December 2018

Happy Holidays from the Lunds.

December was full of fun and excitement

We were SO busy, I didn't know if we were coming or going most of the time.

There were so many events that we attended that I completely forgot to photograph.

Sadly.

 Allie traveled up to Salt Lake with the school. 

It didn't even phase her this time.
She didn't stress for one minute about it like she has in the past. 

She is just growing up so fast.

They went to Temple Square and saw the lights

 And they went to the Capital

 And they also sang in the Cathedral with perfect acoustics. 

She said they sounded amazing.

Our Peruvian missionary was supposed to come home the week before Halloween, but at the last minute he extended his mission and that did not make his mom very happy.  But, he simply was not ready to come home and leave work undone. 

He worked hard up until the very last day and baptized the whole Cortez family a couple of days before he came home.

These pictures are of his exit interview.

He was SO SO sad to be leaving.

Garrett would have stayed on his mission for 2 more years if they would have let him.  

He loved his mission more than any missionary I have ever known.

He loved Spanish and every part of Peru

 President Stauffer

 And then the big day arrived ....  The President took him to the airport.  

I have been following President Stauffer's Lima Peru Mission Instagram for 2 years.  I have seen posts about him sending other missionaries home by the dozens.   He was NEVER emotional like this in any of the other send-offs.  NOT ONE.  He just loved Garrett.  As you can see.  

 La Familia Cortez

 He arrived in St. George at noon.  We could hardly stand it while the plane was rolling in.

We made a ton of posters and banners.

He walked into the room and literally just stood there like a deer in the headlights looking at us like he didn't know us and that we were so weird.

He was completely overwhelmed.

Kori walked up to him and hugged him and he hugged all of us, but he wasn't talking very much and when he did... it was very quiet and we could hardly hear him.

Raleigh

Morgan

The Little Kids

 He chose to go to Cafe Rio for his welcome home lunch (weird).

It was at Cafe Rio that he perked up and started acting a little bit normal. 

He has a little accent and he told us that he was having to think about nearly every single word that he was saying and it was kind of hard to speak.

He told me that he was overwhelmed by "all the English in America"

I think we were making him feel claustrophobic and anxious. 

Poor Boy!!

He sat at our table and started talking and telling us stories and showing us his amazing journals.

We are so happy he is home.  But, he was a FABULOUS missionary who did exactly what a person is supposed to do and be on a mission.  I think it will take him a while to get back into the real world.

Peyton's class put on The Grinch Who Stole Christmas Play.

Her teacher sent home a note that said that the kids needed to dress up as Who's.

Yeah Right...  I thought.

Peyton will NEVER dress up like a Who.

And I decided that I would not cause a big fight and that I wouldn't force her to dress up and we never discussed it.

The night before the play, she came into my room and asked me what she was going to wear for the play.

I said "Who's wear leggings and have crazy hair... am I doing your hair?"

She said "sure"

I jumped up mid conversation and literally ran to Walmart to buy bows and hair spray before she could change her mind.  

I was so excited. 

We woke up super early and got to work.

I cannot believe that she let me do this to her, but I am also amazed that she let me take her picture.

 Cutest Who in Whoville

KK was a little bit sad/super jealous that I had spent so much time on Peyton's hair for her play.

I could tell that she was going to require lots of bows and hair spray and attention when getting her ready for her 2nd grade performance too.  The dress code for her performance: her Christmas Best.

She picked her dress and her hair-do.
She calls them unicorn buns and she likes them to be ultra curly

I was happy to make her hair fancy like Peyton's, so that she would know I love her every bit as much.

Her teacher said she looked like a present

MORGAN moved back home where she belongs.

It was nice for her to have a little adventure in another place, but I am so glad that

 she and Parker are back in St. George where they should be.  I didn't even touch her room while she was gone.  I knew she wouldn't stay away long.

 The Cousins sang at Garrett's homecoming.

They sounded beautiful. 

