I Have Free Time? No Way!

So, it's President's Day, and I have two hours of free time. I did enough lesson planning during the week, that I'm not worried about that, and my lesson prep only took me about an hour. Now, if I was in Orem, I would be in my classroom and have plenty to do, but seeing as I'm in Hooper, I've done all that I can, and still have to wait two hours before Clayton gets home. Now, I brought a book along with me to Hooper, so I REALLY want to be reading it, but seeing as I haven't blogged in quite some time, I figured I would try to knock out a post or two.

Let's see, I should probably write about my Christmas trip back home. But, seeing as it's been so long, I'm sure I'm going to leave out things. I know my family will comment and fill in any missing details though, I'm I feel good enough about writing now :o) Hmmm..... I couldn't go home until some ridiculous time like the 23rd or something because we were still in class. That was new to me. I usually scheduled Christmas break around finals, and I could always manage to knock out my finals in the first couple days and then peace out. Not this year. I went up to Ogden the night before, so that Grandpa could drive me to the airport. That was nice, because Aunt Leslie was over at Grandma and Grandpa Smith's so I got a nice little visit with her. Then it was to bed early because I had a pretty early flight to catch. And, knowing me, I was there WAY earlier than I needed to be, there was NO line, and so I waited a very long time in the airport. Whatever though, I was on my way home and didn't have much to worry about, so it just gave me extra time to read my John Grishem book. (Although, let's face it, sometimes there is only so much reading I can take, especially when other people are being noisy around me and I can't concentrate very well. So the wait in the airport wasn't really THAT okay.)

As soon as I'm home, Dad picks me up and drops me off at Kim's house. I walk into her place and it's swarming with little kids, not all of them hers :o) So I get big hugs and kisses from the boys, and then help Kim watch the other rascals that she's babysitting. Once the excess children left, I had lots of time to play with the baby. Oh, Aaron is so cute. He had just been testing out his walking ability, and when he took 14 steps toward me, that was the most he had ever gone (right after I left, he apparently started walking everywhere, so it's less exciting now, but it was fun for me). Then I helped pick up the house a little bit, and Kim was all set on having me cook dinner for her when Dana called and invited me over to play games at the Hansen's. Work for Kim? Or play with the Hansen's? Yeah, sorry Kim, Dana won out that time. So I went over and played some games with the Hansen family. Although I feel like that family is too cool for me, they are actually really nice, and I had a really fun time. Except I don't really like playing gambling games with them. One, because my luck sucks, and two, it was a new game to me so I had the unlucky advantage there again. They Hansens never gamble for money, they gamble for having to eat nasty crap. Lucky for me, the loser had to eat a slice of jalepeno. Not super fantastic, but something I could handle. Good thing too, because I had to do it like three times. LAME!

The next day was Christmas Eve already. I think I went and ran some errands with Dana. Yeah, shopping on Christmas Eve is not all that fun, it's crowded!!!! But whatev', I was just going to be cleaning the house anyway, so at least shopping with Dana gave me some company. I can't remember what else happen that day, but I know that that night we had our traditional beef stick and crackers for dinner while the whole family came by to visit (in shifts). Grandma and Granddad came by for a little while too.

Christmas Day wasn't like it used to be, but I guess that's just what happens when you grow up. Kim and Ben were going to have Christmas at their house first before coming over, which meant that no one else could open presents until 9:00, when they came over. I thought that was lame, but Dana told me that she and Josh wouldn't open presents either and that they'd wait just like Mom, Dad, and I so that made it easier. But, since we weren't opening presents real early, I decided I didn't have to get up super early. I set my alarm for 8:00 or something like that and I was all set to sleep in. Yeah, Dad had other plans. He called my phone at 6:00 and asked why I wasn't up yet. Because Christmas isn't starting until 9:00, now go back to sleep. I tried to go back to sleep, but only got in an extra half hour before Clayton texted me to tell me Merry Christmas. That was it, after being called and texted, I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep, so I got up. And had nothing to do for a very long time :o( Dana and Josh came over and so we called Kim to see how close she was. The little booger hadn't even gotten dressed yet. So we ate breakfast while they lolly-gagged their way over to Mom and Dad's. Then the opening began. I got some fun stuff, but I hadn't asked for much, because it had to fit in a suitcase back. I think the "best" gift came from Kim. She had already told me that she was going to just give me money, and I told her she ruined the surprise and so she had better at least wrap it well. So she did. She wrapped it in at least three different boxes, with lots of wrapping paper, and lots of crazy-A ribbon. Then, when I finally got to it, it was a roll of gold coins. I was proud of her creativeness. Oh, but speaking of creative, Dana made me the most insane computer bag. I remember her asking me forever long ago which of two fabrics would make the cutest bag. I guess she had wanted to make it for me for my birthday, but it was taking too long, so she moved it to Christmas. She told me that she must really love me because the bag was such a dog-gone bugger to make (my words, not hers :o) Later that afternoon we headed up to Grandma and Granddad's house and had a nice family visit with them, and the Keith Kerby family. As always, that was a fun visit. The best part there was that the boys and Kristin started playing a hide and go seek game. Uncle Keith and Aunt Amy were ready to leave, so I called Jon to let him know, but he didn't answer. So I texted Jon and Ryan to tell them their family was leaving. They thought it was just a ploy to get them out of hiding, so they almost got left. Ha :o)

The day after Christmas I went shopping with Kim and Mom, then half way through the day it changed to Dana, Dad, Mom, and I. We did a lot of shopping that day :o) And, the greatest find of the day... I finally found a pair of black boots! I had been looking all over for a pair, and couldn't find cute ones. Then we walk into Papaya, and Dana points on the floor to a single pair of black boots. They're cute, I try them on, they're my size! It must have been meant to be Lo)

Now, I can't remember the dates of everything, but these are some of the other things I did while I was home. I hung out with Emily and Mindy so we could swap stories, seeing as we're all really bad at keeping in touch with each other. I went and saw a movie with Ryan Butler who I just so happened to run into Sunday at church. I went to the Wild Animal Park with Kim, Dad, and the boys. I went to La Jolla with Kim and the boys. I went to a Da Vinci exhibit at Balboa Park with Dana and Mom. Oh yeah, and I got new running shoes, and the second day I was testing them out with Kim and Dana on a nice, early morning run, Kim tripped me in the middle of the road and I seriously scrapped my hand. But instead of turning back, Kim gave me her extra top which I wrapped around my hand to stop the bleeding, and we kept going. We're hard core like that :o)

There's probably some other stuff in there that I'm leaving out, and sorry I'm not going into detail about the other activities, but I don't want this post to be a gabazillion pages long, and it definitely would be if I kept going. But like I said, if my family realizes I left something major out. By all means, let me know (in a nice way you boogers :o)