So now Elliot gets to be ordained an Elder and vote this November! I don’t think there is anything else very exciting that he can do until he turns 21 right? Oh, that’s right…go on a mission!
He is still BYU’s #1 Biggest Fan, so of course he got more BYU paraphernalia for his birthday. Good thing he got accepted to the school 🙂
It’s a good thing we all get older together! I actually like birthdays…they give me an opportunity to be grateful for so many friends and family. I feel so loved!
A day for sweethearts…mine offered to make us a special dinner of Steak Diane (my all time favorite steak). It’s actually not the steak I like…it’s the brandy and mushrooms! After dinner we watched The Lake House which turns out to be (yes, a sappy chick flick) an actual Valentine’s Day movie. Who knew?
Clark is 15 this year…and so the talk begins about learning to drive. Can I survive teaching one more kid to drive?! I guess if we’ve survived 5 student drivers, we can survive one more 🙂
Rather spontaneously we found ourselves in Hawaii last week with the Lundgrens, our good friends and neighbors. The stars all seemed to line up and we decided we were ready for a much needed get-a-way!
We spent our days lounging on the beach or by the pool, sightseeing with our friends, visiting with family, attending the temple, snorkeling in Hanauma Bay, playing games, watching movies and eating fresh pineapple.
Take a quick peek at some of the design work Phillip (the company’s new design director) and his team have been working on everyday. Go to collegiatepride.net. I like to look at the BYU stuff!
As per our New Year’s Eve tradition, we enjoyed gathering around 3 fondue pots. Our three favorites are: cheese, meat and chocolate. Because we ate too much (as per tradition) and all went into what Madeleine calls a “food coma”, some of us had a hard time staying up till midnight! A few of us did see the New Year in and I personally am looking forward to 2012…I feel in my heart that it will be a good year for our family.
It always surprises me that Christmas actually comes…I guess just because we talk about it so far in advance! As always, our family had a really nice Christmas. Actually every year we have 2 Christmas Days…one with Alan’s parents the Saturday before and then of course Christmas Day at our house.
This year I particularly enjoyed having our house decorated. It seemed especially cozy…I think we had the fire burning morning and night (pretty easy when all you have to do is flip the switch!)
This year we were invited to Alan’s parents for Thanksgiving dinner. We brought the rolls and the pies and they did everything else including smoking the turkey! It was a nice relaxed afternoon filled with good smells and good food.