More Christmas Trip

I forgot about a couple pictures and videos that I had from our trip. These were taken on my blackberry (my Christmas present from Andrew!) so they aren't the best quality.

My family went to lunch at Sizzler on Christmas Eve. Rachel was too cute drinking out of this cup that I had to take a picture

We also had a visit from Santa Claus! The kids were so excited. Rachel wasn't a little sure at first how she felt about it, but she eventually warmed up to him, especially when she saw that candy was involved.

I love this video. Not only because the kids are so cute singing, but notice Rachel hiding in the back and peeking her head out: (the videos are really quiet, sorry!)

We also had a fun time playing Wii ski with the family. We also got this game so if you want to play you will have to come on over!

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas 2008

(warning: this post is really long!)

Merry Christmas! (a little late, I know)

Our Christmas plans this year were changed at the last minute. Andrew's work decided that instead of allowing him to work remotely from Utah, that he actually needed to work (still remotely) from L.A. So he couldn't get off work until the afternoon of the 24th. We were planning on driving to Utah, so we weren't sure what exactly we were going to do. Luckily my mom ended up coming into town the weekend before for a funeral. So she stayed out here for a couple of days and then she drove back to Utah with me on Monday. Andrew was just going to fly out on Wednesday (Christmas Eve) night. Not the ideal situation, but it would work.

So on Monday morning my mom and I packed up our car and headed to Utah. The drive was going fine, with just a little bit of snow and fog as we were leaving California. As soon as we got into Utah though the weather turned horrible. It was already dark and it started snowing pretty heavily. My mom doesn't like to drive in the dark and I forgot (never really knew) how to drive in snow, so we were not feeling super confident about continuing. We stopped in Cedar City to fill up the car and by then the roads were really bad. The people at the truck stop were saying that there were reports of a lot of accidents and slide offs. So, we decided it was best to stay in Cedar City for the night. I didn't get a picture, but found this one that looks pretty similar!

The next morning we got up and scraped the car (luckily I had some trader joes bags in my car that double as ice scrapers!) and we headed on our way. We hadn't even pulled out of the parking lot when the tire pressure warning light came on. We debated about whether to ignore it or not, but decided we better check it out. We pulled over to a truck stop in Parowan and this really nice guy helped us out. He gave us a nice lecture about always checking tire pressure and car fluids before you take any trip. But he filled the tires with air and we were finally on our way. The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful and the roads were pretty clear. I was relieved to finally be at my parents house ... 27 hours later!

I spent the next couple of days frantically getting ready for Christmas and waiting for Andrew to come in. Unfortunately because of bad weather, Andrew's flight from L.A. was delayed. I was really nervous that he wasn't going to be able to make it in and he would be stranded in L.A. on Christmas alone. But his plane finally came in. We spent Christmas Eve at the Jarvis home. We had fondue and played cranium. (not my favorite game ... at all!) But it was still fun. We also opened our pj's and Andrew got some sweet deer pants! I can't believe I didn't take any pictures the entire night. Instead I thought I would include these pictures that we took for our Christmas cards. My friend Brittany took them for us and she did a great job!

Old Town Pasadena puts up the greatest decorations for Christmas. They have these great oversized ornaments. I love them!

Christmas morning we woke up and opened presents with the Jarvis family. We then ate delicious scones (a Jarvis tradition). We then headed down to Orem to have Christmas with the Johnsons. Everyone was there so it was great to spend it with the whole family. Here is the tree before we opened any presents.

I got to hold this cute little reindeer while I opened presents. Isn't Seth adorable?

I love to watch my nieces and nephews at Christmas. They are so excited about everything and want to help everyone open their presents.

It was a great morning with lots of great presents (thanks everyone!) We then had a delicious dinner and had fun hanging out with family.

We played new games.

and dog-piled on top of Andrew. The kids absolutely love Andrew (or "Andwew" as Rachel calls him). I feel so lucky to have a husband that loves kids and gets along so well with them.

