I’ll Be Home For Christmas
WELL! Home for Christmas we were! First of all, before we
left we had a countdown chain going for the things we were most excited for. We
started in on September 22nd with 59 days until departure for Emma,
Fay, Eden and myself.
59 days: The mountains
58 days: Pinterest!
57 days: Snow
56 days: Driving faster than 50 K
55 days: Steak (Josh)
54 days: Slurpies
53 days: *Cassi arrives in 2 days and Fay and Eden turn 17
months*
52 days: Crepes with Atwoods
51 days: Play date with Jade and Macy (not enough)
50 days: Christmas toys for Fay and Eden
49 days: Christmas crafts (which never happened, if you can
believe that L)
48 days: Hopeful Brat-Pack reunion (also didn’t happen L)
47 days: Yorkshire puddings and using a washer AND dryer
46 days: Christmas Sunday (which I actually ended up singing
Tonight You Are Mine -with Kadie Beazer
and Julie Smith. We also played a violin trio that I arranged.
-A medley of The First Noel and A Poor Wayfaring Man of
Grief)
45 days: Seeing Les Miserables in theatres (SO GOOD)
44 days: Keeping busy, places to go, people to see
43 days: Chocolate!
42 days: Christmas movies
41 days: Playing my piano (Hannah & Emma) (but let’s be
clear… it’s MY piano J)
40 days: Cooking and not sweating
39 days: Cooking my new favorites for the fam.
38 days: Sleeping in a nice toasty bed and being happy about
it
37 days: Normal driving conditions. Including traffic lights
and lined roads
36 days: Wearing a seatbelt LOL (On this 36th day
Katie came over and announced that 5 weeks from this very moment we would be heading to the
airport)
35 days: Taking the girls sledding (we didn’t really do that
but Matthew did pull them around on a toboggan.
34 days: Doing my hair (Hannah & Emma)
33 days: Not worrying about shaving my legs. Hehe
32 days: Normal school (Emma)
31 days: Walmart –ha!
30 days: McDonalds (Emma)
29 days: Not being constantly hot
28 days: Roast Beef dinner! (SO GOOD)
27 days: Loooooooong, hot showers
26 days: Spending less at the grocery store… or more.
(getting more bang for your-buck)
25 days: Not having to keep all your dry food in ziplock
bags.
24 days: Taking family pics (which we did, Thanks Krystie!)
23 days: Visiting 6th ward! (Fay and Eden’s 18
month birthday)
22 days: Spending time with James and Allison
21 days: Seeing Grandma and Grandpa Reagh (which we
thankfully got to do but not for as long as we would have liked)
20 days: Catching up with friends
19 days: (November 1st) Buying a bucket of ice
cream for a ¼ of the price we pay for one here.
18 days: Play dates with Gen and Briley (didn’t happen
nearly as much as it should have)
17 days: Normal internet (even though my parents have crappy
country internet, it was still a heck of a lot better than here)
16 days: Play dates with Jodi and Allie (again, not nearly
enough)
15 days: Blizzards from DQ (I got my pumpkin pie blizzard!
Thanks Scott)
14 days: Play dates with Brittany and Laynie (lots of fun)
13 days: Seeing family (Josh’s side) and Marianne’s cooking
12 days: Alumni! (which I cheered at with Emma and some
girls from past squads)
11 days: Wearing jeans and a hoodie (Everyday J )
10 days: Getting my hair cut (thanks Brigitte! I love it) .....-------->
9 days: Being surrounded by loved ones
8 days: Watching Nana and Papa with Fay and Eden
7 days: Watching the girls play with Molly and Mr. Cat (They
LOVED the animals,
-especially Mr. Cat and new cat Rex)
6 days: Watching the girls play with Nana and Papa
5 days: The anticipation and excitement of seeing Mom and
Dad at the airport
4 days: Home cooked meals by Mom
3 days: Christmas with the all the fam
2 days: Matt and Benny
1 days: Dad!
0 days: MOMMY!!!!
Auntie Helen was down visiting and we rearranged our trip so
that we could stay with her in Toronto for a couple of days. Her, Emma, Fay,
Eden and myself left and Josh stayed to prepare and take his exams. We made him
a 16 day countdown chain which included the following:
STEAK, SLURPIES, driving fast, feeling cold, fast internet,
no school, sledding with Fay and Eden, wifey cuddling because it’s cold, Happy
19 months Fay and Eden <3<3, wings with the guys, playing and teasing
Matt and Ben, Playing ball with Brook, My mom’s food (Paige’s), Your mom’s food
(Marianne’s), excitement at the airport seeing Jenna then surprising your mom,
and seeing Fay and Eden J
It, of course, was SO awesome to see my family again! Matt
and Ben looked huge to me! I loved spending time with my parents. It’s’ always
so fun to laugh with my mom. I missed her so much. My first weekend home was
Alumni. It was a blast cheering with the girls in our again uniforms. The first
month was filled with kitchen renovations. All hands on deck! My parents hired
Josh to do most of the work- that was nice. It looks beautiful. I especially
love the turquoise island that Josh and my dad built.
