Goodbye 2009

I just read a good friends blog documenting the past year and I decided that I need to write something about the wonderful things we have experienced these past 12 months. However, I need to point out that our life is not perfect...we certainly have trials and most likely always will. The beauty is that we have the gospel to anchor us and give us guidance to get through each of these obstacles that are thrown our way. THAT is the blessing :)

January: Great anticipation for the homecoming of our missionary, Christopher, who we have missed dearly in our home. His mission blessed each member of this family.

February: Arrival of our missionary! I have often thought of that wonderful day when we saw him come down the escalator in the airport. I remember thinking of my Heavenly Father and how is probably close to how He must feel when we come "home" to him. The scripture "Behold, My joy is full" kept running through my mind. There are just no other words to describe it. All of my children along with my wonderful husband together again...heaven.

March: Can't really think of much happening in this month, but I am sure we had something happen...

April: Greg and I celebrate our 23rd anniversary while Tara & Austin get engaged on that very day. At the time the thought of Tara, my sweet "little" girl getting married made my heart stop. However, 6 minths after the fact, I know that she choose wisely :) Austin is wonderful and they are VERY happy.

May: Preparations for the wedding...AND Tara graduates from high school. She actually finished her coursework early, but decided (with lots of encouragement from Greg & myself) to walk with her class.

June: Tara & Austin are married June 20th in the Draper Utah Temple. What a crazy day. The weather was awful...but everything else was perfect. I told Tara on the way to the temple that the elements could rage outside the temple walls, but that the ordinance was still the same.

July: Trip to Oregon! Greg & I took Josh and Emma and headed for the coast. It was wonderful! We traveled with Mark & Lel and their kiddos and we had a ball...Cannon Beach, Youngs River Falls, Fultano's Pizza, Mo's and the list goes on and on.

August: Back to school! Emma started 5th grade...wow. Where has my baby gone? She is beginning to become so grown up and Greg doesn't like to talk about it ;) Josh is now a junior---C.R.A.Z.Y! Where has the time gone? Christopher & Sam became engaged! Another wedding...

September: I can't remember much about this month...I wonder what we did?

October: Halloween! Emma and her best friend decided to have a party for 15 of their "closest" friends. It actually turned out great!

November: Christopher & Samanatha are married on November 20th...exactly 5 months after Tara & Austin. Another great day. I remember looking around the sealing room and seeing all the faces of people who I love. I especially remember seeing Christopher's best friends growing up in the room with us, along with the bishop they all had before their missions. What a wonderful site to know that ALL of them where there...temple worthy and home from serving honorable missions. Another testament to me about the importance of good friends. That site almost touched me more than the actual ceremony...almost.

December: Christmas! We spent a quiet Christmas with just our immediate family. We are becoming so large now that this will probably be a new tradition.

I think that about sums up the highlights from the past year. I wonder what 2010 has in store for us? Whatever it is, I know that Heavenly Father is watching over us :) Happy New Year!

Christmas, Birthday & Omelets

This year Christmas was really nice. We ended up staying home with just our immediate family for most of the day. I love how our family is growing. It is so nice to just relax with each other and enjoy everyone's company. Emma insisted on waking up at 7:00 am to open presents. We have since decided that in years to come we are going to change that somehow. We were thinking of opening gifts on Christmas Eve, but because that is Jenni's birthday, we may have to think of something else. I don't really want her to feel like we are giving her the shaft :) At least we have an entire year to think about it!

I was so relaxed that I did not take many pictures...sorry. I did remember to take my camera to Mark's late that evening for our "Omelet Night/Jenni's Birthday". We have been getting together with Mark and Lel on Fast Sunday evenings to have an "Omelet Night". Mark makes the BEST omelets! During the holidays we thought it would be nice to gather on Christmas evening and just visit in our pj's/sweats and have omelets. I love how laid back our Christmas' have become. It was truly a stress-free day.

In the pictures above you will notice that Jenni does not have a traditional birthday cake. She doesn't really like cake and requested that I make her a giant sugar cookie...so she is blowing out candles on her cookie :) She turned the great age of 21 this year..."old enough to know right from wrong, but still young enough to resist it" (I saw that saying and loved it!) Let's hope that is not the case :)

You will also see Greg chillin' in the recliner watching football, Emma cross-eyed posing for the camera (not sure what that was about)and "Markie Stewart" in the kitchen preparing our delicious meal.

Christmas Card 2009

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

This year we are sending out an electronic Christmas card. It just seemed to be the easiest thing to do this year. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

(Make sure you click on each picture to enlarge it for a better look. Click it once more and it will reduce back to it's original size.)

Christmas Spirit

I have been having a difficult time this holiday season feeling the Christmas spirit. I am not sure what the deal is. I have been listening to Christmas music, watching Christmas movies, reading quotes and scriptures that pertain to Christmas and my all time favorite (usually) setting up my beloved nativity that my father made almost 45 years ago. I have just been struggling a bit. It just seems like Christmas was lacking something this year-it felt hallow.

These past few days I have been extremely grumpy and I don't like it. I can't really tell you why...I am just grumpy. All I could really think about is that I want this holiday to be over with so that Spring can be on it's way. Usually I love the winter months...but not this year. I usually love the snow and watching the kids sled on the hill across the street at the park. I usually love the hot chocolate and curling up with a blanket and a book. I usually love the dark days and the feeling of "nesting" at home. Not this year. I just want warmth and tulips. However, that changed this morning...

