gettin our craft on!

While my momma was here, we played around with my vinyl cutter quite a bit.  Pretty sure I'm clean outta vinyl now, but that's a small price to pay for crafty time w/ my momma and all the cute things we made!  Here's what we did:

*I made Sydney her I am a child of God plaque with her name on it, but forgot to take a picture...

*I bought some simple glass canisters and made labels for them--love how they turned out!!!

*We made Mom a sign for her family room...she always tells the grand kids to "speak soft, kind, comforting words" so that's what her sign says...she likes it a lot!

*I made a sign to go above my pantry that says "simplify" to hopefully remind me to chill.

*We made my great-aunt Dottie a sign about dancing, since she's a dancin' queen and all.

It was so fun to craft and have fun and ignore the kids for the day while they harassed Poppa!



My momma and daddy :)

So like I said already, my parents came to visit  for about a week last month.  I only get to see them once or twice a year, and the kids haven't seen them in quite a while, since last time I flew to Texas all by myself.  It was such a great visit with them!  Sometimes I really miss just hanging out with them.  Thanks momma and daddy for coming to see us!!!!!

Since they were here, I used my dad's camera to get some good pictures of me and them to replace the ones on my lost camera from my trip back in June...that still makes me sad...but pictures with Mom and Dad make me happy.  And these turned out pretty great, I think!

Me and my daddy--I just love his huge smile!

Me and my momma--miss her already!

Discovery Center w/ G-ma and Poppa

While my parents were in town, we went to the Discovery Center. Sydney had gotten a free family pass on her field trip a few months ago, and they let us use it for all of us that day. We had so much fun. Tim even got to come since it was his Friday off. Then afterward, we went to the park for an impromptu picnic of fried chicken. Pretty great day!

I think my dad could have stayed there all day. Right up his alley!

Little Jake. :)

Ryan.

I love this pic of Jake on my mom's lap!

Sydney raising the nails as Ryan is lying on the bed of nails

Brandon and I made an arch!

Ryan's picture from the green screen room.

My pic from the same room...could my tongue be any bigger??

Brandon decided to go headless for his picture.

Sydney blowing bubbles in the giant bubble exhibit.

Silly faces--G-ma is on the other side.

I think she could stare at herself all day long.

Sydney's turn on the pulley chair.

Jake and my mom...you can't have too many grandma pictures!

Sydney's turn on the bed of nails...she thought she was pretty brave!

More Jake and G-ma.

Like I said, this was his kind of place...

Sydney and Brandon making a tornado.

More bubbles...this is to show that, yes, Tim was there. :)

Sydney is SEVEN!!!

Sydney turned 7 a couple weeks ago! I can't believe that this time next year, me baby girl will be getting baptized! She shares her birthday with my mom, and we were lucky enough to be able to celebrate with them both. My parents drove up from Texas and got here just a few hours before the party. Sydney chose to have a pool party at our neighbors' house where she swims all the time. It sure made planning easy--let the kids swim a long time, do presents, swim some more, have treats, and done! She had a great time and had a ton of friends over. I even played the role of "FUN MOMMY" and swam with the kids the whole time. I can be fun when I want to. :)

She got way too many presents...I guess that happens when you invite so many friends.  I love her face in the picture on the top in the middle--pure joy and excitement.  She felt pretty special getting presents on her party day, which was 2 days before her actual birthday.  She tried real hard to let me open her gifts from us that day too. That was taking "fun mommy" too far...she had to wait!

 For her treats, she wanted to same rainbow cupcakes that we had done for Ryan, but with purple added, of course, to girly them up.  We also had ice cream cones, in keeping with the easy-on-Mommy party theme.  All 24 cupcakes and 3 containers of ice cream disappeared in no time!

 My dad was a great entertainer to Jake once he had spent enough time in the pool and while I was still swimming with the kids.  Jake thought it was great fun to get his hands wet, then shake them on my dad's face.  I can see where that would be fun. :)  It was so great to see my kids with my parents...they don't get much time together each year...

