Lil' Dean Fam

Black Friday this year was pretty much a success.  In some ways more than others.  We decided we'd hit the WalMart at midnight.  That was a mistake.  We should have just gone to bed and waited for the good sales that start at 4:00am.  We didn't really need any of the big-ticket items that Wally's had at midnight but there were a few things we were hoping for.  However, they had apparently sold out at 10pm.  We got a few things, came home at around 1:00 to take a nap.  At 3:45 we woke up and headed over to JCPenny's.  We did super awesome there!  Mom had saved up all of her coupons so we decided to just do one transaction so we could get all of our percentages off.  We were also able to capitalize on Jackie's employee friends and family card which gave us an extra 20% off.  As the discounts rang up I noticed that we'd saved $50 and said something about it.  Um. NO.  We'd saved a WHOLE LOT more than that!  Our tota...

This is the first Thanksgiving that MY whole family has been together in a while.  My Mom and Dad usually take off for San Diego to have Thanksgiving with her family.  Some times we've gone to Colin's family friend Rita's house.  Last year we ate at home, just the four of us.  This year we had all of my family except Justin who's on his mission.  It was a nice little gathering for the 9 of us.  My sister and I brought several of the sides and my Mom made the main stuff like the turkey and desserts.  It was a lovely meal.   We had a good time hanging out together for a few hours just chatting and hanging out.  I convinced my dad to snap a few shots of the four of us for a Christmas card picture.  I think we have a winner but I won't post that until well after the season so you can all be surprised by the shot!  LOL The rest of the evening we planned out our Black Friday shopping trip.  Post forthcoming! 

 Tomorrow, Monday, November, 14, 2011 is World Diabetes Day.  I'm not sure if Google will be doing a special doodle for that day but check and see!  Usually if you click on the doodle, you'll find information about the special day.  The day is meant to raise awareness about Diabetes.  I've written on my blog a handful of times about diabetes.  You can link to all of those posts by scrolling to the bottom of my blog and clicking on the "label" diabetes.  The condition has effected my life in many ways.  Most days, however, I don't really think about it much.  I thought that for WDD I'd write the story of my diagnosis.  I don't think I've ever done that before, forgive me if I have.  Many people ask me how I found out I had it, or how old I was when I was diagnosed.  So, here's the story.  I will warn you though, that some of the details are a little bit TMI so there's your warning! In late April of 2001 I started having ...

Jess invited us all out to see Disney on Ice this Saturday, November 12, 2011.  We saw the 11 am show.  The whole McNew clan minus Elder McNew, of course, were there.  The show was really cute and my boys were totally into it.  It was an awesome family outing and I'm so glad we all got to go together.  Thanks, Jess!  

On Sunday Ryan lost his first tooth.  Saturday night he was eating an apple when he said that his tooth was hurting him.  I noticed there was a little bit of blood on the gum line.  I told him that his tooth was loose and he'd probably lose it soon.  Daddy told him it may be a few weeks.  I figured it would be sooner than that but I didn't imagine it would be the next day.  The three boys stayed home from church and Colin sent me a text at church saying they had a surprise for me.  I was thinking about what that might be for about an hour.  When I walked in the door he smiled at me but it took me a second to notice what was going on.  Then he held up his tooth for me to see.  I was so excited for him and at the same time I can't help but think that this means that he's really big now!      Ryan was asking me how much money I thought the tooth fairy would bring him.  I told him I wasn't su...

Autumn here in Utah is absolutely gorgeous.  I love it!  This year it was particularly beautiful.  It was warm for several weeks.  Sometimes fall only lasts a week or two.  I took these two pictures one week apart.  I really wish I had taken two more pictures, the following two weeks.  believe it or not, there is not a single leaf left on this tree today.  In fact, all the leaves fell off last week.  It was crazy.  I love this tree when it's in bloom, and when it changes, it's just amazing!  I took quite a few pictures of it last year, and this year, I had to take even more, I took a whole bunch with the boys (which I've already posted).  Anyway, here are even more!   All of these came from the same tree!  A rainbow of colors all in one tree!

Back at the beginning of the month of October, Ryan was in our church primary program.  All of the kids do the program for the sacrament meeting.  It's always been my favorite Sunday of the year.  Ryan did an amazing job when it was his turn to speak into the microphone.  He spoke loudly, clearly and articulately.  I was very proud of that.  His part was this, "Good choices lead to happiness and freedom, while bad choices lead to captivity and unhappiness." He doesn't love to sing in front of people and has a hard time focusing on learning the words to songs, but he does like music.   I'm so proud of my big boy!  Next year, Evan will get to be in the program!