Keryn's Round-up

The holiday season was crazy, fun, relaxing, and wonderful:

• Bradley was actually able to take off almost the whole two weeks (which turned out to burn only five vacation days, because he worked part of some days, and had December 25 & 26/January 1 & 2 off anyway). So, yeah, didn't get to use all the vacation time that expired at the end of the year. Oh, well.
• I had my tooth extracted on December 23 (they couldn't save it, so out it came, after considerable pulling and tugging). This resulted in: a) a very puffy chipmunk-cheeked me. Bradley had a hard time taking me seriously because my face was so assymetrical, and b) a HUGE bruise that spread up my jaw almost to my nose, from where the dentist rested his hand to PULL. I told everyone that my husband beats me. Nobody believed me--can't imagine why.
• We had a great Christmas--I got two marvelous presents from LaDale (one of which is a beautiful plate that has a long story behind it [ha ha, a long story!!!!]), a rice cooker, a new saucepan, and a gorgeous, brown-calfskin bound hymnbook that matches my scriptures that I got last year (BYU's gift to their employees). What did you get?
• We rearranged our family/toy room. We took the couch/hide-a-bed out (in pieces, as it is too big to get through the door without trauma) and threw it away, took the bookshelves out of the dining room and put them in the family room, and filled the shelves with toys, games, and preschool supplies. We moved the rocking chair into the family room as well, and kept the cushions from the couch for the kids to play/lay/sit on, until we can afford beanbags. It is really different feeling, but I adore it! And the reorganization of the toys (with the attendant weeding-out and rotation) has made it easier for the kids to put their toys away (yay yay yay). My dining room looks huge and very empty now, but once I figure out what to put on the wall, it will look better and we love the extra room.
• Mema arrived on Friday afternoon (in the midst of the rearrangement). As soon as Gideon saw Mema, he said, "AMM-MA!" and lunged into her arms, and hugged and cuddled. So sweet! Ezra and Mercy loved loved loved having Grandma (and, to be honest, her computer games) here, and Heber very much enjoyed being held more than he is used to, with a third adult to help with everything.
• Saturday night Grandmama Tobler, Aunt Wendy, Uncle Bob, Kimberly, Gabrielle, Tyler, Logan, and Sarah came over for dinner. It was really crowded and really fun.
• Sunday we blessed our precious little Heber Alexander. It was wonderful and far more people were able to come than I was expecting--we took up three middle pews with Bradley's sisters' families, Wendy and Bob etc., Telima, Tyler, and kids. And then Telima and Tyler came over for dinner.

Jenafer--first, what a crazy Sunday you had yesterday. You must be so relieved that your kiddos are back in school, even if that means you are babysitting again. As for "Mr. Obama", conventionally the press will refer to the sitting president (or president-elect) as "President X" the first time he is mentioned in a story, and then refer to him as "Mr. X" the rest of the story. So you read and hear references to "Mr. Bush", "Mr. Clinton", etc.

As for the Yellowstone earthquakes--it could mean that a super-eruption is eminent, but I have as good of a chance of being killed by a falling grand piano as having a super-eruption in my lifetime. Possibly the earthquake swarms mean magma is moving up, getting ready to create a rhyolite dome or cinder cone. That would be WAY COOL. But most probably the swarms indicate fluids (mostly water) moving through the system of superheated rocks. Boring stuff like that.

I love you all!