Crazy (and fun) Christmas!

Our Christmas this year meant that everyone came home. Home being Chuck and Liz' home (and our home while they are gone). Beck and Ryan and their 4 children came in from Oregon. Kelly and her 2 girls came in from Utah and Jon flew in from Maryland.

.

6 adults, 6 kids. 12 people total.

.

.

Although it was quite a loud and busy house for a few days, it was great to have everyone home for Christmas! We played games, watched come classic Christmas movies, made good dinners together, played a lot of pool and Wii and went to a real fire station to ride in a real fire truck, dress up like real firemen and spray a real hose from the truck! (Thank you Mike!)

Thanksgiving in St. George

Thanksgiving is a time to be with family, so we packed up the car and drove to St. George, UT to be with Grandma and Grandpa Wood, Aunt Lisa, Kelly and her girls and Jon. All of the hype about a blizzard in northern Utah, had us worried that we would not get to see our little nieces but things cleared and they pulled into town just a little before we did.

.

Tessa Lee chilling with a movie, mom and Callie before Thanksgiving dinner.

.

On a walk after dinner to work off the yummy turkey took us around the golf course in grandma and grandpa's backyard!

.

Callie is getting so old! She was so proud of her name that she wrote in the dirt.

.

The following day, we went on a hike to the quarry where the black volcanic rock for the temple foundation was cut.

The girls with their great-grandpa!

.

Grandpa scouted out these chisel holes from the last time he hiked up here.

.

The whole weekend was filled with relaxing at grandma and grandpa's, playing the game and of course, eating good food. We are so grateful for this family that we are a part of and all of their smiles and laughter that make being together fun.

December... Already?!

Man, how the time flies! Last time I posted, it was the end of October, still sunny and in the 70's daily and now it is already December! Not only is December one of my favorite months of the year, but it also means that family is coming into town, we will be eating yummy dinners together, making gingerbread houses, and just enjoying a break!

.

We have been pretty busy since Halloween, mostly at work for the both of us and school for me. Matt has been working hard, and traveled to Salt Lake for work/fun with Kelly, her girls and Jon for a weekend. Then he came home only to drive us out to St. George only 4 or 5 days later. The drive was not too painful but this is coming from the one who didn't ever sit behind the steering wheel the entire 22 hours of driving during that Thanksgiving weekend. Thank you Matt! While Matt drove, I had my laptop heating up my lap as I worked on lesson plans, unit outlines, group projects and semester end papers. Again, I thanked Matt over and over as I was so "optimistic" ("productive") during the entire drive and this meant that the week after Thanksgiving was not nearly as busy or stressful at school and work.

.

And that brings us right up to today, as I am cranking through more end-of-the-semester assignments and work on lesson plans for work at Capri and Matt is in Las Vegas for a New Senior Managers Training this week.

.

I am trying to soak in as much of the Christmas spirit by listening to my eclectic Christmas music playlist while also working on assignments. So, if we don't get another post in until after Christmas, you will know that we are enjoying our Christmas season with family and friends as much as possible!

.

Merry Christmas Everyone!