And we're back

WARNING: This will be long and contain exuberant amounts of pictures. This it what happens when I go home to Utah. Carry on if you wish.

We made it home after an okay flight, and as hard as it is to leave all the ones I love, it's nice to come to where your life is. All of our many many (too many) gifts made it home intact and it was like Christmas again opening the box and suitcases to find then. KC and I didn't exchange many gifts in Utah (except a rubix cube and a stapler) because we were waiting on our delivery here at home. I now am a proud owner of a Canon Digital Rebel XT 8 MP SLR camera. Maybe later I will use it to not only have a reason to play with it, but to also show some of the fun gifts we received. Our Sony compact has served us well, but in the excitement of Christmas tree decorating, I dropped it and the ldc has given out. Matt, our camera guru, helped us pick out this one and I already love it. He also gave us some nice accessories he had lying around.I'm going to read up on all the manuals to assure KC this was the right decision. I was jumping up and down with excitement when we was opening the box. Merry Christmas to us!



So I want to use my schedule as a way to add details to our fun trip so I don't leave anything out. Picture can be viewed below.

I'll start by saying that the night before we left, we hung out with the Turpins a little to give the boys a little present. I think they liked Their ice cream ball a lot.

Thursday 12/20
-Fly out of BWI 12:10 pm, arrive in Utah 5:50 pm, picked up by Grahams:I wrote about our crazy flight before, but the layover took about 45 minutes to rearrange some luggage before we took off. It was pretty annoying.
-Go to dinner at about 8:30 (because of the delay with our flight and the crazy snow) at Los Hermanos with family: Lili, Jeff, Melody, Amber, Todd, Mom, Dad, and Mom R all made it. It was so nice of them to still come since it was so late because of our delayed flight and the snow. A huge plate of nachos is a great way to start a fun week. After we went home to hear a wonderful duet performed by the engaged couple (Lili and Jeff if you haven't heard). Boy can they sing. And he has quite a talent on the piano as well I hear. It's was great to get to know him a little. I tried to break him in as quickly as possible. My little sister REALLY likes him.
-Sleep at Melody's: We were pretty tired at this point.

Friday 12/21
-9:00 appointment for Mom and me to have our spider veins removed. (You may think this is silly, but it's true. I have them and I want them gone.): Yes I did this procedure and am so glad I did. The veins are disappearing before my eyes. Thanks mom! I so very much appreciate it.
-Last minute Christmas shopping, find out whose stockings we have from the Robinsons: We actually had a few bouts of last minute shopping, but it did get done nevertheless. We hope Casey and Nicole liked their stockings. We even managed to get an electronic dart board with the provided stocking budget.
-Amber and Melody's preschool program. 6:00 pm: This is always so fun. Especially since Allyson was in it this year. Amber and Melody go above and beyond with this preschool and I love watching the kids sing their hearts out.
-Sleep at Melody's: I LOVED waking up to Julia every morning (well I suppose she woke up to me since I was a little jet lagged). She is the happiest, funniest, most adorable baby and I'm sad she's not in my lap right now.

Saturday 12/22
-Annual get-together with Melody, Marianne, and Jill in the morning: I've only missed this twice in 8(or something) years. I don't know why we started it, but I am so glad we did. It started out as Chinese food for lunch the day before Christmas Eve. This year we did breakfast at Kneaders. The french toast is to die for! I like the change.
-Make cookies with nieces and nephews at Amber's: I wanted to bond with the little ones and what is a better way than baking. I loved all of their different decorating techniques. We had a blast.
-Emily's family party at Frisby's at 4:00: This a great way to see everyone at once. People came from high and low to this party and it was a great time. I especially loved seeing The Grandparents. They are such great friends of mine. I miss them so much being so far away. -Go to Robinson's at 6:00: Here we watched a pretty intense BYU game. I slept through most of it, but woke up at the most exciting parts due to outbursts from the fans. It's a great way to watch a game.
-Sleep at Graham's: Again, very tired.

