The Lange Family

True Love

2010-03-30T23:26:00.000-07:00

Isn't this what life is all about? Sharing these little moments with the ones I love make it all worth it :) I love him so much I want to kiss his face off, at least that what I always tell him. Maybe that's why he's pulling all the faces. Love you Dawsy Doodle!

Also you may be wondering why I changed my blog to pink with sparkly diamonds. Well... that's because I can. I am the owner, author of this blog and I have not been outvoted by those male species that dominate my house and leave the seats on the toilet up and insist the channel be left on ESPN :)

Alright, alright, I'll update the blog!

2010-03-09T16:49:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, stop with the nagging! I'm updating right now. Just so you know that was me talking to myself. I have been nagging myself to update this blog for sometime now, so I'm finally doing it!

For starters I should be posting something about my family and how great my great children are and how awesome my awesome husband is, BUT I'm not. I know weird huh, cause I could go on and on. I am posting something purely selfish because, well....because I want to.

Every year I have what I like to call a "super bowl for women" party aka: Miss America party. I try to invite my neighbors and anyone else that like to indulge in the Miss America pageant. Last year I was new in the neighborhood, so attendance was small which was to be expected. But this year I had a pretty good turn out.

Here's how it works just in case you want to have your own Miss America party. Everyone comes with a treat or snack to share. Wear your pj's or something comfy so you can eat a lot and not have to undo your pants. Third you bring 5 dollars (this is not gambling, even though my husband thinks it is) Then we put all the money in a big bowl and when the top 15 are announced we write all the names down and each person draws out a name. Luckily we had exactly 15 at the party, so that helps. Anywho, the person that you draw out is who you are for the rest of the night. It's all luck and has nothing to do with gambling (the bishops wife was there, so I'm pretty sure I would have been called in to his office by now if it was) sarcasm, some people don't get mine. We spend the rest of night picking (critiquing) on each other. Let's just say from the picture of me singing below...there was plenty to pick on. It was fun, fun, fun and if you want to join the fun, let me know and I'll put you on the calendar for next year ;) The winner takes home the whole slew of money!

Let's get this party started. Bishop's wife in striped chair just to prove that he was totally ok with us gambling, I mean "raffling" for the winner :)

The competition gets very intense...

Raquel came with her "Miss Nibley City" banner and crown. She was prepared to take it all.

Jocelyn builds with excitement as she realizes she might win

And the winner is....new comer Jocelyn!! better known as wife of Mike, mom of Mason and Mrs. Murdock to her kindergarten students.

Making the phone call to her husband as she fans her tears.

This was me during the talent portion of the competition. I thought I had a good shot, until... well, until this. Now you can see why I was picked on...I was an easy target. My doctor never has to use a tongue depressor.

Carving Pumpkins!

2009-10-26T19:45:00.000-07:00

For family night tonight we carved pumpkins. Tycen and his "friend", Lauren joined us.

This is a pretty bad pictures of the pumpkins, but you get the idea.

All I can say is...."Wahoo!!!"

2009-10-11T20:57:00.000-07:00

I'M GETTING GRASS!!!!!!!!!!!

Some really sexy guy came over to drive the tractor, so I thought I better take some pictures.

The view from our back porch. I love it, but it will be even better when there is green instead of dirt.

Bret tried to act like it was work, but what guy wouldn't want to play tonka trucks for real?

Red Neck waterslide!

2009-08-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

For the past ten years I have served in one relief society presidency or another, with only a 6 month stint in young women's before we moved to Nibley. As soon as we got to Nibley I was called back into relief society. Well about three weeks ago I was called back into young womans and it has really been fun. For one of YW activities we went to this man made waterslide. We had so much fun and Bret and boys decided they needed to be one of the young women. I feel really bad I didn't get any pictures of Cade and Alec, I thought I did! I think it looks like a fun place to have a family reunion...

It doesn't look that steep but once you got to the top it was pretty scary.

Dawson's face says it all...he was pretty scared.

And...here is a picture of the bagel, it has been requested often. He is actually quite proud of it, he's says the girls think it's cute. I'm not quite sure I believe it, but we'll let him live in his fantasy world. :)

Judy Lange headstone

2009-08-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

For those of you that are not able to visit or have not had the chance to visit Judy's/mom's grave I thought I'd post a pic for all to see. I thought it turned out very nice. Thanks Jill for get'ner done!

2009-07-29T22:44:00.001-07:00

Summer dayz...

2009-07-29T22:25:00.001-07:00

I couldn't get the video to post within the post so here it is above...