Once it was Sydney's and Mom's real birthday, I let Syd open her presents from us.  She has been begging for new bedding for her room for months, and we had been "window" shopping several places.  She really loved this zebra bedding with purple and hot pink as accent colors.  So she mostly got stuff for her "new" room.  I was pretty excited that she's moved on from Littlest Pet Shop...

That day, I took my parents and the kids out to Winger's.  It was nice to be able to treat my parents to lunch for once.  Too bad our service at Winger's was A-W-F-U-L!!!  But in the words of my mother, "We made a memory!"

For dessert that night, we had raspberry Jello poke cake and homemade vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries on top.  It was delish!  The best part, though, was Sydney...  Tim and my dad had gone to the little neighborhood park to fix the pump for our irrigation system and Syd wanted to go see what they were doing at one point.  She was gone for a while, then when she came back, she was COVERED in dirt (see photo above...).  I don't know that she's ever been that dirty.  I took the hose to her, but not until after I got a picture!  My sweet little girl--all boy!  That's why in the pics of her and my mom later at dessert shows her with wet hair--she had to have a spray down followed by a bath before dessert--typical Sydney Grace!

My Hero

My dad is pretty amazing.  This is a picture of all nine of his children at a reunion a few years back.  I have some great ones of him and me on my camera from just a couple weeks ago...but that's another story.

This man has somehow endured raising 9 children--7 of them girls!!!  He is amazing, like I said.  I was reminded on my recent trip to Texas how easily he can comfort me and make me feel everything is going to be o.k...

The night I flew in, my flight was delayed several hours.  Instead of driving the 3 hours to my parents' house late at night, I stayed the night at my sisters' place in Dallas, then drove Liz's car the next morning.  She has a GPS and programmed it for me.  She and Maggie had to work that day and were going to drive Maggie's car to Mom and Dad's later that evening.  I was a little nervous to drive in Dallas traffic, but I had a GPS--everything would be fine.

***Side note--I grew up 2 1/2 hours from Dallas and didn't get my driver's license til I was 16 1/2.  I left Texas at 18 and have never really lived there since...so not much Dallas driving experience...***

Anyway, I started out that morning to drive and headed for the first highway.  I was at a stop light waiting to turn, when the GPS started freaking out.  First it said I was moving into a large body of water.  No water in sight...  Then it said the battery was low, even though it was plugged in.  Then it said cannot find signal and shut off.  I couldn't get it to work.  And I had no idea where I was.  Or how to get to where I wanted to be.  Stupid technology.

I pulled off onto a side street and tried to think of what to do.  I tried calling my sister to ask her what the heck was up w/ her Garmin...no answer.  I decided to get back on the one freeway I knew I was supposed to be on, but didn't know what to do from there.  I kept hoping the Garmin would magically turn back on.  Even better.  My sister Carolyn called my phone.  She was at Mom and Dad's and my Daddy was right there w/ her.

It was like Superman had just swooped in to rescue me.  He asked what road I was on and got on the computer and for the next 30-40 minutes, talked me through the great city of Dallas.  He has driven that route hundreds of times and was able to literally tell me every landmark that was ahead all along the way.  It was still a little nerve-wracking to drive through that craziness, but such a calm came over me once I knew he was in charge and with me every step of the way.  Once I was on the main freeway out, we hung up so I wouldn't burn through all my minutes.  He called every little while to check on me, though, and I made it there o.k.

And the Garmin did magically come back on, about 15 minutes from my parents' house.  :)

Lessons learned:

• I am eternally grateful for cell phones.
• I never want to live in Dallas.
• My dad is my hero.

Actually, I already knew all of those, this was just a reminder.

My daddy is amazing and can literally do ANYTHING.  The end.

