Car decorations

Now that we have a full size truck- I thought about doing something like this:

But then I stumbled across this:

So the question is: Are you an antler or a wreath person?

Decisions are the worst.

BINGO!

Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. There is something about the whole season that makes me all giddy inside. I love the Christmas music, Christmas lights, shopping, baking, all the yummy treats (especially Christmas cookies!) of course the shopping, and spending time with family. I think the biggest reason I love Christmas so much is because of all the wonderful traditions that we have as a family. When Russell and I got married that added even more traditions to the group and now Russell and I get to start some of our own.
My side of the family has a tradition that goes back way before I was even born. It definitely tops the list of my favorites and I look forward to it every year. We used to get together every other year with my dad’s side of the family on Christmas Eve, but now that the family is so big we get together before Christmas instead. We get together and start out with of course- dinner. Gotta eat! My favorite- Aunt Maureen's potato salad and Aunt Ann's macaroni salad. Doesn't get any better than that!

After we eat we clear the tables for some serious game playing- cuz it's BINGO time. Yes, I said Bingo! It is SO much fun. Everyone gets a prize or two that is specifically for them when they win and then there are a bunch of miscellaneous gifts if you keep on winning. We have gone from using old small Bingo cards and beans to cover the numbers, to nifty cards that have little sliders on them. We play a bunch of rounds so everyone can win their prize and then do a blackout at the end. This year was a blast and both Russell and I were on a winning streak! We got some fabulous prizes such as earrings (for me), a drill-thingy (for Russell of course), some windshield wiper fluid and beef jerky. The prizes are nothing fancy but its still fun to win. My Grandma used to buy us things such as tissues and Aqua Net hairspray- oh how the times have changed!

*Two cards each- we are talented! *

*Josh was having a hard time getting Bingo*

*Carter opening his first Bingo gift*

After playing Bingo, Santa comes and visits all the little kids. Everyone gets to sit on Santa's lap for a picture and to tell him what they want for Christmas. A few kids get to sit on Santa's lap and have a few things- good and bad- told about them. This year- it was Jacob's turn. (Carlye's husband) We decided that since he was new to the family- we would welcome him in style! He was so embarrassed and it was so funny. I wish I had a pic of how red his face was. Some of the kids loved Santa- others- not so much.

*As you can see- Carter was not a fan*

*Yeah- Livvy wasn't either*

Grandma was unable to come to the party this year due to her health and the snowy weather earlier in the day. We really missed having her there! This is a tradition that she started years and years ago and still makes sure we carry it on.

*The "girls" (minus Ali)*

*Good lookin guys! (minus Darin)*

Christmas Lights

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is go to Temple Square and see the lights. If you have never been- you are missing out!! My family decided to get together this year and do dinner and then go see the lights. Unfortunately, we picked a very snowy Saturday and not everyone was able to make it. It actually ended up just being Russell and I and then Jill, Jerome and Carter. We met up at the Olive Garden for dinner, and then walked over to Temple Square. It was cold and was snowing a bit, but we all bundled up and Carter did great! The lights were beautiful as always and the best part was Carter’s reaction. The kid LOVES lights! He just kept pointing to all the lights and saying ‘ights, ights!’ It was so cute. After walking around for a bit and taking some pictures we headed back to our car. It amazes me the number of lights they put up every year. I can’t imagine being the one with that job! We walked back along Main Street and Carter was enthralled by the Trax train. Most the way back to the car he kept saying ‘choo choo’. He is such a cutie. We had a great time. It definitely added to the Christmas spirit and excitement.

