Christmas and New Years Together as a Family

Where do I begin. First of all on December 6th Josh came home from his mission because of illness. So we had to make a decision on if we follow through with our Christmas vacation plans. So we finally decided to book him a flight and take him with us, as the doctor said that would be fine. So on December 23rd we flew into Las Vegas. Josh on one flight, Vanessa coming from California (she had spent 10 days with a roommate from school) and us all arrived within a couple of hours of each other.

We then stopped at Salt Lake Temple Square for a visit and spent the night in Ogden before driving to Oakley, Idaho to spend Christmas with Jacquie, Ryan and the wonderful Bedke family.

We love spending time with the Bedke's. They are so generous in letting us stay at their home and feeding us for 3 days. It was great to visit, play games and spend Christmas day with them. We have a wonderful friendship with Jacquie's in-laws. She is a very lucky girl to have married into such a great family. So then on December 27th we headed to California. We were suppose to drive to St. George and spend the night, but everyone wanted to keep going, so that is what we did. We drive 13 1/2 hours and arrived in Corona, California. I think we were all so glad the ride was all done and we were in warm weather. Well in California we went to Hollywood Blvd.,

Venice Beach,

Santa Monica Pier,

Huntington Beach,

and the San Diego Zoo.

We wanted to go to Disneyland or Universal, but we heard it was really busy and decided we didn't feel like spending our whole day in line ups. The weather was so beautiful. Sunny every day and in the low 70's. You couldn't ask for better.

Then on December 31st we left California and headed to Las Vegas to spend New Years there.

On the way we stopped at Hoover Dam. None of us have ever been there, so it was really neat to see. We then spent the night on Las Vegas Blvd. WOW! Was that a crazy experience.

They figured there was over 300,000 people on the street that night. That is not counting Fremont St. where they had a party there and all the casino's that had parties in them. Let me tell you. Vegas was not short on tourist that night. You couldn't even walk down the street without feeling like a sardine. It was crazy. I'm happy to say, I did it once and I don't think I will be returning for New Years again.

Then on January 1st we spend the day back on the strip looking at the hotels and other things.

It was so great to spend time with all of our children. We love them so much and are so glad that they would take time out of their busy schedules to spend it with us. Thanks children for making this trip a special one full of lots of great memories.