think that we could handle that, it was already costing more than we wanted to pay. So we called the place that they told us to at petsmart, and they were closing in 15 minutes, and the roads were horrible, so we didn't know if we could get there in time, but thankfully, the people there stayed open long enough so that we could get our things! It was so nice of them! He was so excited when he walked out on Christmas morning to his lizard! I got a video on Calli's phone, but it was too long to send, and my phone was at my sister's so I don't really have any Christmas pics. That, and McKie threw up after he opened half of his presents, so we were cleaning that up.
After we opened presents, we went over to Cam's and ate a very good breakfast that mom and Bob made. Dad brought over the kids' gifts and all of our gifts(the traditional 12-pack of pop and some moolah- love it!) and we gave him his. We then went home to take naps... and I actually got to take one! Then we woke up, went to Mom and Bob's and the kids opened their presents there.
The day after Christmas, we always go up to Billings and Mom and Bob give all of their kids our gift(moolah again) and we get to partake of all of the sales and get what we want or need! We shopped around for a little bit and met up at the Golden Corral for a late lunch. After that, we went to a couple places to look at snow suits for the kids and we got an ipod alarm clock dock for Jaran. McKie went home with Maddox for a few days(and I already miss him tons).
We then went home and got ready and went to our UGLY SWEATER PARTY! It was great, and there were a lot of great sweaters. I don't like to do things half-way, so Jaran and I did whole outfits for ours!

I tied for 2nd, one more vote and I would have tied for 1st! DANG! J/k!

The kid that won had this off-white sweater with blue polar bears on it, and it was fantastic! We left early, cause I wasn't feeling well, but it was a good time, and we got to see Alex, whom I haven't seen since high school!
Well all, it's time to do something non-computer-related!
Take Care!

Baby it's cold outside

I know that it's not as cold toay as a couple days ago, but it's still so dang cold! I am pretty sure it's reached 20 below here one night. I would describe it as skin-peeling cold. Why? You might ask. Well, it's because it feels as though your skin is being peeled away from your flesh when you walk outside. And if it's blowing at all- it's HORRIBLE! I like snow, and I don't mind the cold most of the time... but it's TOO cold to be fun.
Last night we went to the Lovell/Rocky game, and it was very disappointing. Our boys didn't play very well, and I felt so bad for them. Every shot they put up just didn't want to go through the basket! We took the kids, and Jaran left not long after the 3rd quarter started with Ans and Brens. Kies and I stayed, and he had fun hanging on the railings of the bleachers. He kept asking me to take pictures, so here's what I captured!

We finally got our dance uniforms, and I gave them to the girls Wednesday at practice! I think they're pretty dang cute, what do you all think? I'm really proud of the girls and how hard they have been working. We finally finished the dance and are ready to perform. It's so exciting!

We are going to finally decorate our tree today after Jaran gets here. It hasn't really felt like Christmas since we haven't had any decorations, so I'm hoping this will make it more real. It's less than a week till and I can't wait now that the kids are old enough to get excited. I hope that they're not disappointed, as this year is going to be mostly homemade stuff. I'm sure it will be fine, as long as we find some big boxes for them to play with, right?!

This is just a pic of Ansleigh after she woke up yesterday. She had a pony-tail in her hair the day before, and it held it's shape pretty well. Steph said it looked like the baby Grinch from the real-life movie! Ha ha ha!

A very cute, and unusual, picture! They were sitting watching "Kung Fu Panda" and were all sitting so nicely! Sweet babies!
My Aunt Deana flew in for a few days to help get my Dad's place ready to move into. We had our ward Christmas party Wednesday night, which I had to sing at, and then I took her to Cody so she could go to the airport early the next morning. I ended up staying until after 2 and just talked with her. It was nice to catch up, and get my gossip quota filled;)! I am hoping that I will be able to make it to Denver for my cousin's wedding on Jan. 10th. It's been 4 1/2 years since I was there last, and I used to go several times a year before that. Cross your fingers for me!
Well, sorry the post is kind of boring, but it's been a semi-normal week! Take Care!

