December got off to a great start with the Genesis Christmas party. AJ and Jameson got a chance to meet with Santa and Mrs. Claus. This is AJ's 2nd Christmas home so he knows it's important to let Santa know what you want.😀
This year they had a DJ and made it into a family dance so the kids had a lot of fun and Jameson got to show off his Macarena skills.
On Dec 3rd I left for a quick trip to China to bring Jen and kids back to the U.S. on the 7th.
I got to try some Vietnamese noodles with Taylor.
And get my hair washed while Taylor got his shaved off.
Running all your errands on a bike is something that I really like about China.
Wednesday was cold and rainy and Jen came in from her workout and said, "The lines at Shanghai Disney are only 5 min long. Should we go?" The answer to that question is YES, of course!
It rained all day so we pretty much walked onto the rides. Preston did really well and even went on Peter Pan before taking a nap. We took turns staying with Preston and still finished everything we wanted to ride in 4 hrs. It was awesome.
The next day Jen and I crossed the world with Will, June and Preston and made it home without incident.
While I was gone Adam took Jameson and AJ with the youth to Temple Square.
Britton on the right
They really enjoyed it but of course AJ kept running all over the place.so it was a bit stressful for Adam. Fortunately one of the other leaders had to bring their 6 year old daughter so the boys had a friend to help them stay together.
Back in October I was able to score 4 tickets to the Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert with Kristin Chenoweth. Britton, Jenna, Korinne and I made it to SLC early enough to get something to eat before the concert.
It was such a fun night right up until we made it back to our car and did not find it in the same condition we left it 3 hours earlier.
Someone ran into it and then just left. The damage was significant and I wasn't sure it was even drive able. After the policeman was finished writing up his report we decided that if we had some duct tape there was a chance we would be able to get it home. One of the good Samaritans that stuck around to see if they could be of some use said, "Hey, I think I my actually have duct tape in my car!" She procured some duct tape out of a Costco car kit and we set about getting the car in drivable condition.
The duct tape wasn't super strong so another couple that stayed around to help had us follow them to their house in North Salt Lake so they could give us some stronger duct tape. They even gave us some roasted cinnamon sugar almonds for the drive home.
We parked in that parking lot around 6:30 p.m. next to a huge white Monster truck. The truck was gone when we returned but the people who were parked in that same spot said they had parked there at 6:45 p.m, and our car was already wrecked, which they thought was very strange, so between 6:30p.m and 6:45 p.m. we figure the white Monster truck didn't wait until he had cleared our car before turning in the lane and ruined it in the process. The Policeman didn't think there were any surveillance cameras in the parking lot so it looks like we are going to be stuck with the bill. Our insurance deductible is $1,000 so it turned out to be a very expensive free concert for us.
Its a good thing our new friends gave us some duct tape for the road because we did have to pull over on the freeway once during the trip to do some more taping. Britton and I will never forget our midnight duct taping on the freeway. Needless to say we were very happy to finally pull into our garage at around 12:45 a.m.
On Saturday Jameson had his last basketball game of the season.
He liked it a lot better this year and scored baskets in all of the games.
Last night Adam, Britton, Jenna and hit attended the Nashville Tribute Band concert at Ridgeline and had a great night.
After the concert we took Britton and Jenna home and then hit the end of a good friend's 40th birthday party.
In September I started a Genealogy research certificate program from Boston University and today I turned in my final report for the semester. Each week I've had a major assignment plus a lot of reading and studying and it was a little overwhelming at times with my crazy mom schedule. I would go back and forth between feeling like I was way over my head at the start of every assignment to feeling like a freakin' rockstar for completing it and getting a good grade only to go back to feeling over my head again the very next day. Even though I have now earned the certificate I still have more work to do before I can be considered for a contract researching position, but at least I am one step closer.