Happy Birthday, David!

With mine and David's anniversary being on the same day as his birthday, it is always an effort for me to make sure that we separate the two.  We usually celebrate them a day apart but with them being so close to Christmas and Levi's birthday, our anniversary is usually pretty much a slim occation (except when we go to Oklahoma for Christmas.  Mom and Dad are always so good about watching the kids for us and we usually end up going to Branson, Missouri).  This year was no different, especially with David loosing his job in November.

But I did get some pictures of us celebrating David.  We invited Monica and Leia to come along but Monica couldn't make it.  The rest of us went to Chillies with a gift card that was graciously given to us.  When we got home, we ate a Tres Leches cake that Brigham made.

I love this man!  He loves me in return and I don't doubt it.  He is good, patient, loving, caring, and knowledgeable in just about anything he can fix with his hands.  He leads our family in strength yet allows us our own individualism.  He is such a good and involved father.  They know that he loves them and it shows in how they are able to joke with him one minute and have a comfortable, serious conversation the next.  He puts others first often and if told of antoher's needs, is one of the first to help.  I am incredibly grateful he is mine.  Life is so much easier with him in it!

 

Merry Christmas Eve/Day

I thought I'd start with a picture of the hot one!

Ok, anyways, we had a good evening with dinner and the traditional Christmastime story (I Believe in Santa Claus for this year.  My favorite!).  It was funny hearing Levi and Ruger's versions of making it through the story before opening gifts.  Ruger was complaining even with me telling him that it would only take maybe 3 minutes to read.  Of course, Levi is at an age that he doesn't mind but he did tell me how hard it was for him when he was around Ruger's age and how it seemed like the story always took forever!  It made me laugh but it also made me wonder just how effective reading the story really is!  I want it to be about Jesus and not just the gifts but maybe that isn't getting across...ha!

The following day, Christmas Day, we had the missionaries (Elders Hoffman and Cluff) over for lunch/dinner.  It is always nice to have their presence in our home.

Christmas seemed to be here and gone before I knew it.  But it wasn't stressful as I was out of school for the break and none of us really had much to do.  It was relaxing.

Levi Turns 19

Levi turned 19 on Monday.  To describle how sick I was would be to explain how few pictures I have of my son on his 19th birthday.  I was not even close to involved as I would have been on his past birthdays and that is really disappointing to me.  Not just for selfish reasons but for him!  Less pictures means less I can journal about for him to read about later.  But he has an amazingly involved father who stepped up and was both parents on that day.

 Before anything really happened, Levi went over to Monica's house where they got to spend some time together, she gave him gifts, and he came home with this fun little headband.  David and Levi got to eat out at Teppanyaki where Japanese chefs perform their art of cooking at table side Hibachi grills.  Its a such a cool experience and it was the first time for Levi.  When they got home, we sang happy birthday quickly before Levi, David, Brigham, and Hyrum went to the movies to watch the new Spiderman movie.  

Levi is working at Panda Express, loves his new IPhone (which he bought himself), still plays on his piano but mostly is in love with Monica.  Watching him with her is a dream for me.  I love seeing him in love.  I really do!  Mothers who feel no girl is good enough for their son is really missing out in watching their hard work on making sure they treat a woman right.  They are also missing out in seeing that "sparkle" in their son's eyes when they talk about their love or watch them almost melt into that other someone when they are around.  It is the neatest thing to experience as a parent.  I don't know what the future holds for Levi and Monica but I do know that she has been a beautiful human to him in this part of his journey in life and I'm grateful.

Candy Canes

Christine and Mike West invited us over to their house, last night, to make homemade candy canes.  We used her family's old recipe brought over from England, many years ago.  When David and I met Christine in College at BYU - Idaho she invited us over to her apartment to make these candy canes.  Here we were again, almost 20 years later, making candy!

Levi was just a baby when we did this so many years ago.

Leia joined us.

Mike and Christine were so patient in letting Ruger get his hands into the mix.

It was a fun evening and because it had been so many years ago since our family had done this, it felt like a brand new activity (and for some of them, it was!).

Traditions

Usually we decorate the tree the weekend of Thanksgiving but life was so crazy that we just got it done tonight...with the now, annual trumpet on top of the tree and the added guest of Monica!

We always end it with drinking egg nog but when I found out that Monica had never had any, I had to make a big deal out of it, of course.

AND SHE'S A FAN!

Earlier that day, Daddy and the boys made gingerbread houses.

It was stake conference today but we never got the link sent to us to watch so I decided to have our own little lesson on the difference between being religious and being spiritual.  You can be religious and not spiritual in that you follow the rules of your religion but not have personal experiences with a greater power.  I added that I felt the biggest difference between the two was personal revelation.  For me, personal revelation seems to come gradually.  Sometimes I'll have this defining moment come out of nowhere, or so it seems, but usually it is a gradual process.  And I can't help but think that is what Heavenly Father intends so that we can learn from experiences (adversity) and gain knowledge (strength).  This will lead to teachings having different meanings to us over time.  I then ended it with Elder Dallin H. Oaks quote, “The scriptures do not change, but what we can see changes in them because we have changed.  The same thing happens with the teachings of the Church leaders and with personal experiences that mean nothing to the “natural man” but are of eternal significance to the person by whom they are “spiritually discerned.”