Husband Tag

5 Things he loves:

- BYU football
- His family
- 311
- Building log furniture
- His homemade salsa


5 Things on his to do list:

- Make a toy chest for the boys for Christmas
- Make end tables for the living room for Christmas
- Help me organize the craft/computer room
- Take a vacation kid-free
- Close on our home refinance


5 Foods he enjoys:

- Steak
- Baked potatoes with cheese, sour cream AND butter(not butt like it said before!)
- My Grandma Fran Spaghetti
- Hamburgers(he orders this almost everywhere we go to eat)
- Chinese food from China Town


5 things you may not know about him:

- He can sing, even though he tells people he can't
- He is a master paper airplane maker
- He DOES NOT like to relax when he can be doing something... he'd rather be working that sitting on the couch watching a movie
- HE is the one who wanted to buy a van
- He Speaks Spanish(from his mission although he says he doesn't anymore)


5 quirky things about him:

- His jaw pops when he chews
- While sitting he always has to move his legs
- He always taps his knuckles together
- When he laughs he doesn't really make noise
- He calls grilled cheese sandwiches "cheese grills"

Anyone who wants to do this

Now is the time

I suppose it's been too long since I last posted anything worth posting, and I apologize for that. I will now bombard you with pics and good fun stories!

We spent over a week in Utah during Thanksgiving time, and we had such a great time we didn't want to leave. We left on the Sunday morning before Thanksgiving, and got there around 5, I think. Monday we just kind of hung around and had fun. We visited with Kendra and Joseph for a little bit on Monday evening, then went back to the Baker house.

Tuesday we went to visit Nikki and Jeremy at the car lot, and went to get my ring fixed, only to find out that the place we bought it from went out of business and so now to get it fixed, we have to pay a bunch of money for it... so I will probably be wearing fake rings again for a while. I made Jaran go to Twilight with me on Tuesday night, and it was better the second time. I still don't think that people who haven't read the book really gets how great the books are. It doesn't do it justice, and I'm crossing my fingers that whoever they get to direct the "New Moon" film does a better job. He thought it was an okay movie, so that is all I could really ask for. Wednesday we went to Zak's wrestling tournament, and it was so much fun! Jaran and I took our kids, and Kendra brought 7 of hers, and Amanda was there to help us out. When we got there I went up to talk to Zak and his friends thought I was their age, and asked Zak- who is that? It was funny to think that I can still pass as 18... and really weird at the same time. So after Zak's first match, we decided that all the kids needed to go back to the Baker house and get their energy out, cause 10 kids with only 4 adults(or close enough) didn't quite work out. So Kendra, Amanda and I went to walmart to get some stuff to make shirts and posters to go back and cheer Zak on. This is what we came up with!


