12.17.2007

Lucky, indeed

Quite the weekend! Big news - Cody's last day at the Orem Fire Department was on Friday. The parting is bittersweet, a lot of memories there, but we are so excited that he doesn't have to work 3 or 5 days at a time and can give all he's got to Pleasant Grove! It's strange to drive by the stations in Orem knowing that Cody won't be there anymore. He was working there when we met and as I said, just a lot of memories there. But hey! New station, new opportunity, new memories.
Saturday was sheer madness, lets just put it that way. We were running around all day! We spent the morning running some Christmas errands and then decided that we could drive up to PG to look at some homes for sale (we're going to move up there eventually, I think), but then realized that we had to get home to get ready for the Jolley family Christmas party. We got all ready, headed over to Grandma Kae's around 4:30 and had a yummy meal and a gift exchange. It was so fun! The whole family was there and Cache had a blast. We left a smidge early so we could get to the Patch family Christmas party. My extended family is huge, so there were about 100 people there...and that might only be about half of the relatives! We visited and played 'white elephants'. It was so great to see some of my favorite cousins and Aunts! When we finally loaded our kids in the car to head home, it was only 8:30 but it felt so much later. I do love getting together with our families, it was a blast!

Last night I went up to my parents house for dinner and a movie (we do that every Sunday evening). We opted to watch "It's A Wonderful Life". I'm sure you're all familiar, yes? Such a fantastic show. Truly. We watch it almost every year, but last night it really hit me how great the message is. My eyes were getting misty at the end and I came to realize how blessed my life is. It was one of those moments where all of a sudden you feel inspired to be a better person, a better friend and fill your life with good people. I won't get too sappy, but I really do feel so lucky to have an amazing family and incredible husband. That's really all you need!

Still many things to do today - baking, mailing of Christmas cards and more embellishment of the house. Cody and I are making our famous caramel on Wednesday and I can't wait! We make it every Christmas and I'm pretty sure we'll be making about 6 batches of it. Mmm, homemade caramel...can life get better?

4 comments:

Kateastrophe said...

I'm embarrassed to admit I've never tried a piece of that caramel! I'm definitely going to remedy that when I see you this weekend!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun busy day! I am jealous of carmel day...I may have to try making my own this year!

Tell Cody congrats on moving on to PG...that is so great!

Love you and Merry Christmas!

Sara said...

Hurray for Cody being done! And I'm gonna need some of that caramel also..... My thighs are getting a bit anorexic looking...

S.A.S. said...

Julia Patch Jolley, this is Sarah Stancl**f from the days of Maeser elementary. YOU HAVE A BLOG! Ok, every time I see or talk to Angie I say "how's Julia" and figured one of these days it would max out at how ridiculous it was that I haven't just found you myself. Max reached - and here you are! I've only read through a few entries, since it's 1:30am here on the East coast, but wanted to say hi, that I've found you, that I'm DYING that you're moving to PG (as that's where I spent my post-Provo years, including Jr. High and High School. loved it.). There is so much (er, 15 years?!) to catch up on! Let's start with hi, how are you, you have 2 darling kids and a great husband - so happy for you. This is grand.