So, summer is just flying by and we have done some fun things as a family. As our kids start to get older we realize there are fewer and fewer activities that we ALL want to do at the same time. Aaron would prefer to go cliff jumping (which consists of him doing a back flip off a 60 foot cliff) at the lake. Alec on the other had would prefer to engage in a rough game of flag football. Cade would prefer riding his bike down the street to sift through the dumpsters to see what treasures he can find. Dawson likes to spend time with his "girlfriend" (don't ask) he and Sienna like to swim in our pool, ride her horse and ride their bikes. One activity we all agree upon is a good firework display. Our little town was celebrating heritage days and they put on a little firework show. We were lucky enough to have it go off in our back yard. We all sat in the swing and watched the fireworks from our back porch. Bret was in Kansas helping a friend load some books, so even though I was missing him like crazy we still had fun. I decided to get out my camera and try and get some shots of the fireworks. I adjusted my settings and placed the camera on a tripod so I could get a "perfect" firework picture. After a while a gave up and gave the camera to Cade. WOW, this is what he got, Aaron took a couple too. We are having them blown up for their rooms. I thought they did a pretty good job at catching some abstract, cool, artisitc pics! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

A walk down memory lane....

2009-06-26T23:09:00.000-07:00

This is where I got to spend my week! I was lucky enough to be the stake photographer for girls camp and I got to spend a week at beautiful Porcupine dam. I shot over 1700 pictures and loved every minute of my "girl" time.

But this lake does have sentimental value too. Not only is it one of my favorite lakes, this is also where Bret and I spent our second date all the way back in 1990. He packed a picnic, loaded the back of his truck with leftover 2x4's from the lumber yard he worked at and headed to the lake. Against my better judgement he drove right up to the edge of the lake and we "accidentally" got stuck. Hmmm... how convenient. :) We spent the next couple of hours talking about where we saw our lives going, little did we know then; we would go there together. After staying out much later than we should, we decided we better try and get out. I posted a couple of pictures of us trying to get out. Thank heavens we had all that lumber to help us get the truck out.

Here is a picture of Bret and the way we slid the lumber under the truck to try and give us some traction.

Here I am covered in mud, nevermind that I bought brand new black leather boots for the big date.

Spending the week up there thinking about that date we had that night made me think about our lives and our marriage and how it's been a lot like that date we had when we were young and naive. Our lives might not have gone as we had planned, we have gotten stuck many times along the way and we sometimes get tired and dirty, BUT we have created a lot of great memories
and it has been so worth it.

Luau!

2009-06-07T18:13:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago we went up to Bear Lake for a Luau and despite the rain, we had a great time. I only wish it could have lasted longer, seems like we are always in a hurry these days. Below is a picture of the food, it might not look that great but mmm, mmm, mmm it was good. We had a restarant in town called Pounders cater it and it was delish. Kalua pork, teriyaki chicken, sticky rice, macaroni salad, fresh pineapple, coconut bread (made by Jill)

Here are the kids playing games, they did not want it to end.

Here are all the grandkids in order of height not necessarily in order of age. Yeah, I know, Alec is a shrimp.

Cory and Liz had a cook off to see who could make the best Guava cake. That's right you heard me, Liz did indeed want to be included in a cook off. It was intense and you could feel the tension in the air between this husband and wife. Who won? Hey, it's cake, they're all winners in my book. yay for cake.

Guy and Jill with Bella. Jill looks stunning in her mu mu. We actually had matching mu mu's but I didn't get in any pictures.

Baby Ali....so stinkin cute!

Kayli and Aaron. Kayli loves my boys and my boys think she is about the cutest thing around. She knows how to work it already with the boys, she gets whatever she wants.

Aaron is such a carbohydrate addict. This is him shoving his face in a bag of cold rice and loving it. I have no idea where he came from... :)

Ground hog day!

2009-05-31T22:09:00.000-07:00

When I got home from school the other day the boys came running out to meet me telling me there was something I just had to see. When I saw the back of the dog kennel I thought for sure Bret had given in and got the boys a black lab, but I was wrong. They found this poor little ground hog and chased it around until they caught it. It was wet and shivering in the cage, so after admiring the the poor little thing for a while we let it go. Check out Copper in Alec's arms, he is rip raring ready to chase that little ground hog back into his hole, even though copper is 84 years old in dog years. It does kinda creep me out thinking there is a groundhog in our yard and he could emerge at any moment and gnaw my legs off. The joys of having boys.

