The last few years we have spent the week leading up to Christmas and Christmas Day at home. We do a lot of things with Ben’s family during that time and we really enjoy just watching our kids on Christmas morning and being able to give them all of our attention. Then the day after Christmas we leave the toys and gifts and jump in the van to spend the week in California at my parents house. We are good friends with highway 80 now but this is the first year that we’ve had to deal with storms and watching the weather. Donner Pass has just been snowy this season. Anyway, we made it there with a storm entering the great state of Nevada where it felt like we were the only car on the road and we were making our own tracks in the snow covered road and then as we were leaving NV we had to inch along in bumper to bumper traffic and icy roads to get down out of the mountains. But luckily the Packers game was on the radio and we still made it in 12ish hours ( I don’t remember exactly). On the way home we got lucky and just missed the storm again so we had nice clear roads and even blue skies for part of the trip – we managed to make the return trip in 10 1/2 hours! That’s about as fast as it gets without really speeding. The trick for us was only stopping twice instead of three times… next time we might shoot for one stop! Our kids would be amazing if they could pull that off – actually my bladder would be amazing if we could pull that 🙂
Anyway, we had a super fun week with my parents and some of my siblings. We left Sunday and didn’t come back until the next Monday. My mom gave a good summary of our week in her email to my brother Sean on his mission so rather than typing it all up again I’ll insert her summary here:
Well, it doesn’t seem like Jana and Ben have been here a whole week! They’re all packed up and leaving in the morning; Shannon, Kelsey and Brady left this morning, with Josh and Katie- they made it safely- we were pretty worried about them going over Donner but they didn’t have to chain up, and made pretty good time.  We all went to dinner at Hulas on Monday night; Also on Monday day we went to the park and the guys all played frisbee golf, then we went to get yogurts; Tuesday Joel had to leave to go back to Utah- they left at 4:00 a.m. to beat the storm; we played at the church and rode the little cars that Kev and Liz’s kids got for christmas- the funniest was watching Cali and Ella try to drive- Ella would press on the accelerator with her leg stretched as far as she could while Cali steered- very cute! That evening after we fixed dinner, Christy and Rob left for the cabin… Wednesday we went shopping, returned a few things (just the females:) ), fixed a late dinner, played games- (of course during any down time there were games being played- lots of Dominion, some nertz, rook, ticket, hand and foot,etc…) Thursday Dad and I both worked, kev and Liz and J and B played some more frisbee golf at the park, then that night I babysat while they got together with all their friends- about 20 kids- they went to dinner at the Depot then played games at Kevin and Liz’s. The kids all watched Gordy and had a sleepover in the family room. New Year’s Eve we had a bunch of snacks and just hung out here, playing games- Shannon went to Becca’s, had a few friends over there, Brady and Kelsey went to the YSA Party in Gridley- they went all out with fun activities for that- New Year’s Day we went to the church and played B-ball- that was fun, then had dinner, watched football, watched the kids playing- all in all it was a fun, happy week! I love my family- missed you and Ryan and Tara and John and Tracie, but at least we got to talk to everybody:)
Uncle Brady entertaining all of the nieces and nephews.
Rose got some cute new dresses from Grandma and she got held a lot, even spoiled - in fact she has needed a lot of attention this week as we adjust back to normal life.
Pacen and Benji were so excited to show each other their new toys - the DS and the PSP! N-E-R-D-S
Chillin with Grandpa on our last day...
I always love “going home” – and after 14 years of not officially living there anymore it still feels like home. I spent my entire childhood in that exact house and a lot of the people that influenced me as a kid are still there. I love it. I got to see some of my good friends from high school and not only reminisce but also make some new memories on the soccer field, at the Depot, playing the music game and on the basketball court. Peace Out Oroville – we’ll be back soon 🙂
