holidays...with style

so for the holidays this year, mark and I were all over the place. For Thanksgiving we went to Utah. And then for Christmas we also went to Utah, both times it was so much fun to see his family. We got the brothers all sling shots and a box of paint balls to share, I'm pretty sure welts are still healing. But we got TONS of boardgames, which is what we asked for: we had some friends over for dinner and realized we had NO board games at all- unless you count Cootie, which I do not. So, we went to Utah for Christmas, and then went back to Denver for a few days because we both used up our vacation for the wedding (there was so much I wanted to do in 2008 but couldn't because I took all my vacation for the 2 week wedding...) and then on the 30th, we flew out to wisconsin for new years with my family. Well we started to fly to the wisco but only made it to Minneapolis because we missed our connection flight to Green Bay. So we stayed at a hotel by the Mall of America with no luggage, just my carry on bag which had books, headphones, my iPod, and gum. So good morning! My contacts are welded to my eyeballs and I'm wearing the same clothes I wore yesterday, and let me warn you- I was nervous yesterday and EVERYBODY could see it (the girl hates flying!!) So, yeah- but how else to end a jam packed year than with another adventure? The hotel we're staying at: the directions to the room went like this: turn right, walk about a mile, go around the pool, turn right and you're there! But the hotel is themed funny: native American style, from the pattern on the walls to the carpet to the creepy wall art. Oh and I figured the last person in our room left the window open. Nope, the windows typically freeze on the inside of the hotel when it's 2 degrees outside, right? Yay, welcome to the Midwest Mark, enjoy being frozen. But we're glad we're here together and we can share our adventures, for now and always.

Anyways, we finally made to Wisconsin. And had almost 5 whole days with the entire family!! Wahoo- we took family pictures on the 2nd, and I'll get those up as soon as I get them :) but it was the first time in almost 3 years that all 6 kids have been together, and we added another brother to the mix. I thought it was really amazing how well Mark fit in with the family, telling jokes, and poking fun. He was even picking on Scott! And Dad made his famous Sundae Dessert for the girl's birthday, she turned 22 on the 3rd! Holy cow!! Some days I feel really old, and some days, I feel way too young to be where I am.

We both enjoyed being back East, and had a lot of fun. But we're also glad that we're done traveling so we can finish unpacking (the girl only has 2 boxes left until there are NO MORE boxes in the spare room!), and make sure everything is clean and where we want it to be before family starts showing up. For those that don't know, the girl is going to have open heart surgery in February, to help with oxygen flow and to hopefully fix the headaches. It's nothing to really worry about, there will be plenty of family here for us, and the sisters from the ward will be here for me, and the brothers are always ready to take Mark and play football or go shoot things, so I'm not worried about that. But, the surgery means, 9 or so weeks off work (YAY!!) but that also means 9 or so weeks of sitting around the house, not being able to drive. But the Wii should be very useful, and the girl got crafty, so maybe she'll make something....

Anyways, Happy New Years, Happy 2009!! We hope everyone had an amazing holiday (with how many of our friends got engaged, we KNOW it was a good one ;)!!! ) We love you all!

Take care and love always, <3>