Happy Birthday, Marlene!

Well, I must say that I had a very good Christmas. I was surrounded by loving family and friends, didn't have to do all the work all by myself, in fact I didn't have to do much work at all and yet I was able to reap all the benefits... it almost felt like being a kid again. Aside from my mom occasionally forgetting who we were or what we were doing, along with a phone call last night where I once again had to tell her I did not steal her grand piano (she never owned one) nor did I take it with me to Dana Point (mine's still in Rocklin at a friend's house) it was a great trip. On Christmas Day, while Dad napped, I went on a walk with Mom and took some pictures of her. She looked beautiful and was very cheerful and happy, greeting others on the street who were also out for a stroll with a hearty "Merry Christmas".

My mom, Olea Mae Babbel Woolf

But the best part of Christmas was when we had little Sawyer blessed that night after a delicious meal that my ever-cooking sister, Marlene, prepared for 30 of us, including 6 missionaries. Kelly, her husband, gave Sawyer "a name and a blessing". He was joined in the circle by the missionaries, my dad, Holly's husband, a nephew-in-law, and a friend. And he was blessed in my dad's blessing gown that was sewn for him by his grandmother. Dad was blessed in 1915 and my great-grandma, Mary Lucretia Hyde Woolf, died the next year, so she must have been quite old at the time she made it. All my brothers and sisters and I have also been blessed in the gown and most of all of our children and now grandchildren have been able to wear the gown on this special occasion.

Chelsea, Sawyer, and me after the blessing

Today is Marlene's birthday. The best way to sum up her life thus far is one of SERVICE. I love this picture of Kelly and Marlene flanking the missionaries as they attempted to teach the Elders how to sing Silent Night (Stille Nacht) in German. And what a heavenly peace it was.

Thankfully, they all have beautiful voices

I can't send Marlene birthday greetings without posting a picture of her kids and our friend, Miriam, who also entertained us with several Austrian yodels and carols on Christmas Eve.

Cailey, Miriam, Madison, Brigham, Brittlyn,Mackenna, & Camryn

It's Christmas Eve and I Hear Jingle Bells

Last Saturday, Chelsea, Sawyer, and I left Dana Point for Granite Bay. What normally takes less than 8 hours took about 10 with the 3 times we stopped at truck stops to feed Sawyer. But what a good little traveler he was.

Sunday, I enjoyed visiting my old ward which, in my opinion, has the best ward choir in the whole church. I went up to sing the Hallelujah Chorus with them for the last number. This choir is so large that sometimes it seems there are more people singing in it than in the audience. After church we had a great chicken dinner at my sister, Marlene's, and introduced Sawyer to his great-grandparents and the rest of Mar's family.

Monday, my mom was having some health problems so we went to Auburn and packed up a suitcase to bring her down to Marlene's. Dad seemed relieved to have a little time out and said he was going to go to see the movie, Australia, and have a steak dinner.

On Tuesday, Chelsea and I drove down to the Bay Area to introduce Sawyer to his Grandpa Lynn and Uncle Jim, but first we stopped in Woodland and introduced him to my sister, Sandy, and most of her family. After lunch and a visit with the Storeys, we made our way over to San Francisco for a walk around Fisherman's Wharf, ate dinner at Alioto's No. 8, and spent a few hours at the stores at Union Square. A day in San Francisco at Christmastime was a tradition for me as a child and I was happy to be able to help begin this tradition for Sawyer. Okay, maybe, one-time occurence. It was cold and damp and a little rainy and just perfect!

We miss having Brittany, Jordan, Annie and Jakey here, but know that they're having a great time in Park City and Cancun, and hope to see them sooner than later. Eli and Reggie, the Dog, braved the snowstorm coming down from Truckee and made it for Christmas Eve dinner. They, too, got to meet Sawyer. The weather was pretty sketchy so we're glad they arrived safely.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Dad and Mom meeting their 15th great-grandchild

One More Post

When Chelsea was on bedrest with way too much time on her hands she decided to make up this little shirt and have it ordered over the internet. In honor of Sawyer's original due date of Dec. 16th, we had him wear it today.

