We were able to spend 10 day's in California at my parent's house over Christmas and New Year's. It has been year's since we have been able to stay for so long. One of the few perk's of the student life again :-)
I sure do miss the ease of traveling from Provo to Paradise. Now we have to drive an hour and a half to Spokane, fly to Portland, catch a 2nd flight to Sacramento, and then drive another hour and a half to Paradise. It was definitely worth it. Hannah made it easier on us by traveling like a champ coming and going, thanks princess. She LOVES having her own seat on the airplane, so I guess something good comes out of having to pay for her to fly now.
We got into town 2 day's before Christmas and spent that time getting some last minute Christmas shopping done. 3 of my 4 siblings were able to be there for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, which was wonderful. On Christmas Eve we had a yummy Prime Rib dinner and went for a drive to look at Christmas lights. When we woke up on Christmas Day we found that Santa came and left Hannah a sweet ride along with some goodies in her stocking.
We waited for David and his wife Alaina to go open presents with her family before we opened ours. Which actually worked out perfect because we were able to shower and eat a scrumptious breakfast of aebleskiver's (a Danish pancake and Ainsworth tradition) and egg's before we all opened our gifts. We got so many great things and basically made out like bandits. Even baby boy got spoiled with gifts from Grandma and Grandpa. We spent the rest of the day lounging out, playing basketball outside, eating a ham dinner and going to the movies. It was a wonderful Christmas.
The remainder of the trip we ate and ate and ate....good thing I'm pregnant and supposed to be gaining weight, otherwise I would have been in trouble. My parents sure know how to host. We went to the movies again, this time taking Hannah to see Tangled for the 3rd time :-) She loves that movie. Especially the horse in it named Max. Whenever he was on screen she would make horse sounds, yell horsey, or talk about the apples he was eating. I guess I owe an apology to the other people in the theater....but at least they were happy sounds right? We also played a lot of Playstation 3, watched football, went out to lunch/dinner, and just had fun spending time with family.
New Year's Eve was pretty low key, which is just the way we like it. We stayed up to watch the ball drop, toasted with sparkling cider, and kissed our spouses goodnight. Can you believe that it is 2011????
On New Year's Day my brother Justin and his friend took Jake shooting while we were there. It worked out great because Hannah and I hung out with my sister-in-law Deena and her 2 adorable little girl's while the guy's were out shooting stuff. Thanks for bringing my husband home in one piece Justy :-) That evening we helped my parents make our traditional dinner of tamales. Yum.
We flew home the day after New Year's. When we got off the plane in Spokane Hannah started asking if we were going to see Grandma Geri. And when we got to the parking lot she was talking about Geri's Car. It is fair to say Hannah loves her Grandma Geri and all the family she got to see over Christmas. Thank you for a wonderful Christmas and New Year's Grandma Geri and Grandpa Ron! On our way home Jake and I talked about how relaxing and perfect our trip to Paradise was. We look forward to seeing you again in a few weeks for the birth of baby boy :-)
Now for some pictures from the trip:
1 comments:
Gretchen, thank you for bringing your sweet family home for Christmas. The most unforgetable experience was the Christmas gift Hannah gave me after meeting Papa and g-geri at the bottom of the escalator at the airport. Hannah looked at me soberly as if to ask me, 'where have you been?' Then she lifted up her arms to be picked up by me, and then melted into my arms and kept her beautiful head on my shoulder and arms wrapped around me in such a devine embrace. Definetly a gift from Christ. Love, g-geri
Post a Comment