Grandma Mull

Now that I'm all caught up on the last few months, I wanted to post a little something for Bryson's Grandma. His Dad's mother, Gladys Ionne Mull, passed away just after Thanksgiving. It was a bit shocking, and obviously very sad. She was so vibrant and fun that the thought of her being gone was a little hard to grasp at first. She was such a caring, accepting, and loving woman. She had this amazing fashion sense, and I frequently saw her wearing things (in her 80's) that I would wear (in my 20's). She was always go, go, going... right up to the end... she was actually on vacation back East when she passed away. She had a fantastic deep voice and contagious laugh and was just so much fun to be around. She could hang out and play games with the grandkids like she was one of us. She was an amazing nurturer and care taker, spending most of her life serving and caring for those around her. I admire her for so many things, and I loved her as my own grandmother. I miss her already, but I am so happy that she is now reunited with her husband and other family members that passed on before her. We love you Grandma!

Finally!

I love the holidays just as much as the next person (possibly more), but I have to admit I am glad that they are finally over! I feel like I can breath again now that the the hustle and bustle of the season is over. I was so swamped in the weeks leading up to Christmas, that I feel like I got behind on everything... including this blog. So, here is my pathetic attempt at catching up. I am just going to make a slideshow for each of the past few months that I neglected to post anything for and call it good.

Starting with October. I did a post for Halloween but nothing for the rest of the month. October is one of my favorite months in Utah. The weather is crisp and cool, perfect for sweatshirts, the leaves are colorful and pretty, and there are a ton of fun fall activities to do. Most of these pictures are from our adventures at the various pumpkin patches near our home. Davis' friend Braddock came along with us, and the boys had a blast. We also got to go up to Park City for a few days with Bryson's family and stay at the Marriott right by the ski slopes. We had fun riding the Alpine slide and coaster, eating lots of good food, swimming, playing games with the kids, and just hanging out with the family.

November is a big birthday month for our family. I feel like half of our huge family has birthdays in November, so that's pretty much what we do all month long right up until Thanksgiving. This year I surprised Bryson with the gun he's been wanting for a few years as his birthday/Christmas present. When we went to Vegas for Thanksgiving, he had fun taking it out to the desert to shoot with the guys. John-Kai and Meg were in town for Thanksgiving as well to show off Meg's new ring (Yay! They finally got engaged!!) It was really nice getting to spend time with family and enjoy all of the wonderful food... I was particularly excited to try a deep fried turkey for the first time, and it was amazing!

December feels a little bit like one big blur of craziness, but it was fun. Lots of fun parties, shopping, projects, cookie making, decorating, etc, etc, etc. I was a little crazy this year (thanks to my friend Tammy) and decided to make pajamas for Davis as well as all of my nieces and nephews, even though I do not know how to sew. It took a lot longer than expected, and there were plenty of imperfections, but overall they turned out pretty cute for a first try. It was a good learning experience, and next time, I'll sort of know what I'm doing... though I will probably never try to do that at Christmas time again! Our Christmas was really fun this year. This was the first year that Davis really got into it and was excited about Santa and everything, which made it much more fun for us. Christmas morning had that exciting feeling of anticipation that it used to have when we were kids. Davis was so excited about every present and wanted to play with all of them immediately. We got to spend lots of time with family and eat too much yummy food as well. It was perfect. Bryson and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary a few days after Christmas with a romantic dinner at the Roof and a carriage ride around Temple Square. It was very nice, despite the freezing cold temperature. Then a few days later, we headed off to Vegas again for New Year's. Davis could not stop talking about Meg and Will the whole drive there. He repeatedly told me, "I'm so excited to play with Will!" or "Who wants to see Aunt Meg? Me!!!" Very cute. We had a great time in Vegas, as usual. We drove down a day early so I could hang out with Tami and Mike for a few hours (well worth the drive through the blizzard). Dad and Jane threw a very fun New Year's Eve party with yummy Mexican food, fun games, and great friends. For the rest of the trip, we just relaxed and played.