Chrstmas Day 2008!

Christmas Day!

So after the kids crashed after the festivities on Christmas Eve, Challene and I set to work. I'm very grateful that most of the stuff was put together before this night. It would have made for a very long evening. Fortunately for me, I have a wife with the foresight of a clairvoyant.

Looks great, eh?

BIG WHEELS!!! Given the incredible memories I had as a kid with a Big Wheel, we just had to get the kids one! It was a hit. Now they just need to grow several inches more so they can ride them properly.

I suppose this Christmas was one based on nostalgic fodder for Challene and I. The Big Wheels and now the bouncing horse. The nice thing about this horse: No exposed springs with which to snag your skin. The horse is padded so you can ride as rough as you want without repercussions... bareback even!

Like I said, riding it properly wasn't really an option at this time, but Ethan and Joshua, I believe, are really stunt-men at heart. I mean... look at him go!

We didn't get Joshy stuntin', but he's always good for a funny picture.

Beyond the contemporary updates, this horse makes galloping sounds and talks. It's a little hypersensitive, though. Some nights, we hear galloping sounds coming from downstairs. It's kind of freaky. Then you hear, "I'm a little pony. Clippity-Clop, Clippity-Clop. Such a pretty pony. Clippity-Clop, Clippity-Clop." Kind of eerie!

DINOSAURS!!! Yes, even these were somewhat reminiscent. Remember...

"I'm da baby! Gotta love me!"

Oh man, that's so classic!

Challene braved Black Friday to pick up this little gem at RC Willey for a measly $20. It's a giant novelty piano. Where's the childhood nostalgic heart twang for that? I give you....

TOM HANKS!



Trust me, the first thing I did with that piano was play chop-sticks!

What to do after a big day of presents? Take a nap and eat your own toenails, duh!

We hosted Christmas for Challene's side this year. It was nice to have it at our house. Mostly because we didn't have to risk our lives getting here like everyone else did. It was certainly a white Christmas.

Save the Cheerleader, save the world?
Precious... so precious.

Ethan finally crashed. He was watching Horton Hears a Who (another tid-bit from my past) and being very quiet about it. Finally, we walked over and saw him sleeping like this. I wonder if there will come a day where he will keep his pants on? Only time will tell.

My precious wife got me seasons 2-4 of The Office for Christmas. She did good.

Christmas Eve 2008

Christmas Decorating

We waited a while before we decorated the house. The kids really enjoyed it when we did, though. The pictures here will show just that.

Who'd've thunk a simple snow globe/music box could be so much fun? I suppose this was the first real Christmas that the boys could enjoy. Last year, Ethan was really into it, but became quite ill on Christmas Eve and ended up being sick the whole time. This time, they were both healthy and ready to celebrate.

Joshy in particular had to make sure that the tree was perfect.

Yes, they took great pride in the tree... until Joshua got a hold of a vacuum attachment and decided to use it as a baseball bat. I must give him kudos for such an accurate aim, but on the other had, he did 'splode an ornament. That wasn't the last time either. Three of our ornaments fell victim to Joshua's antics at one time or another. Also, an ornament at our friends the Turner's house bit the dust when Joshua, wearing his baseball goggles again, decided to pitch it across the room.

Christmas Eve with the Green's

It is tradition each year for my family to spend Christmas Eve together. We opted, this year, to have our celebration in a church instead of cramming all 23 (or so) of us in someone's house.

We started with the program and ate afterward. Typically, we do it just the opposite, but this year was full of changes!

Grandpa Green really got into icing cookies. Poor Ethan had to wait for Grandpa to hand over the red icing. Poor, patient Ethan.

Joshy got a little Fatherly for Dillon.

One of the benefits of having the Christmas program/dinner in the church gym? Dodgeball. It got a little rough for the young'uns, but fun was had all around.

Then we had a Christmas Miracle! Joshua, my little man, snuck some broccoli. Once confronted, he popped it in his mouth as if caught with his hand in the cookie jar. He actually loved it. What a weirdo! He's like that, though. Ethan is our carbohydrate man and Josh is our veggie/fruit lover!

Some of the fun.

Christmas Eve @ the Turner's

It is tradition to stop by the Turner's residence on Christmas Eve. The Turner's live next to Colleen and it has been the Anderson tradition to spend Christmas Eve with them. So we stop by after the Green family partying stops.

