World's worst blogger!!!

Ok, Ok, I know I'm really bad at keeping my blog current. I get a little behind and then a little more and before I know it, I'm so far behind that it's too overwhelming so then I put it off a little longer.

Where to begin??? I guess I'll start off by saying we had a wonderful Christmas. We spent two weeks in Utah visiting family and friends. Savannah, Alex and Micah learned how to ski and they were fearless! I was impressed that they could just zip down the mountain without poles. No crying or anything!
Here they are with their cousins.


We brought our Wii with us and everyone had fun with guitar hero. Jeremy's brother, Dan was a complete addict. Jeremy had a great time staying up with him until the "Wii" hours of the night several times.
Here we are on Christmas Eve. The kids always get matching pj's.

All in all we had a great time!


Now some not so great news. My Grandma Decker passed away on February 7th. She had been in a nursing home for 5 1/2 years after having a paralyzing stroke so in some ways this is a blessing and I am so relieved that she is no longer a prisoner in her own body. But I will truly miss her. She and I were two peas in a pod and had a lot in common. I feel so blessed to be her granddaughter and to have spent so much time with her. I was fortunate to be able to travel back "home" for the funeral. (Jeremy and I had a trip to Mexico planned so I had to do some schedule switching) My sisters and I made a floral arrangement for the funeral. We choose flowers that reminded us of picking wild flowers at the cabin with Grandma. It turned out beautiful! I had a great few days visiting with them. It's not often that I get to spend time with my sisters without all the kids running around.
The funeral service was beautiful. There was so much that could be said about how wonderful Grandma was. She was an artist, great cook, immaculate housekeeper. She had a strong testimony and showed us all what it means to endure faithfully to the end. I know that I was her favorite grandchild and I'm sure the rest of the grand kids feel the same. (I really was though:)) Grandpa wouldn't leave her side during the viewing and when it was time to close the casket, he was helped up out of his wheelchair to stand and kiss her goodbye. He kissed her so gently and said "Goodbye, Bernie. I'll be with you soon." We had all witnessed a love story. There was not a dry eye in the room. We were both heartbroken for Grandpa, but so grateful for the plan of salvation and the knowledge that Grandma and Grandpa (and all of the rest of us) are sealed for eternity and will be together again. This is what it's all about.



I also had the privalege of meeting the newest member of the Wallace family. Ben and Megan had their first baby about a week after we left and we were sad that we wouldn't get to see her until....well, who knows when.

Introducing....Maria Elizabeth Wallace. She is a cutie with nice round cheeks. We can't wait to spend more time with her in the future.




From Utah I went straight to Mexico to meet up with Jeremy and his Brother, Seth and sister in law, Mandy. It was warm and relaxing and just what we all needed to thaw us out from all the snow. (ok well the truth is that Seth and then Jeremy got terribly sick with fever, chills, body aches, and then congestion and coughing. Turned out to be Bronchitis and a Sinus infection for Jeremy. Mandy also got congested. But we'll focus on the positive!) We rode on a crazy jungle buggy to some caves to snorkle. On the way back the buggy got stuck in reverse so we had to get on a different one. We went on an all day trip to the ruins at Chichan Itza and then to a cenote to swim.



And of coarse we got to go SHOPPING!!! Good thing I had Mandy with me since Jeremy and Seth were less than thrilled to be shopping. All in all it was a great trip. 10 days without my kids was not, however, great. I missed them horribly by the end and was ready to come home and be a mom again! Thanks to our amazing Moms who flew out to cold, cold Chicago for a few days each to take care of our kids. When we got home, Gray wouldn't come to me. He would cry for Grandma every time I tried to hold him. I guess that means they did a great job spoiling the kids. Yes, I was a little sad (ok, maybe more that a little!) that my little guy didn't want me, but we are back to being best buds again so all is well.