We started it by bringing in the new year with a rip roaring party with our family.
 |
| Yes...we are quite the party animals!!! |
It was so fun to catch up and visit with them. We planned to eat dinner with them but that was before we discovered 2 hours into our trip that we forgot Jared's insulin. I really hated to turn around and go back but I didn't want him to die on the way home so turn around we did. Luckily my sister and mom met us half way back but it added another hour or so to our trip.
They let us crash at their cool mountain home for the night. I say it's cool only because I don't have to live there. If I had to live there I would have probably already slid down the mountain into a ditch and died which is what I tried to do as we were leaving the next morning. We did not die but we did slide a bit. Jonathan (the dad) was oh so helpful and gave us lots of useful hints on how to get out of the driveway AFTER he watched us helplessly try to get out of the driveway on our own with no success at all! I did not get out of the car and kick him which I thought was pretty nice!!
 |
| That's their back yard! Oh...and see how helpful he's being?! |
The next day we drove and drove and drove from Colorado to Lubbock, TX. As scary as driving down the mountain in Colorado was it was not nearly as scary as driving through North Texas. I guess Texas isn't really prepared for snow and they had gotten quite a bit. It was slushy and slippery and I was really, really tired by the time we got there and was using all sorts of different ways to stay awake. We spent the night in a hotel in Lubbock and then took off early the next morning so we could make it back in time for 2:00 church.
Yes...we have 2:00pm church this year. It's not as awful as I thought it would be but I kind of prefer morning church. We still haven't figured out the best way to get dinner ready by a decent time...especially when we have meetings in the evenings but we will survive.
We also came home to a Christmas decorated house so we bit the bullet and put everything away. I love pulling everything out especially my hand-carved-by-my-dad Santa collection and Nativity but by the time Christmas is over, I can't stand what seems like a lot of clutter so away it went until next year when I will fall in love with my decorations again.
We had a month to get Kinsey ready for her mission so we were going to doctor, dentist and eye doctor appointments. She got her driver's license so she's an official driver now. She got a flu shot. We bought her a new missionary wardrobe complete with comfy shoes and boots. She went back to her favorite art studio and painted a picture of her roommate. We went out to lunch with a few friends and we made a trip to the San Antonio temple with a few more friends. We also were invited to a temple sealing, which was very special.
 |
| Kinsey's masterpiece of her roommate, Krista |
 |
| Basinger's temple sealing |
We were invited to a Martin Luther King day picnic and since Carson had the day off from school we went to the park on one of the most gloriously sunny days in January. We soaked up the sun, played on the playground, ate, socialized, took pictures of cute babies, and soaked up some more sun. It was heavenly!!
 |
| Me soaking up the sun - Kinsey taking a picture |
A few days after our beautiful sunny holiday, it started raining. I thought we were all tucked away safely inside from the storm until someone started knocking on my bedroom window from the outside. I opened the blinds and look what I found! He must have been listening to that song about dancing in the rain. Silly kid!!
Carson woke up one morning on the wrong side of the bed. Unfortunately, I also woke up on the wrong side of the bed that same morning so we were having a hard time being nice to each other. I picked out his "I Am Happy" shirt for him to wear and turned on the "Happy" song on the iPad to help get him out of the wrong-side-of-the-bed blues while I went searching for socks for him. As I was coming down the stairs, I went to step over him and slipped. I managed to ungracefully leap over him but landed on my bent-the-wrong-way big toe. It hurt just as much as you would imagine it would and I have been limping around on a swollen foot ever since. Carson was very sympathetic with an exasperated "Moooommmmmm!!!!" as I lay sprawled out on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. I think he was annoyed that I distracted him from watching "Happy".
 |
| This mad face just makes me laugh. He's so cute!!! |
Kinsey gave her farewell talk in sacrament meeting. She did a fabulous job!! You can read it here. I just sat in awe of her and couldn't figure out what in the world happened to that shy girl I sent off to college 18 months ago. She has an amazing amount of confidence now. Mostly, I was just so proud of her!
