Christmas in Utah!

We were lucky enough to surprise my parents this year for Christmas. We decided (almost last minute) to head up to Utah. My parents had no clue we were coming! It was so great, I have always wanted to do that and I finally got my chance to surprise them. My whole family was able to be together for a couple days which is always awesome! The kids had a blast playing the entire week we were there!

Making gingerbread houses. As always they were COVERED with candy.

Random pictures: Eating out at one of our favorite places in St. George. Playing at Jumping Jacks and Sam and Haiven.

Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited and could hardly wait to open some presents.

Christmas morning: Carly and Sam were so different in the way they reacted. Carly couldn't open things fast enough and Sam took his time opening and looking at each gift. Santa Clause left a note with a picture of Bicycles that he left at our house in Texas. They were pretty excited about that!

Carly and I on Christmas day.

We snapped this picture after Church. It's nice going to church on Christmas. It helps me at least keep the true meaning of Christmas on my mind.

Mark and Desirae and family came down Christmas day, so that night we did the Nativity, it was pretty funny.

Christmas Morning

Random pictures: Chad playing horse, sleepover with some girl cousins and Carly and Haiven.

small Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree up. Funny thing: I just had Chad pick one up from the grocery store this year (I really wasn't up for the overpriced-cut down your own- Christmas tree this year) Well, he walked in the back door with it and the second Carly saw it she said "It's okay that it's small Daddy." It was pretty funny. Last year we had like a 9ft. tree. This year it seems about half that! The kids still had fun decorating it!

I was also crazy enough to make sugar cookies this year. I must admit, they are far better than the one's I made last year. I ended up with 5 1/2 dozen. 3 dozen of those were for a cookie exchange party. The rest we had to pawn off to people because I was sick of looking at them!

Happy 28!

Chad's birthday was on Sunday.

28 years old!

Obviously we didn't do much since his birthday was on Sunday but we did have dinner (which was not so yummy) and I made Chad's favorite cake.

-boxed yellow cake with store bought chocolate frosting-

I must say, I didn't complain, it was an easy cake to make :)

Carly and I decorated the living room after church while Sam and Chad watched a movie and napped in the bedroom. Carly was so excited to be decorating for Daddy's birthday.

I think he had a great birthday and I'm sure glad that he was born!

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Baby news

-I've been feeling much better recently. Still have moments of yuckiness but mostly just tired.

-I think I've been feeling baby move. It's been four years since I was last pregnant but I'm pretty sure it's the baby and not just gas :)

-Now that I think I've been feeling the baby move I've been obsessed with it. I find myself concentrating so hard sometimes to see if I can feel it.

-found out I probably won't have to take blood thinners (the dreaded shots) this pregnancy. We'll just keep an eye open for any issues. I'll most likely take blood thinners after delivery though.
-Probably won't find out what gender the baby is till January. I've toyed with the idea of not finding out at all but that probably won't happen.

Thanksgiving

Just a few pictures from Thanksgiving this year, thanks to Sharise because I forgot to grab my camera.

As always, there was loads of food and lots of family and friends.

There was even an amazing race set up for the kiddos which they LOVED!

Facts.

*This is a terrible picture. It's the best I could do with self-timer.

*I have really bad posture apparently.

*I wear sweat pants probably every day.
* I hit 14 weeks as of yesterday. (wishing I was 40 weeks)
* I should not clean out the fridge while 14 weeks pregnant. Way too many nasty smells for my nose to handle.
*I'm showing mostly because I'm bloated, unfortunately. TMI?
*You know I'm having a "good" day when I took the time to shower AND dry my hair.
* I wish I could sleep ALL THE TIME. The truth, I probably could sleep ALL THE TIME.
* The thought of cooking dinner about kills me every day.
*I almost puke every time I brush my teeth.
* I complain too much.
* I am excited for this baby!

"I didn't want to loose it!"

November 12, 2011

Tonight was the night. Miss Carly's tooth had been loose for quite some time. Today while I was gone, Daddy had fun playing around with it, loosening it up. We told her tonight was the night, it had to come out. We probably shouldn't have said that because I think she worried a little too much about it all day! We got home from dinner and began the process. It took a while but with some floss and some surprise hard tugs on it, it finally came free.

Her reaction wasn't quite what we thought it would be. I'm glad we got it on video, although it was kind of sad. She was really upset that it was gone. I think she was worried about how she would look. She seriously cried for probably 1/2 hour. She didn't even want to look at her tooth.

After we brushed her teeth and got ready for bed she took some time looking in the mirror, studying it out and I think she's come to terms with it.

Although, she just told me she's worried her new tooth will come in and be bigger than the rest and then she'll look funny.

(when do I tell her that is most likely what will happen?)

