365!!

Have you ever seen a more beautiful number??  I DID IT!  I wrote 365 blogs in 2010, I kept my new years resolution.  I'm so glad that I did.  I look back and my blog for the year and there are so many memories and emotions and little details that I have written down but would not remember otherwise.  I am going to try for 365 blogs in 2011 as well.  It has become an almost daily routine and I'm so grateful for the record I now have for my family!

2010 In Review

Here we are, New Years Eve!  I cannot believe that another year has come and gone.  When I look back at 2010 I feel like it was a tough year but we were also extremely blessed this year.  Terence started the year off unemployed  which was a challenge for our family.  He was home with the boys everyday while I worked full time.  I also became pregnant in January which was somewhat of a surprise to us but we were very excited.  Even more difficult was when we lost that baby to miscarriage.  Terence got a job (which he could not love more!) and we all have struggled with his depression.  We also experienced a second miscarriage in July.  Through all of this I have felt the hand of the Lord in my life.  We have been blessed with healthy children, fantastic friends, wonderful family, a great place to live and the knowledge and peace of the gospel in our life.  I guess you could look at it as the glass half full or half empty, I consider my glass to be overflowing.  I really look forward to 2011 and the blessings and challenges we will face.  As long as Terence and I are facing them together I know we will be successful and happy! 

Happy New Year everyone!

New Years Resolution Time

I know it's a little early but I have been thinking about what my new years resolutions should be for 2011.  This is my brainstorm list and not my final.  I am just trying to thing think of things that are worth while and not cliche.

Resolutions:

• Lose weight!  I make this resolution every year and I have been pretty good about it the last couple of years.  This year I gained a bunch.  I chalking it up to being stressed and too busy to work out.  I am resolving to make time for myself to do it this year.  Hopefully having the Kinect at home will help some with that too.  
• Find a hobby for myself- Terence has a lot of hobbies that he likes to do and subsequently he makes time to do them.  I don't really have a hobby so I'm going to get one.  My amazing brother got me some art stuff for Christmas so I might try and take a class or something in that.  Who knows but I am going to find a hobby for myself this year.
• Spend more quality time with my boys- a lot of the time when we get home from work we are tired and just want to sit down and watch some TV or something.  I am realizing that my boys are growing up so fast and I don't want to miss it.  I am resolving to spend a lot less time watching TV and a lot more time playing cars, or trains, or whatever it takes with my boys.
• Continue writing my blog- I have loved the experience of keeping a (almost) daily journal.  I have been going back over the last couple of weeks and reading previous blogs and I love it.  There are so many little details that I don't remember that I have written down.  My goal is another 365 blogs for 2011.
• Drink more water-  I drink way too much diet coke (wait is there such a thing?)
• Get 8 hours of sleep a night/get Corey sleeping in his own bed all night every night.
• Try playing the violin again- maybe that could be my hobby I do for myself.

One a side note Terence has made one resolution so far.  Eat 5 newt types of meat.  He always comes up with such funny resolutions!  I am sure he will do it by the end of January.

Lutz Family Christmas

Here are a few other fun pictures from Christmas afternoon at my parents house.  We had an anything goes night for dinner and our items included Lasagna, Chicken Enchilladas, Biscuits and Gravy, pigs in a blanket and just to blance things out salad.  We spent most of the day just relaxing and enjoying everyones company.   I love it when all 14 of us are together!  It was such an amazing Christmas!  I am grateful for such a wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable day.  I would upload some pictures but apparently I am out of storage on my blog...interesting.

Operation Jason has a Girlfriend

For years now the tradition at my parents house has been to put codes on the presents so no one knows who's is who's.  This makes opening presents really fun and the codes are always really creative.  Last year (unbeknown to me) my siblings picked a random present code and who ever that present was for would get hit with silly string.  I don't remember what the code was but the present happened to be mine.  I was colobered!  It terrified my kids and they ran aways crying.  It took a good 20 minutes to get them calmed down so we could continue opening presents.  I think somewhere in the process my Dad also cancelled Christmas, LOL!  This year we were trying to decide what code was going to be the silly string present.  Jason was outside ont he phone with his girlfriend while we were all deciding and midway through planning we thought it woudl be a better idea just to get Jason.  The plan was when he came in the house and sat down we would all get him.  It went off without a hitch and this was the result.  I wonder who will be the silly string recipient next year???

Christmas at the Keenan House

We always spend Christmas morning at Terence's Mom and Dad's house.  This year we got there about 8am.  They always cook a super good breakfast casserole and have a Christmas Kringle to eat.  Terence's Dad and I love to put all kinds of different Tabasco sauces on our casserole which kind of grosses everyone else out.  I LOVE IT!  After breakfast we open presents.  The boys made out like little bandits this year.  Lots of toys.  After presents we sat around and watched the kids play with their toys while we chatted and dozed.  I love Christmas morning at Grammy and Pops house.  It is so relaxing and it's great to just enjoy each other's company.

