Girls Night

Pretty packages wrapped up with strings, these were a few of my favorite things...... Due to the success of our last year's Favorite Things gathering(how I miss you old friends!) I decided to host another one this year. I especially love doing it centered around the holidays. The tree, lights, food and ambiance says it all. Initially I wasn't quite sure how many too invite. Sometimes if you get too many people I feel you don't get that "quaint" environment. Last night we had 15 gals. We had so much fun!

We started out by mingling and eating ALL sorts of goods (sadly no photo to share) Let's just say we had 4 different dips/chips, chocolate treats, an assortment of popcorn, Diet Coke AND Sonic ice. (notice the ice was the key) Yum!

Once everyone arrived I explained the rules. We each drew a number for three separate rounds. During your turn you could either choose a gift or steal from one already opened. The only stipulation was that a gift could not be traded more than 3 times.

It's always fun and interesting to see what everyone brings. The best part is that because it was all "good stuff" No one walked away disappointed (at least I didn't think so). Some of the things I remember that were brought were, Sprinkles cupcakes--I still can't believe Stepheny drove to Scottsdale for those! Jewelry, Paradise bakery gift card(s), Twilight cd, purse, lotions, itunes gift card and much more!

(right to left)
back row: Tiffany, Heather, and Gina
Stepheny, Sarah, Jenny, Tisha, April, Carrie, Aprel, Natalie, Carrie.
front: Denise, Julie and Kati

I have to say I can't complain with my goods. I was the recipient of a pedicure (ooolala) great magazines and one of MY favorite movies. Thanks friends for making it a great night.

32-lb Man Of The House

Most days you can find Weston playing his brothers Nintendo DS around the house. And because he IS the baby you can probably find him eating candy at 8am as well. (I have seriously become a pushover) If you are the 4th in line anything goes. I have captured him playing this gameboy under beds, behind the couch, but this is a new spot. The stairs. Apparently, this spot is perfect for this guy (probably not the safest).

Weston and Hershal

A few months ago when I decided to place Weston into a private preschool (out of someone's home) I was a little skeptical. He has been my one and only child that would rather be home. Thankfully, two of his buddies (Hershal and Jack) have given him that extra boost to be excited about school. Last week my friend Kati had a gingerbread decorating party. It was so much fun!

Normally my little Weston is a pretty happy go lucky kid. The past week and especially today not so much. His asthema decided to flare up again (an ongoing three month ritual) which means he was back on Prednisone, Amoxicillin (for ear infections) and the nebulizer. Thankfully the five day window has passed and we have gotten through the nasty pharmacy of medications. Today he was tested for alllergies. Doug and I decided it was time to get to the bottom as to what allergies his asthema may be causing. I never knew it was such an ordeal to get tested. They attemped doing the mini-pricks at first. This didn't last more than two pokes. Weston was kicking and screaming. So, they sent me to a lab to draw his blood. It was terrible. My strong willed three year old decided to move so much that they blew one of the veins in his arm. In order to get 2 vials of blood they had to put a straight jacket on him. It was so sad. It definitely broke my heart to see him in such pain. I just hope this gives us some answers.

Baking Frenzy

I had an extra skip in my step this morning. This was the first Sunday we switched to our new church time. Since moving here our sacrament block was from 2 until 5pm. I'll be honest it wasn't AWFUL, but definitely more difficult to try and keep the kids occupied until we had to leave. Not to mention I was half asleep and dragging when it started.

We arrived home at 11:30am, and because it's Christmas we broke out 5 aprons, the flour, sugar and eggs and baked away. Doug had a request for some of his favorite snicker doodles. The kids wanted to help so we ended up making three different types of cookies. I made sugar cookies and fudge, Jared (snicker doodles) and Taylor the chocolate chip.

Luckily Taylor also took over documenting our morning. I have been such a photo slacker lately. This photos are all courtesy of Taylor.

Laxidasical Saturday

We were greeted by Mr. C himself this morning at our ward breakfast. It wasn't just your typical flap jacks with syrup. We had a full buffet of food that included, eggs, sausage, biscuits & gravy, AND pancakes. I helped take the Santa shots of all the kids (which I was happy to do). During the breakfast there was also "live karaoke music" It didn't take long before Jared decided he would take over the mic. Oh, my. My son happened to be the star of the morning singing with all his heart 12 days of Christmas. Let's just say music is NOT our family's strongest talent.

After the breakfast we had absolutely no plans. I am beginning to appreciate the non-eventful weekends we seldom get as a family. My Christmas present arrived a few weeks early (except for the lens--which I am borrowing). So while the boys played, I too got to play as well. I am still in the beginners phase using natural light not using a flash. Hopefully, after my class and a few books I will begin to improve.

It never fails when Doug is home my boys are all fighting for daddy's attention. The legos breakout so the ships, airplanes, and other imaginary cars can be built with perfection.

Of course their has to be a little competition over WHO gets the most attention. I am not sure if this is hugging or just little boys wrestling. I'll let you be the judge.