Gary had a birthday and we celebrated by going to watch Emily in her acting debut. She was part of the Truman ensemble in Bring It On. I wasn't a big fan of the story but, oh my goodness, those high school kids are AMAZINGLY TALENTED!!! It was fun to see Emily being braver than I will ever, ever be.
As for Gary's gift, I made a list of 57 things (because he is now 57!!!) that I love about him. It is long and mushy and embarrassing so let me just sum it up by saying that 20 something years ago, I went to a roommate's wedding reception in Utah, applied for a job on a whim while I was out there, was hired that very day, flew home, broke the news that I was moving to Utah to my parents, bought a car, drove to Utah from Florida with all of my earthly possessions, moved in with practical strangers, started work, met Gary there on the first day, he asked me out on a date a month later (in November), we were engaged a couple months after that, got married in May, had a baby 11 months later and the rest is history. I am blessed beyond measure and totally believe that Heavenly Father had a hand in our meeting each other. He must have known that the crazy (crazy/psycho not crazy/wild and fun-loving) girl (me) would need the stable (down to earth/stable not cows/manure/stable) boy (Gary) in order for it to last forever.
Kinsey was set apart as a missionary by one of her favorite bishops now turned counselor in our stake presidency. I forgot to get a picture of them but it was very special to have our good friend set her apart and pronounce some very wonderful and powerful blessings on her. She started the day with a very specific request from her blessing and wouldn't you know that the Holy Ghost guided President Parker to bless her with that very specific thing. What a blessing for her! We went out to dinner with the Parkers afterwards and had a great time socializing with them. We are truly blessed to know such wonderful people in our life!!!
Carson had a camp out on Friday night. He was so excited that he packed his stuff about two weeks ago. He packed his sleeping bag and all of his clothes (every stitch of clothing in his closet was packed into two suitcases) and set them by the front door. He was very upset with me when I took them back upstairs to set aside until the actual camp out. He had a great time. He loves camping and he loves his friends!! His scout leader said "We ate like kings, ran around in the dark, and hiked in the rain (Carson left before the hike). It was awesome!" I love his scout leaders...they are awesome too!!
Saturday morning we had a family breakfast together and our good friends, James and Josh Mayo plus Nana joined us for kolaches and Round Rock donuts (the best donuts in the world!!!). You can't get more Texas than that!! Then Gary gave Kinsey a father's blessing, we took a bunch of goofy family photos and headed off to the airport.
Kinsey and I both got nauseous at the exact same moment (as we were turning into the airport). We checked her luggage in and she was a few pounds below on each piece of luggage so we spent a few minutes adjusting everything. Before we left the house we weighed her luggage and one was 5 pounds over and the other was 15 pounds over. Massive panic erupted but then we pulled ourselves together and started filling up her carry on. I don't know how my 5'2" daughter is going to manage to get her stuff around for the next 18 months!
We had a few extra minutes to hang out at the airport so we took more goofy pictures and then we sent her off through security. We were that family that hung around until the very last minute, snapping pictures as she went through the line. Luckily, she wasn't patted down this time.
We stopped by Gary's old workplace on the way home, said hello to all of his co-workers, picked out a bunch of furniture for our house (for when we win the lottery) and learned what a popular salesman he was with everyone. You just can't help but love him (although he does manage to drive me crazy on occasion).
Then we came home, avoided the packed up bedroom (so sad...), ate some chocolate, took a nap, and ate some more chocolate. Emily finished up her acting debut with fabulous success, stayed out way later than we are comfortable and is now complaining that she is tired and needs to sleep all day but homework awaits and we have church to go to.
That was our January!! January isn't my favorite month, I normally would prefer to hibernate but the world won't let me, it always rains more than I would like and I spend the sunny days soaking up as much sunshine as I can. January always goes away though to make room for February....MY BIRTHDAY MONTH... the month that's all about me!!! (haha...not really...well, January really goes away but February isn't all about me...it's also about ground hogs, Valentine's day and time to remember that my birthday buddy...my sister, Lori...isn't around to celebrate with me anymore but on the whole it's usually much better than January).
No comments:
Post a Comment