. . . empty . . .

. . . another year . . .

. . . a wedding . . .

{drew & jessalyn}

. . . a new home . . .

{amelia & tyler}

. . . moving out . . .

. . . together one last time . . .

. . . packing up . . .

. . . combining assets . . .

{in the form of spare change}

. . . hitting the road . . .

. . . an early morning goodbye . . .

. . . it's been thirty years . . .

. . . three months . . .

. . . and two days . . .

. . . since we started the journey of parenthood . . .

. . . and on the first day of twenty eleven . . .

. . . our nest is . . .

. . . empty . . .

. . . party on . . .

. . . i've had a couple of friends

{hi friends!}

ask to see these photos

from the little wedding dinner fiesta

we had for these two . . .

{jessalyn and drew - the [at the time] soon-to-be-married couple}

. . . decorations consisted of red and white . . .

. . . lots of red and white . . .

. . . readily available at this time of year, obviously . . .

. . . my awesome friends

{hi awesome friends!}

and i baked cookies . . .

. . . lots of cookies . . .

. . . no ~ really . . .

. . . we baked a LOT of cookies . . .

. . . and then we built a fancy dessert table

in the middle of a basketball court . . .

. . . with BIG, HUGE thanks

to my sister-in-law, molly . . .

. . . for her expert help

and the use of her awesome stuff . . .

{see if you can spot my dentist, former next-door neighbor,

the nice guy who kept all the chairs wiped off at the reception,

an oregon state football player, an engaged couple,

my stake president, and where's waldo}

. . . drew and jessalyn did a fabulous job

of introducing all the guests . . .

. . . these guys from costa vida

are my new best friends . . .

. . . did you know they will deliver, set up,

serve, clean up

and package all the leftovers for you? . . .

. . . now you know . . .

. . . my cute sons . . .

{chris, drew, brent and tyler}

. . . and beautiful daughters . . .

{amber, amanda, jessalyn and amelia}

. . . pretty grandmas . . .

{davis and romney}

. . . best friends . . .

{shellene and amanda}

. . . lots of blondes helping in the kitchen . . .

{amanda, karen, lori and vicki}

. . . i'm sorry there are no photos of peg . . .

. . . she literally spent hours

helping us set up and baking . . .

. . . and then . . .

. . . THEN . . .

. . . everyone helped clean up . . .

. . . it was great! . . .

. . . and before i knew it . . .

. . . it was as if this . . .

. . . had never happened . . .

. . . thanks so much to everyone

who helped me in any way . . .

. . . i love you ALL! . . .

. . . jammies @ grammy's 2010 . . .

. . . and when i say jammies . . .

. . . of course i mean loungewear . . .

. . . jammies were outlawed several years ago . . .

. . . except for toddlers . . .

. . . and to all those who chose to ruin family photos . . .

. . . who are not toddlers . . .

. . . i hope you enjoy your coal . . .

. . . merry christmas from the romneys! . . .

. . . take two . . .

. . . after getting rained out thursday . . .

. . . plan b was scheduled for saturday . . .

. . . at 7:30 in the morning . . .

. . . not a big deal if you're the groom . . .

{except for the whole "squinty-in-the-morning romney eyes" thing}

. . . but the bride had hair and makeup

to think about . . .

. . . thankfully ~ light showers stopped completely

as soon as we got to the temple . . .

. . . the boy . . .

. . . the girl . . .

. . . the dress! . . .

. . . it was a team effort . . .

. . . including lots of dress arranging

and hair primping . . .

{one time i fixed drew's cuff because i felt so left out!}

. . . annie is a pro . . .

. . . don't you think? . . .

{*all photos except the last one are from my little point and shoot camera ~

not to be confused with annie's fabulous work, please!}

. . . a little bling . . .

. . . molly gave jessalyn

the most awesome bridal shower gift . . .

. . . she invited all the bridesmaids

to a private bead party . . .

. . . so tonight they got together

to make jewelry to match

their cute green dresses . . .

. . . i really wish i'd taken a picture

of molly's bead inventory . . .

. . . epic . . .