Tribute to G-ma

Sydney and my mom share the same birthday. Pretty sweet, I know. Last year when my mom was visiting, she and Sydney spent some quality time together coloring huge Tinkerbell pages she had gotten for her birthday. She was so impressed w/ her grandmother's coloring abilities. Syd loves to hang pictures and drawings all over her room, and they can change quite often...and sometimes I don't even notice... Last week, I saw these pictures above her bed. The one on the left is Sydney's work, and the one on the right is my mom's. "How sweet," I thought. Then I looked a little closer and started to chuckle... Sydney's has her first and last name and a number 6 for her age...Meanwhile, G-ma's name is spelled like a 6-year-old would spell it, but that's not what made me laugh. It also has Grandma's age, or what Sydney guessed as her age...89!!! My mom might not be 20-something anymore, but she's a far cry from 89...have I mentioned how much I love my little girl?!?!? Makes me laugh every day...

Pork Noodles

There are a few things that make a Woodman a Woodman (and for those of you whom I've met within the last 15 years, that's my maiden name).

You must LOVE these things:

1. Papacitas in Longview, TX...mmmmm
2. Watching "So I Married an Axe Murderer" or "Better Off Dead" (or any number of other awesome oldies but goodies...)
3. Playing Spades
4. Singing around the piano on Sunday afternoons
5. The New Years' Eve family dance, haha!
6. Pork Noodles

The list is actually much longer than this, but I don't have that much time, and these are the things that popped into my head--and made me a little homesick, for that matter... Anyways, my point is that although Tim is 0% Woodman, I still want him to love what I love. And have these things make him as happy as they make me.

I have made him pork noodles before, and he was less than thrilled, to say the least. So I hardly ever make it...VERY discouraging... Well, on Sunday, I had some leftover pork chops in the fridge that I didn't want to just grill like usual, so I decided to make pork noodles. Tim asked me to leave one pork chop for him to just grill because he didn't like pork noodles and had no desire to eat them. Fine. More for me.

So I made those noodles, and boy, were they good!!! Probably the best I've ever made. I think Dad would've been proud! In the meantime, Tim proceeded to grill his chops, while the kids and I devoured our pork noodles. As I got up to get a drink, Tim apparently took a bite off my plate, cause next thing I knew, he was dishing up what I had hoped would be my pork noodle leftovers for lunch the next day. I said, "I thought you don't like these."

He has been converted!!! So the bad news is, I didn't get to have leftovers the next day. But the fantastic news is that Tim now likes the quintessential Woodman comfort food and I will now be making it much more often. This makes me very happy. :)

I guess now I'll just have to keep hoping he wants to join in my Sunday afternoon music-fest to become true Woodman material. Not very likely...

Utah Trip

Last week I drove down to Utah with Sydney and Jake to see my parents, a couple sisters and three nieces. When that many members of my family are within 7 hours, I have to take advantage of it! It was a REAL long drive with Sydney playing mommy to Jake so that I could focus on driving. There were some moments that I just had to let him cry, but overall, he was really good. It was only about 48 hours that we were there, but it was so much fun and worth every minute spent in the car. My family is awesome and it's always so fun to make new memories with them!Some pictures from our motel room. It was nothing fancy, but it was real cheap, and even cheaper since I split the cost of the room with my parents. :) The funniest part was Jake with that phone. He played with it ALL THE TIME. I don't know why it was so exciting, but that's all he wanted to do, so we unplugged it and let him go crazy. It made him real happy.
Hugs and kisses...when your kids only get to see their extended family every once in a long while, you have to get in as many as possible.
Ahhhh...dinner at Pizza Factory. It was my first-ever trip there and the breadtwists were just as yummy as I had been told. Nothing beats a nice dinner out with the fam. Especially when you remember your camera and Sydney wants to be a gangsta!

More fun pics from the trip. It was so good to see my mom and dad and let my two little ones spend some time with them. Maggie was an awesome "host" in her hometown of Provo, too. She, Megan and I had a girls' night my last night with some card games and some frozen Oreo dessert...doesn't get much better then that! Oh wait, yes it did...when Jake for some reason decided that Maggie's name was "Ruff Ruff"...you know, what a dog says...it was so hilarious, and definitely one of my favorite memories from the trip, haha!!!

