Thursday, April 6, 2023

Christmas with the Madisons


Beth was nice enough to wait to have her family Christmas until I was over covid and could come celebrate with them. It was their first Christmas in their new house and also their first Christmas with Fritz! So many exciting firsts to celebrate.

Beth is in the middle of redecorating the house to be more in her personal style and to make it feel more like home. She worked hard to paint the front room this beautiful green in time for our Christmas celebrations.



Beth had gotten all the animals Christmas sweaters for them to wear in our annual Christmas morning picture. Fritz loved his, he trotted around in it feeling like such a fancy boy.


The cats  on the other hand....


They hated their sweaters. We kept them on just long enough to snap a few photos and then let them free. Their less than enthusiastic reaction made all of us giggle so hard.




We let Fritz open his own gifts, and he was so good at it!



Fritz is an amazing gift receiver, he always gave the best reactions to every gift and excitedly played with every toy he was given.





His stocking was completely filled with tennis balls and Beth poured them all out and made it rain tennis balls and Fritz gleefully pranced around trying to catch them all, it was so cute to watch.


I also brought a gift for the kitties. They seemed interested in it when I opened the package  but then turned their noses up when I offered them the treats. The perfect example of the personalities of dogs vs. cats. Granted I knew the kitty treats were a long shot, I basically just thought they were cute and funny, but I was curious if the cats would like them. They gave  the treats a hard pass.


Then the kiddos got to dive into their presents! They had  been so patient all  morning while we got things ready, they were ecstatic to finally be having Christmas morning!







Apparently Monty had been asking for a garbage truck for a long time. He was over the moon when he opened a gift and saw that it was his very own garbage truck. After that he didn't need to open any more gifts for  a while, he needed to play with his truck.


I got V a lego carousel and a sparkly saturn shaped purse filled with earrings, she was delighted with both.




I also got  her slime that came in macaron shaped containers. When I saw  this at the craft store I knew  I needed  to get   it for V. She is obsessed with both  macarons and slime, so the  fact they were combined in  one gift was perfect!




Monty eventually came back to open some more presents. I got him some chocolate  dinosaur eggs, a little fishing game, and a tiny train that came in a tin.




After the kids were happily playing with their presents, Beth and I opened our stockings and gifts.


Beth wrapped my present  in Vincent Van Gogh wrapping paper,  it was so pretty!


She knows me so well, I  was so excited  about all of these! We  were  excited to do a reading with  those oracle cards. They  are absolutely gorgeous.


Such a  merry little family Christmas!

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

2022: A Year of Firsts


2022 was a pretty awesome year for me. I tried a lot of  new things and experienced a lot of personal growth, I like to refer to it as a year of firsts.

Here's a list of some of the things I did for the first time this year:

Solo traveling
Visited Key West
Holotropic breath work 
Roller Skating
Dyed my hair pink
Attended the Flower and Garden Festival in Disney World
Tried Voodoo donuts
Got a professional tarot reading
Relaxed in a salt cave
Dined in alpenglobes in Midway
Tried Gideons famous cookies
Visited Bear Lake
Went Kayaking in the Ocean
Got cartilage piercings
Participated in a bike race solo
Stayed at the Grand America
Kayaked the Provo River
Got tested for ADHD (negative)
Contrast therapy at a nordic style bathhouse 
Hiked the riverside trail in Zion National Park
Backyard camping
Had mono
Tried an açaí bowl
Hair analysis for health
Got a Brazilian wax
Visited San Luis Obispo
Stayed at the Madonna Inn 
Started doing morning sunlight viewing
Walked the boardwalks around Silver Lake
Did a photo op at Fan X (Cary Elwes!)
Rode the Halloween lift ride at Sundance
Had an energy healing session
Did a Parasite cleanse
Attended the witches tea at the Grand America
Visited Arizona for Christmas
Roasted chestnuts
Got Covid



Such a wonderful year of growth
 I'm hoping to take the momentum I gained in 2022 into 2023!





Monday, March 6, 2023

New Years Eve


On new years eve, I was finally able to join in on the family celebrations! Everyone was nice and let me come even though I hadn't officially tested negative yet. But I had quarantined for 10 days and I hadn't had any symptoms for several days. 

I was so excited to be with my people again! I was also so excited to enjoy moms cooking, her food is  so delicious.






Dad knows I love peppermint chocolate cakes, and I had told him all season long, don't make your chocolate peppermint dessert when I'm not there! So he made his special chocolate peppermint ice cream cake just for me! Except, he couldn't find any peppermint ice cream so he used mint chocolate chip instead, and it was so yummy. I really appreciated his intention to make me my favorite Christmas dessert for my grand introduction back into society.


After dinner and dessert it was time for our annual white elephant gift exchange!


Dad went first



Grass covered flip flops! The griffins brought this gift and they told me they were hoping  I would get it since I have a serious aversion to walking on grass with bare feet. Thinking of wearing these shoes gives  me the cringy shivers.


Ricky got a blue and white plate and at first we were all confused why this was part of a silly white elephant gift exchange. Beth told us to look closer, the pattern was actually flying monkeys and other silly things.




V got this hilarious eye mask, that she wore all the way up until it was stolen.





Mom got a light up scarf, hat and gloves and she was actually pretty thrilled about it.




Karin got this hilarious octopus beanie. We all told her we expect to see her wearing it on the slopes next year, and she said it would actually be pretty awesome since her face always gets so cold. 



John got a snail soap dispenser and green soap to use with it. This was a pretty hot item and it got stolen a few times.




Thomas got a talking face piggy bank that "eats' your money, the kids were so entertained by it.


When it was my turn I picked the other present that was labeled "fragile" and was wrapped like Ricky's blue and white plate, hoping I would get one too.


I did! Mine had giant robots taking over a village.



When John's snail got stolen, he picked the gift I brought which had canned river otter in it...


It was actually  a super cute stuffed river otter that V and Thomas loved. John loved the candy I included in the gift.


Jenny stole dad's grass flip flops because they came with some pretty adorable guinea pig things.




Dad's new gift was a grinch face pan and a green pancake mix.




Sam got "ohhhh fffffudge" and he was pretty excited about it.



Andrew stole V's eye mask and the worst alphabet book that came with it.


Her replacement gift was a ginormous candy cane.



After everyone had opened their gift, Thomas did some major negotiating with John to get the canned river otter and the cat vs. pickle toy that also came in that gift.


Then it was time to head upstairs and get ready to countdown to the new year!




Happy New Year!!!





Dr. Nog (Dr. Pepper + eggnog) has become part of our new years traditions. The boys love it and look forward to it every year. They love experimenting and finding the best ratio of soda to nog.



After ringing in the new year at midnight, our family doesn't go to bed. We stay up and puzzle. we are a family of night owls.




Cheers to 2023!!