To Mac and Back

Our little family went to McMinnville over the weekend to see my family. I couldn't leave until Saturday morning, but Sean and Matilda went out Thursday night so my parents could have more time with the girl. I was there for a whopping 48 hours, but I had some good times visiting with my family and seeing people from my home ward. Here are a few highlights:

1. My Dad. When Sean and Tilly walked hand-in-hand through security at PDX for my dad to pick them up, Tilly saw her grandpa and immediately dropped Sean's hand and ran to my dad. This warms my heart so much. Matilda hasn't spent a lot of time with him since we live 800 miles away, so I asked Sean if he pointed my dad out to her and he answered no. I love that Matilda was able to recognize him and got SOOOOO excited about seeing him. Also, we were there for the Mac 2nd ward Christmas party. My dad was asked to sing "We Three Kings" with a group of men and was so nervous about it. He loves to sing, but has never had ANY musical training and has a difficult time singing the right pitches. They sang the song acapella and it sounded great! I even listened hard for my dad's voice and I could hear that he was singing the correct notes! I was so proud of him.

2. Family Dinner. My siblings and their families in Oregon all came over for stew and pumpkin pie on Sunday. There were 10 adults and 10 kids, altogether. After dinner, we watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional, but with 10 kids running around and making noise, I didn't get a whole lot out of it. I held my 7 week-old nephew for a long time and played Christmas Charades with my nieces. I feel so lucky that even during such a short trip, I was able to spend some quality time with my family.  After everyone left, Sean and I watched the devotional again and were really able to feel the spirit of Christmas. My favorite talk was President Uchtdorf's about humility and "seeing" Christ in Christmas.

3. Going Through Stuff. My closet (can it be considered my closet if I've never actually lived in that house?) is full of my stuff. Old Halloween and dance costumes, American Girl Doll paraphernalia, possessions I have had for at least 15 years that I don't really care about but I haven't gotten around to throwing them away. One of these trips I am really going to go through the boxes, but last weekend I started looking through a box from my senior year of high school. I found my graduation mortarboard and the various tassels and cords I wore. I found some pictures that brought back a lot of memories about the wonderful group of friends I had in high school. And I found my cheerleading uniform. I have lost about 15 lbs of baby weight since August (finally!) so I decided to try on my uniform, although I wasn't very hopeful. It was a little bit tighter than it used to be, especially in the, um, chest area, but it definitely fit! It makes me happy that I finally have the body I'm used to back and I'm able to wear my old clothes again.