 

Bin Brennan

I met Ben Brennan at Ricks College, in Rexburg, Idaho.  As you can see from the picture below, I'm not sure why he wanted to be friends with me!

A mutual friend of ours, Ana, brought Ben over one day after a dance class.  It wasn't a gradual friendship for me.  It was instant.  He was unlike any boy I had ever known and he just had to be in my life.  Until I married David, about 2 years later, Bin Brennan was my best guy friend.  Ah, did you catch that?  Yes, Bin.  With my weird accent, I never pronounced his name "Ben" so when he would call our apartment, the girls would just write "Bin" on the white board.  It stuck and to this day, I call him Bin.

After all that practice dancing with my roommates and I, Bin and I went to an actual dance on the college campus.

After graduating from Ricks college, we both ended up in Provo, Utah.  He was always the smart one so he was going to BYU while I was trying to gain my residency in Utah to attend another school there.  He was busy but, always the good friend, he made time when I was having a bad day and needed to go on one of our walks.

Halloween 1999

Here is one of my very favorite pictures.  It makes me giggle everytime I see it.  Bin was at mine and David's wedding reception and I had to get a picture of us with him.  You have to understand how close I was to Bin....I just naturally turned into him for the picture instead of my own husband!  I didn't even realize it until Bin started to laugh.  I asked him what was so funny and he said that when I get the pictures back, if someone looks at that picture first, they won't know who I married!  Ahahahaahahaha!

Before I knew it, Bin was dating a girl named Laurel.  David and I were living in Idaho at the time but we were coming down to the Provo area for Thanksgiving.  Ana and I decided we were going to check this girl out.  We went out to eat and......WE FELL IN LOVE WITH LAUREL!

Sometime had passed but like it strangly happened a few times before and after, the Brennan Family and Adams Family ended up in the same city/town. We were in Rexburg, Idaho for David to get his Bachelors Degree while the Brennans were up there to teach at BYU-Idaho.

Being so far away from family can be hard sometimes but Ben and Laurel sure made it easier knowing we had them as our family to hang out with during the holidays....

...and baby blessings (even when we moved yet again)...

...and friendly get togethers.

This is my other favorite picture!  You know when you meet someone that you just love and you really hope that your spouse will love them and their spouse too?  It doesn't always work out that way, huh?  Not for us!  We were so blessed to care so much for each other.

We were living in Oklahoma at this point and the Brennans came by to visit us.  I think I had just put "rabbit ears" behind Bin's head and got caught in this picture.  I'm pretty sure I denied it.  Our friendship has always been real mature!  

Lets take a break and show some kiddo pictures through the years.

At one point, our family was living in California.  The Brennans were visiting Laurel's family so we were blessed with a quick visit.

And then we moved to where Bin and Laurel were in Utah.

During their time in Utah, we celebrated birthdays...

...and just hung out.

But before we knew it, it was time for the Brennans to move to California so that Bin could start his practice.  Dr. Brennan it was now.  He got to see our Joseph "Ruger" as an infant but I never got to met his Joseph born 2 years ago.  And that is what really hurts.  Knowing it had been over 2 years since I had seen Bin.  And just like time had been flying by, I received a letter in the mail that Bin had stage 4 stomach cancer.  Though I would have never let him know it while he was alive, I cried harder reading that letter than any other news I have ever received.  Any.  The only thing I can compare it to is losing my beloved Grandma Thatcher.  It was hard and I cried hard but the grief was replaced with joy because of my memories that came to me with her sooner than I had expected.  I told myself that was probably happening because I knew where she was also.  When I do geneology work, I feel connected to her.  I think that helps.  

But this?  This has been tough.  But why?  I know where he is too!  Why do tears well up at random times still?  I was talking to my friend Laura about it and she helped me realize something.  She told me that I have always known I would outlive my Grandma.  Deep down, I expected it.  But Bin, he's not supposed to die.  Not like this.  Not this young.

So I'm holding onto Laura's wisdom and David's words of comfort that he tells me here and there, "It's ok to not be ok" or "Everyone grieves differently.  It's ok to still cry, Alisa."

Benjamin Joseph Brennan

March 15, 1974 - November 23, 2021

Luminaria - Thanksgiving Point

Our friends, Mike and Christine West, have memberships at Thanksgiving Point.  Between that and the free tickets Christine gets sometimes for volunteering there, she was able to get 4 tickets to the Luminaria in the Ashton Gardens last night.  They invited David and I to go with them on a double date as we walked through many lights, statues, food, activities, and even all kinds of scents pumping through the garden.  It wasn't too cold and it was clear night, so really it was quite perfect.

Here Christine is showing off one of the displays she put up ;)  But seriously, it was so nice having her with us because it was like we had our own little tour guide telling us all the ins and outs, stories behind statues, and how things all come together.