New Year

I have barely had a chance to get on the computer these past few weeks. I was lucky enough to at least get some pictures posted. It was a fun holiday season for me. My last day of work in 2008 was on Dec. 23. On Christmas Eve, I finalized all my Christmas preparations, then spent the day with Kyle, who also did not have to work. We played games with my sisters, then went to a movie. After that, we headed over to G&G V's for our traditional Christmas Eve family party. I am grateful that this tradition has held for so long. We always have a delicious ham dinner, read the navity story (we decided next year the great grandkids get to act it out), do white elephants and finish the night by watching "A Christmas Story." If you ask me and my sisters, that is the one tradition that must not be broken. In our family, we only watch "A Christmas Story" one time, and it is most often on Christmas Eve. We laugh that it is a sin for a Vernon to do otherwise. So, for dinner, we were one chair short to fit everyone, so Kyle and I got to eat at the counter. I stepped away for a minute, and when I came back I heard Andy saying to Kyle, "This is just our way of welcoming people, send them off to sit all alone in exile." Haha. Later, someone was joking about us sitting at the kids table, then Andy called it the "pre-marital table." I asked him how he could eat so much with his foot in his mouth. I love Andy, he is a very good big brother to me. For the white elephant game, I made a snow globe of a kid with his tounge stuck to a flagpole. My gift that I opened was an old ugly purse with a sequence wallet. Kyle opened a dress that gets passed through every year, but someone was nice enough to steal it so that he could get something else.
That night, I stayed in the guest room at Kyle's house so we could spend Christmas morning with his family. I woke up at about 7:30 and could not go back to sleep. His parents were up cooking breakfast, so I went out to talk to them. His brother and sister came over with their families, and we opened presents. It was fun to watch the little girls and their excitement over all their presents. They were all very kind and I recieved several presents from them. Thank you McFall's! (Kyle and Kelli you can tell your family that I said so if you read this.) Then we drove through the crazy storm to my house and had another breakfast and opened presents with my family. Summer and her family called in on the web-cam, so we got to see Jorryn playing with her new Christmas toys. Santa gave our family tickets to go see "Wicked" when it comes to town! That was my favorite gift, along with the new camera that G&G V gave me. We spent the rest of the day lazing around and watching the movies and playing the games we recieved. Kaylene was nice enough to stop by real quick to say hi. I love her so much, and miss her since she is living in AZ. Thanks for taking the time to come see me Kaylene! (The truth is, she probably wanted to meet Kyle... haha)
The day after Christmas, me and two of my friends from my mission (Stefanie and Clarissa) drove to Ramona, CA. It was so fun to be back in the mission! We went down to be there as a couple that we all taught went through the temple and were sealed as husband and wife for time and eternity. Talk about worth it! It was amazing to see these two people that I love so much, and in some ways feel as if they are my children, (they would laugh if they heard me say that) be able to recieve the amazing blessing of an eternal family! As we were leaving, Clarissa and I were talking about how the blessings of the Gospel make things that are already so happy ten billion times more happy! It's the truth. :) We spent a few more days there, running around and visiting people that we got to work with on the mission. It was busy, but a blast.
We drove back home on New Years Eve. I got home just in time to hop in my car and drive over to Jayne's house to wait for an hour for midnight, then drive home. Haha. Kyle ended up having to work until almost midnight, so we were unable to spend the time together. We did, however, spend New Year's Day together playing games at his house, then going to a movie with my family. The next day, Kyle went to visit Andy to get his teeth whitened, redeeming the prize he won in a drawing at Andy's office. He has bright shiney pearly-whites now. It was nice to have such a long break for the holidays. (All paid too! Sweet!) It was hard to go back on Monday. I have been so tired all week, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to catch up on my sleep. Oh well, it's a sacrifice worth making. Life is enjoyable, especially since I am surrounded by people I love! If you read through this whole thing, wow! You are amazing to listen to my rambling even when I am not around! Well, Happy New Year! It is going to be a great one, I can tell.