Holidays

Well, I guess we should talk about our holidays. Christmas was spent up in Kaysville, UT with Brad's family. We were very happy to b e out of Happy Valley and spend time with the family, especially with all of Brad's siblings home from school. On Christmas Eve we all went up to Temple Square to look at the lights. Kimber took a ton of pictures, which I'm sure are awesome. Elly took some too. Elly was excited because going to see the lights is one of her favorite things to do. Temple Square was beautiful of course and the coolest part was that we got to use some of the underground tunnels to get there because Brad's dad works for the church so we parked in the underground parking and walked up the stairs right into the Temple Square.

Christmas was a nice day, other than the news of the Grandpa's death. Elly read an entire book. Brad beat at least half of the new Super Mario Bros. We also did puzzles and had a nice dinner with the family. Brad was pretty excited about getting an ipod and super mario brothers. Elly got her favorite picture of Jesus and Wii Fit Plus (which is amazing as long as no one is watching you play). The next day we went to Grandma and Grandpa Steven's to celebrate the season with the Steven's side of the family (Brad's mom's side). We lucked out in the gift game and got a new game and slippers (other gifts included Sarah Palin's book and necklaces). We had fun playing games and visiting with the family. The funniest part of the evening was when Brian's wife, Camile, who at the time was 8 months pregnant, had to borrow one of Grandma Steven's shirts because she was hot in her sweater. It was definitely entertaining.

After Christmas with the Taylor family, we went back to Provo for one night and one day of work, then we headed out to California. We left Monday night so we could spend more time with the Cramer family in lue of the funeral services. Also, a storm was supposed to be coming in on Tuesday through Nevada. So Monday we made a nice night drive across BEAUTIFUL nevada! haha We truly hate that state, but such is the drive to Sac-town. So all was good and clear, until Reno. Then we ran into the snow and had to put chains on to get over the pass. 50 miles worth of chains! From Reno to Alta! Took us 2 hours to go what normally took 40 minutes. But well, we made it safely, and we had some nice guy help us put the chains on in Reno so Elly could sit in the warm car.

Well, California was CRAZY. Before Grandpa's death, we had been planning on doing all sorts of fun things with the family. However, with a funeral to prepare for, fun kinda went out the window and stressed craziness entered. Elly's mom was freaking out about flowers, pictures to display, and programs. Elly did what she could to help. Brad was able to escape and go snowboarding with Steven at Boreal (which Brad laughs at due to it's small size compared to Utah's resorts). We did get to eat our favorite pizza though (BJ's) and Robyn "indoctrinated" us on Psych. Grandma and Grandpa Bennett came up from SoCal to see Brad and Elly. It was good to see them and play some card games. We all learned that Grandma is the Apples to Apples queen! That was a shocker! Cards I never thought she would have put down were hers! Plus, Elly got to walk Sadie every day and love her puppy (which made her wonder who walks the dog when she isn't there). New Year's Eve wasn't very exciting, we mostly just played Super Mario Bros (Brad's escape from the craziness). But New Year's day the whole family went and saw Invictus. Elly also got to catch up with a few friends while in town.

Saturday was the funeral. Elly actually help up better than Brad thought she would. However, she did start to cry on the drive to the funeral due to a certain country song that mentioned someone dying. She also had a hard time at the viewing. But the service was very nice, and the casket spray was actually not ugly. Elly's dad gave a great talk reviewing past memories that had everyone crying in parts. After the service, the family had a nice lunch. Brad got to meet Cramers that Elly had never even met before, such as Great Uncle Dick, Grandpa Cramer's youngest and only living brother. After the lunch, Uncle Dick was invited back to the house for dinner. It was really nice to get and talk with him and hear all of his stories about the family, such as how Great Grandma and Grandpa met. G. Grandma Cramer was teaching an electrician class at the college and Great Grandpa was a student in that very class. Dad then told Elly that now they know that she got her math smarts from her great grandma. So other than time with the family, Elly also completed her 2 favorite puzzles and we had a second Christmas, opening the presents from Elly's family.

Sunday we drove back home and we so excited to come back to our bed and quite apartment. The only downside to being home was that we had no food.