Along with legos, this has become the newest "toy" in the house. Doug decided to use his birthday money to purchase a foos ball table. If you asked him a week prior (when it was just in a box) I think he honestly thought that it would be a pretty straight forward assembly. Wrong. It ended up taking an entire evening and I seriously have never seen such a complicated mess. It was literally in hundreds of pieces. Thankfully his patience paid off. Doug assembled it and it has already brought hours of fun for the basement.

It seems that Luke and Weston seem to be quite serious about the game as well.

Tick Tock

Each December I find myself in the very same predicament, over scheduled. Period. Once Thanksgiving is over, December feels more of a blurred month then all 12 put together. Those service projects (why is is always crammed in December?), school events, parties, and extra activities all seem to be scheduled in the month of chaos. Despite feeling stressed, truth be known I am sure I would be a nutcase if I had absolutely NOTHING on the calendar. We seem to complain if there is too much or too little. Such is life.

Muddy Greetings!

As I said last week, my Christmas cards went out. (thanks for all of your nice comments). I do have to disclose I had nothing to do with the creativity of our card. For the past several years I have left the photo up to my husband. This year due to all of my complaining about our dirt backyard he thought it would be fun to make "use" of our land. That we did. My older kids loved every minute of it, my little boys however cried the entire time. It was comical. Much thanks to Courtney for being our photographer!


The first Monday of the month we decided as a family it would be nice to start doing anonymous things for one another. The idea was to write down our deed and place it into the jar. At the end of the month we would go through and read all of the "Christ-like" things we have done. I happened to catch Doug in one of his kind deeds. It's not to often you see a masked man vacuuming your home. This same weekend Doug worked his magic and got the house lights up. After two full days of hard work at last they were done. We even scored a new yard snowman this year. My sister was tired of storing this 3 foot guy so I happily took him off of her hands. It was just what we needed for that extra spruce.

(click to enlarge)

If you have a cub scout or HAD one you definitely can relate to how much the scouting program LOVES service. I think it's great that they teach boys at such a young age. Last Saturday our pack went to bring cookies and act out skits to the elderly. Each boy took around a Christmas card. The most endearing moment was a woman asking Jared for a hug. I think he was a little taken back (from the stiffness of his body) but just look at the cute smile on her face.

Monday 4 of us ran up to the summit of South Mountain. Normally we run in pairs which works out nice, except Amber's jogger happened to have a flat so she went to fix it and we started ahead of her. Even though we were 30 seconds apart I ended up running solo for most of the run. It wasn't terrible until I realized I was alone on a mountain without a phone or water. As I watched a few odd people drive up the hill thoughts of what I would do if something happened began to race through my head. I am most certain a camera would NOT be a good defense weapon. Luckily Tiffany and Tisha ended up catching up to me. We all ended up around the 10 mile mark (5 miles up 5 miles down) which happens to be my personal longest run ever. I won't lie the hills were quite challenging, but it felt great to accomplish that goal. Yay for me!

looking at the climb ahead

The steep 5 mile climb up

Hurray for downhill!

Monday we took the kids to see the temple lights. It truly is amazing how many lights they can cram over the grounds. I think the best part is they are put up all by volunteers. These are one of the trees Doug's young men helped with. After a few minutes of oooing and awing over lights my kids were done. Darn hunger pangs anyhow.

Looking back I can't believe how much we have already managed to cram in the first couple of weeks alone. There is still so much in store. Here it is nearly 2 weeks until Christmas and my shopping isn't done, I have a favorite things party coming up(so excited) and a few other items to check off the calendar. If only I could add an extra week into this month. Unfortunately, the clock keeps on ticking. *Sigh*

Pain IS...Weakness Leaving The Body

Warming up before class

One thing I love about Doug (although never really say) is all of the sayings he comes up with. Out of the clear blue when we were out running one afternoon I was complaining how tired I was (I am a morning runner-NOT afternoon) in which he replied, "didn't you know that pain is weakness leaving the body?" I busted up laughing, but now can't seem to get that out of my head. I later found out he heard it from a patient back in San Antonio at the VA (of all places). Shocker. As most of you know I am training to run a 3-legged race equaling a total of 18 miles.

Tiff getting ready to ride

A group of us from my neighborhood started training several weeks ago and have continue each week with a schedule. Mondays have turned into long runs, Tuesday rest. Wednesday is a crossing training day, Thursday sprints, Friday cross train and Saturday run again. I never have never been much of a gym person or spinning for that matter until I was introduced to this RPM class.

Instructor Rob

By now my friends here know I am a camera freak and take it wherever I go. To be honest, I didn't want to forget how hard we were training for such an event. So, I was sly and attempted to take a shot of our teacher Rob. He probably thinks I have a crush on him (luckily he had no idea I was taking a photo) I think all of us have decided we like him because he doesn't scream loud like some of the girls that teach the class (no offense to those who like that) To me calm is more motivating. He seriously kicks our butt each week, you pain no gain right?

