New Years Baby!

Yes, I am finally getting around to posting about New Years. Better late than never, right?

This year our friends Greg and Arianne come down to bring the New Year in. I turned out to be a lot of fun! (at least I thought so!) And of course I didn't take many photos. I have really slacked off in that department lately. :P

Greg and Arianne arrived around 3:30 on Wednesday. We hung out, chatted and just caught up on life. It was good to hang out with them again. I decided to make an early dinner so that we would be able to snack on yummy snacks all night. Arianne come in to help/chat with my while the boys played the Wii. We made Hawaiian Haystacks. They were alright, but don't you hate how when you are cooking for someone else, nothing seems to turnout how you wanted it? :P Oh well, luckily they survived. :) After dinner we ran up to my parents house to watch the kids open their presents. It was good to see the kids and hang out with them.

We headed back to our house and I made a few snacks. Spinach Dip with bread, Cranberry Salsa on Cream Cheese with crackers, and veggies. Of course the Cranberry salsa was my favorite. I love that stuff!

Once the food was ready, we decided to let the games begin! We played Boxers and Briefs. That game is so funny. I love it.

Then it was off to become Guitar Heros! We ended up playing Guitar Hero all night. We turned it off long enough (like 2 minutes to midnight) to watch the ball drop.

Miss A is even a Guitar Hero!

Dustyn is very serious about his guitar skills! I love how he gets into it.

Arianne even gave it a try!

Miss A even got to drive on the race track! Dustyn must think she is pretty cool!

There were so many cute pics of her, but they didn't work to well. :P

Dustyn playing Miss A's favorite game of the night. Spoons!

The last minute of 2008! YAY!

It's now officially 2009!

Miss A stayed up and brought in the new year with us. Once it was all over she went to bed. We played Guitar Hero for a few more hours. Finally it was bed time... but not for Dustyn and I. We played Dr. Mario for awhile and then chatted all night. lol. We finally went to bed sometime after 3:00. Fun night for sure.

Thursday morning!! I made German Pancakes and bacon. Remember how every time I use my oven the smoke alarm goes off, even if nothing is burning at all? Yah, they got to listen to my smoke alarm all morning. I finally turned it off. I really need to move it a little. It is totally in the wrong spot. :P

Greg and Arianne decided to stay one more night. We were excited.  That means more games! We are totally games sort of people. Love them! My mom got a new game over the holidays called Quelf. If you have not played this game before, you should. It is CRAZY!  Crazy I tell you. We decided to play Quelf. It was fuuuny. My abs definitely had a work out. Wow. Crazy game. You really should give it a try.

Miss A helping Greg out with one of his stunts! :)

Greg and Arianne would rather color than play Quelf?!?!

For dinner we had soup and salad. Miss A helped me make the breadsticks. Yum! It turned out pretty well. Then we played more games. I don't really remember what, besides Racko, but it was a good time anyways.

Friday morning we had breakfast and then Greg and Arianne left around 10-ish.

It really was a fun weekend! Thanks for coming down guys! Come again! Soon.

A post of randomness.

I finally got all the Christmas decor taken down and cleaned up! I am so excited, because it seems like most years I put it off until after the new year. This year I can focus more on partying in the New Year and not having to worry about getting the cleaning done before Monday. Nice. Very nice!

These cool people are coming to our house for New Years! I am so excited. I hope they don't get too bored with our po-dunk town. lol Either way, we can party hard, play lots of games and eat lots of food!

The one part that I do not like about winter - dry skin. Ouch. I have so many cracks on my hands and I am horrible about applying lotion consistently. It is a habit that I need to develop. Is there such thing as waterproof lotion? I wash my hands far too much during the day.

Speaking of ouch, and hands... yesterday when I was packaging up some lights in a cardboard box, I got a BAD cardboard cut on my palm. Ouch! Gotta love those, aye Michelle? Takes you right back to the good 'ole days at Smead. Ugh.

My legs ache today. You know, like "growing" pains ache, but times ten. Ouch. I hope it passes soon. Guess I was on my feet a little too long yesterday.

So one time I read in a blog post that you are only suppose to put one space after a period now-a-days. (And she's smart. And a better reporter than I would ever be.) I really, really, really try hard to do it, but I seriously cannot change the habit that I developed all those many years ago. How do you fix a habit like that? Seriously.

I am tending today and MyMy is still sleeping. Silly girl! It's almost 9:00, that is unusual. Mal, on the other hand, has some serious bed head. lol (She woke up right after I typed that.)

By the way, this is going to end up being an all day entry.

I think I left my phone home. Dang. I hate that. What ever did we do before cell phones and internet?

I keep neglecting to mention our Christmas Eve. I was great! We went to Dustyn's sister's house and had dinner and games. Fun times, fun times. Of course we had Steak and Crab because that is the tradition. (thanks guys, it rocked)  Then we played a few games. They were even good sports and played Quelf with us. If you have never played it, it is a super crazy game. Crazy, I tell you. But there was definitely good food and good times.  (Thanks again guys!)

Oh yeah, I took ZERO pictures during the Christmas Holiday. What is up with that. I have one small video of Dustyn opening his present and that is all. At least I have that! Oh yeah, and pictures of the race track. :)

Dustyn is so funny with his race track. I walk in the room and there he sits staring at his tracks. (during the 15 minute rest time) He comes up with a new configuration tries it out, makes adjustments, tries something new, and over and over again.  It makes me laugh. He's cute. Here is one of the tracks he came up with last night.

I have a lot to clean up. So many new toys! But for sure a disaster. Guess I should get busy. I guess that is all for now. Have a great Tuesday people!

r-r-r-random!

* I have been able to come up with so much to blog about lately, until I sit down.  Then it's gone.  Long gone.

