Yea the inevitable Christmas/New Years post, because I'm sure everyone was wondering what I did for the Holiday season right? Well you are in luck, because here is a nice long post for you...oh and I even included pictures as an added bonus. You know how some peoples blogs you are just dying to read because it seems like every post is interesting/funny/exciting? Im sorry Im not one of those bloggers, but here goes:
This was the first year in our marriage that Christmas day was not spent on a plane, or a long drive in the car. Our first 4 Christmases we had been traveling on Christmas day to make it to both of our families house for Christmas, and as nice as it was to see all our family on Christmas, we learned last year that its just too crazy. Last year I went to Portland a week before Christmas to have some extra time with my family, and Justin was going to fly in a few days after me. Turns out he never made it, (since Oregon doesn't know what to do when it snows) and spent Christmas eve day traveling back to Utah to be with his family, and i stayed in Oregon. Anyway, he missed Lexi's first Christmas, and it was just sad. So this year we decided to have Christmas eve at our house and invited my brother and his family over, we ate delicious food and played games. Lexi, Dom, and Gabe watched the Grinch, we had a great time. We woke up early on Christmas morning, and opened presents together as a family, Lexi really loved her presents, and it was so fun this year to see her actually get excited about the present, and not just the paper. When we finished opening our gifts we headed over to Justin's parents house to have more Christmas, AND to talk to Justin's brother who is on a mission, which was wonderful. We also ate a lovely Christmas dinner of Turkey! YUM. We spent the rest of the day lounging and enjoying not traveling. On the 26th we headed to Boise then flew to Portland to see my family. We arrived around seven to more great food, and presents. We had such a relaxing week in Oregon, and we even brought the snow with us! It snowed for about 6 hours, heavy snow, which isn't typical of Oregon. They don't even plow the roads there because they never get enough. It took my dad 2.5 hours to get home from work when it usually take 1/2 hour. People do not know how to drive in snow, some even left their cars and walked home, or had a 4 wheel drive vehicle pick them up, it was hilarious! Justin went skiing with our brother in law Jeff, and I did some shopping, but mostly we just enjoyed being far away from work, and life, sometimes its just nice to have a break. I also had the opportunity to meet up with some old friends for lunch which is always fun.
In anticipation for a new nephew in February my sister was going to throw a shower for our sister in law, but no one could make it because of the bad weather, but we still opened gifts for the baby (Lexi opened most of them) and baby boy Taylor has some fun stuff waiting for him. For New years Eve we went to my sisters house and ate of course, and played games, and talked with my sister and her family, and my other brother and his family. All in all we had a great holiday, Im sad that it's over, I miss my family, but Im just glad that we had such a great couple of weeks.
