Gabers

Roland and I went to Fort Collins to see Gabe on his 23rd birthday. 

I was caught off guard and slightly stunned when he opened his door, 

he looked so much like a photo of my dad in the 70's. 

The look of baby love in 1990. My eyes give it away - I'm in love with this boy.

Gabriel David

 What a lovey baby he was. Those big brown eyes and they way he nuzzled 

his soft head into my neck.

I'm pretty sure I have told you this before, but Gabe likes to tell a story 

about how when he was about 15 and had been pushing my buttons and had me quite worked up. He is super smart and was really good at pushing my buttons. 

I was so irritated that I said, "If I had a gun -" 

and my original feeling was that I would shoot him. I was that upset. 

But as the words started to come out of my mouth I knew I loved him more than 

life and I couldn't imagine the thought of shooting but I could imagine something else, 

so I said, in my fed-up-mom voice:

"If I had a gun I would...bonk you on the head with it!"

Oh, he laughed and laughed. 

Gabe always says he wants to make a t-shirt with that phrase on it. Occasionally when he feels the need 

to show me he loves me by teasing me a bit he will say 

"if I had a gun..." 

with a smirk on his face. Does that make us sound like a terrible family? 

No. 

We are the family that does and says goofy things and then we laugh at ourselves later. 

People say that children's brains finish off around the age 22-25 and they start acting like adults. 

I see this in Gabe. 

He is kind. He thinks of others. 

He reserves his judgement and instead, he helps. 

He wants to make his family, home, community, and world a better, cleaner, safer place.

 He likes to laugh with us. He appreciates love and how it makes life easier and more enjoyable. 

He has experienced things that we didn't want him to experience, but he is okay

and they have made him stronger and more compassionate. 

He is a joy. We always love our children, but its so nice to like your children.

I like you Gabe. 

Happy Birthday.

And So, We Had Christmas

This was probably the nicest Christmas we have had in years. So many things went well. 

Roland would catch my eye and give me that satisfied look that said, 

"Here we all are, together."

Our house has been party central. We kicked of the season hosting a party with Roland's 

work group, 

a fine group of folks who are kind and smart and fun to be with. 

Then we hosted a Smith Family Christmas Dinner right before Noah's recital. We packed

 so many dear friends and family into our home. 

What a wonderful evening! 

 Swan, Hannah's roommate who joined us for Christmas, inspects licorice for her gingerbread house. 

Noah and Ike joined me in the ward choir for the Christmas program. It is such a treat to

 sing with your boys in the choir. And then it was Christmas Eve. 

We went to The Broadmoor for family pictures. 

We are a rambunctious group of trouble makers and got yelled at for throwing rocks on

 the frozen lake. 

 My favorite purse, Joyana the amazing photographer, and Noah. 

Christmas Eve was wonderful with the Mike Smith family. 

We ate Grandma Jennie's Christmas Tamales and green chili and re-enacted the nativity 

complete 

with our very young cousins who had something of a fall out when young 

Joseph and the Angel had a meltdown over which doll baby Jesus got to be in the manger. 

Unfortunately, 

I didn't have my camera but on my niece's camera I got a photo of both Joseph and the

 Angel in open mouthed tears while Mary stood by in complete composure. 

It was quite memorable. 

 The traditional Christmas Eve PJ opening. 

After we settled down we read the story of Christ's birth and watch a video on LDS.org of the nativity. 

It was a tender moment that quickly turned goofy and crazy as each child 

tried to outdo the next. Some things never change.

Christmas morning was snowy and bright. We slowly opened presents 

and then spent most of the day enjoying the gifts before seeing 

Les Mis 

(2 thumbs up but Gabe said there was entirely too much singing and most everyone liked The Hobbit better). 

The house is that kind of joyful post-Christmas mess that doesn't seem to bother me 

until everyone leaves. 

Swan left Wednesday, Gabe left yesterday, and Hannah and Noah leave today. 

And then the house will be quieter and cleaner. I will accidentally call Ike 

"Gabe" and "Noah" 

for a week while Ike complains about how boring our house is without the rowdy noisy siblings.

Merry Christmas!

January 14

It's cold and dreary today. 

But the fireplace is on, Pandora is playing, and I am ready to start a little home improvement project (building an ottoman) so I am feeling happy! 

Roland came home for the weekend and we moved Gabe up to Fort Collins for college. 

He wants to major in Stream Biology and that makes me feel proud of him. I can see him tromping around the mountains, with a beard and a backpack, measuring streams and rivers and gazing off into a bright and happy future.  

Gabe is renting a master bedroom and has his own in-room bathroom and a sun room with a hot tub. 

Fort Collins is such a great college town. 

I am looking forward to visiting Gabe there next month and having him show me the sights.

Pulled off to the side on I25. Roland and Gabe re-secure the truckload.

We also watched Ike, #34, play basketball. He loves basketball and after 2011-The Year Of Broken Bones he is doing quite well! He starts and has been asked to play up a year.

