Christmas Vacation 2008

We went to Utah to spend Christmas with the Dodge family this year! It was a super white Christmas. We had lots of fun, beginning with our drive there. It is about 800 miles from California to Utah. We decided to drive it to save money and test out our new Subaru.

It took us about 12 hours total each way. To break up the drive we stayed in Reno one night each way. On the way there we stayed at the Peppermill. This is our favorite getaway place. On the way back we stayed at the Nugget. This was not our favorite, but it was the only thing available. From Reno to Utah there is NOTHING!!! What a boring drive, but it gave me a chance to do a lot of reading as Andy was focused on driving and not much of a talker. Not much snow on the roads, but lots on the mountains. We hit more snow on the way back from storms that hit over Christmas. So, we made it there in one piece and were go go go for the duration of the trip. The first morning there, we woke up to Courtney making french toast for everyone. What a treat! She is a great cook. We then got ready to go sledding at the snow park. We had to cram all of us into the Subaru in our snow gear, what fun. It was Andy, Me, Chris, Courtney, Sean, and Cassie. We had a blast and it even started snowing on us. We had a few competitions to see who or what team could sled downhill the fastest. Courtney and Cassie won one and Andy and Chris won one.

We got tired and cold and went home to mac and cheese for lunch. Again, Courtney cooked for us. We spent the afternoon playing games (sequence, WII, guitar hero) with the family. Courtney and I worked in the kitchen on baking chocolate chip and sugar cookies. I guess you have to change the recipe and temperature for high altitude because our cookies came out flat! Oh well, the dough was great! For dinner we had pulled pork BBQ sandwiches, which were awesome! Wednesday was another full day. The kids opened up the WII, Rockband and played all morning long. What fun and noise! haha. Teresa, Courtney, Andy and I went for a tour of Salt Lake City for most of the afternoon. We got to visit temple square, which was beautiful.

We also went to Capela's (outdoorsman store). This was a real treat for us all, especially Andy. He began to disappear everytime we turned around and has now been labeled as Phantom! We ate there at the restaraunt and then headed home. That evening was Christmas eve so we all piled in the vehicles and made the drive to Aunt Deedee's and Uncle Mick's. What a beautiful home! We got to see family that I haven't seen in years and Andy got to meet many of them for the first time. We really enjoyed ourselves. We had a delicious meal and then began the traditional sled competition. We make chocolate bar sleds and race them down the stairs! What fun it was. Each family gets to make one. Andy and I were so proud that we got to make one as the Mujica family...sounds silly but it made us feel so good to be labeled a family. Maybe in a year or two we will add little ones to our family. Cassie and Sean were part of our team as they had done this before and we had not. We only won one race, but truly enjoyed the laughter and comraderie of the event. We did win the golden ticket though! We felt special. After games/competition we mellowed out and began the program portion of the evening. Every family usually performs something musical, a reading of some sort, or a story. It is my favorite part, even though I get shy and usually avoid performing. I love watching the others. Many of the kids played the piano or sung. Such talented individuals. It was a beautiful time. Aunt Deedee read a story that I thought was beautiful on the Lone Pine Tree. After this, it was time to head home in order to beat the storm that was coming in. Andy, Sean, and I were in the Subaru(Snoopy Sierra) and we got separated from Dad and Teresa. So, we got a little lost and while doing so the storm hit! It was snowing pretty hard, but thankfully we have AWD and Sean was with us so we made it home safely. We all went to bed and the next morning we woke up to a beautiful White Christmas morning. We had waffles for breakfast and opened gifts. We loved all of our gifts. We got a coffee/hot chocolate travel set, a wall decor picture, and some Utah memorabilia clothing. The kids seemed to enjoy their gifts as well. After cleaning up we headed out to the backyard to play football in the snow. Never play girls against boys in a sport that the girls do not even play! They kicked our but. However, Dad came out and rescued us. We started scoring a few points once he took over as QB. It was lots of fun.

We spent the rest of the day playing games. There was a lot of the WII, rockband going on, rummy cube, buzz word (Chad's family got that for the family, it is the best game ever!), and others. We had a rib roast for dinner, which was excellent (Teresa made it). After dinner we spent the night playing WII, Bowling. That is fun. Andy and I want to get a WII now too. The best game is WII, Boxing though. We have video of Andy and I playing that one. Haha. The next morning it was time for us to leave. We didn't want to go as we had such a fun time, but had a long trip ahead of us. So, began the long boring trip home. I did a lot more reading and sleeping. Saturday we finally got home and found our mail box full of cards and gifts from friends/family. So, it was christmas all over again! We got some great things. We are very blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends. This christmas was very memorable. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!