The Happy Holidays

Whoa!! Time flies when you're...having...fun? Joke! We've been busy flying home to see the parents and spending time with siblings before the holidays.
Now, before you say, "Hey! You were in SLC and didn't call??!!". We were there for only a few days and ALL were spent with family. We attended a Poulton dinner, knitting party, Kimberly's 50th birthday party, Hannah's birthday and time watching Monsters Inc. with Kell.

Back in Spokie we had a ward Christmas party, which was also an ugly sweater contest and Mac won. He was wearing a woman's sweater that had cheesy stuff glued all over it. The missionaries won for the couple category. Noah just ate crap all night.








And time with the Merendino's (Mac's mom and her husband). We took a ferry out to the North Pole to see Santa. Noah was cold, but too transfixed on what was going on to complain. Santa read out his name too.

I guess he was good this year because I think he received every dinosaur he asked for (and a few he didn't). Noah even got a Buzz Lightyear.



I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas! And as always...we miss you!!!

Christmas Tree Huntin'

The cool thing about living in the Evergreen State is that you can buy a permit to cut down your own tree for 5 bucks.
That's what we did. We piled up the friends and went into the wilderness to get the perfect "wild" Christmas tree. As apposed to the "tame" ones at lots.
Besides the fact that none of us could feel our extremities within 5 minutes it was fun. Noah just jumped up and down and laughed at himself, while some other children complained about it being 8 degrees out and they wanted to go to the car (maybe I was one of them).
We settled on a little, but fat tree named Billy Bob. What? Yours doesn't have a name? He's a sparse little thing, but he does a good job doing what he does and we love him in our home. Noah loves to say good night to him and wakes up wanting him to "turn on".
All the boys were so cute out in the snow I had to take pictures. So...


This kid I saw

Sammy

Ben or as Noah says, "Benji Ben"

Peyton

Jamesy

Tyler

Sam

Bored.

Things happen when you see your husband two hours a week. When you're putting your son down at the crack of dusk (which in Washington is around 3:45pm). You might stay up on the computer taking pictures of yourself. I don't judge. You shouldn't either. But I may have to post some rather good pics of me tonight. Only because they're good. And I may suffer from severe narcissism. Doesn't matter.











My inner 7 year old was having a ball...

Why I'm grateful for my boy named Butch.

The Machan's spent the day at some friends house with the missionaries. It was amazing food! Thanks to them we had pumpkin creme brulee. I know, the husband is an excellent cook.
We played games with them and the boys played upstairs.
You know when the room gets really quiet you know something bad is happening to your child? Or they're getting into something they shouldn't?? That did not happen. I could hear them. They were playing so nicely (first sign something was wrong).
I was doing some dishes and Rachel went to check on the boys. Next thing I hear is Rachel screaming "NO!!!!" I asked if everything was alright, which she responded, "no". Aahhh crap. I reach the top of the stairs to find Noah happily playing with a toy, but with a lot less hair on his head. Yep, Jamesy (being 3 years of age) cut his hair. He was about to do himself, but started with Noah first.
I was laughing pretty hard, but also having some sads about it too. Jamesy was the most upset. He ran to his room crying. Jamesy gets his hair cut and gets a cookie afterwards. He thought by butching my son Noah would get a cookie too. Sweet.

When we came home I put Noah to bed and said prayers. It was then that I became aware of what I was most grateful for on Thanksgiving day. A 3-year old boy had a pair of scissors unattended. Noah could have been disfigured, or much, much worse. So, as much as I liked his hair I love him more.








Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We hope you had a wonderful day!!

Halloween

Ok, Noah was Elmo for Halloween. Here's the thing-I know I can be annoying and usually piss the person I'm bugging off to no end, but Noah is different. When I start to bug him he only laughs harder, which makes me do it more...and I laugh harder too.
I start taking pictures of Noah by the door and can't stop! He was too cute!! So then he started running away from me. He ran to his room laughing the whole time. I caught up to him on his bed and he tried to swat at the camera while laughing. It takes a great person to laugh while I'm pestering them...


We went to a church function called a "trunk or treat" and ate dinner. Noah and his friend Ben were the two terds lying on the floor in the middle of everything. Idiots, but still really funny. Man, i was pretty camera happy that night.

I hope all of you had a great Halloween and look forward to seeing your little ones in costume!

Mac is 30!!

Wow.
I'm married to a 30 year old...and some day real soon Mac will be married to a 30 yr. old too!
Ok, we got up and went to Greenbluff Farms (a cluster of little farms that sell fruits and what not during the seasons).
We first went to Hansen Farms and bought freshly made applesauce with carmel stirred in, so good until the birthday boy didn't blow on a bite for Noah and now he can't taste anything. Mac also got a carmel apple and that is one of his favorite treats.

Next we went to Greenbluff Gardens and picked out our own pumpkins! So fun!

Unless you thought you picked a good one and the darn thing is rotting on the other side (let's be honest, the whole farm had rotting pumpkins), but in the end we settled on three orange, one cinderella and one ghost pumpkin (for Noah and his hair) and they were all in pretty good shape.
Happy birthday Mach! We love you!

I am sooo domestic!

