Christmas Festivities

***I don't know why my post posted when I wasn't finsihed, but here is the finished product***

We had a great Christmas at here at the Hoard. Lots of parties, food, families, gifts, and fun. I was a little lacking when it came to picture taking though. I was just having too much fun relaxing and enjoying things to be taking pics. But here is a quick recap with pictures and without.

We started out the celebrating with the Johnson Progressive Dinner, on the 19th. This is a big dinner with Trent's Mom's family. We had a ton of delicious food. Unfortunately I got called out to work and didn't get to eat the main course, which was actually a good thing because I was pretty full from the first house.

The next celebration was Thursday night with the Jensen's. And when I say Jensen's I mean Trent's Dad's whole family. Dodee and Papa always throw a fantastic party. We consume the traditional breakfast for dinner and exchange gifts. And as always, Dodee and Papa are amazingly generous.

After this dinner we told Trent's sibling we would take their kids home for a sleep over so they could attend the Christmas Eve Breakfast at Market Street. The breakfast is for adults only, which doesn't really work for The Hoard.

We hung out the rest of the day, went to lunch with some of my family, and then met up with the Jensen's for Christmas Eve dinner. Once again a lot of delicious food. After dinner we went and saw the lights at Temple Square. We used to do that every year growing up and it was fun to do it with my family.

And it is nearly impossible to get a picture with all the kids smiling AND looking at the camera.

See what I mean?

When we got home from lights, we opened our Christmas PJ's and went to bed.

Christmas morning came and Paige and Morgan woke up at 7:30. We waited for the rest to get up and finally decided to wake them up at 8:00. That is a first for our kids. They never sleep in and they decide to do it on Christmas morning. Go figure.

Christmas Stockings. Always fun.

The kids saw some watches back around Halloween and thought they had to have them. Aiden had is broken an hour later.

Always fun watching your kids open presents. Isn't Christmas magical?

And the 'big' gift from Santa was a basketball hoop and balls for the playroom. I think the adults have actually played with it more.

Our last Christmas celebration was a Veigel dinner with my dad's brother and his family. We had everyone over for dinner, some rock band, and basketball. It was a good time and we partied late into the night. And when I say late I mean 10:00.

So, all in all, it was a great Christmas. We were spoiled by our families. Thanks to everyone who made our Christmas one to remember!

Merry Christmas!

Love,
The Jensen Hoard

The Giving Season

I wasn't going to do the whole neighbor gift thing this year. I think most the stuff you get or give ends up in the garbage. I mean, you can only eat so many treats, right? But then I started feeling guilty and thought I should be a 'nice' person and just do it. So, we decided to do mini donuts.
The kids had a great time. They loved putting the sprinkles on all the donuts. And don't worry, I made them wash their hands before we began AND every time they licked their fingers. We probably went through a whole bottle of hand soap during the whole sprinkling process.

I think they turned out dang cute, but anything miniature is cuter right? Thats why my kids are so stinkin cute.

And no matter how many times we washed hands, Morgans were going to stay pink from the red sugar crystals. She couldn't quite understand why it wasn't coming off.

During the whole process I wondered why I decided to be nice. I am not one of those moms that loves cooking with kids. Things get spilled, messes get made, every one's fighting because they can't reach/see, and I turn into the Mr Hyde version of myself, which as of late is trying to take over entirely. That being said, I am glad we did them. The kids do need to learn to be giving, even if it is from Mr. Hyde. And trust me, I am trying to get my multiple personalities under control.

Advent Calendars

Having kids have made the Holidays a lot more fun (and a lot more work). They are so excited for Christmas to get here. And they ask every day how many more days until Santa comes. Enter: The Advent Calendar. We have a few around our house.

First Up: The Classic Paper Chain
The boys made these in school. They were pretty excited when they brought them home.

Second: The Hershey Kiss Chain

Oakley's Sunbeam teacher brought one of these over for each of the kids. All my kids love her and I think she might like them a little too. :)

Last: The Muffin Tin Countdown

I saw this on a blog and decided to try and make one. You just get a mini muffin tin ($4 at Walmart), cut out numerous circles, get a bunch of embellishments, put together, glue magnets on the circles, put candy in the holes, and cover the holes with the cute circles you've made. And Voila, probably the cutest Advent Calendar out there.

