Home Sweet Home!!

We're HOME!!

We had a wonderful time, aside from the freezing temperatures. I think I was 'used' to being freezing and put my coat on as I headed out the door today. The beating sun felt wonderful and I was quickly reminded about how much I'm loving living in south Texas! My vote is Christmas in SA next year! any takers???

Our week spent with Michael's family went by all too quickly! We had a great Christmas and we feel very grateful for everyone's generosity! We loved just hanging out with the family, fighting over the rules to games and 'rocking' out. It was great to just spend time with family we don't get to see very often.

Currently, myself and the baby were the only ones to not throw-up this past week. For that, i am very fortunate!

Making the treck through the six states was quite an ordeal! the drive there was definately easier than coming back. The last two hours I thought I was going to have to shoot myself to end the pain. We did break it up a little bit by stopping by the St. Paul temple, Liberty Jail, a drive-by in Independence, and we were even able to see Scott and Paige who just happened to be in Dallas for the same few hours as us. . . so naturally we had to do a little catching up and get a few games in.

We haven't gotten our pictures developed yet. yes, developed. we forgot our camera and baught a single-use for the week. We'll see how long it takes me to get that done, and maybe i'll share :)

now, on to un-packing and putting the house back together before JR and Aubree get here :) never a dull moment.

an update

I'M FREEZING!!!

I realized today I drastly under-estimated the number of socks I packed since I am currently wearing three pair.

We made it here safe and sound. We hit a little bit of fog and a few patches of 'icey' roads but other than that, the drive was rather smooth. "thanks" to Michael, we missed an accident in Oklahoma City. For those who don't know and are interested we did beat the Allsops traveling from UT. From the time our paths met they were ahead of us . . . due to some stealth work on our part we passed them about 20 miles from Michaels parents house and beat them by about 2 minutes. Saving us the $100 that Michael bet his brothers. (We make a game out of EVERYTHING) When your windshield wiper fluid freezes that is just TOO COLD. From Iowa on we resorted to not using the wipers and every 40 miles or so I had to get out and splash fluid on the car and subsequently, my clothes. Apparently I've got a bad aim.

Besides the snow and below zero temperatures we are having a great time spending with family. People often wonder how this Utah girl wouldn't miss the snow- maybe i've always been a texan at heart. (that texas pride comes easy) Too bad we forgot our camera to document it.

Wishing yall a very Merry Christmas!!

I'm Scared!!

So, I was looking up the weather for our trip to Wisconsin so I will have some idea of what to expect. The temperature acording to weather.com on our ETA is 12 degrees. . . . . . fells like 1

ONE DEGREE???? who does that???

well, apparently me but I'm not going to lie to you . . . . I'm terrified!! Will I be able to breathe in such conditions? Will I ever be warm again? I'm shivering just thinking about. I think I'll pack every coat/ sweater I own and all I can say it's a good thing we're driving!! this girl and her hobbies won't be fitting in one checked piece of luggage!! Maybe Santa will bring me some sunshine for Christmas (or an electric blanket)!!

Must ALL good things come to an end?

We had a wonderful at-home vacation! Lisa, Byron and Ella came to spend some time with us, including but not limited to Thanksgiving!! I attempted my first thankful feast . . . some of which will be repeated . . . . and some . . . not so much. I will preface the next story by proudly proclaiming that when Ella was about one I taught her "where her crown is" precisley because every little girl is a princess. Since then she has figured out that a crown is an acutal product and she soon realized she didn't have one. Well after telling her that she would be coming on an airplane to see Aunt Trish and Uncle Mike she was very excited to find her "wost cwown" with "aunt Twish"

This was actually a great 'ice-breaker' because she surprisingly ran right up to me at the airport gave me a big hug and in a very troubled tone told me her crown was lost and if I could help her find it! I luckily was prepared and had a cute little pink crown waiting in "her room". adorable.



One of my favorite things was when Ella would get excited she would yell "yeah, ya-hoo, yipee!!" over and over again and kick her legs! it was soo funny! In her cute little voice, I'm glad we got part of it on video. She was very excited to see the dolphins at sea world, if you look close you can even see the baby. Even though it may be a rip-off I love feeding them!!! And who doesn't get excited when a dolphin/whale breaches the water or does a flip? We could see the shows over and over and I still get all excited! At the shamu show the whale did a flip and Ella said "do it again!" classic.
We were also lucky enough to get some up close and personal time with the baluga whales! Thanks again Valerie!! You are the best!!

I'm pretty sure this is all the snow we'll be seeing while in Texas and I am A-OK with that!!The one bad thing about Sea World was that I found out that I apparently am on the "Naughty" list. Good thing Christmas came early at the Allsops, cuz it looks as if I'll get nuttin for Christmas :)

Aside from Sea World we also went to the river walk and the Alamo (which was PACKED), played frisbee golf, ate lots of great food and delicious ice cream, and lost drastically at canasta. I'll have to practice up before the next tournament.

The highlight of frisbee golf I would have to say was Michaels disc landing in the only puddle of water/mud on the course . . . . and then going in after it (the discs were borrowed). Never a dull moment with Michael around. He makes my life enjoyable!

It was hard to get back to work today after such an awesome week!! We feel really lucky to have had as many visitors as we've had in the short time we've been away from home and family! Yet I'm not willing to turn anyone away just yet!! Thanks to the McMurtrey's for making our thanksgiving FABULOUS!!! We can hardly wait til next time!!