I went to church today and as I sat down I realized that it was the Christmas program. Our ward choir had obviously taken hours preparing for this day and as soon as the first song of the program was sung, my heart melted and I felt that lump in my throat that I had been lacking. The song was one of my favorites..."Away in A Manger" and it was not only sung beautifully, but the accompaniment of violins, organ, flute and piano pierced my soul. It finally brought the Christmas spirit I had been searching for. It was true beauty. I became teary eyed thinking of the humble circumstances of our Savior's birth and how much He had sacrificed because He loved each of us so much. The program ended with another of my favorite Christmas hymns..."Silent Night". As I listened to the words it seemed to put everything once again into perspective. "Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright...sleep in heavenly peace". Isn't music wonderful? Sometimes it can speak to you like nothing else can. What a blessing to have this gift in our lives. It made me remember that feeling of warmth and love that should be what the season is all about.

If anyone in the choir happens to read this post, I just want to say a big "Thank you!" You made me feel that wonderful spirit. Merry Christmas!!!

Get-Together

Today our family traveled to Kaysville for my nephew, Eric's missionary farewell. He is leaving on Wednesday for Puerto Rico to serve a two year mission for our church. It is always fun to get together with everyone and visit. I actually forgot that I had a camera with me, so my pictures are taken from later in the afternoon after the main onslaught of people had come for lunch. Apologies for the randomness of the pictures...I just started snapping away. Believe it or not, I did not get a picture of Eric facing forward. He is in the picture below with his back to me...what kind of aunt am I??? I love the picture above of Josh and Taylor playing on his iTouch. Generally when we get together, Josh just isolates himself from the cousins. When I saw this I knew I had to capture it!
Bobby and his phone...never far away from him :)
Jenni and Cordell with all the gals. Cordell seems to be a chick magnet. These girls were surrounding him most of the afternoon.
Lindsay playing Christmas carols on the piano. Greg's dad is in the grey suit to the left. He had a rather bad day today. He had lots of dizzy spells and had a hard time walking. I am glad that he was able to make it at all.

Come What May And Love It

Last night Utah County was hit with the first snow storm of the season. Since then our family has had a crazy 12 hours. Cordell came down last night to join our family and Mark's in having our monthly "Sunday Omelet Night". He drove to downtown SLC and then took the TRAX to 90th south where Jenni picked him up and then came over to Mark's to join us. When it was time for Cordell to return to Salt Lake, Jenni drove him up to his vehicle. When they arrived Cordell realized that he had left his keys at Mark and Lezlie's home.

Now normally that would not be a big deal, but it had started to snow and the drive to Salt Lake was kind of scary according to Jenni. She called me and I then agreed to meet her at 7200 South with the keys. It was 11 pm when I received her call and Greg was already snoozing. I decided to grab Josh to go with me in case I had an accident and needed some moral support. He was more than happy to accompany me when I told him he could sleep in the next morning and go to school late. It took us 50 minutes to arrive there. I had to go between 35-45 mph the entire way. Much of the time I could not even see the lane markings. It was especially dicey around the point of the mountain. We finally connected with Jenni and Cordell and then drove back home arriving back around 12:45 am. Jenni had to still drive Cordell all the way to downtown SLC to retrieve his truck (TRAX was not operating by this time). So...when I got home I stayed up worried about Jenni until she arrived home safely around 1:30 am. That was part one of my crazy 12 hours...

Part two...We woke up to more snow on the ground-bummer. I was going about my normal morning when we received a phone call from Christopher saying that he had totaled his car on the way to work. Fortunately he was fine, but his car was not. He had slid on the icy roads and rear-ended another car. Poor guy...I felt really bad for him. However, he was taking it pretty good and seemed in okay spirits. Sam was on her way to get him and thankfully they have another car to use while they determine what to do.

Here comes part three...

Remember how I let Josh stay home and sleep in this morning? Well I finally dragged him out of bed and told him that if he went out and cleaned off the snow from the car, I would drive him to school. We have had Tara's Saturn here for the past few days. Tara and Austin never drive it and have graciously let us use it here for a third vehicle. Well...Josh went outside and started the car to warm it up while he cleaned it off and then out of habit, locked the door with the keys in the ignition and the motor running. Needless to say, we do not have a spare key at our house :( I called Tara and asked if they were planning to come down this way anytime soon. She told me they were at school and would come by as soon as they finished class in about an hour. She had a spare key in her purse. So...as of this moment, we are waiting for Tara and the spare key and the car is in the driveway running. I wonder when the gas tank will empty...before or after Tara arrives???

Yep...never a dull moment at the Williamson household. All morning I just keep smiling and remembering Elder Wirthlin's talk "Come What May And Love It"...Isn't it a blessing that Heavenly Father created us with the ability to smile?

Merry Christmas!

These past few weeks I have been noticing that people do not say "Merry Christmas" to each other anymore. What is with that? It has really been bothering me, so I have decided to step on top of my soapbox and voice my concern. So...if you don't want to hear it...stop reading this post :)

When I was little I remember going shopping with my mom during the holiday season and everyone that you would meet in the stores would say "Merry Christmas" or "enjoy your Christmas!" I am sad to report that so far this season, not one person has said this to me without me saying it first. What is happening to Christmas? I feel like people are forgetting the reason for the season. Are people so worried about being politically correct that they just are too scared to say anything at all? I guess what I am asking is that everyone take a minute to remember what we are really celebrating...the birth of our Savior. Next time you are in the grocery store line or out buying presents, please take a little bit of time and wish the person serving you a Merry Christmas. Each time I have done it this year I have been given a smile in return. Please help bring back this lost sentiment. And to everyone reading this post....."MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!"