The latest and greatest events that make up our crazy life

Soooo......it's been a while. OK, it's been a really LONG while!

I will not bore you with extensive detail as to craziness of my life over the past few months....just give a quick overview.

First, there was Christmas. Need I say more? Sometimes I feel more on top of my game during the whole Christmas season. But this year.....not so much. It felt more like a matter of survival, just hoping I could fit it all in! Don't get me wrong. Christmas was wonderful. But trying to help my kids learn to serve others, helping them "do" things for others, well....it's a lot of work.

I forgot to take my camera, well, almost everywhere. No pictures of our outing to find the perfect Christmas tree (a story in and of itself....one I will perhaps share on another day when I have nothing else to say). No pictures of Christmas Eve with my kids all dressed up in amazing costumes made by their Grandma Darla.

The highlight, as usual was our Christmas Eve gift exchange. We all draw names and then make a gift instead of buying one. These gifts are opened Christmas Eve. The gifts this year included flowers for the hair, cute watches, a couple of "fuzzy" body pillows, a fleece BYU blanket, a golden back scratcher, rubber band guns, and a knitted hat. Everyone was so excited to GIVE their gifts they had worked so hard on. And everybody was so grateful to receive their gifts that had been so lovingly made. It is a lot of work (especially for me) to make sure everyone's gifts get finished, but it truly is one of our very favorite things we do. So worth the effort!!!






(Luke and Ben got a jeep for Christmas, which was a big hit. That, along with Ben's fleecy hat and gloves were his faves. He is a big fan of anything soft and fleecy.)


Only a few days after the kids headed back to school, Brek and I left to spend a week in sunny St. Kitts. It was a little crazy preparing to leave just three days after the Christmas decorations had come down! But we had a great time relaxing and enjoying the beautiful sunshine. I'm sure glad I dragged my camera all the way there and back since we took it out once! Oh well, I guess that's better than nothing, right?





THEN....upon our arrival home, we were immediately immersed in Joseph rehearsals. What's that, you may ask? Our town was putting on a production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and they had asked Brek to be the Pharoah. My girls were also involved, being in the children's choir.

Brek was nervous as could be....not so much about the singing, but about the dancing! He's not exactly a loose, hip-swinging Elvis kind of guy. Finally, after many frustrating attempts on his part to "loosen up", I suggested we call Lana. And that did the trick. By the time performance week came, he felt much more at ease and had such a great time. He was the hit of the show! I was so proud of him! He was HILARIOUS!

He had people asking him for his autograph, and girls sitting on the front row cheering and screaming....too funny! The entire play was fantastic. They did an amazing job! It was a long month for my girls, but so worth it. What a great experience to be a part of something like that, especially getting to do it with their dad. At the end of their final performance when Brek came out, he gave Syd and Maddy each a bunch of flowers and told them to pass one out to each of the kids in the choir. Then, to my great surprise, he called me up on stage and gave me a dozen roses! I bet all those screaming fans were oh so jealous! Because Elvis is mine! I love that guy!!

Brek's makeup, wig, and costume were quite a sight! He got quite the "royal" treatment each night as they colored and glittered him up!




So there you have it. One crazy thing after another.

OK, maybe "quick overview" wasn't quite the right choice of words. But think of it this way. I could have said a LOT more!