. . . one short week till drew and jessalyn's big day . . .

. . . and everyone'll be looking good . . .

. . . thanks to molly! . . .

. . . elliott's big news . . .

. . . and from the looks of things . . .

. . . he's pretty pumped! . . .

. . . so are we . . .

. . . i want a second opinion . . .

. . . this is dr. michael wolff . . .

. . . bill is his patient . . .

. . . has been for four and a half years now . . .

. . . he's received multiple recognitions

as a top doc in phoenix . . .

. . . the scene: his office . . .

. . . dr. wolff {to me as we were leaving}:

"nice purse ~ reminds me

of one of those strings of dried red chilis

. . . {pause} . . .

we're way too comfortable with each other" . . .

{the purse ~ taipan trading co. ~ ranco cucamonga, CA ~ ca. september 2010}

{the chilis ~ santa fe, NM}

. . . the scene: 10 days later ~

scottsdale ambulatory surgical center ~ . . .

. . . surgery center nurse

{to me walking into the recovery room to pick up bill}:

"i love your purse. it's so festive.

it reminds me

of those strings of dried red chilis" . . .

. . . i guess that settles it . . .

. . . christmas tunes . . .

. . . think/say what you will about glee . . .

. . . but, the production numbers are usually genius . . .

{they put to shame anything we ever did in show choir ~

the only choreography i remember was swaying back and forth as couples

during "i can't help falling in love with you" ~ BORING!

sorry mr. garrett :( }

. . . case{s} in point . . .

. . . "proud mary/rollin' on the river" in wheelchairs . . .

. . . "singin' in the rain/umbrella" with all that water . . .

. . . "marry you" at finn/kurt's parents' wedding . . .

. . . so ~ yes ~ i picked up

the glee christmas album

saturday night . . .

. . . wrestled with the wrapping

in the target parking lot . . .

{why are they sooooo hard to open?}

. . . popped it in my cd player . . .

{which skips all. the. time. grrrrrrr!}

. . . and heard the first three tracks

by the time i got home . . .

. . . xoxoxoxoxo . . .

. . . fast forward to sunday . . .

. . . on my way to church . . .

. . . track four comes on . . .

. . . "baby, it's cold outside" . . .

. . . let's just say i was startled . . .

. . . if i'd seen the christmas episode

before listening to the cd,

i'd've been prepared . . .

. . . as it is ~ i will stick with

the james taylor/natalie cole version . . .

. . . other than that . . .

. . . still tapping my toe to "deck the rooftop" . . .

{a glee-style mashup of "up on the housetop" and "deck the halls"}

. . . mr. schue and guest artist kd lang's

"you're a mean one mr. grinch"? love it . . .

. . . rachel's "o holy night"? respectable . . .

{even though her character is jewish. although that never stopped barbra, barry, or kenny g!}

. . . mercedes' gospel inspired rendition of

"angels we have heard on high"?

the girl has pipes . . .

. . . and finn, puck and artie's

"jingle bells" big band style?

yes, please . . .

. . . a new bauble . . .

. . . i didn't buy any new christmas shtuff this year . . .

. . . well ~ only like one roll of wrapping paper . . .

. . . it's a holiday miracle ~ believe me! . . .

. . . but ~ this little ceramic beauty

was gifted me by a sweet friend . . .

. . . thanks, friend! . . .

. . . seriously ~ i've never seen the likes of it . . .

. . . it weighs in at about 15 pounds . . .

{slight exaggeration}

. . . is almost 12 inches from tip to top . . .

. . . and says ho! repeatedly . . .

{right behind the red beads}

. . . should i be offended? . . .

p.s. elliott is feeling much better.

thanks to those of you who asked!

they say it was a bacterial infection in his blood stream,

but the source is, as yet, undetermined.

. . . words that start with x . . .

. . . have you ever wondered

how to get a two-year-old to hold still

for a chest xray? . . .

. . . wonder no longer . . .

. . . it's a giant test tube . . .

. . . elliott {poor baby} is a sick little boy . . .

. . . we're very grateful for modern medicine . . .

. . . and praying he'll be good as new in no time . . .