No Place Like Home For the Holidays

Wow! We sure did get a TON of things crammed in in that short week that we had down in California. I'll take you through it day by day:

Day 1: We left on a Tuesday, AFTER Clayton got off of work. Well, it's a good thing we only had to go a couple hours to Grandma's house. The drive was fine, not bad weather, not bad company ;o) and since Clayton had gotten off a little bit early, not that late either. Once we got to Grandma's, it was straight to bed though.

Day 2: We woke up and spent the morning with Grandma, just chit chatting. After an hour or more, it was time for use to head out. This time, it wasn't not bad weather. It rained the WHOLE drive from Cedar City to Escondido. Clayton did all the driving, and I felt very safe the whole time (he does a good job hiding when he's scared of the roads). The drive was long, of course, but it went by pretty fast. Again, there was good company, a good book, and good music to break it up. When we got to Escondido, we unloaded and visited with Mom (she was the only one home) for about an hour, and then she and Dad had somewhere to run off to. After Mom and Dad left, Clayton and I headed over to Kim's. It was Santa Time!!! Clayton and I helped the boys with a craft they were working on while Kim made dinner for the neighbor (we went to In-N-Out). When Kim was done with dinner and the boys were done with their craft, we piled in the car and headed to Santa's House. Because it had been rainy, the line wasn't that bad. We got a picture with Santa, and got to walk through his decorated house, then we enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate outside. Man, I LOVE Santa's House! On the way home, we stopped at Grandma Kerby's. Uncle Bryce and Aunt Melanie were there and so we visited with them for a while. Poor Clayton was EXHAUSTED and didn't know anyone, so I'm sure that last part wasn't the most fun for him, but he's a trouper and he made it through :o)

Day 3: Disneyland!!!! We got up early and drove to Anaheim, bought our tickets, and we there in line, ready for it to open. When the park first opened, we raced in and were able to make it onto Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, and the Winnie the Pooh ride, all without any lines. Then we raced to the other side of the park to ride the Matterhorn. There was a 30 minute wait there (which is good for the Matterhorn) so we stood in line, proud of what we'd already accomplished in the 20 minutes since Disneyland had opened. The Matternhorn, though, was just the start of our waiting. From then on out, there wasn't a line that was less then 35 minutes, and there were crowds EVERYWHERE. Whatever part of the park we were walking to, it seemed like we were always walking against the crowd, like it was some kind of mass exodus from where we were headed, but then when we got to where we were going, it was crowded as all get out. We were able to get a lot of rides in, but it wasn't quite what I'm used to (no crowds, and the chance to go on all the rides I want). We missed Nemo, and Space Mountain, but hit most of the other big ones. Dad warned us a little too late about going to the new Toy Story ride at California Adventure, so we waited an hour to ride that one (okay, I think it was really 45 minutes, but that line lasted forever). We stayed for the fire works and snow. We saw some people lining up along Main Street, so we asked some workers what they were lined up for. They told us that the fireworks started at 8:00. It was 6:30 or something like that, so we decided to hit up at least one more ride before finding a spot. We searched for a ride that wasn't an hour wait, and the only one we found was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. We road that and Clayton looked at his watch and said the fireworks were just about to start. We went out into the road next to the Walt and Mickey Statue in front of the castle and waited. Turned out that Clayton had forgotten to account for the fact that his watch was still on Utah time, so we were there an hour early. That was not fun. Where we were smelled like horse urine and people were pushy! The worst was when they had announced that it would start in 10 minutes, then when 10 minutes had passed, they said it would be delayed. Luckily, it wasn't delayed very long. The whole reason I wanted to go to Disneyland in December was so I could see the snow. We weren't in the best place for that, so as soon as it started snowing, we booked it out of there and headed for Indiana Jones. There was hardly any sort of wait because so many people were still in the snow. I think we hit up one or two more rides after Indie, but we were both hurting, and a little sick, so there was no way we were going to make it 'til closing. We peaced out of there and vowed never to return during a holiday or summer vacation, because we do not do crowds so well. Day 4: Christmas Eve. Clayton and I slept in as much as the family would let us, then we were up and getting things ready. The girls (Mom, Kim, Dana, Joy, and I) went and got pedicures in Poway, while Dad and Clayton ran some errands and Dad made Clayton fix his computer. After pedicures, it was time to start thinking about dinner. Joy and I were in charge of making pies, so we went to the store and got the stuff. Joy forgot something and went back to go get it, while I started in on the pies. Obviously Joy didn't know how long pies actually take, because I was done with all 3 pie crusts and had cooled them by time she got back, and we only had an hour to be back in Poway for dinner. Joy abandoned the pie idea and went for brownies while I finished up the pies. That was fine by me, because I was pretty darn proud of the way they turned out, and it was the first time I had made pies by myself (and if Joy had helped me, I wouldn't have been able to say I had done them by myself). We didn't quite make the 1 hour deadline, so we were late for dinner, but not by too much. Man, Grandma's house was packed. There was LOTS of family there. It was nice, the first time we'd all been together (except poor Eric who couldn't make it). Dinner was tasty, the company was delightful, but poor Clay-dough didn't feel so hot. We took off a little bit earlier then everyone else because Clayton was sicky-poo, but again, he was my little trouper, and wasn't going to leave if I didn't want to. What a man :o)

