THE DREAM IS NOW A REALITY

I am SOOOO proud of my son!  He graduated on Thursday from BYU-I with a degree in Software Engineering.  He worked so hard.  He has a beautiful family!  He has a good job!  He's an incredible artist.  And still managed to graduate!  This guy is top notch!  We are all so proud of him!

Kiara, Cody & Red Skittle

MY kids!

Red Skittle wants to grow up to be just like his dad.

He told me so.

Cody is bending over.  Kiara is on her tip toes.

The height difference is so fun....

OUR son!

Cody with his father (Craig)

Cody with his cousin, Alexis and aunt, Roz

Katia, Skylar, Alexis, Roz, Craig, Cody, Kiara, Red Skittle, Me and Scott

Sister Meredith, the President of BYU-I's wife, came to meet us.

She's a friend of Alexis and made sure to meet us all.

She was so friendly.  What a fun experience for our family.

And of course, if Scott and I drove all the way to Rexburg for the graduation celebrations, I'm also going to take lots of fun pictures of my grandson:

Trying on the hat...

He was meditating "like Rafiki" he said.

I see the resemblence!

My grandson is side planking like his dad.  Cody is his hero!

Although I don't think Red Skittle is planking correctly.  Ha ha ha!

the snow - the boy - the graduation cap

Had to snap pictures!

Entertaining my grandson isn't too difficult with access to a camera and silly faces!

Today, Scott and I also got to go see our nephew, Licorice, play basketball.  He tied up the game at the last minute with a basket!  He's great!

Go #32!

Scott, Kristi, Truss, and Kade put together a car port for us.  They worked all day through freezing cold and fog like soup.  Thanks for all they do!

DECEMBER DIVERSIONS

 I love December.  Not the cold, but the fun times with friends and family.  I caught some of my favorite memories on film, and others I forgot to pull out my camera.  Here are a few people and things we have loved this time of year:

Last week, Ben and Kristi invited us to go see Hades Town.  It was AWESOME!  The production was spectacular.  The set was unique and appropriate.  The music was jazzy and wonderful.  The story was sad - as it is a modern retelling of Orpheus.  I absolutely love live theater.  This was such a treat!

Us

More of Us!

Trus, Addie, Kristi, Scott, Me, and Jufu Fruit

Our new ward has a Christmas tradition of everyone who can play in an orchestra plays the prelude music every Sunday before church.  I wasn't about to let people know I could sorta play the cello, but my sweet niece, Addie, decided I needed to participate.  Who can say no to such a beautiful, and persuasive young woman.  I have never played with others before.  It was stressful, but I enjoyed the experience.  I get to play two more times!  :-)

I was really concentrating.

And I felt so out of my league.
But I loved worshipping through music.

Scott and I are loving spending every other Wednesday with our Activity Days boys.  I got permission from the parents... and here are some pictures of some of our boys!  This week we made cupcakes for their families and planned the 12 Days of Christmas Service.

Our boys!

I didn't get any pictures of a fun party we went to on Friday.  We had so much fun!  Jessica Short put together a "Favorite Things" gift exchange with about ten different couples.  Scott and I loved getting to know some really awesome people better.  I love our ward family!

Scott and I also got to go to the Nutcracker starring one of our primary students.  She was the prettiest angel in the cast.  And her sister, who is also a "favorite" of mine, was in the performance too.  Again... I can't post pictures, but I sure love that family, and their sweet girls!  They are so talented.

I somehow talked my Sister AND my Colorado Daughter to go to a RS activity with me. (This is a huge accomplishment, because they are both extremely introverted.)  We had so much fun meeting up with our other sister, Kristi, and making these cute snowmen ornaments.  GJ and Sheila also decided to paint their cups with the leftover paint.

G.J. and Sheila
Kristi and Me

My Sister and My Colorado Daughter

Katia sent me this picture!  She knows how much I love nativities.  And she knows I love pictures of her and Skylar.  

Aren't they adorable?!

THE BEST, BY PAR

Gary was in town.  He is my sister's son... and an amazing nephew!  He invited all of us to go to Top Golf for Family Home Evening.  In all honesty, I've been wanting to go to Top Golf because I thought golfing looked like a sport I could get into.  I wanted to see if I liked it.  And I was TERRIBLE!  But I had SOOOOOO much FUN!  Thanks, Gary, for including Scott and me!  It was one of the best - by PAR - activities ever!

