It's been SO good to come home for Christmas!! We drove to California on the 21st and it's been wonderful to be home! We'll be leaving tomorrow...actually in four hours! Haha.
(24 hours later...)
We're back in Provo! Got home about 6 hours ago. It's good to be back, simply because I'm not in the car anymore (Hallelujah!) but I wish we could have had more time in California! We're grateful for the time we had though. Tuesday and Wednesday we spent time with my family and grandparents, then Thursday we took Savanah and Amber shopping for a bit. Later that night we headed to San Francisco with Geoy and Cindy and had dinner at E & O Trading Co. (an Asian restaurant) and the food was AMAZING!! (Just ask Cindy, she wouldn't stop talking about it all night! Lol) Then we went to the Oakland temple to meet up with Dan and Teresa, who also brought TJ and his fiance Tara. We were basically just killing time until we had to go pick up Jacob at the airport. So after spending some time on temple grounds we went to Fenton's to get dessert and then headed back to the San Francisco airport to meet Jacob. His flight was a little delayed, but luckily not by too much, so the plane got in at about 12:25 am (Christmas Eve) and we waited at the gate for a while until finally Jacob came through. He looked so skinny--he said he had lost 30 lbs! I was the first person he walked up to, but when he came up to me he stuck out his hand for me to shake yet I refused to shake his hand because I'm his sister and he's allowed to hug me now! Apparently he just wasn't ready to hug me, which was really disappointing, but he quickly got over that and hugged me later that morning. :)
So for Christmas Eve we went out to Marysville for the annual Pedersen Christmas party, it was so fun! Grandma Pedersen published a wonderful book of her personal history for all of her children and grandchildren, and we each got a copy. She's so inspiring and such a great example because I want to make sure I keep good records of my own life and continue working on my family history. Anyway, I really love her book, it's very well done and I already treasure it very much. I also got to meet a lot of family members that I hadn't already met (or forgot I had met if I first met them at our wedding--hardly remember anyone from that day lol)! And I finally got to meet my newest little niece, Alexis (Ellisa's daughter, who was born in August of this year). She is the cutest!! I held her a lot and some relatives thought I was her mom, haha! It was so good to see Jorden and Austin again too, they are the cutest nephews! Austin said a couple of really funny things that I made sure to record:
Ellisa introduced Jacob to Austin (Austin was too young to remember Jacob by the time he left on his mission) and told him that he was her brother that was missing. Austin asked Jacob, "Did you get lost?" Jacob laughed and said, "No, I was working for the Lord." Then Austin replied, "Did you get fired?"
I kissed Austin on the cheek when he came and sat on my lap and Jacob said, "Eeew, a girl kissed you!" Austin said, "That's not yucky you old man!!"
Austin is 3 years old, smart kid. :)
After the party, we went to visit Grandma Pedersen, who is now in rehab because she just got surgery done on one of her heart valves. She is so sweet; not all of us could go in at once, so when Kurtis and I were able to go in we said hi and that we love her and all she said was, "you're beautiful". It was so great to see her again, she is such a sweet spirit! I'm so grateful to be a part of such a wonderful family who I already feel so close to!
Christmas morning we opened presents with my family at Dave's house, and Kurtis saw why I so easily spend money of gifts during Christmas--because my mom buys tons of presents for each family member (this year each person got 7 presents)! It's nice and all, but I've finally come to realize that I don't care much about presents anymore. Even just one thoughtful present would be plenty because all I really care about now is spending time with family and turning my thoughts to the miracle of Christ's birth and His atonement. It is an incredibly wonderful time of the year just because of that. In the past, it seems I've always become caught up in the present giving and I've realized that although I knew the true meaning for this season, I didn't always treat it with as high of a regard as I should. Anyway, I don't want to sound ungrateful or anything, I'm so grateful for all the generous gifts that we've been given! Both of our parents gave us things that are very useful and special to us. Though I'm even more grateful for all the time we were able to spend with everyone!
The day after Christmas, Jacob and Kurtis gave talks in sacrament meeting (for Jacob's homecoming), and we (Dan, Geoy, Cindy, Jacob, Christian Tolentino, Kurtis, Grandma Judy and I) all sang (Teresa played piano--beautifully might I add!), an arrangement of Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing by Sally DeFord. It was a funny how unbalanced we were (4 basses, 1 tenor, 2 altos and 1 soprano), but it turned out very nice (we probably had some angels helping us)! Kurtis and Jacob also gave phenomenal talks! They are both amazing teachers; they teach very simply, yet profoundly and I'm so grateful for their examples. Jacob gave the ward a good talking to about missionary work and how we need to be teaching and bringing more of our brothers and sisters into the Church. It was awesome!! :) Kurtis' talk was also very inspiring, he spoke on how much we need to put our trust in the Lord as we strive to become the best we can be. Though only with the Lord's help can we truly reach our full potential and be able to live with Him again.
I know this is kind of long, but there's so many wonderful memories that have happened in the short week we had in California! After all these experiences and more that words can't describe, I feel very inspired to set greater goals for this new year so I can become a better wife and daughter of God. I feel so abundantly blessed to have my family in my life and for the knowledge I have that my Savior lives and has provided a way for me to live with Him and my family forever!
Wishing you joy for the new year! Love, Kurtis and Jessika
No comments:
Post a Comment