I think my parents house was the best decorated on their street. (and not because they were the only ones that put lights up). I think it's the best house to put lights on. This color does not do it justice!

There was a lot of snow while we were in Utah. Here is a picture that we took up by American Fork Canyon. It's so pretty!

We were also there when they blessed Seth. Doesn't he look great?

It was a great Christmas. We were lucky enough to spend a lot of time with all of our family and a lot of our friends. We never get to see everyone, but it was still good. What a fabulous Christmas! Thank you everyone!!

Pre-Christmas Festivities

Andrew's company had a Christmas party that we went to this year. I was very excited, because it was the first time that Andrew's job actually had a Christmas party that spouses were invited to. It was held at the Jonathon Club in downtown L.A. It's a private social club that only began accepting women in 1987! (Lucky me!)

I read somewhere that the club is "a place for the wealthy and well-bred to see and be seen, cut deals and socialize." It sounded like the perfect place for us to be. I was really nervous about making sure I wore the right thing and said and did all the right things, just to make sure that we fit in. I got a lot of advice from people as to what I should wear, so I thought I would post a picture of what I ended up wearing:

It ended up being a pretty fun night. Andrew's office is really small (5 employees), so it was a small crowd. We were the youngest people by probably 10 years. It was in this beautiful room with really great decorations. It was a huge buffet with really good food. They also had a huge dessert buffet which was amazing. To be honest, it was difficult to carry a conversation with a lot of the people, but I somehow survived. So overall, we had a lot of fun!

Because we were travelling to Utah, Andrew and I had our own little Christmas together before we left. We don't like to have to pack up our stuff, just to bring it back home. We sat around our little tree and stockings and opened gifts. (doesn't that sound so sweet?)

It looks like a lot of gifts, but most of them were from my swimmers.

We definitely had a fun week of pre-Christmas activities before heading out to Utah for the real thing!

Big Announcement!

We're moving! Okay, so it's not really that big of an announcement because we aren't moving that far. Less than 100 feet actually. A bigger apartment in our building opened up and we are moving in. We are so excited. It is going to be a pain to have to pack up and move, but it will definitely be worth it. The living room is a lot bigger and so it will be really nice to be able to move some stuff in there and then actually have space in the second bedroom.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to move because the owners were going to require us to sign a new 2 year lease. 2 years? Seriously?!! Nobody signs a 2 year lease. Luckily we were able to talk them into a 1 year contract instead. I feel really blessed that this is working out for us. I'll post pictures as soon we move in and get all settled.

A few of my thoughts ...

This is not a political blog. I never intended for this to be anything but a place to share what Andrew and I are doing and to keep everyone updated, but with everything that has been going on recently, I just had to share a few thoughts, if for no other reason than for me to simply think out loud.

I am extremely proud to be an American. I always have been. That is why I first became a history major and then switched to teaching history so that I could share that love of history and of America. I am truly grateful to live in this great country and I recognize all of the many sacrifices that have been made on my behalf. Because of this feeling of love towards my country, I can't help but feel frustrated with recent comments and events. Just to mention a few: Justin Timberlake said, "America, we're cool now." Seriously? Nothing else in history has made us "cool?" Sorry James Madison, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., and countless others, apparently what you did was not quite "cool" enough. And I will never get over Michelle Obama saying, "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my Country." I honestly will never be able to take her seriously after that comment. And then to hear President Obama basically apologize to the world on behalf of America. It's a little too much for me to take right now. Have we, as a county, made mistakes in the past? Absolutely. But we still love America!! Those mistakes make us what we are today. We learn and grow from them and we move forward, together, united.

But that's the problem ... unity in this country has fallen apart. I didn't vote for Obama, but over the past few months I have had hope. I see the effect that he has on the people, he has been able to unify this country in a way that I have never seen in my lifetime. And if there is anything that America needs right now, it is unity. I hope that he can unify this country and that will in turn, hopefully make it better. It does make me sad that people had to wait for him in order to want to change. I firmly believe in "being the change you want to see in the world." For too long people have sat back, complained about their circumstances, and done nothing about them. It's just sad that people could not be inspired on their own.

