"HAPPY IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE"

As many of you know, we went to Los Angeles to visit Larry's parent's over Thanksgiving. In the weeks before the trip we spent all our trip money repairing our car (the steel belt in one of the tires broke, which made that tire and the others messed up so we had to get new tires at the last minute, we got a fuel injection cleaning - worked miracles! and a bunch of other little things)- which drove like a dream, by the way, I still love it! So, when the time came to leave I was kind of stressed out, but it will be okay. Of course, I am so glad that we went!

Imagine our surprise when Friday morning, November 16th, we found a present from Santa Claus under our set-up early Christmas tree! Santa gave us tickets to Disneyland, Legoland, and Medieval Knights! The kids were so excited to find out that we were REALLY going to Disneyland and Legoland! They just thought we were going to California to do ... nothing?. Who knows?

Friday night, we stopped at Utah's house in Reno. Her house is beautiful and peaceful. Her family are our dear friends. She is a great hostess! It was so great to see Utah, Heber, Hanny, Dallin, and Carter! I was so sad to leave! I actually got teary. I wish they would just move back to Spokane! We were there for too short of a time and had to leave in the morning to get to Wicked on time.

(I took the cutest pic of their whole family, but I lost it when my camera broke ((good thing we had a back up!)) on the trip. Sad, I know. But doesn't Utah look smashing in her matching jammies? She hates this picture but let me leave it up so show we were really there.)

It's good thing we left early because L.A. traffic was beyond terrible! We made it to Wicked with about five minutes to spare! Wicked was beyond great, fabulous, terrific, amazing, fantastic, magnificent, astounding, awesome! I was worried because I had built it up so much in my mind and you know how sometimes you think it will be better than you imagined? Not a problem here! It was INCREDIBLE!! My only regret is that I never did get a Wicked hoodie, which I really did want. I have the reverse of buyer's remorse: non-buyer's remorse.

Don't you hate it when you have someone take pictures of you at a really important place and they all come out so shaky the person must have had the D.T.s? Well, that is what happened at Wicked:

(We are holding up 16 fingers to show this was for Rachel's 16th birthday.)
Sunday we went to church at the Adam's ward in Los Angeles. It is where Larry's parents have been serving for the past 16 months. I have never met such loving, tender, good people in my life. They just embraced us, literally. I have not been hugged so much in a three hour time slot since my wedding reception. Their chapel is really beautiful and unique, just like the ward members.

(Here's the family outside the chapel. Matthew is hiding in the shadows.)
Monday and Tuesday we hit Disneyland bright and early with a plan from RideMax (http://www.ridemax.com/) in hand. I totally recommend them, by the way. We did everything with time to spare in one day. The second day we went to California Adventure and spent more time with our favorite things from the first day. The weather was perfect! A hoodie at night was all you needed, the days were just right in short sleeves. Sort of like April 24th. (Can you name the movie?)

(Cinderella's castle was all decorated with snow this time of year, it was so beautiful! Matthew was actually asleep on his feet. We took him out of the stroller and he stood there, sound asleep. We put him back in without him every knowing that is what we did.)

(It's A Small World is my favorite ride! If I could get dolls like this, I might want to collect them.)

(Ben and Joseph as buddies for a ride. Looks like an age progression photo, doesn't it? Joseph was a fearless maniac! He went on EVERY ride that he was tall enough to go on and he didn't hold on at all. On all the rollercoasters, everything, his hands are HIGH in the air! On one ride at Legoland, he had to go at a level one, not a five, because he was barely tall enough. Afterwards, he was so mad! He said, "That was dumb! It went slow and I didn't get to go upside down at all!")

(Disneyland was magic for Matthew!)

(It's dorky, but I totally recommend the same color shirts (orange) for your kids at Disneyland. You can always see them and the colors look great in pictures! Here are my pretty girls on the Storybook Canal Cruise.)

(Joseph and Daniel entering the mouth of the whale that ate Pinnochio.)

