Year in Review

Well...its the last day of 2007 so I thought I would do a little re-cap of the last 12 months. These are the most memorable events of the year. (In no particular order!)

1. Being a BSU fan and watching the Fiesta Bowl last year! Incredible is all I have to say about that! I don't think I have ever screamed so loud!

2. Nate receiving his job offer last January. This was the job of his dreams and we were excited to start out the year on such a great high note. It was a such a relief knowing that after his clerkship we knew he had a job at a great firm!

3. Landon Cooper Starnes being born on May Day. I was SO terrified to have 3 children 4 and under but it was a quick adjustment and I can't even imagine life without him here. He is such a joy and he is so stinkin cute! I can't believe he will be 8 months old tomorrow!

4. Not my favorite memory but having to go through surgery for such a ridiculous reason. If you don't know what I am referring to....look back to the blog from July. Dumb doctor.

5. Building our first home. What a fun and stressful project. We had such a great time picking our colors and everything but we were a little bit nervous about becoming home owners. We would drive by the house EVERY SINGLE day it was being built. It was fun to see the progress! The boys didn't think it was so much fun. Every time we would turn into our new subdivision we would hear a lot of moans and complaints. "Mooooooom....we JUST saw the new house. Not AGAIN!."

6. Heading up to Bozeman for the Whitaker Family Reunion. We had a great time together! I love that we have all of these silly traditions like the buddy burner breakfast. (Cooking breakfast with a partner over a hot can.) It is more like buddy burn-your-breakfast. It was fun seeing a new part of the country and it was BEAUTIFUL up there!

7. Dallin playing soccer and t-ball this year. What a hoot! We had lots of fun going to his games and Nate LOVED being the t-ball coach. Better get used to this. I'm sure we will be heading to these sporting events for many years to come!

8. Parker destroying our new table. I'm sure most of you know the story but just in case you don't...here is goes. We finally bought a new table and chairs for our kitchen and I waited 2 months for them to arrive. We got everything put together and the next morning we were all getting ready to go out and buy a new tablecloth. I walk around the corner and there is Parker painting RED NAIL POLISH all over the kitchen floor, dishwasher and all over my NEW TABLE. I just about threw up. The nail polish ate through the varnish and stain on the table. I called RC Willey in tears and they agreed to sell me a new one for only $200. We bought it but it is still in a box in the garage. I figure I may as well let the boys destroy this one before I get the other one out.

9. Going to Utah for Thanksgiving. It was so much fun getting together with everyone and being able to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Whitaker. We always have so much fun playing games and hanging out. The all-night shopping excursion was one I will always remember as well.

10. Thowing my Mom's 50th birthday party. My mom is NEVER surprised about anything and we got her GOOD this year. She thought she was coming over to watch the boys and little did she know a limo was coming to pick her up from our house. The limo came and picked her up and took her all around the city. It would stop randomly and pick up her friends and family who came in from out of town. Then the limo took her back to her house where we had all of her friends from Boise waiting to surprise her! We decked the whole house out in pink and black.I had the whole thing catered from GoodWood. Ash came up and helped with the food (thank heavens) . Natalie put a bunch of pictures to music and we played some fun games. It was classic!

11. Trying out the dog thing. What a learing experience. If you think your life is difficult...try throwing a puppy in the mix for 6 weeks. When the puppy is gone...you realize that life really isn't too stressful after all! Even though I loved that little puppy..I don't think the Starnes family will ever be pet owners again. (Except for fish)

12. Our Christmas this year. I will never forget the boy's expressions. Grandparents SPOILED us this year!

Well....this year has definitely been a good one. Hopefully the next will bring as much joy as the last one has! Happy New Year everyone!

A few pictures from the season

Who doesn't love a new pair of Christmas jammies?!!!

Sweet little boy!

Dallin was VERY excited to get his Light Sketcher!

Our Christmas cookies for Santa. Janet's recipe! They turned out D-licious!

Checking out the model train exhibit downtown.

Landon meeting Santa for the first time!

They were pretty exited to tell Santa what was on their ever changing lists!