Day 5: Christmas! Last year, when it was just me at home, Dad made me get up at 6:00 am, but we couldn't open presents til Kim and Ben and the boys showed up around 10:00 am. So this year I was expecting the same, except now I wouldn't be home alone, because Clay-bear was with me. Dad let us sleep til 6:30 am, but then Mom and Dad had us open our presents. Sweet. We got lots of games, plus I got an apron and a picture printer. Clayton got a power drill, so he's good :o) I was sad when Mom and Dad opened up their sign, because the paper had stuck to it (even though it had 2 full weeks to dry before I wrapped it). The same happened with Dana and Josh's "Hansen" sign, every single letter had paper stuck to it. What a bummer :o ( After opening presents, we made breakfast and the Garcia's plus Joy came and ate with us. We waited for Dana and Josh so we could open the rest of the presents. It was a fabulous morning. Once everyone left, it was time to test out the new games and watch the new movies, and go to bed early.

Day 6: We went to church, seeing as it was Sunday, and even though it was the day after Christmas, Mom's ward had their Christmas sacrament program. It was fun to see my old ward again. It's obviously done some changing, but there are alot of the same people. After church we had family dinner and had a craft and game night. The crafty parts were making robots and fruit snacks with the boys. The games where: the ever so inappropriate "Things" and "Scategories." The best part of "Things" was that even though Roman was not playing the game and off doing his own little "Make a Bug" craft, he was obviously still listening. When the line was "Things you shouldn't do on your honeymoon" Roman said "Jump off the boat." A-dorable!!! I miss Sunday family days.

