It was two days ago....

...but I still want to do a post about favorites and I was going to call it Favorite Friday because I found this picture when I was cleaning up my flood and it was my all-time favorite vacation and this has to be one of my favorite pictures.....I mean, really....how often do you get your whole family in the log.....

 ...and speaking of favorites, check out Mandy there in front....it's her birthday today. She's the mom of this awesome family and she always makes me feel loved and accepted and this is one of my favorite pictures of them....

...and she runs and looks really good while doing it.  What more can I say except that I love ya tons, Mandinga....hope you have a big ol' HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

...and speaking of Friday, we were traveling on that day and one of my favorite things is a good road trip and this is a good one. I'm not sure Randy would agree; he says it's just way too long but to me, it's not, 'cause I like going through some little tiny towns, wondering what the people do there....

 ....and watching what's going on to the side of the road....(and on the road). We caught these sheep being herded.....

..and it was pretty cool.

From what I could see, they had a long way to go to get to "some place"......

  ...then there was the shoe tree that I had seen a couple of times before but never stopped to take a picture.

 ...but my very favorite part of a road trip is watching the clouds....

One last favorite. One of my favorite things about living in California is growing an orange tree....and I did. Came home to four oranges....and they really are pretty good.

Picked our first ones and ate them today. Thanks for letting me share a few of my favorite things. What are some of yours???

Goin' out big.....

...with about three weeks worth of stuff to post but here goes. I think I ended with "The Flood" so I'll start there. I was headed out the door on Monday, December 16th knowing I couldn't just sit on my butt in Folsom when there was a flood in my house. As I went to turn off the t.v., there was a news story about a little girl that had died after a tonsillectomy, so.....instead of heading down 99, I took off over the top of Nevada and headed to Bountiful to check on my Traci and give her a couple more days of help. Yeah, I'll admit I over-react (I'm working on it) and I also felt like it was a sign for me to go there.....'cause at one time I thought she was gonna die. (I think she thought so too, it was so awful).

...and, thankfully, I found everything just fine but I was glad I got to be there for two more nights to help her out and hug her little boys (she was still struggling with pain and inability to eat anything)......and I got to take in Jake's and Scott's piano recital. Then it was time to head on down the road to check out the damage.

Yep, things were a mess. ServPro was in the midst of throwing everything away....we were able to salvage some photos, furniture and a few blankets from under the stairs (thanks, JoEllen for laundering some of my favorite quilts) but there was still a lot of stuff that was lost and that's o.k. Time to reduce and simplify in this house and that we did.

It was awesome to have a dumpster in front of my house for a few days. A whole lot of stuff got thrown away and a few little neighbor "dumpster divers" had a blast.

Phyllis stopped by for a visit and we just happened to find a picture of our trip to China in 2008. 

Good time reminiscing goodtimes. It's good to have friends and family for support during these times. However, we can't let a little misfortune keep us from having some holiday fun. The Gingerbread House Extravaganza was moved from my house to JoEllen's. She's a trooper to make 18 gingerbread houses for our crew and I love how they get into it. The little kids are getting big enough that they love the detail and the process. Laynee had even checked out ideas online for her masterpiece.

They enjoyed some playtime while everyone was finishing and got a little crazy with the icing.

They were all really good but George came out the winner this year. JoEllen', (top right) got "Most Religious". Mine was "Most Traditional". James is the best judge ever and comes up with some really good categories. Everyone is a winner at our party. 

One of my favorite traditions is our hike on the Red Hill on Christmas Eve. I've come to really appreciate being outdoors, especially on our beautiful winter sunshine days.

This year did not disappoint....after the hike, we headed to B-Dubs. Hopefully, a new tradition. Check out Spencer's Blog for another take on this tradition...Click HERE.

Christmas Eve at my mom's.....such a longstanding tradition, I don't even dare guess how many years we have been doing this but we all know what to bring and I'm sure it's stressful for her but we all love it. 

Colleen has been doing games for 20 or so years and passed the torch to Lauri.

We enjoyed some "Minute to Win it" and a little "Mad Lib" Christmas Carols......Kyle and the kids have to keep them riddled with a little "potty language" but it's all in good fun.

Lauri and James joined me Christmas morning and it was so fun to have them here. A little inconvenient without my basement but it was a good mess and we did enjoy Lucy and Molly. Christmas is for kids for sure.

Next, Home Run Derby , I mean, Kickball Palooza. Yep, a new tradition but equally fun and everyone was involved. 

A few lessons in sportsmanlike conduct had to be learned but the competition was fierce as should be expected. 

I had to add this classic picture of James....yep, it was his game. Home run every time.

Beautiful day and good times.

then on to mom's for Christmas lunch. Somewhere in the week we got a trip in to Jumpin' Jacks.... Randy and Kaila showed up and we headed to the hill one more time to find that Geocache I had been looking for. We actually found two of them in about the same area. Jake came along and loved, loved, loved it.....

He chose an old Arby's coupon for a turnover and was so excited. He said..."My mom will celebrate me." Such a little "treasure finder"......Randy loved taking him to his swim lessons when we were in Bountiful helping out so he told them to be sure and bring their suits. We took a few of them to the SHAC and it was a blast.

We always like it when Lauri cooks us Mexican food and she invited everyone over to my messy house but we feasted on some awesome stuff. 