* My sister's blog is having issues.  Somehow the email that she was using to post is no longer associated with her blog.  Weird.  She has Z.E.R.O. access to her blog.  (since it was private)  And blogger is not so great in the area of support.  We can not find a place to contact them. At. All.  Lame.  When we type in the blog name to see what email it is associated with...  nothing.  She never gets the email.  So, so frustrating.  If anyone has any idea, we are totally open to new ideas!  She would LOVE to have her blog back again.

* Dustyn had been sick.  No fun!  I hope he gets feeling better.  And I hope he stays away from me!  :)

* We have bought so much candy lately!  WHY?  We never buy candy, but don't worry, we have a butt load now.  Funny enough - I probably still won't eat much of it.

* Last night I made pistachio brittle.  It is pretty good, but the nuts taste burnt.  I tried a new recipe.  I should have stuck to my old one.  Oh well.  I also made English Toffee.  It tastes pretty good.  I have only had a small bite, but it was good.

* It has been THREE (well... maybe two) years since I have made Candy at Christmas.  Sad, huh?  We did however make a TON of suckers last year (Heather - Lollipops . (:  )  I am hoping to get a lot more candy made and some ginger snaps for neighbor/friend gifts.  I hope it actually happens.  *think productive, think productive*

* My most favorite Christmas album during the Holidays is this one!  I listen to it every year ALL month! I love, love, love it.  I also love Hilary Weeks Christmas Album .  I have not been too impressed with Faith Hill's Christmas album .  But any Christmas music is good Christmas music!  Wait!!  I can't forget Relient K.  I love them too!  I love Christmas Music!

* I LOVE that they have pomegranate 7-up this time of year.  I love it, so, so good.

* I also love the Candy Cane kisses.  Good thing they are seasonal!  (apparently I am craving lots and lots of candy!)

* My super cute niece, Hads, is turning FOUR tomorrow!  Can you even believe it?  I can't. I can not believe it has been four years.  JaKell was pregnant at the same time I was pregnant.  Time flies.

* Every year we get a new ornament.  This year we bought our ornament at Disneyland!  (Since that was the most exciting thing we did all year!)  If my camera was charged I would recap all the ornaments, just for you!  I just might.  Soon!

* Every time we put up our tree it gets smaller and smaller, I swear.  We just have one of those small 6 foot trees from Wallymart.  You know, the ones that have a 2 foot stem on the bottom, so really, the tree part is 4 feet...  maybe.  I laugh every year.  I do love our tree though.

* Thanksgiving was great!  We spend it with my dad's side of the family.  We ate a lot of good food, played a lot of fun games, and visited with a lot of really cool people!

* One of our favorite games to play is Boxers and Briefs.  It is seriously one of the best games ever.  We love it.  Last year we got it at Wallymart for like ten bucks.  You can see how much it is now.  C-R-A-Z-Y!  I can not believe that.  I almost want to sell mine, but it is far too fun.  Oh yes, Arianne, believe me...  we are soooo playing it on New Years!  Wooohooo!  Seriously though.  So fun!  If you can get your hands on one for under $140.00, do it.

* I am suppose to be folding laundry.  But I guess that can wait, right?  :)

* What is your all time favorite Christmas movie?  Ours for sure is Elf!  We could watch it over and over again!  Seriously, the best.

* Have you heard enough about Christmas?  Ha ha!  I am sooo excited!  Wooohooo!

More random thoughts on a Monday.

~I thought about making a post for Brandon's birthday, yet neglected to do it!  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY Brandon!  I hope you had a great day.

~On Saturday we were able to go to SLC and go through a session in the SLC Temple.  Brandon received his endowments that day.  It really was amazing.  I love the Temple.

~My wisdom teeth holes are really starting to get sore.  They weren't so bad last week.  I think because they were so swollen.  The swelling has finally gone down a little, but that is just making it hurt worse.  Oh well.

~Today was a very productive day!  That is a good change for me!

~I don't have to babysit until 12:00 tomorrow.  The entire house is pretty much clean and laundry is done.  Whatever will I do?  I need to go to the Library and get a new book.

~I have been going to read "The Host" but I left it in Dustyn's classroom.

~Dustyn and I are listening to Twilight.  :)  We are about a quarter of the way through - and he's still listening!  :)  We'll see if I can get him past Twilight.  Right now his favorite character is Mike.  Ha ha.  I am totally kidding.  Mike is his favorite character to make fun of.  It's quite funny.

~I totally miss Dustyn.  He got home late and then two hours later he had to head to the hospital to check in for his sleep study.  :P  I miss him.

~Over the weekend, Greg and Arianne let us stay at their house.  It was so fun to see them, and they are so sweet to let us spend the night.  Even though we had to leave by 7:00AM.  And Anika... she totally cracks me up.  I love her.

~One of the couples in our local FSA were placed with a baby this week!  We are super excited for them!  

~It has officially been two years since we have been approved to adopt.  

~Coming up this next month, it will be 4 years since we lost our sweet Hannah!  Man, time flies.

~We are hoping to get pass-along cards here soon.  If you would like to have some, feel free to send me your address (dustynkamieATgmailDOTcom).  You might get some even if you don't send it to me!  ;)  

~Well I think I am off to bed.  I am pretty tired tonight.

~More randomness tomorrow.  G'Night.

What a fabulous weekend!

Pictures and stories coming soon.  

But we totally met THIS family.  Love them!  

Miss Anika is the funniest, silliest, cutest little girl ever.  What an awesome sister she'd be!  If you know of anyone considering adoption, send them their way!  They are completely awesome!  

And I totally LOVE this store.  And I bought the YUMMIEST smelling candle, ever!