December 6, 2009

December 6, 2009

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has seemed so much longer than normal. Mostly because M was out of town for the first half of the week. Those three days felt like three weeks seriously. I was such a wimp this time. I’m glad it went very quickly. Monday was a normal day for us. I did decide to take B-man to the doctor because he has had a very pesky cough that had gotten worse that day. The doctor said he had the beginnings of bronchitis and sinusitis. Hopefully the medicine will help him feel better soon. We did a Costco run and then headed home for the rest of the day. That night we had a small FHE before heading to bed.

Tuesday B-man stayed home from school since he was “sick.” B-man doesn’t really act sick unless he is REALLY sick. So he mostly acted like he normally does, but frustrated that he couldn’t be outside playing. In the afternoon we did make a grocery store run, and spent a little time outside.

Wednesday and Thursday were unremarkable days. B-man went to school, came home, etc. I spent a lot of time working on stockings. We were all so excited to have M home for dinner on Thursday. We were all going a little crazy that last half hour waiting for him.

Friday M took the day off. He had worked so many hours in the last two weeks that he didn’t need to work that day. M started off the day by going and helping in B-man’s classroom. I had originally signed up, but then B-man wanted him to do it instead of me. I went to play basketball in the morning too. It was great to be playing again. After basketball I headed home and we all had lunch together. We had a lazy afternoon. The highlight was getting our Christmas tree at Costco. Some people go out and cut their own tree, but we go to Costco, get some samples and then pick up our tree on the way out. I love it! The only problem is that the trees are all bound so you could be a little surprised when you unwrap it at home. We stuck our tree in a bucket of water outside to “hydrate” and then headed off for dinner. Whenever M gets home from a trip we go to dinner. That’s our new tradition. We tried a barbecue place close to our house. B-man wanted cat fish. We were all a little surprised, but he got the cat fish, and ate all of it.

Saturday was a busy day. We woke up to snow. It was just barely starting to stick, but then the rest of the morning it just kept snowing and snowing. B-man was so excited. We broke out all the snow gear. M and I spent the morning getting ready to head to Charlottesville for the day. One of his coworkers was getting married down there, and we had planned on going. We dropped off B-man at a friend’s house. They have a boy B-man’s age and they were SO nice to watch him for us. We then drove off in the middle of a snow storm. I was a little worried about the drive starting off, but it went fast and J slept the whole time! It was great. We first went to a little local shop we love to get some fun treats before heading to the campus. The couple got married in the chapel on the campus of UVA. We had to walk a little bit in the snow across campus, and it brought back some good memories of treacherous walks across BYU’s campus in the snow and slush. The wedding was fine; I was super stressed the whole time about J being quiet. We sat in the way back, and as soon as J started to get antsy M stood in the back with him. I think we did a good job and he was pretty invisible. (There were other children there.) After the ceremony we walked back to the bookstore and made a few purchases before heading to the reception. There was a little cocktail/appetizer hour while we were waiting for the bridal party. Then we headed into the ballroom for dinner. The bride had organized some sitters to be on site for those with children. It would have worked wonderfully, J just sleeping in the pack-n-play, but the other children kept waking him up. (Understandably.) The sitters would text us when he would wake up and then I would go rock him back to sleep. It worked pretty well. Eventually he got too awake so he came to the party for the last thirty minutes or so. We then headed back home. The drive went really well. All the roads were clear and the snow had stopped. It was nice to be able to chat with M and not worry that B-man was listening. We picked up a sleeping B-man from our friend’s house and then we all headed home to bed. B-man had a great time while we were gone. He played in the snow, and went to the ward Christmas party.

Today has been great. We all slept a little late and then we got up and got going. M worked on his lesson, and we went to church extra early for tithing settlement. When we got home from church we ate and then started to decorate the tree. B-man was a great helper. It was nice to enjoy one more year of putting ornaments on in any order. Next year J will be able to pull them off.

We love you all!

R, M, and B-man