Garrett's talk was the best I have heard.

He gave me a lot to think about.

I am so proud of the person that he has become.

Ryker was sick this day and missed singing with the kids.
Which was too bad, he knew every single word.

 Peyton's job is to load the dishwasher after Ryker has emptied it.

She takes her job very seriously every night.  Our family makes a lot of dirty dishes.  She works hard.

Christmas Eve finally arrived.

This was the first year in 24 years, that I didn't have a Christmas Season Meltdown.

Usually somewhere between the 15th and the 24th, I have a..... 

"I am the worst mother in the whole world, I am the lousiest gift giver,  I simply cannot come anywhere close to being able to be Santa Claus" come apart.

And I cry/sob and feel tremendous guilt and hate myself.

EVERY YEAR on Christmas Eve, I freaking lose it.... at like

2:00, I jump in my car and frantically go to 20 stores and buy all 

kinds of last minute, unnecessary gifts for people who I feel I have 

inadequately provided for.  

It's a mess.  I am a mess.  

But this year, something was different.

It was either:

1.  I had adequately prepared this year or

2. I just didn't care that much.

You'll be happy to know that it was #1.

Nevertheless, we arrived at Christmas Eve and I was pretty much guilt free.

And I was able to actually enjoy my Outback Steak

 My Lover, in his Christmas Eve Cardigan

He wears this every year

 Quince and Vince (and a little boy)

 Kami and Brent

 Ma and Pa

 Two little girls in Christmas PJs

Quincey and Vince moved to Mesquite. 

Vince's job transferred him there.  And hooked them up with a 

pretty great place to live.  

Quincey commutes to St. George for work everyday which does not make me happy.

I try not to think about it to much, it could make me crazy.

 The opening of exchange gifts

Christmas Morning was just the little kids. 

They thankfully stayed asleep until 7:00am.

 Raleigh played a horrible trick on them and wrapped money up

in Iphone boxes and he had them open them at the same time.

And for 33 seconds, they all thought they got their own Iphone.  

They were SO sad when they opened the boxes up and $30 came out.

So. Mean. Dada.
They are probably going to need therapy in their adult life because of this little gag.

 The Big Girls bought Ral a Ryobi Sander.
For all of his upcoming creations. 

He was so excited!!  

He was ready to get started right away on all kinds of projects.
He has a list you know?

 Then I made crepes

and Raleigh made a delicious cinnamon roll casserole.

And Papa and Nana came over and ate with us.

While it was dark and rainy outside.

Perfect!!

Later in the day, we all went to Nana's for dinner.

Delicious food.

Wonderful gifts. 

Fun conversations.

And then...  the best part of the day.... Talking to our missionaries.

The Hyde's talked to Grant earlier in the day and he is so happy!

It's really hot where he is and his Spanish is coming along nicely.

And then we skyped with Gavin.  And he is SO happy and he was telling

us all about his mission and We. Were. All. Bawling!!

Like, I could hardly get ahold of myself.

He is a completely different person.

He is fully embracing his mission and I don't know how a person is that cute.

It is freezing where he is.  

He was wearing the scarf and headband that his mom sent him in his 

Christmas Package.

I felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. 

This cutest boy gets gypped every single year on his birthday.

December 29th just sneaks up on us.

And we blow it.

One thing that is kinda cool.....is when he gets all sad on Christmas

Day because he didn't get this or that on his list we can say

"Well...  you have a birthday in four days"

This year, we took him to Target and let him go wild.

We were that hellish store for two painful hours, wandering every isle.

Trying to gently nudge him toward practical inexpensive items.

And he was gravitating towards Nintendo Switches and BB8 Robots.

Which was just sad because we were like.....  this Barrel of Monkeys game is cool
and the price is just right.

 Another thing he asked for was for us to take him to a restaurant

so that the workers could sing to him and bring him ice cream

with a candle in it.

He also asked for a birthday cake.

