Life is Sweet

It's here! Part 2.

I'll try to break it down into days to keep things organized.

December 26th we thought would be a great day to take the fam to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. There had been a lot of snow on Christmas night, so for some crazy reason I thought most people would stay in their cozy little homes. Nope. The mall was a swarm of people, shopping like there was no tomorrow. I found it fascinating. While we were waiting the hour+ to be seated (we thought we would be early enough to not have wait that long... nope), Mar asked me to accompany her to Hot Topic. Let it be known that Hot Topic is one of my all-time least favorite stores to peruse, and one of Mar's faves. The place was packed as we tried to look at the Pokemon seatbelt-style belts, the tees, and the jewelry. I tried my best to be patient so Mar could consider carefully her purchases (she had Grandma and Grandpa Syddall's Christmas money burning a hole in her pocket). She finally made her selections and we headed back to meet up with everyone at The Cheesecake Factory.

The dinner was lovely and filling, and the company entertaining and fun.

December 27th was our pre-determined (after a few postponements due to weather) family picture day. I thought it would be a great idea to take pics at the 17 Mile Historic House just down Parker Rd. I was working that morning, but had carefully scheduled my appointments to give me plenty of time to get ready... shower... maybe even curl my hair...put on the false eyelashes my girls swore would make my eyes look great in the pictures... you know, those extra things I usually NEVER do.

Near the end of my hair appointments, Bill called to inform me that Taylor and Lynnea had left to run a few errands and their car had suddenly rendered itself unusable. He was on his way to wait for a tow truck, take it to a repair shop, and then bring them home. I knew Lynnea would want more time to get ready, so I offered to meet them halfway to the repair shop. In my head I was calculating down to the minute how my schedule would need to go, but I was also determined to cut Bill's voluminous needed-a-cut-three-weeks-ago hair. He and Tay pulled in shortly after Lynnea and I arrived home, so I began to quickly cut. In the end, I had less than 20 minutes to get myself ready because we were in a race against the daylight.

= no shower

= no long, carefully coiffed, curled hair

= eyelashes applied in the car while everyone else stood in the cold of the CLOSED 17-Mile House Farm and froze. Absolutely no stress or pressure, if you get my drift.

I think we managed a couple pictures before Scarlett (and the rest of us) needed some warmth.

Note to self: the hand-in-your-pocket pose is not a great look for you. Taylor can pull it off, though.

Then we tried to think of someplace indoors that we could possibly get a few shots, and headed for the PACE Center. It didn't have much inside, but had some possibilities outside near a door, so most of us could stay nice and warm while we waited for Austin to set up the shot.

Once we had the all-ready, we walked outside.

Suddenly I tripped, then slipped, and went down hard.

I hit my knee, my hip, my elbow, and, despite my best efforts to keep my head away from the cement, heard the thump as the back of my head met pavement.

Yes, I wanted to cry, but I wanted those darn family pictures more, so I asked Bill to PLEASE stop asking if I was okay, and let's take the dang picture!

After a few shots, Austin's camera had a brain freeze and momentarily stopped functioning.

Que sera, sera.

We headed inside to stay warm while he worked on the camera.

We took a few point-and-shoot masterpieces while we waited.

Note to Bill: the hand-on-your-wife's-muffin-top only brings attention to... your wife's muffin top.

After a few minutes Austin had the camera ready to roll, so we snapped one or two more family pics.

So the picture session wasn't stellar, and there were a lot o' kinks along the way, but, thanks to Austin's photographic expertise, at least we came away with a few good pics. I had every intention of whipping up a quickie Christmas/New Years card to send out to friends and family, but I've yet to carry through. I'm still contemplating it, but wondering if it's too odd to send them out now...

or for Valentine's Day...?

In his efforts to preserve our unplanted spring bulbs a few weeks earlier, Bill planted a lovely pot of paperwhites.

They WERE lovely to look at, but my-oh-my, they didn't smell very good. On one of the first mornings after they had bloomed, Taylor walked into the kitchen and asked if one of the dogs had {pooped} inside. Nope. A few minutes later he thought perhaps one of them puked (Conan was sick for most of his CO stay). Nope. After some sniffing around, we discovered it was these beautiful flowers. Shilo and I agreed that they smelled like a cadaver lab. Regardless of what exactly they smelled like, we could all concur that it wasn't very pleasant.

December 28th: Taylor and Lynnea headed to Conifer with Lynnea's dad and sister that morning (their car was still indisposed), and Jason arrived in the evening to a fondue dinner.

His comment: "I've never had a dinner quite like this." Nice. We like to impress.

December 29th. Sorry, no pics.

I worked at the salon.

(Someday I will post my true feelings about ~~having~~ needing to work through the holidays.)

Lexee went to the oral surgeon to have her implant checked.