Day 7: Dad has a membership to the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, and along with his pass, he had some free guest passes, so Monday we went to the Zoo. Kim and Ben and the boys were going to meet us there because they weren't awake in time, and Mom was going to meet us there because she had taken Joy to the airport that morning. Well, Dad, Clayton, and I got there and headed down to check out some of the park before the others got there. Clayton got to see an Okapi for real, instead of all the pictures I show him. To be honest, he wasn't that impressed (but when we went again later in the day, Roman and Aaron were thoroughly impressed because it's there favorite animal too). Kim, Ben, the boys, and Mom made it, and we went to the Sea Lion show, and walked all over the park, hitting up most every animal. I had a BLAST (animals are so cute). Clayton had fun too, but he wasn't as eager to show it as I was. Around 3:00 we headed out of the park and headed to Old Town for lunch/dinner. After dinner we headed to the Mormon Battalion Center. The center got a major over haul a year ago and Kim and Dad had heard great things about it, and so they really wanted to go as long as we were already down there. It was freaking fantastic. I'm not going to lie that the old Mormon Battalion history tour was super boring. But this one's not boring at all. It's presented really well, you move from room to room (not just standing and watching a video in one room) and they even have free souvenirs at the end (a photo making you an honorary member of the battalion, and you get to pan for gold and keep it- fools gold). After all of that excitement, the day still wasn't over. Roman had a date at the mall with Dana. We went shopping to get some good deals at Bath and Body Works. I wasn't so interested in that because I'm a cheap skate and only bought one thing of soap and one thing of lotion that were both 75% off. But, after we left B&B Works, I spotted a sale on boots. Mmmmm. I love boots. I already have a brown pair and a black pair, but both of them are high heel boots, so I can't really wear them to school, so I've been keeping my eye out for a pair of flat boots. Yes! I found them. The are grey velvet, with ties and the scrunched look. And... the best part... they are $100 boots that I got for $35. Kim got some boots too because she's never had real boots before. I think she's pretty excited about hers. Dana, Mom, and Roman didn't wait in the boot store, so we met up with them at Halmark. Once we were done there, it was for sure time to go home. Oh, after a quick stop at Dana's to check out their new house, since I am the only one who hadn't seen it yet. It's cute, and they've made some very nice improvements to it. Good luck to them finishing it all up though :o)

Day 8: This was a busy busy last day (not that all the other days hadn't been busy busy). It was full of all different sorts of activities, not just one big one. We started out our day by taking Mom out to breakfast (Dad was invited but declined). It was sweet, because we ended up getting 3 breakfasts for the price of 1. We had a coupon for a buy a breakfast, get one for free, so that knocked that meal off the ticket, plus, Mom got an omelet and the chef had left the paper on the cheese, so when we told the waited about it, he knocked that meal off the check too. That was an enjoyable breakfast: our waiter was very lively and entertaining, it was good food, and it was nice to sit back and chat and visit with Mom. After breakfast Clayton and I went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie. We had gotten movie passes in our stockings, but Utah doesn't have Regal Cinemas, so we had to use them there (plus, it was about time we did something Clayton really likes). After the movie, we did laundry and headed out to San Diego. We went to the docks and did the Maritime Museum tour. That's where you get to walk around on old sailing ships and submarines. Clayton thoroughly enjoyed that and so it made it all the better for me. After the museum, we headed to BJ's Restaurant where Grandma and Granddad Kerby, Mom, Kim, Dana, and Josh were meeting us for dinner. Mmmmmm.... their pizza is delectable. After dinner we went to the temple to do a session as a family. Grandma kept saying how nice it was to go to the temple as a family and thanking me for inviting her and Granddad. I guess no one had caught onto the fact that every time I come to California, I get the family together for a temple trip, so I told them all. Hey, it's a standing appointment every time I come down. Now they've got it ;o) By time we got home, it was 10:00 pm and we still had laundry and packing to do before we could finally pass out in bed.

Day 9: Okay, so when I type it out day by day, the vacation was longer than a week, but we only had a week in California is what I meant when I said it earlier. We woke up at 4:30 am and were packed and on the road by 4:50 am. It was insanely early considering we'd gotten hardly any rest all week and had been going hard all day of the break, but it sure was a good idea to leave that early. There was a HUGE storm expected to hit Utah around 3 pm, and so we were really trying to beat the clock on this drive home. No two day drive, we were knocking it all out in one go. This drive was not as quick passing as the trip down. But I don't know why I'm complaining, Clayton was the one doing all the driving. We made two quick stops on the way home. One was in Mesquite where we said a quick hello to Clayton's parents who had gone down to their trailer for New Years. Stop number two was an oober short stop off to say hi to Grandma. We had time for Clayton to fix her computer, use the bathroom, then take off. Weather wise, it was actually a pretty good drive most of the way. When we were about 35 minutes away from home, however, that's when the storm hit. The roads got really slick really fast, and the pace of the cars slowed. It took us an hour and a half to two hours to make it home instead of the 30-35 minutes, but we made it safely, and that was the biggest deal.

