pretty baby

I'm in North Carolina and it is freezing cold. Apparently, it is the coldest week of the year here. That goes right along with the luck I had going to Colorado last April. But that fact is far outweighed by the opportunity to help with this 5th grandchild. Isn't Annabelle pretty?We had a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted last night on and off between 12:30 am and 5:00 am.

New Year's Eve hope

On December 31, at 12:19 pm, this girl:Gave birth to this girl:And in two days, I get to hug both of them. I'm very excited. I've been embroidering up a storm. Her name will be on everything! If you want more details go here.

Christmas joy

The Christmas season has come and gone. It was filled with shopping, candy making, decorating, trips to the airport, practices and performances, parties, cooking and eating great food, game playing, movie watching, and just general fun. In short, time with family and friends. A glimpse of heaven. The most delightful Christmas card we received was from an elderly woman in our ward. That she would send us a card was unexpected given that we've only lived here for a year and a half. That she would be so hilarious was even more unexpected. She writes:

Dear Wanda and husband (forgot his first name *frowny face picture*) Wanda - you did it again!! The choir sang beautifully!! Sorry about forgetting HIS 1st name!! Does old age (84) give me an excuse? It's the only, only excuse I can think of (and I'm really trying hard to think of it!!!) Anyway - have a Happy New Year! What's-his-name is a really great teacher - I always enjoy his "lead in" remarks. Sincerely, Gwenn

I just cracked up! (Mark is the gospel doctrine teacher in Sunday School and I am the choir director.) But it made both of us feel really good and it made us stop and think about expressing gratitude more often to people for the things they do. I think that this year I'd like to be more thoughtful of people. This year, for the first time, we had only the youngest three children here for Christmas morning. We still had 20 family and friends for Christmas Eve dinner, which was great fun and the prime rib turned out superb in spite of me! But the next morning we started later than usual and it was a little more quiet and relaxed, which was nice. Here are the three coming down the stairs Christmas morning: David got a new phone and the stupid war game he wanted.This house's front yard is smaller than our old house and has fewer bushes and trees, so we don't have quite the dazzling display as before, but it's not too bad. We don't have quite the location for drive-byes either, and the upper roof line is inaccessible even with our gigantic ladder because the lower roof line is in the way. But we do our best: