Busy and Lazy

This last week was pretty good! Christmas was fun and relaxing. Well, more like lazy! :) W/ the kids out of school, I've been home watching them, while Nani and Matt are at work. They've been pretty good, surprisingly. For me, it's been a little... boring. I LOVE my nephews, but it's hard to keep them entertained w/ out one or both fighting w/ the other. The little one has a temper, so when we play games and he loses, he gets really upset! We let him win a lot, but it gets pretty boring when he's the only one winning. Plus we don't have any transportaion to go anywhere. I'm not used to staying home all week just watching kids. I miss working and being out of the house, but then I think to myself... "How are you gonna be a stay-at-home mom, if you can't handle it part-time now?" I guess I'll figure it out whenever it happens. :)

Two days before Christmas was Kai's birthday. We had a little party and it was fun. We had pizza and then some cake and ice cream. He got presents, of course, and then we played games and hung out.

Christmas eve was pretty busy! Nani and I got paid that day and I still had to go shopping. I got a couple of things for the boys earlier, but I still needed to shop for Nani and Matt. We went to the mall and it was crazy! First off, traffic was a mess, then parking was ridiculous too! There were tons of people in every store and the line was always crazy long! But, luckily for us, we found a parking spot pretty quick, when we got in line I was the next person, and we were able to get things pretty quick and at really good prices!

Then it was off to go back home and start the dinner! It was simple this year, since it was just us and one of Matt's friends. We had ham, potato salad, and rice. The ham was soo good! We ate it for four nights straight! And it kept getting better each time!

Nani started a new family tradition. She was wanting to get the boys something every year but wasn't sure what. I then told her about a family from my mission, the Pattersons, who gave their kids pajamas every year, and that was the present they opened every Christmas eve. We all got pajama pants! The kids later went to bed and then it was time for Nani and I to be in Santa's workshop full-time. During the night we were in there, but now we were able to really get things done. We finished around 2am! Nani didn't realize how much she got until we sat down to wrap everything. It's funny because she said every year she thinks the boys won't get much for Christmas but then when she puts everything under the tree it's a lot more than she expected. :) She buys things slowly and then every time she goes out again to shop she tells herself she'll just grab a couple more small things but ends up getting more than a couple. Everything adds up and the boys always have an awesome Christmas morning.

I wasn't expecting much, or even anything for Christmas. I think I mentioned in a previous blog, my sister paid for me to come out here and got me a job w/ her while I'm here, so that was a lot already. Well, I got a beanie from Emily's mom, Retha, and then I got a few other things from my sister and my parents. The picture shows what I got. And I read the entire book in just a few hours! Maybe this time next year I'll have "someone" to blog about. :) *fingers crossed*

After we all opened presents, Nani and I went back to sleep. It was a lazy day. The next morning we got up and went out for a drive, to get out of the house. We weren't sure where we were going but no one wanted to stay in the house. We ended up going down to North Carolina and we went to the Outer Banks. We were in Currituk and went to take pictures on the beach. We got stuck in the sand! At first we weren't in too bad but as Matt tried to get out, it sunk in more. You can see in the picture how the car leans toward the front passenger side.

About 7 cars went past us, until anyone stopped to ask if we needed help. 7! Seriously?! We eventually were towed out by some very nice people w/ a truck! It took a while because they had a chain, but were afraid it'd take the bumper off the Honda, so they used a smaller tow rope w/ a hook, that broke off of the truck. They tried the chain again and were having some problems. I went off to the side, by that time we had been stuck for close to 20 minutes now, and said a prayer. They tried again and we were pulled out! We thanked the guys and we went our seperate ways. Right after we said thank you and started to drive away, the sheriff came driving up. Apparently they are crazy about people stopping or parking along the beach. Someone told us that they'd come and give us a ticket if we didn't hurry. Talk about timing! I know it was because of the prayer that I said, that we were able to get out of the sand and drive away w/o a ticket. It's the little things like that, that strenghten my testimony. If the Lord hears and answers something small like that, you KNOW He answers bigger and harder ones too!

Well, I hope your Christmas was an enjoyable and memorable one. I hope you have a fun and safe New Year and until next time... Be strong, be happy, and find the joy in your life!