ah christmas. good times. it's been a little busy, hence the no blogging. i had to work christmas eve but it wasn't too bad. i raced home, changed clothes and hauled jeep up to orange where kat's grandparents live. i spent christmas eve with their family. it was a lot of fun. they have an incredible family and if i couldn't be with mine, it was great to be with theirs. we had dinner, laughed a lot and then hung out in the family room and did presents. the whole night they actually had a video chat up between their house and brandon, kat's cousin - my friend, who is in iraq. so that was cool to have that going. after a lot of fun, i headed back down the hills and headed home to go to bed.



christmas morning i woke up and headed up to the airport to fly down and spend the day with my grandma, aunt barb and uncle jon. my flight was supposed to land in phoenix at 11am. dinner was at noon. my flight landed around 1230. i wasn't too happy but hey, i figure hydrolics are pretty important so it's probably better to ground the plane until they are fixed. so, after i landed, i went to get my rental car and stood in line for close to an hour. they upgraded me from the basic, cheapo car to the 'really nice car.' i got out there and it was a hyundi azera. not gonna lie to ya, had never even heard of this car but whatever, it drove really really well. i'm used to the wrangler where, when you hit 70mph, you feel like you're going to die. i was on the freeway, reading my map and looked down...doing 98! needless to say, that didn't happen again. good heavens, i'm not ready for a new car, they're too easy to speed in!

i got to lunch and got to visit for a while, at some great food, and saw some people that i haven't seen in years. i got to see my cousin brian who i haven't seen in probably five years. i wish i would have been able to stay longer but with the delayed flight, i was limited to about three hours.

i drove grandma home from lunch and we spent some time in her house. i was able to fix her digital picture frame and get rid of some pictures that were making her sad and make room for some newer pictures. and before i knew it, it was time to head back to the airport and head home.




cali was lucky enough to spend the day with her friend domino the dalmation. they are so good together, they are so funny. it's like wrestle mania for the first couple hours and then all of a sudden they'll collapse. it's so great.



i was bummed that i didn't get to spend any time with my family for christmas. my neices and nephew are getting so big. the holidays aren't normal without my immediate family. jacob got an ipod shuffle, abby got a disney castle, and adia and tori got princess dresses, crowns and shoes. so funny. i wish i could have been there. i think i officially took the title of 'cool aunt katie.'







my moms dog bailey was not so excited about the christmas gifts. adia was convinced that bailey felt left out and she needed to wear a feather boa. bailey actually met my brother at the door wearing the boa, and not looking too happy.





friday marked the 17 year mark since my dad died. so strange. it's like some days it was yesterday and some days it feels like it was decades ago...which it almost was. maybe that's why i feel like i'm 35