Here's our crew!

Me, Scott, Sheila, Gary, GJ, and Ken

The food (which was incredibly delicious) was terrific!

But I must say the outdoor heating and heated seats really won me over!

Scott was really good - but he had a handicap, as he played a more difficult game.

Sheila really entertained us by playing the guitar on her club.

My nephew ROCKS!

I really love this kid!

GJ won, but was in the beginner category with all of us girls.

It's hard to see the board above us... But we played Angry Birds.

GJ took first place.

Sheila took second place.

And I was third.

Go girls!

Thank you, again, Gary!  I'd go again in a heartbeat!  I'm a lousy golfer, but I had fun cheering, eating, visiting with my family, and attempting to hit the ball/angry bird.  (If we had scored like golf, my score would have been astronomically high - so I would have been in first place.  Right?!  Ha ha ha!)

In the mean time... we are looking forward to this in 2 weeks:

Seeing my Red Skittle with his new haircut... AND

my oldest son is graduating!

He had to try on his cap and gown.

He REALLY cracks me up!

I LOST TRACK OF "THYME"

 I have "pumpkin" to talk about... the last few weeks of my life have been a whirlwind.  Scott was out of town, and I was booked solid while he was away.  Then... Thanksgiving!  And of course... I have to talk about the other "turkeys" in my family (ie. the Lillywhites and the Browns and the Hondas!)

"Feast" your eyes on this little walk through my past few weeks.

GJ and I kidnapped our sweet niece and took her to see the musical: 7 Brides for 7 Brothers.  It was a wonderful production!  We all loved it and left singing at the top of our lungs, "Bless Your Beautiful Hide!"  The young man in the picture was one of the young men I subbed for in seminary.  He played Ephraim.  And he was perfect in the role!  

Me - Juju Fruit - Seester

Ephraim and Me

Then... GJ and I picked up the pottery we painted.  Here's my nativity:

My youngest son hosted a huge event.  According to Katia he was the "baste!"

Skylar is the apple of my "pie!"

Then I got to play mom for a few days as my dear friend went on vacation with her husband.  I had so much fun with Bael and Lobster!  (Bael is a fruit.)  We went to see the lights.  We made turkeys out of Oreos.  We got peppermint milkshakes from Chick-fil-A.  Lobster and I played a lot of pick up sticks, Uno and sword fighting.  It was really fun!

The tunnel of lights was spectacular!

Lobster and Bael

Rolling down the hill is a right of passage.

These two raced.  Bael won once.  Lobster one once.

Bael ate her turkey before I could get a picture.

Lobster ate a cookie just before the picture....

One night, Berry decided to entertain all of us on his make-shift drums.  My favorite part of the performance was the sincerely deep bow!

Bang!  Bang!  Bang!

Encore!

And my good friend sent me a photo of herself with a few of her students (whose permission I don't have to post - hence the edit) with blue tongue disease!  It made my day!  Thanks, Nicole!

Nicole!!!!

Here's a glimpse of Kiara and Cody's unusual Thanksgiving!

I love that they kept one of our traditions... but made it their own.

Cody wanted to run a 5K.  Kiara wanted shirts.

She died t-shirts and they went to the track.

Cody ran a 5K.  Kiara walked 1 1/2 miles.  Skittles almost made it an entire mile.

But he ran for a moment with his dad!

Dinner was NOT traditional.

They made everything for their feast from the Dungeons and Dragons Cookbook.

And Katia and Skylar have a new addition:

Meet Jude!

And here's a glimpse of my sister's Thanksgiving!

Zane's crew, Dad, GJ, Ken and Sheila

Gary and Berry ran a race too.

Shanae went hunting.

And Sheila hung out with the pigs.

Thanksgiving for us was a hit!  We spent the day with the Browns and the Salisburys.  (Skylar's family)  They are truly awesome!  We had so much fun: visiting, eating, playing games and crafting.

I'm grateful for Scott!

I'm grateful for my daughters and sons!

I'm grateful for Red Skittle!

I'm grateful for my sister and her family!

I'm grateful for my dad!

I'm grateful for the Browns!

I'm grateful for friends!