2014 begins...

we started off the new year by having dinner and appetizers with our friends the miller family... after we put the kids to bed we played rumikub.  it was a nice easy night and we happened to look up at the clock in time to see it was 11:59 so we could kiss at midnight.  the rest of the week chris had off from work so we relaxed at home a bit and took a trip into wilmington to go to the childrens museum there.  daniel had a great time running around to different things... his favorite was a slide in a tree house... a car... a shopping cart to push around and the bus outside...

it was pretty cold outside so we mostly stayed in doors and daniel had fun playing with new toys.. 

and we came back from vegas with really bad colds.... mostly daniel and chris had it the worst...

we also helped out our friends the millers with their daughter baptism... aida is my special friend... we have fun together and she is just a hilarious child... so i was glad to be there and witness her baptism...

the next week our plans for the month changed when i got the call that my grandpa vern had passed away on January 8th.  He was 89 and had been diagnosed with liver cancer a few months before.  it was a great relief to him to be gone but it has sure taken a toll on me and my family to have him gone... a huge void for sure.  i will write another entry about him later.  i cried pretty hard that afternoon, but by the next day was doing better and ready to buy plane tickets home.  my birthday happened to be the next week so i just had my to good friends over for lunch from olive garden... pretty low key even though it was my 30th birthday i just didn't feel like celebrating...

we flew home wednesday for the funeral on saturday... i worked the next couple days helping my mom pick out songs and pictures and what not.... i even got to go help dress my grandfather in his burial clothes... which was a beautiful and spiritual experience... i'm really glad i went.

my sister and i were set to sing how great thou art till i got the really bad cold and completely lost my voice... could hardly talk.  i was so upset because my grandpa was always my biggest supporter when it came to singing and i wouldn't be able to pay this tribute to him... plus it meant i was leaving my sister to sing alone... which is really hard. especially for this funeral.. but we worked it out and were able to find her a good song to sing. and man did she knock it out of the park... just beautiful.  and so musically emotional... my brothers also sang with all the other boy cousins and did beautifully.  i did get to participate by leading all the cousins and spouses in a family choir singing i know that my Redeemer lives... and cried the whole last verse... sorry guys! my mom of course gave an incredible eulogy.  perfectly painted the picture of grandpas life.  it was so fun to see so many faces at the funeral and viewing the night before... some of course the second i saw them started bawling my eyes out... the worst being ed and shauna smith..  ed was my grandpas business partner and one of my biggest fans... he always made me feel so smart and beautiful and like i would be the greatest catch of a wife in the world... and he was always good to my grandpa.  after the grave side dedicaion we went back to the church for lunch.  it was really fun to see all my cousins again.  then they all jumped on planes and headed back home.  my sweet inlaws sent us these really nice flowers... which was super sweet of them...

and will was playing with my phone and took this great picture and posted it to my instagram... haha

david getting ready to dedicate the grave

chris and i stayed till the next tuesday.  sunday we had a little family lunch after church... it was one of those first oh man... we will miss grandpa moments not having him there... he's been coming to my moms for the last 8 years... then monday i thought we should go to olive garden as grandpa had taken us there at least once a month the whole time chris and i lived with him.  that was my moment to break down.... i could probably also blame it on hormones but really i was a little sad... and felt silly for crying in the middle of olive garden.

playing with grandmas glasses and piano

once we got home chris went to work only one or two days till the craziest ice and snow storm hit our little town... and quite a bit of the eastern coast. the morning the storm was supposed to hit was super cold... so i bundled daniel up in a snow suit aunt sharon had sent us and he went outside... only for 2 min as he was just too cold.

 it started with freezing rain which put about 2 inches of ice on everything including the roads....   then the snow started and man... it just kept coming till we had several inches of snow!  the town completely shut down... good thing i went to the store the night before for essentials like milk,, even though the line took an hour it was worth it... nothing was open for 3 or 4 days... the ice on the roads took forever to melt... and it was cold!!!

we did play outside a bit... we grabbed our boogie board and took daniel sledding in the front yard.  he loved all of it till one sharp turn and he face planted.  chris even pulled me around for a bit and i pulled him for two seconds... to weak.

we watched a lot of movies and ate food... nothing else to do! we did decide to take the time and move daniel into a toddler bed... he really liked it... slept on the floor quite a bit here and there falling asleep on the floor for nap time... he only fell out once but it wasn't too bad.  

he also had a good time playing with his monster trucks while watching monster truck videos.  and playing with his mr potato head.. star wars!

the next week after that was our anniversary.  my awesome friend sara watched our kid for us and we drove down to wilmington.  we walked around the river walk where two of my favorite shows were filmed... dawsons creek and one tree hill... i was totally geeking out pointing things out to chris that i recognized.  then we had dinner at this fondue place called little dipper... it was awesome.  great food and fun atmosphere.  we were in our own little alcove... with a tiny table... really fun... great way to celebrate 3 years of marriage.

leerys fresh fish from dawsons creek... 

overall it was a tough month with lots of stress and sickness and sadness from grandpa passing but two big milestones... me turning 30 and our 3rd anniversary!! and it was an awesome 3rd year... let me tell ya!

december december...

december was such a busy month!! it started off with a party for chris dental battalion.  it was a family party out at mikes farm... mostly a fun night.  it took place out by the campfires which would have been fine but it got dark and was hard to see and there was a lake next to us and it was hilarious trying to keep daniel from running straight for it.  but otherwise we had fun with friends and got to take a hay ride through a really cool chrsitmas light show in the trees and parts of it were so patriotic you couldn't help getting choked up.

we also took a quick opportunity to take some family pics before we headed out using a self timer and used them for our christmas cards... merry christmas! ha!

