So, I figured since I wanted to procrastinate a bit on my first homework assignments of the semester, I'd go ahead and blog about our first Christmas together followed by our honeymoon. At the beginning of Christmas break, we left Utah and headed out to Indiana, where my parents live and where Kris served his mission. We had an open house there on December 18. It was really fun getting to spend so much time with my family, especially since Kris was able to get to know them better. The open house was great; we were able to use some of the same decorations that we had at the reception here. It looked fabulous. It was so nice to see people from the ward I grew up in, as well as some good friends of mine. Kris's mission president even was able to make it! That was fun.
We came back to Utah before Christmas so that we could spend it with Kris's family (since he had missed the last 2 because of his mission). His mom's side of the family had a get-together on Christmas Eve. We ate wonderful food and then exchanged some gifts. I like this since my family has always opened presents on Christmas Eve. Once everyone had left and it quieted down, Kris and I were able to exchange our presents to each other. He got me two copies of the Aeneid that are over 100 years old- one in English and one in Latin. I always look for these when I go to used book stores-- I absolutely LOVE old books and the Aeneid is one I've always wanted to have. It was the perfect gift. I was able to sneakily get an old watch that Kris had gotten from a Catholic priest he knew on his mission. The watch doesn't use a battery but gets wound by shaking it. Wearing it for four hours shakes it enough to keep it going for a full day. So, for Christmas, I took it to Precision Time in the mall and replaced the black plastic band for a nicer leather one more like it originally had. It was really great to exchange gifts to each other for our first Christmas.
On Christmas morning, we went to Kris's parents' house and had some wonderful breakfast and opened some gifts from them. Then, we stopped by Jeff and Lori's to exchange presents. Nathan was being quite a pill. He was really stimulated from all the excitement but he wouldn't even open the present we bought him! Once Lori got it open, though, he was excited about it. After we finished there, we went back to Kris's just in time for a wonderful Christmas dinner. On our way home that evening, we stopped by Festival of Lights. It was really fun to see. It was a great first Christmas for us. We got wonderful presents from everyone and really appreciate everything that everyone did for us-- especially so soon after helping with the wedding.
On the day after Christmas, we left for our honeymoon to St. George. Kris's grandparents on his dad's side own a condo there so we were able to stay there for a week. It was so great to be able to relax after the craziness of the wedding, finals, going to Indiana, and having Christmas. We loved just being able to relax, watch some good movies, and play lots of games. We got to eat at Texas Roadhouse, which is my very favorite restaurant. We also went and saw "Life as We Know It" at the dollar theater there. It was such a cute movie; I would highly recommend it. Kris is such a great husband for going to see a chick flick with me on our honeymoon :) The highlight of our little trip was going to Las Vegas for a night. We were able to get good reservations for a good price since our hotel wasn't right off the strip. It was a really nice hotel and we were really pleased with it. We went down to the strip for the evening hoping to see the fountains at the Bellagio and ride the rides at the top of the Stratosphere. Unfortunately, it was REALLY windy so we didn't get to do either of those things. We still had a blast, though. We parked at the end of the strip and walked all the way down and back- a total of probably 6 miles or so. It started raining on us on the way back (with some hail) and I totally fell down at one point. We were tired, wet, and our feet hurt, but we still both had a great time. I hope we'll be able to keep that attitude throughout our marriage when things get tough.
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