Living Up To THE Standard

The first two years of blogging I was pretty dedicated. It was a given that I would post each and every day. I look back and have so many fond memories I would have otherwise forgotten. At the beginning of this year, I decided things of more importance would take precedence over blogging. My New Years goal was to simply cut back. Never did I imagine I would become more of a periodic blogger that I am today. I am not sure if I am disappointed in myself or really set too high of a standard in the beginning. I am even slacking on my annual tradition of mailing out my Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving. At any rate after talking with a few friends expressing how they haven't received their "standard" first Christmas card via the Clouse family (for the record I mailed them today) Phew. I decided I should probably try and be better about documenting our daily happenings even if I failed for the first time on a 13 year old tradition.

Hurray the clouds were clearing!

Before going into our annual turkey trot results. I must disclose that I pretty much had to beg my husband to run with me, I was about to spoil my 3 year streak of running, but thanks to my pleading Doug decided to run. Thanks honey!! (I must also add he wasn't even in running shape) Thursday morning running looked pretty grim. We had watched the weather knowing there was a chance for rain, but we live in Arizona. Lets be honest, rain NEVER happens when it is predicted. Wrong. We woke up to pouring rain. Not drizzle, not sprinkles, SHEETS OF WATER. Doug was pretty adamant that running in that stuff, just wasn't an option. I on the other hand, was thinking we made a commitment and rain or shine I was running. Lucky for us, it cleared by 9am and it ended up being one of the most beautiful days.

I had some what of a goal in my head what I wanted my time to be. I didn't end up getting the best time, but beat my last year run by about 1 minute 30 seconds.

We headed home to prepare ourselves for a day of feasting. And that we did. Doug's parents over did themselves yet again with not one, but three tables full of food. They also had to make new seating arrangements (we normally sit outside) They moved everything into the garage and it turned out so well.

My very own feast.
You bet I ate EVERY last bit of this food. Yummy!

Taylor, Jordan, Jared and Aaron

They also had intentions on renting a huge bouncy thing for the kids, but again due to weather they ended up playing guitar hero all afternoon. Truthfully, I don't think they minded at all.

Friday was of course "black Friday" Doug and I made the executive decision we would be one of those die hards and get up at 5am in order to get THIS deal. (it was more than half the regular price) Since we were really only on a mission to retrieve two items, we thought for sure it wouldn't be an issue. Wrong again. I even have a photo of the man that ruined our morning (the man in the blue in and out jacket) ended up buying not 1, 2 or 3 of the item we wanted, but TWELVE. We both left bugged and annoyed. Shouldn't they have a limit on such things?? Needless to say it's not the end of the world, but we both could have gotten a few extra hours of sleep! And did I mention I saw the above item on the shelf today at regular price of course.

The Costco Gals
Tiffany and Jenny

Later that day I went to work at Costco. Without going into a huge long story a friend of mine somehow got roped into working at this LDS roadshow and needed people to help fill in shifts. Tiffany and I gladly accepted since we basically worked in order to get a free piece of art work. Not to shabby for a few hours chit chatting with friends. And hey now I have something to hang above my piano.

Lights now a glowin'

As for the past 5 days in between it's pretty much a blur. Except, I did manage to decorate the house. I did the inside and Doug did the outside. Other than that, I can't even remember what I did on what day. But, one thing I know for certain, tonight I made some more Ranch. Because low and behold I started making homemade a few years ago and my kids won't eat any other kind. This stuff is liquid gold around here. Dang standards any how!

1 week worth of dipping!

Gratitude

This rainbow was so large I couldn't even get a entire view on my camera with it!

I am a few days late for the week of Thanksgiving, however I couldn't help but stop and express my gratitude for today. It rained. Those of you who know and live in Arizona know that it seldom comes. Just look what I saw coming home from scouts. Is that not the most amazing site ever? So, thank you Heavenly Father for sharing a little bit of your rain with us today in the desert. (even if I do have to run it in, in the morning).

SPT--SLR (Canon 20D-Borrowed) Yet Smitten

Loving the manual setting.....and a little SP too.

Betcha Can't Catch Me

It never fails that each day when my kids come home from school they are immediately looking for forms of entertainment. Most of the time I feel like a broken record giving them ideas, but on some occasions they use their imagination and just play like kids are supposed to. Last Friday I happened to catch them in their element playing hide go seek. Luke thought I was Taylor so when he saw that someone was coming he immediately shut the door for fear he was caught in the act.

It then became a game that I was the monster coming to get them out of the closet.

Ah, ha caught red handed. This face is such a classic Luke face, I love it.

Little did I know that when I opened the door I would find his partner in crime aka brother Jared. Holding not one, but two illegal items that don't belong in my craft closet. 1). A ball. 2). Eating candy in a place other than the kitchen.

Weston didn't quite make it to base and is getting stopped by his big sister.

Determination

We may only be a few months into piano lessons, but I have to admit I love having her play. I have yet to have to make her practice. (I am aware we are just beginners, but still...) She gets on it before school as well as after without being told. Thanks to all of your advice, this was probably one of the best purchases I have made thus far. Why I didn't get one sooner? I'll never know.

My little perfectionist.