the dental battalion also threw an adult holiday party (meaning no kids).  we got all dressed up for this one.  i wore an old sparkly red dress of my grandma doris' and took a gold purse of hers.  the night was really fun.  and crazy.  they played musical chairs which was all fun and games till some young girl pulled the chair out from under the generals wife... whoa! the whole crowd was shocked and gasped and the generals wife took it well and smiled and got up but whoa... haha they also did some tossing game and handed out a bunch of gift cards from a raffle... we won $100!!! yahoo!! then the dancing came... and if you know me... you know i like to get down!  it was pretty hilarious.  we were having so much fun.  the enlisted from chris' office kept telling him how awesome his wife was and they were impressed how crazy i was... and then they were shocked to find i was sober.  like people can't be fun without alcohol?!  we also got some pictures taken in the photo booth.  super fun night.  

my awesome friend sara watched daniel for us... he loves her house... partly for the doggy door and she has treats! 

i also attended a ornament exchange with my NOSC ladies... super fun.  they are such fun women to be around.  we had a great time with awesome food and lots of really pretty ornaments.

the last party we went to before we left town was a progressive dinner with a bunch of friends from the ward.  our house hosted the appetizers this year... and i will say they were pretty yummy.  fun night with songs, nativity, dinner, dessert and good company... i also wore my beautiful christmas sweater i found at walmart this year... its truly special

then we jumped on a plane to vegas for the next 2 weeks!!!! daniel was perfect on the flight.  he slept for most of it and watched elmo the rest of the time.  we arrived pretty early in vegas and took quick naps... switching to pacific time zone is always tricky... we woke at 3 am the first morning... luckily we all wake together and get to enjoy watching my mom work out before seminary.  daniel was mezmorized watching the dancers on moms wii just dance video. haha  we spent on evening over at emily and gregs house before they ditched us to spend christmas at park city... lame!  we spent most other days at grandpas house with sam and meesha and mom.  since he hadn't been doing very well someone was staying in the house with him at all times and my mom was down there most afternoons... so we spent most of our break hanging out down there.  especially since chris and daniel both came with really bad colds... no one was in a hurry to do much.  we did get to play a lot with gigi and axel... hes such a cute baby!!

one morning we drove out to boulder city and rode on the santa train they do out there.  it was a short ride but really fun... daniel was in a terrible mood (super tired) till aunt meesha saved the day with some fruit snacks.  santa came through and gigi was so excited to give him her letter... otherwise we enjoyed the scenery and the kids jumped around and had a good time...

we then decided to grab a quick bite and drive up to see the new bridge over hoover dam.  daniel fell asleep so chris sam gigi and i walked up and over the bridge... very high and very cool.

that was a really fun morning and super glad meesha had invited us to go with them.  

chris mom came down that weekend for 2 days to see us and daniel... they had a good time playing together.  chris went to mass with his mom before they both came to church with our family.  it was a fun quick little visit. 

christmas eve was a pretty fun night.  for the first time we decided not to host a huge party with moms other siblings and all my cousins.  we were just feeling overwhelmed with taking care of grandpa and everything else and our family has just gotten so big we decided to keep it simple this year.  we met at grandpas house and did our usual white elephant gift exchange but with a twist.  it was silly and fun.  we had soups that i made for dinner and i must say they were yummy... the group favorite was the tomato tortellini soup but sam said the chicken noodle was by far the best... we even got grandpa to come out and eat with us. he and daniel enjoyed eating together.

then we went in the front room and sang some christmas songs. always my favorite part of christmas is singing around the piano as my mom plays... we even walked down to grandpas room to sing a couple songs for him... which was beautiful... he was choked up and i was choked up and it was just neat.... i'm sure everyone else was choked up.  we ended the night helping the kids open their presents from grandma karen.  we sure missed not having emily and her family there but were really glad my dad was able to come and be at the party with us.  

christmas day was pretty good.  daniel still doesnt really get presents or enjoy opening them.. but he likes toys especially cars! he got quite the collection of cars and he immediately just wanted to play.  he also got a playdoh dentist.. chris had a good time playing that with him and showing him how to drill on teeth.... even grandma got on the floor to play some cars with him.

chris and i spoiled ourselves with a kindle.... we feel super fancy now.  its mostly to read books on but i do like some pinterest or other apps on there. 

we also spent the afternoon over at grandma slades with my dad.  they had gotten capriotti sandwiches (of course) yum! and we played for quite a while.  then the kids discovered a neighbor boy playing with a remote control car in the street so they all ran out and spent the next 20 min chasing the car around.  daniel was in heaven! 

after that we went to aunt joans for pie! we always love pie.  and it was fun to see more family and cousins.  

the next couple days we spent with mom and grandpa and sam and jack and meesha.  really glad we got to make a longer trip this time... and we did get to spend some more time with emily and greg and family before we left.... one more party night with raising canes and games... we played a card game emily and greg have.  it was so silly but really fun.  i love my family.  

we said our good byes to grandpa and everyone else and headed to bed.  we left very early the next morning to head back home... 

not wanting to be at the airport!

once home we mostly vegged for a couple days... time change is killer!! chris worked one day and then we had another week off.  daniel enjoyed playing with cups... i finished our stockings and we got more presents from chris family in the mail including the awesome star wars potato head.

i will admit this christmas season was tough this year... with grandpa being so sick and miserable it just put a damper on it for everyone.  we just feel so bad for him and hate seeing anyone you love that miserable... so glad we went home... nothing i miss more than my family!

for new years eve we spent it with our favorite neighbor the Millers.... we had lots of yummy food and then played games till late and even remembered to give each other a little kiss at midnight... (me and chris...not kiss the other couple ha!)  it was a really great easy night as daniel slept upstairs in the craft room and their three girls went to bed and we just had a good time playing rumikube... perfect way to end 2013.