It was so much fun! That night we went out with some of Jaran's friends to dinner... you know what? I might be getting nights mixed up, but who cares? Justin and his girlfriend Amy, and Billy and his wife Nikki and Jaran and I went to a place called Iggy's for dinner. It was really good food, and they had this great dipping stuff for your bread they called "chili water." It was sweet, but spicy, and so dang good. Then we went back to Justin's and played TABOO, which I found out later was a mistake. We did boys against girls, and the boys were being crazy and did everything they could do(cheating) not to lose. So we conceded so they wouldn't cry. Thursday morning I woke up and started doing stuff for our Thanksgiving meal. I made Crandberry relish, made a homemade pie crust for my pumpkin pie, and did the relish trays. I ran up to get in the shower while my pie was in the oven, and due to the craziness you always have before dinner on Thanksgiving, the pie got burned. You see, you have to change the temperature 15 minutes into baking it, and everyone forgoet while I was showering! But it's okay, cause Kendra made a bunch of delicious pies to share! Almost everyone was there for Thanksgiving dinner... all but Karina and her family, Jonny and his, Vyedka and hers(sorry I forgot to mention that before Vye, you just usually are, so it was weird that you weren't in the first place! I feel like a loser for not saying so before) and Buddy, who is on his mission. We got to spend time with Krystal, Justin's daughter, whom we had never met before. She lived in Georgia with her mom, and just moved to Utah during Thanksgiving time. It was great!
That night we decided to get crazy, make some funky shirts and go to Twilight, again. It was great fun! We also talked Zak into being extra crazy and doing his hair like Edwards(which took tons of hairspray and a straight iron) and put a little extra saying on his shirt. Jaran ditched out on the movie until the movie he and Justin went to was over. Then we went back and realized we were only going to get a couple hours before we had to wake up for "Black Friday" shopping. We woke up around 3 and Jaran went with his sisters to Walmart in Layton, while I went to the JoAnn's in Riverdale. I thought they opened at 5... but they didn't until 6... so I could have been first in line, but I went to check out the stuff at Walmart there in Riverdale, and then went and got some snacks for the long stand in line. I met a lady that was born in Lovell, and we had a good talk about home. When I realized that I could get trampled at this store, I called Jaran for reinforcement. You see, you have to get a number in order to get your fabric cut, and if you do that first, you miss out on the great flannel... so being the great husband that he is, he came to help. We ran in and got the stuff we needed(or all that I was able to get anyway) and our number was A20. I only had to wait a couple minutes to get mine cut. When we were leaving they were only on A38 and people were picking numbers clear into B80's and I am sure they were there clear into the afternoon waiting to get their fabric cut. It was crazy! I'd only been to the JoAnn's in Bozeman, and there were only a handful of people there. This place had people clear around the corner of the store outside waiting when they opened, and I was 5th in line! So we went home and tried to catch a few Z's after that(which didn't really happen cause the kids were just waking up when we got there. Then Jaran went to Tooele to help his mom and her family move stuff out from his Grandma's house. I took Nikki and Zak to Walmart, where she bought rock band for her Wii. Needless to say, that's about all we did for the rest of the day.

Saturday we all went back to Tooele to move more stuff out of the house. We were there until around 5 and then had to go help Jaran's uncle unload his stuff... and got home around 6:30. Then around 7 we went out with Andy and Ashley(Jaran's friend and his wife) to dinner and then the new Bond movie, which was good, but a little confusing cause we hadn't seen the one prior to the new one. Sunday, Amanda spoke in church, so we went to listen. She did a great job, but the boys were extra naughty and hard to control. So we left them at class and nursery and went back to clean up the house. We actually got some stuff done without them there! Then we went over to Joseph and Kendra to help them un-pack the rest of their stuff from Montana, and while there, I stepped into a hole and twisted my ankle so bad! I had already stepped into the hole 2 times, and had just finished telling Joseph he should fill it in before someone hurt themself... and then I did! So I was of no help after that. Then we went home and played some cards that night. Monday we took the kids to a park down the road that is shaped like a castle, and the kids loved it! Then we decided to take them to The Mayan, which is a restaurant that has these people who dive off of cliffs into a big pool below. When we got there, we found out that they didn't open until 4... so we went and got a pizza at Little Caesars for 5 bucks and went home to the Baker's house. We put the kids down for a nap, and just vegged out.

That night, we went into Salt Lake and walked around the temple, which was AWESOME cause they had the Christmas lights up and on.

I have never seen them in person before, and it was so great. Even the kids loved it.

We met up with Jeremy and his girlfriend for a few minutes, then walked back to the car, went home and went to bed.

Tuesday, we got up and drove home. It was a great trip, and it was sad to leave everyone.
As soon as we got home from there, I went and helped my Mom and Bob with a catering job they got talked into doing. I got there at 5:30 and was on my feet serving food until 10:30... my ankle was swollen and hurting, and I was exhausted by the time I got home.
Wednesday I had dance, so Jaran stayed with the kids during the afternoon. The girls are great, but sometimes they have these moods where all they want to do is talk and giggle and not get anything done! Tomorrow will be better, I am sure, but last week wasn't very productive! The shoes we ordered should be here by the end of this week, and the uniforms by the end of next week, so that is exciting!
Jaran has been building some log furniture for Christmas, and just cause we need some. He's building another bunk bed, just a double twin, so we can put it downstairs for Ans and one of the boys... cause the one we have doesn't fit down the stairs. He is also building a chest-of -drawers for our room, so we don't have to live out of bins anymore! He is going to do a Toy chest for the boys from you-know-who and some end-tables for us. I am going to make him a big quilt that he has been asking me to for years, but since I found the perfect fabric at Black Friday, I now have the stuff to do it!
As I said before, Calli did our Christmas card pics last night, and they turned out as well as you can expect with our kids.





