New Year's Day

New Year's Day was perfection. We invited our Las Vegas friends over for a lunch get together. Dwan, Elizabeth, Melanie, Jared, Lindsay, and Justin and all the kids. There were definitely a whole bunch of kids. We did a potluck hoagie lunch and leftover ice cream from our New Year's Eve banana split tradition. The kids had a great time catching up with each other and us old adults were able to talk and relax and do some music, which was a surprise treat. 

Grace, Christopher, and Josh all treated us to their musical stylings. Grace is an incredible violinist, and Christopher still can play the violin at an extremely high level. Plus, now that he is married he just seems more mature in his violin playing. Josh sang a few of his Broadway numbers and then I re-sang his version of Music of the Night a little bigger and a whole lot sillier.

The best part was when I broke out the tiny violins and then Christopher and Grace played difficult pieces on them. Even Halle joined in. It was a lot of fun.

When it was time to leave, here were all the kids. We are only missing Alexander and his wife to make the picture complete.

Julia, with Ava and Ali.

And us crazy adults. Hey, we know how to have a good time!

Catching Up

One of the perks of moving to Utah is that people actually pass through and sometimes stop for a visit. It is awesome. We always had lots of visitors when we lived in Henderson but it got pretty lonely out in the middle of nowhere Reno.  Reno really is not on the way to anything.

So it was a real treat to have Leslie, Greg, and their four adorable tots visit us for a few hours. They had gone to Vegas and were heading back to Canada. Luckily for us, Draper is right on the way.  The kids played and we were able to catch up after all these years. I was fortunate to meet Leslie when she was a newlywed to Greg and started coming to the Sunset Ward. I spoke at her baptism and we served in the Primary presidency together. I think she is about the nicest, sweetest, most genuine woman I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  I am very blessed to call them my friends. She had Caleigh two weeks before Eli was born. And all of her other kids are just about the same age as my little ones.

There they are back together again. What a cute couple!

We were also able to celebrate the end of the football season for the Corner Canyon gray team. Coach Jeff and all the boys were a positive influence on Raef. It was a great season for him and he has really grown. He loves football more than ever.

Baby Shower for Number 6

A couple of weeks before my due date, some awesome ladies in my ward (Jordan and Corrinne) decided to throw me a baby shower.  It was kind of silly, considering the fact that this is number six for me. But then on the other hand, it really is not that silly because I got rid of every single baby thing I owned.

The shower was amazing and I can't believe how many women came to support me. I felt very loved.  There were a ton of women from my new ward and then lots of old friends through the years who live here in Utah. It was so fabulous.

Michele, from my Atlanta days.

Ginger, a friend from when I was engaged and then when I went to college.

And of course my amazing friends from the Sunset ward in Henderson.

After the festivities, Echo, Alexa (her daughter) and Melanie came over to my house for a tour and a nightcap.  I had a Marie Callender's pie that was just begging to be shared.  We ate pie, reminisced, and caught up on the latest happenings. It was so fun to hang out with the ladies.

It was a perfect day.

Reconnecting

What a blessing it is in life to reconnect with old friends.  About a month ago, I went to the dermatologist's office for a routine check up.  While I was sitting in the room waiting for the doctor, I got a huge surprise.  The PA was a good friend from our Atlanta days, Steve A. We went with his wife Michele and another couple on a few Thanksgiving trips. The first year we went to Gatlinburg, Tennessee and the next year it was at a beach house in Destin, Florida.  It was so much fun.

I contacted Michele and we set up a dinner date, which happened to fall on my birthday.  It was so much fun and they live pretty close to us. Their kids played with ours really well and we were able to catch up on old times.  

Rinar used to play tennis with Steve a lot while we lived in Atlanta. I have a feeling the tennis matches will resume pretty soon.