C.C. and Dawson

2009-05-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

Bret's brother and his wife made a surprise visit over memorial weekend and I just had to post these pictures of Dawson and his cousin C.C. The two of them are inseparable! When they get together they play so hard by the time they actually lay down to go to sleep it only takes a matter of seconds before they are out. This is a series of pictures I took at the Mountain man redezvous. The two of them were running a race and they are receiving instruction on how to win the race from Bret. After Bret the left, the two of them came up with their own strategy. I have no idea what they were saying (I was pretty far away), but from the look on their faces I can only imagine. They are pretty tight and yes....I cut Dawson's hair :(

Four

2009-05-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Only four years under his belt and yet he seems to rule our world. We call him our little "pet" and he gets whatever he wants. He brightens our house and he can get away with so much because he makes us laugh. Yes, he gets candy everytime we go to the store, yes he sleeps in the middle of mom and dad every night, yes he get's whatever he wants from his brothers. He is spoiled and he knows it. He is curious, smart and adventureous. This picture of him from top to bottom seems to say it all... We all agree that we cannot cut his hair because his big hair is who he is, so his big shaggy hair will stay for now. A dirty shirt usually worn inside out or backwards. His favorite pants (size 2T) because he said they are just "really comfy", I've tried throwing them away, but he always digs them out and pulls them back on. His velcro fastened "fast shoes" that smell like wet dog because he never wears socks. And last but certainly not least I can almost guarantee IF he has underwear on, it is on backwards because it just "feels better". But despite all these four year old isms we love him more than one could ever imagine. He learned to ride his bike today and we've had a hard time convicing him to get off and take a break. I love four year olds and he just happens to be my favorite.

Alec turns 12!!

2009-04-24T13:54:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe my sweet little, perfect, innocent, angelic, favorite, great student, obedient child turned twelve. (just kidding Aaron, cause I know you're reading this) But he is a pretty darn good kid. Alec had his birthday on tax day and he received the priesthood that following Sunday. Here is a little poster I hung up around his school. I always need to embarrass them in some way!

Here is Alec opening his Wii. Who do you think is more excited?? This is really Aarons face when he saw what was inside. Never mind that this photo is blurry either, it's just the first shot I took with my new lens. yeah, I'm so glad I had to sell one of my children to buy this thing and this is the picture it took? I finally figured out all the settings and it was worth the money. Aaron still doesn't know he's the one I sold to buy it. They're coming to get him next week......kidding

This is the family playing the wii later that night. I have more but I just couldn't bare to post them because my house was so messy I didn't want the world see how we really live :)

Easter fun

2009-04-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter weekend and it totally helped that it was also spring break! We colored easter eggs on Friday night at about 10:00 p.m. I love this picture of Bret cooking the eggs, he was so tired and tried to talk the kids into waiting for the next day, but he just couldn't look at their faces and tell them no.

As soon as Bret saw me with the camera he woke up, looked happy and sucked it in...
Awe, isn't he handsome :)

Alec coloring eggs...

Dawson and Alec's friend Kelton

Easter morning Cade, Dawson and Alec. Aaron is asleep on the floor wrapped up in blanket, aparently 11:30 in morning is just too early to get up, even for candy. Good thing church doesn't start until 1:00.

I just love this picture of Dawson, the look on his face, the bunny's eyes eaten out . Just makes me laugh. Imagine the jingle from the movie The Christmas Story...only change a couple of words "he'll eat your eyes out, he'll eat your eyes out" poor bunny... ok, I need sleep.

Enrichment night

2009-03-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

We had our enrichment night last night for relief society and it turned out so well. We have an awesome 2nd couselor and she has a great enrichment committee and it turned out to be a great night. I thought I would share a little video I put together. Our theme was "Live like you believe", so I have been taking pictures of sisters in our ward for the past month and then I put it to music and words. This is mostly to show my sister Maria for an idea for her RS, but everyone is welcome to watch! It was a crazy day: I shot a wedding in the morning at the temple, then went to the church to set up the projector, then went to the wedding reception and took more pictures, then ran to enrichment hurried and ate dinner and played the slide show and with 15 minutes to spare I ran back to the reception to get pictures of the couple cutting the cake and dancing, then I ran back to the church to clean up all the electrical equipment. whew. When I woke up for work this morning I had a sore throat, I knew it was only a matter of time because everyone in my house has had strep throat, so I started on an antibiotic and I'm feeling much better. Heavenly Father knew I could not get sick until AFTER my crazy day and I am grateful for that!

Over 20 inches...Where is spring???

2009-03-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of our grill when I got home from school. So much for spring.

Fallen Hero

2009-03-05T22:17:00.000-08:00

This past week has been a sad week here in Cache Valley. A fifth grade teacher from Nibley elementary was killed in the line of duty while in Iraq. I didn't know him personally but I did know his wife, she went to Mountain Crest. He decided to enlist in the Army and serve his country a year and half ago. I have heard so many good things about him this week. On Wednesday, the day of his funeral, I pulled out to go to work and this is what I saw on the road in front of our house. The entire road was completely lined with flags on both sides. The pictures really do not do it justice, it was a beautiful sight. Hundreds of flags every five feet in both directions for as far as you could see. By the time I got to the end of the street I had tears in my eyes as I thought about my comfortable life in my heated car, while others are risking their lives to make mine so easy. I have such a respect for the men and women that serve our country.

