Wicked

I told Jason back in November that I wanted to see Wicked. He ended up buying me a ticket to go for my Christmas present. I had a fabulous time! My friend, Laurie, and her husband, Steve, let me crash their date. She worked it out so I got a seat just four rows from the front.

A-MA-ZING! Loved every minute of it!

Laurie and I after the show. I laughed, I cried, I loved it!

Bether-boo Bobba-loo

Not sure when we started calling Beth, Bether-boo Bobba-loo, but there you have it. Beth saved me and probably more importantly, my children, from hospitalization. She flew in with her baby, Thomas, on December 1st. We all drove home for Christmas in Utah and then she returned to Cali with me to help us get through January. Words cannot express the gratitude. Seriously, no words. So I'll stop trying. This is me not trying to express how grateful I am.

Sundaes with the kiddos.

This little guy is quite the character. Tommy decided to poor his oatmeal over his head. This guy keeps Beth hoppin'. It's a good thing he is so dang cute. He may not have survived this long. He is seriously hilarious, too. My favorite Thomas thing was when he'd throw his head back and laugh at himself. Poor little man was big time teething most of the time he was here.

I was trying to keep the two crazy boys busy one morning, so I let them play in the sink. After about 30 minutes, Thomas thought it would be fun to actually play IN the sink. I turned around after looking away for a second and this is what I found.

These two were hilarious on the trampoline together. I shed their wet clothes and threw them outside to dry.

Eating a mid morning snack.

Bath before bedtime

A week before Beth was scheduled to return to Iowa, Blaine and Lindsay came to visit with their boys. It was sooo much fun.

Beach day! We were the only ridiculous people at the beach in 55 degree weather.

The kids didn't seem to mind.

Sunday evening we made our way up to "The Cross Park", as we lovingly call it. It has an amazing view and the kids get to run around a bit.

Cute random picture of Benny eating his ice cream.

In all seriousness, though, I don't know if I could have made it through Jason's deployment if Beth hadn't come to stay for those weeks. I know there were many moments when she wished she was in her own space with her own stuff, but I am so grateful that she came. I cried intermittently during the three days prior to her leaving. Looking back on the 7 weeks we spent together, I think the highlights for me were when we went to bed and would talk and laugh at the lame things the other one said or did. I am so grateful that I can be completely myself around Beth and the rest of my family. We laugh A LOT when we are together. I love that.

New Years Eve 2011

Yes, we were still in Utah for New Year's Eve and yes, I missed Jason when the clock struck 12 and I didn't have my sweetheart to give a kiss to. We still had fun ringing in 2012. We played Just Dance on the Wii for quite a while. Mom and Dad even played a bit, too! Great food, better company.

This picture cracks me up. Josh, Jason, Beth, Me, and crazy Lucy.

Instead of a kiss from Jason, I got a giant hug from Lucy Goosy.

Abby and Lucy in their matching PJ's and a shared glass of Sparkling Cider.

Sweet Ella and Graham enjoying their ice cream cones.

The next day......

Christmas in Utah Part II

I'm REALLY wanting to move on and blog about stuff from January, so I'm going to give a very brief summary of our Christmas celebration. I'm sure you'll get over it.....somehow.

The kiddos in their Christmas outfits. My mom made the ties and the skirt. I love the fabric she chose for our family. Lucy loves red, so she was very happy.

Benny in his Christmas jammies.

As good as we could get of Freddie, Benny, and Thomas.

All of the grand kids, with the exception of Archie.

Freddie, George, Graham, Thomas, Abby, Lucy, Ollie

Ella, Benny

Lucy was the angel in our nativity reenactment.

Love this picture. These are the scared shepherds, Ollie and George.

We were able to Skype with Jason for the Christmas Eve program we always do. It was nice, but also a little depressing because he was there, but certainly not there. This is when Graham sang his absolutely adorable Christmas songs that he learned at preschool.

George takes cello lessons. So cute! He was wonderful!

The kiddos in costume.

We were lucky enough to have Shellie and Cody with us on Christmas Eve. The got engaged the next day. We are all THRILLED!

I love this picture of Ben-O. This boy makes me smile and laugh all day long.

