Christmas Vacation

I wait all year for Christmas vacation, and then – poof – it’s over just like that.  I just don’t get it.
We made our annual trek to Idaho again this year, where we enjoyed late nights of playing games, outings to all of our favorite local restaurants, the gingerbread house competition, and lots and lots of treats. Lots.
I am about to explode with photos, so brace yourself.  Get a snack and a beverage; you’ll be here a while.
So…what’s the best thing about Idaho?  Well, if you’re Eva, it’s the snow!
The first thing she did when we hopped out of the car at Grandpa's office was run through the snow.

The first thing I did when we hopped out of the car was shriek, “Holy crap!  It’s cold!”
Eva played in the snow many times and she told me every time that she didn’t need a coat to play in the snow.  I guess the excitement kept her warm.


Perhaps the 2nd best thing about going to Idaho is the gingerbread house competition.  We never win but enjoy the fun regardless.  This year Eva decorated her own graham cracker house.  My mom and I had a tough time figuring out how to build the little graham cracker houses for the kids.  An entire box of graham crackers yielded only three measly houses – guess we should have utilized Google a bit sooner.  Or the dadgum graham cracker manufacturers should make their crackers more sturdy.  Those darn things crack just by looking at them.
No matter.  Eva’s little house turned out great.  She dictated to me exactly what she wanted and my only role was to pipe the frosting. 


And here’s the house that Myke and I built.  Not bad for coming in with no plans and candy that we purchased last minute at the Broulim’s grocery store.  We only received one vote; thank you, Lydia.  You’re now my favorite niece.

You’re probably wondering what the 3rd best thing about Idaho is.  Well, it just has to be opening presents on Christmas morning.  Especially when  you’ve worked so hard to write a note for Santa.  In your bunny earmuffs.  And don't forget that your mother worked really hard choosing out a piece of chocolate for Santa from Aunt Chelsea’s basket.  (Your mother was too lazy to bake cookies for the jolly old man, but let’s not dwell on that detail.) 

Santa was good to Eva this year.  He even brought her a glowing art kit!  Eva had a fun time picking out gifts for her cousins and Dexter the cat and Puppets the dog.  She was very thoughtful in her choices. Christmas morning was a success and Christmas afternoon at Grandma Lisa’s was another success.  Cousins everywhere!

Which brings us to the 4th good thing about Idaho: cousins!  Eva was able to go sledding with her cousins, color and draw with her cousins, and play, play, play.  We love cousins.

The 5th good thing this year was that we visited the Idaho Falls temple visitor’s center, where we tried to get a cute picture of our family.  We captured Eva shoving a fistful of snow into her mouth like a savage instead.  Oh well, at least it wasn’t yellow snow.

Michael’s favorite things were nerd time with my brother building a robotic arm, and seeing Marty’s aquarium.  Marty also had a dancing cockatoo named Popeye who squawked, “What are you doing?” And, best of all, Marty had a playroom for Eva that made her swoon – certainly a bunch of really good things.


We mustn’t forget the wonderful evening we had with our dear friends, the Myers.  They were our next door neighbors when we lived in Idaho Falls, and we love them!  The Myers’ 4 kids were little when we first moved in next to them – now 2 are married and only one is still at home.  Oy vay!

And what’s the best thing of all?  Coming home from Idaho with treasures.  Eva snagged a Calvin and Hobbes book that she read for a good portion of our drive, and continues to read, a nightstand that Grandma made, and the ultimate score was an original painting of the Salt Lake temple.  Treasures galore.


That’s a lot of darn good things about going to Idaho.  No wonder I look forward to it all year.  Now only 354 days until we go again.
But who’s counting…

Thanksgivin’

We found ourselves without plans for Thanksgiving.  My parents had to cancel on us after a scheduling conflict, most of our friends were leaving town, and here we were, no one to party with. 

Alllll byyyyy myseeeeelf.  You know the song.

But it turned out to be the most perfect Thanksgiving.  We stayed in our jammies all day, had zero stress about the meal, played King’s Quest on the computer for hours, and finished a puzzle.  I didn’t even have to make dessert – we had ice cream instead.

Perfection indeed.

Gobble, gobble!

How about 39?

Ol’ Father Time found me again this year.  What is it with that guy? 

Here’s the deal.  I turned 39.  I felt a little weird about it.  But that’s life.  In the words of my good friend, Sophia Petrillo, “No matter how bad things get, remember these sage words: You’re old, you sag, get over it.”

Hear hear.

My birthday was on Sunday this year so we decided to party on Saturday and what a beautiful birthday I had!  The weather was GORGEOUS so we hit the coast.  We went to a town called Yachats and saw a natural wonder known as Thor’s Well.  It was spectacular.

We also walked along the shore, saw a crane up close, and soaked up the November sun.  It was much more delightful than our usual cold November rain.

We also ate fish n’chips and clam chowder.  How can you go wrong with fish n’chips and chowder at the coast?  You can’t.

Later that night was cake time.  We couldn’t decide how many candles to put on my cake.  Myke suggested one for each decade and then had the gall to say that equated to 4 candles.  4!  Hey, buddy, I ain’t 40 yet.  Nice try.

Eva solved the riddle by putting 3 candles on the left side of the cake and 9 candles on the right side of the cake.  Good thing we have a 6-year-old around to handle life’s conundrums.  It was a brilliant solution.

Thankfully my old lungs still have enough oomph to blow out 12 candles.  And I didn’t even pee myself.  Little victories.

It was such a nice birthday that I didn’t even mind when the next day was Sunday and I had to spend my actual birthday in meetings.  I was euphoric from my day with Mr. Sun. 

Oh, Mr. Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun, thanks for shining down on me.

Sweet 16

Oh, how I love Michael.  Our relationship had a challenging year, but we made it to our 16th anniversary; and I think we made it stronger in our bond and more in love than we were last year.  Well, more in love most of the time.  Sometimes I want to karate chop that guy directly in the Adam’s apple.  But only sometimes.

Michael is a good man.  Good straight to his core.  He takes care of me, puts up with my moodiness, and is committed to us.  I, in turn, am committed to him.  I love him.  Truly.

I love him so much that we went all out and had a very romantic anniversary.  Let’s see…Michael had to work but he worked from home so at least he was around.  I went running with my friends in the morning, then had to rush around doing Relief Society responsibilities while he waited to have lunch with me.  I was over an hour late for our romantic lunch of sub sandwiches.

Then we romantically went to pick up Eva from school.

Later in the evening we romantically went to the movies and saw The Grinch.  On a school night!

The next evening we did go on a romantic date to a real restaurant with only adults around us.  It was nice. 

Here’s to 16 romantic years with my favorite husband. 

Happy Anniversary, Michael!