Christmas 2008 in AZ

Okay. It's only 2 weeks late.

We went to AZ for Christmas this year, and it was so much fun. We took two days to make the drive, stopping in St. George overnight. Then, for the first time, we drove through Las Vegas, instead of Flagstaff. Oh my gosh! It was so much better, in case any of you are like us and have to drive these directions. We stayed at my sister, Tawnya's house, and my oldest sister, Tina, also stayed there with her family. They came all the way from PA. They flew. They're so smart. It was a great time. We got there on Christmas eve, in time to eat, stuff 21 stockings, send all the kids on a treasure hunt for them, watch them put on their annual nativity play,

and then have our traditional white elephant gift exchange. This year we actually had a white elephant in it. Christmas was just a day to open presents and hang out. I can't remember what we did the rest of that day. The next day we visited some good friends for lunch,

Saul and Tonya and their family, and in the evening I hung out with my friends from college, and it was so much fun! I forget how good it is just to talk and play with them. We all act like college kids again. We had a fun white elephant gift exchange, and caught up on what we've been up to.

Rachel and Tamra

Carla with the hat she's been needing for these frigid AZ winters!

Rachelle, Heather, Edith and me when Heather made her surprise visit

The day after that, we got to take lots of 4-wheelers and dirt bikes out to the desert to play. We had hotdogs and s'mores, and that was one of the coldest days there. The rest of the time was all t-shirt weather! I loved it!

Mom and Dad Clifford on their 4-wheeler (looks like Mom could use Carla's hat)

Modern-day 3 amigos: 3 of my brothers (I think- they all look alike in helmets)

Treavor and his family

Tina's a crazy driver!

My dad with a sleepy Emmrie

Neil's present was a round of golf, but when he found out it wasn't any more expensive to golf in AZ, he went four times. We played our family card game one night, called "Hand and Foot", I met my little brother's girlfriend for the first time, and she's awesome, I got to go shopping, we went out to dinner while my mom babysat for us, we went to my parents' ward for church, where I saw quite a few friends from days past, and for New Years, Neil hosted a game his Dad does for us every year: "Let's Make a Deal". It was so fun for the kids who stayed up late enough to play, and Neil had fun hosting it. I don't remember much else, but it was a blast, and I was sad to leave. Some days I wish we could move back, but we love where we are, dang it. We'll have to be snowbirds, I guess.

Emmrie with her favorite cousin, Gentry

The girls of our family: Tawnya (with 2 of her kids), Tina, me, and Mom

Neil hosting "Let's Make a Deal" for all the kids who stayed awake for the New Year

We stopped in St. George on the way back home, and since Neil had never been to Las Vegas before, I suggested we drive down the Strip at 8:00 Friday night. It took us way too long, and after passing several wedding chapels, tattoo shops, cash loan stores, and night clubs, we made it to the bright casino lights. It was cool for a while, until we got sick of the long traffic lights, and had seen enough of the mobile billboards for dancing girls on trucks and people. Wow, it's a crazy place. Been there, done that. No more, thanks! When we got home, we pulled into the garage to find that the door into the house was open. We had someone watch Kali while we were gone, and asked him to change her water so it wouldn't freeze, and let her in at night so she could sleep where it was warmer. Well, as I've found out from other friends and neighbors, Kali growled at him when he came to put her out the day after we left, and he got scared. So he decided to leave her in the house, and just keep the door open enough for her to go outside to poop. Good thing we found no poop in the house, I guess. But we found everything that had been on our counter, including the phone, mangled on the floor. And the thermostate was working overtime to keep our living room at 70 degrees. The bedrooms, whose doors were luckily closed before we left town, seemed to be boiling hot, and all I could think was, "I don't want to see our next gas bill after ten days of this." Lovely. Merry Christmas.