Wednesday Larry and I went to the Los Angeles temple and did a session there. Okay, that temple is HUGE!!! And really gorgeous and beautiful. Afterwards, we drove around Hollywood and Sunset Blvd. and Santa Monica Blvd. We barely made it to our dinner at Medieval Knights in time!

(Here we are with "our" knight - he was the bad guy but we cheered for him anyway. Larry's parents also came with us and it was a fun night!)

(While on our trip, on Wednesday, November 21st, Larry and I celebrated 17 years of wedded bliss!! Aren't we nice to share our anniversary with our kids?)

(The little boys at the Temple Patrons' Apartments. They have fun wherever they are.)

Thanksgiving Day we spent with Larry's parents. I don't know how Mom Sant managed to make such a big, delicious feast in their very small apartment, but she did! The food was great! The company was great! Afterwards, we went to the beaches in Malibu. We were the only ones in the water, of course! The kids loved the waves and the temperature wasn't that cold. We all laughed when we saw a California girl, in a heavy sweater (okay, the beach is windy) AND furry boots (okay, that's in style) AND (our favorite) EARMUFFS!!! It was NOT that cold! As we were leaving Saturday morning, Malibu was burning again, right near where we were. We counted 31 full-on gigantic fire trucks headed down the freeway as we drove out of Dodge.

(I know people were thinking we were crazy! The kids had a great time, they were laughing and joking and it was pretty much one of the those rare moments when you forget about the money and the fighting and the whining and the stretch marks/fat and exhaustion and say, "this is all worth it!")

Friday we went to Legoland. When we went there eight years ago, it was the highlight of our trip! It was still fun this year, but not as great as I remembered it. I think it is best for families with kids under ten. Mom and Dad Sant came with us. All of out kids loved it and we had a great day! It is really an amazing place.

(Matthew riding one of the Legoland horses.)

(This is a evil ride at Legoland called "Knights' Joust". You can pick levels one through five. Joseph and I went on level one and he was not impressed (see above comment under his photo). Level FIVE is another story. This arm thing whips you around and in circles and in flips and upside down and inside out all at neckbreaking speed. It nearly dumps you in the water. You have to have tied shoes to ride it, take out all piercings, and have nothing loose on you. Wallets come out of back pockets and land in the water below. This was Rachel and Ben. It is hard to describe how violent it is, just let me say, it is not for the faint of heart!)

Saturday we got up, cleaned up our apartment, and left for Utah. We got to see my family which rocked! We were just in and out, though. Sunday we drove home. It is good to be home, but it is really cold here and it gets dark early!

And now, back to real life ... ugh.

I (((HEART))) DONNY OSMOND!!!

Yes, there is another man in my life. That man would be Donny Osmond, whom I have loved since I was about ... well ... six years old! Let's evaluate his possible influence on my life:

A- Purple has been my favorite color my WHOLE life!
B- Three of my four serious boyfriends had dark, wavy hair. (Although it is straight in the above picture, it was wavy during my formative years.)
C- All four serious boyfriends could sing.
D- Larry, the fourth serious boyfriend (and winner of my heart)- has curly brown hair, a fabulous voice, AND he can dance!


Today I broke a rule of mine and watched "Oprah" because, well, my first favorite boy band was on. Who can't love the Osmonds? I don't want to know if you can't.

On the Oprah show, the Osmonds were very sweet. They bore their testimonies about eternal life and eternal families. They were sweet and supportive to each other. The tributes they paid to their mother and father were so sweet. When Marie said that she wished her parents could raise every young man in the world, that she has great brothers, I was nearly teary. They danced (they can still move in unison!) and they sang and it was just a great, feel good show! I was so glad that I watched in instead of taking a nap.

I thought (again) how it is so ironic that this "tragedy" that two deaf sons is the blessing that started the Osmonds on the road to stardom. Of course, none of them are perfect, but it didn't come off that way.

Then, as icing on my cake, they ended the show with their trademark song, "May Tomorrow Be A Perfect Day ..." I seriously did get teary.

