NYE 2010

I always look forward to New Year's Eve...probably because it means a change in things....taxes are coming soon :).....and just starting a new year. When I was younger it was all about the night out, but now as a mom it is being together as a family. This year I started out the day getting my hair done by my FABULOUS friend/hair dresser Sarah. It totally does not look very different in the picture, but it is a drastic change from before. I usually change my hair all the time, but I have had it dark brown for 2 years now...I haven't had the same hair color for 2 years in a row for a long time...I was overdue. We put blonde & red in my hair and it turned out Fabulous...I LOVE MY HAIR! Then we got ready and went to dinner at Applebees. We went at about 5:30 and only had to be on a 15-20 minute wait (not too bad for NYE)...next we went to my parents to hang out until it was time to go swimming! We went down to Larry & Retha Anderson's to go swimming with Paul & Jess & Kinley & Jen Nebekker...it was a ton of fun until I got out of the pool, slipped on some ice and bruised my back. (Totally was sober LOL) they have carpet on the side of the pool, which I should of used, because Reha one time slipped and fell and was out there for about 30 minutes before anyone knew; she broke some bones too...I totally understand because I have not fell like that in a long time. It was almost midnight when we left so Clay and I on the way home wished each other a Happy New Year...why the kids were knocked out from swimming! Happy New Year's Everyone...hope this year is better than before!

My New Year's Resolutions:

2. To be full time: church goer, tithing payer, scripture reader, & prayer

3. Read every night to my kids (usually do, but sometimes we slack)

4. Sew, sew, sew

5. Keep on top of school work end with a 3.5 or higher

6. Run 10 miles this year

7. Get pregnant with baby #3

8. Pay bills off

9. Curb my shopping..save mor

And wondering where #1 is?????? Well it is huge.......

1. On the pathway to getting sealed to Clayton (this is OUR resolution together this year!!!...about time right!)

Christmas with the Stangers 2010...pictures to come later

Every year we spend Christmas Eve at my parents; stay the night and then wake up, open presents & then head over to hang out with the Stangers. We used to go to Kevin & Judy's house, but now we go to the Stake Center which works out really well with all of our active kids. We all just sit around, eat yummy food, talk, the kids roam around, & then we open presents. This year I bought a BIG BIG present for Clay and gave it to him by doing a scavenger hunt around the church. Judy & I went over on Christmas Eve to get it all set up & then while I took him around the family would put the present in the Nursery where we always eat & hang out. The first clue told Clay to start off by going to room 19, next to it was a Loofah & another clue. The second clue told him to go to room 3, next to The Office: Season 6 was clue #3. Next up was the primary room with Inside Outs (junior mints) & clue 4...the last clue was in the gym with Reese's Peanut Butter Trees, & the last clue read: You've found the last clue and the present is going to be grand, now you have to decide do you want it on a wall or on a stand????...and Clay walked into the Nursery to find.......

A 42" Emerson TV!!!

It was a big decision to buy it, but I went for it and was so glad I did. We have it in our room because we do not want the kids touching it, and we LOVE IT! I just love how big & how nice the picture is & Clay was sooooo SURPRISED! This is the first year I have ever been able to seriously surprise him. He had no idea what I was going to get him & I stored it at Kevin & Judy's. So even though he was not very nice ALL year long I caved in because it was just as much my gift as it was him & I'm always nice ;)

Every year we do a gift exchange with each other on the Stanger side, but this year we got a big present because Josh was released to come home on December 20th....so a thought popped in my head one day & I told everyone else my idea: instead of doing a gift exchange with each other why not just get Josh something because he has not been here for awhile...everyone loved it so that was what we did...good warm fuzzy feelings..I LOVE CHRISTMAS! Judy made all the girls skirts & gave the boys a shirt & tie..we got a bag with a cook book, swedish fish, flour, money, & a cute poem to go with it all. We had such a great Christmas....and then the best gift for last: When I got home I FINALLY opened my gift from Clay and got....

A SEWING MACHINE!!!!

Merry Christmas 2010!

