Rock On! Abe is 51

Hee hee!  We were so tricky!  We planned a surprise birthday party for Abe's 51st birthday.  Everyone gathered at the Riverton Chubby's banquet room and then--after running a few made up errands together, Abe and I showed up, and we all enjoyed a tasty dinner.  Then we all went around sharing what we loved about Abe.  Most of the comments were about how caring he is and how much he loves his family.  It was very tender.

The surprise gathering was Clark's idea-- and a very fine idea it was.  

But the surprises weren't over yet....

Before we ran our excuse errands, we dropped Peter and Greta at Ben and Bethany's for a "movie night".  But as soon as we dropped them off, they all headed back to our house to decorate for Phase 2.

George "went to the gym" with Landen.  But actually, they headed over to Chubby's to decorate for the Phase 1.

This is what we came home to-- a karaoke party!!  This was most definitely our family's cup of tea.  It was sooo much fun!

Clark kicked it off with a little Billy Joel-- "Movin' Out"

Ben and Beth did couple of duets-- "Double Trouble" from Eurovision and "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton.  And can I just say-- these two can SING!

And and I performed our traditional and ever-inspiring "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross.  We've been doing it for years... and dare I say, we are actually improving?

Faith and Landen sang "Don't Go Breaking My Heart"

In one of the most hysterical moments of the night-- Cannon singing "Lion of Love" from Eurovision

Peter's first ever karaoke-- "Viva la Vida".  Well done, Peter!

Greta rocked "Party in the USA"

George-- who was quite the vocal revelation-- performed "A Man Without Love"

Hunter-- who, btw-- is also an fantastic singer performed "Hooked on a Feeling" .

The whole night it was so fun to cheer and sing along.  It was like our own personal little rock concert.  

You probably wouldn't... but you might ask... Betsy, why did you get such a boring cake?  Well the truth is, I was trying so hard to decide what message to write on the cake that I forgot to specify any other decoration or frosting color.  So I suppose the Costco worker went with the gender neutral yellow.  Oh well.  It was tasty, nonetheless.

Go ahead and treat yourself-- have a little listen

January Gets a Bad Rap

We have our extended Fox family, our extended Cannon family, and our book club family.  This book club family has been a joyous part of our lives for over 20 years.  The Schramm's daughter Sariah got married at the start of January.  It was wonderful to be at the temple together to celebrate

It was fun to help out at the reception along with Corrine and Landon.

Camille is my dear friend and walking partner.  We've helped each other through some periods of serious parental growth!  The best advice I can give to other moms in any stage of mothering is to get a good walking partner who is in a similar stage of life.  And pray that, like Camille, she is dependable and funny and open and trustworthy and willing to bear your burdens with you

And along with working through the hard times, you can thoroughly celebrate the good times together as well.  

And then someday, you too, can get matching winter-walking hats.

We had a really memorable moment on January 11th-- George was ordained to be a Priest and then he joined Abe, Cannon, and Hunter in ordaining Peter to the office of deacon.  

Of course I love these boys--- but I sure like them as well:)  I feel very loved by them and blessed to be their mom.

We recently learned to play a fun game-- The Fox Experiment-- in which you get to breed baby foxes.  Obviously, Abe and I are experts:)

Tons of pieces, but very fun to name your baby foxes

Taking Peter to the temple for the first time

These three little dudes passed the Sacrament for the first time together.

We had a lovely evening of games over at Landen's family's house.  

Faith has mastered the art of the sourdough bread.  It is  A LOT of time and effort to make a delicious loaf of sourdough.  

When she finishes a loaf we all descend on her and beg for a slice. She also makes her own .honey butter--- mmmm, yummy!

We had a few scary days last months when my dad suffered a minor stroke.  Well, it seemed minor, in that, he suffered no lasting ill-effects.  But he did end up in the neurocritical unit of the University of Utah because a clot was lodged in a precarious place near his brain.  Abe and Steve went up to visit and give him a Priesthood blessing.  We are very grateful he is home again and doing well.

