Home for the Holidays!

I was able to go home to Utah for the holidays from December 23rd to January 4th. I was so excited to come home and see everyone. I am glad I made it when I was suppose to. I almost missed my connecting flight in Phoenix because my plane was an hour late leaving Newark, New Jersey. But I did make it there after a very long flight. I couldn't believe my eyes on how tall Jordan had grown in just 4 months. I was in awe. Though I was upset to see so much snow in Utah. Seems like everywhere I go there is snow, snow, and more snow. I made sure we stopped at grandma and grandpa's house after the airport.





I had a great Christmas with my family. We went sledding on Christmas Eve with the whole family and it was so much fun to see Alexa and Chayse opening up their presents on Christmas morning. I stayed very busy while back there. I had lots of stuff to do before I left again for New Jersey. I got all of mom's pictures and music updated and organized on her computer. That only took a few days to accomplish lol!






My boyfriend Jamie flew into Utah a few days after Christmas to come meet my family and to see what Utah was all about. I was so excited for him to come. Jordan went down with me to the airport to pick him up. Jamie and I stayed very busy all week with my family. Just Jamie and I went snowmobiling. We went up in Logan canyon and up into Idaho. It was both our first time. It was a blast. I did manage to get the snowmobile stuck though because I drove it off the trails and the snow was very deep. Luckily there were a couple of guys that saw me get stuck and helped Jamie to free it. It took quite the effort to free it though. The snow only went up to like my knees. Sorry about that Jamie lol!




On New Years Eve, Jamie and I went to lunch with my family and then headed to Wendover, Nevada to spend the night. We had lots of fun hanging out and doing a little bit of gambling here and there. We had a really nice hotel room at the Montego Bay.




New Years Day we spent at Justin and Jenny's house (my brother). We had fun visiting and playing guitar hero and board games and eating. Later that evening, we went to a movie together.




On January 2nd, my brother Travis, Jamie, and I went up to Beaver Mountain to go snowboarding. None of us had been snowboarding in years. I was just a tad nervous. I have never been too good with the whole snowboarding thing. I went down the mountain three times and decided I was finished. I couldn't get the hang of it and I felt bad because Travis and Jamie were waiting so patiently for me and I felt like I was holding them up. Being not too smart, I decided to give skiing a try. I used to ski a long long time ago and I remember it as being a piece of cake. Lets just say it turned out to be a complete nightmare. It was awful. I couldn't stay up and every time I fell it killed. Travis and Jamie were so good with me. They stayed by my side the entire time. Finally I ended up walking down the mountain while Travis and Jamie each held one of my skies while they boarded down the mountain. It was very humilating for me. I chose to spend the rest of the afternoon in the lodge reading while the boys went up the mountain. Thanks Travis and Jamie for taking such good care of me. (Oh, and by the next morning I was so sore I could barely move!)

On Saturday, the family went to Hardware Ranch to show Jamie around before he left Utah. It was fun but cold. My toes went numb. Chayse loved it!!!



For the rest of the day, Jamie, my parents, and I went to Salt Lake to spend the evening with my grandparents. Then we had to get ready to wake up the next morning to go to the airport and fly back to New Jersey. It was very very hard to say bye to my family again. Definitely harder this last time than it was the first time I left.

Sunday, Jan 4th, the day Jamie and I went to the airport to fly back was the beginning of a very long, bad day. Our plane was an hour and a half late leaving the runaway so we ended up missing our connecting flight in Phoenix. Too make a long story short, we waited in USAirway's customer service line for over an hour and then we found out that we couldn't get a flight out till the next afternoon. They gave us a hotel room and one $10 meal voucher for each of us. They had already sent our luggage on without us and then wouldn't compensate us for having to buy new toiletries or any other meals that didn't get covered by the vouchers. What really made this day bad was I felt crappy all day and was starting to get sick. The good part of this story is that neither of us had ever been to Phoenix, Arizona before and now we got to check it out plus extend our vacation by one more day. That night we were able to go out a little on the town. Though I sure wish I would have felt better. The picture below was taken in front of our hotel room in Phoenix. The next day, Monday, we ended up making it back to New Jersey before midnight.



