Table for Eight

Lu and Zu remind me every day ... be still and smile.  Happy New Year's Eve! Thanks for sharing 2013 with me. xoxoxox, Dawn

1. Zu's potholder-maker (and the potholder she made me). PS: When I had one of these as a kid, I could never get it right, so I ended up with just the nylon elastics everywhere! 2. Dave's new knife holder/copy-cat Food Network Demo Kitchen. Hopefully tomorrow I will remember to tell you about how duct and Duck Tape(c) has changed our life over here at the Meehan house. (Put it this way, a lot of people are going to be getting homemade wallets in 2014.) ****** PS: Here are a few more of the Things I Learned In 2013 (cont'd): * Don't stand too close to the mirror. (No one over age 40 needs to see their pores magnified.) * I like blush. Like a lot. And as I get older, I find myself putting on more and more. (If I'm blessed to live to be a grandma, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be that grandma with two circles of blush and big costume jewelry. And I'm going to love it.) * I love having a chalkboard wall. * Having your basic needs ...

With New Year's Eve a week away I'm beginning to create a short list of things I'd like to work on in 2014. (I'm big into lists, resolutions, etc.) But before I do that, I thought it would be good for me to acknowledge things I did improve upon or learn in 2013. (This way I'm not just beating myself up with a list of "2.2 Million Ways to Improve in 2014," I'm actually recognizing that 2013 was a good year for me--and that I did learn a lot.) Things I Learned in 2013 --There's a direct correlation between the tightness of my jeans and my ability to eat a GIANT SIZE Symphony bar(s). --Playing, watching, and experiencing Survivor Caramoan was HARD, but HARD in a good way. I am truly grateful for the experience. --Nothing beats being with extended family/friends. --We love the Temple. Being there with Elder Meehan was such a good feeling. --Every home should have a piano. --Dave and I make a really good team. --Our local library roc...

We had a great Christmas Day--and the definite highlight was getting to Skype with Elder Meehan! (First time seeing and talking to him in nearly half a year.) I'll be adding more detail to this post throughout the day, but for now I'm on Dave's Mac and I'm pulling out my hair trying to get familiar with the keyboard/mouse-clicks/photo storage. I need to take a break before my blood pressure rises to unhealthy levels. (Why does technology so-easily drive me bananas?) So for now … I hope you had a beautiful Christmas Day. Here are some of the best parts of our day (In varying degrees of photo quality, given that I'm still learning how to work a point and shoot.):

We are super excited that it's Christmas Eve and we're about to celebrate the birth of baby Jesus! We are also super excited because we get to have a phone call tomorrow from Elder Meehan--one of two phone calls during the year (Mother's Day is the other one.). It's hard to believe that we haven't heard his voice in months. Months! Wow. As I sit here typing this early morning, all of our kids are sleeping. It's a pretty rare occasion; usually one or two are awake by this time. And since I have a few solo minutes, I thought I would share a few of the thoughts I have about how much Christmas means to me: --I love Christmas because it's a holiday that seems to impact all people for good. The Christmas season brings out the best in all of us. It's the time when we really get to feel what it would be like if we chose love, generosity, and selflessness every day of our lives. I love that. It kinda makes me feel more connected to all people (my own f...

  Yesterday we FINALLY had a pretty good snow storm.   We love the snow. Love love love it .   The only downside to a lot of snow?  We aren't able to drive as much or as far as we'd like (it's dangerous and just dang SLOWER to drive everywhere).  And as a result, we're missing our really dear friends' son's wedding today (in Idaho). We heart you Tyler and Ashlyn. Sorry we aren't there. We hope you have a beautiful day and we can't wait to see the wedding photos--everything will be sprinkled in snow! XOXOXO (PS: I stopped the car to take this photo.)     (PS: Papaya wasn't feeling the snow yesterday, so we'll have to get snow pix of her later.) **** And one last photo ... from Dave's bday this week. Dave's birthday--opening gifts.

  For the many, many friends we've shared this story with previously, I should add a disclaimer: this is my BIG FISH story. Over the years, it gets bigger and bigger. If some of the details reported here seem new, they very well may be. (ABCs of me, baby.) PS: I know this post will probably raise some eyebrows, but I'm okay with that. My favorite writers/readers are people who just give it to me straight . I appreciate real-life vs. fantasy. So for those of you who are really good at working through conflict with the people you love, I say AMEN to you. And to those of you that are like me, and sometimes completely unpredictable and inconsistent with your conflict resolution skills, this one's for you. ****** "Dave and Dawn's Best Fight Ever "   Shortly after Dave finished graduate school at BYU, we moved our family of 5 to Los Angeles, California. And for a period of time we stayed with family in order to save money and find somewh...

Dave and I. November 2013. A few days ago when I blogged on Dave's bday I mentioned that I would tell him all of these things IN PERSON vs. on the blog. But you know what? I never did. 8( We did gifts. We made his favorite dinner. We blew out the candles. But I didn't take the time to tell him what I wanted to say. And I know I should have: it's something I keep coming back to. But why share it here on the blog? Well, here's The Why: 1) Because the blog is a journal for me. Yes, a very public one. But that wasn't the case when it began. Literally me, my mom and maybe 3 friends read it. 2) A few years ago I read a book called An Hour to Live , An Hour to Love by Richard Carlson (author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff ) and it had a major impact on the way I view my life and the people in it. The overview is that on his 18th wedding anniversary Carlson wrote a letter to his wife telling her what he would do if he only had an hour to live. I...