MARLEY & ME

New Years Day the first thing I heard was "Debbie time to get up and get dressed I want to hit a matinee today." My reply, "A matinee is in the afternoon, I'll get up in a little while." Lance replies, " It is the afternoon." Yep I actually got to sleep in till NOON. And the best part about it was I heard nothing until Lance opened the door. I didn't even feel Danner (Landon's dog) wedged up against me so tight I couldn't move. Pure bliss! I did get right up though since I had plans to take down all the Christmas decorations and FINALLY get caught up on the laundry. I got on the phone and called Gateway in Salt Lake to see show time and purchase tickets. All the show times were sold out except at the Jordon Commons out on 90th South. After trying 4 different times to order tickets the recording would disconnect so I had Lance look it up on line. By the time he got the computer up and going it was 1:15 p. m. Frustrated, I asked him to iron my sweater while I ordered the tickets and printed a copy of our confirmation. I got dressed and grabbed my shoes and socks, hopped into the truck and we were off to the movies. Some of you know Lance's driving habits. #1 he never speeds. #2 He forgets that there is a carpool lane. #3 he listens to talk radio and #4 he always, I mean always, always talks about seeing deer up on the mountain as we safely, slowly drive on the freeway towards Salt Lake. Not something you want to hear when your running late in heavy traffic. I'm really holding back my anxiety trying not to put a crimp in the day but DANGIT going 60 miles an hour when we're late as it is and the parking at the Jordon's is always a nightmare. Lance! please speed it up a little!!! He replies, "Is it off 60th or 90th?" I pull the confirmation out of my purse and read the directions.... 3743 West Parkway....South Jordon....WHAT! It was obvious that I had bought tickets at the wrong theater. "I don't even know how to get to that theater. Forget it and let's just go to Jordon Commons and take our chances."
So that's what we did. We got there 10 minutes late, parking was a breeze, they were out of popcorn so we got fish and chips and a large drink, found our seats which were great and watched the best movie I have seen in a very long time.
MARLEY & ME.
My sister gave the book to her husband, then she read it and gave the book to my mom and she read it. They loved the book so much that when the movie came out I put it on the list.
They couldn't have picked two better people to play the roles in this movie. Owen Wilson looked healthy and great and Jennifer always does such a good job. Very well written, down to earth, real life, putting a grin on your face through the entire movie, except the end. The humor was wonderful.... No violence....sex scenes...foul language... leaving the theater feeling good/sad.. but a good sad. GO SEE THIS MOVIE.
We ended the day by taking steaks over to mom's and having a tasty dinner with my mom, Henry, my sister and her husband.
HAPPY NEW YEAR

I LOVE HELLO'S - HATE GOODBYE'S

It all began when we got a phone call from Chris telling us that he was going to bring Lacey up for Christmas. They originally weren't going to make it up this year. Chris read one of Lacey's e-mails where she was answering some questions about Christmas when he came across the question, "What would you want the most for Christmas?" Her answer was "To see my mom and dad." Chris was so touched that he told her that he would give her that gift. I have a lump in my throat as I type this post. I love my kids so much that even one living so far away breaks my heart. It all comes with the package of marriage. You follow your husband wherever he needs to be to go to school or make a living. Thank you Chris for taking such good care of my daughter and grandson and being sensitive to her need to see her family now and then.

GOODBYE I LOVE YOU!

Coleman and Mya are in Kim and Kents Journey for the trip. Coleman will be able to watch his new movies. Kent will love Oklahoma. Lots of Long horns, farm land and wide open spaces.

ALL THIS is going in the car? Wait there is still the big suit case, the car seat, the pack n' play and the computer moniter.

I love you I'll miss you

Coleman giving me fish kisses

Goodbyes are not the time for me to put on makeup as you can see. Lacey looks great.

Watching mommy and daddy load up the car.

The first day after Christmas that the sidewalks were clear enough for Coleman to ride his bike was the day they were leaving to go back to Oklahoma. He caught on to the peddle thing quite fast.

RIDE'M COWBOY

We decided to get out of the shed a rocking horse that was Lance's when he was Coleman's age. "Lance" is painted on the side of the horse. It is all original except for the handles had to be replaced with a heavier dowel. It's beat up and could use some TLC; however Lance will not let me do a thing to it. He likes it just the way it is. Coleman had a blast on it.

PLAYING IN THE SNOW

Coleman doesn't get snow in Oklahoma. When he saw the snow here he couldn't get enough. The day it hailed he wanted to go outside so bad that I walked out on the deck with him both of us in bare feet and no coat on. We stood looking up at the sky while the hail splattered all over our faces. Coleman was so excited. He loved it.

BOTH MOM'S FOR THE HOLIDAY'S

We had both of our mom's over for dinner during the holiday's. They are both alone and Christmas can be a lonely time. We can get so busy that it is easy to forget them sometimes. Coleman helped me make the meatloaf. The meat was real cold so he thought he would just poke his little finger in the meat mixing with one finger.

We had mom and her fiance Henry over for dinner Christmas day. Lacey and Chris enjoyed getting to know Henry and he passed their cross examination with flying colors. JK We played games with mom while Henry watched True Grit with Lance.

MERRY CHRISTMAS MYA

Mya is such a joy. She is always in such a lovable mood. She had no clue what was going on of course but we enjoyed watching mom and dad pull on her new hat and unwrap all her new clothes. We bought Mya a fun play center with songs and sounds for her crib. She played with it the minute the wrap came off. I can't get enough of her cute little cheeks and she lets me smootch her and smootch and smootch and smootch.

MERRY CHRISTMAS COLEMAN

Both of our grand children were with us this Christmas which was a blessing. Santa was good to Coleman this year. His bike was hidden behind the couch. The boys were moving the couch to the other wall to make more room for gift opening. Coleman was standing in the middle of the floor waiting. When he turned his head he spotted his bike, pointed to it and with eyes wide open he said "Ohhhh bike huh? He hopped right on and called it his. My project this year was to make a quiet book. Coleman has a hard time sitting still in church. He gets very bored. I know, he's only 22 months old and the speakers just seem to be a bit over his little head, go figure. The last book I made was about 25 years ago and the majority of young moms today don't sew; therefore I could not find patternes anywhere. I went on line and found a few ideas but nothing that great. Thank goodness mom still had the tool to make the holes in the pages and set the eyelets. The cover is made of camoflauge, not my first choice but all the boys thought it was rad, so it won out. He will have hours of fun. I'm glad I made it and KEPT the patterns for Mya's book in a couple of years.

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST

Riley was up extra early to fix breakfast for everyone. He fixed fried potatoes with peppers and onions, eggs over easy, link sausage, sliced pears and my bottled grape juice. On the side he had a plate of grated cheese, sour cream and variety of cut peppers. The table was set with my snowmen dishes and table cloth. How appropriate for the snowman decorated kitchen. I wonder if he noticed? Oh probably. The food tasted so good. Just what the body needs to start off a busy day which usually consists of JUNK food. Better yet, I didn't set Riley up to this. Thank you again Riley, it was great.