Texas Christmas!

This year for Christmas we went to TEXAS! We've been going to Texas for Christmas since I was a little baby, and it's always so much fun. I love going to see the Haile's and my Mee-mee. The weekend before we left we went up to Pine Valley to visit Adam's family, and have an early Christmas. It's always so much fun to go up to Pine Valley. Adam's family is the best. Since day one they have always made me feel like family. Adam's family gave us tickets to see Brian Reagan, gift certificates to American Eagle and Texas Roadhouse, an a cute decorative jar. We ate dinner with them, and KaLynn always cooks my favorite things. (She cooks the best desserts, and she's given me so many good recipes!) It was nice to be together as a family.

On December 21, I drove to Las Vegas to get my hair colored and cut by Kristin. She is the best, and so worth the drive to Vegas. This was the first time that she's done my hair when it was long, and it looks so much better. It was a really short visit, but it felt so nice to have my hair done. On my way back home I stopped and got a pedicure with my mom. I finally got home at 7:00 p.m. I had barely started packing for Texas, so I had a lot of work to do. I started packing and wrapping presents right away. I took a shower at midnight, and pulled an all nighter. Adam went to sleep at about the time I took a shower, and at 1:00 a.m. it was time for him to get up. I packed up the stuff we used to get ready, and at 3:00 a.m. we were on our way over to my parents house. Adam and my dad loaded all of our stuff from my car into the truck and I was talking to my mom. I say some really weird things when I'm tired, and I didn't even make sense. I fell asleep for about 20 minutes on my mom's bed. At 4 o'clock my sister, Kyle and Kimber showed up and we were ready to leave. I was awake for about 30 minutes, and then both Adam and I passed out. We woke up right as the sun was coming up in Phoenix Arizona. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. Eating breakfast at McDonald's is like a family tradition on the way to Texas. It was really fun playing with Kimber on the play place.

                                Here is a picture of me and my mom at our first McDonald's stop!

We were on our way again, and this time I stayed up for a pretty long time while Adam slept on my lap. I talked with my mom and dad about all the places that we've been together. We also talked with the Morris' on our walkie talkies.This was pretty much what our whole trip was like. I was cramped in the corner with Adam sleepin' like a baby. It was so not fair.

We finally got to our hotel in New Mexico at about 5 o'clock that night. When we got to Alba-turkey it started snowing like crazy, and we were traveling like 30 miles per hour. We usually stay in Alba-turkey, but for some reason my dad choose not to. I was kinda sad because I like it there, and we've always stayed there. Our hotel was really good though. I'm so glad that my dad is high maintenance, that means we get to stay in nice normal places. We unloaded all of our stuff, and went to McDonald's for dinner. We don't usually do that, but since that was only the place we could find we decided to eat there. When we got back we were all so tired from traveling that we just went to bed. The next morning, we got up early and got ready to leave. We went down to the lobby to eat breakfast, and my parents forgot to tell me that I had a clip holding my bangs, and I didn't even realize it. I felt like such a dork, but at least I'm blond so I kinda have an excuse, right?

This is what I looked like when I went to breakfast. No wonder so many people were giving me weird looks. I took Kimber with me to eat breakfast, and we ate cereal and fruit, and like every possible carbohydrate. While we were waiting in line she said to me," I love yours eyes, where'd you get em'?" I almost peed my pants laughing. She is the funniest little kid. Then she wanted to cut my muffin for me, so I was teaching her how to use a knife. Since my parents know how well I am with knives they just laughed at me. (My parents still have to cut my food for me. I know, I'm special.) Kimber was playing with my camera in our room and she kept taking pictures of my mom and I and of herself in the mirror over and over again because none of them would turn out. It was really funny to watch her get so frustrated.

We were back on the road by 7 o'clock. Texas is kinda boring to drive through. It's mostly just desert, and weird ugly building that look like they need a makeover. But it starts lookin' a whole lot better when you get to Tyler, Texas. (I'm pretty sure that's the name.) We always get gas in Tyler, and it's only about 15 minutes out of Abilene. It's kinda our family joke that it takes 45 minutes for my dad to get gas. We've actually timed it, and it's true. Adam and I hanging out in the car, trying to kill some time while my dad gets gas.