Christmas 2007

I keep putting off blogging because I left my camera at my parent's house and I want to put some pictures up! As soon as I get it back I will definitely get them up. Christmas was AMAZING this year. We had such a wonderful Christmas Eve with Nat and Robby, Jas, and Mom and Dad. We started off with an amazing dinner with everything imaginable. Turkey and ham and Swedish meatballs, BBQ meatballs, and crab cakes...and those were just the meat choices! We had all the fixings to go along with it and cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for dessert! (Bring on the calories!) The highlight of the evening was being able to talk to Elder Rock. He sounded so great! You can tell he is 100% lost in the work he is doing. After talking with James we proceeded with the annual Rock Family Christmas Program. Its a miracle I know...but Staci Lynn Starnes actually SANG in the Christmas program. I couldn't look at Nate because I knew I would burst out laughing. I did sing WITH Nat, Robby and Jason...but hey...this is big for me!
We ended the evening with the candle tradition. When Nat and I were little we started this tradition where everyone sits in a circle and we dim the lights. One person holds the candle and proceeds to talk about the previous year and the things they are grateful for...then they pass it to the next person. It kind of turns into a testimony meeting of sorts but it is such a great way to really feel the spirit of the season.
We left my parents at about 11:00 and little did we know how LATE we were going to be up getting all the toys ready for the next morning. I finally crashed at about 1:30 but Nate was up until 3:30 putting the bikes and scooters together!
Christmas morning was so incredible. The boys came into our room at 7:00 and asked if Santa had come. I was shocked that they didn't just go down and look for themselves but I was glad because I was able to catch their initial reactions as they came downstairs. They were so SPOILED this year. They would run from one toy to the next and then to the next. Landon pretty much tried to eat bows and wrapping paper the whole time. Dallin is so funny.He had this huge plethora of toys including remote control cars, moon sand, huge dinosaurs and other things and what was the one thing he was the MOST excited about?? A fractions book that I got him from the dollar store.
Nate spoiled me as usual. We always make an agreement not to go overboard on each other and to focus on the kids. I try to stick to that plan but Nate always disobeys and makes me feel so stupid.
I have been SO busy the last couple of days trying to get back on top of everything here at the home front. It is amazing how quickly the laundry and dishes pile up when you kind of ignore them for a few days! Thank you to everyone who helped make this Christmas so special for us. We loved recieving so many Christmas cards and we appriecate you taking the time to remember us during this Holiday Season.

Our Landon is Standin!

I walked into the baby's room today and low and behold......he is STANDING in his crib! I had to look twice! Can he really be getting so big already? He was very proud of himself as you can see from his big gummy smile!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little guy!

Happy Birthday Aunt Nanny!

Happy 25th Nat! I thought I would give a little shout out to my only sister in the world...especially since I wasn't there to celebrate with her yesterday. Here are a few of my favorite thoughts/memories about my sis.

1. When we were little, we would always spy on my parents. We thought it was the coolest thing in the world. We would each take cordless phone and push a few buttons so the busy signal wouldn't come on and one of us would hide behind the couch and "report" on what mom and dad were doing. 9 times out of 10 they were just watching TV.

2. We would sneak into the kitchen and steal all the ingredients needed to make cookie dough and go up into one of our playrooms and make it. I look back and seriously want to gag. We would throw a little of this and a little of that...a whole raw egg and then we would eat it! My mom would always find these bowls with dried cookie dough in them and wonder what the heck was going on!

3. One time I tried to guilt my sister into giving me all of her money. I told her how sad I was that my birthday was in the summer and how I felt so left out because I didn't get recognized during the school year. She gave me all of her money to make me feel better. I think I was the most rotten older sister in the world. How RUDE is that?

4. Nat is very hardworking and driven. She always has been. I know the kids in her class are VERY fortunate to have such a wonderful teacher. I am very proud of her and the dedication she has to her class.

5. Natalie is very talented. She can sing like an angel but will take you down on the basketball court! She has many talents that are obvious to the eye and some that are realized once you get to know her. She is very thoughtful and concerned for others.

I could go on and on......

I hope you had a wonderful birthday Nat! Can't wait to see you in a few days! I love you!

Sister Stac

Work Christmas Party

Last night was a lot of fun! Nathan's work Christmas party was at the Arid Club. It used to be a Gentleman's club and JR Simplot was one of the founding members. Dinner was D-licious! Filet Mignon....smashed potatoes and greens. The dessert buffet was incredible. There were little chocolate cakes, cheesecakes, cookies and lemon bars. I enjoyed finally meeting all of these people I hear about on a day to day basis. It is always fun to get a little dressed up and have a night out without the boys!

A rainy day

Today is a very ugly, gray, rainy day in the City of Trees. It reminds me of the winters up in Spokane. Yuck! We called up some friends and met over at Planet Kid for the afternoon. My friend Melissa has 2 girls. (4 and 3) My boys call them "our girls." They had a great time running around and burning up all of that energy! I wanted to get them all worn out before my mom comes over to watch them tonight. We have our big Christmas party for Nate's work this evening. It is "business formal" attire. Whats up with that? Is it formal? Is it business? I'm confused.

Happy Birthday P-man!

I can't believe my big boy is 3! (or almost...his REAL birthday is Sunday)Parker had lots of fun today at his John Deere tractor party! Parker absolutely LOVES tractors so we thought it was fitting to have a party with a tractor theme this year!
This is a crazy time of year to have a birthday. Parker's actual due date was Christmas day but the doctor and I both agreed that neither one of us really wanted to be in the hospital on that day so THANKFULLY Parker came on December 16, 2004!
I love throwing parties for my boys and I feel bad because Parker's birthday has always been kind of over looked over because of the holiday season. Not this year though! We had 6 little friends come over and we made some cute little barn and animal crafts, played some games and ate some tractor cake. We had lots of fun!

3 funny things about Parker:

1. He loves FUZZ. He picks at his blanket at rolls the fuzz into these balls that I find ALL OVER MY HOUSE. I find the majority of these fuzz balls in his room after a nap or in the morning after he wakes up. I think he rolls these balls while he sleeps. Drives me nuts!

