An Amazing 40 Years!

So, we celebrated a bit Sunday evening with Mom and Dad. Their 40th anniversary was Saturday, and we all were stinkin' impressed. In fact, I even got them a sappy card, instead of a funny one, because I figured 40 years deserved some major sap!

So, I asked them to give us some nuggets o' wisdom from their long and arduous :) journey of married life. Here's what I got:

Mom: "The most important thing to remember is that the marriage and the family are more important than the desires of one individual."

Dad, in his usual low rumble, with a sigh: "Just hang in there."

These 2 are my heroes because they have not had an easy married life, but they have been committed to each other, even when they wanted to "commit" each other (Mom maybe wanted that part more than Dad....)

They have shown quiet courage throughout many trials, they have been quietly supportive of each other, even in the really hard times. Plus, they have brought us some pretty dang good times, and tons of times with lots of laughter.

So, here's to many good years for all of us, too!!!!

-Karissa

FINALLY

a tooth finally came out!

The Texas Molls

Hi everybody,

Sorry it took me a while to respond but here I am! We've had a busy few weeks dealing with the fantastic cedar allergies, strep throat/kidney issues, 10yrs anniversary (WOOHOO!), a new YW president (I stayed as secretary) and now I'm finally here :)

Our Christmas was lovely. We went to CA for a week to see my family. The Taylor clan (my mom's fam) had the annual Christmas party and all us Texans were able to make it. It was great to see my grandparents as their health is deteriorating quickly. But, come on, my grandpa turns 89 today!!! My parents and brothers went south to Disneyland while we were there so we had the house to ourselves and had a fantastic time in San Francisco, the Jelly Belly Factory and visiting with the Smeds. It was a great trip :)

Once we got home, we had three days till Christmas and it was a whirlwind. Friday we went to SA to visit the family. It was good to see them all; we really love being near them. On Saturday, we had 40 people over for Christmas Eve Brunch and it was SO fun. There were about 20 kiddos in the house and it didn't feel like it at all. PHEW! We really enjoyed our brunch and hope to make it an annual event. Christmas day was really calm and quiet. We had Church and just kind of hung out. It was really nice.

Now, for our anniversary, I just have to tell you what we did. Erik took the day off of work (*gasp*) and we went to breakfast at a local breakfast cafe - we love eating out for breakfast and never do it anymore so this was a real treat. Then we went to the school and surprised Kyson during his lunch. Then we left him and headed to the bowling ally! Erik won both games of course ;) We then got home when Kyson got out of school and got ready for our evening. We got a babysitter, went to Outback and saw WICKED. It was phenomenal. What a great evening! The show was so well done and beautiful. It was really a nice day.

Real Quick Like

Thanks Karissa for doing this. I think it’s a great idea. It’s kind of a cross between emailing and calling. I’m willing to give it a try.

Our Christmas was uneventful as far as our Christmases go. The usual nonstop insanity that comes with Cameron being in the bishopric and I in the YWs presidency. Throw in some Secret Santa-ing, cookies for the neighbors, Christmas preparations and a parakeet in a cast, well that should give you a taste of what our Christmas involved.

We had Christmas Day dinner at my brother Mike’s, he built an out of this world huge tree fort for his kids. I mean we all could have had Christmas dinner up there. The boys loved it. We had a relaxing afternoon with lots of good food, family and fun including a White Elephant exchange. What a hoot! Squirrel underwear and all.

We did 12 Peoples of Christmas. Where we picked 12 people/families to reach out to leading up to Christmas. Not that we didn’t already have enough to do, but we wanted to do something as a family. I think we’ll try it again next year too.

To match your music note Karissa, the boys have been into Weird Al Yankovic, Taio Cruz, Michael Jackson (in light of Weird Al), oh and a bunch of others I can’t think of. Cameron made a couple mixes of their favorite dance tunes and we get the strobe light out every so often and dance it up.

They are all taking piano lessons and doing really well. Hudson just memorized Yankee Doodle and is learning “I’ve Gotta a Feeling” he's so proud. Edison is learning some of Cameron’s compositions. Everest and Isaac know some Taio Cruz. They all know a bit of Journey.... It’s soooooooooooooo good to have music in the house.

Well that was more time than I should’ve taken. But there you have it. I’m off to the races!

Love you all!