This is a picture from the newspaper of his wife and one of his children. He has two boys 6 and 4 years old.

Good Parenting

2009-02-28T23:29:00.000-08:00

I've written a book it's called "Good Parenting: How to raise a happy well balanced child" Call me if you would like to reserve your copy. By the way, which picture do you think I should use for the cover?

I really love the fact that it's 4:00 in the afternoon and he's still in his pajamas. It's important to let children make their own decisions and really govern themselves.

He's so well balanced he doesn't even need to sit up to drink.

And how's that for balance! He is such a multi tasker, all while watching sponge bob. What a fine example of balance and happiness.

Gross post!

2009-02-28T07:54:00.000-08:00

If you have a weak stomach don't look at the pictures on this post! Now I made you want to look anyway huh? Thursday night we made a little trip to the ER. We have our own room there with a plaque on the door that states, "This room was donated by the Lange boys" Ok, so maybe there's no plaque but we sure have spent our fair share of money there! We actually got the only room we haven't ever been in. So now we can proudly say that we have graced every single room in the Logan Regional ER! We have had an array of injuries: broken arms, broken shoulder, cut off fingertips, cut eyelid, ferret bite to the lip, broken nose (Alec really did look like Beast from Beauty and Beast), lots and lots of staples in the head, appendix, sliced fingers, poisen in the eyes and the list keeps going. Now please put the phone down and don't call child protective services...these are just boys being boys! If any of you have more than one boy you know that what one won't think of the the other one will.

It has been a while since we donned the emergency room and after receiving a couple of calls from the ER doctors telling us that they would like a new car, we decided, well rather Dawson decided he should fall off a chair and split his head open. We really needed to support the economy and give our fair share of money to the "doctor needs a new Mercedes fund". So Dawson is just giving his service by donating to the greater good of mankind. Awe, what a kid.

Here is his prize after the hospital.

A heavy duty gun to shoot his brothers with...I see emergency room in our future....

Check my photography blog!

2009-02-26T07:12:00.000-08:00

I am having a contest on my photography blog, so click on my photography blog and check it out. Happy posting!

I hate to brag..................................But I will!

2009-02-22T19:58:00.000-08:00

If any of you know my oldest two kids very well you know that they are complete opposites.

Alec-loves getting up early
Aaron-wants to sleep all day
Alec-loves sports of all kinds
Aaron-only likes sports if it involves a snowboard
Alec-loves to got to school and loves to learn
Aaron-gets nauseous when someone uses the word learn
Alec-is shy and is afraid to call someone on the phone
Aaron-talks to anyone and can't stop using his phone

Let's just say the two of them are very different, but despite that, they get along pretty well. So this year is Aaron's 9th grade year, the year that counts on his transcript. So needless to say we have up our efforts to get Aaron to care about school. Aaron will say things like, "mom, wouldn't you rather have an average son?" "C's are great", "grades are over-rated" We have gone the round with him! So after Christmas break we really laid down the law and told him he better start doing better or else!

Meanwhile, Alec, who loves learning, was posting a 4.0 and breezing through school with no help from us. It drives Aaron crazy that Alec does extra credit just to get a 127% in a class. The final straw came when Alec was chosen as Student of the month for February. Aaron just rolled his eyes and punched Alec in the arm as he walked by. (Bret tells me this is a boys way of showing love) I left Alec's certificate out on the counter so we could admire it for a while.

Anyway Aaron really has been trying and putting forth more effort. Not a 4.0 but he really is trying. So yesterday in the mail we get a letter from Aaron's school, addressed to the parents of Aaron Lange. Aaron had a pale face as he tried to hide the letter. Finally he ripped it open and just stared at it. He had been chosen as student of the month for his school. That's right, student of the month! We all about died! We all took turns looking at the certificate and shaking our heads, including him. The teacher was really impressed with how much he had improved. I never thought I would see it in my lifetime...Aaron and Alec finally have something in common! Student of the month! Ok, I'm done bragging.

Nioquis!

2009-01-30T17:46:00.000-08:00

One of my students that graduated a few years ago just recently returned from a mission in Argentina. We just love Tycen, he is such a great person and my boys really look up to him as an example. So last Sunday he came over and showed us how to make Nioquis, a little potato pasta, that they eat in Argentina every month on the 29th. He told us we would need "a lot" of potatoes so Bret peeled an entire 10 pound bag. We had so much pasta, it was really fun!

Tycen had no problem adjusting to non-missionary life, as displayed in this photo. How did he get so lucky to get so much help from two beautiful girls? Actually the one on the right is Michelle and they were really good friends in high school, she is married but her husband didn't get there until later. The girl on the left is Jessica and this is the one he is dating now.

