It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I have been neglecting the blog for too long...partly because of limited internet access and partly because of busy schedules. But we have had an absolutely wonderful holiday season! So here are the highlights of our Christmas break, sorry if it gets too long.

Aaron and I enjoyed out first Christmas in our new house. On Christmas Eve I went to work, and then we went to the Bee Movie (very funny) and then enjoyed an evening with my parents and Johnny playing games and eating good food. Then we watched my favorite Christmas movie, A Muppet Christmas Carol. It really is a hit and I highly recommend it to anyone that has good feelings towards muppets.

On Christmas morning we opened presents from Aaron's family at our home and then drove through the snow to go back to my parents house. It was so beautiful! I loved having snow on Christmas. We got a lot of nice gifts. Aaron got a nice picture to hang in our home and a bowling ball, bag, and shoes. I was extremely surprised to get the complete series of Gilmore Girls DVDs from Aaron...who had been swearing for weeks that he would never get them for me (he hates the show). His condition on giving them to me was that I could never watch them when he is in the room, which is OK because they will be great entertainment during soccer season when he is busy. We had an enjoyable Christmas day eating, playing games, and talking to family on the phone (including Caleb in Uraguay!).

The day after Christmas it was back to work for me (unfortunately troubled boys at a treatment center don't suddenly become untroubled and get to go home, just because it is the holiday season). I didn't actually have to teach, but I had to go in for a half day and play games and watch movies with them until their other staff could come in. We went to the movie Enchanted that afternoon and I loved it! It was a great mix between slightly mocking the fairy tale Disney movies that I love...while having it's own cheesy fairy tale ending.

On Friday the family fun continued because my cousin Alex got married, so a lot of family was in town including Julia and some of my great cousins. We enjoyed taking some pictures in the frigid cold temperatures at the temple and then scoured the town for some good hot chocolate and donuts to keep us warm. We spent the afternoon and evening together enjoying the wedding festivities.

On Saturday we enjoyed an evening of game playing with cousins and grandparents. We also tormented my little cousin, Noah, my convincing him to drink lemon juice so that we could watch him make funny "sour faces". He is a pretty good sport about it. We enjoyed the lights at Temple Square (although we unfortunately forgot to bring a camera). It was actually a perfect time to see the lights because it had warmed up a bit (to maybe 30 degrees) and a light snow was coming down so it looked perfect.

On Monday we enjoyed spending New Year's Eve with family at the Patterson's house. We ate a lot of good food, played fun games, and jubulantly wished each other a happy new year and toasted with our Martinelli's. Aaron and I shared some good memories of the night we got engaged on New Year's Eve four whole years ago.

Tuesday was my second day off of work for the break and we enjoyed it by relaxing at home, spending time with family, playing hand and foot, and working on our Europe book with Julia. Wednesday Aaron was able to try out his new bowling ball. It didn't turn out quite as well for him as he would have hoped, but maybe he just needs to break in the new shoes. (Picture at left is our four tiered podium we created at the bowling alley where Julia took first)

Wednesday and Thursday were spent working and spending time with family and anxiously awaiting for my brother Caleb to return! To be continued...