A little something special

Terence is very sweet and very thoughtful.  He is also very practical.  This is the reason I do not get flowers at work, it's just not a good thing to spend money on.  I tend to agree with him.  We are the couple who sits on the couch and scoffs at the cheesey jewelry comercials.  So when it comes to Christmas I know that my gifts will be functional, practical.  I had been mentioning to Terence for a while now that we really needed a new blender so when I opened this I was pleasently surprised!

I love my new blender!  It is kitchen aide and it's red.  It matches my amazing stand mixer.  It's perfect.  When we were done opening everything and just kind of watching the boys play with their new things.  Terence got up and went into the kitchen.  I didnt think anything of it but when he came back he tossed a little wrapped box into my lap.  Little boxes are always good.  Turns out that sneaky Terence had gotten me an amazing pair of diamond stud earings.  I love them!  They are beautiful and classy and I think it is so sweet ot Terence to get them for me.  Good job honey!

Christmas Morning

I love Christmas morning.  This year was especially fun since the kids really got the idea and were super excited to come downstairs and see all the presents.  One of my bosses at work (who is AMAZING) was very gracious and gave us an Kinect for our Xbox.  We got a couple of games to go with it and wrapped those to give to the kids.  Connors first present he opened was his xbox game.  He recognized it from playing it at my parents house and when he opened it he was ecstatic!  It was literally pure, Innocent joy! Seeing him that exciting was probably one of the highlights of my Christmas!  Corey loved all of his presents as well but really he just LOVED opening things.  He could not contain himself.  It was so fun and made all the shopping and wrapping and stressing worth while.  Seeing my family on Christmas morning so excited and happy was the best!

Gag Gifts!

Our family has done a white elephant gift exchange for at least the last 15 years.  It's something that we all look forward too.  We are big on traditions and one of our favorites is to give a fruit cake that has literally been in the exchange since 1999.  We also like to try and one up everybody else with the funniest present.  I took a picture of some of the best ones from this year.

I have no comment for this one.

LOL!  AWESOME!

Believe!

SpongeBob Shaving Kit

Home is where the Cat is

High School Musical wall clock

Christmas Eve

Every year we have a big family get together on Christmas Eve at my parents house.  This year we had a lot of family home from various corners of the country. Well just Utah and Oregon but still.  We always have a big pot luck dinner and then sit down and play some games.  Opa reads the account of the birth of Christ from the Bible and Terence reads the account from the book of Mormon.  This year we all were given an opportunity to say how we had felt the hand of God in our lives.  It was really nice to hear how different people in our family had felt blessed.  We also played a fun word game that the Sirrine's brought.  After the Program we always do a gag gift exchange.  We had some whopper presents this year (separate blog to come).  I LOVE spending time with my family.  It was awesome to see Jamie and Landi, Tijs, Linda and Mario and their family and of course everyone else.

Dad's Birthday Breakfast

This year for my Dad's birthday we decided it would be fun to take him out to breakfast with the entire family.  Unfortunately Terence came down with the stomach bug that had been running through our house the previous couple of days so he was not able to join us.  The rest of the family met up at the Village Square Cafe in Redmond and had a lovely breakfast together.  We had to get a table for 14.  It is amazing to me that the original Lutz family has no doubled in size once you add spouses and grandchildren.  It was fun to be with everyone for a stress free morning.  For his birthday we all chipped in and got my Dad an HD camcorder that is water proof so he can use it on the cruises he goes on.  I think he liked it.  It was a very relaxing, fun way to spend Christmas Eve morning.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today also coicidentally happens to be T's Mom's birthday as well.  Grammy is an amazing person.  She is thoughtful, fun, a talented seemstress, honest, hard working and a fantastic Grandma!  I have really grown to love and appreciate my her over the years.  I look up to her for so many things but especially for her example of being a great wife and mother.  She is someone I try to emulate in everyway.  You will not find a more honest, hardworking, loving parent anywhere!  Happy Birthday Grammy/Mom!  We love you and hope you have a great day!!!

Grammy does not like having her picture taken so I don't have a lot of her.  I really like this one though.

Happy Birthday Bob!

Today is my Dad's Birthday!  He is 55 years old!  I love my Dad so much.  He is kind, selfless, funny, smart, compationate, the list could go on and on.  Heather and I always laugh about how scary we used to think my Dad was but now that we are older he is just a big softy.  Last month my Dad spent an entire week of his vacation time fixing the tranmission on our car.  He would do anything for anyone and I am very blessed to have such an amazing example of what I should stive for.  I kind of feel like my Dad gets a bum wrap because his birthday falls on Christmas Eve.  But I guess it's also kind of nice, 99% of the time the entire family is together on his birthday which is always fun.  Today we are planning on taking him out to breakfast to celebrate which should be a lot of fun.  I am so proud of my Dad and hope to be like him someday.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

P.S. My Dad is happiest when he is on vacation so that is what these pictures are from. 

