Catch up time...

WARNING: THIS IS A LONG POST!  I think I might do as I have seen others do and that is to write a post then post a separate one with pictures!  We will see as we go.  I may change my mind. First of all,....I want to say I love my kids, their spouses, and my grandchildren!!  Ok now here we go....

The week before the week of Christmas, I stayed at Rachel's home for almost a week and had a great time seeing Christmas Lights dance to music, and playing, and feeding Kellan food, and seeing children get excited for Christmas.  Karl was working very long days that week and I was feeling kind of lonely so he let me go.  He missed me a lot though he said. :)  I appreciate them letting me come!! I LOVED being there.  They took me home and got to spend one night here. I showed them around Henderson.  We saw the Christmas decorations at the Mall and I liked pointing out all the airplanes coming in that go right by our apartment!  I appreciate them coming down to see where we live and I know they are planning to come again soon!  :D  Did I get pictures??  NO!  Sheesh....

The week of Christmas I met Annette and my Mom at the Logandale/Overton exit (about 1/2 way) to bring my Mom here for a day and then we drove her to Kingman, AZ the next day to stay with my sister, Gayle and her husband for Christmas and New Year's.  It rained on us the whole drive there but let up while we were there until we had to leave that early evening to come back and it downpoured on us the WHOLE way until we reached Boulder City.  Then it was clear and heavenly. :) Whew!  We enjoyed our visit with Gayle and Michael and got to do some four-wheeling to go see their Property!  Glad we made it up and down the hill safely...hehe.  Also had fun seeing Selegman (did I spell that right?) and eating at the restaurant there. Yummy and large servings!! Again...no pictures.  Sorry.  I think my camera was in my purse, too.  Duh.

Christmas was different for us this year.  We got up very early and drove about 4 hours to South Pasadena (with lots of fog along the way) and surprised Karl's parents and his brother.  His sister and her husband, who had been there helping out, knew about it but they kept the secret.  It was a day to give and we loved the opportunity to do so.  It was a one day trip down and back but worth it!  We went to Carl's Jr for lunch since there weren't too many options to choose from on Christmas.  It felt like A Christmas Story where they go to a Chinese place.  That would have been fun!!  haha  We enjoyed visiting with Marilyn, Bill, and Kevin.  Bill shared with me some of the pictures he took so I borrowed them to put on here. Kevin is taking good care of their parents but he is looking into someone coming in to the home to help. I have dear in-laws and they raised a good son who I had the honor of marrying.

We had a very nice holiday season.  Caleb and Dana came to visit!!  Yay! I did not get any pictures of them! :(  I know we kept saying we needed to. I'm pretty sad about that, too. Errr...    It was quite cold while they were here but we walked through the Mall, ate out a couple of time, and then we had fun just staying inside, playing games, and talking.  David Archuleta was going to be at the Mall about an hour after we left.  Bummer. We LOVED having them visit.  We did go see the Ethel M's Chocolate Factory/Cactus Gardens and ate at Metro Pizza. Yummy to both of those places. Haha We watched a movie and talked some more. It was lots of fun!! I was so happy they came down during their break from school.  I hope they will want to come back to visit! :)

The day Caleb and Dana left is when Megan, Jason, Ryley, and Logan came.  The weather was still pretty cold but the sun was shining with blue skies while they were here.  We took them to the Chocolate Factory/Cactus Gardens, too,  but it was later in the evening so they got to see more of the garden lights.  They didn't get to see the people working in the factory but they did get to sample chocolate. We also went to Metro Pizza.  Karl REALLY likes that place, especially the bread they serve you ahead of time. :)  We hurried out to see the Hoover Dam and THE BRIDGE with them before it got dark.  We had to move fast to get up to the Bridge and go out on it.  I went out farther this time than the last time but I still didn't like standing close to the railing.  It was very cold, too!!  It is still breathtaking to see the size of that bridge and the height.  Made us all tired. We tried to stay up as late as we could but we were all too tired to welcome in the New Year 'Pacific Standard Time'. We got up and went to the Strip the next morning to check out some of the Hotels/Casinos.  The Bellagio is still the best one I think.  Love the conservatory there and it was decorated Christmas this time. Their fountain out front is pretty spectacular to watch.  Loved all the walking we did to check out the M&M store, MGM Grand, and all the others we walked by or through like the new Cosmopolitan.  I think I will ALWAYS go that early if I ever have to go there again.  We LOVED having the Brunner family with us!!  We look forward to when they want to come visit again!

Also, on New Year's Eve it was Kellan's 1st birthday!!  I got to call him and wish him a Happy Birthday by phone. :D

So Happy New Year 2011!!!  If I have forgotten any details from any of the above events or if I have forgotten to mention any events at all please forgive me.  I'm going by memory and it is late at night while I type this.  We look forward to more visits, from Caitlin and her family, and Rachel and her family ( as mentioned above), and my Mother, and anyone else who would like to visit or come back to visit! :)  I so appreciate the time and effort it takes for all of you to make the trip!  I love you all and miss you as soon as you, or we, leave. :(

I also wanted to add that it was our 31st Wedding Anniversary on Jan. 12th.  It was also AJ's 1st birthday!  We sent him a video message wishing him a Happy Birthday!

For our anniversary we decided to drive up and see the Zion's National Park area as we hadn't been there for a long time.  We went up the night before and stayed at Rachel's.  Thanks Rachel for only having  last minute notice.  We had fun seeing them again! Watching Kellan walk was pretty fun to see.  Gpa provided donuts for breakfast the next morning.  Then Karl and I drove to Springdale.  I loved seeing the snow on those jagged peaks and red hills.  Of course we were there the wrong time of year to get to enjoy much. The town was pretty dead but we got out and took a few pictures.  We didn't go all the way into the Park because we didn't want to pay the fee.  We did decide, however, to drive up to the Kolob reservoir.  It was a beautiful drive!  More snow and with the blue skies and sunshine keeping us warm it was just so peaceful up on top although we didn't get to the actual water due to the road still being closed from snow.  They had cleared it up to that point.  OH well....it was still a nice drive.  Then we headed back to Rachel's to say good bye and then got to visit with my Mom, sister, and niece before we left town.  It was good to see them. Love ya.  Once back in Henderson, we decided to eat Chinese!  Now I am sitting here with a very full tummy while I type this.  haha

Tomorrow I go back to job hunting!  Karl's work is going well.  He got a calling to teach Sunday School to the 16/17 yr olds.  I got called to serve in the Sr Nursery as an assistant every other week.  My first week in there went well.  It was nice to go to RS and SS in between weeks.

I think I have written enough to catch up.  I probably put in more details than needed....I tend to do that. :0/
Hope you are all enjoying your new year so far!  I will post picture soon in the next post! :)  Until then...I'm tired...goodnight!