Thanksgiving this year was really simple and nice. Dallin had a great time playing with his brothers in the 6th Ward Turkey Bowl, where I’m pretty sure they dominated (at least, they seem to come home and say that every year). Then we enjoyed dinner with the Salmon family. After dinner, I spent the rest of the day planning out my Black Friday shopping. I go every year with my sister…I know I’m crazy. This year we started at 8:30 pm on Thursday and went until 7:45am. Good news – we got everything we needed, plus more (which wasn’t such good news to Dallin).
One thing I love about the holidays is being able to spend time with family. We got together with my mom’s family (Andersen) for dinner at a church in West Valley. The kids had a blast running around while the adults got a chance to catch up. A few weeks later, we had a Garlick family party; it was really fun with food and games. We all were told to wear ugly sweaters, which I couldn’t find so I had to make them. Sorry…no picture (which, on second thought, might be a good thing).
Christmas was great, except for having no snow! We not only got to welcome a new baby (Abby) to the Salmon family, but we had a lot of other fun family get-togethers. Tara, Gary, Sam and other new baby Mason came into town for an early Christmas party, to hear Lincoln’s awesome farewell talk (and he really did to AWESOME), and bless little Mason. It was great to have the WHOLE family together, but I always forget just how many of us there are (26 and counting).
During the week of Christmas, we had a great nativity reenactment (which I recorded on my phone, I’ll try to load it). Watched lots of Christmas movies, like “A Muppets Christmas Carol” (a classic) and my other favorite “The Grinch.” We finished last-minute shopping, totally pigged out on every type of food and treats, and enjoyed Dallin having some extra time off.
As far as Christmas goes, Dallin was so thoughtful and sweet, and did a great job on Christmas shopping. He got me some sweet new running shoes, a really cute sign that says “Always Kiss Me Goodnight” with our names on it (in the back ground), the movie “Tangled”, and a jar of pickles. I got him a white shirt, a BYU license plate cover (he told me I “did good”), an exercise arm band for his iPhone, and some shoe bags for when he travels. We set ourselves a budget this year, and it was really fun trying to find things on a really good deal so we could get more for our money. I actually think the budget itself was Dallin’s favorite present of all. :)
We brought in the New Year with Dallin’s family. We did an early celebration for the little kids, and it was so fun seeing all the kids go crazy blowing horns, popping bubble wrap, and dancing around the room to some pop music. We stayed as the Salmons and played games until midnight. It was really pretty low key, but loved it. Happy New Year!
After New Years, Monday to Wednesday was full of family gatherings because Dallin’s little brother Lincoln was getting ready to leave on his mission. Monday, we got up early and did some deep cleaning at Ross & Karen’s (to make an awesome play room for the grandkids), had a great BBQ for lunch, and enjoyed a Utah Jazz Basketball game that night (suite tickets!). Tuesday night we had a nice family dinner before going over to the church so Lincoln could be set apart as a missionary. I’m not going to lie, I cried a little bit. Then Wednesday we had a family lunch at Pizza Factory, said our goodbyes to Lincoln, and he was off. Dallin and I are so proud of him and how good he is, he is going to be a great missionary and the people of Chile will love him. As much as I’m sad he’s gone, I’m really excited to send letters and packages!!!
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