and finally... THE TREK TO NY!

14 STATES in 3 DAYS and we made it safe and sound...

Dad and I literally squeezing into my car... leavin AZ
Family history time... no wonder I thought I was Mexican when I was growing up!Dallas Skyline... I thought it looked cool It took forever to get through Texas! I thought it would never end!!!

A fun dive in Louisiana... had some great bbq! I loved the people's accents here.
Tarwater history in Knoxville Tennessee... paps and I drove out to the country to find Tarwater road.

so you can see I was driving so it was the best pic. But I loved this moment. My dad is the greatest map man. He probably had three on his lap at the time and he had fallen asleep with his finger on a spot on the map! Awesome!
Amish lands in Pennsy
I thought it was fun this rest stop had a security man on duty... it seemed like a nice place. The bathroom buildings were colonialesque.

MY FIRST VIEW OF THE CITY!

Pa and I eating our order in Chinese at our hotel that first night... we were pooped! The food was yummy!

Christmas

Christmas was fun and crazy this year... Fun, opening presents, having brunch at the sis's house, watchin the Suns game, and eating Devin's Italian feast dinner. Crazy because I spent most of the day packing for New York because I left the day after. So, it wasn't a typical Christmas but it was still good. Just wish the packing part wasn't in there so I could relaz a little more, but oh well! It was good anyway...

Christmas Eve Traditions!

Christmas Eve day is full of traditions in our family.

Neighborhood luminarias is one...

We fill up the bags with sand and put tea lights in them. It is fun to see the neighborhood full of lighted luminarias... so pretty.We always go out to Macayo's Mexican restaurant that night.us in front of the casa after dinner.Later we drive around the neighborhood to look at the luminarias and lights. Not sure why the face, but anyway...

Act out the nativity and watch Luke 2Haver fun...

We make a toast with Sparking CiderWe also open up our gift of new pj's!

Play games...

... and then head to bed and await Sant's coming

Lights at Mesa Temple

We went to see the lights at the Mesa AZ temple. They also had a nativity display from countries all over the world. I love nativites, so I enjoyed the displays!

Devin's BYU sad day...

We went to an NCAA basketball tournament at the Cardinal's Stadium. It started with Louisville and Kentucky I believe, then ASU vs. BYU.I'm not a fan of any, so I made my anti BYU, pro Utah signs...Cardinals know what is up with their red zone... here is my shout out for a perfect season! Go Utes!That night we bbq'd and watched the BYUvs. U of A game... lets just say, Ward went home happy, and Devin was left with a sad sad sad day of loss.

Dad and Max didn't seem to mind the winner or loser... they just had fun buildin!

Movie night

A rare occasion... getting my dad to go to the movies! We all got in the car and went to see the Boy in the Striped pajamas... wow... not the movie you want to go to a party after watching it! Lets just say that after, we went straight home and watched Elf to lift our spirits!

Mitchell gets her masters!

Yay for Mitchell! She got her masters... I am so proud of her. What a fun celebration day!

Nieces and Nephew Treat!

Since the turkey trot and the jingle jog were both rained out, Audrey and Max's school held a Jingle Jump. I had fun jump roping with Audrey... it had been a while!I got to sit in on Max's holiday party as he learned about Kwanza.Hannah's Christmas program at the Happy Apple Preschool was great. She was singin right along.Audrey performed with her children's choir at a church in Scottsdale. Their music was beautiful. Amazing what school age kids can do!After the concert we went to get some ice cream at SugarBowl in Scottsdale... so yummy. Aud and I shared a banana split!