We LOVED our Christmas vacation in the south! It was the best trip I have ever taken to Texas and I'm even willing to go there again next Christmas. We had so much fun getting acquainted (and re-acquainted) with cousins, playing games, eating foods that cannot be found in Idaho, going to Lego Land, wandering through the Sea Life Aquarium and even the travel time was fun...no seriously, it was the perfect Christmas gift to spend all that time together.
On Sunday we went to the Weatherford Branch for church. It was such a neat experience! The Christmas program offered by the branch took nearly every person participating and it was impressive to see how close they were as a ward family. We immediately felt welcome and at home. They all speak so highly of Dad (who serves as the executive secretary) and many (including children) expressed their love for Cynthia Darlene and her service in primary (because of the small numbers in the branch she teaches the 4-8 years olds in one class).
After church LeRoy took us over to his old neighborhood and showed us the house he spent his
We also went over to the old Army barracks to show the boys. They climbed all through the old, empty buildings. I couldn't decide if they looked too innocent to be trouble in their church duds or if they looked more like clean cut mob imitations. I stayed in the van (using my lack of pants as my excuse) and kept an eye out for the local police since the fence next to the barracks was the yard fence for the local prison.
Dad and Cynthia didn't go to church with us because Dad was still very weak from the previous month trying to overcome e-coli poisoning and they were still doing blood tests to make sure that his other organs were functioning properly. When I first saw him it was the first time that he looked like he had aged in the 22 years I have known him. Luckily, he is blessed with a wonderful woman to take care of him. Cynthia spoiled us like a perfect grandma. She had a kitchen full of delicious foods including all the fudge, cookies, pies, cakes and sweets that go along with Christmas and half the room was full of wrapped presents surrounding their Christmas tree, all with labels for us and the other cousins. It was wonderful after two days of travel food to sit down to a delicious home cooked, made with love meal.
After our bellies were filled we played games. Dad and Levi even convinced LeRoy to play poker with them. We were all shocked since he had thrown away his poker set when we were in Texas during General Conference and President Hinckley counseled against playing poker. His upbringing, the peer-pressure from his Dad and oldest son and the fact that they were only playing with poker chips instead of money was more than he could take. They even taught Nathan how to play which kind of brought out a monster in the little man and we decided poker better only be a Texas thing with his Papa.
Dad also showed us the display that Cynthia has put together for all of his military stuff. Of course it all doesn't fit there so the swords were displayed in the living room (Derek coveted those and got quite a thrill holding real military swords) and his guns were locked away. After looking through pictures and hearing some stories that have never before been shared I had an even more tender spot for this man. For all he has been through he is so full of love and giving, pushing aside the stress and nightmares of the Vietnam War (I'm sure through the practice of the years and not that it was in any way easy) and moving forward in faith.
Derek and Justin battled through a couple of games of Checkers. Justin could not manage a win and accused Derek of cheating, to which Derek replied, "I don't need to cheat, you just suck." I was more kind to Nathan as I beat him in Chinese Checkers (I had daily training from my mom when I was a little girl and it was fun to pass on some strategy techniques to Nathan). Levi, Hyrum, Nathan and Nanny (as Dad now calls Cynthia) put to good use the Grandkids Room that she has been filling over the past few years since she became a Grandma to all of us. They patiently built Lego's, vroomed around with cars, tried a couple of puzzles, colored and pretty much made a fun filled mess. Cynthia seemed to love pulling everything out and playing on the floor with them. While she was caught up in the play Dad couldn't seem to get her attention. Then he grunted his way to the floor with them. Whether it was to get in on the fun with the grandkids or finally get eye contact with his wife I don't know but it was very cute of him.
Dad and Nanny also surprised Nathan and Hyrum with birthday presents (a few months early) and gave the boys each a tool bag. Then they let them go outside to "fix" a wagon that the wheels had fallen off of. The boys still pack around their tool bags "fixing" things. Cynthia also gave me an afghan for my birthday. I felt honored to have a gift with her love stitched right into it!
We had a hard time leaving but knew that Lenora was making another meal for us and even though we were stuffed from all the goodies of the day, we didn't want to miss out at her house. As Derek gave Papa a hug he looked up at Derek and said, "you are the only person who gets such a good view of my bald spot".