Merry Christmas Eve!!!

It's 4:36am, the kids are both wide awake and downstairs with me watching (what else) Backyardigans, the presents are wrapped (except for the ones I have not gotten yet) and I just finished making pumpkin rolls for tonight's Christmas Eve Festivities.  Corey woke up at 3:30 with an upset stomach again and in the process of getting him all taken care of Connor woke up.  Oh well, what are you going to do?  We are really excited for the next couple of days.  Spending time with Family is the best Christmas present of all and that is all we are doing for the next 48 hours.  Merry Christmas Eve everyone!

Round Two

Corey seems to be feeling better.  By 6:30 last night he was eating dinner and playing with his brother.  That was short lived though as its now almost two am and I am sitting downstairs on the couch with both boys after Connor also woke up throwing up. At least we know its a 24 hour bug and it should be out of their systems by Christmas.   

Poor Baby!

It is amazing what difference a couple of hours can make for a little boy.  When I picked Corey up from school today he seemed like his chipper goofy self.  We drove home, hung out for a bit, had dinner and then boom out of nowhere he throws up.  Since then he has been throwing up all night.  At this very moment he is sound asleep next to me on my bed.  Hopefully its just a short little bug and he is better before Christmas.  I hate to see my little guy sick! 

Red Neck

Terence and I went to my work holiday party on Friday night.  It was a blast!  It was held at the Arctic Club in downtown Seattle and the theme as roaring 20's.

We had kind of a speak easy theme.  Everyone wore 20's clothes and we had gaming tables with fake money.  Terence played poker most of the night and I went back and forth between that and dancing.  I had a red feather boa and apparently while I was dancing it was turning my neck red.  I guess it brings new meaning to the term red neck.  I thought it was kind of funny.  Anyway the party was really fun and it was nice to have a date night out on the town.

Home Teachers

Our home teachers came over yesterday afternoon and Corey decided it would be a great opportunity to take some pictures.  So here, once again, is the world according to Corey.

Christmas Traditions

We have a lot of Christmas traditions that we have established as a family over the last few years.  Some of them are traditions we had before we got married and some of them go way back to when we were kids.  Here are some of our traditions.

 Our stockings- we don't have a fireplace in this house so our stockings are hung on a wall under a picture of Christ.  I like that we hang them there because it reminds us of the fun but also the real meaning of Christmas.  Each one of our stockings has history behind it.  Far left is Connors, his is the smallest and ti's special because my Grandma Lutz sent it to him on his very first Christmas.  Second from the left is Corey's his is not as fancy but it matches mine.  We got Corey's stocking two days before his first Christmas because we realized he was the only one who did not have one.  Terence's stocking is the third one in.  It was made (I think) by his Mom when he was a baby and he has been using it ever since.  My family growing up never had stockings and it was not a significant part of Christmas.  One year when Terence and I were dating my Christmas gift was my stocking that Terence had filled with all kinds of different things.  People always assume when they see ours that Terence's is the biggest so it's fun to tell the story of how I actually got it.

 This is an advent calendar that Terence had as a kid.  We have been using it since we got married and now the boys LOVE taking turns putting a figure onto the calendar as we count down the days till Christmas.  The last three days are always Santa's sled, Mrs. Claus and then of course Santa.

Our Christmas village.  This is something that always reminds me of my Oma.  I never had village at home growing up but my Oma had one and I always loved it.  One year after Christmas we were shopping with her and my Aunts and saw the houses on sale for 90% off.  We bought a couple and have added to our collection ever since.  Since we have lived in this house we leave our village up year round because it fills the space on top of the cabinets nicely.  We don't turn it on year round though.  I love the way it looks lit up, just a peaceful sleepy little village.

Our Christmas Tree.  Yes I know everyone has a Christmas tree but I love how much tradition we have with ours.  Every ornament on our tree has a story.  A reason it is there.  A lot of them are from our family ornament exchange.  Others have been acquired from various people or for various reasons over the years.  My favorite ornament this year is the paper one that Connor made at school.  He was so proud to hang it on the tree and kept moving it to different spots to get a better view of it.  This year we actually had to get a bigger tree because we were running out of room.

Looking at Christmas lights.  I don't have a picture to represent this but every year we take a trip out to go look at Christmas lights.  I love listening to the boys talk to us and each other as the look at the lights.  Connor was inspired this year after we looked at the lights and decided he wanted to come home and watch how the Grinch stole Christmas. 

I love our Christmas traditions and look forward to the new ones we will create as our kids get older in the years to come.