33 YEARS

That 's how long I've been married. It's wierd when you've been married longer than when you were single. By 12 years now. On December 19, 1974 I married one of the most eligible guys on the BYU campus. He was so hot (and still is)! Here we are 33 years later. Great times, good times and some not so good times (as with all marriages), He's mellowed out, I've become more difficult and he still doesn't help much in the house. Would I do it again??? In a second. It's been a great life, wonderful memories, wonderful children and good times. Love you tons, Lee! Happy Anniversary!

(Pathetic picture but it is the only one I have on this computer!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!!

Today was Chris' birthday. My oldest is over 30-talk about making a mom feel old! I feel like I was just 30. Crazy. I hope you had a wonderful day Chris. I love you very much. You did a great job picking out a beautiful, talented wife and have blessed us with Madison and Kyle. Good work, son! You are a funny, bright and talented boy (man) and we can't wait to see you and your family over Christmas.

FAMILY TIME

We took Kasey to the airport today. We had such a good time with her and Sienna. Sienna is the biggest kiss giver ever. She was constantly giving me kisses-on the lips, on the back of my knees when I was doing my hair, on my shoulders when I was sitting down. It was soooo cute. It was so fun to be around Kasey, way to short of a time, but fun. I got a horrible cold on Saturday and Sunday so that put me down a little but I feel good now.
Lindsey and Isobel are here at Kelly's too. Izzy continually says"hello" in what we think is a British accent-it is adorable. I swear she even speaks jibberish with an accent! Izzy and Sienna are about a month apart with Sienna being the older one. Izzy, however, is a head taller. We thought Izzy and Sienna would have so much fun together but actually it has been Izzy and Cohen, the wild ones, who are the crazy duo. Cohen is continually trying to get Izzy to join him in his adventures. Rylee hangs out looking cute and Ammon is loving having so many cousins around.
Lee's parents are at his sister's, Rona, house so we all went over there on Saturday. It was great to see all of them. We love that side of the family so much. Lani, Jami, Donnell and Ryan are such cuties and little Keal is to die for! I loved seeing Ronzy again and catching up. Saturday was my major sick day and I should have stayed home instead of passing bugs around but I just couldn't miss out on the fun. Bad nurse, I should know better. I love Lee's family so much and we look forward to Ma and Charlie coming to our place. We hope they stay a long, long time.
Tomorrow Alan comes in from London and on Wednesday, Alex comes in. Then we head up to McKinleyville on Thursday. Holidays are so much fun because of all the family time!

Holiday Tradition

Friday afternoon, Lee and I drove down to the city, San Francisco. What a beautiful city! The sky was clear and as you head into the city you see the lights of the city and Golden Gate Bridge lit up. It is amazing. We were headed to see Jersey Boys for Lee's birthday. The original plan was to spend the night in the city, hang out during the day and drive up to Kelly's and stay Saturday night there. After we'd bought our tickets we found out that Lee's work party was scheduled for Saturday night and he had to be there. It ended up being a really quick trip but so worth it.
We got to the city and wanted to get a nice dinner. We only had an hour and a half though because the traffic into the city was slow. We checked in to the possibility of eating at a few dinner places only to realize it would never work. Finally, we went to Macy's, ate at Wolfgang Puck's Express place and grabbed some cookies at Tom's cookies for the show. Then we walked around Union Square. It was beautiful and I really felt the holiday hustle and bustle. So fun. I think San Fran is just a gorgeous, fun city, and even more so at Christmas. I decided that a weekend in San Francisco at Christmas time is our new holiday tradition.
The show was amazing. We both grew up on the Four Season songs and loved them so it was really fun to watch. Lee has talked nonstop about it since and got a cd at the show and listened to it all the way home. I woke up this morning to him singing one of the songs in Frankie's falsetto voice. The only questionable thing about the show was it was spiced with quite a few swear words. Of course, they were street thugs from New Jersey so I guess it was accurate. Interesting story, great songs and the guys portraying them were great.
We went to Kelly's after the show to sleep so we could have a few hours Saturday with them. When we got in our room we noticed Ammon sleeping in Rylee's crib. Evidently he wanted to sleep with us so Kelly said if he wanted to sleep in our room he had to sleep in the crib. So he did. We died laughing! About six in the morning I heard rustling around and looked up. His head was over the crib and he was staring down at us. He saw me lift my head up off my pillow and he bolted out of the crib, announced that he was going to snuggle with us and that was the end of sleep for that night. He wiggled in between us, talked our legs off, and grinned the whole time. Priceless. It was great to see all of them if only for a few hours. I head back there on Thursday because Lindsey and Kelly and their cute 18 month old girls will be there. Fun times. The best part of the holiday season is starting!! Family time!

Great Book

Okay, I read a lot of books. Most are good, some okay, but few seem to really grab me. I just finished The Glass Castle though and loved it! It is the story of a family who survives on very little money mainly because the father is a drunk and the mother "lives for the moment". It was very interesting, one of those books that make you think and wonder. I mainly wondered how any mother could allow her children to go hungry (eating butter for dinner one night), be cold and not have decent clothes or shelter when she had the means to change things. This is a true book and the author is a successful journalist in NYC now. Great book! Read it, it will grab you.

The last book that really grabbed me like this was A Thousand Splendid Suns which I absolutely adored!! One of my favorite all time books!

Recent so-s0 reads:

Love in the Time of Cholera (too many love affairs, ending was sweet though)

Suite Fraincaise (only read first story-okay, not great, have to read second one)

Man Walks Into a Room by Nicole Krauss (wrote History of Love which I liked much better)

Peace Like a River - really not crazy about this book

Dear John by Nicholas Sparks (fast read, pretty good but not spectacular)

It is so hard to find a good book. The language in some is so offensive. I find myself at Costco skimming them before I buy them, looking for the f-word so I know not to buy them. Drives me crazy when I buy a book that has a few and I didn't know it. Any good books out there that you've read?