Birthday Gift

My sweet parents gave me some money for my birthday, and I was so excited because I knew just what I wanted! I have had my eye on this picture for awhile now and then when I saw them at Costco I knew I had to have one (and that I could afford it!) So thanks Mom and Dad- this is my new picture that will be hanging in my family room

Birthday Celebrations

Well it was that time again, time to celebrate the birth of the cutest twins ever! (Ha ha) Jill and I celebrated another fabulous birthday this year- we are getting so old! As I told Jill, we are one year older and prettier too (none of this wiser stuff-makes us seem really old). Being a twin means that I have never had my ‘own’ birthday. As a kid this used to drive me crazy but as I’ve grown up, I really enjoy it. You have two people opening gifts, so twice the fun, and when you sing happy birthday, you never have to just sit and be sang to. (I find it quite awkward- maybe I’m just not used to it) The birthday celebrations started a few days before at mom and dads house where we had our usual Fast Sunday family night and then the extended family came over for cake and ice cream. We were also able to celebrate my Aunt Jan’s birthday too- hers is a week after ours. We had a yummy funfetti cake and got some fun gifts.

On Wednesday we celebrated again- this time it was the real deal. I had to work a half day so when Russell came to pick me up at noon he brought the prettiest flowers and some balloons. He also got me a cute fountain to put on my desk. He is so cute and thoughtful!

We then met up with the family at Sweet Tomatoes for lunch. Not everyone could make it, but we had some yummy food and enjoyed visiting and laughing.

*Russell, Dad & Birthday Girl, Jill*

*Missy, Mom & Birthday Girl, Linsey*

After lunch, Russell and I went home and opened presents! Russell gave me some clothes, a SugarLand CD, some earphones, and my favorite part- an 8 pack of lip smackers! I’m in heaven :)

*collapsable bakeware from my mother-in-law*

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and talking to family on the phone. It really was a great day! I am so thankful to my cute husband and my great family for making it such a wonderful day. Thanks to Jill for sharing her birthday with me- I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Girl's Night Out

Who doesn’t love a good girl’s night out? I know I certainly do! We had a small girl’s night out last week (with just the 3 of us) and it was just what I needed! A night of good food at Goodwoods, shopping (some fantastic deals!), a hot fudge sundae, and tons of laughing. It’s such good therapy and a much needed night out to just relax and have fun. Russell was so great to let me go out for hours and even buy a few things for myself for my upcoming birthday. Thanks to a great sister and a great friend who are so much fun to be with and so great to talk to! Love you both!

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day this year was a fun filled day full of yummy food and great company!! Russell and I got the assignment to bring rolls for dinner and I figured I would try my hand at homemade rolls. I was quite nervous because I have never made homemade rolls before and I didn’t want to screw up- so I bought some Rhodes rolls to have on hand just in case! After MUCH help from Mom and Jill (trust me, I called them a bunch of times!) the rolls turned out pretty dang good! The most important part was that they tasted delicious :) I ended up making two batches so Russell could take some to work for his work dinner and they were a hit. (Russell actually helped with the second batch- he is a natural!) I don’t think they even made it to dinner time!

*note for next time- roll the edges all the way under- or when they bake, they fly open!

We had Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncles this year with my mom’s side of the family. We had several family members missing but we still had a good crowd and it was fun. There was plenty of delicious food and Pennie had her house decorate so cute! After a yummy dinner, we sat around and talked and then decided to try our hand at Mario Cart and tennis on the Wii. The best was when my mom started playing- she was hilarious!

*Lins w/ Olivia *Russell, Missy & Mom relaxing

*Lexi & Mom playing Mario Cart

After dinner we headed home to scan the ads and make our lists of where we needed to hit Friday morning. This is my most favorite part! I was a bit disappointed in the sales this year- nothing too fantastic going on unless you want to buy a flat screen TV. I did manage to find a few things to stand in line for.

*Kirk, Missy & Jill lookin for a deal!

Friday morning we were up at 4am and off to Walmart (which was just the start of the shopping day!) I had started to get sick Thursday night and by Friday pretty much had lost my voice. Russell was a good sport and came and helped save places in line, and overall, we were very successful! We were done shopping by 9 and were able to enjoy a yummy breakfast at Village Inn before heading home for a much needed nap. I neglected to take pictures of our shopping adventures- but it was SO fun! Too bad I spent the rest of the weekend home and sick!

