Bonus Day

Thanks to Wednesday's delayed flight, I got a wonderful bonus day-and-a-half with the family in Utah! We enjoyed Sid's party on Wednesday evening, then on Thursday the Agates came from Illinois for a Christmas/New Year's visit! As you can see, Leo thought it was pretty great to see Grandpa again. He loves Utah! I had a lot of fun with Eliza and Leo, and I'm glad they'll be able to be there with Mom, Dad, Rich, and the Barretts for Christmas. I wish Greg and I could be there too! Also for my bonus day, Mom took me to Five Guys Burgers and Fries, which I LOVE!!! It was so delicious. If there is a Five Guys near you, I highly recommend a visit.

Yesterday evening we had another birthday celebration for Mom with the Agates (birthday celebrations are meant to last all week!). They and the Barretts gave her, the collector of nativity sets, a cute Fisher Price nativity set that she and the kiddos can play with together. And we had more delicious pumpkin birthday cake. I had such a fun visit to Utah!!!! Today Mom and Dad took me back up to the airport, and this time my flight went out as scheduled. I flew to Chicago and from there to Springfield. The flight to Springfield only takes 35 minutes, and it is on a small jet. I guess it's not one of Chicago's most important flights because they stuck our jet out in the hinterlands. We seriously had to walk for what felt like a half mile from the airport out to the tarmac, and it was FREEZING. Luckily I had my coat--welcome back to Illinois! But I made it back, and it was great to see Greg and the animal children. I think I will have a purring cat on my head all night tonight :-)

Fly Another Day

Well, I had planned to fly back to Springfield today, but things don't always turn out as planned :-) But, it worked out great because I got to be here in Utah for Sid's big #4 birthday! When I was originally planning this trip, I had wanted to leave Utah after Sid's birthday, but after December 15, tickets went up by $100+. So when I went to the airport today and found out that my plane, which was to leave at 3:02 p.m. was still in Washington, D.C. at 2:15 p.m., and that I wouldn't make my connection to Springfield tonight, I was happy to have them re-book me for free on a Friday flight instead. The travel agent helping me seemed really surprised that I wasn't mad at her about the flight being delayed (she had a lot of mad people on her hands). Mom and Dad were kind enough to wait at the airport with me while the ticket hulabaloo was worked out, and then they brought me back to Orem. So I get an extra day-and-a-half here! (I checked tonight, and my plane didn't end up leaving Salt Lake until 8:45 p.m.--now that's what I call a delay!)



I was very excited to attend Sidney's birthday party--especially because it included a special showing of "The Nutcracker Puppet Show" at the Barrett Theater.









Riley greeted everyone entering the theater with Free! gumdrops.








The girls' put on quite a show. It was definitely a unique rendition of "The Nutcracker," involving piggies, horses, and ducks :-)







Then it was time for presents and cake. Can you tell that this girl was pretty excited about it all?










Baby Ben is getting quite used to this whole birthday party thing. It's a good time to snuggle with all of his favorite people!

Pups and Parties

This is one of the many reasons why I miss living in Utah--the mountains! Mountains protect you from tornadoes, and they look pretty at any time of year--but especially with snow on them. Here is beautiful Mt. Timpanogos this afternoon as seen from Mom and Dad's backyard. It was a gorgeous December day today. Sorry to all of you stuck in Hellinois--I mean Illinois--who are experiencing a blizzard today. :-)

Yesterday Mom, Dad, and I went to see some cute puppies that some of their friends are giving away. We went to check them out for Aunt Karalie, who lost sweet little Cooper earlier this year. These pups are Miniature Pinscher (the Spikes' breed) and Pomeranian (Cooper's breed) mixes. Their real name is Pineranians, but that sounds kind of like Iranians, so we like to call them Pin-Poms. Isn't this the sweetest little face you've ever seen?! When I sent a picture to Greg, he wanted me to bring one of the puppies home with me :-) but we realized we already have a pretty good house full.

Yesterday evening Mom, Dad, Rich and I went to the Shops at Riverwoods to see the beautiful Christmas lights. It was magical! The picture doesn't do it justice. They had horse-drawn carriage rides, music, and lights galore. It was very Christmasy. They had these really cool moving lights that looked like raindrops, and it smelled delicious outside because of all the restaurants. It was perfect.

And this evening we went over to the Barretts' house to celebrate Mom's birthday--Happy Birthday Mom! (Her birthday is actually tomorrow, but we'll be at a dinner party tomorrow evening with some people Rich works with, so we celebrated as a family tonight.) Ben thought it was all quite exciting, even though he did sleep through most of the party. He really liked it when we sang Christmas carols, and he loved snuggling with Grandpa and Grandma.