Shane showing off his Simpson's DVD. I already have that one, or he may have found it missing later in the evening.

What's a Christmas party without karaoke?

Ethan and Joshua got some special Christmas books.

Plus, they got crayons and a coloring book.

Don't forget the Christmas pajamas.

Nothing says Christmas like Lightning McQueen... KaChow!

I feel it must be mentioned that I, William Green, won two of the three contests had at the party. The first was a general Christmas knowledge trivia challenge. I decimated the competition with a 17/20, with the next highest being 12/20. For the prize? A specialty carmel (caramel?) apple from the... specialty carmel apple store in the mall. This apple was a granny smith with a rather healthy layer of caramel, followed by a thin (but luscious) ply of divinity. Finally, it was capped by a hard shell chocolate dusted with cinnamon and sugar. I fancy myself a lover of all things carmel apples and was grateful for the prize.

The second contest was a Christmas music contest. I didn't even place. The third, though, was a test of the Twelve Days of Christmas song. You simply had to name each gift for each day of Christmas. I won with 9 of the 12. I missed one and the rest were all off. Well the prize for that? The same carmel apple. Had I known then that this carmel apple would be the most exquisite, succulent, most desirable of all carmel apples, I wouldn't have given it to the runner up.

CURSE MY MORAL FORTITUDE!!!!!

And that was our Christmas Eve.

The kids were so zonked out by the time we got home we didn't even have them set out cookies and milk. Don't worry, Challene and I did.

Licensed to... heal!

Well, it's official. I am now a licensed chiropractor... with all the rights, responsibilities, and privileges contained therein. Years and years of school, money, sacrifice (mine and Challene's) all culminated into an eleven digit license number on a 5X9 piece of blue-ish parchment. Now I actually have to earn my keep! Freaky!

So anyway, that's about it. I'm supposed to tell you all that there will be a Christmas post coming soon. So you've got that to look forward to, so that's nice.

Go in peace.

Feeling nervous... inadequate....and last but not least overwhelmed!

Long story short I got a Church calling this morning. I am the new Relief Society Secretary. I am overall excited about the opportunity this will give me to get to know the women in the ward better and quicker. I am also excited about the opportunity to grow more spiritually as I serve in this calling. However as I mentioned in my title I am felling very nervous about what this will entail. I am also hoping that it will not be an overwhelming calling, time wise that is. And last but not least I am felling somewhat inadequate, I just want to do well at my calling.

& a Happy New Year!

Love, The Greens

It's the time of the Season for... graduation!

My wife had been acting kind of strange over the past few weeks.

It is not necessarily out of the ordinary for her to experience unannounced mood shifts. Unforeseeable, though these may be in that regard, I am usually able to preemptively anticipate the direction of her dispositional oscillation... be it desirable or non... and strategize my activities accordingly. I have been married to her for nearly 8 years now, you know. I've grown quite accustomed to gauging the emotional and/or psychological vibes she is prone to emitting. That is, until a few weeks ago.

There were little things that, in retrospect, should have been a red flag telling me something was amiss. Little nuances that were somewhat uncharacteristic for my little sweetheart.

I had started to list these nuances, but it wasn't nearly as entertaining as I had hoped. So, I'll just tell you about my day yesterday. (That renders the entire introduction as a complete was of time and space, doesn't it?)

We woke up a little late that day. Our kids are usually up somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. Ironic, in a way, that the day we had somewhere to be they would sleep in until 8:00. We were supposed to be at the Bountiful temple at 9:30 for Sara taking out her endowments. It was snowing too... again. We quickly dressed and hurried to the temple.

All went well with the temple. My baby sister is now wearing garments and will be married in one weeks time. That in and of itself is baffling to me.

Typically, after a special occasion like that one is prone to commemorate with some sort of meal or dessert (especially us Mormons). I was very sad to discover, however, that my family had no such plans. So we got the kids and went home for nap time. I ended up taking a nice long nap myself while my wife busied herself in the kitchen.

We had a special date night planned that night because, in fact, it was my graduation day. I didn't go back to Portland for graduation so Challene wanted to make a special day for me. Among all the other nice things we did, we decided to go out to dinner and then back home to watch The Dark Night. Colleen was to be watching the kids because BreAnna and Justin had a job to do that night.

