Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

I wanted to send letters to everyone but alas ... here is my Christmas letter to ALL my wonderful friends and family

Dear Family & Friends,

It has been a year of ups and downs. Mostly ups, a few downs.

This past January my grandfather, Ralph Wood, passed away. Over the year, I have been reminded of what a wonderful example of faith and love he was to me. I have missed him but I am grateful for the legacy he left for my son and me.

We took a couple of road trips this year, one of which was traumatic and financially painful but it was all worth it to see family. Many people know that I do not like to drive but I do it anyway. I may not take a road trip again for a time. I don't like to fly either so if you love me and want to see me I guess you will have to come to Utah!

Sam performed in summer theater camp again. This year they did several skits of twisted fairy tales. They did Falling for Rapunzel, The Emperor's Old Clothes, Ode to Humpty Dumpty and the Princess and the Pizza. Then they also did four dances, Sam was a part of three: Smelling the Roses, a contemporary dance; Hero Battle, a hip hop routine in which Sam had a kickin' break dance solo; and a Bollywood dance. He had so much fun with all his friends. I was told (by people that don't even know us!) that Sam was their favorite. He has such a great face and gets into all the difference characters. He had a great time doing the play and I had a great time watching.

I asked Sam what some of his favorite memories were from this year. He said his favorite memory of this year was spending time with family in California. It was so fun to spend time with my family hanging out at the condo, playing at Disneyland, seeing the ocean for the first time and swimming in the pool. The reunion produced wonderful memories that we will cherish.

Sam and I are going to spend a quiet Christmas at home. During this time of year, we have reflected on the many the many blessings that we have been given. We are so grateful for our family and friends that love and support us. I am grateful for my job and the people that I have the opportunity to interact with every day. We are grateful to live in this country. We are most grateful for Jesus Christ, for His birth and for His Atonement.

We wish you are the very best Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Love Liz & Sam

NaNoWriMo

It is that time of year again. I was not going to do it this year but when October rolled around all I could think of was NaNo starts in November. What am I going to write?

Then I had an idea about a huge empire that took care of the people living within the original country/kingdom but mistreated the 'colonies' some of which were the moons surrounding the planet. They bring 'worthy' warriors out of the colonies to become empire guards or whatever. My MC Riley is from one of the moon colonies. The reason the empire peeps are bringing in outside muscle is that they are guarding a dirty little secret. Anyway that is a start.

Problem is this is the first time I have written from a male POV. I find I am struggling. So now with only a few weeks to go I am thinking of striking the whole idea and writing a different story back with my good ol' female POV but then I feel like that is giving up. NaNo is hard enough to write without struggling with the main character. But just now I thought I could write from third person which would mean I wouldn't have to get into my MCs head. Hmmm choices, choices. Nevertheless and notwithstanding I am doing NaNo this year. What exactly I am going to write it yet to be determined.

Happiest Place on Earth

I am in serious neglect of my blog but I am here to redeem myself. We had a great time a couple of weeks ago in California here are the highlights:

The first day we were there it was a beautiful day for the pool. The kiddos has a great time playing in the water and sliding down the water slide. They had not seen each other for a while but it didn't take long for everyone to jump in and play.

We went to a farmer's market and got the best fresh fruit EVER. It was all so good. The only downer was I bought a lot because I just could not stop myself on the last day I was stuffing peaches in my mouth trying to eat it all before we left for home. Sam got some really cool clothes. Here he is trying them out.

Ah the beach. Sam LOVED it. It started off a bit cool and overcast but for me it was perfect. I love that kind of weather. Walking along the beach with a cardigan the water splashing on my toes. Then the clouds cleared and the sun came out. It was a perfect day at the beach.

The family at Disneyland. Needless to say we all had a great time. We laughed, we cried. It really is the happiest place on earth until you have to leave. Sam wanted to know if we could live there. Who doesn't want to live at Disneyland? Sam's favorite ride was the Matterhorn. Mine was Indiana Jones.

Sam, Cambridge and Hayden at Disney. Everybody was so great and had such a good time.

Sam loves Lego - he is a LegoMaster - so when i found out we were only 20 minutes from Legoland I couldn't resist. It was a blast. And Sam got his drivers licence. I have to say going to Lego after Disney slightly lessened the experience for me (although if you ask Sam it might be his favorite part of the trip). It is an amazing place but really nothing compares to Disneyland.

Note the super tired look in Sam's eye. Two full days of parks wears a person out!

Legoland. I can't believe I rode this thing. But Sam had so much fun I just could not resist. It is called the Knight's challenged. To me it looked like a giant dragon claw grabbed us then flung us about. That is pretty much what the ride did. And I didn't even get sick to my stomach! When you got on the ride you had to take of anything that could fall off - flip flops, earings, sunglasses - and take all items out of your pockets. They had a little cubby by the ride to hold your personal belongings. Sam pulled out of his pocket a tiny silver screw, he was so proud of his personal item.

Our last evening in California we went to a Padres game. We, OF COURSE, screaming and yelled for the San Fran Giants. Sam said it was the best, a least the parts he could remember. After all the fun and excitement he couldn't keep his eyes open. Even with loud and crazy fans all around us he was fast asleep after the 3 inning. I had never been to a professional game before. It was so fun.

The last day at the pool. The kiddos loved chasing Papa around and he loved being chased. It was such a fun packet, yet relaxing adventure.

Kipp, Sam, Lincoln and Spencer - the cool kats.

It was so much fun to spend the week with family. My sister is a rock star for putting it all together. Thanks Katie for all your hard work. Can't wait for the next one.