After many hours of picking stitches out and maybe a few tears...I have completed my very first project.
May I present to you...The Quilt.



I made this for a throw on our couch. It's warm and does the trick. So if y'all want the pattern it's super easy!!

HowManyOfMe.com

There are or fewer people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

I saw this on a friend's blog...got me interested. BBOOOO YYYAAAAHHH! We're a one of a kind family! One me, one Mac, one Noah! But if we're talking about first names then...

Mac-Over 7,600 in the country. 2138th most popular name.

Lindsey-Over 103,000 in the country. 523rd most popular name. No surprise there...there always seems to be at least 3 Lindseys where ever I go. If you spell it with an "A" then it would be over 98,000 in the country and 536th most popular name.

Noah- Over 33,000 in the country. 1003rd most popular name...it's still gotta be climbing.

There are 381 with the last name Machan in the country. How many you's?

The joys of boys

For those of you that don't, or have yet the pleasure of experiencing the joy of a boy let me show you what you're in for, or missing out on...
Taking a baseball bat to the head
Climbing up on the counter and dumping all the dish soap out on to the windows etc...
Finding the Eucerin cream and rubbing it into the carpet and all over your face/hair
Hang out in 40 degree weather in just a diaper and then THROW a fit when getting clothed


Run straight for the water when mom and dad call for you to come back
Always going straight for the bra when laundry is done

My favorite...getting HIMSELF a pad and putting it on with no ones help...

I couldn't find his three other ER visit scars, but that's another thing you can look forward to...

ROAD TRIP!!

Monday morning we set off for Seattle, Washington. It's about a 4.5 hour drive, so it wasn't too bad.
We stayed downtown and walked every where. We went to THE Nordstrom and I may have burst into hysterics when I saw they had their own valet parking...and some women coming out of private elevators and into their private cars. WHAT? Some people.
The shopping was a-mazing. We bought new wallets. Man, did I feel more sophisticated being there!! Or until I caught a glimpse of myself in a window reflection and thought, "is that a man or woman?" Which is another thing! Those transgenders can almost fool a woman! I thought this woman had the cutest dress on until she got close and then I thought, "whoa, what designer can make a man look good in a dress!!??".
We went to Pike's Market and saw some men toss fish around. Way cool! I took my picture with one of the working gentlemen. I was trying to get a pose that said something like, "hey man, remember that time when we were best friends?" It ended up looking like I was laughing at his job or something. Great.
We took Noah to the aquarium and he went nuts! Nemo! Dory! Marlin! Sharks! (aka Seals) Sharks! (aka Sea Otters) Sharks! (aka Star Fish). Not really star fish, but anything big was a shark and he'd yell it at the top of his lungs.
Then next day we went to the zoo, which was really cool, but it's a trick. You think it's an "OK" size until you get in there and 4 hours later you have no idea where you are and apparently you've seen the lions and wolves...and don't remember it, but you're tired and sick of hearing Noah say, "Nemo!". I got some pictures of some of the animals, so if you have kids they might enjoy seeing them.
Then we went to visit our friends that moved there for their residency, which we didn't get any pictures of, but I SWEAR we have friends there.
After a few days of fun we went home with lighter wallets and good memories.

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6 Years...

It took two years of dating to get to the "Yes" part of this story. Thank you dearest for waiting for me to get there too.
September 3rd, 2003 Mac and I became a family. We've had ups and downs and many turns, but Mac continues to show me patience and at times we're still willing to learn and grow from each other.
I'd do it all over again, Mac. I love you and you've been my bestest, closest, most understanding friend (not to mention lover).

Here are some times we've been through these past few years...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Huckleberry Huntin'

So we took off to Mt. Spokane (clever name if you ask me) to pick the magical huckleberry. This is a special berry for a few simple reasons, or maybe just one...this berry cannot be harvested (why? because they need the forest and certain elevation to thrive). Which means those who go out and pick these berries will charge a BUTT load for 'em ($50 for a gallon).
So we get to the area to pick them. We had gallon containers that we were determined to fill. After walking about...10 minutes we realized something very minor. We don't know what a huckleberry bush OR berry looks like, but did that stop us?? NO! Mac even ate a mystery berry or two before we ran into fellow pickers that gave us some to try and then showed us what the plant looked like-

We picked those little things for over an hour and got about 4 cups worth. We didn't even care by that time we were just glad we got some. Besides, Mac started to hallucinate from earlier berry experimenting.

Glacier National Park

So last weekend we went to Montana to see Glacier National Park with a few friends. We thought we were going to camp, but due to heavy weather we got a 12x12 (144 square ft. cabin with no toilet). Since I was expecting to sleep on the ground and poo behind trees I was excited to stay in the cabin and so was Noah.
We got into the park and it was amazing. The heavy rain and clouds covered a lot of beauty, but you could still tell it was amazing.

Noah enjoyed the whole drive and was amazed at everything around him. I can't believe he was so passionate about the park!



When we weren't driving through the rain the kids played at the little playground and got all sorts of dirty. Eliza, Noah and Ben loved playing on the swing and in the campfire remains. Noah and Benny ran around together constantly looking for mischief to get into and I MAY have taken
several photos of Ben's butt, but that's only because he didn't even notice it coming off. That kid is hilarious!