Home for the Holidays

I had THE best experience of going home for the Holidays. It was sad to leave everyone here out in Oregon, but I loved being home. I was so happy to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with my family. And also to ring in 2016!! I was sad to say goodbye to them, but I'm so grateful for modern technology, so that I am able to talk to them on the phone and see their faces!

      I had the surprise of a lifetime! My cousin who is attending college in Utah wasn't able to fly home for Thanksgiving. We didn't  think we would see each other until April. She was scheduled to fly home the night I left to go back to Georgia. Well she worked her schedule out and was able to fly home a day early so I could see her. I was so happy!!!! Her family and I went and picked her up at the airport. Traffic was bad to and from the airport. But we made it through all the bad traffic. She was so kind and willing to come to Institute and Pathway with me that night. And she even helped me pack. I'm so grateful her family was kind enough to let me steal her for a little bit.

      My traveling started early the next day. Joe was kind enough to take me to the airport. I made it on my flight with no problems and started the journey home. I had a layover in Las Vegas. I was sad to find out I wouldn't be taking any money home to my family because I was too young to do the one-arm bandits:D I didn't have a long enough lay-over to enjoy the sights, so I continued my trip home. I landed in Georgia at 5ish eastern time. Mom and Hanna were stuck in traffic so I walked the terminals to get to baggage claim. My favorite part was coming up the escalator, seeing Mom and Hanna (they couldn't see me yet), and running straight into their arms. I haven't been hugged by them in 4 months! I'll never forget their warm embrace. We picked up my baggage and headed to the car. Not knowing that it was 40 degrees outside, I wore a thin jacket. No one told me that the 70 degree weather didn't stay. We met up with Nathan & Ashley at Panda Express. We hugged, laughed, talked and enjoyed each others company. It was great! We hung around the outlet mall till Dad arrived. He was flying home from a business trip from Germany. We said our goodbyes to Nathan & Ashley and headed home. Well, we took a detour at the movie theater to see Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens. And I saw LAUREN!!!!!! I couldn't stop giving her hugs. I missed her a lot. We talked and talked, even during the trailers. Oh, the movie was.......fantastic!!! We were able to see it in 3-D! Oh my giggles, that theater room was CROWDED! Just kidding, there was maybe 20 people in there including us. What's up with that? Oh well, but it was worth seeing after only getting 4 hours of sleep and traveling all day. The movie finished at 2am and we were home at 2:30am. I missed my bed so much!! Even though it was warm in my room, I still slept with my giant quilt Grandma made me for graduation. I was so happy to be home.

    I really didn't do much the next couple of days. Saturday, I didn't get up till 10:30am. I wrapped presents, unpacked presents Grandma sent home, and went to a ward party. I took Dad on a date to Chick-fil-A. I was able to see DJ and talk to him. It was so great to see him. And I enjoyed having a peppermint milkshake. We will not even talk about the ward party. Too many horrific/scarred for life moments happened. On Sunday, I received a lot of hugs. Monday, Ashley came over to hang out with us. Mom & Dad took work off. We went shopping at World Market and Target. We went to an Italian restraunt for lunch. On Tuesday, I cleaned my room and helped Mom wrap presents. Lauren invited Hanna & I over to watch The Polar Express. Hunter came over too! It was fun to relax and hang out in our pjs.

     Wednesday was Christmas Eve. Hanna drove Dad to Tennessee to get Papa Murphey pizza. Mom, Nathan, and Ashley had to work for part of the day. I was at home by myself. I did a 'Santa Clause' marathon and cleaned and wrapped presents. They all got home around 2ish and we prepared to talk to Clarissa. We skyped her! It was so great to see her face. She was emotional because she was homesick. The connection wasn't great, but we were all grateful that we could hear her voice. She currently is in Jipijapa, Ecuador. Ecuadorians have a different way to celebrate the holidays which isn't technically safe for the missionaries. So she and her companion were locked in for Christmas and New Years. We were only able to talk to her for 1 hour. We continued the day with playing games and eating pizza. The missionaries came over for dinner. After they left, we decorated gingerbread houses. Dad's house fell apart, lol. We were all tired by 8pm, so we opened up our pjs from Grandma, and went to look at Christmas lights. We were all in bed by 9:30pm. I slept with Hanna in her room. It's a tradition we have; last year we slept in mine. I didn't sleep that well because of the time difference.

     I woke up at 5, but fell back asleep till 7. I wasn't ready to get up so I fell back asleep until 8:30am. We had to wait till everyone got up. A tradition is to open up our stockings first, after that we eat breakfast casserole. In the past, if we woke up early we had to prepare the casserole because it needs to cook for an hour. But Mom was kind enough to make it. It was absolutely delicious. We continued Christmas traditions by each opening up a present. It was great to see everyone's reactions. The funniest gift I got was from Mom & Dad. They gave me honey mustard. I don't even know why:D. The most creative gift was from Hanna. She painted me a beautiful scene of Ariel and Stitch together. She did a beautiful job. I love it!! Other gifts I got are, a Stitch pj onesie, COACH purse, tsum tsums, candy, nutella cookbook, blankets, and socks. We always get board games for Christmas; this year Hanna got Dr. Who Monoply and Nathan & Ashley got LIFE. We played those two games and Ticket to Ride. It was fun to spend time together. We all pitched in to help with linner. I made the green bean casserole. Everything was delicious, cause it was made with love. As a family, we saw Star Wars again (Hanna, Dad, and I were the only ones who went the first time). We saw it in 2D this time. It is still a great movie!! This time it was more crowded in the theater.

(Here are some pics from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day)

Decorating Ginger Bread Houses.

Merry Christmas!!

Mommy made Hanna a penguin onesie and me a Stitch onesie

Doesn't Daddy look bowtiful!

We took it easy for the next couple of days. I did some research on schooling and my future, but that is for a different post. New Years Eve was low key. Mom & Dad got off work early so we ate Chinese food for lunch. That night we went over to the Kelly's house to celebrate and ring in the new year. Lauren and I played ping pong for hours. And we ate a lot of food. I was able to spend the night, so we stayed up till 5 am. We were watching a movie about an asylum which freaked us out. As the movie was ending, we heard a noise on the porch. Not know what it was, we ran upstairs and chose to tell ghost stories till scare each other even more. We had a delicious breakfast of salsa w/chips and sangria. Afterwards we went to check out the Gypsy carts that are near their house. It was cool, but scary. We just hung out for the rest of the day. At the end of the day we went to Barnes & Noble. I bought Scrump!

    It is a tradition to take down the Christmas decor after New Years. Its sad to see all the decorations come down, but it also means that it is a new year. The house is so bare! On the Sunday before I left, we had the Kellys and the Merlings over for dinner. Dad made delicious crepes. My new favorite thing to put on crepes is biscoff spread (chunky) and nutella. It is heavenly! On Monday & Tuesday I packed. I also hung out with Mom and Hanna. Before I left, I wanted to hang out with DJ. We went to Armandos' in Cartersville for lunch. It was great to hang out with him. We talked about school, our future, and a lot of other things. He is preparing to go on a mission and most likely will leave in July. I can't be more excited for him! On Wednesday I left early again. I flew through Phoenix. Grandma was super nice to pick me up at the airport. Time to get back to work and school!