New Year's Eve

Normally, we'd get together with my family for New Year's Eve, but something must have come up. I can't even remember what! That's what I get for being 8 months behind on blogging. I'm guessing maybe some families were sick? Or maybe they all went to the dunes. At any rate, we decided to invite the Martineaus over for pizza and games and let the kids do a sleepover. Olive invited her cousin, Olivia, since the Martineaus don't have anyone her age. Reddin and Karen had some time to kill before their party started so they stuck around and played some games with us which turned out really fun! I got most of the ideas from Fullmer House on Instagram. It's hard to describe them but for the first one, you sit back to back and then lift your legs and and roll to the side on your back, switching positions with your partner. For the next one, you try and do a crawling motion in the air, above your spouse with them holding you up on your knees. Then, we tried to lean on each other and fall backwards, balancing enough to have your arms free to daaance! Finally, we did the human backpack. That one hurt! By then, the kids had come downstairs to join in the fun. We were cracking up with each "challenge". We did a belly race for M&M's and the "whipped cream pop" where you put whipped cream on your arm, then hit your arm to pop it into the air and try and catch it in your mouth. The funniest part was when Karen popped hers up but it went flying across the room onto Olive's hair. We all died laughing. 

When midnight started creeping up, Weston made waffles and we got the buttermilk syrup going, then hurried outside to ring in the new year!! It was rainy but that didn't stop the dancing and fireworks, no no no! Collin taught us "the gritty" or maybe it's spelled griddy?? The kids did more whipped cream pop ups, covering the porch in sticky spots that reside there to this day, and Tanner was conked out upstairs on my chair watching Paw Patrol. It was a super fun night. So grateful for fun couzzies to spend it with! 

December

Let's start the month with our Christmas card. Ever since I started the "whimsical" shall we say, cards 3 years ago, I feel a bit of pressure when November rolls around. This idea came to me when I saw a family picture like this on Instagram. There's just never any time! And of course, I waited until what felt like the last minute. Life is so busy! Getting all the turtlenecks, jackets and wigs (yes, mine and Olive's hair are wigs!) was no small feat. I shopped online on Amazon, Etsy and Ebay and went to multiple Goodwills and DI to gather the crop. Teasing, cutting and curling the wigs was interesting. What I do love, though, is that my kids are all about it now. Even if they didn't understand the jacket idea (before their time, lol)... they definitely understood the assignment! The idea behind the written portion of the card came to me not long after Collin started middle school and I needed UrbanSlang.com to understand him, haha! Always a sigh of relief when I can check this off my Christmas list! 

Elfie is baaaack! But the BEST part about this year? Elfie had some help. (Gotta be ambiguous about this to make sure none of my kids read this too young). But you get what I'm saying, right? Some of the older elves were excited to help Elfie into his shenanigans each night. And he was up to shenanigans EVERY night!

Christmas tree hair for school!

The deacons had a mutual activity building bridges one week and "gingerbread" houses another week!

I took Marcie's family's pictures and they turned out so beautiful!! This spot Marcie knew about in Queen Creek was amazing. I love the soft colors. 

Abbey organized an outing to the Polar Express this year with the Lindbloms! I was excited for this trip but I had no idea how much I'd really enjoy it! It turned out so so fun. We went the first weekend on Friday, December 3. We checked into our hotel (and saw the Paynes from our ward!) then had an early dinner before it was our turn on the train. The kids' excitement was the cutest! The waiters really hammed it up with their dancing and we ooo'd and aww'd seeing the North Pole and screamed and jumped when Santa came onboard! Then we invaded the hotel pool and hot tub(where Marcie and I realized we were Christmas colors!) before making a night run to McDonalds. I think it started as an ice cream run, but everything was closed and suddenly we were ordering Big Mac's and fries and McFlurries andddd is it too early for flapjacks?! The grand total was almost $200 and I'll tell you what, those Mickey D's workers were snappy! They had all our food out to us in under 20 minutes! Grandpa, David, Marcie, Shelley and I were all squished into David's car with $200 worth of fast food and we were laughing so hard I'm surprised we didn't pee on the fries. Marcie was nominated to sit in the car seat since she has the smallest bum. Then we stuffed our faces back at the hotel, laughing over memes and feeling like college kids. I mean, Santa is cool, but have you ever laughed to tears with your siblings? That's what I'll remember most.