I wanted to go to Tepanyaki for dinner, but we discovered that there was to be a 25-35 minute wait. I didn't think that was to bad, but Challene nearly insisted that we just go to the Braza Grill instead. I'm a fan of all things Brazilian, so I obliged. We had a delicious and highly over-priced meal there. During dinner I duly noted the fact that Challene filled up unnaturally fast and also spent unnatural amounts of time in the bathroom. Who am I to jump to conclusions, though. Perhaps she was having gastrointestinal issues.

After a quick, but expensive meal (their lunches are more reasonably priced, though) and an extended bathroom break, Challene announced her craving for Mint Oreos and suggested we get some for the movie. Again, this struck me as somewhat odd, particularly in light of our conversation about trying to eat better not a few days ago. But, again I obliged.

Macy's is expensive too!

Finally, we headed home. As I pulled into the driveway, I noticed a newly purchased late model silver Honda Pilot parked just passed our home. That registered as somewhat ironic since Mike and Katie had just purchased one of those. Then I noticed the green Dodge Durango in front of the Pilot. One just like the one Dave and Michelle drive. I turned to Challene and asked, "Is that Mike's Pilot?" "No," she lied, "Why would that be Mike's Pilot?"

We pulled in and closed the garage door. I knew something was up, and in my distracted state I raked the sharp corner of the car door across the back of my knee. Distracted again, but this time by pain, I went in the door. What was my surprise when I heard the absurdly loud explosion of novelty poppers and a boisterous "Surprise!!!"


So, there I am. All thoughts of my aching leg long gone. Everything clicked. All Challene's quirks over the last few weeks, insisting on having the house immaculate, insisting that the dusting of snow be shoveled before we left the house, Tepanyaki, the mint Oreos. Lying about Mike's Pilot and Justin and BreAnna working that night. It all came together in a single agglomeration of "duh"ness. The house was packed with family and friends. There was food galore and an incredible assortment of alcohol-free beverages. It was a true party in the most literal of senses.


Here's some of the family. You can see that despite his claims to the contrary, Andrew's elbow-to-elbow span comes nowhere near to the length of my new TV (my graduation present to myself).

There was much Wii playing. BreAnna really got into the racing games. It was unfortunate that Rockband wasn't working so well. I really wanted to ROCK! There was also a large group of people playing Bunco. I've never played that before, but it seemed that people really enjoyed it. Dr. Norman and his family surprised me even more by stopping by to say "hello". He presented me with my very own x-ray view box as a graduation present! That will go into my new office, for sure!

It was a wonderful party. We all had loads of fun. Big time props to my wife for pulling it off (despite the blatant lies)! This is, I think, the first surprise that she's planned that actually ended up surprising me! She usually gives it away somehow. In retrospect, I should have suspected something by the many odd things she was doing and the uncharacteristic way she was acting and reacting at times. As it is, however, I had a wonderful night, and a wonderful graduation. I hear Portland has had ice storms that night. I'm glad I'm not up there for that.

It's the end of an era. I've been a student in some capacity or another for 77% of my life. That doesn't count my mission even though I studied just as hard. What am I going to do without finals to look forward too? What will I do without teachers to blame my shortcomings on? I'm on my own now. No one else to blame but myself. Sobering.

But I'm so happy to be done! I made my goal of being completely done with school before 30 years old! Barely, but I made it.

I had a wonderful day yesterday. Thank you, dear, for doing all that for me. We celebrated my graduation, but we should celebrate the end of school just as much for you as we have for me. You've sacrificed so much to be on this journey with me and I can't thank you enough for that! Thank you! I love you!

This is Josh after getting into Challene's mascara. Apparently, he thought his eyebrows needed more defining.

Halloween 2008

I know, I know it's a month over due but here are our Halloween Pics. We spent Halloween with my Mom and my sister's family. We went trick or treating around her neighbor hood, hit the trunk or treat as well and then headed to Chuck E. Cheeses for dinner. What a great night to hit the Chuck E. Cheese hardly anybody was there. Thanks Mom it was a lot of fun, Ethan keeps asking to go back.

My two Super Hero's!

Ethan and his cousin Peyton. Isn't she the cutest witch you have ever seen. Ethan got tired of the mask. Oh NO! Now everybody is going to know his secret identity!!

Bryton was so cute but I didn't get a picture of her in her little outfit. Sorry Bryton! I guess that is it. Better then nothing I guess. Hope you enjoyed!