A Moses Lake Christmas

Christmas this year was spent in Moses Lake with the Earl clan. Here are some high lights from our trip.

Walking around the Phoenix airport, on our way to Moses Lake

Me: "Gosh, my purse is so heavy! I have a bunch of extra stuff in it for the plane."
Brad: "You can put it in my back pack."
Me: "okay"

A few minutes later

Brad: "Wait, did you put your entire purse in here? I meant just the extra stuff."

Moses Lake
When we arrived in Moses Lake, our welcoming party was pretty slim. (Sorry Bryan) Most of the family were still vacationing in Hawaii when we got there so we had a few days to ourselves.

On our first day there, we took advice from Bryan to see Anchorman 2. Big mistake. I won't go too in depth here because I don't want to offend anyone who liked it, but it was awful. I'll admit there were a few funny parts, but I feel as though I'll never get those 119 minutes back.

It makes sense now why there were a total of four other people in the theater. 

Mike and Allie's! 
We also got to visit Mike and Allie which was awesome. I can never get over how stinkin' cute their baby, Nora, is every time I see her.

Funny story. Some time in the last 6 months or so, Mike somehow mixed up Brad's and Curtis's phone numbers and thought he and Curtis had been texting the whole time, not Brad. We couldn't figure out why they were so shocked to see us at the door but it turns out it was because they were expecting Courtney and Curtis, not us. Haha.

Grandma Ludeen's
Once Kylie and Kendall arrived, things started to get a little more lively. On Sunday night, we all went over to Grandma Ludeen's to visit. Can I just say this woman is a saint? Anytime I'm around her, I am always so impressed. She has such a strong testimony and I wish I had half the sports knowledge that she does.

Being the awesome woman that she is, she fed us all spaghetti for dinner. This was wonderful because we hadn't eaten any good food in days. There were five four adults (once again, sorry Bryan) in the house and I'm pretty sure none of us cooked once. We lived off of cereal and queso dip until Peggy came home to take care of us. 

SNL

One thing I've learned about this family is that they love SNL. So, naturally we watched the Christmas SNL and it was awesome. Do yourself a favor and watch this. 

Ticket to Ride 

While waiting for the rest of the family to arrive, (except Jon, Kacey and the kids. After their Hawaii trip, they went back to Vegas which was such a bummer for the rest of us who didn't get to see them!) Brad, Kylie, Kendall, Bryan and myself all played the game Ticket to Ride. Can I just say I freaking love this game? I'm pretty sure we played it every night the rest of our trip. And although I never won a single game, I came in a comfortable 2nd place most of the time, which was good enough for me against the Earls!

Sweet Home Alabama
Monday night was a great night for me because I was introduced to the greatest show airing on television today.

Oh my goodness. Words can't even describe how much I love this show. It's basically The Bachelor gone country where they bring in half city guys/half southern guys who duke it out to win over the heart of a Southern Belle. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

Christmas Eve

Since it was my first Christmas spent with the Earls, I got to participate in/witness the annual Christmas Eve talent show that takes place at Grandma Ludeen's every year. This family loves anything to do with competition, and I recall hearing Brad say that we needed to "win Christmas" this year. 

Here's a peak at the David Earl clan "practice session."

My favorite part of this video is Trevor lying down in the background. 

Brainstorming different talents everyone could do. Not sure why this one didn't make the cut. Maybe next year Kylie!

Christmas day

Christmas day was awesome. We enjoyed some french toast for breakfast and got to open a bunch of great gifts. I feel so lucky to be a part of this family! 

The best part of the day was the Monopoly competition. (I told you they love anything competitive) Although I was a front runner early on, I lost everything with one bad roll. It was still a lot of fun though. 

And yes, that's real money on the table. Thanks to David, we all left a little bit richer. (Maybe more so than Peggy intended)

I was still hopeful at this point. Kendall, not so much. And you can probably tell from the look on Trevor's face that he was going to win it all.

One of Brad's favorite Christmas presents from his sister, Kristy. Apparently it's a Simpson's reference. Beats me. 

Moses Lake frozen over

I'm not sure where everyone else was, but Kylie, Kendall and I thought it would be fun to play out on frozen Moses Lake. 

Not sure if you realized this, but our last name is Earl.

Sisterly love.

Once Courtney and Curtis arrived the next day, the four of us ventured out on the lake again.

Glad the extra weight didn't make us fall through. 

Holiday 3 on 3 tournament at the church! 

Another tradition I got to witness this year was the holiday 3 on 3 tournament. It was a lot of fun getting to see Brad play! 

Watching our husbands play some basketball!

Winners!

Tri-Cities

On our last day there, the whole family went to Tri-Cities to do some shopping and go out to dinner at PF Changs before Bryan's high school basketball game. 

The crew

After the game, we stopped for ice cream and said our goodbyes. We had such a great time and were definitely not ready to leave! 

New Year's Eve

Brad and I didn't have big plans for New Year's Eve, but we did eat out at Cheesecake Factory which was delicious. We rang in the new year by watching Season 3 of Sweet Home Alabama and realizing at 12:14 that it was 2014! 

New Year's Resolutions

I'm going to keep these pretty simple this year, just so I can feel better about myself when I actually accomplish them. 

1. Use less toothpaste (I always use way too much)

2. Drink more water everyday

That sounds easy enough. 

Happy New Year!!