The Build Up!!

Well there is nothing like a busy holiday to cure me of my blogging addiction. Cold turkey I stopped reading, stopped commenting, stopped writing, I almost stopped thinking about what I was going to blog about. Almost.
The days leading up to Christmas were packed. Looking back now I don't know what they were packed with. We didn't go see the lights. We didn't go sledding. I must have just been sitting around dreaming of sugar plums.

Actually I know that some nights were filled with

1.) A Dance Recital for Brandon and Tricia's girls, Kassidy, Tayler and Kimber. (Hip-Hop Christmas, who knew?)

2.) Aaron's Gymnastics Recital! So fun to see him flipping and spinning! 3.) Josh's Orchestra Concert! Wow, they sounded great! Even my mom was impressed!

I also remember the 20th . The 20th of December is my dad's birthday. We celebrated my dad's life in a big way all day on Saturday. The day started with a package in the mail from my uncle and aunt who found a HUGE treasure trove of my dad's life. We found newspaper clippings, graduation programs, documents and wonderful priceless pictures! It was a great way to start the day!We then proceeded with our celebration by writing little notes and tying them to balloons. (I know it isn't environmentally responsible. deal with it. my dad died.) The boys were hilarious in their notes. Things like:How is heaven? I hope you and Brother Trump are having fun. (Bro. Trump is one of my parents really good friends who died the year before Dad). Josh informed him of the score of the BYU Utah game. Jonathan told him that BYU still rocks. He signed it sincerely, Jonathan. Alex said "see you later".

We all went up to the cemetery and sang happy birthday and then let the balloons go one by one. It looked really cool.
Then we headed up to the church for hours of fun. We played Basketball...

Sweet jump shot! Mitch can totally stuff an 8 year old. We are so proud! The Human Pretzel...

and Dodgeball...First we lined up so we could divide into teams! Cool line up, huh? Joe to Mitch!Andrew totally got me here!

We sat and ate and talked and laughed. Boy did we laugh. I can tell you why in 2 words (or one word and one initial.) B. Rad . You see earlier in the week his wife heard about the plans to play dodge ball and decided that B. Rad needed to dress up like a real dodge ball player. Right after the line up B. Rad disappeared only to make a grand entrance a few minutes later in full battle gear. The laughter went on for a full 10 minutes. It kept springing back every time we glanced his way. The first game his team won because the opposing team was distracted by not so much his athletic prowess but his outfit! Scary boy with hairy cleavage!

After all our fun and games we dropped the kids off with babysitters and proceeded to go to the Mandarin for dinner with just the adults. What a great time we had! We talked and laughed and laughed and even cried a bit as we talked about Dad.

We miss him but he has left a great legacy for us to remember and celebrate. Happy Birthday, Dad! B.Rad and SaraMitch and Haley Alli and MomTricia and Brandon Jenn and Andrew