Well, Hello Old Friends!

You always make me smile!

Stumpy has claimed our bed. When I awake he is sleeping at my feet. By the time I leave for Seminary he has migrated to Keven's side of the bed. I don't have the heart to move him, so the bed remains unmade. When I return home he is still sleeping. When I leave for work or to run errands he is still sleeping. When I come home most afternoons he is in the same spot. I don't know if I lose brownie points for not making my bed until the afternoon on those days, or if I earn brownie points for letting him be so cozy.

I've missed running around with you

7+ weeks since I smashed my foot into a door jamb and broke the 4th toe on my right foot. 54 days of wearing the same pair of black flats. I am so very happy to be wearing shoes with heels again, and celebrated by taking a little run today in the afternoon warmth. It certainly felt good to be on the dirt again.

I ♥ Valentine's Day

Especially when some of my favorite Valentines visit!

Highlights of last weekend when Sven & Hyuna and the boys drove all the way from Tulsa to share the love:

 The Flowers

 

Sven spoiled Hyuna and me with our own bouquets of beautiful flowers!

 

The Chocolate

Chocolate tray before the Tulsanians arrived

Chocolate tray after the Tulsanians arrived 
 .... there may or may not have been more chocolate

The Food

Seth came up with this idea for a vegetable tray while we were shopping and then prepared it all by himself!

 

 Everyone said "YES!" to shrimp with orzo

 Hyuna whipped up the most amazing apple crostada

Seth strikes again with some delicious and delightfully decorated pink velvet cupcakes

 

Gabe and Alex make sure they don't miss out!

(Grandpa, either!)

The Fun

 I loved seeing the boys just hanging out and relaxing

 A late afternoon trip to El Paso's beach with Maya and Jaedin to play Frisbee, dig in the sand and watch the shadows lengthen while the colors on the mountain deepen

It was a perfectly wonderful weekend, with the exception of Gabe's visit to the doctor's office thanks to a late-night asthma attack Sunday night :(

Thank goodness for modern medicine and a quick recovery.

We sure love having Tulsanians in the neighborhood!

My Forever Valentine

Magic Square

In spite of the many late nights spent preparing lessons I absolutely love teaching Seminary. I love starting the day with a group of really great young people. I love the positive focus on gospel truths and principles that is such a great way to begin a new day. I love what I get to learn when I prepare, and know that I would never study and learn so much without this calling. I love that the longer I teach the more I realize I need to learn. And I love the wonderful ladies I teach with, who become dearer and dearer to me each year.

This is the third year I've been able to team-teach with LeAnn, which pretty much equates to being reunited with a twin separated at birth. She is so much fun, so honest and down-to-earth, and so easy to work with. 

And so talented. This is what she made for me and gave me for Christmas. 

I am still in total awe.

I think this is my favorite square.

Or maybe this 3-D flower....

....or this lacy delight.

But this one is sooooo gorgeous!

And then there's this one.

I just

really

can't

choose.

I love them all!

And what makes this afghan even more special is that her husband, who is the CES director (meaning our boss), chose the colors :)

And then to make it even more special, she made another one exactly like it for her daughter-in-law, who just happens to be one of the young women I came to love as she grew up in our stake, and then came to love even more after she married and lived in our ward for a few years.

I feel so loved!

Holiday Memories

My wake-up call for Christmas usually begins with our company Christmas party. This year we used one of the private dining rooms at the Sunland Park Racetrack, where we had a great view of Mt. Cristo Rey and the food was wonderful. We are blessed to work with so many fine people.

With Peggy, Mary, Keven, Minerva and Bernardo

We only left crumbs .... everything was absolutely yummy!

Keven, Kris and I left for Utah Monday evening, driving through the night and making good time.

We made a spontaneous decision to stop and visit Derek and Sunny as we came out of Spanish Fork canyon. They welcomed us so graciously, and we loved playing with these cute boys who are filled to the brim with energy and hilarity! I'm so glad we stopped in because it turned out to be our only chance to see them. We hoped that Sally and David would be there; sadly, we missed them by a day.

Noah, Isaac, Eli and Hyrum

I am still in denial that Christmas has come and gone, maybe because I'm finally almost ready for it. Being caught quite unprepared (again) I just rolled with the flow and had a most wonderful time with my fantastically fun family. 

The proof is in the pictures!

Christmas Eve
We celebrated Christmas morning 1 day early with the Gingell's. The Christmas pj's were a big hit, especially Marc's and Adelyn's (but Adelyn's zebra lips were a little bit creepy!). Opening gifts, eating cinnamon rolls and entertaining the neighbors while cleaning up the luminarias made it a fun morning.

Back to the Bunker's to decorate cookies, set up luminarias and have dinner together

Lotsa cousins = lotsa fun

With all the kids happily occupied in the kitchen, Kelly finished installing the main bathroom's door sill - nicely done!

Grandpa and Kris kept Aaron happy, with some help from Alex

Santa will be very pleased tonight!

Being trained by a pro

The famous Bunker ham chowder didn't disappoint

(insert your own caption here)

A picture so nice I'm using it twice!

A bit of down time before the caroling and Christmas Eve program

Some people needed a little more down time than others ,,,,

Bring it on!

William's not too sure about the whole Santa Claus thing

Christmas Day

A (barely) White Christmas!!!

After finding out what Santa brought and enjoying the morning together we headed over to Soren & Rachele's to spend some time with the Draper and the (new) Okie Jensen's.

It's never too cold to have this kind of fun!

Back to the Bunkers for another wonderful meal, where the Mariner's  and Gingell's joined us!

Not sure if we had enough dessert though ....

Chillin'

Santa was good to Kris!

By far, the cutest present under the tree!

December 26th 

The tradition continues!

Pizza and fun at the Jensen's, this time joined by Aunt Sandy and Grandma Snider

Such a happy picture!

♥ ♥ ♥

♥ ♥ ♥

♥ ♥ ♥

New Year's Eve - in El Paso

Alex, Seth, Gabe and I stayed up to ring in the New Year! We played games, wore our silly hats, made lots of noise and drank toasts to wonderful new beginnings for all

All good things come to an end, but the memories will last forever.

A huge and inadequate "Thank You!" to my amazing family for making this such a wonderful Christmas!