THANKSGIVING

Yes- 3 posts in one day! It's a most productive day here at work. I saw this on a friends post and decided it would be fun to do on my blog! Feel free to copy- it helps you think of all the many things you are thankful for. (yes some are quite cheesy but its harder than you think!)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints- I'd be lost without out.
Home- a place to call home and people I love that live there
America- that I live in a country with the freedoms we enjoy
Nieces and nephews- they brighten my day and make my life happier
Knowledge-things I have learned and continue to learn daily
Siblings- my family means everything to me and each add to my life in so many ways
God- knowing he is there and loves me no matter what
Independence- being able to make my own choices
Voting- being able to vote and have a say in things
Internet- so I can blog! Technology in general has opened so many doors
Neighbors- great neighbors growing up and presently
Girlfriends- so many wonderful friends who listen to me and make me laugh

I am so blessed and have SO many wonderful things to be thankful for. I hope that we can all remember what we are thankful for as we celebrate Thanksgiving.

MY CURRENT OBSESSION

For those of you who love to shop- this is it- the biggest shopping day of the year! I'm in heaven :) I hope you have been checking out the black friday ads online as they have come out. If you haven't, and you just can't wait until the paper comes out tomorrow, here is a wonderful site- www.blackfriday.info (I probably should have told some of you about this sooner!) You can check out the website, then finalize your decisions once you look at the ads on Thanksgiving day. After dinner on Thanksgiving, you can then sit down and strategize where you will be going and what you will be getting. It is most important that you don't skip this part- it's all about getting as many good deals as possible and with stores opening at different times, planning is so important! This way you can also decide who is going to run for what items and who is going to secure your place in line to check out. Take it from me- all of this is important in the success of black friday.
Plan on getting up around 3 am- and being done shopping around 10 am- just in time for breakfast! Don't wear anything too warm- you get hot with all the running and don't bother grabbing a cart- they just get in the way (though they can be used as weapons if necessary). I wish you all the best in your shopping ventures! Here's to finding a fabulous deal!

TWILIGHT MADNESS

Last week we decided to join the craze and go see Twilight at the midnight showing! It was so much fun! I was so worried that I would fall asleep, since that is way past my bedtime, but I was wide awake and enjoyed every second of it.

My friend Nikki rented out a whole theatre a few months ago and so a bunch of us decided we had to go (we have all read the books and LOVED them). My mom, Missy, Jill, Carlye and Jacob all came as well as other extended family and friends. It was fun to see so many people we knew in the theater. We decided to go all out and dress up for the show and as you can see, we looked hot! (Jill opted out- but still looked cute :) )

*Especially notice the back of Missy's dress!

Mom dressed up as Alice, and then Carlye, Missy, and I dressed up as Bella going to the prom. Jacob dressed up as- Jacob! What a good sport he was to not only come, but also to dress up! (As Russell put it- you can tell they are newlyweds- he’s still whipped! Lol)
The dresses that Missy and Carlye and I dug up were hilarious (we knew we saved them for a reason). Missy was in an old dance dress of Ali’s, Carlye was in an old dance dress of Missy’s, and I wore my beautiful choir dress. Missy and I couldn’t quite get them zipped up in the back, but that didn’t stop us from looking fabulous! We also curled a few ringlets in our hair and threw on some flashy jewelry to complete the look. People got a kick out of. Mom looked awesome- I almost didn’t recognize her in her blond wig! (We even took 2nd place in the costume contest!) Quite a few people in the theater were dressed up as well so it made it really fun. Nikki (who rented the theater) dressed up as Victoria and she looked so much like the Victoria in the movie! Ali went with some friends on Friday (in Idaho of course) and they made cute baseball shirts- this one was my fave-

We had fun visiting and taking pictures before the movie started and then at midnight the movie began- and it was fabulous! Edward is beautiful! (he has some scenes I didn’t think he looked too cute in, but he is hot) I was worried the movie would not follow the book and would not be as good, but I thought it was very well done. It’s fun to see how the movie showed things in the book versus how I had pictured them in my head. Some things were quite similar- some things were totally different.

After the show we all went home and crashed. I thought I would be dead at work the next day but I did surprisingly well. (Except for I wanted to go to bed at like 7 on Friday night) I can't wait for the other movies to come out. If you haven't read the books- I highly recommend them! You will get sucked in like the rest of us did!