My Grandpa Jack (my dad’s
dad) came to visit for a week! He was a big help. I beat him at crib both times
we played. Hehe. He told us lots of stories from his younger years, which were
very interesting. It was a special time and I loved getting to know my grandpa
better. Him and his wife Karen did a Dutch Christmas this year and gave us
Dutch ornaments of Santa Kraus on his white horse and Santa Krauss with Black
Pete. I really love that as we are living in the Dutch Caribbean.
We wish we had another week or 2 at home. And hey, we
totally could’ve rather than being stranded in St. Maarten! Oh, if we’d only known.
It was great to see some of my friends and get caught up. I
didn’t spend nearly enough time with them as I had hoped. But thank goodness
they are the kind of friends where you can just pick up where you left off. AND
thank heavens for facebook that keeps us all connected.
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| Laynie, Macy, Ryker, Eden and Fay |
The house was in a rather chaotic state until the very
moment my Uncle John and Auntie Stacy’s family walked in door. What a hilarious
moment that was. We had been stressfully working hard all day to try to get
things finished. The new kitchen sink had just been finished getting plumbed 45
minutes prior to their arrival. The vacuum was getting shoved back into it’s
closet as they walked through the door. We just laughed with each other and
felt the relief of a job well done (and accomplished!) What a wonderful time it
was. I feel like I didn’t do enough the first month I was there, then Christmas
came and family came and it was great, then my last week there was so hectic
trying to cram everything in. Some highlights from the trip were definitely
hands down Christmas with my mom’s side that came down. Sadly, my Grandpa Reagh
got very sick and was in the ICU so they couldn’t be there for Christmas. My
Uncle John and Auntie Stacy and my cousins J.P., Bailey, Brock and Kamryn came,
my Auntie Jack came, my Uncle Brad and Auntie Kristine live in Cardston so they
came and my cousins Tyler and Adrian came, Scotty came, Whitney and Weston were
there, of course James and Allison were there, we were only missing my cousin
Danielle and Tyler’s wife Cherri – And of course my Grandparents. We did have a
wonderful time together, as we are blest to always do. I enjoyed playing
man-tracker with my little brothers, Emma and some of our cousins. Kamryn and
Ben played with Fay and Eden a lot of the time. Kamryn is a natural babysitter-
it was SO nice! I can’t say enough about how fun and loving our family is. It is always a special time and we cannot get
enough of each other. There is something to be said about families such as
ours. Of course our Christmas morning
was fun watching everyone one open their gifts one at a time. We sure are
blessed. It was especially fun to see Fay and Eden with all their new toys!
Among the gifts was an I-pad for Josh (you’re welcome sweety) a kindle and a
photography reflector for me (thank you Josh) and canisters for my kitchen
(thank you mom!) A few of Fay and Eden’s gifts include a Dora tunnel tent,
bikes, stick horses, baby dolls, and books. We served Christmas dinner at the
soup kitchen. There were a lot of us there to serve so the cousins sang
Christmas carols. A few of us played cards with some of the recipients and one
man taught us how to play an Indian hand game. We all enjoyed serving that day.
We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas dinner that evening. We watched some home
movies, did a little Zumba warm up and played White Elephant.
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| Fay singingJingle Bells with Nana |
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| Eden and Nana, fish-lips kisses |
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| Opening presents at Grandma Marianne and Grandpa Joel's house. |
Boxing day was spent at Josh’s mom’s house with Marianne,
Joel, Jenna, Brook, Kayla and Alexa. We enjoyed a wonderful meal (as we always
do when we go there) which included Marianne’s famous potatoes that seem to now
be called ‘Hannah’s favorite potatoes.” Fay and Eden love to play with the toys
at Grandma Marianne and Grandpa Joel’s house.
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| Auntie Jenna feeding Fay ice-cream |
We went to Jenna’s new house for New Year’s Eve. She
recently bought her own home in town and it’s so great! We ate LOTS of food and
had a lot of fun playing Scum and crud. We also did a little bit of dancing do
Gangnum Style.
Grandma and Grandpa Reagh were feeling better and came up
for a visit. I just love those two. The time we had with them was short but
special. My Grandpa is the type of person who sees the best in people and
always gives the benefit of the doubt. He is always willing to give the shirt
of his back. My Grandma is the sweetest woman. She is such and example to me
and I adore her.
Must make mention again of my gratitude to those individuals
who helped clothe my girls for the cold! Auntie Helen, who so graciously bought
them new coats and some super cute outfits, Marianne who bought them a few
outfits too, my mom who bought them Sunday clothes, boots and jammies, Peggy
Sanders for lending us her granddaughters snow suits and Dawnette Gregson for
letting us borrow her baby monitor. They made this trip so doable for us. Also
a huge thank you to my Mom and Dad for flying me home and us back and to Jenna
for her contributions to Josh’s flight.
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