Hope you all are enjoying your own Christmas countdowns.

Friend Lunch

I apologize for my lack of blogging. I can't seem to get on top of things. I am working a lot more, which means things get pushed to the back burner and, unfortunately, blogging is one of those things. However, I was able to make time to go to lunch with my High School friends. We try to get together at least once a year, if not more-usually when ones that lives out of state come into town. Yesterday we decided to meet at Arella's and it was delicious.
As always, it was a good time. It is amazing that we only see each other a few times a year, but we just seem to pick up right where we left off. I guess thats the nice thing about picking good friends to begin with. We missed those that couldn't make it and I am already looking forward to the next dinner date!

Tis the Season

For an early morning showing of Tron.
Trent gets to go see movies for "work" every so often. A company that sells to the CU rents out a theater and invites all their clients to the show. This time Cade and I were lucky enough to go. You see, Trent and my brothers are long time Tron fans. My brothers would pretend to be sucked into computers and play the disk fighting with ice cream lids. It was a good time. And I've got to say that I really like the new one. It was pretty awesome. Trent said it was the best sounding movie he has ever been too and thats saying a lot-Trent is a tough critic. All in all it was a fun outing. Thanks to the babysitters back at home. You guys are awesome too.

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9...

10

Thats right. The big one oh. Trent and I have been married for ten years today. Amazing. Seems like we have been together forever and at the same time is seems like we were just married.

Our favorite thing to do to celebrate is head down to St. George, kidless. Honestly, we could be anywhere without kids and it would be a vacation. But, luckily, we have a couple of really nice options down south.
We left Wednesday afternoon, made a stop, and enjoyed this fantastic sunset. The picture doesn't do it justice.

Every morning we slept in, went for a run, hung out, shopped, and did whatever the heck we wanted. It was amazing.

Trent and I even ran together 2 mornings. That might be a first for us. We are on very different levels when it comes to running.

I was walking through the house on our trip and realized Trent and I are basically the same people we were when we got married. I had stuff scattered all around the house:

And, of course, Trent's stuff neatly organized in a drawer:

Luckily, Trent can over look my mess and still love me.

Our trip also consisted of lots of eating, movie watching, heading down to Vegas, visiting with Jake and Candice, and hanging out with Grandma Wiggles, who is in the hospital with pneumonia(boo). I was too into relaxing to take too many pics.

***

Since this is a pretty monumental Anniversary I thought I would write some of the things that have happened over the last 10 years.

* We both graduated from school, which helped us get jobs we love.

* I have had 9 different jobs and Trent as only had 1.

* We have lived in 3 different houses and 2 different cities.

* We started our family with 2 dogs, Milo and Ody and finished our family 5 kids later.

* Went through the crappy infertility treatments trying to get kids here.

* We have both gotten "fixed" to fix our new found fertile problem.

* We have found our permanent home to grow old in.

* We have been on a few different vacations, all of which have been awesome.

* I have gained and lost almost 200 lbs. I was a BIG pregnant person.

* I started running and have ran in 9 races, trying to lose said weight. ;)

* Trent has ran 15 marathons and won 2 of them.

* Still trying to figure out how to survive children.

* And still best friends.

Thanks Trent for a great 10 years!

The Gingerbread House

My kids love doing Gingerbread Houses, but as a mom I am not a fan. It always ends up me being mad, kids spilling everything, and having a huge mess to clean up. So whats a mom to do?

Get the babysitter to do it for you.

While Trent and I are vacationing I thought it would be a good activity for our sitter to do to "take up time." Little did she know I was just being selfish and trying to get out of doing it myself. And, like always, Kim did a fantastic job with the kids. She even documented it.
Kim is awesome, but I think I have already mentioned that once or twice before. And if you are thinking you would like her babysitting service for yourself I am sorry. I have her booked for the next two years.

Papa Bob's B-Day Bash

Well, I don't think it was supposed to be a BASH, but when you get Heidi's family and our family together it turns into utter chaos. Put in balloons and you've got yourself a very LOUD situation. Not sure how much Papa enjoyed it, but it was good to see him.
The kid were pretty excited to see him too. I think Morgan gave him kisses 3 different times. And I bet Papa's best birthday present was having everyone coming to visit, but more importantly everyone leaving as well

The Hoard got to take some of his birthday balloons home. Lucky kids.