A Week Full of Fun and Pain!

I'm realizing how you have to make time to update your blog- otherwise, if you wait for some "free time"- it just won't happen! So I'm going to update you on this last week in the Cramer household

*Monday- I went back to the dentist for round one of cavity filling. My understanding was that they would fill 3 this time and then 2 on another appointment. So I got in the chair at 10 am, got 4 or 5 painful shots and they went to work. It seemed to be taking forever but I figured it was just because I was tired and had been laying there with my mouth open for what seemed like forever. When they were finally done and I thought my mouth was permanently going to stay open wide, I asked how many they had gotten done. The dentist smiled and replied- "well got all 5 on the left side done this time! Just two more next time and you're done!" What? 5 on one side? That would mean I have a total of 7 cavities. I'm even more sick about it than previously. So I left the dentist - at noon!- with my whole left side of my face totally numb- I couldn't even wiggle my nose and I was super nauseated (the doc said its probably due to the fact I didn't eat breakfast). Needless to say, I went right home and not back to work. What a day. Note to self- don't schedule to have 5 cavities filled in the middle of the day.

*Tuesday- Veteran's Day! I was so excited that I got this day off!! Russell unfortunately did not, and even had to go to class! I got to babysit Trevor and Carter this day- all day- and it was quite fun. Trevor was staying with my mom while Ali and Darin were in Vegas. Mom had meetings- so Linsey got to babysit! We had fun though. I was worried about having both Trevor and Carter at the same time, but they did so good together. Carter wasn't so keen on sharing his toys but he loved copying everything Trevor did- even going back to crawling!

Trevor crawling around Jill's kitchen

At one point I could not see Carter but I could hear him the laundry room. I thought maybe he was getting his own snack out of the pantry- but instead found this-

He was just chillin in his car seat! He is so funny. Carlye came over to help me for a bit and we ran some errands- we each got our own baby!

Later that afternoon after playing some more, Trevor got a much needed haircut as did I- it was wonderful! Trevor discovered the side table at my parents house and thought it was so fun to crawl under it. He would just laugh and laugh, it was so cute.

That night our Relief Society had their Christmas party for the year. It was nice to have it earlier instead of trying to jam it into December with everything else. As part of the program, the primary did a bunch of songs with a nativity scene- it was darling. The pianist was my favorite-

What a trooper- he even dressed up with the kids!

*Saturday- I have been wanting to put up our Christmas lights for the past couple of weeks before it gets cold and snowy. The past 2 years we have not put up any lights because we waited too long and did not want to risk our lives putting them up on an icy roof. So today was the perfect day- a little chilly, but clear- so we finally put them up! Now to get them on the top part of the roof was a little tricky. It was higher than we thought and the ladder just wouldn't reach. We decided that the only way to get them up was to get on the roof. Since Russell is afraid of heights- I volunteered to do the higher parts! To get the highest point on the left side of the house- we had to climb on the roof. It was harder than I thought. The scariest part was getting off the ladder onto the roof, then back onto the ladder from the roof. With nothing to grab onto I was sure I would just slide right off! (though Russell assured me we had nice soft flower beds to land in! thanks honey!) Russell told me not to grab onto the gutter to catch myself- but I should have known that! (can you say Clark Griswold on Christmas Vacation?) Once I got the first level of lights on we debated about putting them on the upper level- but I decided I wasn't going to try it. So here is what our house looks like with the house lights up-

The section above the garage may never get done- though it really needs to be. My neighbor was working on his later that night and just climbed out the bedroom window! Smart idea. Though I'm still unsure of how to get them on the highest point- I just don't see a ladder on a slope on shingles- sounds scary to me! Perhaps we can bribe our neighbor to risk his life and put ours up too! We are going to add lights to our railing going up the stairs and also the tree on the left- that will be next weeks project. Let's hope the weather holds up!

*No worries- though the lights are up- we won't be turning them on at nights until the day after Thanksgiving- that's the rule! We just had to turn them on to get a picture and see how well we had done!

