Christmas and New Years

A little late, but...

Christmas break couldn't have come soon enough after finishing an exhausting semester at school. Bridger, Dallan and I headed to Eagle on December 18th and were able to spend 2 whole weeks in Idaho! It was heavenly. We were able to celebrate McKay's birthday going to Sakura (the Japanese restaurant where they cook in front of you), followed by seeing Inception at the dollar theater for the first time. I know, I know- we were a little late on that one. But ohmy word- that movie is so great. It keeps you thinking that's for sure. We also went to my grandma and grandpa's for the annual gingerbread house making. Bridger helped little Burke with his house.

We headed up to McCall on the 21st to celebrate Christmas in a winter wonderland at the cabin. Time was spent lounging, sledding, games, watching football, and lots and lots of movies. Oh and how can I forget... Ticket to Ride. We only played about 30 games. Holy moly we played it a lot! The boys also made a sweet jump from the snow that has been plowed into a big mound. One person would drive the snowmobile that pulled the snowboarder. They would be pulled down the steep driveway, the snowmobile would veer off, and the snowboarder continued straight and hit the jump. Below I got a pretty sweet picture of Dallan midair!

Christmas Eve, Daniel, Sarah, Steve and Grandma Turnbull were able to join us. Christmas was wonderful, as it always is. My mom sure knows how to put on a magical Christmas. As my uncle Steve put it, "I've never had such a Christmasy Christmas." We cut down our own Christmas tree, sled behind the car, read the nativity story from the Bible, watched Rudolf the Rednose Reindeer, went for a midnight walk in the snow holding lanterns and walking below the prettiest, most snow-laden trees you can imagine. Christmas Eve was complete with Christmas pajamas and hot chocolate.

We were also able to see Bridger's family while up in the mountains. After we spent a relaxing morning opening presents we headed to Pete and Marianne's cabin for an afternoon/evening with the Booras family. We made cute Christmas desserts/goodies, had a yummy dinner and opened presents together. Oh yeah- and Christmas was complete when Bridger was pulled over on the way to their cabin (insert eye roll here). Fortunately, he wasn't ticketed, but it doesn't give him the best track record for driving up there on Christmas day. Three years ago while we were engaged he was at our cabin with us, and due to the weather my mom insisted that he needed to stay for Christmas- and I wasn't going to complain :) When he left Christmas afternoon he entered the canyon to see a car spinning in front of him. What are you supposed to do when there is a mountain to your right and oncoming traffic and the river to your left? Anyway- his car was totaled and that started this Christmas day curse in McCall!

When we returned back to Eagle we celebrated Daniel's birthday with dinner and yet another movie (True Grit is really good- you should go see it). Our family exchanged sicknesses and most of us rotated the next several days with sore throats and raw noses. But I managed to spend my time doing puzzles, reading here and there, and visiting friends once I was better. We also spent an evening with Bridger's sister Lindsy and her husband Tyler which we always really enjoy. We don't get to spend nearly enough time with them so it's good when we get to!

On New Years Eve Bridger and I were able to go to the Boise State basketball game with his dad and Marianne. They were behind the entire game but managed to make a comeback and even make it a victory! Later that night we stuffed ourselves silly at dinner. Nothing like a food coma to bring in the New Year! We returned to my parent's house to raise some sparkling cider glasses, throw some confetti around, open our fortune cookie to read what 2011 would bring to each of us, and bust some moves to Just Dance 2 on the Wii. At 2 in the morning I was crying from laughing so hard while dancing to Beyonce's Crazy in Love. McKay knew how to strut his stuff!

We returned to Provo on January 2nd with the daunting reality that school started the next day (for me that is). Not only did school start, but I was hit with yet another daunting reality- I had our 'End of Year 1' test three days after coming back that I hadn't studied for. Whoops. I spent the next two days studying my brains out. Before receiving our scores, our administration informed us, or should I say, chastised us, for our poor performance. We had done 'significantly worse' than any previous years. They dropped that bomb on us and then let us just let that soak for a good couple hours before receiving the news of if we would have to remediate or not (if you didn't get a certain score, you have to stay after school to study and take the section of the test you didn't pass). Fortunately for me, I only missed 10 of 160 questions so I passed with flying colors! No remediation for me! Wahoo!

So there you have it- that was our Christmas break. These holiday posts always take me so long to write because I want to really document what we did- no wonder it takes me so long to actually write it- it just overwhelms me!

Here are some pictures, in no particular order. I couldn't bring myself to organize them- Enjoy!