2. I don't think he has ever liked being 2 years old. (Just because he wants to be like Dallin ALL the time.) When people ask how old he is he will always say "I am 5." He won't even say the words "Me too" becuase he thinks it means "Me two." So if someone says...."I want to go outside"....Parker will say...."Me five." Meaning....."me too." Hopefully that made sense!

3. We've been trying to teach Parker that we don't say the Lord's name in vain. For awhile he was using it in an inappropriate way. We told him to say "O my goodness" instead. He made up his own replacement word though. He always says..."O (pause) MY (pause) WOW!" Its soo cute. Happy Birthday my middle child! I LOVE YOU!

YUMMY!

What kind of ice cream flavor are you? I took this little ice cream quiz today. Ironically enough..I am Black Raspberry and I LOVE that flavor!!

Christmas pictures!

Pictures are back ALREADY! For some reason we had some quick turnaround. My fav has to be the first one with all their tongues hanging out. Landon's tongue is ALWAYS out for some reason....so she asked Dal and Parks to stick their's out too. It just seems so fitting for the day we had!

It is fun to GIVE!

I am really looking forward to Christmas this year. I am looking forward to having Christmas in my own home and seeing my boys come down the stairs Christmas morning. I am so excited to see family, enjoy some good food and I am really looking forward to hearing Elder Rock's voice from Mexico City. My boys are getting older and really starting to figure out this whole Christmas thing. It seems like every commercial that comes on is followed by a "Mom! I want that." A few weeks ago a Vagisil commercial came on and Parker screams...."Mom....Can I have that?" Sheesh.

Anyway, for Thanksgiving this year, my wonderful in-laws gave each of us a little money to do something nice for someone else during the Christmas season. We deliberated as to what we could do as a family so the boys could really enjoy it and learn from it at the same time. For FHE we talked about what Christmas really means and we discussed the fact that there are lots of children who won't get anything for Christmas. We talked about doing things for the less fortunate just like Jesus did. Dallin exclaims..."Lets get some toys for those kids!" What a great idea! Off we headed to Target. The boys had lots of fun picking out some toys for OTHER children. I was very surprised when Dallin chose to get a MY LITTLE PONY for a girl. For him to even acknowledge there are girls in the world was HUGE. (Except for cousin Makalya of course!) Parker chose some cars and a basketball/baseball/football sports set. (All things he would want for himself!) After they each picked a few toys and then we headed on over to the brand new fire house near our house. The boys were thrilled to meet a real fire fighter and see the big trucks close up. The fireman was very appreciative as the boys dropped their toys in the Toys for Tots bin. As we drove home we talked about the warm feeling we had inside because we did a very small thing for someone else. It was such a quick and fun

thing to do and the boys have been talking about it for days! This is definitely a tradition that the Starnes family will

continue in the years to come.

Math

3 whiny children+no dad available to help+Christmas pictures+TONS of people at the mall+no toys or videos to watch while we wait+Parker and his STUBBORNNESS+TWO and A HALF hours later= DISASTROUS MORNING!

These pictures better be worth it! (They'll be back in a couple of weeks)

P.S. Since my post on "parties" I have been invited to 1+1+1= 3 more parties. Party on I guess.

My new hair

I have been meaning to post some pictures of my new DARK hair. Its acutally dark brown...blonde and RED (well,just a little) all together. Kind of fun!

Party Pooper

Alright...so I don't mean to complain about things that REALLY don't matter in the large scheme of things but today I am feeling a little annoyed.
It seems like lately I can't walk into church or even around my neighborhood without someone trying to sell me something. I will meet someone and 2 seconds later they are whipping out the Mary Kay card or inviting me over to the Pampered Chef party. This seems to happen more and more now that Nathan is an "official attorney." I assume people think we have ALL this money to spend on random things which couldn't be possibly further then the truth! (ESPECIALLY during the holiday season!) After the mortgage and the loan payments go off...there just isn't much left! I have received 3 YES 3 invitations to these "parties" in the last WEEK. I get countless invites to these "spa parties," "girls nights," "candle parties" or "jewelry parties." Sometimes I wonder why people don't just come right out and say, "Hey..I have signed up to sell some stuff and I am trying to make some money off my friends and family. Can you write me a check for $25 and I won't waste your time." Honestly....if I needed some makeup or a new candle...I don't really see the need to order it from someone...specially when everything seems WAY overpriced. I never know what to do...go to the party and just buy something...or don't go and hurt someones feelings. Is there such a thing as being friends and neighbors without having any strings attached anymore?
SO...there is my random rant for the day. If you sell any of this stuff you'll have to forgive me!

Freebie Weekend!

We've just had a whole weekend of freebies!
First off..I recieved a $25 gift card to Chili's for helping out my parent's friend by doing a little mystery shopping.
Then I used my $10 bucks back from Kohls becuase it expires today.
I recieved a free $10 to Old Navy.
I got an email for a free lunch at my favorite Italian resurant....Louie's.
And...Nate is getting his hair cut right now for free becuase he filled up his stamp thing.
Nothing like getting FREE stuff!!!!!