It is Christmas night and it has been a wonderful day.

One of the blessings of being an empty nester is being able to sleep in on Christmas morning. Another great blessing is having all the kids and grandkids home for Christmas every other year... but this wasn't the year! (Dang!) However, it was an enjoyable day none-the-less.

My sweet husband surprised me with a trip to Italy for Christmas! We are leaving on May 10th and will be gone for 10 days! We are going to Rome, Perusia, (some other city I can't remember) Florence and Venice. I couldn't be more excited! I have wanted to go to Italy for as long as I can remember. Our daughter-in-law, Kelly made all the arrangements; plane and train tickets, hotel reservations, everything! (Thanks Kelly!) Did I mention how excited I am!

Aside from my wonderful Italy surprise we had a nice dinner with Jim Carroll and his new wife, Mary. It was really nice to get to know her a little better.

I did really miss all the kids and grandbabies this year, though. I have already started the countdown to next Christmas when they will all be home! I can hardly wait!

Tomorrow starts my workouts and dieting again. This house is chalk-full of wonderful (bad) things to eat and I have endulged waaaayyyy more than I should have. Monday we are going to California for a week to relax in the sunshine and warmer weather. It should make it easier to be away from all the holiday treats!

Thanks to all my sweet family and friends who made Christmas wonderful. I love you all!

Wow! I haven't updated this blog in months! So much has happened, I'm not sure where to start.

Angie and Brent were married on October 10th. They make an adorable couple. We are so blessed to have Brent in the family and we are thrilled Angie found a great guy.

Kami and Steve found out they are expecting a boy! He will be born in April and we are so excited to add another grandbaby to the list. Miss Malia Shea just turned four and is excited to have a baby brother

Little Noah Kenyon Graff was born to Jon and Bonnie on October 1st. Ella makes the best big sister! How can we be so lucky to have such adorable grandkids!

All the kids were able to come home for Thanksgiving and we had such a fabulous time! We helped out Grandma Graff with some things, toasted marshmellows over a fire in the canyon, put up a Christmas tree, shopped, ate, played games and laughed. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

That is a brief update. If I can remember how...I will add a few pictures.