Ah, there's no place like San Diego for the holidays. Busy, busy, busy. But fun, fun, fun and full of family.

Weekend with the Boys

Before leaving for California, Clayton and I decided to have a sleepover with Gage and Gavin. The last day of school before break, Friday, Clayton brought the boys with him when he came home from work. We played some Rock Band, ate some pizza, and watched a movie. That was about all that we had time for that night.

Saturday, Clayton had ski patrol, so it was just the boys and me. They woke me up around 7:00 am, or so. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't what I wanted ;o) We had plans to go to the Aquarium that day, but it didn't open until noon, so we had some time to kill (another reason I wanted them to sleep in). I let them watch a little t.v. while I showered and got ready, but I didn't want them watching t.v. all day, so I had to come up with something else to do. I asked them what they had gotten their parents for Christmas and Gavin said that their mom bought something for their dad that they'll put their name on. I told them that didn't count and that we were going to go find some kind of craft for them to do. We went to Wal Mart and picked out an O-B-R-A-Y in wooden letters, and some paint. The boys were so excited to do the craft and kept saying how much fun painting was.

Well, by the time we were done with our 2 coats of paint, it was time for lunch, and then time for the Aquarium. The first time past the Aquarium, we missed it, it wasn't as big as I would have thought it would be. But after circling around the block we found it :o) It really wasn't the biggest thing ever, but it sure was fun! We started off by looking at water life in Utah, then we went and watched a Rain Forest "show" where after wards you had the opportunity to touch a Hiss Cockroach and a Boa. I opted out of touching the cockroach. Gavin and I petted the snake, but little Gagie backed far away from the thing. After the "show" we saw jelly fish, an octopus, sea horses (regular sized ones, tiny ones, and large ones), touched stingrays, saw a turtle and some sharks. Then we moved to a separate exhibit where we saw penguins, poison dart frogs, more snakes, piranhas and a crocodile. Then we were all done. It was great, it just didn't last that long.

After the Aquarium we played more Rock Band, and Gage didn't even fail out once! (Which is impressive because no one actually ever lets him play his own, he's usually just the helper.) Then it was time for some games and some dinner. Once dinner was over, Clayton came home and we headed off to Salt Lake to check out a way decked out house. I thought it was a whole neighborhood, but it turned out to just be one house. But it was a cool house. This guy had done SO much. He had a whole light show going on, and it was timed to music. It was insane. So was the traffic. Luckily we got the heads up to park at a church and walk the block. Good thing. We were in and out in like 15-20 minutes, where as there was a line of cars, that I'm sure would take an hour to get to the house. Because it had turned out to be only one house, on our drive home, we turned down random neighborhoods that looked to be well lit by Christmas lights. That really got me excited for Christmas. By time we got home, the kids were knocked out!

Sunday we woke up and made french toast and ate a nice family breakfast. Then Uncle Clayton took over the kid watch while I got ready for church. Sacrament meeting was interesting with kids, they were really well behaved, but it was harder to keep Clayton focused :o) Well, at least all 3 of the boys were quiet. After church we headed up to Hooper for the Fowers' Christmas Party, and our duty of boy tending was over. Jessica and Matt asked us if we were ready for kids now that we'd had the boys over and I informed then that we certainly weren't starting off with a 7 and 9 year old right off the bat, we wanted to enjoy the baby stage first.

Firsts

Wow, it's been a while since I last updated, and there have been lots of fun things to write about, but they will all fit under the "Firsts" category.

