Oh, there is so so much to write about our vacation in Texas with my sister Amberly's family. I'll try to be brief, as the photo slideshow itself will take an hour to watch as it is, if you have the patience to sit and watch it.
We took an 8pm plane to Houston. There's our first mistake right off the bat. Jade screamed the whole way there while the rest of the passengers were trying to sleep. She doesn't appreciate seat belts. We landed at midnight; took our first breath of fresh, humid, Texas air; Amber and Beau picked us up; we went right to bed when we got to their house.
Wednesday Day 1: Jade woke up at 7am. Great way to start the day. This day was uneventful for the most part. Grandma and Papa were there, which is an automatic win for Jade. We watched Beau head off to work in jeans and an Avengers t-shirt. Jade discovered the swing set in the backyard. (It was "let's go swing, mama!" day and night from then on.) I discovered Church's Chicken. Oh. My. Gosh.
Thursday Day 2: Jade woke up at 7am... Miles and I finally got a hold of the air pump for the air mattress we've been sleeping on. It's nice to not have your feet up over your head while you sleep. Again, a mostly uneventful day. Dad (Papa) and I took Aaron and Jade for a nice walk outside. Love love love the weather. Mexican food today, oh yes indeed. Warm salsa. All the adults took shifts watching the 4 kids while the rest took naps. Amberly made an awesome dinner for our parents' anniversary. That night we put the kids to bed and left them with a babysitter to go see The Hobbit. Yes, I stressed out. You would too if Jade were your daughter. But I still managed to enjoy the movie very much, despite it's obvious flaws.
Friday Day 3: Jade woke up at 7am. I got hit with a 24 stomach flu and missed my shopping opportunity. I slept and threw up all day. A coke for lunch and crackers for dinner.
Saturday Day 4: Guess what time Jade woke up... I woke up bright and chipper, glad to be rid of that horrible bug that stole an entire day of my precious vacation. More Mexican food. Yessir. Two words: Tableside Guacamole. They make it right there in front of you, great big bowl of it. And the best fajitas I've ever eaten.
Sunday Day 5: Church, 'nuff said. Amberly had another awesome dinner planned but forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer to thaw. So we had chicken elsewhere... That's right. Church's Chicken.
Monday Day 6: Christmas Eve was pretty much our Christmas Day because we're all traveling back to Utah tomorrow. Had an awesome dinner. The kids opened their presents, then the adults opened theirs, then we all played with our new toys. After the kids went to bed, we prepared the house for Santa's visit.
Tuesday Day 7: Santa came! Kids opened their stocking gifts and presents from Santa. We all had a quick breakfast, then packed up so we could get to the airport by 10am. My parents were originally on a different flight back to SLC, but managed to transfer to the same one with Miles and me. Jason wasn't so lucky. In fact, Jason got screwed. He flew to Dallas where he was supposed to transfer to his flight to SLC. Well. His flight to SLC was delayed 2 hours, then delayed again for 2 more hours, then delayed again for 2 more hours, then delayed until noon the next day. How many hours is that? He didn't get home until Day 8. Poor kid. Luckily, Beau's parents live in Dallas. And since Amberly and Beau drove to Dallas the same day we all flew back to Utah, they were there to give the poor boy somewhere to sleep.
So now we're all back at home, trying to get back to our daily boring lives. Guess what time Jade wakes up in the morning now.
