UVU

At the beginning of the week Brandon accidentally left his lunch at home on the counter when he left at 7am. So, we decided to make it a "picnic" at papa's work day. While we were there we also decided to have a personal tour of the new classroom building. Holy moley, this thing is huge. It's 5 floors of office/classroom space. By far it's my favorite building on campus because of the incredible views and the multitude of windows. I told Brandon it makes me want to go back to UVU and start taking classes.

UVU is honestly so good to Brandon. I'm so glad that campus feels just like an extension of our home. We have so many good friends that work there and I especially love his assistant Carole Ann. She picks up his phone when he isn't as his desk and chats with me like my own mother would. It's great. This picture is the board/conference/party room that overhangs the building to the west. I told Brandon it would be a great place to have a wedding reception...too bad it wasn't built 9 years ago :-)

Occasionally it happens

Sundays are difficult for the two boys and I. We struggle to maintain some sort of reverence during the first hour of church every single week. This particular week I had to take the naughty 6 year old out and the even worse 3 year old was left alone. He managed to find my camera, take it out, and snap a few pictures before I came back and snatched it away from him. I found these pictures on the memory card and I think they are hilarious.

Random stickers on the floor with a hymn book in the first, colored bench and air vent in the next, and one shoe on and one shoe off in the last. Makes sacrament meeting seem not so serious. One of these days I'm not going to be so mortified at my horribly behaving children.

Sorrow x Two

Early this week our dear friends and neighbors lost their sweet 5 year old boy Jack to a stroke. Jack was a favorite in our home, and he is already dearly missed. His death was unexpected and his life was taken away all to soon. We frequently had Jack over for play dates and he was such a happy kid - especially when I would feed him. He would always walk in, take off his shoes, and head straight for the fridge. He knew where I kept the chocolate milk, and he always knew there was plenty for him. We will miss his happy attitude and smile around this place. Heaven got lucky when this kiddo passed thru the gates.

Also, on Thursday January 8th my Grandpa passed away. As a little girl I always wondered what it would be like to have a Grandpa. My paternal grandfather passed away when I was 2 and my maternal grandfather was not a part of my life due to a divorcee that happened before I was born. This amazing guy - Buckley Christensen - became my grandfather when I was 16. We quickly became friends since we both love gardens and anything to do with them. He also dearly loved my Grandma and made her so happy. Instead of sadness, I feel peace because I know he desperately wanted to be done with this earth life. He almost made it to his 92nd birthday. Just a few weeks ago he wrote this cute little note to all the extended family:


I’ve been trying to think of a way to thank you for your love and concern for me and my family.  I know I will never be able to thank you each personally because I have lost my power to think, reason, write, and speak. 

I feel as though I’m on a slippery slope, headin’ down straddled on a pole fence—nobody falls up!  I’m hoping for the best. 


Please know that I love and appreciate each one of you and recognize your concern and love.

What a great Grandpa. I hope he is having a great time up there with Grandma and Alex. He will always be in my thoughts and I'm so thankful he took the time to develop a personal relationship with me, his step-granddaughter.

Peter's 1st piano recital

Peter started taking piano lessons from Brandon in September. He has enjoyed it and made consistent progress. This was his first recital in front of "people". I am so thrilled with his calm composure. I hope he continues to enjoy piano as much as he does now.

Dancing around the tree

This is just one of the fun and different traditions we do on the Davis side. We started this tradition only a few years ago....but it's quickly become a favorite. It was fun to see the happiness and mischief gleaming in the eyes of Peter and Luke as they danced. I hope they will always be able to maintain a little pure Christmas delight as they grow to manhood.

Our Wisemen are so funny

Where did the last half of December go? I wanted to get so many more posts on here, but it just didn't happen. Alas, but here was something fun that we did for the first time this year. We had a special time with the wisemen from our nativity set. They decided to surprise us with a silly things every morning. It was similar to Elf on the Shelf, but we didn't have to ask Santa for an elf. The boys really got excited by the silly things they would do. One morning they were sliding down the stairs on toilet paper. Another morning they were eating cold cereal together, and yet another morning they were doing homeschool. We really loved this new tradition and we plan on having them back again next year.