Our Christmas Vacation

We had a fabulous time in Arizona and were very sad to leave. We were able to see everyone in my family at one point or another sometime along our journey. So much has changed in the almost 2 years that I've been away. Lots more houses, shopping centers, movie theaters, restaurants, and then even more houses!

The trip down there went smoothly and even though our plane took off a bit late, we arrived close to on time. My mom pick us up at the airport wearing her santa hat, with her Mother Christmas bag (a must see). Once we found our way OUT of the airport, believe me it can be tricky, we headed straight to my sister's house for the first annual ADULT ONLY Christmas party. My sister was joking that some might get the wrong idea by an "adult only" party, but don't let your mind go there, haha. Everyone was there except poor Anna stuck in Utah. We had a fabulous steak dinner and after that a testimony meeting. It was special to get to have something like that with just my own family. After testimonies we gathered around the piano and sang Christmas Carols like when we were little. Thanks Emily for the great party! We'll let you be in charge every year!

On Monday Brian helped my dad put new sheetrock up on the carport and back porch. He was such a big help and worked most of his vacation away, but he was such a good sport about it. I also got to spend some one on one time with my sister Emily. We went shopping, to the movies, painted a bedroom in her house, got chinese take out, watched movies at her house, played the wii and even got a workout with Dance Dance Revolution.

Christmas Eve was the big party for my mom's birthday. We had homemade pizzas and carrot cake and cheesecake. My dad came through once again with a treadmil for her. He always has something up his sleve it seems.

Christmas morning was fun. It was just Brian & I and my parents opening presents. It was nice to have it low key with just the four of us. Well I did get diamond earings from Brian, as you know. But he did good with not showing the new ones to me. He exchanged the old earings for solitaire princess cut diamond earings. I like these ones better because they aren't quite as fancy as the other ones and a bit more conducive to everyday wearing.

I also got another surprise. I got a necklace from my mom with a pearl on it that she got from Hawaii this last summer. I felt really special that she gave it to me. I'm sure it's probably a faux pas to wear diamonds and pearls together, but I'm doing it anyway.

This is a good representation of the necklace my mom got me. Only ignore the earrings

We came back Monday night and everything went very smooth. We got through the Phoenix airport in record time and our flight landed earlier than scheduled. We had heard how much it had snowed and we were a bit nervous about the roads, but they were clear the entire way! Since the roads were clear we went up to Rexburg to pick up Roscoe from our friends. He was so happy to see us and we were excited he remembered us.



Overall we had a great Christmas. Although we did get some nice "material gifts", it was so much more. This year I tried to give thoughtful, meaningful gifts. I think as I had this attitude giving, it meant even more to me to be on the receiving end this year. As we end this year and start a new one I hope I can carry this Christmas spirit with me and be a little kinder, wiser, and closer to the spirit.