The Wonder Years: Our Happy Holidays

I'm not sure how long it has been since I have been the one to post, but I figured it was my

turn and that I could fill you all in on some of our Holiday adventures. We had a GREAT Christmas this year. We were able to spend time with both families, see some snow (more than I care for), shop, and just have fun. In the three years that Amanda and I have known each other we have never been able to spend Christmas with my family. My mom has always been the one who takes it the hardest. This year we decided to surprise her. When we went to Logan and Salt Lake for my graduation at the beginning of December, we told my mom that we would arrive in Salt Lake City on Christmas Eve and leave the day after Christmas. She was super sad because my Dad's side of the family throws the biggest party of the year with the best food on the 23rd. My mom almost cried when we told her that we were going to miss it, I almost caved in and told her that we would be there. So on the 22nd we drove to Monroe and spent a wonderful night with Amanda's family. They are always really good to us and have done a great job of making me feel like part of the family. KC and Serena were extremely excited for Santa to come. On the 23rd we opened presents with from her family and just spent time together talking. Early afternoon, we jumped in the car and drove to Salt Lake. When we got home mom was the only one there. We walked in the door and she yelled "Who's here?" We didn't say anything until we walked into her work room. It took her a second to process what was going on but she almost immediately started to cry. She did okay for awhile but she cried again a few hours later. We love you mom and hope that you will forgive us for the deception.

Amanda and I had a lot of fun at the family party. The food was delicious like always, and the nativity was a blast. This is a family tradition from my Dad's childhood. Everyone dresses up for it with assigned speaking parts. This year my Aunt Ann narrated instead of everyone else speaking, and the wise men had a new addition to their costume. Beards. My dad put it on his head like a toupee and down his shirt like chest hair. Holiday Ann was not impressed. I would have to say that the highlight of the nativity was Grayson. He was easily the coolest sheep in the stable.

On Christmas Eve Amanda and I went and looked at Christmas lights for awhile and just had fun with the family. Spencer set out cookies and milk for Santa with Grayson's help. When Gray wasn't looking Santa drank the milk and he was uber excited. "Santa drank the milk!!! Santa drank the milk!!!" Christmas day was great. We got to see Gray open all of his presents that morning, and opened ours too. We had the traditional breakfast casserole and sticky buns and went to see Grandma and Grandpa. We relaxed through the day and just had a great holiday. Plans were to drive back on the 26th but my parent's house had over a foot of new snow in the night. So we stayed one more day and came home the morning of the 27th.

We had a great holiday and we were glad that we got to see everyone including Taylor and Meg. We wish that Alex, Heather and Ella could have made it too but we we were happy with what we had.

I am including pictures from our adventures. These pictures were taken on our new camera. My dad gave us his old Pentax and we love it! It shoots film pictures not digital but when Wal-Mart develops your film they make a digital copy of it and put in on a CD for you. So that is where these pictures are coming from. (Thanks Dad for the awesome camera!)

CHRISTMAS IN ST. GEORGE