On This Night

nine years ago, we were just finishing up a delicious meal at the Lion House. Our entire families were in attendance.

Afterward, I drove with my parents up to Park City.

We stopped at Walmart and I bought myself some white sneakers.

We drove to the grocery store to pick up some essentials.

We talked through the next days events over the dining table at our condo.

And then I climbed into the bed with my sister and fell asleep contentedly. There was not even a dribble of apprehension.

The next morning I would wake up (a little late). My sisters would fix my hair into a big pile of curls while I sat in front of the mirror.

We would drive down the canyon and my only fears would be about the slightly snowy roads we had to speed along in order to make it on time.

And then I would arrive at the Temple. I would find Dan nervously waiting for me in the foyer. Nervous because I was late.

I would proceed to dress in white with the help of my mother.

And then I would meet Dan and we would wait, hand in hand while our families and our friends assembled.

In the hallway, we would be introduced to the man who would perform the ceremony that would seal us together for all of ever. And he would explain with tears in his eyes that he had not been scheduled to work in the temple that day, that it was his brother's place he was taking because of an illness. And as a tear rolled down his cheek and he looked into our eyes he would say it was his privilege to be a part of our union.

Then we were married.

And it was, hands down, the very best thing that has ever happened to me.

Thriday and a Movie

Back when Dan was finishing graduate school we found ourselves in the lucky position of entertaining job offers from 3 companies.

Shell was axed pretty quickly because we didn't have much desire to live in New Orleans, especially so soon after Katrina.

That left BP and Exxon. Of course hindsight may have made our decision not look like the best, we still think it was the right one. But when it came down to choosing initially we had to weigh out the pros and cons.

And when we did they still balanced each other out. Except for one thing, BP had every other Friday off.

Seems kind of silly but when we weighed everything, those Fridays off tipped the scales.

We loved them so much. So much. And whenever Dan talked about the possibility of leaving BP, those Fridays always came up.

Interestingly enough, Dan's current job also employs the every-other-Friday off schedule.

Which makes today, what we like to call, Thriday. It feels like an extra long weekend every other week.

It means that when I wake up on Saturday I say to myself,

Saturday? Again? Yes!

And on this Thriday I visited Ava's school for her Christmas party. They got to wear their pajamas all day.



She cracked me up how she used her trail mix snack to decorate her cookie.




It was a painstaking process and by the time she finished and was ready to take a bite, the whistle blew for the kids to move to the next station.



I saved it for her.




When Dan left BP, they gave him another Ipod touch. Our first Ipod was also a BP Christmas gift from a few years ago. The old one is mine and he has the new one with a camera and video recording.

Let me tell you, we have been having a little too much fun with the video camera. We now have a treasure trove of little videos.

And when I went through them recently, I found that I had a collection of videos of Luke that were just awesome.

So now in honor of Thriday and my desire to share these little gems, here is one from The Luke Collection:


My boy is generous, that's for sure. He'd give you the candy right out of his mouth.

It's time for a new post considering...

...my baby can walk now....

He started taking steps on Sat. the 4th and now he just takes off.

And you might want to turn down your sound a bit cause I scream kinda loud.






...we have a tree that needs to be immortalized because it's the worst looking one yet...

It came out of the box with only a third of it's pre-lit lights still working. After mistakenly buying lights on a white string and exchanging them for green, I covered up the bare spots. Then I plugged in the star, which also seemed to have died over the summer.



We let the kids decorate as usual and I warned them to put the ornaments high out of Max's reach. But somehow over the past week Max has managed to ravage our tree, perhaps with the help of an accomplice. I try not to kill myself as I trip over ornaments strewn all over the house and try not to care as I pass by our less than picturesque tree.



I'm sure one day this picture will be more funny than sad.


....my soul sister came into town, supposedly for some kid named David Archuleta, but I know it was really for me...


I've always been the kind of person that just needs a friend. Not a million trillion friends, just a friend. And throughout my life I have been lucky enough to always find that friend. Apparently I am going through some sort of hiatus right now, but that's what moms are for, right? They have to be your friend.




