Goodbye 2011

I have to start this post out about this very special friend that I have made this year.....one of the perks of being RS President is that I make a point of meeting ladies that I may not of normally gone out of my way to meet, let alone befriend.  This sweet lady was baptized several months ago and I was able to spend a lot of time with her and she is awesome.  She is super funny and always makes me laugh.  She has a heart of gold and is so humble. There was an opportunity that I had a chance to help her with something and I brought K along with me.  Normally I would leave her at home, but for some reason I decided to bring her with me and she had a blast and totally fell in love with this lady.  I love the bond that she has formed with this woman and love to see her face light up when I mention this sister's name.  She loves her so much  and I know that the feelings are reciprocated.  Well, this sweet sister had a stroke a month or so ago and has been in the hospital.  I have visited her often and have gotten guff from K as she has wanted to go with me.  So over this Christmas break, she has come with me to see her.  She calls K her little angel and K just beams when she sees her.  This last time we went I took a picture of them together .....for a couple of reasons.  One, so we could take it to her and have her put it on her wall to brighten her day and two, so K will always remember this special friendship she has with her.  We love you sweet Frankie!  (get better so you can come home!)

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So normally I take all my Christmas down on New Years Day, but since that is on a Sunday this year, it came down on Saturday.  I forget how much time it takes to put it all away and how much I dread it every year.  But I love putting it up and so with that you have to put it away, right?!  So the afternoon was spent doing that, getting done just in time to start our traditional dinner...homemade pizza.  I love that we make this a family time.  I love my friends and all, but this is the time I love to be with my family to play and laugh and bond.

T always goes to the dance, but thank goodness that doesn't start until 9 so we get him for dinner and party time.  We love to play games in our family, as is evident of our game closet.  In fact, we have had to start storing games elsewhere as we have run out of room.  Anyway, we got 2 games for Christmas this year and so we opened one of them up to play.  HILARIOUS!  We laughed so hard playing.  It is called "Bubble Talk" and is much like Apples to Apples.  But it has a picture card and you have to match up the word bubbles to the picture. 

So funny....this was one of the pictures that made us laugh the hardest...seems that each word bubble truly matches this picture...

Can you guess which one T picked as the best one?

T headed off to the dance in his new sweater...he looks so sharp

And the rest of us played more games, danced to Just Dance 3, watched a movie and pigged out on junk food!  Perfect!  Then when it hit midnight, we watched the ball drop on Time Square.....

Blew our horns until it drove Duke crazy.....

shot off poppers all the while Duke barking....

and watched the fireworks going off at the top of Pikes Peak....

It was fun and relaxing and entertaining and.........then off to bed.  Thank goodness we do not have early morning church now that it is a new year.  Sleep in!...awwwwwwww!

HAPPY 2012!