"No Place Like Home"

So I have truly been dreading writing this post because so much had happened in the last couple of weeks that it would take FOREVER to write all about it. Hopefully I can get in some of the highlights. We were able to head home to Utah for Christmas this year, and it is always so nice to see everyone. Unfortunately, as hard has we try we are never able to spend as much time as we would like to spend with everyone. Our week was pretty scheduled out from the beginning. It was nice, but I think we were all ready to be back to our normal schedules again. We were able to attend the Pierce Christmas party for the first time in 3 years which was great. Unfortunately we got there late, and didn't have as much time to chat as usual. I'm amazed at how large our family is getting, and I hardly saw most of the kids. There's a big group of us. Thanks to Heidi for hosting and Dad and Dorothy for all your thoughtful gifts. We spent Christmas Eve with Amy's mom and were able to see Heidi's family again that day. The best part of the whole trip for me was just seeing Emma interact with all of her Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. She is truly a social butterfly and was having a great time for the most part. We spent Christmas night and morning with Mike's mom, sister, and brother at the "hanger". It was fun to watch everyone open their presents Christmas morning. Emma must have know something was up because she insisted on waking up at 5:00 a.m. Urgh! Oh, well that's the fun of Christmas. We were able to go to the Sharp Family Christmas party which is always fun. We have some fun traditions of a "non" talent show and singing Christmas songs. It's just nice to be together with family. For Christmas Mike's mom gave all the married couples a date night. She arranged babysitting for the kids so we could all go out to eat at yummy "Tepanyaki". Some other highlights were watching Emma play with her Grandpa Cleon, being in Cache Valley, seeing old friends, going to the temple and seeing Elder Anderson there, playing games with Jackie (Worst game of Settler's EVER, but great company!), and mostly just spending time visiting with loved ones we don't see very often.

Our drive home was CRAZY! Thankfully Mike was driving because I would have been a mess. The roads were so icy and the wind was even worse. Luckily it cleared up past St. George and was really good the rest of the way.

We spend New Year's Eve with the Andal family. There is always A LOT of good food involved and we just have a good time being together, playing games, singing karaoke, and watching movies, etc. It was so fun watching Emma and her cousin Annadele play together. They are just a few weeks apart in age and have a lot of fun together. Unfortunately Emma is the ringleader for getting into mischief. We'll have to keep an eye on them in the future.

I was a little nervous to come home because I wasn't sure what to expect, but our pets luckily survived, with superior care, and it has just been so nice to get back into the swing of things. Emma has been sleeping and eating so much better and it's nice not worrying about our pets. We sure miss being around family and can't wait until we get to see you all again.

OH, BTW I got a new camcorder/camera for Christmas so hopefully I'll be able to include some fun pictures and videos of Emma.