Anyway, as of now she seems to be okay with it and is excited to show people at church tomorrow.

p.s. Don't mind out nasty paint colors in our bedroom. Unlike the way carly feels about her tooth, I can't wait to loose those paint colors ;)

Halloween

Halloween was really fun this year. We went to Chad's cousins' house this year. Their subdivision gets really into Halloween. Seriously, I've never seen so many kids, decorations, costumes.....it really was amazing!!

We enjoyed good food, family, lots of Candy and some dancing in between.

The kids had a blast trick or treating, although Carly got quite a scare from a man dressed in a wolf costume. Sad, but funny.

Sam had fun dancing but every time I'd start to video him he'd stop.

I wasn't planning on dressing up but I made a last minute stop to wal-mart and picked up some things for Chad and I. They didn't last long though, that wig was annoying.

It's time I suppose...

I guess it's time for an update. Between feeling nauseous ALL DAY LONG and one round of tonsillitis (or something of that nature) I haven't felt like doing much at all.
We did manage to make it to our ward Fall Carnival/Trunk or Treat. It really was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it but were mostly excited for the Trunk or treat part of the night.
There were snacks and a couple carnival games set up in the gym, a maze, a beauty boutique and and obstacle course.

Sam and Chad doing the cupcake walk.

Carly playing the Mummy Game

Cupcake Walk again.

Carly got a unicorn painted on her face. She was so excited when she saw this picture.

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Earlier in the month we went to the Catfish Festival. Yes, I said Catfish Festival.

Carly's dance class was performing. I laugh when I look at these pictures for a couple reasons:

*Carly is the only one in Jean shorts

*Carly is the only one with no make-up, no glitter

*Carly is the only one with a Mom who had no idea what these things were like.

She still had fun though but I don't see many more of these in our future.

Sadly we didn't even get a video of the cute little dance, we had the video camera, it just didn't want to record. :(

Big news......

Rain!

It rained for most the day on last Sunday. Chad got creative and attatched our big umberella to the kids "4 wheeler." The kids had so much fun driving around in the rain but not getting wet.

My Offspring

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#3

Can you believe it?! I sure can't! Two years of trying and waiting it finally happened. Our third little McLane is finally on his/her way! I'm not sure if I can say it was planned or unexpected. It was a little bit of both.

*I was anxious to visit the doctor. After two years of trying I was convinced something was wrong (I think every pregnant woman has those feelings though)

*As of today I am 9 weeks along. Baby looked great and the heartbeat sounded awesome. I've seen the little "gummy Bear" but it still doesn't feel real. Although, the sickness is making it feel all too real.

*I am so excited. (a little in shock)
*Coming May 14th (roughly) Which puts it right smack in the middle of our other two May babies.

*Next step, adding onto our house.....

Cow Branding

These were just part of the kids that were there. Playing with cousins always equals FUN!

before the branding started Mimi took the kids for a ride on her horse. They LOVED it as always!

With the help from chad's mom we had a brand made to brand our cows with. It kind of turned into a big deal when everyone kept saying they wanted to come. It was so much fun! They started by rounding the cows up (actually trying to) Cows are pretty stubborn animals and I think they knew what was coming. It was a lot harder to get them gathered in the corral. We ended up only getting three cows done before we were all starving. So, we took a break for some yummy food that everyone brought. It was great to have everyone there, the kids loved it and the adults loved it too! I think the cows were the only one's that didn't enjoy the day!

(p.s. Some of these pictures were taken by my sis. Sharise)

October really?

It's really October? When did that happen, does that mean I have to start thinking about Halloween costumes and Thanksgiving and Christmas!? I was really enjoying my lazy days of summer :( I guess we can't stop time so we must move forward.
I can't believe I only posted twice in September. I guess that just goes to show how really of a boring month it was for us. Here are some random pictures from the end of the month that I thought I could share.

Dolly and Nanny found a nice spot for a nap in front of our storage shed.

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Thanks to an early Christmas present (a brand new septic system) we now have a front yard that is mostly dirt. It didn't help that it was already mostly dirt from the lack of rain, but now it's a sand pile! At least the kids found joy in it. They had fun one afternoon playing in the dirt (and making mud) I admit, they got really dirty but it was nice to have them occupied for quite a while.

Carly was proud of how dirty she got. Sam, on the other hand, can't stand to be dirty. Something is not right here ;)

Fishing

Chad loves to fish and has been dying to catch a fish in the river (stream, pond whatever you want to call it) behind our house. He found a spot that was loaded with carp and was determined to catch one. He brought this up to the house the other night and we had a little fun with it. I don't think he (or she) thought it was fun though.

Sam wasn't too fond of it, this is as close as he would get to it.

Not sure what Carly was thinking of in this picture.

It took some coaxing (and maybe a little bribery) to get her to do this!