Christmas Road Trip!

 Deciding whether or not to go to AZ for Christmas like we usually do was hard this year. On one hand, we were desperate to get out of our small house and still very shut-down state, but on the other hand, we had some family members who were high risk for Covid and we were worried about somehow spreading the disease to them. In the end, we decided it would be safe enough if the boys and I quarantined for two weeks and if Alan got tested right before we left. That is what we did and it worked out great. We were very careful in restrooms along the way and limited our contacts with other people as much as possible. We typically visit quite a few people as we pass through Idaho and Utah, but limited it to just the people we had to stay with this year. 

We left early on Saturday, December 19th and drove all the way to Alicia's in Herriman. The roads were totally clear, but there was some pretty snowy scenery on the ground and in the clouds. The boys were great road-trippers like always.

We stayed the night with Alicia and got to see her beautiful, new home. She has some serious home-improvement and decorating skills! Alicia had our family for Christmas this year and couldn't have picked a better gift than this lazer tag set. It was perfect! Our visit was short, but we were looking forward to a longer stay on our way back home after Christmas. 

Since all services on the Native American Reservations in AZ close down on the weekends to limit the spread of Covid, we took a different route than normal and drove through Page. It was beautiful and sunny so we stopped and walked across the Glen Canyon bridge. So many good memories of visiting my Grandparents in Page!

After another clear day of driving, we made it to St. Johns in time for dinner on Sunday evening. We were the first out-of-towners there this year and it felt so good to be home!

Dad took the whole week off work and the weather was nice so we spent a lot of time soaking in the sunshine. We had fun throwing rocks on the ice, collecting cool Arizona rocks, and hiking around Patterson's Ponds on Monday. The boys also had a great time playing laser tag down in the trees in the back yard. We built a bonfire and had smores on Monday night while we watched the Jupiter and Saturn come close together to form a "Christmas star." It would have been much more impressive with a telescope, but it was still fun to see. 

Marc came on Monday evening and Lindsey and Jordan arrived on Wednesday night. We didn't even leave my parent's place and had lots of fun playing games, watching Christmas movies, and making our traditional gingerbread houses. Dad has never liked the mess and work of gingerbread houses, so he bought a bunch of kits for a dollar each after Christmas last year. Ha! Hopefully it was less annoying for him that way. :) Also, Spencer will want me to include that he actually beat Lindsey at King's Court once this year! 

Sprinkling his reindeer food on the front lawn on Christmas Eve:

Lindsey and Jordan treated us to a fancy Christmas Eve dinner of steak and shrimp scampi. Jordan is a good cook - it was delicious! Then we had our traditional program. Spencer did an excellent job on his piece! We recorded it for his piano teacher since she was not able to host any Christmas concerts this year. I attempted to play a duet with Mom, but my one day of practice did not cut it and it was not very good. Michelle also sang for us. After the program, we drove around to look at lights and then got the boys to bed as early as possible.