Thanksgiving '09

Another fun (and yummy) Thanksgiving has come & gone! We spent this year up at Mike's parents' house in Layton. We had a small group this year...only 9 people were there (our family of 5, Mike's brother Brian, Great-Grandpa Judkins, and Mike's parents), but we had lots of food. Here's the spread before we dug in...


And, here's a picture of the whole gang...


After dinner, everyone sat around and talked, played games & built things out of Lego's. Then, one at a time, people started to doze off in an L-tryptophan drunken state. While people were snoozing, Grandpa took Connor and Aiden over to Great-Grandpa Judkins farm where they fed the horses some carrots and apples. The boys absolutely loved this! They said that the horses tickled their hands when they were eating the food. I wish I had pictures of this, but I wasn't there...I was one of the people that was overcome by the L-tryptophan! :)

Later that night, Mike's Uncle Dave & Aunt Jan came over with some of their kids for pie & leftovers. It was fun to see all of them for a few minutes! They are a lot of fun!

So, that was our Thanksgiving! It was low-key and a lot of fun! The food was delicious & the company was great! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you had a good one! --Lindsay

My Sweet Little Aidenator

So, I was packing the other day & I found Aiden's school picture in a pile of random stuff. I think I stuck it there several months ago thinking that I needed to post it on here, but (apparently) I never got around to it. I decided that, although life is crazy chaotic right now with the move, I needed to take some time & post something about my Aidenator. Aiden, as many of you know, is my wild child! The kid has a mind of his own & he does what he wants, when he wants...and no one can tell him differently! But, Aiden is also a tenderheart! He is such a sweet little boy! When he goes anywhere, even if he's only going to be gone for a few minutes, he stops at the door and always says, "Bye Mom! I love you!" When I say "I love you too," he always responds with, "I love you soooooooooo much!" When I say "I love you soooooooooooo much too!" He responds with "I love you INFINITY!" This can go on for several minutes before he finally closes the door. It is the cutest thing ever!

When I leave to go somewhere, Aiden always comes running to the door saying, "I need a hug & a kiss before you go!" This hug and kiss is followed up with, "I will miss you soooooooooo much Mom!" This doesn't just happen once when I leave, he will give me MULTIPLE hugs & kisses, and tell me MULTIPLE times that he is going to miss me before I am "allowed" to leave. Many times, he will have already given me 9+ sets of hugs & kisses, and yet he will still run after me to the door one last time saying, "Wait! Just one more hug & kiss!!!" It can take me 8 minutes sometimes just to escape out the door...which can be a bit of a problem when I'm running late! But, I love his hugs & kisses more than the world, so it's totally worth it!

Aiden is such an awesome kiddo! He is doing GREAT in school! On his first day, I warned his teacher that Aiden was my crazy kid & that he may give her some trouble now and again. But, everyday as I pick him up, she tells me what a great kid he is! She says that he does his work quietly & quickly, that he is a great friend & example to the other kids in the class, and that he picks up new concepts very easily! I am so proud of him! Way to go Aiden! I am so excited to see what you accomplish in your lifetime! I know there are great things in store...as long as I can figure out a way to channel all your energy into positive things! I love you INFINITY! --Mommy

Look Who Finally Decided to Start Walking

Well, Cohen finally decided a few weeks ago (at 15 1/2 months) that he would join the rest of the human race & begin walking! He's been able to walk since he was about 13 months old, but didn't like to walk because it was so much easier to crawl. It hasn't been until the past few weeks that he's started to walk more than crawl. I haven't really pushed him much in the walking department because, frankly, I liked having a baby that was only semi-mobile. But, by about 15 months, I started to worry that something might be wrong. I asked the pediatrician about it at his 15 month appointment. I told him that Cohen COULD walk, but just didn't want to. He just laughed and said it was "Youngest Child Syndrome." Why would he WALK when he has four big people at his beck and call to carry him around where ever he wants? Good point. So, over the next few weeks, I just made a point of not carrying him a whole lot. If he wanted to come with me into a different room, he had to come himself. Wouldn't you know it...the kid started walking within 2 weeks! He's still a tiny bit wobbly his feet, so it's really entertaining to watch him. Here's some video I took of him the other day. Too fun...