Our time at Lenora's was wonderful! Her home felt like a home away from home. Though the old homes have problems in the plumbing and walls, the character is very charming. She fed us, gave us a place to kick off our shoes and really relax from all the traveling, gave the boys free reign to all her snacks, and the Christmas feel of her tree and decorations topped it all off for a perfect Christmas in Texas. Unfortunately, we were blamed for the ice storm that showed up Christmas morning and prevented Dad and Cynthia from making it over for the day.
The little boys had so much fun with cousins Jace and Bert (in the Elmo shirt). Hyrum kept calling Bert, Burp, which all of us, even his parents, started using. Then Bert gave me a nickname. Cory (his dad) told him to "go give Aunt Kimber a hug". He came over and gave me a big squeeze and said "love you Hamburger". And, yes, that was my name for the remainder of the trip (and occasionally comes up even months later). I don't mind. Since hamburgers are one of Bert's favorite foods, I'll be Hamburger.
The older boys stayed up late playing x-box and watching movies, spent the mornings sleeping in with little boys crawling all over them, and entertained the little boys throughout the day. It was a perfect mixture of activities and entertainment for everyone.
LeRoy organized a pool tournament with a full game bracket filled in with names, set up for double elimination. Boy was he surprised when Teresa (JC's wife) beat him in his first game!!! The rest of us didn't know whether to laugh or keep our mouths shut. We are not surprised that LeRoy won the full tournament. After all, he bribes, drags, convinces and coerces anyone that walks into our door to play pool with him and practices on his own during down times and the pool table at Lenora's was covered with all of Christian's stuff when we got there. I'd say he had a bit of
By the 26th the storm had passed and the boys went out to the tree swing to play until it was time to go to Lego Land.
Lego Land was not quite the grand theme park that we had envisioned but everyone still mustered up the creativity to play and ride the rides. Derek and Justin had a crowd watching them as they build a house out of bread pan sized foam Lego's. Our favorite part was the 4D Lego movies that we could feel the wind in, smell the trees in and came out a little damp from the rain storm in the movie. The Lego people in the movies only grunted but the 4D made up for it and they were still very entertaining.
The Sea Life Aquarium was incredible!! I have never seen Levi take so many videos or pictures anywhere. We loved the 360 tank that we could stand in to see the sharks and sea turtles swim around us and the little boys thought it was super cool to touch a real live starfish.
As our week began to wrap up we headed back out to Nanny and Papa's for one last visit. It was hard to say goodbye not knowing when we would see them again. It was also the first time that I saw Dad tear up (and try to hide it) as he hugged us all goodbye.
On our way out we stopped at the Vietnam Memorial. The boys loved being able to climb on the vehicles instead of just looking at them behind ropes.
I took a little time to wander over by the wall (which is a 1/3 size replica of the original Vietnam Memorial Wall) and felt an overwhelming respect as I read over name after name after name of those who had given their lives. After hearing some of Dad's experiences and then visiting this sight I gained an even greater love for him. I cannot even imagine what he has experienced, felt, feared and overcome to be where he is today.
Our trip home was LONG! We usually take two days to get there and two days to get home but we just wanted to get home so with all of us taking turns driving we drove 26 hours straight and made it home by 5am. We carried the little boys to their beds, left everything in the van, dropped into our own beds and didn't wake up until about eleven.
That "No Parking On Ramp" sign represents the number one broken rule while traveling with Nathan. That kid has a bladder the size of a pea! He had previously been a little sick (we assume it was motion sickness like Derek) so we had stopped to pick up some chewable Dramamine and a heavy duty Maverik cup with a lid just in case. He didn't ever throw up but he did end up peeing in that cup while we were in 5 lane traffic with nowhere to stop.
It was nice to have that middle seat missing. It gave Derek extra leg room and offered a good sleeping spot for each of us to rotate through. By the time we had been on the road for 22 hours Hyrum's legs were jumpy and cramping from dangling at the edge of his car seat for so long so the two of us wiggled and squirmed our way into a comfy position on the floor in that empty spot to get a little sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What did Bret & Erika do while we were away? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They opened gifts at our house, ate the perishable food at our house, fed the cats at our house and then flew to Colorado to spend the Christmas break with the Hellbusch family.
It was strange to be on a family holiday vacation and not have her with us but I'm so grateful that she has another family to love her just as we would. Erika loves being with Bret's family (especially his sisters....or, especially Bret?) and they tease and talk with her like she has always been part of the family. I was so pleased to talk with her on Christmas day and hear that she was having so much fun and is so happy.
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