I always love it when the family gets together especially seeing my sons and daughters interact with each others children and the cousins getting along together.

I especially love the pictures of Harry and Molly, wondering what the conversation was at the fire hydrant.

Goodbyes are always hard but it was sure great to have everyone here for a bit, enjoying some longstanding family traditions and making some new ones.....

 Cousins enjoying cousins....

...and sisters being sisters.  So now....we dig in and start the new year with some new goals. Of course, mine is to put my basement back together as quickly as possible. Randy got the ceilings painted and lights switched out.

What a guy. We were beat so didn't celebrate much. Had Chinese take-out with my mom, poured the bubbly and hit the sack about 10....

I'm sure I've left something out but we've crammed a lot into a couple of weeks so anyone that makes it this far, may our 2014 be a great new year with lots of renewal, rejoicing, and remembering with gratitude for all the good in our lives. I can't end this blog without paying tribute to my dad....he would have been 86 years old on this day.....

One of my favorite pictures with my dad....and one of a very few of me and him. I miss him tons. Happy Birthday, Evan Hal Sullivan. We all miss you so much.

I know my mom misses him too....

Celebrating Dad at Chuck-a-Rama. He would have loved this and he would say...."and to think I'm responsible for all of this." He loved his posterity.

December catch up.....

Whew....it's been quite a busy last few weeks but we'll start at the top....our trip home for Thanksgiving. We drove through the night down the loneliest road in America, Highway 50 and didn't see more than a dozen cars all night long.

One of our stops is in Ely....where Randy found this.....he was quite proud of himself.

Yes, it was very cold but we made it in the early morning hours. We enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner at his mom's.

Earlier in the morning, we were able to witness several family members finishing the Gobbler....great fun and a great way to start a day of eating.

The Mason Wells Family were out in full force....I think this was Miller's first. He totally rocked it. Kaila ran it with Kai and they had a great time as well. We were able to get in some really good family time while home.

Always fun to sit around mom's family room on Sunday night.

Randy even got his stitches out from his implant last week. Nothing like personalized service from your dentist, right?

Caught a quick picture of Kyle's kids playing in the leaves on my way to hang with Spencer's kids while he and Shana were at the temple.....

Got to take in "Parent's Day" at Maycee's dance and see Miss Sheila at work. 

Lauri made us the perfect BLT in celebration of "BLT Day"....the first ever Scott Wells Family Tradition on December 1....yum. So, we've officially started December and Aunt Beulah's Funeral was a reunion of the cousins. It was also the day of the record breaking snow storm in Southern Utah so a lot of the cousins couldn't come.....but it was good to pay tribute to this fine woman.....

Me and my siblings with Aunt Beulah's children....Joyce, me, Bruce, ReKay, Craig, Diane and Ron...A fine bunch of younguns....don't ya think?

The sweetest thing of the day was when the funeral director called up all the great grand kids to help him tuck in their grandma....then gave them each a guardian angel pin. I cried....I did. I want them to do that at my funeral. It was just so sweet.

My Aunt Beulah ordered this snow. She loved the snow. She absolutely would have been dancing around in it, making snow angels and it's so amazing that it was here and so beautiful on this her burial day. Snow or not, I had to get to Traci's. She had her tonsils out and Russ was leaving so I hitched a ride with my cousin Mary Alice Fairbanks and her husband. Made it to Tooele, got a car from James' house and headed out behind a snow plow to get to my baby girl.....she was in so much pain. Her saga is on her blog but it's private so if you have an invite, please be sure and read what she's been through. Randy sensed my anxiety and flew in Sunday night to help me out. He was amazing with her little boys....they love him so. He would take care of them while I took care of her....and she ended up having a horrendous midnight run to the ER with her bleeding. I'm crying as I write this.....

Bless her heart. They had to cauterize her throat...no anesthesia and they went at it three times. Arggghhhh.

Randy was so good with the boys. I already said that but it was worth repeating.  I was grateful for his help. We headed on to St. George long enough to give our moms a hug and I was able to go to Maycee's Nutcracker. She did awesome and it was so beautiful.

These grandmas have enjoyed watching her dance for a lot of years. We have a picture about like this when she was only 3 or 4 back in Kentucky. Randy and I got back to Folsom and I was able to attend tithing settlement tonight. Sad to say, I was a bit behind in my tithes but got all caught up and came through the door and proudly announced that I'm a full tithe payer, now let's watch the blessings flow....got a phone call from my boys.....

I kinda knew all that cold weather would reak havoc with my pipes.....not quite this soon though. Laynee had come to study at my house and discovered it. Now that WAS a blessing. The boys and their kids and friends all pitched in to help clean up.....that was also a blessing. Thanks to everyone. I'll be home soon.

I had been needing to rid my house of 30 plus years worth of crap....done, cha ching.....another blessing. So the Christmas cards are just not going to get out this year....but here it is. 

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family and to be married to an awesome man that keeps me calm and tries to teach me how to smile through it all. He's my Pollyanna, always finds something to be glad about.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.....

P.S:   I forgot the best part of the whole time I got to be home. I was there for one of Kyle's lectures.  Didn't understand anything he said but just sat there with my jaw dropping wondering where on earth he learned all this intellectual stuff. He certainly didn't get his "smarts" from me but I was impressed.

This is the article that was in the paper advertising his lecture.