And the days march on....

After dropping Liam off, it seems like time is flying by.......Tuesday evening was the last day of the semester for school which meant my last presentation for the semester and then the last paper turned in on Wednesday morning ( 2 days early so yay!) and then

Wednesday afternoon after a meeting in Salt Lake, I headed down to Provo to visit Ben (we had a nice visit this time) and then had dinner and visited with some friends.  It was exactly the little break I needed.  I just needed more time as there were others I definitely still need to visit with.

On the way, I got a "out the passenger side of the car" photo of the Prove City Center LDS Temple.  It was dusk and the lights were on around the temple and it was so beautiful.  Much better than this little picture.

Thursday evening I finally had a moment to clean up the toys from Liam's visit.  Often I leave the toys out but we were having our "Hall Adult Almost Annual Christmas Party" on Friday night so I had to get things cleaned up to get ready for that.

We had our party and it was fun although many of our dear friends had conflicts and we missed having them.  I guess we are going to have another party in a month or two so that we can "party" with them at a less busy season.

Part of the cleaning the house and getting ready for the party meant that we had a deadline for getting at least some Christmas decorations put out.

Our advent calendar that Jena faithfully changes the date is swiftly moving toward Christmas.  It is a bit bittersweet this year with Ben in the hospital. He has always been home on Christmas and although I have adjusted (generally) to the idea that Jessica, Scott and Tosha are not ever going to walk into the family room and get their stockings off the mantle again, it will be hard to not have Ben with Jena in that yearly tradition.  We are trying to figure out the best way to celebrate with Ben so that he will feel the love and support we have for him.

This picture was taken yesterday on Dec. 10.

Saturday allowed me the first free time (not counting the days I was sick last week) to FINALLY work on Zander's quilt.  Although I have had the fabric for a number of months, time has gone in other directions.  With school done, I hope to finish Zander's quilt and start on baby James' quilt as well.

bottom almost half of the quilt (ignore the Christmas tablecloth around the edges)

Then Saturday night, Jena and I ushered at the Centerpoint Theatre and then stayed and watched the show "It's a Wonderful Life" which made me cry even though I have seen the movie many many times.  It is a great message.  We all matter to those around us, especially when we have reached out and done something kind.  Great message for this time of year and all year long.