Memories - sitting in the yellow beanbag chair in the Holbrook house, watching the show with all my siblings. Acting the show out afterwards. Using the yellow and orange string lights as spotlights. I totally wanted to be able to rollerskate like they did. I could go on and on but Rachel wants to post her tribute on Facebook :) - successful parenting!! She loves Donny, too!

For my birthday two years ago, Sari, me, Rachel, and Utah saw DONNY in Concert in Spokane. Oh my gosh!! He is BEAUTIFUL!!! He can totally dance for a grandpa, for anyone for that matter! It was a great night! We made the shirts just for the concert and EVERYONE loved them. I should have brought more and sold them on the side, I would have made a fortune. (That might have been illegal?)

HAPPINESS only $3!

I just loved the Neopolitian colors (plus green) in this yarn and at $2.38 I just had to buy it (and one with varying colors of blue and brown). To my surprise, the skein made more than three hats! Who knew there could be such happiness for less than three dollars?

The hats found happy homes! Foreigner, Sari, and Journey.

TIE A YELLOW RIBBON!

Just a quick update - my baby is back!!

It got a new fuel pump, the broken seat fixed and new rear brakes. Next week we will do some power-steering stuff.

Ahhh ... the Suburban is in the garage and all is right in the world.

Thank you for your kind words and pleasant thoughts during this difficult time.

GOODBYE OLD FRIEND, come back soon

On Sunday morning our Suburban wouldn't start. And yes, we were ready EARLY and in the car EARLY and it just wouldn't catch, like it needed more gas. It has been slow to start for a week now getting worse every day.

The O'Donnals stopped by on their way to church and tried to jump it but it wasn't the battery. In the meantime, I called Larry and told him we would be late and why. Then he called back and said that Rick (in bishopric with Larry) said that we would could take their minivan since Jan (his wife) was staying home because Chad's babysitter was sick. (Chad is their 22 year old severely autistic son.)

The kids were whining and saying stuff like, "Why do we have this old car? It's embarrassing. Let's get a new car. Let's get a Nitro like the Jones'. Let's get a new Suburban like the Grovers'. Let's get a new car. This is just a old piece of junk, Mom." Etc. Etc. I said, "Yeah, I'll just pull the money for a new car out of my $%&!" (Not my best moment and I did say "butt" not "$%&".) Then, I tenderly patted the dashboard and talked soothingly to the car to try to counter the bad karma from my spoiled kids.

Eventually we loaded all 8 (we were bringing Brady Jones to church,too) into the O'Donnal's minivan and drove down to the Pugh's and Sari rode with the O'Donnals and we took everyone else. We walked in ten minutes late - just in time to be sustained for my new calling as Ward Activity Chairperson. I was glad we were with the O'Donnals because they were cheerful and made clown in volkswagon jokes about the 14 people crammed in their car, instead of being cranky and out of joint. They improved my mood and helped me to see that it was an inconvenience but not the end of the world.

There is a girl in our ward (Noelle Jamieson, for you previous N.P. ward readers) who married a mechanic (not LDS but comes most every week with Noelle) and I talked to him and he was happy to look at it. (He is honest, but no doubt he was also happy because, I mean, let's be real, this is an 11 year old car and so it's gonna need repairs ... and a lot of them.)

This morning I called USAA Roadside Assist and they dispatched a tow truck to take it to Steve's. This is a picture with the sun glinting off the windows, like an angel from heaven is watching over it.

I adore my Suburban (and not just because it's paid for - we had this at BYU. It has been on so many roadtrips with our family. I love the leather seats - although they are getting worn and one seat has a little hole in it. I love that the exterior paint changes color according to the sun - it's brown, gray, orange, purple, and every combination of it - it is our technicolor dream car. One of the seats is broken and we need to get that fixed too). It is too long of a story to tell here, but in short, every time I look at the Suburban, I remember that Heavenly Father loves me. It's dorky, I know. But it is totally true!

I felt a large pang of sadness as it drove off, on the auto-ambulance, looking sad and old and decrepit.

Goodbye old friend, come back soon.