Happy New Year!

2012. Let that sink in.

Happy New Years week! Its been a busy one. I’ve been occupied with hurry-and-get-it-in-before-you-have-a-deductible doctor’s appointments, including my first mammogram (which was not as fun as Disneyland, but a lot less awful than everyone made it sound).

On Wednesday my Mom and sister Denise flew into town, there is nothing better in the world than family who you feel totally comfortable with and who love you no matter what. Everyone should have someone like that. We had dinner at Rosa’s Café with our free gift cards. It also happened to be our anniversary. Some anniversaries are romantic. Some are a communal celebration of family. This was the latter.

I did have to get piano lessons and doctor’s appointments finished up the first day they were here and then the fun began. Friday morning we got to go to the temple and enjoy a session together. I was so grateful to Teresa for taking kids and making that possible. It was a spectacular day, clear skies and 74 degrees. That evening I tried out Denise’s Christmas gift to me, an ice cream maker!
We made fresh lemon ice cream and it was DECADENT. I think I crawled into bed around 1:30 am after epic chatting with my favorite sister.

Saturday morning we had our Daddy with us. We woke up, made homemade granola, and had Christmas morning all over again, the kids opened presents from Grandma.

Granola in the making. Then, glorious day, Mom, Denise and I all got massages! It was the fastest hour of my life. We walked out in a happy massage coma and went shopping. We immediately found some fantastic sales. What a girly fun day. I am known for my dislike of shopping and spending money in general, but they made it super fun.

After we came out of the massage, Freeman texted me to tell me not to hurry home. I think posterity deserves to know how sweet this guy is. Here’s the text string:

Me: “Hey, we just finished the massages. Will keep you updated.”

F: “Go enjoy a nice lunch and a fun day of shopping with your mom and sister. We are eating lunch now, then putting the kids down. After that we’re going on a bike ride to the park. I really hope you can have a fun, relaxing day. Please, whatever you do, do not feel guilty about anything. Enjoy!!”

M: “Wow, we’ve been gone long time. Home soon.”

F: “You guys should go to dinner and then to a movie or something before you come home. No guilt!”

M: “Well, I think we are almost done, one more store then heading home. UR sweet!”

F: “That’s only because you’re hungry and thirsty. If you sit down and eat and drink something for a few minutes you would have renewed energy.”

And that after having 3 kids, 5 and under, for 7 hours!

Here they are, for the record.



Our New Year’s Eve party that night was smashing. We tried 5 new foods (pita chips and dip, roasted edamame, corn and bean salsa, pomagranate, breaded green beans). We toasted our sparkling grape juice to the new year, wrote down our predictions for the coming year, and had a dance party. We watched the New Year come in Dubai at 9 pm Texas time and made some noise. We finished the night off with our new movie, Cars 2, yet another gift from Denise.