First Ticket:
Just about everyone has already heard this story, I freaking ranted about it to anyone that would listen. But, for those 2 people that haven't hear it... here it is. So here I was, trying to be a good teacher, staying late on a Friday night to try to get everything ready for the next week. Then after school, I was being a good teacher and a good friend by running school errands for me and 2 other teachers. Do I even need to tell you how long of a day it had already been? This year I've got a couple students who are not my personal favorites and they make the weeks LONG. So it's been a full, busy week at school, I've staid late, I've run errands, I'm driving home at like 7:00pm, but then I've got a 30 minute commute (wait, longer than that because of stupid Utah construction). I finally make it to my exit, I'm tired as can be, Clayton's beaten me home, so he's started dinner, I can't wait to just relax, I'm 15 feet away from my driveway, and... flashing lights.

On the road I'm on, there is no shoulder. It's a two lane road, one lane for each direction, where am I supposed to pull over? After driving a couple feet, I just decide to pull into that 3 inch "shoulder" and see what the cop says. The cop walks to the window, asks for my stuff, and I ask him if we should just pull into my complex because I live right there and there's no shoulder. He says that we're fine where we are and then informs me that that was a stop sign right there. "I know, I stopped" "No you didn't" "I did, I did" "A stop is completely stopped for 2 seconds. 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand." I didn't agree, but I really had nothing to say to that. He goes back to his car, I want to cry, but hold it in, he comes back, and tells me that my license says that I live in Hooper (he said it in a demeaning tone, too - I can make fun of Hooper, but Hells Bells if he's going to, rudy) Remember how I had just told him I live in Sandy? He lectured me on the time deadline I had to get that done and then walks back to his car. I would swear up and down that he was back there for 30 minutes. I was doing everything I could not to let the tears fall. I was breathing deeply, looking out the window at whatever the crap I could look at, oh, and I was getting mad at him taking so DANG long when all I wanted was to get home.

He finally comes back, tells me that he watched me go through 2 stop signs, but that he'll make one a warning, give me another warning about the change of address, but that he's giving me a ticket for the second stop sign. Had me sign something and then asks if I had any questions. Yes I had questions, I didn't know what the freak to do with a ticket, I'd never gotten one before. He told me to call the number after a week and they'd tell me what to do and how to take care of it.

I came in the door bawling and poor Clayton didn't know at all what to do. I finally got the story out and then I spent the rest of the night rotating between being super pissed, and super sad/depressed. And it's not like it was over then, I had to have the ticket hanging over my head for a week. Lame!!

Well, the week went by, but I couldn't take care of it right away because they close at 4 (when I get off work) and they're in Sandy and I work in Orem. A couple times I got off a little early, but freaking traffic slowed me down and I missed it. Thanksgiving Break I was finally able to go in and talk to the court commissioner. Yeah, turns out that on the ticket that the cop turned in, he wrote that I stopped for 1/2 a second, but it wasn't a complete stop because it wasn't 2 seconds. Well, I had been looking everywhere for a definition of 2 seconds, but I hadn't found it. Yeah, neither could the court commissioner, and neither could any body in the office that she went and asked. So... after all of that hastel and waiting, and anger, and crying, the ticket was dropped. Good, because I would have been beyond ticked if I would have had to pay $130 for something I was innocent of.

First Snowboarding Day:
We went up to Hooper for Thanksgiving and decided to just stay the night so that we could go up to the Powder Mountain after Clayton got off work the next day. As long as we were staying the night, Jessica really needed a midnight, Black Friday shopping buddy, so Clayton and I went to Wal Mart around 10:30, 11:00 pm. Yeah, can I tell you how much fun that was NOT? We were all spread out, Clayton was at movies, Jessica was at the game station, and I was in toys. There were 2 different toys I had to grab (both of which there were extras of when we went to the Sandy Wal Mart a week later). Luckily there was a nice lady over by one of the toys I needed and we worked out a deal. She would grab me a Littlest Pet Shop if I would grab her an Operation Buzz Lightyear, which was next to the second toy I needed. Yeah for stranger team work, especially since where I was sent, there was NOBODY there, so I didn't have to fight or struggle with anyone. Although my blood still raced when I heard a fight going on a couple pallets down from me when midnight rolled around. I had to walk passed it to get back to the lady, and security was all over it. Kind of funny, kind of "what the crap guys, you're fighting over a toy, grow up."

