Best Weekend Ever

I think it is safe to say that we may have had the best weekend ever. Or at least the most exciting. It was jam-packed with a concert, enormous parties, and loads of sugar. First and forever my favorite, Friday night was the BYU Folk Dance Christmas Around the World concert, and it was amazing. It is so fun to see how far some of my friends have gone in the folk dance program from our humble beginnings on 9 Wilk. :) We took O even though the show started at bedtime because he absolutely adores the dance concerts we've taken him to this year. All day he was talking about see the folk dancers and telling me, "Mommy, I be a folk dancer!" After the show he made his way down to the stage and picked up some streamers and ran around doing his own folk dance debut. My folk-dancing mommy heart was just about bursting. 

Baby O, Me, Nellie the Russian dancer ;)

Little Dancer

Just checking out a Living Legends costume

The next morning the festivities started early with the annual BYU employee Christmas party. It was crowded and overwhelming and geared at slightly older families, but we all enjoyed a donut and some young dancers performed while I waited in line for Santa. And it was over so fast we don't even have a picture to prove it. Way to go, Mom. 

But hey, he wanted a picture with this Santa! Should have just done this and skipped the line...

Perhaps it was the sugar or just the nonstop excitement, but either way, some little toddler refused to nap, so he just talked and babbled for an hour and a half before we took him to the Peaks Ice Arena. He was so excited to go Ice skating! We were pretty stoked, too, as it was a free party hosted by Google for people who had recently gotten installations of Google Fiber. For the party and the free internet, we thank you, Google! Though O was super excited about going skating, once on the ice he definitely changed his mind. There's no way to prepare you for suddenly feeling incapable on your feet, and he did not appreciate that. Thankfully there was a fabulous bounce house area and more donuts that allowed us to leave without permanently scarring him on the whole ice skating front. 

Can you say ZAMBONI?!?

 Waiting while Daddy takes a turn on the ice...

These tiny skates were killing me. How cute are those?!

Second donut of the day...

After that there was the ward Christmas pageant, but the donuts were hitting a toddler's system and resulting in some awesome sugar crashes and huge meltdowns, so we stayed in and called it a night. All in all, a fabulous weekend and so grateful for the fun family time we had!

Grateful Sunday

It's Sunday again. I love Sundays. They are a chance to go to church, renew our spirits, take a nap, hang out as a family, and often have friends for dinner. We had some awesome girls over for dinner tonight that are going to BYU. They were a total delight! I also made my first pot roast, and I think it was a success! Cooking meat intimidates me. I don't have a clue what to do with it, I'm not a huge meat eater, and I never know what to buy, so I'm proud to say that I have conquered a pot roast.

We had a really nice weekend, complete with an awesome BYU football game! It was FREEZING COLD (literally, it was in the low 30s), but that didn't stop us. O had multiple layers on top and bottom, and got to open his first Christmas present for the occasion--"glubs"! We are true blue, through and through. Although taking a toddler meant we only stayed for the first half, we had a great time, and better yet, we WON. Finally. Not to be a quarterback worshipper, but it's been a little rough since we lost Taysom Hill, so I'm glad they're getting their stuff back together and pulling out a few wins. Sorry UNLV.

Hope you and yours are having a happy and thankful Sabbath day. Go here for an uplifting and inspired talk: Grateful in Any Circumstances by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf.

Leaves and Snow

I'm grateful for leaves and snow. Which makes me want to sing "Silver and Gold."  They just sound good together. And my mind is constantly tuning into the internal Christmas music radio in the background, without my consent, mind you. 

I'm grateful for the snow not because it is beautiful and magical and makes my toddler squeal with delight, but because it prompted the clean up of fall leaves. And I'm grateful for fall leaves because they were the perfect cure for homesickness. 

Yesterday some friends nearby invited us to come play in the leaves with them because it was forecast to snow today (it did). O and I walked over and started playing with them (well, the grown-ups were raking and the little ones playing), and before we knew it more neighbors showed up with rakes and a leaf blower, and husbands came as they got off of work, and it was perfectly idyllic. It was a big huge party of neighbors and friends, which was good because the house sits on a corner lot under huge trees, and there were massive amounts of leaves to be gathered. It was also bitingly cold, so keeping little ones happy was half the challenge. Nevertheless, I was very grateful for the invitation and the chance for some manual labor. 

And finally I'm grateful for snow, our first snow of the year, because it made little O the happiest little boy in the world. He loved running around with his daddy at lunchtime trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue. The whole experience for him was magical, which in turn was joyful for me. 

Homesick

I'm really homesick today. Actually, it happens a lot of days here. We love this new chance God
has given us, and I am so grateful for a job that makes my husband happy and allows him to be home more. But sometimes, oftentimes, especially today as my toddler tried my patience, I am homesick for the home and life we made in Virginia. I miss the beautiful seasons and living by the W&OD trail. I miss the museums and National Zoo and the excitement of living close to the capital. I really, really miss my ward family. Most of all, I miss our good friends and family. I miss being an hour away from my cousins and aunt and uncle and the feeling of love and comfort when we went to their house. I miss my girlfriends that understand babies not sleeping through the night and like going on long walks with kids in strollers. I miss my Lisa, just a few doors down, and being able to run over for an onion or some advice or last minute babysitting or a play date and lunch and a hug. I miss our kids being best buddies, and O misses them too.

I know this might sound a little sad. Maybe that's why my eyes are leaking. But remembering all of this makes me so, so grateful for all of the time that we did have there, and all of the amazing, wonderful people that we know and love from there, and the knowledge that we can make our home any place we are willing to serve and love.

COUSINS


FRIENDS

cookie cutter bracelets

These two play (and fight) like siblings 

I had the privilege of nannying these cool kids for a year

Our awesome Young Women

Sorry ladies, apparently this is the only picture I have of you both.

At least these guys can stay buddies! More on that later...

I love, love, love these girls

These guys are the best. Ever. 

ADVENTURE

Smithsonian Air & Space Museum--little boy heaven

Carousel at the Smithsonian National Zoo

Great Falls National Park

Camping

Richmond--the real South

That one time a plane crashed into the neighboring apartment building...

"There stands Jackson like a stone wall." Manassas, Virginia

Michael and Mike and some historical landmarks

So much natural light in our other apartments

Midweek Air & Space Museum date. 

Camping in Virginia, the land of the green.
Actually, this side of the Potomac is Maryland.
And yes, that's the Potomac River.

Cherry blossoms. Every season is beautiful.

Michael's congratulation card for his job at BYU was actually made of wood for a build-your-own robot