When my Val moved away, I felt like I lost my right arm. It was actually the first time in my remembrance, of being the movee instead of the mover. And it stunk. And thank goodness for new friends who restored my limbs.

But no matter the time or space that separates us, Val and I pick up as if we'd never been apart. And that is a lucky, lucky thing.


...Santa came early and brought me this lovely thing...


A lawyers bookcase to hold my fabric.

So now, when I pass through the foyer, if I hold my head at just the right angle and avert my eyes, I can completely avoid seeing the tree and see this instead, which brings a lot more Christmas cheer at the moment.

All I need

When we moved, everything just happened so fast. Logistically things went smoothly, but it was a whirlwind. It was stressful. It was scary. Yet through the process there was always the underlying sense that we were doing just what we were supposed to.

I have to be honest and say that there was a part of me that wondered when the other shoe would drop. Was this Heavenly Father's way of setting things up for something bad to happen? And granted, if it was, I should be grateful for that, but I also felt like declining the offer if it meant that some tragedy was going to befall the family. Because family tragedies are not my friend.

I know my mom felt the same way. Our respective families had been praying to be near each other for years. I have always appreciated being close but yearned to be closer. Then out of the total blue, we had a job offer for a terrific job, more money, more vacation, bigger house, more money in savings, same house payment. So what's the catch? I just couldn't help thinking it.

But we got here. We are happy. My mom is my only friend, but that's okay. We eat together on Sunday nights, Mom comes to sit with my napping boys each afternoon so I can pick Ava up from school, we shop together, Dad and Dan watch football games together.

One night I walked my mom out to the car as she was leaving. As I jogged back up the sidewalk in front of our house, which was lit up from the inside, my foot hit the cement and as it did so, it was like time stopped for a moment. I felt a surge of spirit and I knew with perfect clarity that at that moment I was exactly where I was supposed to be. I knew that no matter the circumstances that may follow in the future, whether good or bad, I am currently the right person, in the right place, at the right time. It was approval and reassurance and peace all at the same time.

And then recently, I had one of those instances that reminded me just how quickly life could change. One of those instances when I can't decide whether it's good or bad. Good because it can remind you just how precious your life is and how much you have to appreciate, and bad because it usually involves hurting.

Amidst the hurt, I was mentally brought back in my mind, to my foot in the corner of the sidewalk. To the home with the lights on, filled with everything that is precious to me. To the feelings that filled my heart that night. And I felt that approval, reassurance, and peace all over again.




And that is all I need to know.

Hawaiian Thanksgiving and A Big Trip

This was our first year to host Thanksgiving. Granted it was just for the five of us and Mom and Dad, but it was still fun.

We really love our new house and were looking forward to spending the holidays here.

But in order to celebrate or eat for that matter, I had to remove 5 huge boxes from their home on the dining room table. I guess I need to keep hosting holidays, maybe even inventing a few of my own, to push me to unload boxes.

Mom and I split up the cooking responsibilities and by afternoon, we had a feast on our hands.

Before that though, while in the process of unpacking those boxes, all of which were Ava's old clothes (can you say, "too many clothes?") and repacking them into big plastic bins to be put in the attic, we came across a hula skirt and lei I had been saving for possible Halloween costume ideas.

There was no way Ava was going to see them packed away, she just had to put them on. It added quite the flair to our dinner.





Dinner was yummy and pleasant. Surprisingly there were no dinner freak-outs or fits. Max wandered around mooching bites from whomever was willing to share.

The evening turned into night, and we were happy to have a day to remember just how much we have to be thankful for.

The day after Thanksgiving, I left for New Hampshire for my 10 year high school reunion. I was really excited to go even if the reunion would be lame. I would still enjoy the time with Stephanie, my best friend from high school.


But it turns out the reunion wasn't lame. I had such a great time catching up with everyone.
The whole weekend just took me for a ride down memory lane. It was overwhelming at times, because the memories were so vivid and ran the range of happy to sad, good to bad, and everything in between.

I forgot my camera, but Stephanie let me borrow hers.


We stayed up too late every night.




And the time flew by.



I am so happy I went. A part of me will always stay in New Hampshire.