Perspective

Over the past few days, several friends have been experiencing some really hard times.

One college friend's home caught on fire on Christmas Day--their garage and daughter's room were levelled to the ground, and the rest of the home has major smoke damage.  Thankfully their family is safe.

My high school friend's father had a seizure and stopped breathing the day after Christmas.  He is in the ICU and still unconscious.

A friend in our ward posted on Facebook yesterday about her elderly mother who has been recovering from a neck injury, and now is in the hospital again for a black widow bite.

We learned earlier in the week that some of our Ragnar friends are having a hard time, too; the wife's brother, a CHP officer, was hit on his motorcycle and is very slowly improving in ICU.  Our friends' son has been dealing with constant migraines for several weeks now, too.

My uncle Dave Funk has melanoma cancer that has spread throughout his body, discovered by accident a few weeks ago when he went in to check on a head injury from slipping on ice.

A sweet lady at Wade's school found out over Thanksgiving Break that her husband has a rare form of colon cancer.  One of her sons is in Wade's class.  (On a side note, I learned later that her school family, staff and teachers, gave her family a spectacular Christmas gift--free tickets to Universal Studios plus a free hotel stay--she was blown away by this!)

Several of our extended family members have been sick, sick, sick over Christmas, too.

Another college friend posted a picture of herself with her two cute boys--she was totally bald and had the biggest smile on her face.  I had no idea she was very sick, too.

And on and on and on.


These are all people I know and care about.  It's hard to hear about their suffering, these good people and good families.  It's a reminder that we are not immune from trials and difficulties, too.

I've thought a lot about my Aunt Shirlene, Uncle David's wife.  My mom sent an email sharing something Aunt Shirlene had said:  "Shirlene shared that her Relief Society had been challenged in October to read the Book of Mormon within a two month period and she had accepted that challenge, as well as studying the institute manual for it.  She said it has really been a blessing to have already been immersed in the reading & studying of the scriptures before learning the news of David’s cancer.  It has given her much peace and comfort to help her get through this, whatever the Lord’s will is to be."

This is life.  I'm grateful for the ups and downs of life, for the many blessings that I enjoy, for the gospel, for the Savior's Atonement that covers not just our sins but our sadnesses, too, and for the lessons that I learn from others' faith through their trials.  Their optimism, humor, courage, and strength inspire me to be better and to do more good.

Christmas Eve, Ridgecrest style

We love spending time away from home with extended family, making memories with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins.  But we also admit that there is something magical about spending the holidays at home, too!  That has been especially true for us this year.

For one thing, I keep forgetting which day of the week it is, haha!  Now, THAT'S a vacation! :)

Jason has taken the whole two weeks off from work, and we have LOVED that time with him.  Every single day he has worked on painting the kids' rooms (pictures to come!).  He took Wade golfing, we went to see the last Hobbit movie, we've eaten all kinds of good food, and we had a GREAT Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!  It has been heavenly having him home!!!!!

On Christmas Eve we drove around as a family and delivered some last remaining goodie plates to friends and neighbors.  Then Jason had the funny, genius idea to get Chinese take-out for dinner (think "A Christmas Story") and then we drove around looking at Christmas lights.  Our little town of Ridgecrest had some amazing lights--must be all the engineers living here! :)

Here were just a few:

That night the kids got to open the gifts from each other.  Wade was so excited for this!  He helped purchase "RC cola" and a New England Patriots necklace for Rhiannon, and Rhiannon got Wade two books he'd been dying for.  They were happy!

I didn't take too many photos on Christmas Day--suffice it to say that we were spoiled rotten, loved waking up in our own beds, enjoyed talking to extended family on the phone, and had a perfect Christmas Day dinner of ham, funeral potatoes, and other fixin's.

Merry Christmas 2014 in Ridgecrest was a great one!!!

