Christmas in Missouri
We had a really nice Christmas, although it was quite a bit different this year than in years past. Six days before Christmas we had a very special Family Home Evening. We told our kids that we would be going to Arizona for Christmas break and would be leaving in two days. That meant that we would open some of our Christmas gifts that night! Boy were they excited!! We had them open the stuff that we didn't want to carry with us all the way to Arizona, which I'm glad we did! The kids thought it was so fun going to school the next day and telling everybody what they got and where we were going! It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of that night:
Jorja really wanted a piggy bank!
I find it hilarious that Logan was this excited over a box of cereal. Granted, I NEVER buy this stuff because it is all sugar.... It cracks me up how the box says "More whole grain than any other ingredient!" That's advertising for you!
Logan tends to monopolize the PlayStation so Jorja asked for some games just for her. She loved playing this game, even though she had to ask Logan several times to help her manipulate the controller.
More video games!
Everybody got new bedspreads!
And the girls got paint and wall decorations for their nasty blue and gold room. The paint is a pretty taupe color and we will move my dark brown curtains from the living room in there also (after I get me some new curtains -- see, this is a present for me too!).
Jorja's loot.
Jillian's loot.
Logan's loot.
Getting to Arizona
Going to Arizona was a complete last-minute decision. Brad's work here was pretty slow and he had an opportunity to do some work with his dad so we went! We decided to leave Wednesday night, after the kids got home from school. We wanted to do the 21 hour drive all in one trip so that we didn't have to get a hotel and we thought that getting the night shift over first would be best. Our goal was to leave by 6pm, and we left at 6:20. Not bad! The only problem was that we had worked all day trying to get ready for the trip and we left feeling tired. But, we went on, keeping our 5 hour energy drinks near us at all times. Brad took the first lag of the trip. By 2am I was very tired. I told Brad that I needed to sleep but he kept asking me to stay awake because he was worried about falling asleep. The only problem was that I was driving next and I had to sleep a little so that I could be ready to take my shift. I finally slept fitfully for about 1 1/2 hours and then took over around 4:30 after chugging my energy drink. Those things work GREAT!! I was amazed. Of course, there was no moon and so the roads were super dark. I was really glad I had something chemical to keep me awake. The kids did a pretty good job of sleeping in the car, although I know it wasn't the most comfortable night for them. I was just glad they could sleep for some of the trip.
Around 10am local time we pulled into Albuquerque, New Mexico. We were making pretty good time and the car was running great. I was really tired. Brad was really tired. The kids were tired. We were done with traveling. We figured we only had about five or six hours left so it shouldn't be that bad. I drove until we hit Holbrook, Arizona. About that time a blizzard hit us also. We were stuck at an accident for half an hour. While waiting for it to clear up, we witnessed another accident right in front of us. We finally were able to move and we traveled 15 miles per hour down the White Mountains. Visibility was really low and nobody was moving very fast. By this point we were exhausted. But we were so close! We didn't want to stop now. We just wanted to be there.
Brad got us to Payson, where we refilled our tanks and took a little break. I drove us the rest of the way to the valley. We arrived around 6:30 local time, which was 7:30 our time. That made the trip 25 hours, awake for over 36 hours. We have never been so tired in our entire lives. We were just grateful that we made it there, and safely too!
Christmas, Part Deux
It was so wonderful to be with family! We hadn't been back to Arizona since we moved away 5 1/2 years ago. It was good to be back and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. That being said, I did miss out on some of the traditions we do that were cancelled because of the trip. Like our Christmas Eve candlelight dinner. I usually make a really fancy dinner, complete with sparkling apple cider in wine glasses. This is a four course meal, people: hor d'oeurves, salad, main meal and dessert. Then we do a Christmas Eve Family Home Evening by the fire where we do the whole "meaning of Christmas" lesson. These make me feel like Christmas is here and that there is a reason to celebrate. Then Christmas morning I make an egg casserole and orange rolls and we open presents and lay around all day and only eat left-overs. I never cook on Christmas. That is a present I give myself. So we didn't get to do any of these things and it felt...weird. But, it was worth the weirdness to be there with so many people that we love. I will be forever grateful that we were able to go!!
I did really enjoy going to church on Christmas. I wish we could do that every year. It sure adds a special spirit to the day. Before we went though, we opened more presents!
Santa brought some of those balloons you pound. I loved those as a kid.
I made a photo book for each of the kids. They loved them!
I love that he's holding this upside down. :)
Jillian and I found this shirt for Brad at the store in AZ. It I love! I don't think there is another shirt that says "I belong to Brad" more than this one.
A jewelry box for Jilly!
Jilly gave Jorja hair extensions. I'm not a fan of them but the girls sure love them!
Logan got scriptures! This was actually a late baptism present.
For my girl who loves to cook!
Jorja saw these color yourself castles and begged me for one. She was so very happy to have it!!!
I was glad she had it also. She spent several hours coloring and then playing in at at Mimi's and Granddaddy's house.
