MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope yours was as wonderful as ours! We took a fantastic trip up to Utah, where we spent a week with my family and a day with Spencer's. I was determined to take adorable pictures of the whole week for a nice blog post (to compensate for 6 months of silence from me!). However, we forgot about our camera completely, until we were on our way home. As for the pictures we took then (after ten hours of driving), you don't want to see them anyway :) So instead of darling pictures, here is a list of highlights from our trip:

-Jill Omerza taking a bite out of every cookie at Spencer's high school friends' party in Mesa on the way down (I guess I should add she's only 4 or 5...and adorable enough that no one cared)
-The Obama Chia-pet from the Halls
-Laughing ourselves sick reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on the drive up
-Reuniting with my family under the lights of temple square. It takes a lot to cause a scene with all the hustle-and-bustle there, but I think we managed to with 5 of the 8 kids all meeting up there with spouses and kids, exclaiming "You've gotten so tall!" "It's been so long!" and "I can't believe we're all here!"
-Meeting B-Rad, our newest (Boyer) nephew and one of the greatest blessings our family has ever received
-Finding that although Spencer's knee was broken, he didn't need surgery (thank you to the generosity of Dr. Vern Cooley--aka Tiger Woods' doctor)...what a blessing!
-Seeing a live octopus and touching a live sting ray at the Aquarium with all our nieces and nephews...I think Spencer and I were even more excited than the kids!
-Meeting up with friends I hadn't seen in years and getting to introduce them to Spencer
-Making Gingerbread-cookies and watching the "true" Grinch
-Enjoying things that don't exist in Tucson like fires in the fireplace, snow storms, frost, throwing snow-balls, splashing slush, hot chocolate that really warms you up, etc, etc
-The nativity put on by our nieces and nephews, replete with bath robes, tinsel, old night-gowns, stuffed sheep, and, of course, ADORABLE faces
-Watching the kids Christmas morning...my favorite is the age when they are way more fascinated with eating the wrapping paper than seeing the actual gifts
-Watching my parents Christmas morning...you'll never find people more excited to give presents!
-Battling each other in Pirates' Cove, Settlers of Catan, Apples-to-Apples or "It Came To Pass"
-Boxing Day: pajamas, games, a service project, soup and chocolate all day!
-Hearing my mom and Joe speak in church
-And the icing on the cake: a temple session with my family

Thanks to all who made time to hang out with us and made it such a great week for us! We couldn't have asked for a more perfect trip!