One Crazy Cheerful Crammed Christmas Break

While I hate to have let so many days go by without posting, we have been go, Go, GO from the moment we left Lexington last week. Once we got back Rich was on call Saturday night, Sunday night and on 24 hours today. No rest for the weary! You know you are in desperate need of more shut eye when everyone is still asleep 11 AM on Sunday morning when Rich got home from the hospital! At least we made it for 1/2 of the block!

What a wonderful time we had with our families in Utah and though it was sad to see our few days together end, there wasn't one more thing we could have squished in. We left with no regrets, only treasured memories.

Thursday Night:
To late to report. We made it safely to Utah. Kids were A+ through the long trek home.

Thank you to Charlie and Julianne for lending us your Expedition for the week! You guys are lifesavers!

Friday:
Up bright and early (thanks to EST) and headed off on icy roads to Trey's 8 AM dental appointment. Had a family reunion around a reclined Trey (he needed a spacer on a back molar) when my Uncle Dave was the dentist and my mom, dad, Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Julie were all in the office before 9 AM. After, we kicked off our Christmas break with a late lunch at Chili's with the Nance gang. Brynn's face says it all. It's great to be back home. Mom and Dad Nance.
Rhett with Matt, Josh and Trey. Utah was one huge Winter Wonderland! We put on every warm accessory we own, and headed up to Salt Lake City.We parked across from the Grand America and rode Trax to Temple Square.
It was very, very cold, but luckily the fierce wind died down and it was tolerable.The lights were just as beautiful as we remembered.We took a long break inside the visitors center to get warm and let our arms have a brief break from carrying Brynn and Kaitlyn.
A perfect night! We stopped off in Sandy on the way home to see Danny and Brynn's new home. Can't believe I didn't take a picture. It was lovely!

Saturday:

9 AM Breakfast with Santa at Thanksgiving Point with the Jackson clan. All-you -can-eat buffet of french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, OJ, hot chocolate, milk and sugar cookies!Dad and Mom JacksonThe boys with Rosie.Visiting with Mrs. Claus.Incredible face paintingIt was a Grinch theme with six different crafts and activities.

Everything was perfect until Brynn touched a stage light and burned her right palm and one fingertip just before we got our photo with Santa. Thank heavens for snow, ibuprofen and Jenny's amazing first aid kit, she was doing better in no time! She's a real trooper. Even now a week later the huge blister is finally peeling off.

We spent an hour at Jenny and Andrew's new home in Alpine and once again am kicking myself that I didn't take a picture. I would love to be their neighbor in a few years! After we left the Howlett's, Rich was a sweetie and let me run into a darling boutique named Dear Lizzie. I found a lovely old fashion glass ornament I bought to add to our collection.Rich headed off with his Dad and brothers in search of some last minute Christmas presents so the kids and I met my family at BYU for a night of bowling. It was one close finish with my dad besting me (136) and my brothers (Brad 135 and Jeff 130) on the very last bowl to win with a score of 138. It was classic Nance competitive finish!Matt shows off his skills!
We capped off the night with dinner at Wendy's and stopped off at Jeff and Sarah's place ( just two blocks from Brick Oven) to see their first apartment.If you are ever in Salem during the month of December, you MUST drive around the pond and see our Pond Town Christmas. It is breathtaking!The Nance Snowman Christmas Tree.
Once in Salem, the girls quickly rediscovered the loft and played with many of my old dolls and toys. I am so glad my parents have kept them all these years.

SUNDAY:

Church at the MTC.This isn't something you do every Sunday, but I guess there are a few perks when your dad has a calling at the MTC. We went over before their sacrament meeting and lunch in the cafeteria. We had roast beef, carrots, mashed potatoes, honeydew, rolls, soda and ice cream. What a feast! It was so fun to see all the Elders and Sisters. We met with my dad's branch (English and Cantonese speaking) and I love that my boys can spend time with the missionaries there.I was amazed at how many familiar faces we ran into. We chatted with Sister Madsen (Mark's mom), bumped into Kurt's friend Elder Turnbow while eating lunch, saw three members from Rich's parents ward, one doctor from Rich's dad's group and a few faces from Salem. It really is a small world!We then went to Springville and visited my Grandma Nance. While the boys played with her hockey game (Josh's favorite) and the girls with the castle, I asked her about her Christmas trees. The one in the front room has my dad's original ornaments from when he was a child. There are beautiful green ribbon ones my Grandma made with her mother and one glass red horn that was from my Grandpa Nance's childhood tree! She also told us about the family heirlooms in her china cabinet. There are gorgeous blue dishes shipped over from England belonging to my Great-Great Grandma Goldthorpe, china from my Great-Great Grandma Orlofski and from my Great-Grandma Goldthorpe. Since documenting many of my memories on the Tuesday Tell All each week, it made me want to know more about her treasures. I was grateful to gain this new knowledge and document it with pictures.She also told us about special things in the study that belonged to my Grandpa. It's hard to believe that he passed away 15 years ago yesterday.We then traveled to Mapleton and visited with my Grandma and Grandpa Larsen. My mom and grandma gave Brynn her first haircut to just trim up her crazy hair! It's such a blessing to be close to family!