Our Christmas Eve program was very special, as always. I treasure all of our traditions that we have for the evening. Dinner by candlelight, the nativity play, Dad singing "Oh Holy Night", Blaine and Lindsay singing, and Beth, Heidi, and I singing "Oh Hush Thee My Baby". Now that there are grand kids, I love that they are all starting to perform and be a part of it all. It's always a little crazy with everyone there, but we absolutely love it and wouldn't have it any other way.

Christmas in Utah Part I

We loaded up the gang on the 15th of December and made our way to Utah. Beth and Thomas drove with us to spend the holidays with the fam. Jason Herman flew from Illinois the next day to join us all. It was 3 weeks full of family, friends, and fun!

Bryan, Chelsey, and baby Archer were there for much of the celebrating. We LOVED getting to know Archie. He is absolutely adorable and so, so sweet. The kids rarely cries and is always smiling. I hate that it will be so long before I see him again. Bryan and Chelsey were okay, too.

We made a quick overnight trip up to Logan while were there to see the Grunig family. We always have a fabulous time with them. This was when we went bowling the next afternoon before we made our way back to Layton.

This is what our mornings look like and Grandma and Grandpa's house. Grandpa usually makes waffles for Graham every day and Benny gets to feel like a big kid sitting at the bar.

We spent an afternoon at the Wright house. I loved eating takeout with Jared and Kalleen and eating the candy while the kids decorated gingerbread houses.

We had our Ray family Christmas party a little early this year. Grandpa Lynn had a surgery later in the week, so we made the drive out to Eagle Mountain a few days before Christmas. Here's Lori, Sarah, Raegan, and Lucy in the adorable aprons that Nanna made for them.

Grandpa and Benny Boy

Graham and Daniel had a great time with Uncle Marty. He rough-housed with them and tolerated Graham's relentless climbing and jabbing.

I wish we lived closer to the Ballesteros girlies. Lucy has so much fun with them and giggles the whole time they are together.

We had pizza on more than one occasion during our stay. Benny preferred his pizza pie to go go.

Don't you even worry about it.....there's more Christmas journaling to come.

Merry Christmas!

I've said it many times and I'll say it again.....better late than never.

So, Christmas festivities began back during the first week in December. My sister, Beth and her 18 month old son, Thomas, flew in from Iowa on Dec. 1st.

That next week, we attended our ward Christmas party and it was a lot of fun!

Benny wasn't thrilled with the Santa idea.

Lucy asked for a Karaoke machine this year......he delivered. Santa rocks.

Graham had a couple of strange requests. A birdhouse, cowboy boots, and another remote control car. Santa delivered on the birdhouse and car.......somehow he forgot about the boots?

Survival mode is the default at our house since about October. The way I tame a crazy Ben-O is by giving him my I-phone and letting him watch Curious George. It works great for Doctor visits, car rides gone sour, and other stressful moments. There was one Sunday that I had to teach the Relief Society lesson and Benny had a runny nose and couldn't go to nursery. So, I found a spot on the carpet in the Relief Society room and he laid down and watched a movie while I taught. He stayed put the whole time I taught. He just looked up every once in a while to make sure I was still around.

Lucy sang a cute version of "Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer" all by herself. She was a hit!

Graham was a shepherd in the primary's rendition of the Nativity. He looks thrilled, doesn't he?

Halfway through the play, the Young Women from our ward came in dressed up as angels to sing a song. As they walked by Graham, Beth and I heard him say in his loud, hoarse, casual voice, "That's a lot of Marys."

A few days before Beth came, we decided to get out our Christmas decorations. I hadn't planned on putting the tree up. Lots of work without Jason and we were going to be in Utah for 3 weeks. The kids kept asking about it, so I caved. It ended up being a lot of work, as I anticipated it would be, but the fun outweighed the stress.

Ben paused for a picture. He knew he was getting away with something because his blanket and binky are only for bedtime. Although, my kids are not oblivious to the said "survival mode", so they get away with WAY too much these days.

Each year our kids get an ornament representing their interests or personalities for that particular year. The kids had such a great time pulling out the ornaments and talking about why Dad and I chose what we did.

We had some serious issues getting our battered tree to stay up. I may or may not have cursed a couple times, but hopefully those memories fade more quickly than the happy spirit that was in our home that evening.