The Best Christmas Present Ever

 Even though we were supposed to stay in Ohio for Christmas this year, my sweet husband gave me the gift of going to see my family in St. Louis two days after Christmas. I've never been away from home for Christmas and I was having a really hard time not being with my family.  Lucky for me my husband is so sweet! We had to get a rental car though because our check engine light was on in our car and it was making all sorts of weird noises, so we had to take it to the shop. St. Louis is only about a 6 hour drive from Dayton, so it's close enough for us to drive there for a couple days! 

I gave Tyler a haircut before we left. He really doesn't like getting haircuts, especially at home, because he doesn't like sitting in our hard wooden chairs for a long time. ( And it takes me a long time to cut his hair!)  However, he was a good sport and let me do it to save some money and to give me more practice cutting hair.  Isn't he so handsome?? :)

Goodbye Ohio! Leaving one arch for another! 

 On our way! 

We made it to my favorite  city!!

We got to go with some friends to see Elf: The Musical at the Fox theater.  It was fun to be at the Fox with the Thomas's, Zengers, Lisa, Julia, and Rock, however, I would suggest that you save your time and money and see a different play if you ever get the chance.  The movie is way better. We found out later though that Buddy, the main character,  graduated from Wright State University! Kind of cool! 

I was trying to take a picture of the bride behind Tyler and captured this gem of my hubby. hahaha

What's a trip to St. Louis without Ted Drewes! Yum!!

My grandma, Annie  Paul Erekson, wrote a memoir of her life so far and gave it to her kids for Christmas.  I really enjoyed reading about her life! 

Monday morning we pulled together a last minute breakfast with some of my dearest friends. Michael had Tom Crockett over and I invited Clarissa Thomas and Kaitlin (Neurohr) McClure with her husband Conner and their soon to be daughter Lina! ") 

So fun to reconnect with old friends! 

I had to take a picture of these chips because they are some of my favorite chips in the whole world!! We get them at a restaurant called Canyon Cafe, and I have to go when I go to St. Louis! They are just so yummy!!

I always love seeing Greg and Lisa and their sweet kiddos!! 

We went to Greg and Lisa's new house for Family Home Evening on Monday also. We played games and learned that OWL stands for Own Will Less and Lord's Will Only from Mom's part of the Charity project*! She is so clever! 

*The Charity project is a big part of our Christmas celebration.  My mom rewrote the 12 days of Christmas to the 12 days of Charity with the 12 attributes of Charity that are mentioned in Moroni 7:45.  So every year we are assigned a trait to study and report to the rest of the family.  It is wonderful! 

Michael thought the buttermilk was eggnog and had a rude awakening.  It was pretty entertaining for us, but he will not be making that mistake any time soon! 

We saw a film on Jerusalem at the Omni Max Theater at the science center.  It was very interesting! 

Tyler standing on the over pass over Highway 40

We celebrated New Years Eve at a YSA Roller Skating party.  My parents were called to serve in the YSA branch earlier this year, so we got to go with them to ring in the New Year in style! 80's style! It was a fun party! I won't post a picture of  my parents per request, but they were pretty dolled up also! They are so fun!  Roller skating took some getting used to, it definitely wasn't Michael's cup of tea, but Tyler was doing really well with it! Hidden talents I tell ya what! 

I love the start of a New Year! It's fun to look back at what has happened in a year, and look forward to what will be happening in the coming year!  This last year was certainly a doozy for me! I got engaged, got married to my best friend, finished teaching 2nd grade, graduated from BYU, moved 3 times, moved across the country to Ohio, started a new job, and all sorts of craziness in between! I can't wait to see what adventures 2014 holds!! 

Sadly, we had to leave New Years day because I had to go back to work on the 2nd. Tyler and I were both pretty tired from the late night partying from the night before, but there was a storm coming later that night so we had to make it back to Ohio fairly early.  Luckily we made the trip fairly quickly and safely despite being tired. 

My cute Mom packed us a whole box of things to do to make our drive go by faster.  One of the things she gave us was some yarn for me to crochet! She is so considerate and kind! I love her so much! 

It was so fun being home, even for a couple of days! I just love being with my parents and feel so inspired by their example of how they live their life! I want to be just like them! I also feel so grateful that my husband was a good sport and gave up time with his family so we could be with mine!! 

Luckily for me, the first day back to work got cancelled because of snow!! So I got one more day to recover and catch up on the blog! Hooray! Happy New Year to me! 

Goodbye 2013.  You've been great.  Welcome 2014!!