My Happiness

I loved the hustle bustle craziness of Christmas and being with family, but do you know what really makes me happy? I spent all day cleaning and taking down Christmas deco. Getting things organized and clean makes me happy. I got the kids to bed and checked in to see them off in blissful dreamland. That they are happy, makes me happy. A quiet evening reading a book in bed with my husband doing the same next to me, that makes me happy. Here are some shots I took of my happiness.
It's possible I may become the worst mom ever for taking these and posting them! But, I don't care. This is my happiness.

Christmas 2008

This Christmas was harder for me emotionally. I was wrapping a gift for someone and as I pulled out a decorative bag, I saw a envelope in the bottom. I opened it to find a Christmas card from last year from my Grandma Helyne. She had signed it, as she usually did, "I will love you forever". It was very sad and yet in that same instant I was suddenly so happy that I hadn't thrown this card away. It will now be an ornament on our tree forever. Merry Christmas grandma, I miss you. They say life goes on and while it stood still for that moment, it indeed goes on.

Christmas carried on in its usual hustle and bustle. We began the festivities at our traditional Christmas Eve dinner at mom and dad's. This is the third year that Justin has been wowing the family with the main meat course. Yet again he did not disappoint. He smoked a crown pork roast in our Big Green Egg with cedar and topped it with an apple, bourbon cranberry sauce. SO good. He also served up a side of mushroom risotto with a white wine smoked cheddar mix. I am so proud of you hunny buns. Amber brought one of my favorites, green bean casserole. Mom did a really good poppy seed salad, Jen brought delicious rolls and Kathy did her secret recipe rum cake. My hilarious brother showed up dressed as Eddie from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. After dinner we had total chaos as the seven grandchildren opened gifts. It was a mess of paper and giggles and we loved every minute of it!

The evening ended a little short as Justin had a cut on his cornea (he spent the morning in Instacare and still managed to cook up the yummiest dinner. He gets my hubby of the year award!) and was in a lot of pain. My sweet little baby niece was struggling with a little cold, and Jen was still suffering from a bad asthma attack from the night before. The good news is that we had our little kiddies all tucked in their beds by 9:00! Fearing that Alex would wake with his "traditional" stomach flu (he's thrown up the last two years due to the excitement of it all), I was happy when I checked in on them again at 9:30 and they were both dreaming of sugarplum fairies. I stayed up late cleaning the house and preparing breakfast for the next morning and maybe ;) wrapping a few presents.

Christmas morning we awoke to the phone. It was nan & Beep asking if we were up because they were on their way! While little miss Sieauna had gotten up at 6:00 to tell us Santa came, we (mean parents) made her go back to sleep (or at least lie in her bed) until Alex woke up. He woke around 8:00 and we patiently waited for nan & Beep to arrive. Santa brought DS's for the kids. Nan & Beep brought a Wii fit and some Wii games. Mommy got gift certificates for a pedicure/manicure and a massage, daddy got a keg system from mommy, and lots of little things. Breakfast was yummy (I made a sausage strata) and then the grandparents left to get ready at their house for Christmas dinner.

We headed to their house around 1:00, relaxed and exchanged gifts until my parents and Justin's sister and her kids came over and we had Christmas dinner. Kathy's famous clam chowder, meat assortments, deviled eggs, key lime cheesecake, chocolate creme pie, just to name a few. It was all so good. We played Raving Rabbids all afternoon and called it a night around 8:00, just in time to make it home before the snowfall.