Anyway, this section isn't "First trip to Wal Mart" it's about snowboarding. So, Friday, Clayton went to work and I did school work, and wrapped a couple presents, and was seriously bored while waiting for him to be done. Then, when he got off work we went up. Well, I can say that I am better then last year in at least one way (and probably only one way)... I can get up by myself. Like, after I fall hard on my posterior, I can stand back up on my own. Clayton says that I'm doing well, but Clayton is full of it. I still am terrified to actually use the right stance, so I'm still cheating when I go down the mountain. And I still can't get off the ski lift without Clayton holding me up. Yeah, it's going to be a long season. Good thing Clayton is patient.

First Day Snowboarding by Myself:
So Friday's run was a test run to see if I would be able to handle a day of snowboarding by myself. Saturday Clayton had to work, but he was working on setting up barriers and stuff on closed lifts. Obviously I couldn't come with, so I would have to either wait at home (not ours, Don and Jan's) or snowboard alone. I opted out of the first option, and dared to board alone. Here's what I know after going alone. The lifties (the people operating the lift) are really nice, and when there's not that many people on the mountain, they recognize you. I had some nice conversations with some of them. They knew I wasn't that great, that I was alone because my husband was on ski patrol, and that I wasn't having as much fun as I should have been having. Thing number two that I learned, was how to get off the ski lift without falling. Not going to lie, I had one total blow out of a run, and a couple other small spills, but I did end up getting the hang of it. Not because Clayton had every told me the right way to do it, but because one time I watched how the guy ahead of me got off. Thank goodness for that guy :o) I still cheated my way down the mountain, of course, I wasn't going to try anything on my own, and have to have ski patrol rescue me and then call Clayton over from the next mountain. I did have fun though, but I've learned not to go alone any more.

First Anniversary:
Clayton and I have only been married 6 months, but we were married exactly 6 months from the day that we met. So, December 5th was our 1 year anniversary of the day we met. The 5th was a Sunday, so on the 4th, we decided to recreate our first date. He had to work, of course, so we decided that he would drive to work, and I would take trax up to Salt Lake (where we had our first date), and he would meet me there. Well, I ended up not taking trax, because as I was driving to the station, I got pulled over. This polictress was a lot nicer, and she pulled me over because it didn't show that Clayton's truck had insurance. It did, I showed her the proof of insurance, and I was on my way. Except due to the delay, I missed trax and would have had to wait 20 minutes. Forget it, I just drove up :o)

We met at Cafe Rio for dinner, then walked around temple square looking at the lights. Holy Moly was it crowded. We could barely walk around without getting trampled. But we made it, and we had small talk, and it then we took separate cars home. I sent him to the store to go by sparkling cider, which I had forgotten to pick up when I had gone grocery shopping. It worked out though because it gave me time to go home, light the candles, and draw up a nice warm bubble bath... that was not something we did on the first date, but it's been a year now, so it's okay ;o) It was a fabulous first anniversary.

First Time Down a Black Diamond:
Yeah, another snowboarding story, but... 'tis the season. No, I didn't magically get super great at snowboarding so that I was skilled enough to get down the most challenging slope on the mountain, it was just a pretty empty day on the slopes, so I wouldn't get in any one's way, and I, of course, cheated my way down. But, now I can say that I've gone down a Black Diamond. That day, Clayton was patrolling the lift "Sun Down" which is the only one we've boarded so far, so I was not all that thrilled to be going, but he showed me that there were more then just the 2 slopes I'd been doing, so it turned out to be more fun after all. So that day, I actually went down 2 Black Diamond runs, and ended up doing all the runs on that mountain.

Alright, out of firsts for now. Sorry there aren't pictures, but both Clayton and I are terrible at taking pictures. Maybe next time?