17 days of Christmas

Where do I bloody begin! We have been out of town for the past 17 days. Ya gotta love the holidays because it seems like the whole world just takes a break whether you worship God, Buddah, Michael Jackson or Allah. We were exctatic to get away from school and work for two lovely weeks. Travis's finals always end a week before I am able to take off from work so I always give him the option of going home early without me instead of waiting around. I had to laugh because last year being newly weds he wouldn't even consider leaving me, but this year he took that offer and ran and left me all by myself for a week! But absense makes the heart grow fonder right, (or is it out of site out of mind he he). I could tell he missed me a lot when he picked me up from the airport, he was really cute and klingy, I missed him too. Anyway, how do I even explain everything that we did without writing a novel (which I have kind of started to do)? I will just briefly list the highlights of the trip.
-Leaving KC to Utah at 6am, I was late for my plane and my luggage didn't make it... bummer (I guess I'm mentioning low-lights too). We stayed at the Charles' that night. It was so fun to see everyone! The kids are growing like weeds.
-Going on a hot date with my brother-in-law Wes. Travis was going to join us for half day skiing but it didn't end up working out. I just have to tell you that we only went down 6 times, not because it was crowded but because we both kept getting stuck. The first run we went on, Wes decided to take the scenic route and and I just stuck to the trail. I got down and waited and waited then 20 minutes later Wes arrives claiming he got stuck in some wild powder. We go down the same hill, but this time I followed Wes because he convinced me that if we go a different way, we will avoid the hard part. So I follow him and he is gone, and I keep falling in 6 feet deep powder and then getting up and falling. It was so deep I thank heaven that I had my ski poles. I once got so stuck that I couldn't even lift my skis. One ski was pointed north and the other was pointed south. It was so frustrating. I was trying to unclick my skis but couldn't get it to budge. I finally got out of my skis, but then realized I had to hike down a ways to the packed down part. I kept falling and it was so darn hard to get up. Wes actually called my cell phone to see if I was ok. When I finally made it to the trail, which was extremely steep, I could not get my skis back on. The crappy part was that the ski lifts were right above me so all the skiers were watching me and shouting out advice. I was so red hot with anger and embarrassment. When I finally got my act together I had no strength to ski, but I made it down to Wes. Then that crazy man wanted to go down the same hill so we tried it again minus me because I just went down the safe part, and he got stuck! I was again waiting for him for another 20 minutes. We were pretty retarded, but we had fun.
-Going to one of my bestest friends, Niki's wedding dinner at Tucanos, we hung out with Katy Barnes and her boyfriend Danny and had a blast!
- Travis leaving me once again to go down to Vegas to watch the cougs beat up on UCLA (kind of a lucky win, but we will take it). I couldn't (and didn't really want to) go because I was a bridesmaid at Niki's wedding.. She was so beautiful and it was fun seeing Tiff and Dave and a lot of my good highschool friends. Her reception was where my reception was. It was neat because I actually got to eat stuff from the chocolate fountain which I didn't even touch at my own wedding. I went to town on it.
-Visiting my grandparents. I love them so much. They always want help with their internet when we go over there so I tried to show them how to go to my blog, so if you are reading this Grandpa you are so technical savvy.
-Christmas Eve- what did we do?... .... Oh yeah we actually did some last minute shopping, helped prepare the big dinner, and wrapped a heap load of presents. We ate like kings, it was so so so good! Then we decided to open the adult presents (that comes off kind of kinky sounding, maybe I should rephrase it as the presents for the adults) Tracie had my name and she went to town on me. I loved it. She bought me accessories, hats, vests, etc. It was super generous and stylish.
-Christmas... woohoo presents! Watched all the kiddies open up their truck load of presents. It was nuts, but they were so cute!
-Hanging out at my parents and watching movies was awesome, also having Christmas dinner with all the crazy extended family.
-Travis seeing his good buddy Miles and spending the day playing games and snow football.
-Our annual party with my highschool friends, no words can describe that one!
-Erin Wardle's shower. I think I developed a 6-pack from laughing all night, it was a blast!
-Going to the temple to see Erin take her endowments out. It was good getting back. Our closest temple is 3 hours away.
-Playing games with the Charles's and Grandma Helen.
-Going sledding at Soldier Hollow.
-Playing fusion frenzy with Wes and Rachael.

I probably missed a lot of other things, but mostly I was gratefull that I was able to see the people who I love. We truly miss everyone, and sorry if we weren't able to spend too much time with you, I wish we could have a whole month to be there!

This was the first half of the trip, the second half of the trip we went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico with my whole family! Again I will try to list the highlights... sorry i'm not doing a good job editing.

-Getting to PV and stripping off the 7 layers I have been wearing all Winter. We stayed right on the beach and it was beautiful. Our view rocked!!!
-Seeing my neice Anabelle for the first time. She is so so so cute! I hope I have a baby as calm and good smelling (minus the gross stinky diapers in which I can proudly say I changed) baby. I knit her a cute hat with a huge pink flower on it and I must say that was my most favorite present to give.
-Seeing the crazy boys who I cannot get enough of.
-Going to the beach and just hanging out. Jack and Brayden are polar oppisites. Jack jumped in the ocean and loved the waves, but Brayden was afraid and preferred the sand in which he burried Sadie.
- The photo scavenger stocking hunt on the beach. The marathon seemed like a breeze compared to the physical agony of this contest, but we (Travis, Brayden and I) won this year!
- Pina Coladas (oh virgin that is) and I think I had ice cream everyday!
- Taking two busses to the city and walking 2 miles to get to the flea market just in time for it to close!
-Reading a book on the balcony of the hotel just taking in the sea breeze.
-New Years Eve... nobody I repeat nobody except Trav and I stayed up till midnight. We snuck down to the beach and laid on our backs in the sand and watched the fireworks right over our heads. They don't have strict regulations in Mexico with the fireworks, so we literally were yards away.
-Having fun dinners with the fam.
-Spa day with the girls. I love hot rock massages. They are the best!
-Bike riding with Travis and Sadie and seeing the ostriches that Travis is obsessed with. We might have to get one of those one day.
-Going kiaking in the ocean.
-Going on the zip lines in the jungle with the crazy Mexicans.
-Eating at La Kliff the coolest restraunt I've ever been too. It just sits overlooking the ocean.

Yikes, again I could go on and on but I have to remember that there are actually real people reading this and not really caring! I just have to thank my parents for the amazing trip, we all had so much fun! We love you.

Well after getting home and having the airport lose our luggage (again) we are finally getting settled. It is good to be back in our element. I hope everyone had a great holiday (notice the politically correctness of that last comment) and a great New Years.

P.S. I have to give a special shout out to John and Erin Mayfield. Congrats on your marriage. I really wish I could have been there. Love you guys!