We can't imagine our lives without him in it the past three weeks and 3 days. Here's to early babies!

Santa Claus, Santa Claus, Hurry On Your Way Because...

Some Favorite Things

In the past week the following really good things have happened:

I reconnected with a friend and hairstylist that I knew in TX who always does the perfect blonde for me and Chelsea, works out of her home in Tustin, and was willing to delay a road trip to Tucson just to fit us in with our bad roots and frazzled hair. She doesn't do hair to make a living, she does it to provide charity to the down and out, ie. us. Can there be anything more that I would want for Christmas than a visit to Gina's? I think not, but then...

She told us where to find a Chick-Fil-A on our ride back to Dana Point. A CHICK-FIL-A! Chelsea and I both love Chick-Fil-A and haven't seen one since The Woodlands or Austin. I heard one had come or was coming to Roseville, but never saw it. We often talk about the places we miss in TX, like Taco Cabana, Pappacitos, Guadalajaras, Ninfas, AND Chick-Fil-A. Well we drove right there and had ourselves some good ol' chicken sandwiches and WAFFLE FRIES! Yahoo! Surely Santa had come early, but then.....


I received a box of See's Peanut Brittle on my front porch as a little gift from a dear friend who lives out-of-state. PEANUT BRITTLE from SEE'S! We ate it in 2 days--it was so good and yummy.



Now I was truly feeling the Christmas spirit and needed nothing more, but then...

Yesterday, a gift arrived in the mail from another dear friend in Reno. Of course, I couldn't wait to open it, so I didn't, and it was a bottle of Estee Lauder's Beautiful perfume. I instantly sprayed it on me and became beautiful. Last September when I was moving down from NorCal this friend helped me pack my house and while I was hot, sweaty, and grungy, she remained calm, cool and Beautiful, which she was wearing. I hadn't smelled the fragrance for some time and it just brought back such great memories of when I used to wear it. Apparently she remembered my comment on how wonderful it smelled, because here's a precious bottle of it, now sitting on my kitchen counter (where I left it after I wore it).
Is this a great Christmas season or what? I'm typing this blog with little Sawyer sleeping on my lap. I'm hearing baby squeaks, and eating See's, and looking blonde, and smelling beautiful. I look and smell like Gwyneth Paltrow, Estee Lauder's spokesperson ( but when she starred in Shallow Hal).

In order to express my gratitude and contribute also to charity I just donated a little money to http://www.reachthechildren.org/

I can't wait to jingle all the way on our drive back home this Saturday.

What A Difference A Year Makes

To get a proper perspective on life and life's trials, one only need to look at these pictures and acknowledge what a little time and a little growing up does for a clearer vision of happiness.

"And all these things shall give thee experience"

Jake & Annie at the Harvard MBA Crimson Kid's Christmas party 2007

Jake at the party in 2008, "I'm think I'm getting the hang of this Santa thing!"

And Annie, "I'm not even embarrased by my little brother anymore, in fact I think I'll keep him".

Honest Judge, I Swear I'm Not in a Gang

Maybe it's just me, but considering little boy Sawyer has two attorneys for parents, isn't it curious that he seems to be taking a solemn oath while he's sleeping?

And then what does he do when he's awake? Flash gang signs to the boyz in the hood.

Or maybe it's a little code to the baby angels saying, "I'm okay for now, but stick around and help me through this thing called life!"

I love Sawyer's fingers, they are so long and beautiful and wrap perfectly around mine

Visitors and Visits

Our family is fasting for Mom this week. She is having some health complications. Fasting doesn't come easy for me, especially with my Sacrament meeting early in the day. However, it's always easier w/ a noble purpose and something like this blog to divert my need to munch.