And here is the birthday girl with her favorite birthday present--Ben! Four years ago she received a fun belated birthday present when Sidney was born. It's nice to have so many birthdays in December. We had a delicious birthday dinner, a tasty pumpkin birthday cake, and played some exciting rounds of Apples to Apples--sounds like a good party to me. I'm so grateful for my wonderful family and for the time I've been able to spend here in Utah. I only have three days left here, so I'll have to make them count. Happy Birthday tomorrow, Mom!

Gingerbread Rock

Things have been rockin' around here lately--gingerbread rockin', that is! Today was the Highland Elementary 1st Grade gingerbread program, featuring our very own Riley Barrett. You can see her singing here in the front row, third in from the left. She did a great job! I know I am biased, but I thought she was the star of the show.

Here is the Gingerbread Princess after her big performance.









And here are all three Gingerbread Princesses with Grandpa and Grandma.







And here, at just six days old, is the Gingerbread Prince! Isn't he cute??? He loves to snuggle with Grandma.






















Yesterday Mom, Dad, and I went over to the Barretts' to watch the BYU game (great!) and the Utah Jazz game (not so great). Baby Ben was doing his favorite activity: snoozing :-) He makes such cute little faces when he's sleeping.







But he's not always sleeping--here he is on Monday checking out his new grandpa and grandma. He thinks they're pretty great. But keeping your eyes open is hard work!








Also this week, on Tuesday, Mom and I had a fun lunch at our favorite place: Gardner Village, after a doctor visit up in Salt Lake. We had a great lunch and enjoyed checking out the shops and enjoying the Christmas atmosphere. I also had a great time with Mom and Dad on Tuesday night when we went to the Christmas party at the Bean Museum at BYU (not to be confused with the Bush's Baked Beans Museum in Tennessee or the Museum of Baked Beans in England). The dinner they had was delicious! Dinner did include green beans.

Also I forgot to mention, amidst the excitement of Baby Ben's arrival, last Thursday Mom and Dad took me to see the movie "Secretariat." It is SO good!!!! It might just be the horse lover in me, but I absolutely loved the movie and highly recommend it to everyone. Mom and I also had lunch last week with Aunt Karalie at the Left Fork Grill and with our friend Yevon at Zupa's. It's been a fun week so far, and we're looking forward to more fun before I head back to Illinois!

What a Week!

We have a new addition to the family!!! This is Mr. Benjamin Driggs Barrett, born yesterday, December 3, and weighing in at 7 lbs. 14 oz. Isn't he a cute little guy? I was lucky to get to be here to welcome Baby Ben--I flew home to Utah from Illinois on Wednesday for a visit, and two days later Ben came along! Greg had to stay home to work--I don't do stuff like that anymore :-) I live a life of leisure.

Here is Ben with Mommy Lindy. She was very brave even though Ben wasn't sure he wanted to come out into this funny world. He was quite content in Mommy's tummy! But now he likes being out of Mommy's tummy too.







When he came out, he had his loving family waiting. His three big sisters were especially excited to have a baby brother!








And here he is with Grandpa Taylor. He is such a sweetie! He loves his binky, and he has this soft little cry that is so cute. After going to the hospital to visit Ben, the girlies came and had a sleepover extravaganza with Grandpa and Grandma Taylor, Auntie Tiff, and Uncle Rich.






Today while Lindy, Nate, and Ben were recovering at the hospital, we took the kiddos up to BYU for the annual family Christmas party. It was very exciting! I remember when I was little I loved going to the BYU Christmas party. The girlies played a lot of games, went ice fishing, and we all got our picture with Cosmo. Sid wasn't too sure about Cosmo, but she decided he's pretty nice, and she was even brave enough to give him a high five.

The girls made some cool stocking lanyards--here are Grandma and Cam showing off their handiwork.









What a great day we had at BYU! Lindy and Ben were able to come home from the hospital today, so now the big sisters are at home with Little Brother. I am looking forward to the additional week-and-a-half that I get to spend with the family here in Utah!



Before leaving on Wednesday, I had gone down to Carbondale, Illinois to talk to one of Joel's classes about working (or not working) for the National Park Service :-) Leo, Eliza, and I had so much fun. Thank you, Agates, for the fun Giant City adventure, the delicious lunch, and the fun time! The Agates will get to come to Utah later this month. I love the holiday season because it is filled with food, family, and fun!