Home for Christmas....Are We There Yet?

WOW! What a year for everyone to be home for Christmas! I'm so excited we get to be home for Christmas!! We got to leave Friday the 19th and stay a night in Vegas before arriving in California the next day. We've kind of been making the stop in Vegas more of a habit and tradition to help break up the trip for our boys and just so that we don't feel rushed while we're traveling...that's gotten us in trouble before. And it's just been fun because the boys love it!

I called Paul's mom to let her know we were finally on the road and she said, "Where are you now?" And I said, "Orem." Then she laughed and said, "No, really. Where are you?" And I had to tell her, "Really, we're in Orem still!" We had been hoping to leave a bit sooner than we actually did; we didn't get on the road until 2:30. It had already started to snow before we left but fortunately by about Springville we had already outrun it and we had clean roads the rest of the way to Vegas.

Ryan was so excited for "vacation". After we finally left Orem we repeatedly had to try and explain to him that vacation is a time, not a place....all the way to Vegas he asked when we were going to be at vacation! I think he equates vacation to a hotel room. But the drive went very well. And except for Ryan asking "are we there yet?" every 10 miles (Paul & I had always wondered when that was going to start!) the boys did really well. They took turns napping and we stopped for dinner in St. George on the way and we still made it to the hotel in Vegas at a decent hour.

The boys watching football (what else is there?!) in the hotel room.

Then Saturday we got a late start out of Vegas and ended up driving straight up to Fresno for Paul West's birthday party! That was fun because we got to see Christa's new house and new baby right away--BOTH VERY CUTE!--Mom & Chuck and Doug & Becky & family were all there, and a few other people I wouldn't have seen otherwise. Ryan was so excited the whole drive that he would get to see "[HIS] Keith" that evening! And for the most part, I think the boys all played well together! (And it appears I didn't get any pics at Christa's BUMMER!!)

Then we made our way southbound again to Amanda & Tim's. They also have a very cute little house! And a nice backyard. The boys slept in Clayton's room.

Sunday we got to go to church in Tulare where everyone but Doug's family and Brad also attended that day. President and Sister Dredge were the speakers and I felt like I really scored! They are just such wonderful people. Janae was there visiting from Arizona with her family and it was really good to see her.

I remember thinking during sacrament meeting, after the Young Women sang a beautiful Christmas song (they sounded like angels!) that I really wanted to go to Young Women's that day. I totally forgot that Mom was the Mia Maid adviser! After Sunday School Christa and Lissa both told me they were going to Young Women's with Mom and I thought "SCORE! I get to go to Young Women's today!" So the three of us crashed Mom's class for the third hour. It was so great to be in there with the girls I used to babysit 10-15 years ago!! Anyway, it was great fun and I look forward to the rest of the week! So far this trip is off to a great start!

Thanks Chuck!!

So in the middle of all the busyness, I suppose Chuck felt he wasn't busy enough because while Mom & I were cleaning Lissa's apartment, Chuck was painting mine! Anyone who's seen our front room would agree that, although a beautiful color, it was too dark and it was too much for that room. I was never offended that people didn't like it....it didn't take us too long to figure out we didn't like it either (well, for the whole room, I mean, so much of it; I still always liked the color) but we just didn't really have the funds to change it. Anyway, Chuck never liked it. And since he's a painter by trade, I'm sure it bugged him more than others. So he painted it! He and Paul picked out a color, a much lighter blue, and started Friday night. It was a surprise for me. I really like it. And of course we got to talking about what we would want to do next.....and before I knew it Chuck was working on painting our kitchen too! Seriously, I never expected any of it. Not to mention, the first thing he did when he got here was fix our leaky shower valves so that we can finally take care of the huge hole in our downstairs bathroom. So here are the results!