Phew! Now you know what happened to us this year. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Pierogi Night 2008 at the Young's

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Ahhhh, traditions. Once again we had a great time at mom and dads making our polish pierogi. Each year as the kids get older, they participate more and it becomes funner to them. This year Alex got to roll out a batch of dough! My brothers have finally mastered the perfect dough and I had to ask dad if it was hard to give up control and the dough master title. Amber showed us how to make the ultimate perfect pierogi and the smaller girls made tons of random "concoctions" which we were surprised to eat later. Jeremy made up a new "polish pot pie" and my contribution was adding some crab and cheese into the mix. Hello!!!! They turned out so yummy!! I also had some quality bonding time with my new little niece. She loved to fall asleep on me and I loved to hold her while she did it! She's such a love bug. Justin had fun being uncle of the year playing with all his nieces and nephews. They adore him. We had a great time and it's the perfect way to officially start the Christmas festivities. Thanks mom & dad!

Seriously!

Put Alex in place of the kid with his tongue stuck on the pole and you have this mornings drama. I received a call from the school that Sieauna "double dog dared" her brother to put his tongue on the pole. It got stuck. He forcefully pulled it off and it bled. The teachers had to come to his rescue. It's seems a little funny, but MAN is my daughter in trouble.

But hey, it could have been worse!

Pride & Joy

I am so proud of these kiddos. They had a Christmas singing and dance performance this morning. They both had their own solos and well, I am just so dang proud of them. They rock. (Yes, I am a little bias). LOVE these kids.

Cookies Anyone?

What do you get when you mix a snowy day,

two awesome hosts,

and a table full of decorations?

One heck of a cookie decorating party! My awesome friends Wendee and Nicole hosted their 1st Annual Cookie Decorating Party. And they even made it a "nut free" zone for us! We were so excited to attend as this is something we normally don't get to participate in with Sieauna's allergies. Lots of ooober yummy homemade cream cheese frosting and sugar cookies, sprinkles and more than a dozen kids under 10 assured a fun filled crazy messy time. Thanks guys, for making it great. Can't wait until next year.

Chop Chop

After a haircut from hell (serious, I was given the nickname "mushroom top"), I had it fixed today. It's a lot shorter than I've had it in awhile. The back especially. But it's fun and something new for the holidays. Thanks Tina!

Thanksgiving Pictures

I was a little busy and overwhelmed last week and forgot to post about our super relaxing Thanksgiving vacation. We stayed in Deer Valley at this incredible home Justin's parents rented. This is our second year here and it is so nice and cozy. I wish we could just book all our Thanksgivings there. There is some kind of peaceful feeling I've developed upon walking in the house and the kids adore it. They are becoming spoiled though and asked me as we left "Are we having Thanksgiving in Deer Vally every year?" To which I replied "If only we could be so lucky." :)

I woke up early Thanksgiving morning and ran the Park City Turkey Trot (in prep of all the wonderful yumminess to come). The weather was beautiful the whole time. The kids had a blast. The food...YUM-O! Kathy's turkey and stuffing was amazing, as always. We did a little shopping in Park City. Justin bought me a new cold weather running suit so I just had to try it out the next day (five miles around Deer Valley ski resort and down to Park City). Thanks Nan & Beep, we really appreciated this, and everything you do for us, so very much.

Twilight

Wonderful Holli hooked up the momtourage with tickets to Twilight this evening. Well????? I liked it, a lot. I think the book was WAY (yes, emphasis on way) better, but that is to be expected. Only one tiny little thing rubbed me the wrong way. What's with the cameo? You don't see J.K. Rowling showing up unexpectedly in Harry Potter now do you? It's just my opinion. Edward was hot, James was HOTTER! I am really looking forward to the next one. Way to go Stephenie!!

Grandma's Love

While going through hundreds of pictures of my grandmother to find just the right ones for the DVD I am making of her, I came across these two that melted my heart. The first is of my grandmother tenderly loving me as a little girl. The second is of her doing the same with my daughter. I just love seeing the same undying love, a generation apart. One thing I noticed in every single picture, grandma was smiling and she always had a look of absolute love for her family on her face. I miss her.

Here is my grandmother's obituary if you would like to view it.

http://www.larkinmortuary.com/opc_sop_o.php?obituary_idx=2725&search=youn&sort=death_date%20DESC