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!!