Our Christmas Vacation

Vacation is over now, but what a vacation it was. Actually we are probably getting more sleep now than we did while we were away, ironically. Emma wasn't too keen on having to sleep in a crib that wasn't her own so needless to say we had many restless nights as she tossed and turned in our bed every night. But other than the constant feeling of being tired, we had a great time in Utah and Idaho with my family. We got to see all of my siblings (including Bruce :D who is stationed in Germany right now) with the exception of Leah and Catherine who live far, far away in the midwest. Though our visits were short and it seemed like we had just greeted someone when we had to say goodbye, it was well worth our trip out there. It's nice to reconnect with family when we live so far away from them. I do wish we could have done more reconnecting. That's probably the biggest downside to big family get togethers. Everyone is there at the same time so one-on-one time is very rare. I swear I was only able to say like three personally directed words at some of my nieces and nephews. I do hope they know that I wasn't trying to neglect them! One thing I was very happy about was that Emma was able to meet so many family members that had not seen her yet. And what made me happier yet was the fact that they absolutely loved her! You know it's very interesting how my happiness now comes from knowing that my child and husband are loved by those who mean so much to me. I loved watching everyone hold and play with Emma! And surprisingly I wasn't even angry when I found out my 4 year old nephew Noah dropped her a short distance to the floor...lol. Emma and her cousin Kalea (who is 4 months younger) were so fawned after that I think they will have no problem feeling loved by the Hoggan/Campbell family.

As for other parts of the vacation, they included seeing Nate's great-aunt Rae (who is sweet and wonderful as can be), watching the BYU bowl game and its very happy results, Christmas shopping, watching movies, playing games, eating TONS of goodies, seeing the lights on temple square, and, the pinnacle of them all, seeing and hearing Nate play the Conference Center organ before getting a behind-the-scenes tour of the building with my family. It was literally awe-some! Nate was as giddy as a kid on Christmas about this amazing opportunity! We were really blessed to have this happen. It will be something we will cherish for a very long time. I have to say Nate made that instrument just vibrate through my bones while he was playing. Awe inspiring! The tour was pretty awesome too. We learned so much about what goes on backstage and how much time and effort is put in to bring about the amazing programs done at the Conference Center (such as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concerts and General Conference). It is truly mind-boggling. For instance, it took 3 hours to program about 1000 lights for one subtle light change on the stage. They also had rooms for all the different translators and a master control room sending those languages out all over the world. So cool! We also got to go up on the catwalk, which was very high and very scary. Heights are not my favorite. It really made me appreciate the people who actually work on things up there. Glad it's them and not me! All in all, the vacation was wonderful and very much needed.

Well, the holidays are over and life is moving on its merry little way. I'm keeping myself busy trying to decorate the house with the spare decorations I have to work with, cleaning a big new house, teaching piano and finding new students, doing Activity Days, cooking (I guess you could call it that), and of course taking care of our adorable Emma. Nate's days are filled with going to work, working, coming home from work, and doing Young Men's stuff. Some good news for him is that at work they are thinking about promoting him due to the fact that he "exceeded expectations" in his review. He's so awesome! We also find time to read together, shop together, play the piano and organ together, play Farmville on Facebook, and watch movies on the floor in front of our computer...maybe we should be trying to find furniture together...lol. As for Emma, she has been filling her days with learning and growing! She's a little over 5 months old now and in the past month has learned to roll, sit up by herself, get up on her hands and knees, get up on her hands and feet (like she's doing a pushup), and push herself backwards when she's on her tummy. In the past couple of days she has had her first tooth come in and her first meal of solids! At this rate I have a feeling she'll be crawling next week and then there'll be no limit to the places she'll go and the things she'll do. The rough nights we've had with her lately now make sense, what with the tooth and all. She was also VERY ready for solids because she devoured her rice cereal like it was the most wonderful feast she'd ever had. Guess it's time to get a high chair and get ready to dazzle her tastebuds with things like applesauce, banana mush, yams, and other such delectable baby foods.

I can't believe she is practically half way to being a year old. It's going by too fast! But at least we have lots to look forward to seeing Emma learn and do this year. It's going to be a year to remember for sure!