With Carynn, Jamie and Ty going to Medford; Bret and Laura to Salt Lake City and Lynette and her boyfriend Sam staying on the Westside to Christmas with his parents; our only children in town were our newlyweds, Melinda and Landan. They had Christmas Eve with his parents and came to visit us for Christmas. Christmas we were able to speak with everyone else by phone, including Michael's dad in Texas.
We were blessed however to be able to have extended family come visit. My sister Erin, her daughter (Taurie), and my mother arrived around 8:00 PM Christmas night. My sister Karra, her husband Carl and their children: Isaac, Preston, Colton and Kloey were in very late (11 PM) that night too. It was wonderful they could come!
Saturday, the 26th, on Melinda and Landan's recommendation we decided to catch Avatar at the downtown IMAX. We ordered our tickets online for the first showing (11:30 AM) and for Kloey-Carl bit the bullet (usually Colton volunteers) to be Kloey's escort to see the Chipmunk Squeaquel. Those that weren't seeing Avatar opted for Sherlock Holmes. We arrived early for the movie, I picked up the tickets from the pre-order kiosk and after waiting somewhat patiently, everyone arrived and we dispersed to our movies. Avatar ended up selling out so I was so glad that we had pre-ordered our tickets. A good time was had by all.
It being the day after Christmas, traffic was horrendous trying to leave the mall. After the movie we decided to drive to REI, Melinda and Landan (in their car) too. The cousins were going to shop for Isaac (the soon to be missionary) and for sales. Because Michael had snagged a great parking space (on one of the lower levels) we were out fairly quickly. We never ended up meeting up with Melinda and Landan because it took them OVER an hour to get out of the parking garage and our REI stop was brief.
We always like to play games when the cousins come. In this instance we did a repeat of Bananagrams. Landan was a multiple winner as were Erin and Karra. Sadly, though I know many words, I couldn't quite put it together (that's a great pun if you know about Bananagrams), put still had a good time.
Erin and Karra did dinner for Saturday night, Fritoladas. Sunday evening we celebrated Preston's 17th birthday a day early with Chicken Alfredo and Spaghetti. Instead of a traditional birthday cake I made Blueberry Muffin Cake with Vanilla Sauce. Very yummy. I've decided that warm vanilla sauce is one of my favorite things. The recipe is one I got from Tomoko Simons when we lived in California. If she ever writes a cookbook (she has said she'd like to) I'll be first in line to purchase it.
My Uncle Tom's 90th birthday celebration was scheduled for Monday the 28th in Mesa, Arizona. Since we weren't able to be there I called him earlier in the week and arranged for the family to talk to him on Sunday night. We all were able to do that. He's such a good man. He was a wonderful husband to my aunt Georga, who passed away nearly 3 years ago. He remains actively engaged and faithful in all things. As I said, a very good man.
The family started dispersing on Monday. Karra and her family had basketball practice, etc. so they left Monday morning. Erin, Taurie and Mom were able to stay until Tuesday, it was great that they could. It's still hard for me to imagine "little" Taurie a college freshman. My how time flies. Mom wasn't feeling that well for the visit, but enjoyed having everyone around. It was poignant for me as I won't probably be seeing Isaac for a while since he leaves for Brazil on February 10.
Merry Christmas!
NS
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