You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile!

Hey, hobo man, hey Dapper Dan,
You both got your style,
but brother,
You're never fully dressed without a smile!

You're clothes may be "Beau Brumelly,"
They stand out a mile,
but brother!
You're never fully dressed without a smile!

Who cares what they're wearing
On Main Street or Saville Row?
It's what you wear from ear to ear,
And not from head to toe
(that matters)

So, Senator, so, janitor, so long for awhile,
You're never fully dressed,
Though you may wear the best,
You're never fully dressed without a smile
I am richly blessed in this precious life!

Zack's 1st Christmas

It was so great to be able to celebrate Christmas as a mom. . . I am struck with awe when I contemplate what a sweet blessing it is to be a mommy and to be able to celebrate such a precious holiday with my wee family.

On Christmas Eve we joined the Barnett Clan for their traditional CE dinner -- Chinese out, of course! It is a tradition that my family looks forward to every year. Once we had tamales, but it just wasn't the same. On our way to the restaurant an ice/snow mixture began to fall; by the time we reached the China Star it was icing really hard!! We all enjoyed dinner but kept an eye on the windows and realized that the storm had turned into a full-fledge blizzard! A blizzard in Oklahoma is unheard of, they had not had one in about 40 years. I could not believe it we had a BLIZZARD on Christmas eve!!!! Because of the treacherous roads we all agreed to cancel the rest of our traditions and went to our own homes. So Ben, Zacky and I nestled into our home for the evening and celebrated the magic of the holiday as our little family. We read scriptures, watched Christmas Eve On Sesame Street, (one of the Ipson family traditions) drank eggnog and our little Zacky enjoyed a biter biscuit. When the evening dwindled down, we turned down the lights and enjoyed opening our Christmas eve presents by tree lights and firelight. Of course our present HAD to be PJ'S!!!!! We left the usual milk and cookies for Santa and an apple and carrots for the reindeer.





On Christmas day( We didn't dream of, we lived a white Christmas!)




Ben and I were so anxious for Zack to wake up and discover that Santa had not only come and left presents, but that he ate the cookies, drank the milk and the reindeer had eaten the apple and carrots.

Zack had us laughing hysterically, he really wasn't interested in opening his presents but was fascinated by the orange that Santa had given him. Eventually the presents sparked some interest and Zack did loved the end results.



Later that day we ventured out on the treacherous roads and carefully made our way over to my parents house to open presents, feast on prime rib and an assortment of Christmas goodies and enjoy the company of the rest of my family. It is always mayhem and great joy when the ENTIRE family joins together and opens all the presents from each other.


The highlight of the present opening was Zack's reaction to the present from his Aunt Becky. She very wisely chose a Kiss Me Elmo! Zack laughed so hard and would not put his Elmo down. It was a HUGE success and I believed it brought real happiness to Becky's heart to know that she scored big time with her nephew.
I've contemplated about the blessings of the season, the greatest blessing of all our elder brother Jesus Christ willingness to come to earth to offer himself a living sacrifice so that we could return to our Father. Oh how I love this time of year when we are greatly reminded of His great love, when others draw closer to God and are kinder to each other. I am so grateful that after so many trials and heartbreaks that our Heavenly Father sent Ben and Zack into my life. I am so grateful for loving, strong parents that enveloped me with love all my life and a big sister that set an extraordinary example of love, and for snow on Christmas!!!

I am richly blessed in this precious life!

Zack Thinks He's Mastered Feeding Himself . . .

These shots were examples of our little Mr. Man feeding himself back in November. What a funny little guy, he was insistent that he do it himself, but I'm pretty sure he got more on himself than IN himself.










I am blessed in this precious life,

Trip to Utah and Zacky's first Thanksgiving

Ben and I went out to Utah for our Zacky's first Thanksgiving. We went to grandpa and grandma Durney's house for the feast and of course it was nice to see so much family. Zack of course was happy as a clown and everyone absolutely loved him. ( why wouldn't they?) I was able to share with Ben's family our family story about the first Thanksgiving and we sang "Because I Have Been Giving Much." (my favorite hymn) After we all ate we just chatted with each other and had fun.

The Saturday following Thanksgiving was the big BYU vs the U game. Ben's parents had tickets for the game and his sweet mom gave up her ticket so Ben and his Dad could have a little male bonding time. . . SO my lucky Ben got to go to the game. While the men were bonding at the game and tailgate party, Ben's sisters, mom and I (Zack too of course) went out to lunch and indulged ourselves with pedicures. After all that indulgence we went to Uncle Dean and Aunt Tonis' house to watch the game. The game went into over time But at the end BYU won 26 to 23!!! It was a perfectly fun way to end the afternoon.

On Monday my wee little family popped over to visit my high school alma mater -- Liahona Academy. It was wonderful to visit with and see the Degraffs again and be able to introduce my handsome, sweet husband Ben and the joy of my life, Zack! I was invited to audit one of Br. DeGraff's classes. We laughed so much and Ben was able to witness what wonderful educators the DeGraffs were and the type of education I received at that school.

A Long Year

Today is the one year anniversary of Duane's passing. My sister and the kids have made it through all of the firsts. Not to say it would get any easier but at least all of the firsts are over with.

Duane was a good, kind, hard worker etc. whom was loved and respected by so many people. Becky and Duane had one of those rare marriages that they were always looking like that they were falling in love, they were newlyweds or still on their honeymoon.

Last week, while Ben was in the hospital, I took over the after-school/dinner duty with Becky's kids. I went up to Becky's room to help make the bed and tidy things a bit and she has displayed a LARGE picture of Becky, Duane and Molly as a baby; I showed Zack the picture. Zacky let out this loud squeal, which I thought was for his Aunt Becky, but the fact was he completely ignored Becky and the baby and went straight for his Uncle Duane. He smothered Duane's image with kisses; it was so sweet. I know that he recognized his Uncle Duane and he wanted to give him a kiss. Duane loved babies and I am sure the two of them would've had a great relationship. In fact, I know they have this great love between the two of them.

We were so blessed to be a part of Duane's earthly journey, he really loved everyone, especially his family and he made all of our lives better just knowing him. As for me, I am glad all the firsts are over as well. There are so many memories that I will treasure all of my mortal life about Duane. (Like giving me his jacket the day of my wedding, when I was so very cold.) I really miss my big brother today.

1st Halloween!!!

I love Halloween and to make it even more special it was Zack's first Halloween. I decided to have Zack be a monkey! (seriously, what else would I choose, a murloc? LOL) Not surprising, he was absolutely adorable in his costume!
Ben was the crocodile hunter who ventured to Africa to pick up a monkey. I was Storm from X-MEN. As Ben said it: he was the crocodile hunter who went to Africa to pick up a monkey and called up Storm to have clear weather for the entire trip.
We had our traditional Halloween dinner pizza and cheese bread from Nico's pizza and rootbeer to drink. The weather was on the warm side so we didn't build a fire in the fireplace but we did have some hot apple cider -- YUM YUM!!! My precious husband, Ben was so sweet and surprised me with a Halloween present. He got us two Halloween plates and mugs from Pfazltcraft and got our Zacky two Halloween cups.

Ben took Zack to a little bit of trick-or-treating -- he took him around our little cul-de-sac. When they got back home Zack did have a little bit of candy and he had a blast getting into his trick-or-treat bag. He inherited my old trick-or-treat bag that Duane made for me when I was only 9 years old.

Didn't Put the Pieces Together . . .

If my little monkey is pulling up on the furniture that he would do the same in his crib!

Time to lower that mattress!