Ringing in 2012

This week every year is as every year; a whirlwind. After the 25th it is the taking down of and dismantling of an elaborately pulled together Christmas, shopping, and preparing for the new year. Right now my house has miscellaneous pine needles, strung out naked barbies on the floor, and leftovers for days. In many ways I'm glad to see this year go and another year approach. However, through some decidedly rough waters; 2011 has been pretty good to us all things considered.
I typically love New Year's and New Year's festivities. It's always a good time and a time for us to be with family and friends. This year was surely that until our Miss Pea had the mother of all meltdowns and we had to leave rather prematurely.
All's fair in love and parties with children in attendance, I suppose. Here's to us and to you surviving another year; prayers for a joyous and sound 2012. Below are some shots from NYE, I didn't get very many, but there were some surprisingly good ones..

Christmas 2011

Favorite pictures from Christmas Eve and Day of 2011. Lots of wonderful food, time with family, and memories...

Makin' Whoopie

This year's progressive dinner was fabulous! Mostly because we were with those we love. But Christmas themed Minute To Win It was a hit (Awesome Idea Award goes to Andi) and so were the delicious eats. I'll go through the progression of our evening...
First Stop:
Joey and Taryn's for Christmas Martinis, Ribs, and Muscles in coconut curry sauce. Amazing. Morgan actually drank the sauce. After our ipad tutorial on our first game of the night, it was GAME ON:




Joey caved under the pressure and then they were eliminated. Moving on to Tiffany and Blake's new pad for soup and salad. Shout out to Drew and co. for some delish soup! And our second game of the evening:



More eliminations, then on to Tim and Shannon's (with M & Z) for prime rib, blue cheese potatoes, and the funniest game of the evening, during which I thought of the perfect post title:




After the main course it was on to our house for dessert: S'more Whoopie Pies. Yum, if I DO say so myself. Somewhere between the Huckleberry cocktail and the peanut butter ice cream, Mankato Rules were applied (a side note: "Mankato Rules" is a saying by Tony Lombardo, which basically mean there are no more rules and we're now making them up as we go along) wherein two couples were re-instated after being eliminated. The two final games determined the true winners; Drew & Morgan! Impressive showing.




A wonderful, winter tradition. Can't wait for next year, Langs! Game on.

The 12 days of Christmas

My schedule is about to eat me alive.
For that reason alone I'm introducing a new feature this year...posting a picture of what I'm doing (event, party, and the mundane) for 12 days before Christmas. That is, of course, for the progressive dinner on Saturday night. It's one of my favorite posts of the season.
But back to this post...I'll put the date and description on the picture and keep adding to this same post so keep checking as I load yet another picture for 12 days...












That's a wrap. ;)

Movie Stars

We went to go see the Muppets today with the girls and it was honestly so funny. Ty and I both love the Muppets; my favorite is the Swedish Chef and Ty's is Animal.
But the best part? Our little belles (INCLUDING our 20 month old sat perfectly still and watched the entire two and half hours running time. I am still reeling (get it REELing, now I feel like Fazzy Bear) from the shock of such a performance.

Family, Eats, Christmas, and Cash Referrals.

This year the Lang family Christmas was as fun as ever, as heart rendering as ever, and a confirmation of what is truly important; relationships and making fun of those you love. Last year was the year of the cowgirl Christmas and a cute little lady Bell skit. This year it was all about: nails, red dresses, babies, and flat out holding our relatives to the fire. Long story short the Bells came up with the brilliant idea of putting all the Langs' embarrassing facebook status updates to music in the form of a simple auto tune app and power point presentation, which I might add was nothing short of epic. The centerpiece of our skit was a song called Cash Referrals by one Big Al Lang/house-flipper extraordinaire whose facebook status updates are a gold mine of usable material. None of us will soon forget Luke in a dress, wig, and heels for The Bachelorette Santa style either, but that goes without saying. Sadly pictures were not taken by me of either skit, but I'll see if I can get my hands on any...
Switching gears, it wouldn't be an authentic portrayal of the evening without taking on the hard parts. The parts where tears and prayer lifted up our dear cousin Tony who is still struggling with PCD (a rare neurological condition caused by his fight with cancer). Tyler spoke regarding waiting on the promises of God and I couldn't be prouder of him. He hit just the right note; though we haven't seen some of the promises of God come to full fruition we have seen Him faithful through the worst of times and we wait on Him and His timing with joy and untainted anticipation for what is next. He is righteous, faithful, our peace giver, and savior. He sustains completely. He is Jehovah Rapha (our healer) and I am choosing to trust in Him.
And here are some pictures; of note: if you'd like to see more go here and every year I wish I took more pictures at this event so here's promising for next year...