My Dad

Today is a big day for my dad. After 35 years working for the Salt Lake City Police Department, he is retiring and today is his last day! Wow! 35 years! That is something to celebrate. Too bad most everyone he works with is off for the holidays. He's leaving without much fanfare which is probably the way he wants it.

The next step for him? Forget taking some time off to relax and enjoy the freedom. Nope. In addition to already being the Stake President, he's going back to school and starts next week! He is planning on getting a certificate to teach Special Ed. Anyone who knows my dad knows that he will be wonderful.

I am so proud of my dad. I love him. He is one of the best people I know. I have never once felt like I didn't get to spend enough time with him. Even with his busy schedule he always makes time for my mom, us kids, and the grandkids.

One of my best memories is when I went away to Snow College. I didn't have my own car so anytime I needed to come home, my dad would make the two hour drive to come pick me up and bring me home. Sometimes I felt bad that he had to drive so much but we have talked about it in the years since and we both say how special those drives were.

I could say so many things about my dad. His family loves him. The only thing better than having him as my dad is that my children get to have him as their grandpa.

I couldn't find a recent picture of Eliza and Jackson with grandpa so here's one with cousin Jared!

Merry Christmas

There were lots of parties to help get us in the Christmas spirit.

Very fun grandchild party with grandma and grandpa!

Eliza the angel

Matt showing off

The spoils of the pinata

Jackson is scared of Santa, to say the least.

Christmas Eve - Our annual dinner/chime playing evening at my aunt and uncle's home.

One of Eliza's favorite people in the whole world - Great-grandpa.

Christmas morning!!!

Eliza may be fighting Jackson for time in her fairy chair.

Eliza and cousin Michael - so cute!

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was a long day but an awesome one. Lots of family which was the best part, by far. We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Back to class

In October I signed up to take a beginning guitar class through Granite Peaks Lifelong Learning program. I have wanted to learn to play for a long time. I've tried teaching myself but that didn't go very well. I didn't have my own guitar so I borrowed my brother's and headed off to class! It was SO worth it! I looked forward to it every week. I had a great teacher. The hard part was finding time to practice when I wasn't being mauled by my children wanting to play it also.

My recently acquired calluses and I will be back in class in January for the next part of the class!

Catching up

Seeing as how it's been over a month since I've posted anything, I better get my act together before I get even further behind!

I think *crossing fingers* we are all healthy again. It was rough for a couple of weeks. Matt came down with strep throat, followed by Jackson. Eliza and I had seriously bad colds. Mine turned into a sinus infection. If mom ever needed a sick day (or week) that would have been it. But things are looking up finally.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had a dinner on Thursday with the McCann's and then a dinner on Friday with the Burton's. Yum! After dinner on Friday we went over to the church and let the kids (and the adults) run around for a while.

Now we're in Christmas mode. It's been so fun to see how much more interested and excited Eliza is this year. Jackson is mostly just interested in undecorating the Christmas tree. It looks ridiculous right now. All the unbreakable decorations are on the bottom half but most of those are on the floor. Oh well. It keeps him entertained for a while. Now we just need some snow again and we'll be all set!