Wade Cushing, Richmond Spelling Bee winner...

for the second year in a row!  Way to go, Wade!!!  He competed against one of his best friends, Carson Taylor, in the final round, and won on the word "marathon."  Wade will get to compete at the district level on January 28th!

Rhiannon's first high school band Christmas concert

I only got one good video during Rhiannon's Christmas band concert at the high school, mostly because I was too mesmerized by the rest of the music!  Here was one of their Christmas songs--you can see Rhiannon off to the left playing the mallets!!!

Kids' Christmas Recital

Boy, we sure love this time of year!  The kids did a FANTASTIC job playing in their piano teacher's special Christmas recital.  We were so happy to have our friend Sandi Collins with us, too!  Enjoy the pictures and videos!

I love this picture of me with the kids--just wish I'd been looking in the right spot, haha!

Thank you, GMa Deb, for the gingerbread kit!

We love the gingerbread kit we've gotten from Grandma Deb and Grandpa Rod the past few years.  As usual, Jason put us all the shame with his work of art, but we still had a great time being together, laughing and eating!

Jason's turned out pretty!

Rhiannon's is on the left, then Jason's, then Wade's in the back, and Verity's house has the candy canes.  

Good times!

Live Nativity

Another Christmas activity that we enjoyed this year--the live nativity put on by members of our stake at the meetinghouse.  It was open to the public, so people could either drive by or walk up and stay a while.  There was beautiful music playing in the background--the whole scene was very quiet and peaceful!

One of my favorite moments was when "Mary" handed the baby Jesus to one of the three wise men. Mary was played by Leah Lauritzen (recently married--not sure what her married name is!) and the wise man was her dad, David Lauritzen.  It kind of took my breath away for a moment, to imagine what that might be like, if Mary really had passed her baby around for others to hold, for others to cradle the Savior in their arms.

Thank you to those who put this together and to the special people who played parts in the Nativity and stood out in the cold for so long!

Wade's final elementary school Christmas program!

Wade and the rest of his fifth grade group participated in the school's Christmas program.  They always do a unique version of the 12 Days of Christmas, Ridgecrest style.  Enjoy!  Wade was a raven squawking and a desert flower. :)

Our new stake presidency

Our stake presidency was changed a few weeks back.  Our friend Megan Hall did a really nice write-up about it.  It was a neat meeting and we all felt good about these men and appreciate the sacrifices and service that they and their families make for our stake!  We are in good hands!

ps.  Pres Bull, is one of Jason's golfing buddies, Pres Kimbler is a good friend and a Ragnar buddy, and Pres Anderson is also a good friend who just finished serving for 5 years as his ward's bishop.  I share carpooling with his wife--and Jason guessed correctly that he'd be one of the new presidency members. :)

A little Christmas miracle

This month we got lots of rain, at least, a lot for living in the desert.  I think it rained hard for 3 days and then there were a few days in between where we'd get light sprinkling.  Living in a desert in a drought-stricken state, well, it was a really nice change of pace and an answer to prayer!

One day I was waiting for Rhiannon and Wade to finish with piano lessons, and I looked up at a breath-taking sunset.  The pictures don't quite capture how beautiful it was!

Ridgecrest Christmas Parade

It had been a few years since we'd gone to the city's Children's Christmas Parade, but this year Rhiannon was performing with the Burroughs Band in the parade, so we HAD to go!  The band was the very first group to go by and they were so fast, I didn't get a single picture of them.  Boo!  But they sounded great and Rhiannon said she did a pretty good job keeping up with the marching and staying in sync.

At the end of the parade, Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus walked hand in hand and let children come up them to say hello.  It was SO SWEET!

Institute Party

I follow the local community college's schedule when it comes to teaching my Institute class.  Last class for the fall semester was on December 9th, and we don't start back up again until January 20th.  I really enjoy rubbing shoulders with these young adults--they are fun, kind, respectful, and full of good ideas and experiences.  We have a good time together!

Here we are having a mini Christmas party after class--everyone brought goodies to share and then we played quite a few rounds of Reverse Charades.  It was awesome!