Chrismas with the Halls 2010

Christmas 2010 was such a fun Christmas. My kids are 5 & 3 now, so they were VERY excited about Santa coming to visit. We opened are traditional gift of jammies on Christmas Eve & it was a little entertaining. Brittley & Vanessa tore though their gift and stripped down right away to put on their new jammies. Tate was not happy to be opening his gift, he wanted so badly to open his "tracks" and since I put his jammies in an American Eagle bag he thought he was getting some weird gift. As he kept crying I told him to look inside and maybe Thomas was in there...so he opened and reached in & pulled out his Buzz Lightyear slippers; exciting but not Thomas. He kept pouting & I said look again Thomas could be in there. He pulled out the pajamas not looking with a bad-attitude look on his face & then he finally looked at the jammies and his face lit up as he realized it was THOMAS! He then stripped down (underwear included!!) to put on his new jammies! Both Brittley & Tate got slippers this year with their jammies so they were very excited because I have never gotten them slippers. Then it was off to bed to wait for Santa. Brittley asked for a pink Teddy Bear & Tate wanted anything & everything Thomas...but Santa ended up getting him a Thomas Fleece Blanket. I got a new set of pots & pans & a new DVD player for the Car. Clay got a power starter for the car & hair clippers, Brittley got super spoiled getting a pink teddy bear, make up, a doll house, dress up clothes, a barbie scooter, new clothes, and lots of other stuff. Tate got a Thomas the train set, Thomas tub squirters, hot wheels tracks, books, and lots more. Thanks mom & dad & Martice & John for a great Christmas.

Before the madness!

Opening stockings....minus mom & dad because we were still in bed! ;)

Clean up!

Family Picture

Merry Christmas

December 2010 minusChristmas

December 2010 flew by so quickly! It was probably because I cannot ever remember a Christmas season being SO BUSY! I finished up my 1st semester of school...I was constantly hitting the books because of finals, cheer was super busy during December as well because there were weeks when we had 4 games a night! & then adding work & shopping, Christmas parties & everything else in between. But overall it was a great Christmas season with lots of love, presents, family, friends, & filling the spirit. I have been wanting to take family pictures since the summer, but it never happened...so I took picture of the kids to make my Christmas cards. This picture of our family was taken Labor Day Weekend at my mom's house...turned out pretty good so I made it a keeper. Taking pictures of the kids is always a chore because Tate always cries?! I am not sure why...he is 3 we are passed the 2 year old phase that hates taking picture yet there he was crying again...I FINALLY got him to smile!

December 11, 2010-Every year we have a Christmas party with the Pollard side of the family (Judy's Mom's side) it is always fun to hang out with everyone, eat yummy food, & open presents. This year it was better than usual because we are all friends on facebook...so we know a little more about each other :).....anyways it was fun. We always do kind of a yankee swap gift exchange & I did not want anyone taking my gift so I picked chocolates and scissors (safe bet right??) & Clay got an LED lantern. Tate made his own version of Yankee swap because he opened a Buzz Lightyear toy and left with a wooden tool set...funny little boy & Brittley got princess stuff!

December 13, 2010-Brittley had her first school Christmas program. It was held at Hansen High School..directed by LEEJEAN STANGER & Jessica Erikson. They did such an awesome job with the whole production. Each grade sang a different song, it was funny because everyone sang really loud until you got to the sixth graders....too coo to sing you know??!! The Kindergartners sang Jingle Bell & Wesley in 2nd Grade sang All I Want For Christmas is my 2 Front Teeth, then all together they sang We Wish You A Merry Christmas. Afterwards Santa visited and gave everyone a treat sack! Great Job Brittley!

December 16, 2010 was our last home game before the break so the cheerleaders wore Santa Hats to cheer in. I'm not sure why I only have pictures of the Varsity squad, but I do...such cute girls! The other picture is of Kelsey & Amber, they are on the Freshman squad, this was their get-up after they were one cheering, I love their outfit what a cute idea!

December 17, 2010-The next day we headed to Boise for something very exciting.....Amanda's Graduation from BSU!!! I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I am of her. Her story could be a lifetime movie, she dropped out of high school, ran away from home, did drugs & seriously lost her way...then something dramatic happened one night with her friends, they were out partying & one of the friends died who did the same drug...the switch went on & she turned her life around. She got her GED enrolled at BSU & is now a graduate in Geology....she was the only girl in her division!!! I am SO PROUD of her...I cried at the graduation & so did my mom at the same part, even though we were not sitting by each other weird huh?? It was after she received her diploma, they had the entire staff line up between the aisle and the graduates do a "walk of honor" & that was when the tears came down...so proud so proud I love my sister...and the special guy in the middle is James Morris her fiance. They are getting married June 11, 2011...I cannot wait!