So, Happy Birthday to Papa. He looks pretty darn good for 91!

Cade

My brother Cade is soooooo awesome. He is my favorite of all.

My Victory

As I previously mentioned I was the Champion of Lightning from the 3 point range at the Allred Thanksgiving. I must describe this event so you can see why it is such a big deal...to me. The line usually starts out with 30 or so people and only 7 0r 8 girls. And a lot of these boys are superb BBall players. Lets just say that the odds of a girl winning is not very good.

At the beginning of the 3 point game all of us girls lined up together to give us a better chance. However I was the last girls, which means that I had boys behind me. I expected to be out quickly, but us girls over came all odds and we ended up filling the top 2 spots.
Ashley and I, we rock!

And you obviously know the ending to the game, but Cade was nice enough to record us in action. I laugh when I watch it because I look so uncoordinated. The funny thing is that during the game someone said jokingly, "What if Amy wins?"

Well, my funny friend. The jokes on you. ;)

Done!

I am so done with my month of gratitude posts. Didn't it get kind of boring? I know I was kind of bored near the end. So, there is probably no way I will continue this like I thought I would. Don't get me wrong, it is good to be thankful and such, but I want to post about all the other stuff that goes on with The Hoard. Because lets face it, it isn't all happiness and smiles around here all the time. Probably not even half the time...

But over the entire month I think I mentioned most every thing in my life except this guy:

He is awesome and I couldn't ask for a better guy to be mine. Its amazing what he can and does do. I have had so many people tell me how lucky I am that I have him and I would agree 100%. I still wonder why he fell for me. I could go on and on or make a list of his amazing traits, but you've heard them all before. Just know I saved the best "thankful" for last.

#30

Book Club
Or as we like to call it, Book Party. This has been one of the funnest things I have done. And it definitely helps that we have a good group of ladies. Like I have said before I live in an awesome neighborhood. We get together once a month, discuss the book of the month, eat a lot of delicious food, and spend the rest of the time visiting-sometimes until midnight or so. It has opened my eyes to a new world of reading and I have loved every minute of it. Pictured above are a few of the books we have read. I would recommend every one of them. If you would like to know more about them call me. I don't feel like reviewing each book here.

#29

Christmas
I love Christmas. I love the feeling, the decorations, the music, the gatherings, the presents, the shopping, the lights, and the reason we celebrate in the first place. We set up our tree and put out our decorations while listening to Christmas music. It was a good time.

#28

Vegas Visitors
We were lucky enough to have Jake, Candice, and Lexi here to visit us over the weekend. We loved having them around. And the kids absolutely loved having Lexi here. They left on Sunday while we were at church and the kids were so disappointed when they came home to an empty dog room. Thanks to Jake and Candice for putting up with our Hoard so we could have them stay with us. And we are also very grateful they made it home safely as they travelled through the worst blizzard ever.

#27

A Utah Win

Not because I care one way or another about BYU or Utah, but because I have a happier family when Utah wins. Trent and his fam are pure Utah fans, meaning they absolutely HATE BYU. I never knew such strong emotions existed in the world of football. I find it very puzzling that people get so worked up over it all, but hey, most people don't get as worked up over food as I do, so I guess we all have our things.

#26

My Other Family

And of course the deals that were to be had very early on Black Friday. But really, I have the best in-laws. They are all fun, amazing people and I am so lucky that I married into such a good family. They are all best friends and love hanging out together. Case in point-Black Friday Shopping. If there is an event coming up there will be a long chain of emails between all the family members setting up the details. Like I said, the best in-laws.

#25

My Family
Lets just say my family rocks. Who else would support a Thanksgiving 5K in -16 degree weather. Yep, I said that right, -16! It was beyond cold and all the layers we had on still wouldn't keep the chill out. It was insane. And yes, we did make our own shirts for the race. We are that cool.

Luckily we all survived the race and finished with pretty good times. It is kind of hard to run when your legs are frozen stiff.

And you have got to enlarge this to see every one's frozen faces. Anywhere there was hair was frozen. Even my moustache was frozen. Time for a wax I'd say!

