Christmas Recap

Wow - did the holidays fly by fast for anyone else?  I went back to work last Wednesday and it was a doozy.  Sooooo hard to get out of bed.  I was just so used to not having plans!  

We had a fabulous holiday down in warm Arizona.  Steven's parents live in Lake Havasu City and it was nice to get away and be somewhere else.  I like being home for the holidays, but staying with someone else means that I'm not stressing out about food or dishes in the sink.  

We got down to Arizona in the wee hours of Christmas Eve.  Actually, it was almost time for the sun to come up!  We went to bed around 4am and I finally got out of bed at 11am to find that no one else was up.  Yes, it was a late night for everyone.  Our niece, Amanda, came with us and she officially became a teenager on Christmas Eve.  She decided to wait and open all her gifts for her birthday and Christmas on Christmas morning.   

Christmas Eve we went to church as a family which was nice.  And, of course, in true church style they had a soloist perform Breath of Heaven.  Is that the most overplayed song or what?  And, crazier still, I have been so emotional over this holiday season - processing and pondering on the greatest gift of Christ leaving his throne to be born as a human - that I lost it.  Yup, I was totally blurry eyed during the entire performance.  It was humbling.  Right after I leaned over to Steven and said, "Of course they would play this song" with a slight eye roll, my heart was grabbed and I was broken.  I'm tellin' ya - just when I think I got it all figured out!  Was it the best performance?  No.  Have I heard that song a million times?  Yes.  But still, God used that moment to continue to show me how much He loves me.  That He was willing to step down from His throne, leave it all, and lower Himself to appear as a baby to die on the cross for my sin.  Wow.  Isn't it a beautiful story?

We got back from church and pigged out again so much that Amanda's cake had to wait.  But that's OK, because when we woke up the next morning it was...CHRISTMAS! 

Steven and I went in with his parents to get Amanda a Kindle Fire for her birthday and Christmas.  She didn't quite know what to think at first (I think because she had never heard of it), but after we explained what it was and told her we put The Hunger Games trilogy on it along with Plants vs Zombies (that's a game if you don't know - and it's addicting as all get out), we didn't really see her the rest of the time we were down there.  LOL.  

It was nice to hang out with his family.  We took our time opening gifts and I don't think we really ate "breakfast" until after noon.  But that's what Christmas is all about right?  Amanda had her cake later that night and in true Christmas style she didn't get out of her PJ's all day (she would fit right in with my family, who were all napping at 11am when we tried to call them). 

I'm sure a year from now she'll love this picture. :-)

We were in LHC for a week and during our time there took a day trip to Laughlin, Nevada for a magic show.  I think it was Tuesday?  All the days ran together...anyways, on the way we stopped in the small town of Oatman, Arizona where we came face to face with....

Wild burros!  Say what?  And for a buck you can buy a bag of "burro food" which was basically cubed alfalfa, and feed those cute little burros until your heart's content.  I have to say that I wasn't too excited to get there (I mean, really, it's just donkeys).  Oh, but it was fun!  They were very bold too, bumping your arm and strutting right up to you.  Appearing out of nowhere.  Crazy. *cue line up of burro pictures*

Um, excuse me, I need another bite of whatever you've got in that bag. 

We ate lunch at the famous Oatman Hotel where Clark Gable and Carole Lombard honeymooned in 1939.  It is located right on the ol' Route 66.  Now it's all about the burros.  Back in the day it was a much richer mining town with lots of people comin' and goin' (and not just feeding the local stock). 

Inside the restaurant there were dollar bills stuck all over the walls and ceiling.  I guess you can write your name on it and the staff will staple it for you.  It was pretty cool and unique.  Do you think that's illegal?  Anyways, we didn't do it - but saw several other customers partake in the ritual. 

There were all sorts of cool buildings with signs playing off the theme of tourist town. 

"Are you my mama?"

We left Oatman in the late afternoon and drove through crazy Arizona mountains to get to Laughlin.  It is interesting and beautiful landscape with cool rocks formations, but I'll take my PNW mountains any day. 

The low of our time in Arizona?  Our 10-22mm lens stopped auto focusing!  I could sometimes get it to work, but it was really frustrating.  That lens is by far the most used - I love it (who could've ever thought I'd love a wide angle?).  It's amazingly versatile and great for everyday use.  We're in the process of sending it in to Canon to have it evaluated.  What seems to happen when something goes wrong is that we find a way around it.  Well, we ended up purchasing a new-to-us-used lens.  Steven found an ad on Craigslist and we were able to meet the guy in Las Vegas on our way to take Amanda to the airport!  It's a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 and I'm so happy we got it.  We got a great deal on it, by far the cheapest we've seen for that lens online.  We've been looking for a good 50mm for awhile and had already decided on the Sigma lens, we just lucked out that he was able to find it on Craigslist while we were down there.  Yay!

Coming up next post - Las Vegas.