January family dinner

We have family dinner once a month and I enjoy them SO much. I'm so glad all my kids are still close and that we can get together as an entire family at least once a month. We've decided to be a little more structured this year and actually work as an extended family on things like food storage and emergency preparedness. I'm excited for yard sale weather to come back so I can get out and start looking for items.... :-)
January is also Sarah's birthday so I have a few pictures from our celebration. I can't imagine life without Sarah--she's the perfect wife for Devin, the perfect mother for Delainey and Sallie, the perfect sister-in-law for Jamie, Jenna and Darin and the perfect daughter-in-law for me and Donald. (Darin will have to choose well when the time comes--the standard is a high one!)

Sallie

Sallie came to family dinner this week last Sunday. I don't know if she fell asleep because the bow slid down or having the bow across her eyes helped her to sleep, but she's darling anyway!!

McDonden's

Last Tuesday Donald and I took Delainey to "McDonden's" for lunch. It was so much fun to spend time with her and to enjoy her little personality. Donald ordered lunch while I took her to the bathroom. When Donald put her lunch out in front of her she said, "Thank you so much for my happy meal, papa!" No prompting, just a sweet thank you. When I helped her with her ketchup, I got a "thank you so much for helping me, yaya!" I could just eat her up!! We had the best time and hopefully we will get to do it again soon!

SNOW!

Christmas night the snow began and continued through the night. Church was canceled on Sunday and I spent the entire day in my jammies and rarely even left the bedroom. I was exhausted! I was grateful for a day to rest. However, the snow was beautiful and didn't stay around too long.

Snowman courtesy of Jamie and Will

The front yard Monday morning

The scene outside the Dining Room window

Budding pianist

Christmas Day

For the first time in 28 years, there were no "kids" at our house on Christmas morning--no one excited for their gifts, no one to line up in the hall, no oohs or aahs. It was a little sad and lonely. Donald and I opened our gifts and although I was thrilled with my gift (a new sewing machine!), I really do miss the "magic" of Christmas.

Around 9am we headed over to Devin and Sarah's for a Christmas breakfast. It was fun to see the girls and see what they had gotten fro Christmas and to spend some time with them over a yummy breakfast. Then we headed back home as everyone was coming to our house for Christmas lunch, gift opening and THE phone call.

Enjoying food and conversation

Cute Sallie's first Christmas

Cousins
Opening gifts

Lunch was delightful, gifts were opened, and THE phone call was amazing. Darin sounds so good. He has a little accent--and I expect that to get stronger over the next 19 months. Life has changed drastically for him and I don't think we realized how much until we talked to him. El Salvador is a much poorer country than I realized. For instance, he hasn't seen a washing machine since he got there. His clothes are washed by a lady from church in a bucket with a scrub brush. He's met and worked with many families that don't have running water or electricity in their homes. But he's doing what he wants to do and he's doing it where the Lord wants him to be. What better Christmas gift could he give?

Leading up to the Wedding

The week before the wedding was a crazy one. I was still teaching preschool, my piano students had a Christmas recital, my mom and Jim came in, food needed to be bought, rentals picked up, sashes for bridesmaid's dresses made, fabric flowers for flower girls made, the list seemingly went on for ever. I had lots and lots of help from friends and family and we made it through!! We were able to get into the Cultural Hall at the Stake Center on Friday night at 9:30 to do the decorating and I had some amazing men and women that came and we were able to be home by midnight. Saturday was awesome as we were able to witness Jamie and Will's sealing with family and friends. The weather was cold with some snow and hail mixed in, but nothing stopped us. The reception went extremely well--again with help from amazing friends. We don't have the pictures back from the professional photographer yet and we were all so busy that not many pictures were taken by family, but I've hijacked a couple of pictures to show until the "real" pictures get here.

Coming out of the temple

Talking to Delainey
Every Bride needs a flower girl to carry the train!
Sallie trying to stay warm
Cutting the cake
Leaving....

The wedding photographer has posted a few pictures of Jamie and Will on her blog. Go to crickettphotography.blogspot.com for a preview. :-)

(Three down, one to go--and that one won't be for awhile!!)