A Meeting with Old Friends

From Right: Jesse, Annie (Jesse's Spouse), Emily (my cousin), Hanna-lee, Args (My Spouse), JB

Several weeks ago I ran into an old friend while attending a business lunch. I was there with a colleague and we were supposed to meet up with a woman neither of us had met. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same anxiety before – watching everyone come in the door and assessing whether or not they fit the occupation, tone of voice, and reputation of the person you are supposed to meet. Anyway, a woman walked in the door that seemed to fit my preconceived notions. I walked up to her, introduced myself, and then suddenly realized we had met before. We were teenage acquaintances that had met through my cousin Emily who lived in Ogden. I was probably 15 at the time and she and my cousin were 16 or 17 when we first met—I felt so cool hanging out with older women.

It had been years since we had seen each other and both of us had obviously matured considerably. We quickly reminisced of the days when we used to play late-night pranks, engage in games of truth and dare, and give back rubs. Oddly, backrubs seemed to be somewhat romantic at that age.

After parting, I returned to my office and mentioned the encounter to my cousin Emily who suggested it was time we have a reunion with the old clan when she was in town for the holidays. We made arrangements to meet at a local restaurant last night and enjoyed some great conversation. It was particularly fun to talk about everyone’s career plans, meet spouses, and swap stories about our children. We concluded the evening at our home in Bountiful. Forgoing the temptation to play another game of truth or dare, we followed Emily’s suggestion to share our biggest “miracle” that had occurred that year and the biggest miracle that had occurred during our lives. While the answers were all over the board, most all of touched on the great blessing our family, friends, and spouses, had been. The evening was a delightful reunion. I’m so grateful for the people I have met throughout my life and the impact they have had on me.

Christmas Day Review

Here is another great post from Amy regarding our Christmas. I thought I would post it verbatim. You can read it and others on her blog at allhale-amy@blogspot.com

I Heard the Yells on Christmas Day!

from Amy's Blog by Amy

December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas! The kidlets both awoke early Christmas Day, after a rough night of nightmares, drink requests and mystery cries*. We took the traditional picture on the stairs in their cute Christmas jammies. JB and I were so excited to see the kids' reactions to their presents - that's the most fun.
We were quite proud that several of the kids' gifts were acquired from treasure hunting at DI. Yaks got a tool bench and Boo got a kitchen set, both for less than $10. I'll let each child tell you in his/her own words about their favorite gift.


Boo: "Dees are my princess dollies! Day have pretty dresses. Day stand in a circle and visit. Day're getting ready to go to the dance. Ben!? You can't touch my princess dollies! NO! Dees are mine!"

Ahhhh, so glad we've instilled in her the spirit of Christmas!












Yaks: "Dree-oh! Dree-oh! I fix it! I fix it. Dood job! Tang-coo, mamas. Tang-coo, dadas!"


Oh, this boy is such a munchkin.


I think JB's favorite gift was a pair of photo cufflinks (a tradition each Christmas) with the kids' pictures inside. JB got me a gift card for a date night to Benihana's. I'm looking forward to that, as JB has never had that type of dining experience. It will be fun!


My brother and sister-in-law drew our names for our family gift exchange. They mailed us a darling church binder for each child with the gospel A-B-C's in it, a coloring book, notepad, colored pencils, board book and stickers. It obviously took much time and thought. It's the perfect gift to help with our Sunday troubles. Thanks, family!

We didn't have anywhere to go for the rest of the day, so we took advantage of the freshly-fallen snow and went sledding on a nearby hill. Boo went down on the sled all by herself! Yaks was done after his first run, when we got plowed by a tuber and Yaks got snow spray all over his face. Fortunately, there were some nice dogs who were also visiting the hill. They were fun to chase around."I went down all by my say-olf! Yay!"

Yaks is going to stick to dry ground.

I came down with a mild case of the Christmas blues later in the day. You know, missing that carefree feeling of Christmas day as a child, long-standing traditions, endless talking with my siblings, and relying on my own parents to be in charge? I felt so guilty feeling this way. I had a really fun day with my own family and love to be with them. We had planned to drive up to visit the day after Christmas, but canceled, due to a threatening snowstorm, which was a real disappointment. We did have a visit from Nana, Papa, Isaac and Abby, though, and got to show them our gifts and received many others from them, which was so nice.

Following naps for all, which helped a great deal, we enjoyed a little family Christmas dinner, ate treats, played for hours with "our toys", and watched a little movie all together on the couch before collapsing, exhausted into bed.

We were pelted with snow last night. I was a good hour late for work like many other people who chose to blaze on, despite being tempted to get an early start to the holiday weekend. the snow covered trees on campus were breathtaking, especially when the morning light danced on them. This picture hardly does them justice, but I Thought I would share it anyway. I'm thrilled at the thought of playing in freshly fallen snow with the kids all weekend.

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Your favorite Christmas book

Args wrote such a great blog entry today on her personal blog (allhale-amy.blogspot.com) I thought I would paste it here. I love the little things with the kids that happen each day. Sometimes I wish I was around to experience them first hand - other times I empathize with Amy as it's not all fun and games.


"My parents gave each family a new Christmas book this year. I was thrilled with their choice -- The Sweet Smell of Christmas. It's a scratch and sniff book! We received this book as a family gift when we were little, and it was always a favorite to pull out and enjoy during December - it's been read so many times, I think all the scent has been scratched off! Here's the book jacket description: "Little Bear delights in the many wonderful smells of Christmas. From the hot apple pie his mother is baking to the pine branches of the Christmas tree to his candy canes and hot chocolate. Little Bear celebrates the season with six scratch-and-sniff scents.

It's a cute little story*, but but the fun is in getting to scratch and "experience" what the Little Bear smells in the events leading up the Christmas Day.

Boo just asked me to reach down her "favorite book" from the book shelf. Curious which one she was referring to, I picked her up to let her get it herself.
Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage. Oh, of course...every child's favorite book to "read" during the Christmas season! Haha."

What Boo's getting for Christmas

Our neighbor came over yesterday to drop off a christmas gift. While she was there she asked Boo, 'what is santa going to bring you for Christmas?' Boo's response was accurate although I'm sure it sounded strange to our neighbor, 'fruit snacks and popcorn.' These were the two items that santa brought to each of the grandchildren at our extended family Christmas party. Little does Boo know that santa has more in store for her than munchies.

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Picture of ben shoveling his gingerbread house.

Ben shoveling food. Cell phone shot - sorry for the poor quality.

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Gingerbread Houses at Nannas.

It was gingerbread house time at nannas. we were thrilled to have adrienne and mike's family home for the holidays. everything was going well until boo and yaks gingerbread house collapsed under the weight of all the candy (picture attached). after the collapse yaks figured the game was over and began to shovel candy into his mouth with both hands.

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