changes

Lots of exciting stuff going on around here! For those of you that don't already know, we're going to Atlanta in a few weeks! There is SO much we have to figure out before we go, so we'll keep you posted as decisions are made.

abby's birthday... oh, and christmas too

Today is Abby's birthday. I just can't believe she's TWO! Abby is such a fun, vibrant, sunshine girl and we are so blessed to have her in our lives.

This was my first attempt at decorating a cake in years. At least I got the spelling right.

We celebrated by having cake with Scott, Carrie, their kids, and also with Mom and Dad, and the Larsens via webcam. That was a lot of fun! This was really a last minute party, so please don't be offended if you weren't invited. We haven't quite decided what to do since her birthday is the day after Christmas. We figure we could get away with it this year, but next year we need to have a plan.
Mmm! Cake!


Christmas morning was lots of fun. We set up the presents so they would be the first thing Abby saw when she came in the room. But instead she saw me, squealed and came running with her arms outstretched. That's better than any Christmas present for me!

But then she saw the presents and knew what to do. Carter did too. :)

We spent Christmas at my Mom's house and that was a lot of fun. The kids wound up with a lot of toys, a many of them outdoor toys, so we'll be doing a lot of playing outside! I didn't take any pictures of the festivities but I got out the camera when the kids went outside to play.

I love this picture of Abby. What a sweet face! The first picture is the original. Then in the second picture you can see I removed the sunlight on her left cheek. And then I converted it to black and white for fun.

Merry Christmas!

I took these at our community holiday party last weekend. Abby was the first to get on Santa's lap and it's pretty obvious how she felt about him.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!

sleep in heavenly peace

Every year I sing with a Dickens Caroling group called Living Christmas Card. We sing at corporate parties, people's houses, community parties and we also have a standing gig at Lawry's the Prime Rib.

Last Friday I sang Lawrys, where we go from table to table and sing Christmas carols. One cute couple in the back of the room looked like they were about to leave and so I suggested we go to that table. They requested Silent Night, and as we were singing we noticed they both started to get emotional. By the end of the song they were holding eachothers hands and sobbing. And so we asked them if everything was okay and the husband said, "we just lost a little one." The alto and I immediately teared up, and we gave our sympathies and sang them another song. We were all crying by the end of the song.

It wasn't until I got in the car and pondered on the event that the words of "Silent Night" really hit me. Their baby really was sleeping in heavenly peace now. Although the thought of losing one of my own children breaks my heart, I feel comfort in knowing that Christ made it possible for all of us to have heavenly peace, and that one day we can be with our loved ones again. I hope that couple knows that, because I don't know what I would do without that knowledge.

Although as painful as they are, I am grateful for moments like this one, that help me appreciate and cherish my family more, and help me build my testimony of Christ and his atonement.

Where were you this time last year?

So, I was looking at the date today and realized how close we are to Christmas, but somehow was reminded of where I was last year this time. This is still a sore spot for Mandie. Today, last year, was the day Colorado was slammed with 3-5 feet of snow in just a few hours and more over the next 24 hours. That was welcome weather to the residents of Colorado, but not me because I was actually in Colorado for work and was supposed to come home that day. Instead, I found myself driving to my sister's house (thanks, Kristine!) to stay until the storm blew over (3 days) and let planes fly again.




This is Kristine's front porch the night I arrived (you can see my rental car in the background on the left - buried). I'm sure Jeff and Kristine are grateful I was there, otherwise they would have been shoveling snow forever. (Man that was a lot of snow!)

I didn't make it home until December 23, after going through the longest security line in the world (at least 3 hours), and not getting any Christmas shopping done (that's my own fault, I guess).

I'm glad I'm home this year, although it hasn't been with a lack of travel. Thanks, Mandie, for being so patient last year at Christmas. (And don't forget what we were doing for Christmas the year before that!)

Maybe next year will be a little more uneventful ... (sigh).

long distance love

Brian has been traveling a LOT. So much so that we bought web cams a while back so we could see each other on a daily basis, and it does make his absence a little bit easier.

You should have seen the first time Abby saw Brian. It was so sweet! I think she really looks forward to seeing him in the computer every night. Here she is singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider."

Carter doesn't quite get it yet, but I'm sure he'll be eating the camera in no time.

what a pain

Friday night Brian was playing with Abby and he spun her around and she lost her footing and fell to the ground. She started to cry (normal) but she wouldn't stop (not normal) and she wasn't putting any weight on one of her feet (obviously not normal) so we checked her out and guessed that she might have sprained her ankle. So for the rest of the evening we carried her everywhere and the next morning she was still refusing to walk on it. Around noon I had enough and decided to take her to a pediatric after hours clinic. I got there at 12:30, 30 minutes after they opened and we didn't leave until 4pm. 4:00!!! And it was a painful four hours too. They had to do x-rays and Abby was so freaked out it took three of us to hold her down. Ugh, I never want to do that again. So after all the drama and all they waiting, the doctor labeled it a sprain and wrapped it with an ace bandage.

So for the rest of the day she crawled around like a baby to get where she needed to go, and then Sunday morning she decided to try to walk on it and has been walking on it ever since. I think it still hurts her a little, and I honestly think she's even a little traumatized by the whole event, but we're getting over it.

Here she is chowing on some fruit snacks while we wait two hours to see the doctor. She seems relatively pleasant, but it's still early in the game.

...And yes. I took my camera to the doctor. I can't help it.

And here's the little angel after the xrays. We had to get her out of the xray room and stuff a sucker in her mouth to get her to stop screaming.

tag

Six unknowns about Mandie

1. I have a freakishly heightened sense of smell. I can smell anything a mile a way, which has its benefits, but it's not always a good thing because I get headaches really easily from smells. Oh, and I can also "turn off" my nose and only breathe through my mouth when I'm in a smelly situation. Works really well for diaper changes.
2. I love singing really badly on purpose. There's nothing more liberating than singing loud and off key at the top of your lungs to the radio.
3. I am afraid of wasps. When I was a kid, wasps would somehow get into my room constantly and we never figured out where they were coming from. It scared me to death and I still have a hard time keeping my composure when a wasp is around.
4. I've always had a dream of singing show tunes and standards with a live big band behind me, like Ella Fitzgerald or Frank Sinatra. Those are two of my all-time favorite artists, by the way. Or even singing in a moody night club with a pianist and bass accompaning me.
5. I LOVE wrapping presents. I care more about the wrapping than what's inside, and I think everyone deserves a well wrapped gift. Every year I have a different theme and this year I'm doing red candy stripes. I even volunteer to wrap other peoples presents I love it so much.
6. So here's a story not many people know. When I was in high school I went to a "friend's" house who then suggested that we go for a ride. So we went driving and she picked up two of her friends that I didn't know. Well, these guys wanted to stop off at a house and so we let them out of the car and they proceeded to buy some weed from a 12 year old boy and they got back in the car! So I'm freaking out and ready to bail but I can't and so my friend kept driving and then a COP stops us! The cop shines the light in our windows and asks for my friends drivers license, which she doesn't have, and so then I'm thinking I'm so dead and going to jail for being with these people. So the cop just says, well you've got a busted tail light and you need to get that fixed, and you really need to keep your drivers license with you. No ticket, nothing. I was scared out my my mind. Needless to say I never hung out with her again.