We were excited to go see A Beautiful Noise with Andrea and friends.  It is a musical about the music  and life of Neil Diamond.

We were, and still are, big fans of the music of Neil Diamond.  Maybe not so much the life of Neil Diamond.  But who am I to judge? 

I love to see how much our kiddos love our grandkiddos.  

Daniel's newest trick is playing dead.  He is such a funny little guy and he's basically a rock star when he come to the house.

Post Christmas St. George

 

Quarter zips were all the rage on the Sunday after Christmas.  

Early Monday morning, the six of us loaded into the car to join Baden and Mary's family at her family's vacation home in St. George.  This was a marvelous trip, because we didn't have plans.  Well, I suppose we did have plans to just relax and take it very easy.  I should probably have that plan a little more often.  So on the drive down we stopped at the church's historical site of Cove Fort. 

The kids were kind of in silly moods, but it was quite enjoyable. 

Speaking of silly

I adore pioneer era decor

Our first full day in St. George we took our whole gang to Zions National Park.  Our group was 18 strong and tending towards unruly.  So it was a little bit like herding cats.  But once again-- it was quite fun.  The key to inner peace in such a situation is low expectations.  Case in point, Cannon was missing from this group picture because he got separated from the group and we didn't know where he was.  In the end he did find us, but oh well.  

Originally Clark and Brianna had planned to join us, but their plans changed and they didn't come down-- sadness for us.  We also missed Elinor and Hunter. 

The Three Patriarchs-- Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

The vacation home was amazing!  The backyard was fabulous and even though St. George was having a cold spell, the pool was warm

The teenage boys enjoyed having the the studio apartment above the garage to themselves.  

I love this picture of Uncle Abe and Charlie.  He is such an entertaining little guy.

Cannon and Will spent a lot of time on the sport court

One of the evenings, some college friends of Baden and Mary's joined us for dinner.  The all had a great time and we really enjoyed their friends.  Dare I say they are our friends now, too?  Yes, I do say it.

Charlie and Charlie

We played a lot of games and I loved it!

Peter and Henry

Poor Greta got a really bad stomach ache on New Year's Eve.  We got in the car to take her into an Instcare-- but sadly, it had closed early because of the holiday.  We convinced her to go get a drink and maybe walk around Target to see if it eased before we had to drop some serious cash at the ER.  As we pushed her around in the cart, all of a sudden she turned a little green-- and then tossed some serious cookies on the target carpet in the girls clothing section.  Ewww.  We got some supplies and cleaned it up and remarkably, she then felt markedly better.  

No ER!  YAY!

On the way back to the house we stopped at the St. George Temple for a little pic.

George celebrating the New Year in style

You know what's funny about New Years?  On any given night I can (and do) easily stay up to midnight or later.  But somehow, on New Year's Eve, it feels so hard to stay up.  

Those cheeks and that tummy!  So yummy!

On one of the nights, Mary fired up the outdoor pizza oven for personal pizzas.  I was a very big fan. Mary is an adventurous and accomplished cook.  For many years I've known that when I'm with her I will be eating WELL!

This picture speaks for itself.  I think they are both in their happy place

Abe led the youngsters in a little D&D adventure.  According to Abe, that whole "unruly" thing came into play again and it wasn't the most effective campaign.  Alas

On the way home we stopped at Kolob Canyons.  It was stunning and I'd love to go hike there, but this was kind of just a drive in-- be awed by God's handiwork-- and drive back out.  

Driving home, I wore my Hug Sleep (aka my Snuggie Wuggie).  I slept like a dream.  Mock me if you will, but I find it so soothing.

I understand that a Snuggie Wuggie might not be everyone's cup of tea.  No, I do not feel claustrophobic.  Yes, I can easily get out of it-- but why would I want to?