Monday Christmas Eve:

Rich got up early and ran a few last minute errands and then picked us up to head over to Chuck-E-Cheese with my family. No trip home to Utah would be complete without a visit to Chuck. The girls ran from game to game, while the boys (especially my brother Rhett) did well collecting many tickets. The girls gave them a big smile as a thank you for the fun My Little Pony set (1500 tickets) they walked out with.We always spend Christmas Eve with Rich's family. They have a wonderful meal in the dinning room with Christmas china, goblets and cloth napkins. We always eat soup in bread bowls and ham. There are enough grandchildren now that they had their very own table in the entryway. It was so funny to watch them interact with their cousins.The Jackson Three: Danny, Taylor and Rich.Rich's sister Jenny found children nativity costumes online so all the kids went in on it and bought them for his parents.They all looked darling! This is the first time ever I had been part of a nativity that the kids acted out. Matt was a wise man, Josh was a Shepard and Trey was Joseph.Brynn was a cow and Kaitlyn was the donkey.

Tuesday Christmas Day:

Santa certainly found us and to quote Rich's dad "his sleigh tipped over!" Thankfully the kids slept in until 8 AM since Santa was still delivering at 3 AM!We must have been quite good by the amount of presents he left. (And yes, all those were wrapped and shoved in three suitcases and flown from KY!)We were treated to a very white Christmas. It was so beautiful, but very cold. My Dad was up early getting the powdery snow off the sidewalks and deck.Ready, set, OPEN!Kaitlyn loves the new baby dolls.Trey finally got the Long Shot he asked for last Christmas!Brynn models her new accessories: a tutu, pink Jasmine shoes and gives a squeeze to her new dog.Josh loved his new Bionicle, but the new Build-A-Bear dog, scooter and Jazz jersey really made him smile!Kailtlyn scans the floor for more dolls to hold.Rich found a new tie, sweaters and watch under the tree.Matt loved his new Imaginex Pirate Ship.My dad shows off his new Brewer hat from Brad and a painting from my mom.Josh is in heaven!Time to eat! Every year my mom cooks a Thanksgiving meal on Christmas morning. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, peas, rolls, cranberry salad, jello and frozen strawberry dacquiri with diet Sprite. Delcious!The boys loved the turkey and chocolate cake roll for dessert!Brad, Jana and Grandma Nance.Grandma and Grandpa Larsen and Uncle Stan.

Rhett shows off his guitar skills. He got a new red eletric guitar for Christmas.Hoorah for a 5 PM phone call from Taiwan! It was 8 AM on the 26th for Kurt. We took turns talking for an hour. He sounded so happy and excited about the work.At Jacksons the girl discovered even more lovely things to wear. PJ's, dresses, tights and the cutest tutu's I've ever seen.Kaitlyn was only disappointed when there were no more things to unwrap. She really got into ripping the paper!Rich's mom waited for us to arrive to unviel his dad's new painting. It's a scene from Riverside Country Club golf course with Mt. Timpanogos in the back. Rich found it online and called his mom to give her the scoop. It was lovely day from start to finish.

Wednesday:

Another day, another party! This one was with the extended Jackson side at Noah's in American Fork. There was a basketball court, ping pong and pool tables and many people to see. Too bad it started at 3:30 PM and we (Rich's entire family) had Jazz tickets that evening, so it was a short stay for us.Rich visited with Grandma Jackson.Our brother-in-law Charlie worked his magic and got Benchwarmer tickets for the boys. They got to get in early and got player autographs and sat on the front row during warm ups.Here's Matt chatting up Jeff Hornacek. I was up in the suite with the girls and didn't realize who he was being so friendly with!Brynn has asperation to one day be a Jazz dancer. Just kidding!We had delcious food (BBQ chicken, steak, ribs, bean dip and chips, fruit, pop, and an ice cream bar) lots of room and a bathroom just for us. This is the only way to take the kiddos to a game, especially when there were 13 in tow!

My secret Christmas present to Rich was a one night stay at the SLC downtown Marriott hotel and then an entire day with me. It was wonderful! Rich's parents took the kids home with them while we stayed in SLC.

Thursday:

It was so great to have an uninterupped night sleep for once! We got up, worked out and then headed to the Gateway for a bit of widow shopping. We had lunch at Rumbi and then attended a session at the Salt Lake Temple. It couldn't have been better, well maybe if it had been 45 degrees instead of 15! I was freezing in my skirt and boots, but Rich kept me warm by giving me hugs.

While we were away, Rich's dad and Kris took the boys sledding. They are still telling us how much fun they had and how daring Halle is on the big jumps. Too bad it never really snows in Kentucky, otherwise I'd be forced to go out and buy snow bibs and sleds tomorrow!

We ended the day by meeting Rich's family at the church across the street from Rich's Grandpa and Grandma Hansen's home in Salt Lake. They recorded Grandpa discussing his life and then Grandma played the piano. It was wonderful to have it on tape forever.

Friday:
Nearing the end of our incredible run, we spent Friday morning packing (we fit it all back in the suitcases-a major accomplishment!), doing laundry and left Salem at 1 PM so we could grab the rest of our stuff in Provo. Jeff and Sarah swung by to say good bye while we gobbled up our second helping of Cafe Rio in 12 hours (I'll eat it whenever I can!) and headed out the door at 3 PM for our 5 o'clock flight. Rich's dad was driving us up when Rich's phone rang. It's never a good sign when it is Delta calling. Our 5:05 PM flight became 7:15 PM, but no worries. The boys watched a DVD, ate Burger King and the girls were very plesant while waiting. The best news was that it was not a full flight so we could use both carseats. That was one of the biggest blessings of the week!

By the time we boarded and then checked out a possible hydralic problem (false alarm) it was near 8 PM, but that just meant the girls should fall asleep soon. And thankfully they did. We watched No Reservations and had a smooth ride home landing at 1:15 AM.

Somehow Rich posses superhuman strength to stay awake while driving and got us home around 4:15 AM Saturday morning. We crawled into bed just before 5 AM. What a day. What a week. What a fabulous holiday! Hope your was just as merry and bright!