Holidays

Well I've basically proven to be exactly what I didn't want to be... a bad blogger!! I haven't wrote in forever but I'm going to just blame it on the holidays and keep trying!  So... where to begin, life has been great, the holidays where wonderful and relaxing! For Thanksgiving we had a very exciting filled weekend in Elk Ridge with Troy's family.  We did all sorts of activities, cooking, eating, laughing, games... pretty much everything! And me and Troy where very pleased to beat almost everybody at the "newly wed" couples game.  After only being married for 4 months we beat his siblings and their spouses, as well as his parents, and even grandparents! Once we got home from Thanksgiving, it was time to start getting ready for finals, so that was not fun and we where both ready to just be done with school! But the weekend before finals week, Troy's brother Tyson got his family's van stuck in the snow in Idaho so we took a road trip up there to visit with his cute little family and Troy helped pull him out with his winch and Jeep.  It took them quiet a long time and me and Cambria where starting to wonder if they where alright, until Troy started sending me snap chats of their new  off-roading past time called "vanning." Where basically Tyson just runs his van into snow banks! hahahaa We made it home in time for finals, then packed up and headed off for the Holidays! We drove all through the night on Friday and got to Weldon, California by like 3 in the morning where we spent a week hanging out with Troy's parents, old high school friends, and just exploring his little home town! It was great! I was especially excited about the redwood trees, because I've never seen them before and I was just really excited to walk through a tree cave!!! It was awesome!! It was also way fun having bonfires and late night adventures with all of our California friends, it made me feel like a high schooler again! The one sad part about California was we left Mr. Bigglesworth there to be sold :( We didn't have a buyer when we left but knew we could get a little more out of it in California then Utah so we left it with one of Troy's friends and caught a ride back to Utah with Troy's parents. I can't tell who was more sad about selling the Jeep, me or Troy... for Troy he will just buy another one and have just as good of a time modifying it and fixing it up, he was kind of done with that one anyway.  But for me, that was where we met, fell in love, practically every memory of us dating starts and ends with that Jeep!  and it was also my best method for getting my treasures home from the DI, I am really limited to smaller purchases with a small car!! So anyway, I was sad to leave it behind but happy that Troy was willing to give it up to provide for our family. So we made our way back to Utah a couple of days before Christmas where we spent time with my family! Christmas Eve was full of the usual traditions we had a beautiful dinner on my mom's brand new dinning room table set! It was gorgeous! Then Troy and I played Mary and Joseph in the Christmas nativity, we read "T'was the Night Before Christmas," watched a Christmas movie, baked Santa cookies and treats, did a Christmas puzzle and opened matching pajamas for the whole family!! Whoa... that was a lot!! I think even my warnings before hand couldn't have prepared Troy for the tradition overload he would encounter on Christmas Eve, but me and my mom have this problem where we can't let any of them go so every year we are faced with the same issue of way too many fun things to do the night before Christmas! It's OK tho, we love it all, Troy was especially into the Christmas puzzle, maybe he was just bored while I spent all day cooking but Troy, Treven, my Uncle Spencer, and my Grandma where very into getting the puzzle completed, it was actually really funny to see Troy and Treven sitting there for hours trying to find the correct pieces and how excited they would get when they completed a large section! After we all changed into our matching Jammies, Troy and I couldn't break tradition so we slept down stairs with my brothers and talked about what gifts would be waiting for us in the morning, just like we where little kids!! Christmas day was great, we got to watch the boys open all of their gifts, and open some of our own... my mom made adorable new stockings out of old sweaters so that Troy could have one on the mantle so we got new toothbrushes and candy in those and my parents spoiled me with some new clothes and an amazing new digital sewing machine!!! And they gave Troy a new tool set which will be very nice because as of now his tools are a scattered mess of mis-matched mayhem.  I got Troy a drill and some bits (mostly so he could help me hang pictures and decorations at our house, so it was really a present for me too!) And he took me much needed shoe shopping a couple of days before and bought me some sensible black flats as well as some not so sensible bright turquoise very high heels... which he helped pick out so I love!! After Christmas we got to see Troy's family again, and give them some of our presents and open some from them, Troy's dad spoiled Troy with the new hand gun he has been DYING to get so we where both happy with that and I was spoiled with photoshop, as well as baby clothes, and much needed kitchen appliances.  They also gave us a beautiful picture of Christ which Troy just barley hung up on our wall with his new drill!! It was all very nice and Troy and I where just overwhelmed with gratitude and love for our amazing families!! The rest of the break was great, full of lots of family, we went to the Crystal hot springs with Troy's family, which was great for Troy boy because he LOVES hot tubing, not so great for me, being 20 something weeks pregnant, but I stuck my feet in and wore a hoody to keep warm! By the time New Years Eve rolled around Troy got sick, and ended up sleeping through what would have been our very first New Years kiss :(... well I went and woke him up at like 12:05 to kiss me but I don't know if that counts! He was up and feeling better within a couple of days and we headed down to Emery county where my amazing Aunt Ashley threw me such a cute baby shower, it was pink everywhere and the food was so delicious, and I was happy all of my family could make it!! I especially had fun opening adorable little baby clothes and hearing everyone's mothering advise!! Also in Emery County was my sweet Grandma Hansen's 80th birthday party!! Setting up and decorating for that was a blast Troy somehow got put in charge of rigging up the giant balloon streamers from the ceiling, and he did great, even after being told what to do by 8 crazy Hansen woman at once! The party was super fun and sweet, we all told stories and memories of grandma and everyone was in a constant loop of laughing and bawling... Troy was just laughing, mostly at me, because he thinks it's funny how emotional I am lately! We headed home to Logan from the party with a car full of gifts and goodies and hearts full of happiness and love for our families!! We where so thankful to be able to spend the whole break visiting with all of our loved ones but we where excited to get back home to start a new year, a new semester, and a new adventure here at Utah State.