December 20, 2010 was our cheer Christmas party at Hop 2 It. The girls did not jump as much as thought they would, but my kids sure did. We were there from 1-3 & I seriously saw Tate like twice, he LOVES that place! We ate soup & salad & then had a gift exchange. We usually draw names, but this year we did just a yankee swap, but I bought my gift WAY in advance when we were in Park City because they had an Abercrombie Outlet...so my gift was an Abercrombie shirt, some sleep shorts, fuzzy socks, a bruin pen, & a picture collage & I did NOT go over 10!! Needless to say my gift was the first one stolen, stolen, and then stolen again to the winner...everyone wanted it! I got a fleece blanket & a candy bar, but as soon as we got in the car Tate was like "That's mine!" On the way out of the building, I guess Tate was tired, but he ran into a wall & got a HUGE goose egg on his head! Poor guy the place just wore him out!

November 2010

November always starts out with celebrating my "little" brother's birthday on November 4th. This year we joined my brother, his girlfriend-Hope, & my parents for dinner at Gertie's for his 19th birthday. The kids had a good time playing with the games and eating pizza & spaghetti. I am not a huge fan of the place, but they have some of the best dessert pizzas...so I pretty much just ate dessert the whole time. :)

Hope & Jett

Even though I do not have picture we had more going on between Nov. 4 & the 19th, but lately my camera has been acting up so I have not been taking it with me as much anymore. The first weekend of November was the CSI Harvest Festival. I look forward to it every year...it is just a big craft show, but this year I was a little disappointed because it seemed that they just had all these booths with older ladies selling stuff from their house??? Kind of weird, but I got Brittley some super cute bows (I know, I know that I know how to make them LOL) but they were cute & I let her pick them out. The thing I Loved the most about the bows, however, was that the name of the business was called Chubby Cheeks Boutique! How cute huh? I bought some vinyl from MyTalkingWalls & that was pretty much it. Then we held our annual Mini-Bruin cheer clinic, & Brittley was officially apart of it this year. Every year she goes to the clinic & does a pretty good job, but this year it was three days & then a performance during the basketball half-time show...she did a great job, but got kind of nervous during her performance...my future cheerleader w/her brother to support her!

November 19, 2010

November 22, 2010 was the annual Bruins Football Banquet held at the Turf Club in Twin Falls. As I arrived late, yet again, & took my seat I realized for the last 3 years I have sat in the same chair, in the same spot, at the same table...then I looked around and every year they have the same decorations, the same layout for tables & chairs and the program, and the same bad food. We always take pictures afterwards, but my camera is acting funky so these were the best ones that turned out, luckily this weird guy started taking pictures too so hopefully I can get some decent ones of the girls & me. That night it started snowing really bad & I never have to go to practice on Tuesdays, but Cari's son got sick so I was just praying for a snow day because I did not want to drive in...needless to say as I was driving home that night Clay called to tell me that school was canceled. What was really nice, though, was that it was Thanksgiving Week & Brittley only had to go to school Monday because of the snow day & I never had to go in once. Happy Snow Day to me!

Seniors

Varsity

This is just a random shot of Tate, he slept like this with his backpack on ALL NIGHT! Funny little boy!

THANKSGIVING: November 25, 2010- Thanksgiving was pretty low key this year. We just went over to my mom's during the day, ate at about 6 when everyone else got there, & then I stayed the night with the kids. I went to Walgreens when I first got up because they were having killer deals....got everything I bought that day for FREE! I took Sarah Davis with me too so she could do her first couponing at Walgreens. After that I just went to my moms & we hung out watching movies, making food, & just being lazy. I had all of my homework done so that was a plus...I just got to enjoy the holiday. When Vanessa walked in Brittley realized they were wearing the same shirt! She thought that was really cool & the next day they wore the same one again so they could match.

I always look forward to Thanksgiving because of the next day which is BLACK FRIDAY! That is my holiday...I am a shopper, therefore, I live for that day. I went with my sister, Martice, at 5 in the morning. We hit up Walmart, Target, & the Mall..then I took her back to my mom's & I went back out hitting up Fred Meyer's, Old Navy, and Michael's. I did not get too many things except the kids' pajamas & movies. I really wanted a TV, but people camped out all night to get them & then they were fighting over them so I decided it was not worth it, but what was really funny is I went back the next week to Walmart and got the same TV for the same price & no one was there. Oh how they fool us sometimes on black friday, but it is still worth it!

The entire HALL family

The Sisters: Martice, Amanda, & Brianne

If you are wondering about these pictures...I was trying to get a good one of us and Clay started making faces!