Sunday 12/23
-Church with Robinsons, 11:00
-Eat with Robinsons: Janice made some very delicious tomato soup and rolls. Perfect for a cold and snowy day. We relaxed a little and chatted with everyone. We got to see Alicia and Dustin, KC's cousin and spouse who are probably in labor right now. If not, it's close.
-Annual Fondue at Graham's: This has been a tradition for as long as I can remember. We were dipping rosemary, and french breads, cauliflower, and broccoli, ham, and little smokies, apples and I'm sure there is something I forgot. It was extremely delicious. And I must not forget the festive nog. We opened our traditional pajamas, which were robes for the girls and blankets for the boys for a change this year. We love them!
-Movie sleepover/ping pong tournament/Monoploy game at Graham's, where we will most definitely watch Pee-wee's Christmas special: And we did all of those things. The Monopoly wasn't until after I slept but I heard it was a doosy and Elise took it all. I played a couple rounds of ping pong, but mostly watched. We have some great players. We watched Love Actually, Elf, and clips of Pee-wee, and Muppets. We pulled all the matresses off the beds and pilled them into the living room where most of us slept (or at least tried to) through the night. I counted 9 adults and five kids in one house. It was quite a party. We missed the Turpins a lot so we had to watch them dancing on Cami's blog.

Monday 12/24
-Recover from Sleepover: Noboby slept very long or very well, so we were all a little groggy -Visit Grandmother: We met up with the Rejholecs at Grandmother's. It's always such a delight to see her. She was busy in the kitchen and let us taste some some of her treats.
-Big dinner with Robinsons (Rejholecs are coming too!): We had a meal complete with ham, Janice's rolls, mustard green beans, pretzel jello, salad, a funeral potatoes (aka potato nasty at my house) and a nice assortment of cookies for dessert. We played the chimes, sang carols and then with Nicole's dilligence in finding it, we watched Elf. I will never tire of that movie, EVER!
-Sleep at Robinson's

Tuesday 12/25
-CHRISTMAS!!: I woke up pretty early, as you might have read previously. At about 9:30, we ate the delicious breakfast casserole, and cinnamon rolls that Janice makes every year, and them started the gift extravaganza. It had snowed overnight and was so beautiful outside.
-I'm sure we'll do some giving and receiving of presents at some point: The Robinsons are always so generous with their gifts. We are always so gratful for how thoughtful they are. We absolutely love all of our gifts. We then went to the Grahams for more food and gift exchanging. It was so fun to see all the children and their new gadgets. The girls were doused in new pink attire, bags, purses, a even ipods and accessories for the ipods. Times have sure changed. We also received many heart felt gifts here. We are very blessed to have such great families. We ate some traditional pull aparts as well as the usuals (ham, potatoes, etc.) We watched Hairspray and laughed very hard. It was a nice day.
-Make sure to check into SWA to get in the A group: KC checked us in just in time. -Maybe a movie: We finally watched the Simpsons movie with the Robinsons. That was a long time coming and it was pretty funny.
-Sleep at Robinson's: It was qutie an accomplishment to pack everything we got in only the luggage we brought, but we did it.

Wednesday 12/26
-Leave SLC at 10:10 am, arrive in Maryland 7:00 pm. Bummer. Actually it won't be so bad because we'll have the cruise to look forward to! Hooray!: I'm always sad to leave everyone, but we we know we will see them again at the weddings in the summer. We love and miss everyone so much. Thanks for making Christmas so special to us. It is always nice to have my love to come home with me. He has been such an amazing husband and it was only 2 years ago on Christmas day that he proposed. I have been the luckiest and happiest girl during those years and I can't wait for more to come. And yes, the Cruise it coming up very soon and we can't even wait!


A side note: I got into a bad habit this year of stating many times that I in fact hate Christmas. As much as I dislike the stress of traveling, shopping, crowds, and lines, I had no reason to say this. That would be saying that I hate the reason for this Holiday that is Christ's birth and his life. These things mean more to me than anything else and I wish I would've thought twice before letting those dumb words exit my mouth. I don't hate the season either, I just have a way of exagerating my feelings. I'm working on it.

I've already done my bargain hunting, and got some great stuff. Now I just need to get this place back to normal. Unpacking is never fun. Happy New Year! ( If you made it to the bottom, you deserve a big prize)