At my graduation dinner
Christmas Morning
Christmas with the Thelins (look at how cool our stockings are!)
Sledding (I was really cold)
Well, after another long sabbatical, I am back. We had such a great month with our family and friends. In the beginning of December, I officially graduated college! It feels like it's been such a long time coming, but really it was only 3 years, so I can't complain. But, boy does it feel good to be all done, forever! (That is, of course, unless I decide to go to graduate school, which would be a whole new ball-game.) Jade, Tink, and I all drove down to Vegas mid-December, but Jade only got to stay a weekend before returning back to Utah to work. Tink and I got to stay in Vegas and play with our favorite people (Roxy and Louis in Tink's case). It's so sad to watch Tink try to play with those old dogs. They think she's fun for about a minute, and then they get sick of her, and she just doesn't understand at all. She just loves to play! (As a side note, we're so happy that Jerai and Phil are back in Utah; especially Tink, who loves Remy more than her own parents!) Jade came back to Vegas to stay around the 19th, and we had a graduation dinner to celebrate my big achievement. It was so nice, and let me reiterate: it feels SO good to be done! Jade was quite sick for a few days, so I had lots of girl-time shopping and the like with my momma. I miss Las Vegas so much! We had a really big Christmas Eve dinner with all the Pettyjohn clan, plus some friends. It was so great to have everyone together. It's getting to be so hard to actually get everyone to the same place at the same time with everybody's busy schedules. So we celebrated the birth of our Savior in our traditional way; together as a family, with lots of laughter (and even more food). Christmas morning we woke up at 6:45 and saw what Santa brought us. We opened up presents and ate a little bit, then Jade and I rushed off to the airport to fly to Portland to celebrate Christmas with the Thelins. Christmas Day was great, we had a big dinner with the entire Thelin clan, then we performed the Nativity with the kids. The highlights: a 20 lb. baby Jesus, Max playing "Ammon" in the Nativity, complete with a sword "to cut people's arms off with", Gabe in a tutu, and me in a 1980's blue bridesmaid's dress, being a wise-woman. It was hilarious and so fun to do with the kids. The next day we all went to the temple together, which was so neat (Nea we missed you). Then we went to a big cabin/home in Sun River, (Central) Oregon, to spend the rest of the week. We had such a great time (all 12 adults and 7 children ages 8 and under). We built giant snowmen, a snow cave as big as a mini-van, and we went sledding. Jade tried his hand at "surfing" on his sled, which lasted about 20 feet before he wiped out and banged his knee up pretty badly. It was pretty funny to watch, though I did feel bad afterwards. We rang in the New Year with our nieces and nephews around 9:00, then we played games after the kids went to bed, and around 11:00 we all got tired, so we had an early toast and called it a night. Jade and I did wake up at midnight, kissed and said Happy New Year, then went back to bed. New Years Day we flew back to Vegas and then left for Utah a few hours later. It was a pretty long vacation, but I could have stayed even longer! We had such a great time with everyone and we just want to say thanks and we love you all so much! Happy New Year!