TEETH!

I'm not sure what my deal is, but lately I have been having bad luck with my teeth! I have been a slacker the last 2-3 years and have rarely worn my retainer on my top teeth. The thing is big and bulky and gives me a lisp when I wear it- extremely sexy to the husband I tell ya! As a result, I have developed a gap in between my front teeth. It's not huge- but to me it seems huge! After 5 years of braces- its HUGE. (you know its bad when your mom thinks it's food stuck in between your teeth) So I finally decided to call the orthodontist and get a new retainer to close the grand canyon in my teeth. I figured it would be as simple as going in, getting a new mold done of my teeth and picking it up a week later. Voila- beautiful teeth in a few months. To my dismay, the orthodontist suggested these:

Braces at my age? Are you kidding me? Is the gap REALLY that big? OH MY! (the best part is- he told me he could just do 4 braces on the top teeth- uh- for sure no) I told the orthodontist that braces just weren't an option, even if they were only going to be on for a few "short" months. So on to plan B please. Thank goodness there was a plan B and I am going tomorrow to pick up my new Invisalign retainer. He said it would take a few months but if I wear it daily (all day) it would move them faster. Though it is an Invisalign retainer- I don't plan on wearing that puppy to work. So hopefully in a few months, and a couple hundred bucks later, my straight teeth will be restored!
So when I thought this was the biggest problem I had, I decided to schedule a dentist appointment and went this morning. I didn't realize it had been over a year since I had been and I worried I had a possible cavity. No worries though- after the dentist looked at my teeth he didn't find just one cavity- he found 5!!!!!! This is what is going on in my mouth:

As my brother-in-law said- I will be making the dentist's BMW payments for the next 4 or so months. I can't believe I have 5 cavities. I'm a mess!! After telling my little sis Carlye about my crummy appointment (hoping for some sympathy), she said to me- "5 cavities and a big gap in your front teeth, you are really letting yourself go!" Of course she was kidding but man do I feel like that! I guess the diet coke I got on my way into work and the leftover Halloween candy at my desk will have to go.....

Happy Halloween!

Halloween just isn't the same when you're older- or don't have kids, but Russell and I celebrated nonetheless. I had to work and Russell had school, but that night we went over to my parent's house for homemade soup and bread with the fam(my favorites!) The Jessop's and Glancy's came over and brought their darling kids! They were so dang cute and so much fun. They still are not old enough to really get the whole trick-or-treat thing, but they loved the candy!


Carter was the cutest dog ever! He was so good to keep the hood on and was so cute! He even has the "woof woof" down and sounds adorable doing it.


Livvy was a little bumble bee and so cute! There was a thing to go on her head with antennas but she refused to wear it. (she wasn't a real fan of the whole costume thing!) I had to give her my cell phone to distract her while her parents dressed her up. Missy and Kirk took Livvy around my parent's neighborhood and she kept grabbing candy to put in her pumpkin. I'm sure her parents loved the extras!


After visiting and playing with the kids, we headed home in the rain. By the time we got home we didn't have any trick-or-treaters at our house, so it was nice and quiet! I found out later that Russell had taken the batteries out of the doorbell- maybe that's why it was so quiet! We ended up watching The Da Vinci Code and then called it a night.


We didn't have time to dress "the boys" up in their Halloween costumes on Halloween, so on Saturday we decided to put them on and take a picture or two. We went for simple this year because putting anything on them is nearly impossible. They refuse to hold still! If only they knew how cute they look- ha ha.



We managed to get their bandanas on (they are orange with white bones on them) and had to bribe them with food to get a pic or two. They looked so cute with their bandanas on! I thought we were safe putting these on because when they get groomed they get one, but hours later we found Tar's bandana in Gauge's mouth. Because they were so good at taking pics and we thought they deserved a Halloween treat- so we decided to share the rest of our vanilla frosty's with them.


Needless to say, they loved them! Their noses were covered in white frosty when they were done but I wasn't able to snap a picture fast enough before they licked it all off. The boys are definitely spoiled!