Out Like a Lion

Goodbye 2010, and good riddance! 2010 was quite the year. As if the year hadn't been long enough, with Mom and Dad both being diagnosed with cancer and having multiple surgeries, with friends and myself losing jobs, with friends moving away, with the several-month "reign of terror" at the Lincoln Home this past spring, and . . . well, the list could go on. So it has been a long year, but it couldn't just end quietly--instead it had to milk every last minute of itself! It would seem that a little mini two-day vacation to Zion National Park for Mom and Dad in between Christmas and New Year's would be an innocent enough activity, but then Dad ended up in the hospital in St. George! Their two-day vacation turned into a five-day ordeal--sorry Mom and Dad! But thankfully things are going better now and they are safely back home in Orem for the New Year.

Then, yesterday, after weeks of winter temperatures, it reaches 62 degrees here in central Illinois, and we have tornadoes--in the middle of winter! The closest tornado to us hit the town of Petersburg--just west of where we used to live in Athens. Here is a picture of the damage to homes near Lake Petersburg where a couple of our friends live. Their home was damaged, but thankfully it is still habitable. What a way to end the year!

So, when I woke up to sunshine and frigid temperatures this morning, I was grateful--grateful for the cold weather, which means no tornadoes. And grateful that even though a lot of crappy stuff happened in 2010, we and our family and friends all made it through the year in one piece. We're very blessed to have the medical technology that allows cancer to be removed and babies to be born healthy. Babies--cute babies (and elves in training) Ben and Leo--are reasons enough to be happy about 2010. But hopefully since 2010 went "out like a lion," 2011 will come in (and go out) like a lamb!

'Twas the Day of Christmas

Things were so peaceful last night. Today, on the other hand, . . . well, let's just say that there are red feathers and wrapping paper pieces strewn throughout the house, and there is a helicopter flying around my head--I'll explain more in a minute. But Greg took these really cool pictures last night of the Christmas tree and the condo with snow outside.

You can see the candles better in this picture than in the one I took. I do love our little condo. In this next picture you can see the entrance to our condo complex with the woods behind it--what a beautiful winter scene!







This is going to sound really cliche and possibly a little cheesy, but Greg and I took the dogs for a Christmas Eve walk last night, and the only word to describe it is magical. It was snowing and it was so quiet outside! The snow was up to Little Spike's belly, and the dogs were loving playing in the snow. It was the perfect Christmas Eve stroll.


Tiger Lily was the first one to wake up on Christmas morning. She started playing with the blinds at about 6:30 a.m., and then she jumped on my face. I don't know if she just wanted food or if she knew it was a special day. The dogs were very excited when we started opening presents. Here are the ferocious beasts with some of their presents. Lily somehow evaded all pictures, but she was thrilled with the red Santa boa feather toy she received from Pam and Greg. That's where all of the red feathers have come from. (Big Spike has decided he likes the red feather toy too.) Come to think of it, Big Spike has tried to play with everyone's toys.

Here's the toy I got from Greg: an Amazon Kindle--just what I wanted! I spent the entire day searching for and downloading books to read--and, of course, reading. As Greg so aptly put it, giving me a Kindle was like giving crack to a crack addict. But books are better than crack.



And here is Greg with his present: a football signed by the Kansas City Chiefs! Now we just need them to win the Super Bowl so that we can sell it for millions of dollars ;-) One present Greg received that I'm not so sure about is a remote control helicopter--it will surely be used for no good :-) Notice that Big Spike is in every single picture involving presents. Thank you so much to the Taylors, Bowles, and grandparents for the wonderful and generous money, presents, and cards! That's what Christmas is really about--the love of family and friends and remembering the true meaning of this Christmas season. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas today!

I'm Dreaming of . . .

. . . a white Christmas! It started snowing a little last night, and then today we got quite a bit of snow, just in time for Christmas! I love it when it snows on Christmas Eve. We have the condo all decorated--the latest touches are the wreath on the door and the candles in the windows (I know they don't show up too well, but they look really cool when it's dark). This is the perfect evening to sit by the Christmas tree and drink hot chocolate and egg nog.

And then, there was a Christmas miracle: these two sleeping in the same kitty bed :-) Ever since Lily grew to be bigger than Little Spike, he hasn't liked her much. So she doesn't like him much either and sometimes tries to antagonize him. But I looked down the other day and saw this--both of them snuggled together sleeping! It was a true Christmas miracle. We hope that you all have a Merry Christmas tomorrow!

A Visit to St. Nicholouis

I know that's kind of a cheesy title, but I was going for something similar to "A Visit from St. Nicholas," trying to incorporate the fact that Greg and I had visited St. Louis. But anyway, this past weekend Greg and I had a wonderful Christmas trip to St. Louis! It was kind of our Christmas present to each other. The trip was prompted by the fact that the St. Louis Rams--my favorite NFL team--and the Kansas City Chiefs--Greg's favorite team--were playing each other in St. Louis. We stayed downtown at the Hyatt, which, as you can see, is literally right next to the Arch and the Mississippi River. This was the awesome view from our hotel room! The hotel was really nice, except that our room was right by the elevator, and at about 2:00 a.m., some drunk people got off of the elevator and were being really noisy. Just as Greg was about to call the front desk, we heard a hotel employee confront the rowdies. He said, "Hey guys, do you see that sign on the wall?" They said, "What sign?" He said, "The one that says shut up!" :-) It was so funny! Props to the hotel guy. We had some yummy St. Louis BBQ sandwiches for dinner at the hotel, and then the morning of the football game we had a delicious breakfast buffet. Mmmmm, all you can eat waffles . . .

Before the game we walked over to the Arch. It is always amazing to stand right underneath it--it is SO BIG and quite an engineering marvel. Leave it to a Finn to come up with something like that.






After checking out the Arch, we walked over to the Edward Jones Dome for the game. It's pretty amazing to be so close to an actual NFL field! It looks a lot smaller in real life than it does on TV.






I thought that Greg, in his Chiefs gear, was going to feel very outnumbered. But there were actually as many Chiefs fans as Rams fans there.






Before the game we were watching the teams warm up, and I was able to get the attention of #86 Michael Hoomanawanui (yes, he officially has the longest last name of anyone on the team), and he came over and signed my hat! He played at the University of Illinois, and this is his rookie year in the NFL. I also hoped to get the attention of Rams quarterback Sam Bradford. I thought it would be funny to tell him that I went to BYU and see if that made him mad (the BYU football team busted his shoulder when he was still playing at Oklahoma), but I didn't have a chance to talk with him.



As you can see, we had pretty sweet seats! Here is Chiefs quarterback Matt Cassel making a play. He played a really great game, which is amazing considering that he had his appendix removed just over a week before the game! I thought back to how I felt one week after my gallbladder was removed, and I could barely get out of bed, let alone play in an NFL game. The chiefs ended up dominating the game and won 27-13, so Greg was very happy. It was okay with me though, because I also like the Chiefs. It was such a fun game! Then Greg and I came back up to Springfield and are now trying to get ready for Christmas.

Also, I forgot to post this picture that Mom took the other day when I did my blog about Utah. The mountains were so beautiful with the sun setting last Wednesday, so Mom took this picture of me outside. I've only been gone from Utah for four days and I already really miss the mountains!






Mom also wanted to see a picture of my former boss, Laura. I couldn't find a better one than this, but this gives you a good idea of what she looks like. If it appears that all of the wires in her head aren't connecting, it's not the picture's fault--that's just how she always looks :-) I must say, I don't miss working with her one bit!

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 :-)