The amaryllis!

One of my favorite things at Christmastime is the ability to purchase an amaryllis bulb. You can buy a box with bulb, pot and soil from $5-20. This year I took Alyssa with me and she picked out a "PINK" flower. You will discover, as we did, that this flower is definitely NOT pink! However, it's beauty has delighted us for days.
This is a day by day series of photos showing the progression of blooming.....

You can see the plant is ready to start blooming.

One step closer...........

The first flower to peek out.

Two flowers open; two flowers getting ready to open.

In its full glory!

One of God's most beautiful creations!!!

The Barrett Christmas party

I could kick myself for not taking my camera to the Barrett Christmas party because there were some memorable moments. So here goes my top 10 favorite things about the party at Jon's house:

10. Lori and Eugene's daughter, Kaitlin counting for hide and seek.......14, 15, 16, 18, 19..........so cute!

9. Jon's cookies!! It isn't enough that he built that entire house from the ground up, he makes better cookies than all of us. Something somewhere is not FAIR!!!

8. The misfortune cookies! Jon and I got together and made fortune cookies into which we put all these misfortunes that he thought of. Boyd's was........congratulations! You are pregnant! Thank heavens THAT didn't come true!

7. The decoration in Jon's bathroom.............the pregnancy test from last year's white elephant gift exchange.

6. The white elephant gift game. NO ONE plays it like Jon does.

5. During a white elephant dare, Maria being challenged to see who could find a pair of red socks first and she said, "oh, I have some on." She lifted her pant legs for us all to see.

4. Jackson dancing with Jon's half mannequin from Mervyn's. So choice!

3. Scott standing BAREFOOT in the snow for 1 full minute to defend his tub of gummy worms.

2. Everyone secretly wanting Jon's 2008 bikini calendar but outwardly being good little boys and men!!!

1. The number one thing of the party was the spread. Jon made Cafe Rio pork, a fried turkey and jambalaya. Can you think of anything more heavenly? I can.....eating it every day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Jon, I love you so.

Jon's house this fall right after the sod was laid.

Happy day to you!!!

Two of my favorite people in the world have birthdays in January, my sisters Carolyn and Heather. Heather happens to be a New Year baby, so she starts off every year with a birthday. Carolyn's birthday is on the 29th of this month. I thought I would take this moment and write some cool things about each of them:

Compassionate
Artistic
Remarkable
Optimist
Life-saver
Youthful
Numeric (good with numbers)

and

Happy
Extraordinary
Accountant-to-be
Thoughtful
Helpful
Example
Reliable

Happy Birthday! I love both of you.

My oldest sister, Carolyn, with her husband, Ray.

The sun was making it difficult to get good pictures that day, but here is a picture of Heather, albeit in shadow.

January................................

Did you notice the full moon this past week? Simply gorgeous! I became a real moon watcher when I ran every morning with my friend, Diana. I noticed whether it was waxing or waning or full. Now, I go outside in the moring to warm up Court's car and I am so grateful to fun back in to the warm house. No more running in the cold and ice for me!! Sorry this picture is so small.

Mammogram Mama

I have become quite familiar with McKay Dee's mammography center as of late. I went in mid-December for a routine mammogram and was called back because the radiologist found some calcifications that were concerning to her. I didn't think anything of it; I just waltzed in expecting nothing and had another mammogram. Shortly thereafter I was called to go speak to the radiologist who informed me that because the calcifications were irregular it was not a good sign. She wanted to do a biopsy on my right breast to make sure the calcifications were not cancerous.
Talk about my heart.......it began to beat hard and fast and I was so nervous. I scheduled the biopsy and then waited for 10 long days. I underwent that biopsy 20-30 times in my mind before I actually went in. I had worked myself up to quite a dither about the whole process.
Last Monday I went in the the mammography center at McKay Dee and was shown a video explaining the biopsy. I was pretty nervous. The medical people that were working with me were so kind and compassionate. I made it through the entire procedure with little pain or discomfort.
Well, the test results came back on Friday. NO cancer!!! I am so grateful.

I have written this post in hopes that all who are able to read it will get a mammogram this year if you are the right age, or encourage someone you love to get one. You never know if you will save a life.

This is pretty much how it is getting a mammogram. Some people say it is quite painful but I would classify it as just uncomfortable.

This is not my image but an example from someone else.

A Wiiiiiiiiilicious Christmas!!

Here are some belated pictures of our fun Christmas day. It was so relaxing and enjoyable. It's hard to believe that it's over and we are now on to another year.

Happy anticipation!!!

Our "Mii's" from left to right: Court, Boyd, Alyssa, Marciea and Brock

Court and Boyd battling on the tennis court.

Boxing, anyone?

Court and Alyssa duking it out in the ring.