Christmas Vacation

(Nothing like the movie)

I guess I'm underlining everything, stupid blogger.

Anyway, I was waiting for my mom to send me pictures from our trip since a) the battery was dead on my camera and the charger is no where to be found and b) Kiel and I always have a baby in our arms which makes it difficult to take pictures. But my technology incompetent mother does not know how to send an attachment in an email, so I'll be waiting for quite awhile. I think she wants to send them snail mail. So, here is what I have scrambled off of our phones and I'll fill in the pieces with my eloquent words of wisdom (you'll be smarter after reading this, if you feel the opposite read the disclaimer at the bottom.)

Shall we start with packing? (I know what you're thinking, "thank goodness the underline is gone!") It took me three days to pack. BUT, I didn't forget anything, at MY house anyway, I can't say that for the stops we made along the way.

These adorable boots deserve a picture of their own. Rhyan's winter wear ;)

Our two week vacation insisted on a lot of driving, Kiel and I decided that driving through the night would be best so the kids would be asleep and we could use our stops to fill up and get back on the road. Yep, we're genius like that. Anyhoo, as you can tell from the picture above or you might have already known because of Facebook (stupid social media, really ruins a good foreshadow) the boy didn't sleep, AT ALL. And we were exhausted as well. Whenever we tried to pull off the road to get some shut eye, the babies would cry, our only solution was to keep driving. Somehow, we made it safely to Frannie's (yep, call her that for now on) where we slept and then packed up to head to Brittany and Gabe's and then to Oregon.

Bruce in the rabbit pen.

Bruce and Luke playing with the bunnies on the front lawn while we pack up the car.

The girl wasn't the best traveler either but as long as she was sleeping we were driving and Bruce was usually hollering. We decided to leave Brittany and Gabe's at around three and hoped the kids would be better travelers. Long story short it was still a nightmare but we made it to my mom's at midnight and promised not to do long drives for a couple of days.

Oregon was a lot of fun. My mom and stepdad, George live on 8 acres, surrounded by a forest. They have chickens and goats and frequent visits from deer and other wild animals. They have a beautiful garden that George takes care of and grow almost anything and everything. They can during canning season and we got to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Home made apple and grape juice, salsa, pickles, beef jerky, and eggs fresh from the farm are just a few of the many things we ate the week we were there. I felt like I gained ten pounds but after hopping on the scale that couldn't possibly be true because it would have meant I weighed my goal weight before the trip.

Nana and papa have a season pass to Wildlife Safari and some friends of theirs gave them a pass for four to feed the lions. Kiel, George and I fed four lions. These are massive animals. We were in a tiny cement hallway with only thick mesh wire keeping us away from these lions, who wanted to eat us. It was amazing to hear them roar and watch them eat and see them up close. The pictures don't do their size justice, but we were RIGHT there.




Afterwards it was too late to drive through the zoo so we visited my Aunt Myrtle, who is the only one left living in my grandmother's generation. It was great to see her and introduce her to our children. It made me wish that my grandma was still alive so she could meet our babies as well.

We also took Bruce to the Umpqua river and on the way back we noticed a pig farm. We stopped and asked if we could visit. We showed Bruce baby pigs and a baby calf. He was more interested in the play set. I didn't grow up on a farm but I raised lambs, pigs and steers for 4-H and rode horses since I was five and was even good enough to compete in Gymkhana and win many gold buckles. I want to get back to riding and maybe even have a horse of my own again and hope to pass some of my skills to my kiddo's. But who knows, Bruce doesn't like to touch the animals just look but he's still young.

Here's a picture of the princess because she's adorable.

We definitely wore the boy out!

Christmas Eve we celebrated with a small group and feasted on all the goodness my parents made. We also opened all of our presents. Growing up, my family holidays have always been split up between both parents. We celebrated Christmas Eve with my mom and Christmas day with my dad. I'm not quite sure what our family tradition will be as far as what day we open gifts but I'm leaning more towards Christmas day. My mom always did a great job of making the holidays fun and a big deal. While we were there we drove through Roseburg park where they had Christmas lights set up throughout the entire park. It was awesome. The rotary club make them every year. As a kid we would drive through the neighborhoods and look at Christmas lights every year. Bruce really enjoyed the lights.

Christmas morning Bruce and Rhyan opened their stockings and gifts they got from Santa. We also went to church. I think Christmas should be on a Sunday every year. I loved going to church on Christmas.
The next day it was time to go halfway home and hang out with our family in the bay area. The ride home was much better than the way up.
The cousins enjoyed sharing their Christmas gifts. Bruce really liked riding in Ashton and Luke's Ford F150. And Luke liked to play with Bruce's police car (tiny, toy police car.)
We also went to Chuck E. Cheese and played with Jacob and Natalie Erlick's little boy. Here's Bruce in another truck. (I think he would gladly trade his reading chair for one of these.)
We had a lovely dinner with my dad and Karen. My only living grandpa was there and he met our children for the first time. It was so fun. We also had dinner at Brittany and Gabe's the night we got into town with Omi and Opa and Celia. Brittany finally had her baby on her due date and we saw little Sophie in the hospital. It was a great trip!

Kiel and I also went house hunting in Brentwood. We've been thinking about buying a home for awhile and we have been looking in the bay area. The homes in Brentwood are huge and decently priced. I've checked out the schools and in the neighborhood we want to buy the elementary school is rated 9/10. Besides it being next to Antioch and Oakley it's absolutely perfect.
Unfortunately the palm tree is in the way and covers up the beauty of this home. It's actually quite massive (3,500 sq ft) and beautiful in the inside. The palm tree would be the first thing to go if we bought this house.
So after driving through, we were sold. Kiel put in his transfer paper work and we are hiring a realtor. We hope to be in one of these babies by June this year! It will be bitter sweet. We love where we live now and the friends we have made but are anxious to have a place to call our own and a ward to raise are children up in.

Merry Christmas all, it was a wonderful vacation and so nice to see everyone~