You boil potatoes add, seasoning, cilantro, garlic butter and mash them. Then you dump it on the counter and everyone helps knead flour in until it becomes a dough. Tycen said the only way to do it is with the whole family. So everyone was kneading at the same time, it was really fun. We used sooo much flour and I didn't know if my kitchen would ever be the same, there was flour everywhere!

More kneading.....

Once you get enough flour in the potatoes you roll out the dough and cut into little squares.

Tycen is showing us how to flip them off a fork. Um, I think you are born with this talent some us didn't get it. Aaron was good. It was very time consuming.

Dawson and Jessica. yeah I know, we do own clothes for him.

Stacy and Brett stopped by for some fun and food.

Then you boil them in water and when they float to the top, they are done. We topped them with shredded pork and red sauce. Oh, yeah we also covered them in cheese. They were SO GOOD!

This picture give you a glimps of how my kitchen looked.It took us two hours to make the dish, but it was so worth it! Thanks so much Tycen, we love having you back!

Hollywood!

2009-01-11T12:55:00.000-08:00

I had the chance to go to California over Christmas break and do three photoshoots. It was a lot of fun and on the last day as we were going to the airport we drove through Hollywood and I got to snap a few pictures for FUN! It was nice to be able to just snap away at what I wanted. Here is a collage of some of the things I found interesting. The last picture is my favorite....scroll down to read why

Generally when you think of hollywood, you think glamour, money and movie stars, but if you have ever been there, you look around and think, this is Hollywood? It is quite dirty and most people that live at lower income levels. That is why this is my favorite picture that I snapped from the car. I am calling it "The real faces of Hollywood" I love the fact that these everyday "real" people are standing in front of a wall of movie stars. Two totally different worlds...in the same place.

The real faces of Hollywood

Ca-Ching!

2009-01-10T20:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm TRYING to be a couponer. Another teacher is helping me get into it and so I thought I would give it a try. Wow, it was actually fun! So after printing and printing and printing coupons, I headed to the store. I took Aaron with me because I figured two heads are better than one, right? Haha, shoulda left him home, enough said. After all was said and done I ended up getting 432.62 worth of groceries for 96.30! Wahoo! Ok, now some of you seasoned couponers might be saying, whatever, I can do better than that! But for a beginner I thought that was pretty good. Also try not to judge me too harshly on the food storage selections...who needs fifty pounds of wheat when you have fify pounds of fruit snacks. Any of you interested in 50 ways to incorporate fruit snacks into a delicious dinner, I can send you the link. ;)

Cade...the writer

2009-01-09T22:00:00.000-08:00

Cade is our nine year old and he LOVES to write. He is always making books or writing a story. And then spends time illustrating the books. He could spend hours engrossed in writing. His last story he spent typing on the computer. I hadn't really thought much of it until I sat down to use the computer and read his latest story, I really liked his latest. WARNING: this story has quite a, hmmm, shall we say morbid ending. So, if you only like happily ever after, don't read the work of Cade Lange. He usually writes stories about, dragons and hero's and magic and wizards. As of late he has been writing stories that took place in the old west. p.s. I didn't change any of the spelling, kept the integrity in tact.

Once upon a time there was a man named John.b.willim. He was the best hunter around. He could shoot A buck a mile away. Every one loved him. But one day wolves were eating every ones sheep. And the people said who ever kills 90 wolves gets 90000 dollars. So john went out and killed 900 wolves. And lots more but one day. He made a promise. That he would not kill another wolf again. Cause they made him a fortune. But one day, A lone white wolf came and killed every ones sheep. And john forgot about his promise. And he went out to the market and bout a sheep for bate and bout a chair. And went out in the woods. And tide the sheep up to the tree. And sat on his chair with his gun. But one day John went missing. So they went out looking for him. And they found him. Dead with his throat cut and the sheep untouched.

By. Cade Lange

A few of the Lange family Christmas traditions

2008-12-25T19:33:00.000-08:00

Another Christmas is here and I LOVE Christmas time! We had a great Christmas and we are now sitting inside where it is nice and warm watching a huge snow storm roll in. I thought I would share some of our Christmas traditions, you might think some are crazy but we enjoy them none the less!

#1 Christmas eve dinner at Grandmas

This tradition takes a little explaining...Since Bret and I have never had any famly in the valley we have adopted my babysitters family. We call her grandma Bonnie and we just love their family like our own. Every Chrismas eve we go to her house for a dinner. Her house is small and it is getting more and more crowed with all the growing families. We decided to have the dinner at our house this year and it was so much fun. We had home make chicken noodle soup and taco soup. Grandma Bonnie fried up some scones We are so grateful to have family as great as they are!

#2 Opening our Christmas pajamas

I know this is a tradition for a lot of people and we do it because the kids really want to open something on Christmas eve. This is really the only night they actually wear pajamas. Most of time is whitey tighties or boxers. But the kids like this tradition, so we keep on doing it.

