Christmas Break, Part Two

I last left off at our drive back to LA. Let's just say the drive back was not as smooth as the drive up to San Francisco. Nothing awful happened, and we arrived in one piece making good time again, but I caught a bug and it pretty much had its way with me the whole drive. Aaron's parents and brother arrived the next day, Tuesday, and I was really sad to miss out on dinner and seeing them but I was hoping that if I just took another day off, I could get better and not miss out on their whole visit! Luckily, that proved to be true.

On Wednesday, despite the light rain, the boys went golfing at Malibu Country Club. I had wanted to take Terrie to see the ranch where "The Biggest Loser" is filmed, but we were not about to trek out there in the rain and mud...no sir. So, we did what we do best: we shopped. It was fun to have a full afternoon of it. We took our time and got a workout in holding our bags and walking the mall (indoor!) so much. As we were leaving the mall, Craig called Terrie and said that they had just finished up and so they were going to stop at the store and then head to our apartment where they would meet us. Now, I may be new to the marriage game, but immediately, I said to Terrie, "why do they have to go to the store?" She gave me a look and told me that sometimes you just don't ask questions. I was glad to hear that my "wife-radar" was working as well as hers in feeling out that something was not quite right! Anyway, Terrie and I make our way back to our apartment and we're headed up the hill on campus when Craig calls again. This time he says that they are going to head to URGENT CARE. Again, we didn't ask questions, we just headed back down the hill to find Ryne and Craig in the waiting room. Apparently, they have cut a lot of trees at Malibu Country Club, leaving stumps on the course. Ryne and Aaron had cleared one earlier in the day so near the end of their round, they decided to try another. As Ryne was driving, Aaron stuck his head out to see if they would clear it. Well, they didn't and Aaron ended up hitting his forehead on the windshield and the metal pole in the cart. So, the 3 stooges decided that they would go to CVS and by BUTTERFLY BANDAGES and NEW SKIN and TAKE CARE OF IT THEMSELVES BEFORE THE GIRLS GOT HOME!!! When they got to the apartment and realized their purchases probably wouldn't cut it, they headed to Urgent Care. So, 55 minutes and 8 stitches later, we headed back to the apartment. The good news is that Aaron was in literally no pain after that. He took some tylenol at dinner (he was really excited to go to dinner so that was a good sign) and that was probably the first and last time he took it. But the story doesn't end there...I'll get back to it in a second.

Thursday, New Year's Eve, is Ryne's birthday so we wanted to do something fun that day with him. We decided to take a trip to Griffith Observatory since we've actually never been there but we've always heard such good things. It was a really pretty day and I'm glad we checked it out because the views are really awesome and breathtaking. Sadly, this is the bulk of our photos from their WHOLE visit (we need to get better about that) and even more sad is the little black dot in our pictures! Apparently, our sensor is dirty and so our camera is at the shop right now. (We hope it's just the sensor that's the problem!) Anyway, if you can ignore the dot, the pictures are still really good.







Such a shadow-y picture but the only one we have of ALL of us from the whole visit!


After the observatory, we drove to the heart of Hollywood and had lunch at the Johnny Rockets at Hollywood and Highland. There were so many people and SO many Ohio State fans in town for the Rose Bowl. After lunch, we walked down Hollywood boulevard to Grauman's Chinese Theater. It was fun since we haven't spent much time down there at all.

I really had no idea that there were so many people who make their living on Hollywood Boulevard dressed up as characters. We saw a bunch of Spidermans, HELLO KITTY, Laurel and Hardy, etc etc etc. You name it. If anyone has an idea about how much money those people make, leave a comment please. I'm very curious.

After the Hollywood stint, we drove through Beverly Hills and Bel-Air to get to my brother's store. I was glad that he was there to see the Echols and show them around. I'm so proud of him and all he has accomplished!

Lastly, we headed up to Malibu for dinner at Duke's for Ryne's birthday. It was a delicious meal and we even had a table with an ocean view, Terrie's fave! As for the whole New Years Eve thing, Aaron and I didn't even try to make it to midnight, haha. We were going to get up early to have breakfast with Craig, Terrie, and Ryne before their flight on Friday so we hit the sack early. I don't feel like we missed out on anything...it was one of the best NYE's ever to fall asleep next to my husband!

As planned, we saw the Echols off on Friday morning in Calabasas. Of course the visit was a lot of fun and way too short. But we're so glad that they came in to see us during the holidays.

The next few days of break were spent on the couch, watching football. All day. Seriously (and I don't mean that to sound like I didn't enjoy it because I did!)

But, Sunday was our $20 Dollar Store Christmas Exchange. Brandon and T and us decided that we would spend $20 per couple at the dollar store. Also, you have to wrap each gift individually because that makes it so much more fun to open gifts. We met for dinner in Calabasas and then we came back to our apartment to exchange goodies. T went first because she had gifts from my family since she wasn't able to be in San Francisco. (Do you like my new Christmas tree? Terrie and I got it on our shopping extravaganza day for $5!!! We decided that it could be used for Valentine's Day and wedding showers and lots of events!) We de-Christmas'd our house on Sunday morning before church so the little tree was all we had to put our presents under.



Then, the exchange began. I love how genuinely excited all 4 of us were about our dollar store Christmas gifts.


And here's my brother opening my favorite gift for him:


The back story on the icicle is that when we were little, my mom would let Brandon and I each pick out an ornament at Christmas, usually from Macy's. We have a pretty good recollection of who picked what when since he was pretty much "all boy" and I was--shocking, I know--pretty much "all girl". Well, one year, 2 ornaments were picked out: a snowflake and an icicle. For the life of all of us, no one in my family can remember who picked what. Naturally, Bran and I both claim to have picked the icicle. We used to fight about it so much every year that one year Mom bought a pretty boot leg looking icicle to even the score...didn't really work! Mom doesn't even take it out anymore but when I saw the icicle at the dollar store, it had Brandon's name written all over it. I love his expression I caught when he realized what it was. Mwahahahahaha.

Annnnnd then it was Monday--back to work for me. Aaron had a full morning planned-he had an appointment with the optometrist and he had to go back to good ol' Urgent Care to get his stitches out (by the way, I had a lot of fun all weekend hanging out with Stitches, as I called him). He went to the eye doctor and then afterwards, I got a text from him saying that his stitches were out and he was good to go. I probably let out an audible sigh of relief since he had been telling me since he got the stitches that he didn't see why he had to go to Urgent Care to get them taken out...when he could take them out himself. Gross gross gross. So, I was happy to hear that he got them taken out, as we discussed. WELL, he came to see me at work and we talked a bit and then he said, "Now that they're out and everything's fine, I can tell you--I took my stitches out." WHAT! I wanted to kill him! (He asked me if I could wait til after Thursday, the National Championship game) I cannot believe him. He promised me that his hands were clean and he was careful. I told him that he better be real nice to me after all that! Goodness.

Anyway, we really and truly had a wonderful break and we are so thankful for our families and all our friends. We hope you had a great holiday season and we are excited to share whatever 2010 brings our way!

"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins."
1 Peter 4:8