The next morning, we pounded breakfast, then had to hit the road to get Olive back in time for Nutcracker rehearsals.  

Some proper pictures of my new car. Weston is adamant that her name is Connie. Cuz, you know, Yu-KON. I don't know... I'm hoping something else sticks, haha. I still can't get over how luxurious it is. Every time I drive her I say a prayer of thanks.

How stinkin' sweet is this little note I found on my computer?!

I think this Costco trip rang up around $700 and I almost fell over, until I remembered the annual renewal fee was included. Still. Eating be pricy.

Greenfield did a "Donuts with Dad" event before school one Friday, which was perfect so Trav could go!

We loved joining Camilla's Kids for Kindness night at Midwestern Food Bank. We made cocoa snowman and other goodies for children in need the first hour, then we stayed and helped bag food for the second hour. This is the first time I've been able to do this at Midwestern and I loved how our whole family could participate. It was fun running into the Salmons too!

The Morrison Ranch Christmas party has always been with Mrs. Claus but I guess Santa had time this year! The kids ran around with the Laws and Olive killed it at the hula hoop contest! It's always a fun party, but we've learned to go early and beat the crowds. I like sipping hot chocolate and walking down Comstock. Bless those families who live there. I don't know how they survive December. 

Olive played a sugar plum fairy in the Nutcracker this year! It was a lot of work for 3 min. of stage time, but it was fun to see her up there. Inspire really put on a beautiful show! 

After her last performance, we raced over to Harkin's theater to watch Encanto for Travis's work party. They invited their employee's families and gave out gift cards for concessions so now we have a couple hundred dollars of left over Harkins credit, haha. But hey, their pizza is actually really good! And Encanto was amazing!! I was not expecting to love it so much! The music and message really got to me. Best part? Now that it's such a big office, I don't make bread and butter for the employees anymore. One less thing to do. Score. 

Tell me you're the youngest without telling me you're the youngest.

Time for a trimmy trim trim! It had gotten so long!

Fridays are Landon days! I love that a pile of dirt fills their hearts desires. 

We had gone to the park and there must have been an event, because this cute backdrop was left behind. 

I dare you to find a cuter performance than preschoolers singing Christmas songs!!!  "I'm Gettin' Nuttin For Christmas" was my favorite! Mrs. Shari's preschool is the best!

Olive found my old pair of pointe shoes and literally made her toes bloody, practicing with them. 

Inspire does a pretty low-key Christmas concert at their studio, which was nice. I had to go to a couple different ones since her rec classes were separate from her Academy dances. She took hip hop and music theater, but after seeing that she seemed to be at the top of her groups, we decided to make some switches for the next semester that might help her grow more. 

Brooke White was in a rom-com Christmas movie that had a limited showing in theaters, so I just waited and watched it on Amazon at home. It was super cheesy and had terrible acting (except for Brooke... she should have been the lead!), but it was so fun seeing scenes of Gilbert throughout the movie! There is car show in the parking lot of ALA, where Collin and Olive go to school! And they played football in the fields by the silos in our neighborhood!

Tackle football starts in January but practices started the last week of school in December. We leave at 6am so he has time to change in the locker room before practice starts. It's dark and cold, but he's excited!

On our last day together before Christmas break, I picked him up from preschool and asked if he wanted to go on a special date with me to Chick-fil-a. I thought maybe the inside playground would be open by now, but nope. We still had a lovely time and per usual, he got lots of attention and compliments from strangers. 

Olive begged for "Grinch" hair for her class party at school. I went in to volunteer, which was fun but fast. We had treats and the kids played bingo and it was over!