To her delight, it's ready for a tooth (her wedding pre-requisite).

Yes, she can get married on April 11th.

Phew.

The 29th was also Taylor and Lynnea's 3rd Anniversary.

They had planned to spend the evening in downtown Denver, but, after their car trouble, cancelled the hotel. Bummer. If I were a rich man['s wife], I would have covered them.

But I am so, so rich in blessings.

December 30th.

Taylor and Lynnea came down to pick up their car from the shop (diagnostic only), grab the parts that it needed, and stop by our garage to fix 'er up. I was super impressed that oh-so-non-mechanical Billy-my-hero offered to assist. While they worked on the car, the rest of us went to town re-tying one of Taylor's old college-to-mission-to-marriage blankets. Lucky for me, I still had the quilt frames I had borrowed for Michaela's college blanket. I really should take them back.

Jason proved his quilting skills quite deftly. I'm supa impressed.

(I had pulled them all out of bed to help... we had a time limit, you know.)

Wonderful Sweet Scarlett was entertained by Mickey and Aunt Mauri.

Late that evening we picked up Mic and her mama at DIA.

Michaela had been scheduled to arrive the day previous, but due to bad weather and a flight cancellation, she had to wait an extra day in TX.

December 31st.

Austin took Lex and Jason's engagement pics.

They turned out AMAZING.

Then we prepared for the big New Year's celebration.

I made my very first cheeseball.

*The dogs and I finished it off yesterday.*

We had a huge spread of fruits and veggies, meatballs and wings, spring rolls and summer wraps, cream puffs and Italian sodas. YUM.

Jason's brother and sister-in-law stopped by for a few hours to play games and hang out.

It was fun to meet and get to know them better.

This group played some golf... (no cheating going on, right?)

Shilo, Mic and friends went to the youth dance.

Only because their BFF Anna was in charge of it.

Britt, Scarlett and I hung out and played under the Christmas tree while Austin edited pics (and maybe did a little game playing...? I hope!)

(I think this is one of my fave pics of Scarlett. I just want to gobble that baby up!)

After Scarlett had zonked out, and Jason's fam had departed, we waited around for the big countdown.

Bill fell asleep on the couch around 11:40, so we decided to trick him and started counting down. 10... 9... 8... 7... he started joining in around then. It was worth a good chuckle.

Finally the moment arrived, and we did a low-volume-there's-a-sleeping-baby-in-the-house celebration. Which involved some kissing. That's quiet, right?

Hello, 2015.

(You'd better be good to me.)

The pups were exhausted along with the rest of us.

January 1st.

We had a Graduation/Farewell luncheon for Michaela at Red Robin.

Mar and Cate played in the snow.

Rebecca and I made a dinner for the fabulous Hansen family, movin' on up to Kaysville, UT.

3 of these beautiful ladies were in my Laurel class this past year... they are amazing young women!

Then we confronted Lex's bedbug issue head on.

She and Jason decided that they would be leaving the following day so they could stop in UT to see his dad and stepmom. Since Lex had a bazillion loads of laundry, we had both washers and dryers going non-stop throughout the day and into the wee hours of the next morning.

After spraying Lex's big suitcase with Terminix and having a few pesky bugs rear their ugly heads, we decided it was best to be safe and toss the luggage. ($$$)

During the same time Britt and I madly worked away on a banner for a bridal shower for a friend's daughter...

...while Scarlett enjoyed a few grahams and a Mickey episode.

Once the banner was finished, I hung it on the mantel just to see how it looked.

My astonished family kept asking, "The shower's not HERE, is it?"

Thankfully, no.

Just checkin' out the banner, that's all.

The morning of December 2nd Mic and her mama headed out at 6am.

After my 2:30am bedtime the evening prior, I forgot to snap some pics. Darn it.

I mixed up some syrup, made some chocolate waffle mix, and gathered a lot o' gear to run over for the bridal shower by 8:30am, then headed back home to wish Lex and Jason a safe drive to UT, then on to ID for school.

Bill headed off to work, so Austin, Britt, Scarlett, Mar and I went out to lunch at Crave.

(Love this pic of Scarlett, too. Heck, I love all pictures of Scarlett.)

Can you see why this burger is called Sin City?

Britt and Austin tried the Love Stinks burger, too.
(Voted Best Burger in Denver for 2014 - they had the trophy to prove it.)

Sodalicious.

We stopped by the Outlets to peruse.

Scarlett fell asleep in her daddy's arms. So presh.

Britt and Mar waited in a lengthy line to use the restroom.
Not sure why I thought it pic worthy.

Late that evening, Shilo and I put together her Christmas gifts for her friends (just a few days late).

That girl spent most of her time with her BFFs, and this was seriously taking things down to the wire, since she would be leaving early the next morning with Britt and Austin to head back to school.