I love this little man! He is just such a sweet, cute little guy. He is so easy going & fun to be around...plus, he loves to cuddle! None of my other boys EVER liked to be cuddled! He gives the best hugs in the world & is cute as can be! He's the best & I don't know how we ever survived without him! --Lindsay

I Have Done My Patriotic Duty

Yes, that's right...I have done my duty to support the national economy. My mom and sisters made our annual "Christmas shopping trip" this past Friday. We always plan a day during November to go shopping from sun up to sun down. We get a huge chunk of our Christmas shopping done on this day, before the Christmas season has even begun! We love doing it this way because then we don't have to deal with all the crowds in December, plus a lot of the stores do great sales during November so that they can get a jump start on their holiday sales. DOUBLE BONUS! Here we are after our two hour long excursion through Toys R Us. My sister, Kristin, thought we were quite a sight all walking together like this, so she snapped a picture...

About 90% of my kids' Christmas was shoved into that cart! It was a very successful shopping day! Now I just have to wrap it all. Uggg... --Lindsay

Before I Start Packing...

Well, a few weeks ago, I said that I would post more pictures of the basement when it was all decorated. I figured I should probably do this post now...because I'm about to start packing non-essentials starting tomorrow. That means today is probably the last day the basement will look cute enough for pictures. So, here you go...

Here's the laundry room. I think the cabinet hardware makes this room even cuter than it already was. The people who are buying our house came back over the other day to see it again & they told us that the laundry room was a HUGE selling point for them. Amy, the wife, seriously gets giddy when she walks in this room. How could you not get giddy? I think it's one of the cutest laundry rooms I've ever seen...


Here's the finished kitchen. So fun...


Family room. Doesn't the corner cabinet look great? The buyers also loved this room. Chris, the husband, says that he's not much of a movie guy...but that he might become one just because he has this room...

The bathroom. The shower curtain, rugs, towels, etc. used to be in our master bathroom before we remodeled it. I saved all the stuff so that I could decorate this bathroom with it...

Connor's Star Wars room. We didn't even have a chance to hang anything on the walls. Oh well, we'll do it in the new house...

The playroom. The kids have LOVED having this room to play in. I have loved it even more than they have! When they are being loud & wild, I just say, "Okay, time to go downstairs and play!" They can play down there for hours...

So, that's the basement. Even though it's only been finished for a few weeks, I will miss it enormously when we move. Do you think it's too soon to start bugging Mike to finish the basement in the new house? Haha! Just kidding! As much as he loved working down there, I think he's looking forward to break from crazy remodeling/finishing projects for awhile. --Lindsay

Our Temporary Housing Solution

I found a place for us to live...and it's even in our current neighborhood!!! This is the house that we will be living in from the middle of December until our new house is finished sometime in February or March. I'm so excited because now my kids can stay in their same schools, go to the same ward, and play with their same friends until "the big move" happens. I was worried that I would have to uproot their lives twice. But, because of this house, I'll only have to do it once! I think this house is a HUGE blessing! I found it online & made some calls about it. The people that own this house were looking for someone who wanted to sign a 12 month lease but after I told them our situation, they agreed to give us a 3 month lease through the end of February and then let us go month-to-month after that if our new house isn't finished yet. It's the PERFECT situation & I'm very happy about it! I am really surprised at how smoothly everything with this moving situation has gone so far and I'm feeling VERY blessed! I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop because I know that we're going to hit a kink at some point. But, in the meantime, I'm enjoying the smooth sailing! I'm so happy that we'll be able to stay by our friends and neighbors for a little while longer! --Lindsay

Wow! That Was Fast!

Well, our house is under contract already! Oh my stars! It's only been on the market for five days!!! I really didn't expect it to go quite so quickly, but it did! The people who are buying it were only the 2nd people to walk through! They saw it on Monday morning at about 10:30 & we had an offer by 2:00 that afternoon! After several counteroffers back and forth, we finally came to an agreement. They are going to pay full price for the house & we are going to cover $4000 of their closing costs. I am seriously in shock that, in a market like this, we got such a great offer! It is a HUGE blessing and we are extremely grateful for it!

The only bad part is that they want us to close by December 17th, so we will be moving at Christmas into some random rental home. Joy to the world! ;) Although that is kind of a bummer, I really can't complain. I would much rather move into a rental house in the middle of December, than to be stuck with a house I can't sell in February! We have found a few houses in our current neighborhood that are for rent, so we're looking into renting one of them until the new house is done.

