Sunday, January 4, 2015

Christmas with the Graham's 2014

This Christmas we were lucky enough to head to oregon to spend time with my family! It was really important to me that we go because my brother leaves for his LDS mission to Kingston, Jamaica for two years in February, so this would most likely be the last time we saw him for a while.  
We were able to leave the Tuesday before Christmas after Adam got done with work. We didn't get to Oregon until late, but it was worth it to not drive on Christmas Eve! Daxton was still sick (and had been for a week at this point) so we tried to make him as comfy and entertained as we could for the drive.

For dinner on Christmas Eve, my family has the tradition of eating Chinese food at House of Good Fortune. We've been doing that for several years now and we love it! We also normally get pajamas on Christmas Eve, but this year we decided that we had plenty so we changed it up. We bought a pair of socks that we thought reminded us of the person whose name we drew out of a hat.


Christmas Day, we slept in a little bit and then headed down to see what Santa, or grandma and grandpa, got Daxton for Christmas. He was spoiled this year and got an electric motorcycle! He hasn't quite figured out the gas peddle yet, but he loves honking the horn and starting the engine! Daxton was still sick on Christmas, so it was pretty relaxed just trying to help him feel better. 


Finally by Sunday dax was feeling much better and we got to take him to church in the ward I grew up in! I love going back and seeing a lot of people who I grew up with. There were definitely people who I didn't get a chance to talk to though. My mom taught the lesson in relief society that Sunday which was great to be there for that, even if my kid was such a loud sleeper during it. 


My parents surprised us on Monday and took us all to a beach house in Pacific City. Adam was just getting over the sickness going through our family and I was just catching it though so that was a bummer! It was a gorgeous house and great to have some new scenery, even though it was so freaking cold! We were able to do a few family pictures while we were there that I think turned out great! 


We headed back to beaverton on New Year's Eve and got to spend it with Daxton's third set of (adopted) grandparents, my parents best friends. We got there a little later than anticipated and had a bunch of catching up to do so our night was filled with chatting! Daxton, of course, was up to celebrate the New Year with us so we were able to get a picture with the three of us at midnight! It reminded me of the picture we took when we welcomed in 2013! 

New Years Day we were able to see some of our best friends, Dara and Levi, and their kids! We met at an Applebee's half way between us. The kids were being so good and we didn't pay attention to how long we'd been there until we had been there for three hours!! It was great and we totally could have kept talking for a few more hours! We can't wait until we can live close enough to them that we can see each other on a regular basis! 


The last day we were in oregon, we were able to go to a farm and see some miniature horses! We also got to ride a wagon as the horses pulled us! My dad put it together so he could take dax to see horses for the very first time! Dax didn't know what to think of the horses but he sure loved to play in the rocks and mud! And he loves chasing the black labs they had on the property too! 



The last night we were there we had a little family home evening. We did kind of a repeat of one we did several years ago. It goes like this: Each person has a paper with their name on it. We pass them around so everyone has a chance to get all of the papers and write something nice about the person whose name is on the paper. 


So the first time we did this, I was not in a good place with my family. I didn't really like them and they certainly didn't like me at the time. HA! The things I wrote on each paper and the things that were written about me were lame things you would find in a year book i.e. "HAGS",  "don't ever change", "keep in touch", blah blah blah. When we were finished all of my siblings hung the papers on their door and I tucked mine away. I am reminded of those every time I go back to my parents house! We joke about how "meaningful" they are and how we loved each other so much during that time! 
Apparently I whined about it enough (and my brother is leaving on his mission), because my mom decided we needed to do it again! I loved it because I actually had real stuff to say! Haha! And everyone at least pretended to like me this time! It became a great big tear fest and a great little send off for Cody! 


We had such a great time with my family and were so lucky to be able to stay for as long as we did! I always wish we lived closer, but for now little visits are going to have to do. 




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