The trip went well. Both our families are normal, and it was fun to try remembering that as we greeted each nut in the family tree. I'm glad to be home with only my own crazy people. I love both our families, but I can only take so much before I'm glad we live 350 miles away. lol.
A few years ago I took a class through the Church Education System called "Positive Parenting." One day was spent talking about how we teach our children gratitude. The teacher said we teach gratitude by not giving our children everything they want and then they are grateful for what they get. I thought at the time it must be correct because we haven't been able to give our kids everything and they seem to be grateful. We had an eye opening experience on this trip as we watched a 16 year old receive birthday gifts with no gratitude at all. He and his siblings have always had more than our kids, but our kids are lots more grateful for what they get. We felt sorry for the parents. Things like that are never fun.
This was the first long trip with our blue van, and we were very happy with it. It was comfortable and the gas mileage was better than we've had in a very long time. We got 24 miles per gallon on the freeway. Not bad for a mini van! We got to Tremonton and debated topping off the tank or waiting until Salt Lake when "the gas prices might be even lower." When I said that Tom laughed. After all the gas prices are lower than they've been in a decade and I wanted to see if they were lower in Salt Lake...lol. We filled up in Tremonton on the way down and again on the way home. All our driving around Salt Lake and Orem was done with that one tank of gas. Very nice. And the kids loved the dvd player. We didn't choose the van because of that...just lucked out that it was in it. I wondered how many people were wondering what movie we were watching as we drove down the freeway. I wonder if they guessed "The Absent-Minded Professor" or "Follow Me, Boys" or "Twelfth Night"...
Now it's back to normal life. I'm working at 8 am all week. One of my coworkers is in Las Vegas because her neice is in the National Miss Rodeo contest. And I'm working on the Stake Nativity display this weekend and the Ward Christmas Party next week. I'm sooo glad I'm done shopping. I can't imagine planning for those two activities and shopping at the same time.
I am glad that your holiday went so well. We went and visited my crazies as well. It turned out to be pretty good, but not very restful. Good luck on the party planning.
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