One of my favorite nights of December was going to the live nativity put on by the stake off of Elliot and Lindsay. It was AMAZING!!! They had live animals, including a camel! They had missionaries singing in an angel choir and youth doing a bell choir. The sets were big and so cool. We tuned our radios to hear the music and I loved every second of it. We got there a little early because we heard the lines could be an hour long. I wish we could have gone through again. You could tell it was a huge undertaking and I'm so grateful for all the people who sacrificed to make this happen. There was a special spirit there. Downside was Olive wasn't feeling well. We went to dinner at Venezias afterward, but Olive could barely hold her head up. So instead of looking at Christmas lights afterward, we went home to get her in bed. The next morning she fainted in my room, which scared me. I could tell she was going down so at least I caught her. 

I believe this was our 5th, annual tea party date with Camilla and Posey! We tried a place called Crowning Glory Tea Room in Fountain Hills. It was darling! The girls got to pick out a stuffed animal and Olive named hers Snowball. :)

Travis is making me a Christmas present and I can't wait!! So excited to live on my porch swing! I showed him a couple examples of what I wanted online and he basically made up a pattern and figured it out on his own. He's amazing.

The Sunday before Christmas is so wonderful! I was touched by the beautiful solos and talk about Christ. Not enough of Christ in December. I thought our family looked so nice!

I like to help someone in need each Christmas and this year I signed up through Gathering Humanity to adopt a family of 8 from Rwanda. One Sunday, Travis and I drove to Phoenix to try and help vet their refugee lists. We tried to find about 12 different families and check to see if they still lived at the address listed. Also to see if they had any specific needs. We used a translator app for the many different languages but it didn't help a ton. My heart went out to these kids and people living with so little. 

Adopting a family always ends up being a lot of work for me so this time I wanted the whole family to help. I had the lists of things the kids wanted and we all went to Walmart one night to shop. I don't think I quite anticipated how expensive it was going to get, but I'm so grateful for Travis and his generous heart. The kids helped wrap, address and load everything and we went together to deliver the presents to an apartment-like complex in Phoenix. The mom didn't speak English but the older kids did. They invited us in and the mom showed us her new baby. These sorts of experiences are always very humbling. I'm so grateful to be in a position to help a little. We are blessed beyond measure. 

Then we went to the Evans for part 1 of the Christmas Eve program... the talent show. Olive played the piano. Tanner sang Jingle Bells and Weston baked cookies to share. Collin gave up musical instruments this year so I suggested we could do a tik tok dance. He actually agreed! I was so happy! I thought he was adorable. My favorite part was him grinning at me right before we started.

Collin bringing in the loot after being gone one night. Neighbor treats are loved around here!

Annual Goodman Christmas dinner/cookie decorating/light seeing party! I made a new recipe of gingerbread cookies that were mmmmmm yummy. And a big pot of hot chocolate. I think we had Thai food... I'm not positive though, haha. It was 8 months ago! I bought Pop Tarts and a truckload of candy for the kids to make gingerbread houses out of and I'm still waiting for the year that the real artistry comes in. I think they just enjoy piling on as much sugar as possible then gorging. Actually, this year, they started smashing their faces into their houses, Godzilla style. It was pretty funny. It felt like a bit of a waste to throw all those supplies away, but then again, my countertops were also free of paper plates laden with candy for the next week!

We got our cups of cocoa and climbed into the back of Trav's truck, blaring our pop Christmas music and commencing in general merriment. We stopped by Kristen Arnett's house for an impromtu dance party but she wasn't there, boo! Kate came out though and taped us being goofballs. We did the same thing at the Monahans house and Tasha joined us in some booty shaking! We love our Goodman tradition!

