We left at about 3:30Pm as soon as Jay got out of school. We made it there in about 9 hours. We hit no snow or construction. (We still felt OK with the fact that we just got new snow tires because we will use them all season!) The kids were great minus Jensen crying for about 5 hours. It felt so nice to be with family again.
Auburn:
We spent the first part of the trip up in Auburn. Randy's brother Sam got a mission call to Salt Lake in the Family History Center. We felt so blessed to be there in time for him to go to the Temple for the first time. Randy and I had never been inside the Sac temple so it was a win win experience. My mom and Gram watched the kids and Randy and I were able to go to lunch afterward. The next day we went to the ward Christmas party. They had good food and stuff for the kids to do. The cousins spent the night and I think that was Jay's favorite part of the trip. They slept by the Christmas tree in sleeping bags and got to do a gingerbread house with Grammie. The relatives from Napa and Alabama were there. We ate some delicious food, opened presents, and played the family tradition, charades. I think this year was extra challenging. The teams were pretty fair this year and I think the winning team only one by like 20 seconds, which is amazing. On Sunday we went to church at Randy's sister Karen's ward. It was all music followed by the story of Christs birth.
More Family:
Afterwards we went over to Karen's house where we ate again more yummy food. Randy's Dad Mike cooked us Tri tip (the best stuff on earth) and Karen and Josh made the rest of the goodies. Grandma Kathy was there along with Uncle Craig and his girlfriend Vikki. The kids played Wii ( Which Jamison has become freakishly good at.)Then we opened more presents. That night, we headed over to my family.
The Carpenters:
We arrived Sunday night to a beautifully decorated house and a roaring fire. We caught up on the family and went to bed at a reasonable hour. The next day we spent cooking. Randy got the chance to help out my Uncle Teddy with a tree that had fallen. He spent the day chopping wood and having fun with all of the tools. He was excited to use the quad and wood splitter. I spent the day inside helping my Aunt Kay Lea cook. My aunt Kay is an awesome cook. She made home made tamales and a ton of other dishes to go with it. I was happy to learn some new recipes. The grandmas (Imy and Jody) watched the kids and they were in heaven. That night all the fam came over and we feasted...again. (Gained about 10 L B's at this point.) Afterwards we all gathered and we went around and told of the best thing we ever got for Christmas, and described the poorest Christmas we ever had. ( This lead to some good thrifty ideas for next year.) It was so nice to all be together.
The Trip Home:
We left Tuesday night at about 7:00pm. We were worried that we may not make it over the pass, but we did. Everything was smooth sailing until we got to Wendover. Then we hit snow and ice and really had to slow down. This was lame because it was the last part of the trip and we were extra tired. We perked up as soon as we saw car on the side of the road that had completely flipped over and several spin offs. Randy said that his hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel so tight. We finally made it home at about 7:00am. The good part about the trip was that the kids slept most of the way. It could have been a lot worse and we are counting our blessings that it wasn't.
Christmas Eve:
Randy had to work Christmas Day. So, we opened presents on Christmas Eve. Kevin and Jessie came over and made us home made pizza. Then we watched one of my all time fav movies, "It's a Wonderful Life." Jay opened Santa's present the next morning along with his stocking. He said it was perfect and that he knows that Santa got his letter. It made me tear up.
It was a SUPER busy trip and I know that we didn't get to see everyone we wanted too. We always have to cram everyone in with little moments. Hopefully we will be able to come back soon, but we always welcome visitors.
