2009-10 Holiday Travels (part 2)

In order to make the posts more digestible, I decided to do the holiday travels in two parts... Part 1: Friends around the U.S. and Part 2: Time with Family and Friends in Phoenix.
Dateline: Monday, December 21
I arrived in Phoenix with my hecka-heavy luggage (supplemented by Karen with some presents to replace those which were now irrevocably located in the trunk of my car in Los Angeles - if you recall from part 1) to be promptly picked up by my dad! It's been a while since we've been in the same city when neither of us has any schoolwork to do, so it was nice to just get caught up on life. After running a couple errands, we dropped off my stuff and headed to Lake Havasu to pick up my grama. Its a 4 hour drive to Havasu, but even though I had been sitting in enclosed spaces all day, my dad and I made it a really fun drive! We picked up grama and headed immediately back to Phoenix, arriving just in time for bed (basically).



Note: In the original plan, I was flying to LA on the 20th and then driving to Havasu to pick up Grama and then to Phoenix.

My first week at home was really nice. It was fun to have grama with us - even though sometimes she is kind of forgetful lately. It is her last Christmas in Phoenix, because she is moving back to Washington state in March, so we really were glad to get one more visit with her in Phoenix before she leaves. I was able to do some shopping and come up with some ideas for projects. We put up the tree and enjoyed the outdoor lights which Ben had put up earlier in the month. And we had a great time celebrating the holiday together.

Dateline: Sunday, 27
After taking grama back on Saturday, Sunday was a day of rest. We relaxed after church, I started working on my ipod projects and we just hung out. Later week I had the opportunity to do some work for school, finish the ipod projects, see a couple movies (Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, 2012), and play a lot of games. My favorite Christmas game was "Clue: Office Edition" which is a really fun version of Clue.

One of the highlights of that week was the opportunity to have dinner with the Greenville crew who lives in Phoenix. By then, Erin O'Hara was in Phx, too, so she joined me, Derek Robinson and his wife, Pam, and Lee Thompson for a delicious dinner at Buca Di Beppo. I always enjoy our times together and am so glad that they feel the same, so that its a priority for us to see each other's faces when we're all in town! I keep hoping other GC alum will move to Phx (ahem, this means you, Heather and Jason!) so our little group can grow!

Dateline: Saturday, January 2
After ringing in the New Year with my parents and brother, I headed back to LA. It is always nice to have a day or two to get ready for the school year, and though I wished I had a whole week, those two days were a good opportunity to get back into the "school" state of mind. By the end of the trip, I had too much stuff for even my suitcase and duffel bag combination, so I left a box of stuff at my parents for them to transport over to LA at their next visit (which coincidentally is tomorrow).

I'm so grateful that I live this student life right now. For all the hard work during the school term, it has really given me the opportunity to see my family and friends a lot more often during the breaks. Maybe next year, I'll get to see YOU if I didn't see you on this trip! Lets keep our fingers crossed and hopefully I'll be making more trips like this in 2010~!