And here is the group that finished the race. Half of the people were scared off because of the weather, but still an amazing turnout!

And a big shout out to the support crew. My mom stayed behind with all the kids and not only watched them, but did crafts as well. My mom is the best!

After we thawed out we went to the Allred Thanksgiving Celebrations. I LOVED this growing up. We always have good food, good company, and many competitive games of dodge ball and lightning. And I have to take a minute to brag and say I won a round of lightning from the 3 point range. I may or may not do a whole post on that later. ;)

And here is the reason for the get together. Pom Pom. You can see her head poking out in the back. She wanted to get a picture with all her great grandkids (that were there anyways). Lets just say that some of them did not want to participate.

It was a great Thanksgiving and I am so lucky to have such a great family. It is always fun to get together!

#24

Safe Arrival
We travelled up to Star Valley Wyoming on Thanksgiving Eve to join the rest of the Allred's celebrating on the Big Day. The roads were snow covered and we continued to watch the thermometer drop all the way down to -13. It was freezing cold and treacherous, but we made it safely to Grandma Wiggles. We finished the night off with a trip to Pizza Hut (there is nothing like eating at the WY Pizza Hut) and hanging out with the fam.

Don't you love that the pic I got of Trent driving is with his eyes closed. ;)

#23

A Warm House

With the freezing cold, blizzardy weather we have been having over the past few days I am so thankful for a warm house to escape to. I can't imagine life without a home of our own. And I am even more thankful it is a house that we LOVE. We were extremely lucky to find this house and it has ended up being a perfect fit for our Hoard. Now all we need is a working fireplace and our winter life would be perfect.

#22

New Tires
We were in serious need of new tires for not one, but two of our vehicles. The poor sube didn't even make it up our drive way Saturday night. We couldn't put off new tires any longer. Especially thinking about driving in the storms that were coming this week. Fortunately for us, we had put all my mileage checks from work into a savings account for just such an expense. Unfortunately, it took all we had. The Bohemeth had a few problems which had to be fixed as well. You gotta hate car repairs, but in the end we can now feel comfortable driving any one of our cars in the snow. All I can say is Mother Nature, Bring It ON!

#21

My Snow Blower
And when I say my snow blower I mean the actual machine AND the hot guy that works it. We are lucky to have a huge, killer snow blower. It flies through the heavy, wet snow like nothin else. I just can't imagine what it would be like for Trent if we didn't have it...;)

#20

New Friends
We had a new family move in behind us and they have a boy the same age as Aiden and Andrew. Its awesome. There isn't a day that goes by that they aren't playing together. Today they played all. day. long. It is so nice having my boys occupied so much. And the perfect thing is that I don't have to arrange anything. The boys just go outside and meet him in the back for some serious playing. Its perfect.

#19

Elf Yourself

We had a pretty good laugh over this. Trent's face is classic.

#18

A Cheap Craft

Can you believe I turned this:


Into this:

Yep. I did. I wish I could say I thought of it all by myself, but no, I got the idea from my friend Sarah's Blog. Since I was trying not to spend money I went to the DI and found that magical Christmas wreath for a buck. Then I went to Joann's and got all this for $4.50.

And I get to return 4 sheets of felt, so the grand total for my super cute wreath is $4. Nice huh?

I started by unwrapping the metallic foil from the wreath and ended up with a perfectly good straw one.

Then I just tied the yarn on the wreath:

And started wrapping and wrapping and wrapping and wrapping....you get the idea:

Once I had wrapped the whole thing I just tied the string off:

And it ended up looking like this:

Next up the flowers. First you cut out a wavy circle. The size just depends on how big you want your flowers:

Then start cutting the circle into a spiral like so:

All the way to the end where you leave a little nubbin to glue onto the back of the flower:

Then start winding it up like this:

When you get to the end just glue the nubbin in place:

And you end up with a fantastically cute flower:

After you have made all the flowers you want, arrange them on your wreath and glue in place:

Then find a cute ribbon, tie it around the wreath, and hang in that vacant spot you have:


Voila, a cute, colorful wreath that is cheap, easy, and perfect for Thanksgiving.

(I just did spell check and totally thought Nubbin would be highlighted. Who knew that was a real word? I just thought it was Chandler's third nipple.)