I've enjoyed the time at home

Well it's Friday night, January 1st. Lonny went to bed early tonight (7:30...we had a late night last night celebrating NYE). Sophia is in bed. So, I turned off the TV and turned on some country music.

Why country? I don't listen to country hardly at all. You won't find it on my ipod or on my radio stations in my car. But, I do listen to country when I'm visiting Idaho. Country reminds me of Idaho and family. Country is calming to me. Country makes me feel that time is passing SLOWLY, which I love.

I decided to be a little ambitious tonight. I decided to get all the photo's that are in two boxes that were taken over the past 10+ years and organize them so I can put them into photo albums tomorrow. Well I got them organized but geez it'll take a while to put them into photo albums.

It was so fun to look at pictures. Some of my favorites:

Picture of me at 1 1/2 years old sitting on my Grandpa Hutton's lap at Christmas. Boy, I sure did love my Grandpa Hutton. I spent ALOT of time with my Grandparents. I remember I could eat whatever cereal I wanted to when I was in their house (so of course that'd be Captain Crunch Peanut Butter)! I slept in my flower sleeping bag next to their bed at night (and we said a prayer before we went to sleep). They took me camping and fishing a lot. I went to church with them every Sunday. What a great influence they were on my life. I remember one of my last memories being with them was in their independent resting home where I slept there for the night and we just sat and talked about our memories together. I wish I could hug them now and introduce them to Sophia and Lonny.

Picture of my dad hugging me at my college graduation. I remember at the graduation ceremony I was so thirsty so I left the UofU stadium to go to the vending machine. My dad and I must have had ESP as he also went to the same vending machine (we weren't sitting next to each other at the ceremony as I was with my class). When we saw each other we were so excited to see each other. He told me how proud he was of me. He then gave me a book about how proud he was of me as a daughter. What a sweetheart. I have so many great memories of my dad. However, my last memory of him was telling him that I would be okay and that I loved him. I asked him if he heard me and could understand to squeeze my hand. He did (he was dieing and not very coherent, but I know he was keenly coherent when I spoke to him as he squeezed my hand). He passed a few hours after we talked. I wish he were here too to be with his grand daughter and meet his son in law.

Picture of my mom hugging me about 12 years ago during a family portrait. She's always been there to be my #1 supporter. I was remembering earlier today how my mom and I used to do "Saturday Shopping" at the Mall and always get lunch at Nordstrom as we loved their clam chowder. Mom has been such a great loving mom. In the box I found some cards she's given to me over the years and every single card starts off by saying "I'm so proud of you". I love that she's been able to spend time with Sophia and create memories.

I found a lot of fun friend pictures - New Orleans, DC, Seattle, San Fran, Florida, Cruise....there are some of my girlfriends that are consistently in the pictures - Sarah, Luisa, and Marci. I'm so happy that I still talk to them regularly and they've been such wonderful girlfriends for many many years. Boy, how these pictures are vastly different than our lives now. It's kind of funny!

There are so many great pictures with Lonny. Some of my favorites include our Valentine's/My Birthday trip to NYC. It was the first time he'd been there and I had only been there for work. We had such an amazing time going to the Lion King Broadway show, taking a helicopter ride around NYC, horse carriage ride around central park, and walking everywhere. I loved the french small boutique restaurant he took me to for Valentines. What a guy! Love him!

It's fun to look at the memories.

Well it's probably 11:30 pm and I had better hit the hay as my little girl will be wide awake at 6 am and ready to play. I love playing with her.

Thanks for listening to me (reading).