Sawyer had his first doctor's appt on Monday. He did the usual baby thing by dropping 7oz. of his birth weight down to 5lbs.14oz. But he measured at 18 3/4" telling us he wasn't 17 1/2" when he was born which is what they said. We had to go back on Thursday to make sure he'd started gaining 1 oz/day, which he had--he's doing great and eating very well. My BYU roommate and longtime friend, Nancy Metcalf, came to call on Tuesday. "It's always fun when Nancy comes, when Nancy comes we're gay." Man, it bugs me that that word has been taken away from us. On Thursday my brother, Bill, was in town for business and my sister, Cheryl, and her granddaughter, Stephanie, came down from the LA area and joined us for a great meal of beef stroganoff. Poor Cheryl started driving back at 11pm. What a long night for her, but we sure appreciated her efforts. And I think she really enjoyed seeing the baby even though her house is full of grandkids.

Nancy Lucetta Hellewell Metcalf cuddling the babe

Great-uncle Bill (and I do mean Great!) and Sawyer feeling very mellow

Sawyer's great-aunt Cheryl brought lots of presents which made him happy

On Friday we took a little outing up to Newport Beach to Roger's Gardens. What an amazing site to behold. We loved walking among the fresh cut trees for sale and admiring all the ornaments and floral arrangements. Chelsea and I were a couple of losers trying to figure out the stroller in the parking lot even though I'd already carefully studied the mechanics a few weeks before. We got there around 3:30 and by the time the stroller was open the sun was setting. Not really, but sometimes these new baby things are so simple they're complicated.

www.rogersgardens.com

This place reminded me of when we used to go into San Francisco at Christmastime as kids and Mom would take us to Podesto Baldacci. I often wondered why we would go into someplace if we never bought anything. I soon learned that the sole purpose was to breathe in the grandeur. Thanks, Mom, for instilling in us your appreciation for beauty and nature. As we pushed Sawyer along the pathways I had a chance to also give Chelsea a little botany lesson, pointing out some of my favorite flowers. When I pointed out the camillias, I said, "These are the plants that Grandma Lulu and Grandpa Doug had in their front yard." She said, "As soon as I saw those I thought they remind me of a Grandma plant but I didn't know why".

You gotta love the weather down here!

And, oh yes, Little Sawyer's umbilical cord fell off so he got his first official in-the-water bath.

Lucky for me Chelsea lets me have the honor

Have a great Sunday! I think I'm going to head into the kitchen and think about what I might want to eat soon now, very soon.

Can You Believe It's December?

I can't.

My life has been spent the last few months with countdowns to the birth of Sawyer. Now the real fun begins. I love December. I'm not always that crazy about Christmas Day but I sure enjoy the excitement that leads up to it. And this year I'm especially happy that I practically don't have to do anything about it. We're not decorating the apartment (all the ornaments are in storage), we're not putting up a tree (somehow it didn't get on the truck), I'm not hanging lights outside from a 20-ft. ladder (where is the ladder?) and besides, the guy across the street has lit up his unit so we get to see lights without all the work. I might put up a colored strand or two inside but mostly I do that so I get the flavor of a Mexican restaurant and I tend to leave them up well into springtime. I am looking for a place to hang the Christmas cards, and a corner to pile a few presents that we'll take with us up to Granite Bay. For people like my friend, Lynn, who love to decorate for Christmas, my minimalist approach to the Christmas extravaganza must seem unbelievable if not downright Scroogey. For me, it's like the best Christmas present ever. I'm sure (maybe) by next year I'll be ready to jump back in on all the fuss.

We plan on leaving around 12/22 to enjoy the holidays w/ my family in northern CA. A friend is letting us stay at their house so we have some space and a little quiet time for Sawyer. Both Chelsea and I are so thrilled that little Sawyer came last Monday instead of today, or next week, or the week after that, which will make him 4 weeks old by then and just perfect for the drive.

I think the one thing I will miss is my antique wooden Coca Cola Santa Claus from the 1930's. He's been a constant companion of mine longer than my kids or any husband. Since he's in storage, too, and there's absolutely nowhere to set him up currently, I will display him here. There we go...my Christmas decorating is done, virtual style, along with greetings from Eli and Reg.

If Santa ain't happy, no one's happy