I'm back...but did I ever really leave???

I'm grateful to know that a few of my friends have actually questioned by lack of posts lately. That makes me feel good to know someone is still looking out here. Somehow during the last month or so, there was a dark hole that essentially sucked me up and only recently set me down again. It would be difficult for me and boring for you to read the details of the last month, but some highlights might be nice.

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas....

• Our annual gingerbread house (done by our little family) was a replica of Noah's. It's tough to say if the real skating rink at the real Noah's or our candy rink was harder to build. But I can say for sure that homemade hard candy burns easily and the colored lines on candy canes can be washed off so the white part can be melted!
• I had a very nice brunch with my sisters. It's become a bit of tradition that I really look forward to. It's good to have sisters.
• We saw "A Christmas Carol" at the Hale Centre Theatre in West Valley on a cold, snowy night. It was awesome. The theater was beautiful, the acting well done, and the music extraordinary. Charles Dickens was a genius who wrote of some amazing life truths. I loved it and it truly put me in the Christmas spirit.
• We traveled to Mt. Home, Idaho, to see my cousin Mike and his family along with my Aunt Mary. It was great. Good food, good company, and two good-sized dogs for Cheyenne to maul and love.
  
• We enjoyed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Dale's Mom and her friend.
• My Christmas highlight was laying in bed at 6:45 a.m., hearing Cheyenne's feet run down the hall to the family room then turn around and run back just before she threw open our bedroom door yelling "WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!" It made my Christmas!
  
• WE GOT A Wii!!!! (I had to write it in CAPS for the sake of my children, who, even in January, think we are the greatest parents ever!)
• We took the Wii to Noah's to play on the 100" screen. That was awesome -- you really should do it sometime!
• Better than the fact that we got a Wii, is the fact that our kids were completely satisfied with all they had and were happy and grateful before we brought it out and informed them there was one more package. Their gratitude was priceless!

After Christmas.....

• I made another wedding cake. This one was for a friend of the family. It had a party theme to match the party-themed decor including a number of giant pink balloons. My two favorite things about it were 1) that when you cut it open, the layers were pink and dark chocolate to match the pink/black decor, and 2) I tried a new recipe for a strawberry cream filling that was fabulous!! It was like having strawberry ice cream in every bite!
• We had a one-day Wilde Family Reunion with all of Wendy's family (including son Chris who lives in New York), us, and LuDean. It was great fun. If you've never played Wallyball, I highly recommend it.
• We've spent hours and hours working on Daniel's history fair project. He's making a website so when it's done I'll be advertising on this site.
• I've cooked, cleaned, volunteered at the school, driven, watched lessons, tutored algebra, visited friends, attempted to save the world and my children, read for the book club, taught Sunday School, helped in the nursery, proofread some papers, exercised, paid the bills, and basically carried on my everyday-average-homemaker-kind of life (and I know there are a whole bunch of you out there who know exactly what I mean!!!)

Now I'm back and wishing you all a happy, joyous, prosperous, adventurous, funny, marvelous 2008!!!