The Christmas Train

The first weekend in December, some friends gave us tickets to go ride the "Christmas Train."  It's an annual Ridgecrest tradition and SOOO fun.  I wish I'd taken better pictures, but just imagine sitting on a little train and riding through so many cute Christmas decorations, lights, and themes.  It was also really fun to run into our old friends the Morrows, who took really good care of us when we first moved to Ridgecrest.  We were semi-newlyweds, far away from extended family, and they reached out to us and other new China Lake employees.  It was great to see them!

Thank you to the Grant family for the tickets, too!

We laughed a lot this month...

4 words, folks:  Crazy Helium Booth app

I put this on my phone and the kids and I had way too much fun with it.  It takes a regular video but  manipulates your face and voice.  Definitely brought out the 10-year-old boy in me, haha!  Enjoy!

I only made one Christmas goodie this year...

but I made it over and over and over and over again.  I ate a lot of it, too!  Thank you, thank you to Aunt Heather who told us about the recipe!

I sent Aunt Heather a "happy dance" text when I found the cookie spread at our local grocery store, haha!

Here's the original link to the recipe:  Cookie Butter Butterscotch Fudge

Our 2014 Christmas Card and Letter, plus really cute pictures of the kids!

I had a really, really hard time choosing a favorite family picture from 2014 for our Christmas card this year, so I felt like this card choice from Walmart.com hit the spot for me.  This way, I could add LOTS of pictures!  I printed out a little family update and taped it to the back of each card--I like how it turned out and I like that it was simple, considering we sent this out to over 170 families!  That's a lot of love and a lot of stamps, haha!

We didn't take an official family photo this Christmas, but I did throw the kids out in the front yard one afternoon and took pictures of them with my phone.  I loved how those turned out--the kids look great!

2014 Thanksgiving in Utah!

The year is almost over, and I have some major updating to do on this blog before 2014 ends!

This year we spent our Thanksgiving break up in Utah.  We headed up on a Saturday and spent the night in Mesquite.  Then on Sunday we rolled into Grandma Deb and Grandpa Rod's driveway, just in time for a birthday celebration for Grandma!  These times when all the cousins are together are precious!

Other vacation highlights were stops at Savers for great thrift shopping, Bath and Body Works, and Scheels.  We also had lunch at Crown Burger one day--YUM!

One night Grandpa and Grandma treated the whole gang to bowling at the University of Utah and a pizza extravaganza.  Thank you, thank you!  That was a blast!!!

That night I challenged Sam the Man to a little "wager."  I told him that if he won, he got all the coins in my wallet, and if I won, he had to take a selfie picture with me.  That was really fun for me and I sure got a lot of interaction with Sam the rest of the night, haha!  I won by a few points and got my selfie, but I gave him all the coins in my wallet for being a good sport.

On Wednesday we had to get Grandma Deb and Grandpa Rod out of the house while Brett, Heather, and Jason worked on a special Christmas gift surprise.  We had a great afternoon, filled with Weinerschnitzel for lunch, a stop at Wheeler Farm, AND a trip to the movies to see Book of Life.  What a fun afternoon!!!

That same night we stayed up uber-late and saw Interstellar with Grandma, Brett, Jaymie, McKaleigh, Heather, and Matt.  I loved that movie!

Evidence of couch forts after a cousin sleepover--it will never happen again, haha!

I don't think I took a single picture of Thanksgiving Day--darn!  Suffice it to say that the meal was delicious and we were so happy to be together with everyone!

On our last afternoon together, Aunt Jaymie put together an ornament crafts station to go along with our family service project for the Christmas Box House in Salt Lake City, an emergency children's shelter.  You can learn about it here:  Christmas Box House

We had a wonderful time doing that, and it was fun to watch ALL of the kids really get into it!

It was a fast, fun week filled with lots of great memories.  We love you, Cushings and Croppers!