Sunday, after church, we came home and put on our sweats/PJs and napped, played games, read, and hibernated. 

Best day of the week.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with the Phipps, Nixons, and Ovards. 

It was delicious and oh! so! fun!

 Missing Hannah

 Julie (the hostess) and Tom near one of the 3 tables set up for the meal.

 Joanne, Julie, Kelly, Claire, Me, Tori, and Laurel

Gabe, Noah and Tori

 The boys: 9 of them between ages 15-22. There wasn't a single bite of mashed potatoes left over.

 Julie, Kelly, and lots of fabulous homemade food. That turkey was ridiculously huge.

 Casey with a small portion of the soccer gear for Ethiopia.

Deck The Deck

 It's time for the deck to be stained again. So we asked these really nice guys to do it for us. Ok. Truth be told we forced them to do it. But we fed them real well and let them listen to what ever music they wanted.

Before.

Well, not really before because the deck is already being sanded. 

 Halfway done.

One of our handsome helpers.

Our other handsome helper - covered with sawdust. 

Finished product. It looks fabulous and makes me feel rich and lucky everytime I look outside. 

Excited!

27 years of wedded bliss:

I am excited that Roland got me 3 flats of plants and a new Telavera plate for our 27th anniversary. 

I am excited that two of my sisters are spending the week with me! They arrive today! We will miss you Kristen and Melissa and Mom!

I am excited that the basement is finally done! WooHoo! (go Here)

I am excited that Hannah got a second crew in Alaska - although that means that she won't be home at all this summer. But WOW! What a job! (She has to carry a shotgun at all times and will sleep inside an electric fence!)

I am happy and excited that Gabe got to spend a week with the Plickas!

I am excited that school gets out this week! 

I am excited that Spring is finally here! I hope!

:)

And! I am excited for Ike's Middle School Continuation tonight!

The College Loop

3 kids

3 cities

5 days

Roland and I aren't much for being told what to do but this week we let the kids take charge. We spent one day with each child and let them plan the activities, who we would meet, where we would eat, what we would do. 

Grand Junction/Mesa State:

This is where Gabe The Babe lives. After meeting his friends, we walked around the quaint downtown and ate Indian food and gelato. He took us to Colorado Monument where we went on a little hike and admired the amazing view. We found the Kokopelli trail head and many pleasant hours were spent planning the next mountain bike trip. We also saw "Battle Los Angeles" and all agreed it was a super dud. 

Lots of hugs and kisses and we were off to:

Provo/BYU:

 This is where Hannah lives. Can you tell Ike is color blind? Does it matter? Too bad I didn't take more pictures of the funky house, she and her roommates have really made it hip and trendy and quite the hangout spot. Yes, Hannah is holding a can of hot chocolate mix I just canned at the church cannery (pretty much the best hot chocolate ever). 

After admiring a garden Hannah and her friends are building in SLC we went for a fancy vegan pizza dinner. The next morning we walked around Bridal Vail falls.

We had an early lunch with the Smith Cousins, staring Ashley and Calvin (who was indisposed when I had the camera out). Hannah also arranged a lovely dinner at Clark's family home where we were treated to delicious food and wonderful company. I was having such a nice time I forgot to take pictures. Too bad, because it was beautiful. Susan really knows how to throw a party!

Hannah gave us the tour of her BYU classes, we ran into Kallene Cutler (yay Kallene!), and got to meet Hannah's favorite professor. Then, after replenishing our BYU apparel supply we said goodbye.

IKEA:

Roland had never been to an IKEA (I know, right?) so we dragged him through there and now he is looking forward to the huge one being built in Denver.

Logan/USU:

This is where Noah lives. Noah was very excited about sharing some great restaurants with us. So we ate fancy food and awesome local food. Then we toured the music school and his dorm and met some of his friends. He is happy at USU and playing piano non-stop. We found an empty room and he played for us. I could spend hours listening to him play. 

Late that evening we headed to our hotel to lounge around and do some serious back scratching (Noah's favorite). I've been telling Roland that Noah is taller and he refused to believe it until he saw this picture. It was a victorious moment for Noah. 

Noah is 6' 6.5". That's pretty tall.

After a delicious breakfast at "Angie's, Where the Locals Eat" - we headed home only to find the road closed and white out conditions at Logan Canyon summit. After some tricky blind driving, freaking out as we bounced off snow drifts, we finally went back down to Ogden and drove through terrible storms in Wyoming - getting through them right before they closed those roads (there were miles where we only went 10 mph with our blinkers on because we couldn't see anything. Scary.). 

It was a crazy (and VERY LONG) drive home but seeing the kids in their places, eating where they eat, meeting their friends, it was worth the white knuckles.

TwentyTen Thanksgivin

My Happy Place.

 It snowed. A lot.

 The turkey - filled with popcorn.

 There was a talent show.

 Lots of hugging and kissing.

And some singing.

 The oldest ones.

 Ike was happy to tease someone besides me.

 Hot chocolate in the snow.

Sledding dare devil.

Thanksgiving 2010