All Aiden Wanted For Christmas Were His Two Front Teeth.
Well, I hope that everyone had a good Christmas. This year we decided to start a few of our own traditions a little bit and sort of worked them around being out of town. Next year we plan to go all out and do the Christmas at home, ham dinner Christmas day thing. Good thing I have a year to be prepared. 😉
So, last Monday we flew to Arizona. We had been listed on the 12:40 flight but the 11:10 flight was running late so the customer service agent at the gate stuck us on the earlier flight. This enabled Aiden to have his own seat! 🙂 That was nice and he slept on the flight. The only trouble was that our luggage was on the later flight and would not arrive until about 2:30. It worked out though because Brandon’s grandma came later and they picked up our luggage when they picked her up. We ended up eating at a chicken place called Church’s for lunch and man was it GOOD!! Better then KFC! The chicken was moist and tender, the crunchy covering wasn’t greasy and the fries were salted the way I like them! My tummy was HAPPY! We also went to the hangar where Brandon’s dad works and got to see the outside of an airplane up close and personal. He also gave us a tour of the facility.
Tuesday the whole family went to the Mesa temple in the evening to see the lights. After that we ate at Cici’s (an all you can eat pizza and pasta place.) It has delicious garlic cheese bread and cinnamon pull aparts. OH BABY! Why can’t Utah open a branch?
Wednesday was Christmas Eve. That evening we ate hors d’oeuvres for dinner. Veggies, fruit, mini quiche, little smokies in bbq sauce, little smokies pigs in a blanket, and mini pastry cups. One of Brandon’s sisters and her family joined us. I LOVE Little Smokies in BBQ sauce! Oh we also had meatballs in raspberry chipotle sauce which was just a little too spicy for me. This was also an exciting day for Aiden because his top two middle teeth finally broke through his gums! My baby now has 4 teeth!
Thursday morning we woke up and ate Christmas morning casserole. It was delicious. We also opened gifts. Which happened gradually through out the day. This was new for me because I am used to getting everything passed out and then taking turns unwrapping until they are all open. After which everyone disperses to play with/enjoy their gifts. We had a late lunch of ham, turkey, orange rolls, green bean casserole (which I have begun to really like), funeral potatoes, and yams with apples. Dessert was cranberry apple dessert with a slice of chocolate pie. 😀 Christmas day we spent with all of Brandon’s siblings and their families and it was a lot of fun.
Friday morning after we woke up we walked to Walmart with Brandon’s brother Torren. We all had cash/gift cards to spend. I got a couple of pairs of shoes and we bought some food for Aiden. He really liked the mashed sweet potatoes with glazed carrots. We ended up eating at Del Taco/KFC for lunch. In the evening Brandon made a dinner of cornmeal waffles and homemade chili which turned out pretty good.
Saturday the whole family got together again for family photos. We went to the ward house and used the foyer. We got a lot of shots with several cameras and so there are some good ones and some funny ones. Then everyone came back to “Grandma and Grandpa’s” for a lunch of homemade tacos and our niece and nephew decorated a gingerbread house. Which we took pictures of and then people started to eat. This is new to me! You are actually supposed to EAT your gingerbread house? I guess I could if it was a graham cracker house (which is what I usually make) because I don’t like gingerbread. But usually Erica (my sister) and I would make them, keep them until after Christmas for decoration and then my mom would throw them away! I guess it’s cool with me if my family wants to eat their gingerbread house after Christmas. In the afternoon some of us went bowling and then to get ice cream. I got frozen yogurt because it is SO expensive in Utah. It was fun to go bowling but I didn’t break 100 either game. Boo.
Yesterday we went to church. Torren actually was speaking in sacrament and that was neat. Aiden was sort of on one yesterday and a bit ornery so he was kind of difficult in sacrament. He slept through most of Sunday school and then was in a good mood and played in relief society. I don’t know what was going on but he seems in better spirits today. Yesterday for dinner we had enchiliken. If you want to know what that is then ask. It was tasty. I also miraculously got Aiden to walk while holding only one of my hands. He has done it a few time since. I will tell you one thing about my little guy though and that is that he likes to do things his own way and only if he feels like it. He could easily be walking, his stomach muscles are strong, he has good balance (this I know from his various feats on tippy toe to reach the unreachable) and we have been practicing how to walk with him for at least 6 months. He just doesn’t feel like it quite yet. 😉
Today we are just kind of hanging around and we fly home this evening. I will write about any activities we do between now and our flight in our next blog entry. I hope everyone has a Happy New Years Eve. Thanks for reading…