Time flies when you're having FUN!!!

So, I have not posted for a long, long time. It's been a whirlwind for the past 6 weeks. After Thanksgiving, Alan and I kept busy doing our Christmas shopping, putting gifts together, cleaning, decorating, and hosting a couple of parties! Clarissa came home from college on the 22nd of December, along with my sister and her family. Then Scott & Kim flew in from their honeymoon to the Bahamas on the night of the 24th. The weather that night was horrible!! It was snowing, blowing, and very cold...so we were concerned if they would even get into Boise. However, they did and it was so GOOD to see them again!! We got back home around 1am and after sharing their fun honeymoon experiences, we decided to just open our Christmas presents, and that way we could SLEEP IN! That was the first time in my entire life I have opened Christmas presents at 3am!!! We spent the next several days just playing games and eating lots of food!

Then the BIG day arrived...the day our missionary was coming home! The day was filled with preparations and at 10:45pm, he walked through the glass doors of the airport waiting area. He was greeted with many family and friends. It was sooo good to see him! He looked wonderful. He was pretty "wigged" out when he first got home, but he has since adjusted well and it's great to be able to talk whenever we want. He is currently at BYU-I studying agricultural business. He plans to get his Master's Degree and then come back to the farm.

I had a 'unique' New Year's celebration. The Thueson's and the Weber's (that were in town) went to my parent's home for dinner and our annual "Bunco Bash". Around 10:00, the kids all went to various friends' parties, the Weber's went back to Craig & Maria's and most of the Thueson's stayed at my parent's. Well, the previous "late" nights caught up with Alan and he fell asleep around 11:00. At the strike of midnight, while everyone was kissing their sweethearts, I looked over at mine sleeping in the lazy boy, shrugged my shoulders, blew him a kiss, and said...WELCOME 2009!
!!!

The next day, we all headed up to Dell & Donna Jemmett's cabin. They are great friends, whose son is Trent's best friend. We had a wonderful time eating, playing games, sledding, and taking our long OVERDUE family pictures!! It was so much fun! We came back to Parma on Saturday, celebrated Trent's 21st birthday on Sunday, said goodbye to Clarissa, Scott & Kim also on Sunday, and then said goodbye to Trent as he headed to BYU-I, after just a short week of enjoying him at home.

It took Alan and I a week to catch up on things in the house, the shop, and SLEEP!!! As much as we hate to admit it, we are NOT as young as we used to be!

Then last weekend, all the kids came back home, along with my brother's daughter, Brooke, Alan's sister's daughter, Renee, and Kim's sister, Caitlin, to hear Trent talk in Sacrament meeting. Oh how we had fun! Scott put a security system in our house and shop, we played lots of games, challenged ourselves on Wii Fit and MarioKart, ate WAY too much food, and laughed until our sides hurt!

Trent's testimony is amazing. He gave such a great talk and the spirit was so strong testifying of the truthfullness of his words. We were so blessed to have my brother Bryan and his daughter and exchange daughter and my sister and her family come from Utah, as well as my nephew's family come from Las Vegas. We also had all our family that lives close by in attendance. On Alan's side of the family, his sister's family from Moscow, ID, his sister and her two sweet daughters from Chaney, WA, and his sister's family from Draper, UT all came as well. We had some great parties and good laughs. Trent, Caitlin, and Renee all went home Monday morning, but Scott, Kim, Clarissa, and Brooke were able to stay until 6pm last night. After they left, Alan and I sat down for about 30 minutes, then put ourselves into "high gear" and cleaned the entire house! It was so wonderful waking up this morning to everything, except beds being re-made, in order! We love it when our kids come home, but I have to admit that I love having a routine again once they leave. How blessed we are to have such wonderful children and family! That is definately the GREATEST gift our Heavenly Father has blessed us with!