Our Christmas Vaca!

Disclaimer: I haven't blogged in WAY too long and have WAY too much to catch up on. Remember- I am a DoCuMeNteR by nature and would never presume anyone to have the desire to know this much about my life. That said, I'm about to share A lOt! If you're in for the ride, I would suggest bathroom breaks, on-hand snacks and a comfortable seat!! :)

It all began Dec. 20 with a 9:30am flight to Phoenix- layover in Detroit. With the Friday storm and more to come, I was not anticipating a smooth traveling experience. We miraculously got home just an hour behind schedule! After visiting with family our first priority was..... CaFe RiO!!! My parents decided to make it a family outing and as you can see, I was just a tad excited :) I really don't know if the culinary experience can beat a Cafe Rio salad or burrito. Yum!

We have had some cravings while in Buffalo and since I've started with the food thing, I'm going to continue. As I looked over my pictures, about 75% of them involved food and so, in no particular order, here they are! [Personal antedote: This past Sunday, we were sitting down to dinner and after we start eating, Trav admits to me that it looked so good, his first instinct was to wait, because he thought I would want to take a picture! Haha, man I've trained this guy well! (and no, I did not actually take a picture:)]

SoNiC! I got to munch on my corn dog and grilled cheese while visting with my favorite cousin in the world- Leah!

I crave Mexican food in general, but this was a new place for me! I went with my sister, Shelley and friend Jenni , to Abuelos for lunch one day. Really good enchiladas

Gotta love Neds!! A Mesa favorie! My mouth is seriously watering! Delicious subs and good company. Ned is Travis's uncle, so he paid us a visit while we ate.

Pei Wei is a less expensive branch off of P.F. Changs and they make a spicy chicken salad to die for! My nose is always running and my mouth is on fire when I'm done, but oh so worth it!

Gecko Grill is probably my favorite Mexican food restaurant next to Cafe Rio. They have seafood selections like shrimp tacos and burritos and I love their special enchilada sauce. Don't judge, but you have to get a Pepsi when you come here! My little sister Marcie and her boyfriend, Austin came to enjoy with us.


Ok, on to some random home- eating pictues!

Davy Love is known for drinking from a Mason jar- guess we were out of clean ones...

What is it with my family and drinking out of measuring glasses??! :)

Ok, so after a long day of shopping, we come home and my mom has brought home Panda Express! Score! It was one of the places we wanted to eat at. LoVe their chow main and orange chicken. Well, about an hour later we head over to Trav's parents house and his brother in law announces that he is going to Inn'N'Out burger and asks if anyone wants some. Trav hesitates just long enough to try and make me think he is only considering it, then declared he'll take a double double cheeseburger, animal style. Yes, this is just an hour after we have stuffed ourselves on Panda. Did I mention that we never felt hungry while on our trip home? No, we just ate and ate til we popped.

About two days after we got home, we awoke to no milk in the fridge. Not to worry, I figured I'd make pancakes. I pull out one container of half and half. A month old. So I pull out the other one from the outside fridge. Two months old. Hmmm. I go for the whipping cream. About 3 weeks old. Last resort, Rice Dream. 2 weeks old. Well, I am hell bent on making pancakes. Bacteria burns off anyway, right? So I make a concoction using the rice milk and whipping cream.

They look like pancakes..... they even tasted like pancakes. Well, pretty much anyway. Good news is - no one got sick! Maybe next time, I'll just make a run to the store :)

Ok, let's see if this story can top the last one. For our first Sunday dinner meal, my mom makes Sonoran (snoring) enchiladas. My favorite! We invited my grandmother to eat with us and she brought over fried pies~ could life get any better? They are absolutely delicious, like everything else she makes, and then she startes to tell us about how she made them. You see, she was looking in her pantry and came across a container of shortening that looked a little old. How old? 38 years old!! Seriously, I'm not even kidding. Well, she popped the top and it looked "as white as snow", so why not use it? It's still perfectly good, she reasons. Despite my last story, my mom will not keep leftovers past a day. She will not eat ANYTHING old. This is how I was raised. So I was bit queasy thinking about 38 year old shortening in my fried pie. Good news again- no one got sick! Haha, and I probably ate at least 5 of those pies!