#3 Reading a Christmas Story

Every year we get a new Christmas book and read it on Christmas eve. This year I received a Christmas story at church so we

decided that would be our book. Here is a picture of Bret reading, he usually can't finish the story without crying. He did pretty good this year, his voice only got crackly once.

#4 Driking egg nog from fancy glasses

Once a year we pull out these fancy glasses and drink egg nog, we go around in a circle and toast to something we are thankful for or something we think is great...This is what everyone toasted to this year...

Dad: to Christmas

Mom: to being alive and health

Aaron: to family

Alec: to Christmas

Cade: to angels

Dawson: to pajamas!

#5 Building a fort

When the boys were little we would build them a fort so they would get excited and want to go to bed. As the years have gone

on and the boys have gotten older they have taken to building their own fort. Aaron helped create this "deluxe" fort for the boys and of course, the dog.

#6 Leaving a treat for Santa

The kids like to throw carrots on the roof for the raindeer and leave a treat for sant on a plate by the front door. We usually leave cookies, but dad assured us that santa would really really like a piece of pumkin pie with whip cream on top.

#7 Santa leaves a trail of candy

Every year santa leaves a trail of candy from the door to our presents. We usually have to pick them up quickly or the dog gets an early chocolate breakfast....sounds good to me.

#8 Waiting at the top of the stairs

Every year I take a picture of the kids sitting at the top of the stairs, waiting to run down and see what santa brought. I hope to someday fill the stairs with daugher-in-laws and lots and lots of grandchildren.

#9 The treasure hunt

This is probably one of the kids (and parents) favorite tradition. Each child has their own set of clues that sends them on treasure hunt. Each clue sends them all over the house trying to find the next clue. As they get older the clues get harder and harder. When they get to the end of their treasure hunt they find a bigger gift from mom and dad.

#10 Grandma Roundy's orange rolls

These were a recipe that my mom used to make when we were growing up and so I carried this on to my own family. Here is a

picture of them in the oven and another picture of them half eaten. These are traditionally done in a bundt pan, but when you can't find one and your going on 3 hours of sleep, you use whatever you can find!

#11 Aracely's Tamale's

Ok, so this isn't really our tradition, but we are so glad that it is a tradition with our good friends. We have some very good friends from Guatamala and every year they make a big batch of tamale's. And yes, we get to be the recepients of this tasty treat. This might not look like the best picture, but boy oh boy do we love it when the Carias family rings our doorbell on Christmas eve!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gingerbread houses!

2008-12-18T23:19:00.000-08:00

So we made gingerbread houses for family night and we had a great time, so much so that the thought of eating another piece of candy made us want to lose it. We broke into teams because Bret bought the kits and we only had two. Aaron and mom were a team and dad and the other boys were another team. Let's just say Aaron and mom's house was kicking serious butt and we were thinking we were so cool. That is until we were almost done and our roof started sliding off because we used too much candy and it was too heavy. Bret said something about the three little pigs and Aaron and I not being patient enough, and we would have to come to their house for shelter blah, blah, blah...Whatever, we didn't even care about being the best and it wasn't supposed to even be a contest. Who cares about being on teams and dumb candy houses? I'm not bitter at all.... :) Aaron actually got the drill out and drilled a hole in our roof and tied a zip tie through the top and it worked great. We had a fun night and I just kept eating the candy off the roof over the next two days to lighten the roof and "keep the roof from sliding".

Doesn't even phase me....

2008-12-17T00:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's Dawson up on top of the plant shelf. I came out of the bedroom and found him sitting 12 feet up. Worried, who me? Naw, with a house full of boys, that doesn't even phase me. I'll just keep telling myself that this kind of stuff is normal and hopefully I'll get through these years of raising my boys with only 99% of my hair turning gray...

Giving me the peace sign that everything is ok!

Jumping, with no fear I might add, to his daredevil dad.

A younger Alana

2008-12-10T19:03:00.000-08:00

Yes, I turn 40 this week and it seems like yesterday that I was in these pictures. My dad sent me these pictures in an email today and just for fun I thought I would post some. You can decide which kid you think looks like me.

Here is a picture of me with my "supermodel" mother! She always looked like a million bucks, she was so stylish and classy. I was her fourth kid and look at her shape...not fair. She was an amazing person. She passed away when I was 16 and she was 50, the older I get the younger she seemed when she passed away. There are so many things I wish I could do just like her, but there are also things that I am glad she passed on to me. This picture made me stop and think of her today and I just want to share some of the qualities that I remember about her...she was a great great seamstress, a beautiful piano player, great at stitchery, good at math, hard worker, a super mom, strong in the church and a wonderful cook, she loved trying new recipes. I can remember making cinnamon rolls with her on Saturdays and she would always give me my own little mound of dough to make mini cinnamon rolls. Another thing I remember, is her laugh. She loved to laugh and her and my dad were always the joksters, always being funny when my friends came around. I never ever remember seeing my mom mad. I never remember my parents even getting in one argument, wow. She was a great person and I am so proud to be her daughter.

