It seems like we've been gone FOREVER! ( We really have, though.) It's been about 3 weeks since we've been in Provo. We really enjoyed ourselves. Our house is turned upside down, we missed the first couple days of school, and I have piles and piles of laundry to get done... but it was worth it!
Bare with me.
Before we left for Texas, we went over to Nick's family's house to celebrate Nick's birthday and Christmas with them before we left. Kelly made FOUR scrapbook volumes of Nick's mission! FOUR! They're awesome! I LOVE gifts like that. She spent forever on them and we love looking through them. It's something our family will cherish forever. They also got us a video Flip for Christmas! We LOVE it.
The next day, Lance, Ashley, Nick and I piled in the 4runner and started our journey home for Texas. It took about 20 hours, but time went by fast with lots and lots of movie watching. The weather was perfect in Texas! It was SO much fun seeing my family and spending time with them. Every day we were busy doing SOMETHING. I loved seeing friends and cousins too. CJ went through the temple when we were home and it was such a special thing being in the temple together as a family. We were only missing Celeste. We were also there for his farewell in sacrament meeting. He gave SUCH a great talk, and my cousin Michael sang: I will Not Be Still and did such a wonderful job. CJ will be an excellent missionary! He is so outgoing and optimistic. He will be such a blessing to his companions and the people he comes in contact with in Brazil. I know he will just LOVE his mission! He goes into the MTC THIS Wednesday! We will miss him!
We made gingerbread houses, watched Christmas movies together, went and took a tour of the Cowboys stadium, ate lots of yummy home cooked meals, played games, ect. It's always so fun to go back home.
One of my favorite nights at home was when my dad invited one of his workers- PePe ( from Mexico) over to our house. My dad has been sharing the gospel with him and he and his family came over to have dinner and to talk with the missionaries. It was really neat because Nick and I were able to use our spanish to communicate with PePe and his family. His wife was so sweet and his 3 children were just adorable. They all came over in their suits and dresses. Very respectful little family. The spirit was so strong as we bore testimonies of our Savior Jesus Christ and the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. They're so excited to meet with the missionaries again. I love missionary work! They're such a golden family.
We had such a lovely Christmas. My mom had the house all decorated as usual. I love being home during Christmas time. We are so blessed. Thank you, mom and dad, for all you guys did for us when we were home! It was so much fun.
Our next stop was in Mesa, Arizona. We got to see Katherine and BJ and spend some time with them! We just love those guys. While we were there, we also got to see Nick's birth mom, Sina. I have never met her before, so it was really fun to see her. She was so sweet and really pretty! Nick looks JUST like his dad, but I see so much of Sina in him as well. It was good getting to spend some time with her. Nick hadn't seen her since he was 12.
We then drove to Monrovia, California and met up with Jason and McKell. Poor things. They had to take a Greyhound bus from Provo to California. They had QUITE the experience. Jason said some dude tried to sell him weed! McKell said she was freezing the whole time because the window next to her was broken! I was cracking up when they told me of their bus experience. They'll probably never do that again. haha. McKell is 4 months pregnant and they heard the heart beat about a week ago! We are SO excited for them!!
It was SO much fun getting to see Emily and her little girls. I missed seeing Ben, but he had to be back in Texas for medical school. I love Emily and our friendship. She is so good with children and she's such a delight to be around. She always makes me laugh. I LOVED getting to see her mom, Sue and seeing her WHOLE family together! (David, Kenna, Steven, Melinda, Nora, Adam, Jen and Ryan.) The whole house was full of little ones running around and it was so much fun. Jen and Ryan were SO sweet to let us stay at their cute little house down the road from Emily's mom's house. We had a new years eve party and played games and ate lots of food!
I really have been SO blessed with SO many amazing friends in my life! How did I get so lucky?
We then took off to San Pedro ( by LA) to get on our Cruise ship. It was such a blast! We played lots and lots of Monopoly and Settlers of Catan ( our new favorite game.) We just love Jason and McKell and are so grateful to have them in our lives. It was fun making more memories with them. We definitely ate our money's worth. I should have asked for a tredmil for Christmas. haha. We went to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. The waves in Cabo are insane! We LOVE playing in the water there. This huge fat guy broke his leg while we were there! Jason and Nick had to carry him back to shore. The wave totally kicked his butt. That's how crazy the waves are. I'll try to post a video of it soon. We loved just being under the hot sun, the all you can eat ice cream cones, and just being able to relax and enjoy each other's company. We tried to savor every moment. It's really hard coming back to all the snow.... I can't wait for it to get warmer!
The last night in California, we stayed in Moreno Valley at Bit's house. She recently got married, so we went to her open house. ( I wasn't able to attend her sealing because I was in Mexico. :( I was so happy to see her and Ean! They are such a beautiful couple! She looked so pretty in her wedding dress. I LOVED seeing her family too. I love going back to that place. It's so magical. I especially love Larry's ( her dad) fruit trees. You better believe we went home with a huge bag of oranges and tangerines. YUM.
What a blessed life Nick and I have! We are surrounded by amazing family and friends. We had a blast, but now we're diving head first into classes and getting back to reality! We hope you all are doing well and loving life!
Enjoy it... there's SO much to be happy about!
(the pictures are a bit out of order..... enjoy!)
Emily and Me! She's so tiny! I love you Em bo!
Steven kept on getting a million strikes. Good Job, Stizzle!
Jen, Ryan and their sweet little family. ( Jen is Emily's oldest sister.) They were so kind to let us stay at their house for a few nights! Thanks Jen!
Here's all of Sue's grandchildren. I took some of their family pictures when I was there. Aren't they all so precious?!
Emily was SO good with the kids! They all made this cute 2010 sign and Emily had them all play games and had party poppers for them and everything. So cute.
Kristi and Ean at their open house. :)
Coslett siblings. We will miss you CJ!
my parent's cute tree.
We got to see JORDAN RAY and his cute wife Lindsay when we were home! They just had a little baby boy and it was SO much fun seeing these guys!!!
Gingerbread houses! ( with my siblings)
Nick and Sina in Arizona
We took a tour of the Cowboys Stadium when we were home. WOW.
Cheerleader's locker room.
that TV behind us cost over 2 million dollars. The LARGEST tv in the world.
us in Mesa with Kat and BJ. We went and saw Avatar in 3D.
party at the Grahams!
it snowed on Christmas Eve at my house in Texas!
3 comments:
Wow! What a fun few weeks. You guys sure crammed a lot in! So Nick is adopted??? I totally had no idea. Are his siblings adopted??? That cruise looks fun, and I can't believe that Nic had to carry that man who broke his leg!
Awww Heather, I loved seeing you even though it was just for a short bit. My family keeps talking about how much fun that animal game was that you taught us...you've become the new game queen in my family.
Looks like you had such a fun vacation! Sorry you had to come back to this awful cold weather :)
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