Totally 80s

When we were in Utah a few weeks back, Ryan's little sister hosted the annual Gibby Family "Fish In Love Under The Sea Dance". This year's theme was "Totally 80s". We've never attended before, but knew that Heather and Trever dress to the theme each year, so I decided we'd do the same.

Doesn't Heather look totally awesome in those acid washed jeans and a side pony tail?

Ryan scoured the Internet to find a picture of what he'd like to wear and we found this one of Huey Lewis sporting a purple suit.

That began my quest of finding a purple suit for Ryan. And I found one. And I bought it.

For my costume, I rummaged through my friend's closet who actually has clothes that she wore during the 80s. This is a shirt that she sewed herself and wore when singing with her family - with the original big belt that buckles in the back! D.I. helped me with the pants and shoes.

We had sunglasses with neon ear pieces to dance to "I Wear My Sunglasses at Night". We had plastic guitars and had an "Air Guitar Contest". Those Biddulph men were the big winners with their in-sync choreography!

My boys weren't keen on dancing, but when the air guitar contest started, they decided they could participate with style. The rest of the night, they walked around playing on their guitars. Two and a half weeks later and Leo still walks around making music with his air guitar anytime he finds it.

Overheard at Church

Here are a couple of quotes from church today:

During Sacrament Meeting
"Dad, when I'm a missionary, I'm going to take all my Legos with me. So my Legos can serve a mission, too." -Roderic

Sabrina gave an awesome talk on Honoring your Parents. She used the POTATO method of planning a talk that I had conveniently shared with my Sunday School class (which she is a member of) last week. I did not advise the counselor in the bishopric that I had prepared my class to give talks in Sacrament Meeting, he was inspired - two of my students gave talks today. Bethany said the first thing that came to her mind when Brother Larson asked her to speak was "Potato".

In Sunday School
"Are you going to draw the picture today?" My class asks this one every week. The picture is of the Plan of Salvation, you know, the one with circles and lines. Pretty much every week, the manual (Preparing for Exaltation) suggests drawing or showing it during the lesson.

In Relief Society
"Next year we'll be canning chocolate, if they take our suggestion." -Sister Kelley, encouraging the sisters to sign up to work at the cannery this year.

"You don't have to attend every argument that you're invited to." -Sister Habben

What I missed hearing firsthand in Primary
"I want to choose the left." -Hyrum's reply when his teacher asked if he would choose the right.

They're caving in on us!

OK, so the walls aren't falling down, they are being put up. After months of being able to stand at the top of the stairs and see everywhere in our addition, it is different to go up and have the view blocked by some pesky walls. We have a plastic wall at our front door, where the stairwell connects with the house - to keep the dust out during this phase of the job. So now when we want to go upstairs, we go out through the garage and then in the front door of our house, instead of going into the garage and up the stairs.

The new entry to the upstairs.

Leo next to the former entry in the garage.

The sheet rockers came today and hung the drywall on the ceilings and walls for the addition. They worked hard and fast - they are almost done with the upstairs, just 3 small sections remain and then the stairs and garage (then the mud and tape the whole thing). Then we put on a sealer coat and they put on the texture, and then we prime and paint!

Stairway.

Family Room

Shower

Sewing Room

Bedroom 2 (Bedroom 1 looks almost the exact same as bedroom 2, so it doesn't get its own picture, yet.)

Ryan's sister, Heather, has helped us a lot with choosing paint colors to put up there. Here are the colors we're going with:


We'll be renting a paint sprayer to get the job done nicer (and faster).

Wanting to be big...

Leo gargles after brushing his teeth. every. night.

I guess it's one of those things he's learned because he has older brothers...

Demolition

I forgot to mention that I got to wield the Sawzall to demolish the wall in our house leading to the stairs. Sabrina even captured it on video for me. Unfortunately, I just did one cut because it was time for me to take the kids to violin lessons. Our builder got to do the rest.

Pink Lightning

I had never seen pink lightning before.

The kids and I were outside enjoying some late afternoon sunshine, when a cold front moved in and there was a lightning storm. Not just any lightning storm, but a late December lightning storm as the sun was setting. It was beautiful! Usually in the summer, when I see lightning, I grab the kids and head inside -I ended a soccer practice early this fall due to lightning. This time I just had to keep watching it! It was getting darker and colder and I wanted to see just one more pink flash.

We did get inside before the hail started falling, though. Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture and I haven't been able to find one on the web from December 30, 2011, Boise, ID. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Predictions for 2012

Here are our families predictions for the new year:

Roderic says, "Grandma and Grandpa will return from their mission in New York."
Hyrum says, "We'll go shopping for Oreos."
Sabrina says, "I will move upstairs."
Ryan says, "Uncertainty will increase."
Malauna says, "Mitt Romney will win the GOP Presidential nomination."

And here are milestones I think we'll reach this year:
Leo will start speaking in sentences
Hyrum will start Kindergarten and read with the 1st graders.
Roderic will be baptized and join cub scouts.
Sabrina will go to Girl's Camp!
Ryan will hike in the Sawtooth Mountain range.
Malauna will compete on a race walking team. Portland to Coast Relay on Milaka's team with Ryan!