With all of that said, I understand and recognize the historical significance of the Presidential Inauguration yesterday. It really will be remembered in history as a great day. I pray for our new President every day. I hope that he understands and recognizes the trust trust that the American people have placed in him, and that he can be worthy of that trust. I hope that he will continue to make America what it is, a great country.

That's all. Just my thoughts. Take it for what it's worth. I'm done. No more politics!!

Let it Rain!

It's supposed to rain the next 5 days here.

But this time I am ready for it.

Bring it on rain!!

Trip to see Seth

The first weekend of December we made a quick weekend trip to Utah. I had a Saturday off from swim team, which never happens, so I thought I would take advantage of it. Also, it was the perfect time to go and see my adorable little nephew, Seth We were also able to spend a lot of time with all of the nieces and nephews!

Rachel, the cutest little reindeer.

Rachel loves to hang out with Andrew ... or hang from Andrew ...

It was a quick trip, but we had a lot of fun hanging out with family, watching movies, playing games, going shopping and eating a lot of food. Whenever we go to Utah there are so many of our old favorite places that we want to eat at that I end up eating way too much. We also went and visited our friends Matt and Laney who just moved from Pasadena to Utah. They have a cute new home so it was fun to go see them and their house.

The last morning that we were there it started to snow. It was fun to be in the snow for a couple hours and then go back to sunny SoCal!

We had a lot of fun that weekend. Thank you Kevin and Heather for having a baby so we had an excuse to come out and visit!

Thanksgiving 2008

Okay, okay, I am finally ready to catch up on old blog posts, so here we go with Thanksgiving.

We had a great Thanksgiving. Andrew and I both had a couple of days off so we decided to go up to Rocklin to visit our friends, Cory and Jessica. They were great to invite us up there to crash their holiday! It was a nice relaxing week.

We drove up there on Wednesday afternoon. On the drive we were able to see the burned areas from the bad fires that we had here a few months ago. I took this picture to show the burned areas, but you can also see the horrible traffic that we were in.

The fires were pretty devastating. We drove past a trailor park that had been completely destroyed. All that was left was shells of burned cars. Very sad.

Thursday morning (Thanksgiving) Andrew and Cory got up extra early to do what? Play football of course! Cory's ward was having a big Turkey bowl football game. Jessica and I stopped by for a little while to cheer them on. Andrew came home with a ripped shirt and a bloody hand, so I guess it was a success.

Brady definitely wanted to join in the game.

Jessica spent a lot of time making a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. We had all of the traditional food and it was absolutely delicious. Jessica is an amazing cook! Here she is carving the turkey.

What's better than Thanksgiving dinner with friends?

So good!

The rest of the weekend we had a lot of fun hanging out, going shopping, golfing and playing x-box. We missed spending the holiday with our families, but we were so thankful that Cory, Jessica and Brady invited us to spend it with them. They were a great "replacement family."

One of the highlights of the week was definitely when Cory went and bought his big screen tv. He has been researching tv's for a couple years and he finally decided on the one to get. He got up early on Black Friday and he and Cory went to Costco and picked it up. I think Andrew looks a lot more excited than Cory does. (But that probably says something more about how happy they were to be taking a picture than it does about the tv.) We were very excited for them and their great new TV.

We were sad when it was time to go, but we had a lot of help carrying our bags from Brady.

He even helped us put them in the car.

It was a great Thanksgiving. Even though we should always be thinking about everything we are grateful for, it's nice to have one day that is completely set aside for it. We have so much to be grateful for in our lives. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy New Year 2009!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Goodbye 2008 .... welcome 2009!

I have a feeling it's going to be a good one.

(I know that I am way behind on my blogging ... Thanksgiving, what? ... but I wanted to see my first post showing the date 2009! Notice the time this is posted ... 12:00 exactly! -- okay, so I had to wait until 1:00 Utah time because the computer is still on California time.)