Christmas Eve 2010

This year for Christmas Jared (because he’s at the bottom of the totem pole at work)  couldn’t get much time off so we drove up to Utah after he got off of work on the 23rd and drove to Kanab.  The next morning, Christmas Eve, we drove the rest of the way up to Salt Lake.  It was a pretty foggy and murky looking drive.  There was once point when we were by Bryce Canyon where the sun finally broke through at the tips of the mountains that we got a gorgeous view.  It reminded me of an analogy to life that sometimes things get really difficult and life seems so dreary and dismal and so endless but if you keep looking up there can be moments where the sun brakes through the clouds—giving hope until the storms pass.

I am so grateful that I was able to go see my family and some friends for Christmas.   They really bring so much light in my life.  I have been blessed to have already made some friends here (my next door neighbor is awesome as well as some other great girls I’ve met at church) but I have been really lonely for the things and people who I’ve known the longest.

I love living in my new home and our neighborhood and I know that it’s a blessing to live somewhere with less storm systems coming and going all the time (I was in a lot of pain in Utah with my back) but I wish I could be with my family more.

When we got to my mom’s we had a fun evening hanging out and enjoying the company of those in my family that could come visit.  We had a soup dinner with April and Bill’s family’s and then Julie’s family stopped by later.

Here’s my sweet niece Abby enjoying a cracker. She has the best smile and I love her smiley eyes!

We also did a little gift exchange with the cousins.  Vivian got this neat stroller from Sandy and Abby.  It was so neat in fact, that all the kids fought over it :). Here’s the amazing Kate and her ability to sleep in loud rooms with rambunctious children running all around.  I love her look of concentration! She did wake up once they took her coat off…

Here are the two December babies, Kate and Vivian playing by each other!

It was really cute at one point when they both started crawling as fast as they could to the fridge and then stood by it playing with the nativity magnets.  

Here’s a stinking cute picture I got of happy Kate grinning away!

Here’s a cute one of my niece Autumn with Lilly and Christian.  Autumn was so patient to play with the silly little kids.  Christian just adores both Autumn and Lilly…he kept asking me over and over again on the drive home “Now why can’t you marry cousins?” Here’s a picture that demonstrates Vivian’s orneriness and Kate’s obvious happiness to be with family.  Vivian is a little timid when it comes to all of the family members she’s not used to seeing.  I feel bad that she acts so cranky when we’re with everyone because at home she’s really a sweetheart.  I’m going to make a book for her that I’m going to read daily that has a picture of everyone in the family.  If you want to be in the book, let me know and get me a picture you like of yourself.

 

I really do have more hair than this picture shows…Here’s a picture of my sister Julie and I.  I think we’re starting to look more alike than we did when we were younger…interesting….

It was a nice relaxing evening.  We even watched “The Man in the Santa Claus Suit” which is an movie that my parent’s recorded off “the air” in the 80’s and we used to watch every year.  It has some hilarious commercials recorded on the video (like Mr. Clean…).Why don’t they make commercials like they used to?

Then everyone left and we got Christian to bed an ourselves to bed by about midnight.  Even despite the long drive it was worth being with family.