Raleigh whipped him up a lovely cake.

I just love him.

He is so sweet.

New Year's Eve was to say the least a complete and total bummer.  And I take full responsibility for it.  Work was out of control during the holidays.  We were filled to capacity and then every single turn was an in/out which means that a guest checks out at 11 and the new guest checks in at 4.  Not a problem for a little hotel room, but a 9 bedroom/11 bathroom/2 family room monstrous house is a different story.  And the lovely people staying in our homes are less than lovely for the most part....  requesting the most ridiculous things and complaining non-stop about things totally out of our control.

 I would just like to pause and throw this little sentiment out there to people who choose to travel during the holidays....  keep in mind, before you call management and complain about something (probably silly and so NOT important on a global scale)..... that the person that you are complaining to just might be a very nice person with a boat load of children who possibly worked her ass off to provide a lovely place for your family to stay in and for sure doesn't deserve the verbal thrashing that you are handing out about the completely stupid thing you are complaining about and that you could have probably worked it out on your own if you would have just thought about it for 2 seconds and used the resources you have been given to function as a human being before calling.  In other words, don't call and demand that someone bring you a slotted spoon on Christmas Day so you can serve up some eggs.  Or, I swear Karma will kick you in your sorry butt for that when you are least expecting it if you do that to someone.   Rich, entitled people are literally the worst humans on the planet.  But, I have digressed. 

Anyway, I was supposed to have the day off, but instead I worked for 6 lousy hours.   And got completely wiped out.

And after 14 obnoxious and completely unnecessary emails, and 27 ridiculous phone calls, I had simply had it.  And I took a HOT shower for an hour and I cleaned the carpets and watched some football and went to bed early with a gigantic case of vertigo.  And as the fireworks boomed, I watched my room spin round and round and tried not to vomit.

I laid there pondering... I truly know that this has been our best year so far.  And I am the happiest I have ever been in my whole life.  In. My. Whole. Life.  I am blessed with literally THE BEST husband in the whole world.  He is so good to me.  He makes me feel spectacular every single day.  I don't know how I could possibly ever fail when I am boosted up and complimented and doted upon and served the way I am by him.   I don't know what I did to get to be his wife, but my word, he is my greatest blessing. 

I feel like after a lot of chaotic, stressful years, we have finally gotten it all under control.  And that is the best feeling.  There is something to be said for working through all the challenges that parenthood throws at you with the one you love and coming up with almost daily solutions to life's events.  I look back on all those days and feel so blessed for them.  We learned so much about each other.  We are a good team and we work very well together.   But more importantly, we have experienced tremendous growth individually and as a couple.  When we go on our weekly Saturday Dates, we often say "how did we get through all of that?"  And neither of us has an answer.   We're just glad we did and that it's mostly just a complete blur.  I am SO glad that we have kept this blog, so that we can look back and remember all of the things that we did while we were just trying to get through the days.  There have been so many times, when we've gone back and read posts from years ago, and we'll say "oh my gosh, I totally forgot about that.  I am so glad that we documented that."

This year, I have learned not to stress so much and trust my husband to help me.  He has taught me so much about staying positive and not assuming and forecasting worst case scenarios on everything.  He has taught me patience and he is working hard to introduce me into taking risks and trying new things.  I will let you know how that goes.  I struggle a bit with adventure and the unknown and taking risks.   He teases me and says "woman, you are holding me back, I could have been a millionaire by now if my wife had let me take a risk or two."  Well, risks are for people who don't have 100 dependents. 

I have LOVED this year.
I am really looking forward to 2019.
I am looking forward to TWO HOUR CHURCH,  tons of growth in our company,  promotions,  bonuses,  possibly a new car for ME (it's about time), a new address,  maybe a new son-in-law, life lessons,  unforeseen opportunities and lots of lovin'.
There are big, I mean BIG things in our future.
Which means I'll probably have to try a few new things. 

And I think I am so excited about it.