I think the people are buying our house will be a great addition to the neighborhood! I haven't met the husband yet, but I did meet the wife. She and her real estate agent showed up for their appointment a few minutes early, so I hadn't left the house yet. She walked in the door & fell in love with the house instantly! She especially loved the heated tile floors. I'm pretty sure they are what sold the house. She couldn't get over how heavenly they felt! She seemed really sweet & should fit right into the neighborhood with all the other young mommies that live here! They have two young kids, a rambunctious little boy (probably about 3-years-old) and a baby girl. I think it's very appropriate that another wild little boy will live in this house! And, I'm happy that a little girl will FINALLY live here too. I always had dreams of a darling pink nursery somewhere in this house...maybe they will be the ones to make that a reality since I never could!

So, there you go! Wish us luck on getting one of these houses that is for rent. I would love to stay in the neighborhood a little longer so that our boys can stay in their same schools & play with their same friends for a little longer! And, if you hear of any other rental situations in the neighborhood, let me know! --Lindsay

Happy HalloWeekend

Well, Halloween weekend was a fun one...full of lots of treats, with a few tricks thrown in there too! We started it out with a joint birthday party for Connor and Mike with both our families (TREAT). Connor wanted pizza & crazy bread for dinner. Thank goodness! The night before, our refrigerator/freezer decided to die on us, so all our food was being stored at one of our neighbor's houses (TRICK). I don't think I could have made dinner if I had wanted to! Side note, the refrigerator has since been fixed. Next side note, I should have married an Appliance Repairman. He was at our house a total of 13 minutes & charged us $175 (TRICK)! Not bitter or anything here. Anyway, here's Poppy & his boys eating their pizza...


After dinner, it was on to cake & ice cream and then presents (TREAT). Not a whole lot of pictures here because BOTH of my camera batteries decided to die (TRICK). Obviously, I was on a roll with things deciding to die on me! Lovely...


It was a fun & easy-going party! Thanks to all the family members that came (TREAT)!

Saturday was Halloween! I had to work (because we're in the middle of sweeps & no one is allowed to take time off right now), so I decided to do weather live from my front yard with all the neighborhood kiddos (TREAT). I figure if I have to work on Halloween, I might as well be where all the action is at! We had quite the group there, everything from witches to princesses to transformers to things-that-probably-shouldn't-be-shown-on-TV-due-to-the-fact-that-they-probably-violated-several-FCC-obscenity-rules. Thank you for the good laugh though Alex Kopelson! ;) Here's a picture of the group that showed up...


There's something about Anakin Skywalker & Spider Man that looks vaguely familiar...

And this cute little duck looks like someone I know. Although, I can't quite put my finger on it right now. And, who's the hottie holding him? I've got to get to know that guy... ;)

Having fun before going on air...

It was fun & I think it turned out really cute! Thanks to everyone who came!

After the broadcast, the kiddos went Trick-or-Treating & got LOTS of candy (TREAT). I have since gone through all that candy, and of course I had to eat the ones that were "questionable" (a.k.a. "delicious"...TREAT). I love Halloween...

Sunday was Mike's birthday. He turned 34 (and I'm sure he's extremely pleased that I just announced that to the world!) I don't think it was a very exciting day for him though. I was going to make him breakfast in bed, but because all our food was still at our neighbor's house, I didn't have anything I needed, so he got his choice of cold cereal without milk or instant oatmeal (TRICK). Nothing says "I love you" like instant oatmeal...that's what I always say!

After that, we went to Stake Conference. That meant two hours of "pure joy" trying to entertain 3 small boys who were not very happy that "sacrament meeting was taking a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG time," all while some old guy sitting near us glared at us the entire two hours (TRICK). Dude, maybe you should take a break from your glaring & listen to what the Stake President is saying about being Christlike for a minute or two! And, to top it off, Cohen decided to spit up all over the front of Mike's shirt (TRICK). Good times...good times!

After Stake Conference, I had to go to work (again, no time off because of sweeps), so Mike was left to entertain the kiddos for the remainder of the afternoon by himself (TRICK). I can't think of anything better to do on one's birthday than to try to entertain kids on a Sunday afternoon all by yourself! Sigh...

Things did begin to look up later that night though. Mike headed over to my parents' house for dinner. My mom had made a big spread just for him, including pot roast, mashed potatoes, carrots, jello salad, rolls & two Boston creme pies (TREAT). YUMMY! So, at least he ended the day on a good note!

He and I are going out on a hot date Wednesday night to make up for his less-than-exciting special day (DOUBLE TREAT).

So, that was our HalloWeekend! Hope you had lots of treats, and not so many tricks this past weekend! --Lindsay