Christmas Break Update!

Hi Friends,

I know its been a week or so since I last posted. After finals ended, I packed up all my cares and woes and had a great weekend in LA with friends, before heading to Phoenix for the Christmas holiday. It is a joy to be home, but this trip - as all of them lately have been - has been really busy with not a lot of "me" time to post and update you on life.

This Christmas has had some really fun adventures. I got home and the next day went with my dad to buy a car for my grama - she recently had eye surgery and is now able to drive again, so we are selling her old car and she has this cute new red one (see photo). Doesn't she look great!

On Wednesday, I traveled to ASU with my dad for his orientation!! Awesome, huh! My dad is returning to college this spring semester to continue work on a Bachelor degree. He will be studying earth and space science education. If I can figure out how to get a picture from my phone to my computer, I'll post a pic of this, too. It was really a blessing to be able to attend with him. I think he was a little nervous (at least I was nervous at my orientation this fall, so I think he must have been, too!) and so it was really nice for us both to be there together. I'm really proud of him for pursuing this - he had wanted to do it for a long time! YOU GO, DAD!!

I had a few days off of "driving errands" and instead worked at home, cleaning house, cooking/baking, and other stuff to help out around here. We had hoped to hear my dad sing in the Messiah concert with the Phoenix Symphony, but he was sick, so he wasn't able to sing the concerts when I was home. However, he recovered in time to sing in a different concert series the next weekend. That weekend we attended the Phoenix Chorale (used to be the Phoenix Bach Choir) sing a fantastic Christmas concert, and then the next day heard the Phoenix Symphony Chorus perform a number of baroque pieces for their Christmas concert. It was a great weekend of really great music!

Following dad's last concert for 2008 on Sunday, Ben took us all out to dinner to celebrate the end of the season and some good news that he had gotten at work. It was really fun for the four of us to be together as a family and laugh, talk, and eat together (especially since I didn't have to do the dishes!).

Tuesday, dad and I drove up to Havasu to pick up grama and bring her to Phoenix for Christmas. We took her new car and surprised her. (She didn't know we'd drive it up that day) The ride back was lovely and today, Christmas Eve, was really a nice day. We did some grocery shopping, grama got a chance to practice driving her car, and we had a really nice service at church. I have only been a little sad about grampa not being here - mostly at church - I really missed him all day today, and then especially for some reason, at church. But it has been such a nice time, that I am having moments of joy, too.

Friday we have to take grama back to Havasu (we'll take her car and leave it there with her, and a second car to get home), and then I head back to LA on Monday for just one day before I head up to Seattle to see my aunts for two days over the New Year's holiday. More to come on that soon. I sure hope the weather allows for my trip!

Another post is coming in just a bit.... stay posted. :)