We got to my Mee-mee's house are 6:00 p.m, and we were so happy to be there! The Haile's came over, and we all stayed up late catchin' up. My sister and I went to Target real quick for some last minute gifts, and while we were on our way there we got kinda lost, and almost ran into Micah's girlfriend, Holly. We drove back to Mee-mee's house and picked her up. The Abilene Target is so weird, and it always smells like stinky feet and popcorn, but it's a tradition to always go to Target at least once. Which really turns out to be about 4 times. When we got back all the boys had gone to Best Buy and bought two little remote control helicopters. Everyone was flying them around the living room.

The next day was Christmas Eve, and my mom and Aunt Sharee wanted to get my grandma a laptop for Christmas. We went to back 4 different stores looking for the right laptop. Shopping with my mom and Aunt Sharee is always an adventure. When we got back we started making dinner. We just decided to eat finger foods for Christmas Eve dinner, and it was so good. We had jalapeno poppers and fruit dip. After everyone ate, my sister and I helped my Aunt finish wrapping the rest of her presents. Then we loaded up the car, and went over to my grandma's. We always open our presents at my grandma's house, and it's so much fun. All of us cram into her living room, along with the millions of presents. Our Texas family always opens their presents on Christmas Eve, and I don't understand why. It was fun to watch everyone open their presents, but I decided to save mine for tomorrow because I'm stubborn like that.

 The only present I opened was my Christmas Eve pajamas. Doesn't Adam look so....pretty in his? The next morning I got up early, and came back over to my grandma's to open my presents with my parents. I got so much good stuff. A really cute purse from Mexico, a beautiful Christmas tree ornament, some awesome hair stuff, a cute key chain, lotion and a watch. Kimber came over, and opened her presents from Santa Claus. She was so excited, and it's really fun to watch her open presents. After I opened presents, we went back over to my Aunt's house to make Christmas dinner. Christmas is always really fun in Texas, and it's so nice to visit with our family for so long. The next day, I went with my mom and Aunt Sharee to see the movie War Horse. I'm not a real big fan of horse movies, but this one was so good! I recommend it to everyone. After the movie we went to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Abilene called Abuelos. They have the best mexican food ever! The rest of the week was filled with shopping, and eating at our favorite places, hanging out in my grandma's living room, playing Nintendo and watching movies.

On one of the days we went to dinner at this really good local Italian restaurant for my mom and dad's and Aunt Sharee and Uncle Roy's wedding anniversary. My sister wasn't feeling good so she didn't come to dinner. I had Kyle drop me off and went to see if she was okay. She was sleeping so I played princess' with Kimber. At one point I fell asleep for a second, and I kept hearing, "Can you fix this?" "Can you put this on?" and it was Kimber asking me over and over if I can put Belle's dress back on. I was laughing really hard, and finally I got her to go to sleep. We also made a trip to the zoo, and had tons of fun. I love the zoo, and we used to go to the Abilene zoo all the time when we were little. All five of us crammed into this little tiny train, and rode around the zoo. I'm pretty sure all of our legs were numb when we got out.

A few days later it was time to go home. My parents picked us up that morning at 5:00 a.m. and we were ready for the journey home. It's never fun to say good-bye to our favorite Texas family, but we will hopefully see them again way soon! On our way back we went to Carlsbad Caverns. We've been there a few times, and it's such an awesome cave! It was really fun to walk around in there, but I was really disappointed that they took out the restaurant that in the bottom. I didn't shower, so don't make fun of my greasy hair.

We stopped in Squirrel, New Mexico to sleep for the night. It was New Year's Eve, and we didn't even know anything about this weird little town. We just took a shower and watched Big Band Theory. I'm pretty sure I was asleep by 10 o'clock on New Years Eve. That is really sad! Next year I'm going to plan something super fun. The next day we left, and drove all day long! We finally got home at about 9 o'clock at night. We transferred all the stuff from the truck to my car, and headed home. I was so excited to sleep in my own bed, and not live out of a suitcase. We had such a good Christmas break, and we're so glad we got to go to Texas this year.