I had a very happy holiday with my family and Jamie. Lots of good memories were made. I was so glad to be able to go home for the holidays and that Jamie was able to come out to meet my family and let me show him around my home town. I miss you all very much!!! Can't wait to see you guys again.

Birthday Bash and Hanukkah Party

On Saturday December 13th, there was a big party at the house for the kids birthday and also to celebrate Hanukkah which starts this year on Dec 21st at sundown. It was crazy. There were so many people and presents. Sammy and I were very overwhelmed by it all. I don't believe I have seen a kid get so many presents as I saw these kids get. I guess it helps to know lots of wealthy people. Sammy refused to have anything to do with the party and spent half of the party outside and the other part hiding. Something interesting that happened during the party was when they lite a candle on the menorah. After they lite the candle they then sang a Jewish song. It was all so very overwhelming for me. And I sure had a mess to clean up after the kids at the party got done playing down in the play area!

PJ Party

Last Friday, the kids and I had a little PJ party. The kids put on their matching pj's and had their new fleece blankets with them that my mom and me had given them for their birthday (mom made them of course! They are adorable). I got lots of cute pics of the kids.

Christmas in NYC!

On Saturday Jamie and I went to NYC to go to the Rockefeller Center to see the big Christmas tree. We bundled up and hopped on the train to New York. We didn't bundle up good enough though because I ended up having to buy a hat to keep warm and Jamie had to buy gloves. The Christmas tree at the Rockefeller was absolutely amazing. I couldn't believe that it was real. I also couldn't quite believe how many people where gathered there in that one place. It was all Jamie and I could manage to be able to snap a few pictures. Trying to get out of the Rockefeller Center Plaza was a story in itself. We were packed like sardines on the sidewalk. We weren't even moving. It was not even cold because we were smashed against so many other people. Jamie was starting to get a little claustrophic and was ready to jump over the railing into the street to get out of that mess. I was a little worried that he might lose his mind and do something crazy haha. I couldn't help laughing some during this whole thing. I found the situation quite amusing. After that we went to try and find something to eat but everywhere was so packed that we ended up waiting till we got back to New Jersey to have dinner. Jamie did take me to a nice Italian restaraunt though that was very yummy! I was very grateful that Jamie put up with the crowds in NYC for me. It was worth the hassle to see the tree and all the beautiful lights. So thanks Jamie!!!

Girls night out!

On Wednesday, Lauren and me spent the day and evening together in New York City. We went and saw the Broadway play, 'Hairspray'. It was great and very funny! We bought us matching shirts from the play and wore them the rest of the night. After the play, we went to this interesting restaurant that is one of Lauren's very favorites. It was called 'Mars 2112'. It made it seems like you were on the planet Mars and they had aliens walking around greeting the kids. In order to get up to the restaurant though, you had to go on this space ride that was like one of those rides that they have at Disneyland and it makes it seem like you are really flying. It was a pretty pricey place but it was a fun atmosphere. After dinner, we walked down towards Times Square and stopped at Toys R Us store that has the big Ferris Wheel inside the middle of the store. Lauren and me rode it and she really loved it. They had some pretty cool things at the Toys R Us store that you would not usually find at other toy stores. Like the gigantic T-Rex mechanical dinosaur. Lauren and me had a great girls night out and hope to do it again soon!

Halloween!

The kids looked so cute on Halloween! Lauren was a witch, Joey was a skeleton, and Sammy was a race car driver. Here are a few pictures.

mother/daughter trip

Mom and me had a great trip together this last weekend. I was so excited that she flew out here to see me. We had lots of fun. I did my best to show mom as much stuff as possible during her stay here. We enjoyed going to Ellis Island, Liberty Park, Philadephia, PA, and New York City. Luckily I only managed to get us lost a few times. But I didn't get us lost once in NYC haha. I'm getting good! It was great to see mom's reaction when we got into NYC and also when she rode the subway for the first time. She was very brave about it all. Good job mom!!! It was really hard for it to come to an end and have mom go back home. But I look forward to seeing everyone come Christmas time. Thanks again mom for coming to spend time with me and letting me drag you around everywhere.