My 10 Days of Christmas

Day 10: Flew from Salt Lake City to Long Beach - a little podunk airport that is seriously only big enough for 2 and a half planes. The grounds are fenced off by barbed wire. No joke. I got off the plane and the wind was howling and the rain was pouring! Apparently traffic was really bad for my mom, so while I waited for her to arrive, I retrieved my baggage from the tiny, outdoor baggage claim, and miraculously located a chair under some sort of shelter. There I played Words With Friends and Scramble on my phone until Mom arrived. After the airport we used my handy-dandy iphone 4 to locate some Mexican food nearby and had a bland, yet enjoyable, lunch together. When we finally got to Temecula, I spent the evening learning the outrageously high soprano part to the Christmas Cantata that the ward choir would be singing the next day at church (my Mom is the new Choir Director).

Day 9: Still pouring rain. Went to church, sang the outrageously high notes in the Cantata. After church, my parents left for a pre-Christmas get away, and my siblings and I spent the evening playing Nertz and Mexican Train Dominoes with my friends Kyle and Jordan.

Day 8: Still Pouring rain. Took my little sister Christmas shopping. I was a loser and had no time to do any Christmas shopping before my break, so I had to do all of it the week before Christmas. I don't recommend this. Note to self: Get Christmas shopping done early from now on. Oh and by-the-way, apologies to everyone who will be receiving Christmas gifts from me AFTER Christmas this year.

Day 7: Still Pouring rain. Backyard now looked like this:

It's a good thing we live on a hill. Hung out with my little niece Jane and had dinner with my family and Ryan and Jen (my brother and his baby-mama).

Day 6: Yep, still raining. Did some more shopping and helped my Mom with some baking. My brother Ronnie and his family arrived and Ryan and Jen came back and we all had a mini Christmas sesh because Ryan and Jen and baby Jane went to Jen's family's for Christmas this year.

Day 5: Can it be? Is that... the sun? Went to lunch with my brother and sister and my Dad at Claim Jumpers. Had a delicious fillet mignon. My brother and sister both had ribs. Ellen is going to kill me for this, but I just needed you to see how much she enjoyed that meal:

Don't worry, Ellen. This blog is private so only my closest friends and family will ever actually see this pic. (tee hee) I opted not to take pictures of Taylor eating his baby-backs because, well, it was gross.  After lunch I helped my Mom make apple pies, watched White Christmas, played with my darling little niece Kieran (who I just met!):

That's her petting Talking Tom. Then I went to dinner with my friend Kyle. After Dinner we finished up my Christmas shopping and then went back to my house where we were just in time to play some Mexican Train with the whole gang. And we ALMOST won, too.

Day 4: Christmas Eve and the sun is out! Weather was beautiful! Since our little house was so full of people, my sister and I slept at my grandparent's house. I got up, went for a run, took in the sunshine and the fresh air, and then had breakfast with my sister and Grandparents while we listened to Alabama Christmas in the background. Felt like old times when my Grandparents were younger. After that we went home and I helped my Mom with more baking, hung out with Kieran, ran errands, and helped prepare our Prime Rib Christmas Eve dinner, which was delightful. We ate, we cleaned, and then we had our annual Christmas Eve pajama opening and wearing party.

Yay for pajamas and family! We stayed up much too late watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail of all things and finally crashed so Santa could come.

Day 3: I know what you're thinking, how is day "3" Christmas day? The answer is... just go with it. Christmas break lasted until the Monday after, okay? Christmas morning we slept til 8ish, which is actually pretty awesome for my family (especially considering that little kids were involved this year). Santa was good to us (thanks Mom! <-- p.s. Sorry if that just burst anyone's bubble). Then we went over to my Grandparent's to have another Christmas with them and my Aunt and Uncle. Then we made and ate the most delicious Christmas dinner ever!

Afterword, my siblings and I went and did another gift exchange with my Dad and took a trip down to San Diego to visit the Logan side of the family (who I hardly ever get to see). We spent the night watching awesome YouTube videos and the movie Salt, which I actually enjoyed (not a huge fan of the Angelina Jolie) and spent time with my cousins and Aunt and Uncle.

(Top: My Mom playing with the mind game and my cousin Lane. Middle: My sister, Mom, and I on Christmas day. Bottom: Everyone at the Grandparents, besides the Grandparents and for some reason, all my siblings. )
Day 2: Went to church in San Diego, had my Aunt offer to set me up with numerous 21 year old boys fresh of the mish, saw my cousin get ordained to the office of Teacher, and then went back to the house and had a DELICIOUS lunch with a few of my other cousins and Aunts and Uncles. It was so good to see everyone! Then we went back to Temecula so Andrew could pack up all of his stuff because he is moving back to Utah to finish school and stayed up much too late watching The Sound of Music.

Day 1: Drove back to Utah with my brother. Ate way too much. Was reunited with the A-team.

And now I'm back to work. In summary, it rained A TON! I ate NON-STOP (no, seriously, I did.), saw tons of family, and had quite a pleasant time.

The End.