Fly Away Home

One of my Christmas gifts this year was a ticket home. It was extremely difficult to leave my family after our Thanksgiving visit...to say the least. Someone knew I really needed to go spend some more time with them.  It was a nice quick (and only slightly bumpy) ride from Denver to Salt Lake and I was greeted by my sister Ashlee and nephew Hazen. I left clear sunny skies in Denver and landed in a cloudy smog.

 My little excursion took place over our Anniversary. I like to think it was just coincidence, but maybe I'm wrong and Mark was really trying to get rid of me;) Either way, he sent me a delicious box of gourmet cookies so I didn't think he forgot about me. They were yummy and HUGE and were most definitely shared with whoever came around.

I spent my Anniversary with my mom and sisters. Hey ... .. if you can't be with your hubby, this is the next best thing. We had a girls night at The Old Spaghetti Factory, which was fitting since it was a frequent date spot for Mark and I back in the day:)

 I was so happy to be in town for my little nephew, Cooper's 1st birthday. The girls were not so excited that they couldn't be there. My sis-in-law Jenn put together the cutest little Construction themed party with every detail included.

 Here he is .. .. .. the man of the hour! It was so fun to learn a little more about this nephew of mine that I don't get to see often enough through some fun games Jenn put together.  

This kid is so dang adorable!!

 I also got to hang out with this cutie!

 I think it's safe to say this guy enjoyed his birthday cake. His mom was calm as a cucumber about the major mess he made ..  ..  ..his dad on the other hand..  ..  .. .. :/

 I stayed with my sister Jami and her family and appreciated their warm welcome and hospitality so much. It seemed a little weird to be there without my family, but it was also nice to have that time with her boys. Hazen and I spent lots of time playing games. One night we got almost everyone to join us!

I had the chance to have some meaningful and necessary conversations with my family and some late nights with my sisters:) It was a much needed trip and despite being a little emotionally and mentally drained, I left feeling somewhat rejuvenated.  I flew out with clearer skies than when I came.....

 

I am so glad I got to spend the time with my family, but I did miss my little family at home. I was so anxious to see them at the airport and I was greeted with this beautiful sign from my little artist.

Birthday Boy!

Mark had a birthday a couple of days ago. He hasn't been in much of a celebrating mood these days, but we can't really just overlook a birthday all together now can we:)  I decided to surprise him with a lunch date. I knew he would be in the office, but since he doesn't have a set lunch time, I had to hope I could coordinate it it just right to pick up some balloons and get them tied to his car right around lunch . I was anxious about him either going before I got there, or not being able to get away for hours. After securing the balloons,  I sent him a text [around 11:45] asking him to please look in his car for our check book. Surprisingly, he didn't drop everything and rush to the car.....imagine that!  After another text, he said he was "working on it".  Who knew how long that would take....ugh. So I had do be more demanding telling him that I was frantic that I may have left it at the school and I really needed him to put my mind at ease...ASAP. Of course, the wind was raging that afternoon and as I sat in my parking spot in view of the door and his car, I was sure I was going to see the balloons just fly away and it would be a bust! Finally, after 15 minutes or so of waiting, he came out to the parking lot, spotted the balloons...surprised ...no doubt wanting to get them out of view from any onlookers. Another text..."Lunch??".....confusion..."where are you?"......right here in the parking lot....as I pulled around and he hopped aboard for a lunch date to Panda.....of course. He LOVES his Panda. When the girls heard I took him to lunch, they immediately asked "how was Panda?". They know him so well!! When he got home from work, we made him a yummy Pesto Chicken dish and he unwrapped a new sander ...pretty exciting:)  He is also wanting a new backpacking sleeping bag{we're waiting for a better price on that}. 

 The girls sang him a birthday song with their own lyrics...

 Happy Birthday to this funny, smart, hard working, and handsome fella!! We sure do love him lots:)

Fondue Farewell to 2014

We spent New Years Eve at home. I tried to find a balance between making it special for the girls, while not turning it into a giant production {we did just have one of those;}. I decided to try Fondue for dinner. I have memories of my parents hosting Fondue parties at our house as a kid. Many years ago for a girls choice dance Jami and I attempted to do it for our group of friends/dates and it was kind of a disaster. My sister Lori was kind enough to let us host the dinner at her apartment and it was after midnight before we were done with our meal {she and her husband were not so thrilled with that}. I have not tried it since then, but Bailee is always saying we should try the Melting Pot. So we did ......our home version. No plates, just fondue forks, cheese and chocolate fondue and a variety of things to dip in them. The girls LOVED it

Emmrey kept talking about doing Minute To Win It style games like we did a couple of years ago so I asked the girls to each come up with a game that we could play. Emm chose the Cookie Face game.

 Karsyn came up with a Crayola Wars game. She hid 21 different color crayons upstairs and we had to walk/crawl around in the dark and find them. Each time you found a crayon, you signed your name on your paper and the first one to find all 21 was the winner {that was me;} It was so fun!

 Bailee had us play the Flour Game. You cut away at the cup of flour until someones slice causes the penny to fall. The one who does that has to use their nose to slide the penny to the side of the pan.

 Emm was the first to receive that special award. Good thing she thought it was funny!

 I did the M&M straw game, but they had to suck and drop them on the clock face in order.

Mark hadn't planned a game, but came up with a spontaneous game of guessing the names of 40 of Emm's "kids". The girls and I all did pretty well, Karsy got the most correct, and poor Mark only could name 6 (I know what he'll be doing this week). We filled out our Year in Review for 2014 and toasted in 2015 with a little sparkly (40 minutes early if I'm being honest;) and hit the sack!

Hoping the new year brings good experiences and even better memories!!

artwork courtesy of Kars