They just don't like to sit still for long periods of time... as you can see in the one of Ansleigh with the boys giving kisses. It's pretty dang funny! Well, that is all for now! Take Care!

I will update more tomorrow

This is just so that Kim will still love me! I have some pictures I need to get off of my phone, and Cal came and took a bunch of pics for us for Christmas cards... as you can see at the top of the page. So I will give as much info in the next post as possible. In fact, you will probably want me to NOT write so much, but I'm going to anyway! Love you all, Take Care!

Spoiler alert and Happy Thanksgiving to all!

If you've seen "TWILIGHT" then you may keep reading. If you plan on seeing it and haven't gotten there, come back and read this after you're done.
I was lucky enough to go to the midnight showing of the movie in Billings. Mind you, I was still on my NKOTB high, so I was thinking that the movie would, perhaps, take my obsession with men in their mid-late 30's away. Alas, it did not. I am a stickler for details, and there were so many things that were changed in the movie that I was irritated, sad, mad, hurt, and so many other emotions. I decided that I needed to go to it again, so that I could try and watch the movie for what it was, instead of spending the whole movie thinking how it was leaving important details out and changing things that were so much better the way they were in the book. So I went tonight, and I dragged Jaran along with me, and we brought Amanda with us too. I didn't comment on it to him, and only made a few comments to her. It was so much better the second time! When I just watched the movie and didn't think too much about the book, it was actually a decent movie. Don't get me wrong, I still have my issues, but, for what it was, it was alright.
Now to get to the fuming part. WHY DID THEY CHANGE SO MUCH!?! So many things didn't make sense unless you read the book! For example... they didn't talk about the Volturi at all, they didn't mention that Jasper can control emotion, they left out so much of the build up to Bella and Edwards relationship! What about when they go back to school and he listens through Jessica's thoughts... and "watches" her in gym class... what about when they do the blood testing? And why in the HECK did they change so much about her figuring out what he was? She is supposed to find out from Jacob at the beach, go research on the internet, and have it figured out by Port Angeles! Then they talk about it on the way back home! And they left out the HUGE build-up to the meadow scene. IRRITATING! grrrrr... there are so many other things that I could point out, but I need to stop and calm down, and realize it is fine. I am just hoping that they do a better job on the next screenplay. Keep it more like the book. I wonder what Stephenie thought of it, and if she felt a bit betrayed by all of the changes.
Anyway- we are in Utah for Thanksgiving, and we are loving being able to hang out with Jaran's family. I really love being around them, and it makes us both want to move to Utah. Not just to be around family, but being able to drive 2 minutes to shop or go to a movie or the temple... or buy underwear if you need some! Ha ha ha- maybe someday I will be able to buy underwear in the town I inhabit! We are going to go and watch Zak wrestle tomorrow, which I am SURE the boys are going to love! We have been thinking about taking them to the children's museum thing and the aquarium or something. McKie is OBSESSED with Lizards, so we have already taken him to petsmart to look at them. I think we'll probably get him one for Christmas... he will be so excited! I am also pretty pumped for all the places I will be able to go on BLACK FRIDAY! Woo hoo!!! Well folks, I'm out. Happy Thanksgiving and Take Care!

Shan

PS- Did anyone else think that Bella was not a very good actress? She hardly changed her emotion from mad to happy to elated... and she eneded every sentance in the same way!

The best NIGHT of my life!