It was my parent's year to plan/host the Lindblom extended family Christmas party. We convinced them that doing an adults only party was the way to go. We did it at my dad's Gilbert office and I think it turned out great! They had Carolina's Mexican food cater it and various families brought dessert. Us sisters decorated the tables and put on the entertainment. I'm not fond of being in front of a crowd with a mic, but luckily Marcie shared the spotlight with me and it was fine. It's just stressful to feel like you have to be funny! My mom handed out papers for everyone to write something unusual they've done and Marcie and I read them out loud and people guessed who wrote it. Then I tried to teach everyone a short tik tok type dance but it was a bust. We couldn't get the music working and it was hard to demonstrate without a stage. Ah well. I tried! Being "in charge" meant I didn't have as much time for visiting as I would have liked, but it was fun to see everyone for at least a little bit! My family doppleganger is Molly Wright and someone pointed out that we were basically wearing the exact same thing... down to our shoes, haha! So we had to take a picture. 

No baking neighbor gifts for me this year. Went the more expensive, but less stressful route of ordering Carolina's tortillas. They were a hit! I had to laugh when I found out later that some people thought I made them! I thought everyone recognizes a bag of Carolina's tortillas! We gathered the kids in the back of the truck and knocked out the deliveries in basically one night. See, the beauty about tortillas is, they don't have to be refrigerated! So even if they sit out on someone's porch all night, no harm, no foul. The kids made me laugh as they'd sprint out to drop off the gift and ring the bell, then if the person was fast enough to answer the door as we were pulling away, they would all sing out like the song, "Merry Christmas!! And a haaaappy holllliday!"

I love doing our old, Udall Christmas party program even though the Udalls don't get together anymore. It's simple... just several scriptures followed by Christmas songs, but it's about Christ, so it's an important tradition to me. I asked Grandma if our family could come do it with her on Christmas Adam. Unfortunately, Trav came home from work sick and Olive was still sick too so they had to stay home. Leah's family met us there and then Christopher's family joined us too. I had forgotten he was staying in Grandma's side apartment while they were in town. 

*CHRISTMAS DAY*

The week after Christmas always feels so long and meaningless. Just a lot of eating until New Years. But we got a few things done! Craig got engaged over Thanksgiving and his fiance's aunt asked if I'd like to throw her bridal shower together. So I'm hosting it and made these cute invitations!

I saw this sweatshirt online and had to have it. It represents the way I'd love to think all the time. What if we took on the mindset that everything will work out. That everything is fixable. That everything works towards our progression?

On that note, our family had it's second, group therapy session. I felt like some big things were talked about and a lot of people were very vulnerable. Including me. Actually, even though I went to bed that night feeling good about how it went, I woke up the next morning feeling the opposite. And it took about a week and some hard conversations to finally feel better about it. Ultimately, though, I'm really glad we did it. These are the types of things we just would never talk about organically. And its so nice to have a mediator there to guide the discussion. I posted on Instagram about it, then immediately took it down. I figured I should probably have asked permission before posting it. I do think it's important, though, for other people to hear that therapy can work and is an emotionally healthy way to process events, relationships and life in general. Our family uses Keri Maughn and I've so appreciated her expertise and love for our family over the years. 

Couch shopping at Living Spaces! We found a winner! This guy will go upstairs in the toy room with the TV that is currently downstairs.

 Then we finally got to walk next door to North Italia for dinner. That place has reservations booked out a month! Now I see why... it was delicious!

The ol' Prenda group got together at the park! Love these kids!

Leah and I went on an early morning hike. I can't even remember where to... but somewhere around Peralta, I think. We met in Apache Junction and drove out to the trailhead. It really was SO beautiful. Normally pictures don't do it justice, but I thought these were pretty close. I love spending time with my Leah. :) And I would add the selfie picture we took together but it's the reason I decided to get cheek fillers, soooo no thanks. Since when did my face turn into a shriveled up prune?!

I'm in charge of finding families to feed the missionaries each month and it's torture. Truly the worst part of my calling. Why do people hate feeding the elders so much?! It's like I'm calling in all my own personal favors asking people to do this and I hate it. People also ignore me or avoid me now. It's great.

Cardamom bread time!! I always make cardamom butter to go with it and my kids are so funny and call it sauce. "Mom, do you have any more of that sauce to put on it?!"

On New Year's Eve day, we took Noble Monahan and Addie Dulgarian to Kids Empire for hours of playing! I don't remember what Collin and Weston were up to. Probably running the neighborhood.