A lesson learned....

2008-12-10T18:48:00.000-08:00

Last night I put out the last of my Christmas decorations. One of my favorite things is a nativity set that my parents brought back from Israel. Here is a picture of how I had it arranged before I went to bed. Fast forward to the next day and look at the second picture. Hmmm, seems as though a little four year old decided they needed to be rearranged. I love how even the cows and sheep get to join the circle. How ironic to find the nativity like this. It really made me stop and think about the true meaning of Christmas. How much we can learn from little children...Christmas really should be centered around Christ. Even my four year knows that better than me.

Bret turns 40!!!

2008-12-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, my awesome husband turned 40 today! Wow, what a ride we have been on together, 17 years total next week! I couldn't ask for anyone better for me, he understands me and loves me despite my faults. He is the worlds greatest dad and the boys think he is pretty awesome. In the last five years I have seen him become the greatest man around. One thing we love the most about dad is his willingness to let us laugh not only with him but at him. He doesn't mind being the brunt of our jokes. We always joke around and tell him that there are these new devices out there called computers he should try using one, but despite the fact that his two brothers are computer genius, he doesn't want much to do with them. He would much rather be outdoors, fishing, hiking, biking or just "being in the hills" with the boys. All he wanted for his birthday was to spend the evening with his family and if you know Bret at all he said it while his voice was cracking. He gets very emotional talking about his family. So that's just what we did, spent the evening together.

On one funny note: Later that night Bret needed to change a light bulb at the very tallest point in our house, so he got up on the ladder and was up there for about 20 minutes trying to fix some wiring. After he descended from the ladder he sat in the dining room chair and all of the sudden he started screaming, "my legs, my legs, my legs they are cramping, I'm too old to get on a ladder for that long" Well, Aaron and I are doubled over crying and laughing at the same time. He just keeps on screaming that his legs won't stop cramping. While laughing I went over and started to help rub his legs, but I just could not stop laughing....I'm laughing all over again as I type this! Later that night when we got into bed he said his legs were still shaking and he felt like he had been lifting weights like he did in high school. I guess there's just some things you can't do after 40....change a light bulb.

Here we are with fire extinguishers ready...

All the boys giving dad a love

Dawson is looking at all of dad grey whiskers.

Homework, what's that?

2008-12-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

Wahoo! I finally got it to work.

So last night Aaron was supposed to be doing his homework but it was too quiet and I should have known better! Especially when he and Alec came up and asked if they could use my "nice" camera for a special project. Aaron was the claymator and Alec was the photographer. This is what they came up with... I thought they did a pretty good job for their first time. It took 113 pictures to make this little video. "Homework, who needs that? Who cares if I go to college" ....maybe he can work for Disney.

Hangin the lights!

2008-12-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

Well, I kept bugging and bugging Bret to get out and hang the lights on the house. I kept telling him that he should do it before it snows because it will be so much easier, but everyday is another day because there is no snow. So finally tonight I got home from a photo shoot and he was hanging the lights! Yeah!!! So now maybe it will snow :). Cade actually got ahold of my camera and took a few shots. I did manage to snap a picture of Cade and Dawson putting lights on the tree. We also got a tree tonight, it is twelve feet tall and it is huge, I didn't know it would be that big, it goes all the way up to the top of the ceiling, now I just have to bug and bug Bret to put the lights on the tree ;)!

Thanksgiving Day!

2008-11-30T23:46:00.000-08:00

We had a full house for thanksgiving! We had Bret's dad andtwo of Bret's sisters and his brother and all of their families come for a great visit. We were so glad they stayed for a couple of days. Here is a collage of a few of the events that took place. oh, and...yes! I am cutting granpas hair soon!

Here is a picture of Cory's now famous ham. Yum!

Later that night the kids made a big fort downstairs and watched Kung Fu Panda, they all wore each other out!

Here is Liz at 5 months pregnant, that's right 5 months, sickening...I only wished I looked that good all the time!

We even had time for a little haircolor....

And a little photoshoot, this is Ian looking GQ.

It was slightly crazy, but all worth it...we had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories.

Mom's uh...big helper?

2008-11-22T15:24:00.000-08:00

The other day I was again complaining loudly that I get no help around the house and that I'm the only one that ever cleans anything. I guess my ranting did not fall on deaf ears because Dawson took pity on me and decided he would "help" out. He came out and asked where the toilet brush was, and just assuming he wanted to use it as a weapon on one of his brothers, I told him it was under the sink. Moments later he returned and asked where the "cleaning powder" was... again I told him where it was. Without thinking much about it I suddenly stopped and thought...could my child actually be cleaning??? What a proud moment for a mother, especially from a child that young. Just give me my "mother of year" award now. As I rounded the corner of the bathroom, you can imagine my suprise when I found Dawson and his definition of clean. Yep, that's what I found and the saddest part about it...... it stayed that way for a week and half!

