Christmas

Alright. So I'm baaaaaaack!!! I think this may have been my longest blogging break since I started 3 years ago. Whew. Lots to catch up on!

Sometimes I have to wonder how people have time to blog everyday or even every other day when they have kids. How do they get the time? Maybe they are just super fast. I can only blog when both kids are asleep, which is rare. Even then, I feel like I need to give Kev my attention and actually get other things done, too. I find myself struggling to find time. But, this blog is important to me, so I'll keep on going!!

So now, onto Christmas. A month later.

We decided to DRIVE to Utah this year to spend it with Kevin's family. We drove 2 years ago when Josie was a newborn and it wasn't that bad. Otherwise, we would need 3 plane tickets on a packed holiday flight and that didn't sound fun or cheap either.

So the morning we were leaving, we woke Josie up to tell her we were going on a long car ride and we would be driving for a really long time. She immediately got excited and said, "Driving to Indianapolis? To stay in a hotel?!?!" Apparently, she remembered our trip down to Indianapolis a couple months earlier and that stuck in her mind as a long trip. That should have been my first sign that this drive would be hard. Indianapolis is only 2 or 3 hours away.

The drive to Utah is about 23 hours if you are going nonstop. Josie was in for a new definition of long. We did it in 2 days, staying overnight in Nebraska. IT WAS AWFUL. I suppose I have forgotten much of the pain and suffering now, but I just remember telling Kevin over and over again that we would never be doing this again. We would fly next time. See, the problem is that Josie doesn't sleep in the car. Like ever. Even when we have driven forever into the wee hours, she seems to force herself to stay awake. So, the first day we left at around 9 am EST and arrived at our hotel at around 2 am EST. She slept maybe 45 mins or so the entire first day of driving. Approximately, 3 hours or so were spent screaming and crying. She got Donny going a few times too, so we had screaming in stereo sound. It was fun. I felt so sorry for her cause she was just tired and wanted to get out. Plus, diaper changes were not as common as at home, so I'm sure that wasn't comfy either. We just had to keep on truckin' or we'd never get there. I almost lost it a couple times after sitting squished between 2 screaming kids for 2 hours while trying to help them. We did buy a portable car dvd player for the trip. I can't imagine how much worse it would've been without it. So, after leaving the morning of the 23rd, we pulled into Kev's sister's house on Christmas Eve at around 8:30 pm. Josie had finally fallen asleep about 10 mins prior to arrival (of course!) so she was quite overwhelmed when 20-30 family members were instantly trying to hug and kiss her. We put the kids to bed and had a nice evening visiting with the whole family.

Christmas morning was so fun this year! Especially, since now Josie knows what a present is.

We brought some of her presents with us so she could open them with everyone else. The rest she opened early or after we got home. I knew she would love her new tea set. She loves things she can organize or take in the bath. After a few presents, she said "No thank you" to more presents and was content to play with the few she opened. I think it was a little overwhelming for her. The family was so sweet and got her lots of cute things as well. I helped Donny open his presents. We pretty much took advantage of the fact that Christmas means nothing to him, so he just got a few necessities.

Donny with auntie Karman

Someone (Kristie? Ahna?) made these cute little Mrs. Clause hats for all the little girls. Josie loved it. Here she is arranging her dolls (courtesy of Kristie) and their clothes. Notice she is using Snuggly as a blanket for one of them.

The day was spent lounging, visiting, eating, and making merry. We ended the night with some story time with the new books she got. She was soooooo tired. It took several days, well, maybe the whole trip to catch up on sleep. She was so tired that she slept through much of Donny's wakings at night, even when we were in the same room. She would never do that at home. She is a very light sleeper.

During our stay at Kristie's we introduced Josie to the trampoline. It was a huge hit. Everyone knows Josie's love jumping!

She loved jumping on the trampoline so much, all of us, including Kristie and her 4 kids, went to "Jump on it" for the day. It's a big gym full of trampolines and other fun, jumpy stuff for kids. She was in heaven. So much fun!!

Like my blue, fluffy socks?

She's actually a pretty good jumper!

Of course, we can't visit Utah without spending time at Temple Square. Josie saw the temple and immediately knew what it was. She sees it a lot on her MoTab dvd's so she was very excited to see in in real life. She kept saying, "Temple! Go see music?!?" We went to see the beautiful Christmas lights instead.

Earlier in the day we looked at the Nativity display. Notice several of the cousins huddling around her. They all wanted to mommy her.

Donny stayed warm in the wrap.

We walked through the visitor centers to stay warm. I enjoyed the displays, but Josie's favorite part was the floor.

Kevin started chatting with some of the sisters and I started realizing that one of them looked familiar. Sister Roylance is from my home ward in California. She is much younger than I, but I know her family. She is going home soon. I gave regards to her family when I was in Cali a couple weeks later.

The whole clan. Kev's mom (Ahna) is holding Josie and the rest is Kim, Jon and 5 of their 7 kids. Papa (Kev's dad) is in the chair.

We met up with several old friends this trip. The first was Nikki and her kids. Nikki was a young woman when we lived in Tampa. I was one of her Young Women leaders. It's so crazy cause she is now married with 2 kids and her oldest is older than Josie! She lives in Utah now, so it was fun to catch up.

After Temple Square, Crown Burger is a must. This was the first time I actually got Josie to eat a hamburger! She usually doesn't like typical junk food and fast food, so I started her on a salad. She kept asking for some of my burger, so I got her one of her own. She ate the whole thing! I was so proud.

Most of the time there were several family members wanting to hold Donny. I turned around to see where he ended up and found him fast asleep on Kate's (one of Kim's daughters) shoulder. It was so sweet! He was exhausted.

A couple nights before we left, we got together with some old friends that were in our ward a couple years ago. Chantele and Mike were here while Mike went to Notre Dame and now they live in Utah, too. Chantele can pretty much out-dress anyone and I sometimes feel like a slob around her, haha. We miss you, Lunts! You are awesome! (We left Josie with the family for a semi-date night)

Of course we couldn't leave without getting together with Kim, Liam and little Keegan. Kim and I have known each other our whole lives. She is one of the few that I have always stayed in touch with. We got together for breakfast first and also had a play date at her house before we left. So fun!

New Year's Eve something amazing happened!! Ironheart had a reunion!!! Many of you probably remember Ironheart. If not, well, it would take to long to explain. Ironheart is part of how Kevin and I met. Sort of. Anyway, I missed their last show, so it was fun to get together again. They just played at a house party. I put Josie to bed, and rang in the new year with our old friends. Donny came with and slept in an upstairs bedroom so I could keep an eye on him.

Shawn aka "the Flastlane," Randy "Montecarlo," Ian aka "Johnny Machete" (and also of Aquabats fame), and Kev aka "Tizzy Thunder"

The Ironheart wives. (minus Katie)

The next day we had to leave for our 2 day trip home. We stayed in Nebraska again. It was a little easier going home, but even still, that many hours in a car with 2 little, little kids is not fun for anyone!

We had so much fun visiting the family and spending Christmas together! It's so hard to live so far away. I'm so glad I have 4 other sisters that are tons of fun and super sweet. Here they are from oldest to youngest (Kevin is the baby).

Kerrie, Kim, Kristie, Karman, Kevin (notice a theme?)