I love my husband, and I love my children. The day I got married to Jaran is my best DAY ever, followed by the birth of my children close behind. The best NIGHT of my life happened on November 15th, 2008. What happened to make it my best night ever? Rose(my sister-in-law) and I had been planning a trip to SLC to watch... wait for it... The New Kids On The Block... which I will start referring to as NKOTB from this moment forward... until she sent me a message on Wednesday telling me she was soooo sick there was no way that she was going to be able to go. I can't tell you how bummed I was, because I don't do things alone, without children, pretty much ever... unless you count the occasional movie with Jaran. I have not been away from my children for any amount of time to do something for myself before. I did go to Utah once with my mom and Gma to do some genealogy and Jaran took the boys to daycare for a couple days. I did a garage sale with Rose this summer and was away from Ansleigh for A NIGHT. So you can imagine how excited I was for some me time. Not only that, but I used to enjoy NKOTB. I was NOT a fanatic, at all, but I was a young girl when they were around, and it's hard not to be swept up by things when you're young and all the girls around you are crazy in love with "Joey Mac." I was so bummed out that we would not be able to go. I went about my day on Thursday in a SUPER bad mood, and I was determined to make Friday better. So I called up Steph(Coble) and asked her out on a lunch date to Chinese. On the way there, Rose called and said the Anti-biotic finally kicked in and she was feeling wonderful, so we could still go. I wanted to, but I had canceled the plans, and I was going to help my dad with the apartment they are trying to fix up to live in, so I was a bit reluctant. Finally, we decided to go ahead and take the trip. My sisters-in-law had planned on going with us, so I had told them we weren't coming and to find someone to take our place... then asked if they had found anyone cause we WERE coming... and lucky for us, the seats were still available. So Rose drove down to Byron on Friday night. We left around 8 on Saturday morning and, knowing that we had 8 hours of driving ahead of us, started the NKOTB tunes to get pumped up and pass the time. She had also downloaded the TWILIGHT books onto her IPOD(which was a genius idea!) and the trip passed by so quickly it was amazing. We got to SLC and went to the gateway mall to pick up some much needed Bangle bracelets and some other accessories. Then we met up with my awesome in-laws and proceeded to drive around forever to find a place to eat, which ended up being Subway(eat fresh). Rose and I split a meatball sub and we were ready to go and get our NKOTB swag before the concert started. We got there and found our seats. They were nosebleeds clear in the back, but we were just pumped to be there. While waiting for the show to start, these two chics come up to us and tell us they have ONE ticket for the 17th row on the floor, and they got better seats, so did we want the ticket? Rose took it right away and headed down to check it out. We planned on taking turns going down to see how awesome it was. She got down there during Natasha Beddingfield(who was fabulous) and saw there was an empty seat right next to her. So what did she do? Came up and got me. She went down, showed the ticket, then I went by the fence and grabbed it from her to make my way down. Although the seat was vacant, we didn't have ticket, so we had to be sneaky. As soon as we got to our seats, the place went dark, and EVERYONE(sans the boyfriends and husbands who were made to go take their girls) started screaming. It was so awesome! Once there, we realized that we couldn't leave our seats cause as soon as they started the security guards checked EVERYONES tickets to make sure they were supposed to be there. So we couldn't leave or one of us wouldn't be able to be there. I felt bad leaving the rest of our group up there and not letting them join in this most fortuitous adventure... but we couldn't go. We spent the whole concert in the 17th ROW!!!! We screamed and yelled and I whistled as loud as we could... and finally during the last song, we snuck up to the front and stayed and yelled to them. I was about 4 inches from touching Joey's hand, when some horrible woman pushed her way in front of me, and got the touch that had once been meant for me! Terrible, I know... so I did the next best thing. Looking into Donnie Wahlberg's eyes, I blew a kiss at him! And, ladies, hew blew it right back to me... them pointed at ME and gave me a little wink. How do I know he did it right to me? Everyone else around me was reaching out for Joey and screaming... I was the only one where I was looking at him and blowing kisses. I am in love with Donnie Wahlberg... and it makes me feel like a 10-year-old little girl! HA HA HA! I know I sound like a crazy person right now, but unless you could have experienced that, you will never know how incredibly FAN-freakin-TASTIC it was! If I were to read this on someone elses blog, I would be embarrassed and giggling at how silly they were, so you can go on ahead, but let me say this- you know a tiny bit of you wishes you could have been the one there- don't lie- I know it's true! I can honestly say, and I know it's blasphemous(cause I have seen Tim McGraw, Keith Urban,Weezer) this was the BEST concert I have EVER been to. They did ALL the songs that you wanted to hear, and even did Joey and Jordan's singles. They did all the dance moves, they all have great voices, and they look amazing! For guys in their 30's(Jaran I love that you're 30!) they were completely AWESOME! The whole time they put their all into it, and it was just so much fun to have 30-something women screaming and crying over these men! Rose and I are researching how much blood we would have to sell to get to another concert(because I am convinced that Donnie wants to give me the BIGGEST hug ever, yes, he's in love with me) and re-live this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I am not ashamed to say that I am a NKOTB FANATIC! I embrace it, I love it. Don't be afraid of it girls, they are wonderful! And they definitely have- THE RIGHT STUFF! HA HA HA! I will post pics as soon as I can- thanks to all those who made this night possible(Jaran, Kade, Rose's Dr for giving her medication, Joey, Jordan, Jonathan, Danny and DONNIE)- I'll be lovin' you FOREVER!