Aaron Lange turns 15 or should I say Aaron Jonas?

2008-11-16T13:39:00.000-08:00

Aaron turned 15 last month and I just had to share how his day went...As many of you know there is a band out there called the Jonas brothers. All the girls his age love the Jonas brothers, they all think they are so cute and many of them have pictures of them hung up in their lockers. Let's just say Aaron feels differently about the Jonas brothers, they drive him crazy and he can't stand their music...He finds them highly annoying. Anytime their song comes on the radio I hurry and turn it up and tell him how much I love the Jonas brothers...he just rolls his eyes and fights me to change the station. So for his birthday I decided I needed to do something to really embarrass him. So I found a picture of the Jonas brothers and I photo shopped Aaron's head onto the middle guy and added the word bubbles. I then called the principal at the school and got permission to hang over 75 fliers throughout the school. We got the combination to his locker and I covered his locker inside and out with fliers. Needless to say, he was just slightly embarrassed, but he is a good sport and he thought it was pretty funny. To make up for it I took donuts and chocolate milk to his seminary class. Here is the flyer that started it all...

What do you like doing with your family??

2008-11-05T20:43:00.001-08:00

So last week we had our primary program and I was so excited because I was finally going to be sitting kid-less with the exception of Aaron for a whole hour! It was going great and Alec and Cade did a great job on their parts. Toward the end of program they brought all the little sunbeams up the microphone and asked them "What do you like to do with your family?" (Keep in mind Dawson is the youngest child in the whole primary, so I was pretty proud of him getting up in front of everyone.) One by one each sunbeam got up and spouted answers like, "I love scripture study", "I love family prayer", "I love singing hymns", at this point I started to sweat, "what would he say?" We're not that perfect. "Does he even know what a hymn is?" "What if he says his favorite thing to do with is famiy is drink diet coke??" "Ok, here he goes please, please, say something good." So he gets up really close the mic and does a big loud sigh into the mic, you know the kind I'm talking about. Then he does another sigh, long and loud into the mic. Then he loudly says, "I LIKE TO MAKE PANCAKES." The whole congregation cracked up and started laughing, what a way to finish the program! It might not have been the spiritual answer I was looking for, but I was so relieved he didn't reveal anything worse. So here are a couple of pictures of him making pancakes on Sunday morning.

Calories don't count on Sunday!

2008-11-02T18:38:00.000-08:00

Every Sunday afternoon we make brownies. Sunday wouldn't be complete with out a pan of brownies. We always buy betty crocker or western family which ever one is on sale. Well, I decided to splurge and buy a big box of ghirardelli brownies from sam's club. In my hurry to make the brownies I poured in one pouch and all the other ingredients, well come to find out I poured in all the ingredients for the entire box. We have been on brownie overload today with four very large pans of brownies. We did give some away, but are down to about 1/2 pan left. That's right we ate over three pans of brownies in one day! One can never have enough chocolate!

My newest creation...

2008-11-01T20:59:00.000-07:00

I was looking for a cute way to give my clients their cd's of pictures. This is what I came up with. These little boxes will hold up to four cd's. They may be a little too cutesy for my senior boy pictures, but I'm sure I can work on some more masculine looking ones. It's been a fun break from all that editing!

Halloween

2008-11-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

What a fun halloween we had. Aaron had to work at the corn maze so he decided not to dress up this year, even though he wanted to dress up as a hotdog??? I'm not sure if we are the only family on the planet that scrambles around the night before halloween, going from store to store, looking for last minute costumes. Every year I tell the kids "you will decide in August what you want to be, and no changing your minds!" But I'm a sucker and give in and let them change their minds countless times until the night before. Cade wanted to be cheerleader (should I worry?) which was awesome because I just pulled out the old standby; my highschool cheerleading uniform. Totally depressing because it fits him and I think it might fit around one of my thighs. Alec ended up being a hippie which was so funny, check out the hair on his chest. Dawson was a bee and he looked pretty awesome. Bret was out of town for work and he kept calling to say how sad he was that he was missing halloween, but we took lots of pictures for him. It was also the warmest halloween we have ever had. I walked around with the kids in a short sleeve shirt, it was so nice. In our old neighborhood I would give out around 600 pieces of candy, so without even thinking I bought 800 pieces of candy. Since our subdivision is so new, we had a total of four trick or treaters , let's just say those four kids made out very well.

"The Boys"

2007-07-29T13:30:00.000-07:00

2007-07-29T13:28:00.001-07:00