Twisted Faery Tales

Sam's play was awesome. The first skit was called Falling for Rapunzel. As you can see I was in the back but I moved up after the first skit and got much better pictures.

This next skit is called the Emporor's Old Clothes. Sam was the cutest farmer. He did such a great job dancing and he really got into his character.


This next part was so cool. They did four dances and Sam was a part of three. The first was called "Smelling the Roses" and it was a contemporary style dance where one child is reading a book looking around at his friends when they all run around and do not slow down to enjoy growing up and then the all fall down and go to sleep. They don't die. The just sleep. The director wanted to make the clear. Sam was amazing and I am not just saying that because I am his mother. More than once person (a couple I don't even know) came up and said Sam did an amazing job.








This one was the hip hop routine. Sam had a solo where is did a little break dancing. My little B boy. This was a war between the heros and the heroines. It was pretty awesome. And they end up being friends in the end. Who doesn't like a happy ending.











This last one is a Bollywood number. It was a workout and a half. The all did such a great job.




It was an amazing night. I was so proud of Sam for learning the skits and the dances. The next night there were two new skits: Ode to Humpty Dumpty and the Princess and the Pizza. Sam had a great time. So proud of you son!

Summer Luvin

Summer lovin had me a blast ... gotta love Grease. This summer is flying by. I can't believe it is almost August. Here is a pic of us at the 4th Fireworks at Sugarhouse Park. We were so glad that they were on this year.

I look a little tired and my head HURT like crazy but it was fun nonetheless.

Here is a pic of Sam pretending to be asleep on my dress. I was actually trying to get him to fall asleep while pretending to be asleep. It didn't work.

This is Sam eating his Shrek ice cream that got all over everything (including my dress) because the stick was not very far into the ice cream. It continually fell off it was messy, it was gross, according to Sam it was delicious.

Here is a pic of Sam after he fell asleep in the car on the way to my cousin's daughter's baptism. He was coloring along and then BAM out cold. I thought it was cute how he pulled his hat over his eyes.

Finally here we are at Sam's superhero fashion show at summer camp. I thought all the kids did a great job. But I have to say my superhero was the best!

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

Let's start with the Ugly:


That would be my car being hoisted up onto the tow truck. Fun. NOT!


So we were cruising along minding our own business when the car started slowing down like it was running out of gas. When I pushed on the gas it sputtered, lurched and then continued the downward spiral towards zero miles per hour. I safely maneuvered the car over to the side of the road, panicked and then said a little prayer.

I called my brother (that is what brothers are for!) and he said he would come get us even though we were hours away from his house and he had a pretty big weekend on his plate. So I started the car again and kept driving. We pulled over four of five times before I finally realized that we would never make it. Brother to the rescue.


But then a guy from a service station pulled over and talked with us. His station was the one that gave us the tow. Just FYI when you are stuck in the middle of NO WHERE on I15 in Utah it is NOT cheap to get towed. Just for future use.


Here is Sam in the truck. He was having a wonderful adventure and it was because of him that I survived at all. There are many kinds of stress that I handle extremely well. However, I do not, I repeat, do NOT, handle car stress well. So I cried. When the tow truck got there I started to tear up again. Sam said, "just so I know are you going to cry again?" for some reason it struck me as hilarious. We both bust up laughing hysterically.




Here we are in the tow truck. All smiles. Me - tear streaked face. Gotta love it.

Fortunately, we made it safely to Cedar City, car in tow. It ended up being the fuel pump. I had got my car serviced the day before we left. I asked the guy if my shop had done a poor job and he said probably not. Even if they tested it the day before it might have been fine. Stupid fuel pump. The good news is that I now have a lifetime warranty on my fuel pump. Betcha I never have another problem with the fuel pump.

Onto the bad: (you thought the above was bad, I am talking about another kind of bad!)

S'more Brownies - oh so amazingly delicious. My sister-in-law made these bad boys up. Yum. Really, really yum.

And now onto the GOOD - the really good. The reason we went down the Cedar City in the first place. To see family. I have not seen my sister and her family in almost two years. Seeing her cute kiddos was so much fun. I had not seen my brother and family since Christmas. Being with family made the whole trip worthwhile.

If that is not a picture of pure happiness I don't know what is. Love all those kiddos.

I was so happy to be a part of Cambridge's baptism

and to see cute little Beckett get blessed.

Even through the trials it was a wonderful weekend. Seeing family, loving babies, enjoying the beautiful weather. I would do it all again, yes even the trauma of my car breaking down in the middle of no where just to be with the family again. Thanks everyone for helping us and letting us be a part.

We ended up spending a couple extra days. So thank to Cambridge and Addi and the rest of the crew for helping us have fun. Thanks to Parker and Beckett for letting me snuggle them lots.

Laughter

I love to laugh. I mean who doesn't. Today at work my co-workers had me in stitches. I was dying. Then the phone rang. I answered "So and So's office this is Liz". They said "hello, this is (insert prominent person's name here). I said "I'm good. How are you?" To which he laughed and said fine. After I got off the phone I said "I am a dumb." I guess when I laugh a lot my brain gets mushy.


I am just in one of those moods.


I need to go home and watch Monty Python

















or Clue.


















"Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward." ~ Kurt Vonnegut

"Laughter is inner jogging." ~ Norman Cousins

"Shared laughter creates a bond of friendship. When people laugh together, they cease to be young and old, teacher and pupils, worker and boss. They become a single group of human beings." ~ W. Lee Grant

"I was irrevocably betrothed to laughter, the sound of which has always seemed to me to be the most civilized music in the world." ~ Peter Ustinov

"May your walls know joy; May every room hold laughter and every window open to great possibility." ~ Maryanne Radmacher-Hershey