Take Care!

PS- I am not going to re-read this to make sure it makes sense or that I said everything right... I will make more sense in a day or two when I have come down from my NKOTB high... and my sickness(I have a HORRIBLE cold) goes away... so enjoy the madness! (We had better seats that the person who took this video!!!) Don't forget to pause the AWESOME NKOTB music on my playlist!

The Fire

I just wanted to let you all know about my Dad's fire. It burned his whole house down, but they weren't staying there yet, as the plumbing wasn't finished. They were about four feet away in a camper, and tried very hard to get it put out, but just couldn't. So they lost pretty much everything! We are trying to go throught the ruins to find the smallest thing(those of you who know my Dad will either be laughing at this or crying) but there isn't much left to find. People have asked what they can do. All we can ask for is prayers! They lost a lot, but they are still with us, and that's what matters. Shelly has almost no clothes and dad lost almost all of his nice ones. He has NO more suits or dress clothes, and they both only have one or two pairs of shoes. So if anyone would like to help- those things are needed, or they would appreciate anything you can do to help! Thank you all!

Take Care!

And the winner will be... and overload of pics

I think that just about EVERYONE voted for this one, and I think it's pretty darn cute, so this is the one! Erika(and anyone else interested), any vinyl is $.10 per inch per letter. So if you want something that is 3 inches tall it's $.30 per letter. So say you want it to say FAMILY... that would be $1.80. You get the picture? Yes we see... that's when I fell for... the Leader of the pack! HA HA HA... sorry, I couldn't help myself. All other Leader of the Pack Alums will know what I'm talking about!


Decorating cookies... a glob fell onto the table so I quickly scooped it up, popped it into my mouth, and realized there was a bunch of food coloring in it... my teeth are also green, kind of hard to see!

My boys eating cookies after decorating them

Brens decorating pumpkins

Kies decorating with Gpa's help

This is Kies' class... I helped with the party

My jack-o-lantern

Daddy and the kids on Halloween night

Captain Jack Sparrow aka Kies

Ansleigh and her Halloween bows

Ansleigh and her cousin Brittly just after kisses

Batman aka Brensyn

Ansleigh and Mommy at Gpa Rand's house

My little Butterfly

Captain Jack

My little masked hero

Jaran had a little accident at work and hurt his eye at work and is having problems with it, so everyone say a little prayer for him. We are hoping it won't be permanent, so we appreciate all of your thoughts!

Take care!

Which one... you tell me!

I need some input! I need to get some business cards printed, but I can't pick which one of these to do- so I'm putting it to a vote! Please help me out!

Is this one too jumbled?

This one is fun!

Cute, eh?

I like the flower on this one!

Take Care!