On to CHRISTMAS!

Christmas Eve we had dinner with the Evans. They always do a program afterward where the grandkids dress up and act out the nativity. There are not enough boys though, so the uncles get to join in as the Wise Men. I think Marcus and Reddin enjoy it more than the kids. Baby Matt was Jesus this year, feeding tube and all, poor guy.

Then Travis's mom hands out the new pajama's for the year. Even our baby got a pair! So cute- the tag even had "Towaga" on the name tag! His first outfit!

After that, we met up with my family at the temple to see the Christmas lights. I remember getting all bundled up as a kid to go see them (reference my mom's outfit :) This year it felt great to me. I didn't even use the blanket I brought along, just in case.

Then we went home and watched the traditional, Christmas Story. I fell asleep right after the kid sticks his tongue to the pole, but woke up enough afterward to sit around drinking hot chocolate and talking with my siblings. We even rung jingle bells by the window of my youngest brother's (8yrs old) room after he had gotten in bed (another tradition). And as always it freaked him out. Us Lindbloms are a little neurotic. Especially when it comes to Santa Clause. :)

OK! Christmas Morning: We all gather in the living room around 8. Marcie lit the fire via remote control :) We are not the rip and tear type of family. Everyone has to go one by one so we can see what they got.

Lane (the only grandkid, and very spoiled) is opening a gift from Jael, Christopher's fiance from Switzerland.

We do a sibling gift exchange since there are seven kids. Craig gave to Travis, which meant my mom gave Trav $50 and said he could pick out his own gift. He was very surprised to find the gloves and beanie he had picked out and wrapped for himself!

I gave to Casey. The remote control helicopter we had ordered for him just came in the mail yesterday *grrr* so this was his impromptu gift. A box full of his favorite food, since his skinny wife starves him. Just kidding Shelley, but seriously. :) I think he liked it.

Travis (aka, me) picked out a shirt and necklace for Shelley's gift, along with a gift certificate to Nielsen's Frozen Custard.

We gave my mom a shirt and necklace.

Shelley and Casey got my dad some oil degreaser soap that caused a face I've never seen on my dad before. I don't know that I've ever seen him so happy! Ok, Shell, we are going in on his gift next year with you guys. You always seem to know what will make him ga ga!

What a cheeser! Love that face!

Starting last year, my parents put together a money scavenger hunt for the older kids. Here we are in the stairwell, waiting for the Ok, to come out and get started.

My mom is giving instructions. This year we competed as couples. Winner gets a $50 bonus (seen on the wall). I don't have any victory pictures, but Trav and I won! Woohoo! Shelley's idea for next year is to have the bonus money at the bottom of the pool. Extreme money hunt! Haha.

Argueably my favorite part of Christmas morning is the feasting! We always have sausage, biscuits and gravy.

The recipe is my grandmothers, but my dad is the cook. So delicious!

The big family gift this year was Rock Band 2. So much more fun than I thought it would be. I personally like the vocals, but as you can see below, I make a kick-a** drummer. I obviously missed my calling in life! :)

After Rock Band, we decided to go enjoy our wonderful weather! I don't care what anyone says- this is better than a white Christmas any day!

Courtesy of the Arizona desert, we had a visitor join us in the festivities. Dead scorpions are the best kind of scorpion.

There's that cheeser again. His mom trained him well!

Trav trying out the long board. I chose to ride it luge-style with Trav pushing me from behind.

The rest of the day was spent talking to missionaries- Trav's sister, Aubrey, called from Portugal around 12:30pm, and his brother, Trevor, called from Mexico around 2:30pm. We ate lunch at my grandma and grandpa's house and got our traditional book from Grandma. We also went to the Evans house for the evening to open presents and take the traditional family picture in our new pajamas. (Have I said "traditional" enough in this post?? :)

It was a wonderful day filled with the people we love most. Thank you to everyone who made it so special!