Before we left, we stopped by a park close to Maggie's house and let the kids play a little before stuffing them back into the car for 7 hours. It was a beautiful morning and they had so much fun. Sydney learned how to go across the pulley-thing (I have no idea what it's called...) all by herself, and Jake somewhat overcame his fear of slides. It was the perfect ending to a perfect trip. I especially love the picture in the center of Jake with my parents...LOVE IT!!!!

Woodman Reunion 2009

Great People...

Great Food...

Great Moves...

Great GOAT!!!

Well, I'm finally getting around to blogging about our big, fat family reunion last month. Jake and I went to the great state of Texas Dec. 28th through Jan. 2nd. It was so much fun to see everyone, play games, and eat, and eat, and eat... We were the last ones to arrive, and everyone else had been waiting and waiting to have pie and Madi's birthday cake, so they were very happy to see us!

Melanie and Peter let us ALL stay at their house, which so SO gracious. It was really crowded, but we all made it work. It would have been so nice if my parents' house had been completed in time, but no such luck...

We played lots of games. My favorite was Apples to Apples, mostly because I kicked everyone's trash!! We also went bowling, which I haven't done in a really long time, and what do you know--I still stink at it! It was really fun, but I think from now on, I'll stick to WII bowling!

We also went to the Longview Stake New Year's Eve dance, which I haven't been to since I was single...more than a few years ago... It was pretty lame when I was in high school, and it still is, big surprise, but it was fun to be there with a gazillion members of my family and just play and laugh and dance. We did the Cotton-eyed Joe, each got a dance (with a dip) from my dad, and plenty of line dancing. We left WAY before midnight, which was fine with me, and even better with Jake, since he was uber-tired.

Tim had the other 3 kids at home for those 5 1/2 days. He was awesome! He remembered to take them to get their swine flu booster shots (with NO reminder from me!!!) and even took down and boxed up all my Christmas decorations. I know it was a long week for him, but I so appreciate his help and making it possible for me to go bond with the fam!!

The Settles' Visit!!!

Christine, Megan, Alyssa, and Madi (missed you, Brittany!) were able to come visit last weekend after Megan graduated from BYU (Go, Meg!!!). We only had them for about 48 hours total, but we sure fit a lot of fun into that small amount of time. Megan made Sydney say "Hey, Chow-da" about 100 times...all the girls had fun meeting Jake, we played Nerf dart tag and Guitar Hero, made more chocolate lava cakes, and fit in a lunch date and a little shopping. It was super-fun to have them all here and made me even more excited for our Woodman reunion in December.
Say cheese!!!

Madi, Ryan, and Sydney took turns showing off their amazing trampoline stunts. Madi did an unbelievable split jump, Ryan did his signature back flip, and Sydney a top-notch front flip. Sydney SOOO enjoyed having Madi (and the other girls, for that matter) here! She was finally in the majority as a girl, something she never gets to experience. :)

Of course, Ryan had to show everyone his stellar Guitar Hero abilities. Everyone wanted a turn to try and keep up with him, but really, no one stood a chance. That boy is freakin' amazing when it comes to that game! I love the picture of little Jake already trying his hand at the guitar.

Megan, Brandon, and Sydney played Nerf dart tag for forever...I think Megan mostly just got a kick out of Sydney wearing those safety glasses. It was pretty funny! She seemed to go instantly cross-eyed when she put them on.

I'm so glad they could all come...we don't get visitors from Florida very often (ever)! Thanks to all you guys for a super-fun weekend!!!

Lizzy Fun Day Part 2

So I said the best was yet to come, and I wasn't kidding. Here we our with our amazing chocolate lava cakes. They were amazingly delicious!!! It took a couple of test runs to get the timing just right, but it was worth the effort!! Happiness and harmony is all I can say. :)