Christmas

I wish we didn't have to come home back to reality. We had a great time. We drove down to Vegas on Friday the 18th and didn't come back till Saturday the 26th.

A lot of what we did up until the Bowl game was determined by the schedule laid out for the team and bowl. Matt/the team practiced every morning and we usually had some bowl activity to go to that afternoon. I managed to forget my camera so I don't exactly have any pics of our adventures ... I'm still kinda mad at myself for it.

Here's the highlights of our week:

We stayed at Planet Hollywood - very nice, big rooms

Saturday night we went to PHANTOM OF THE OPERA instead of going to Terry Fator with the rest of the team. It was amazing! Soooo good - highly recommend it.

Almost all of our food was paid for and we went to a couple buffets so we ate A LOT of food.

Sunday night we went to the 'Outback Buffet Bowl' at Fremont Street ... that was interesting. 'Candy and the Canes' entertained us and we pretty much ate food and then left. We got to pick our bowl gifts using a point system thing - we got an HD Sony Camcorder and a Sony point-and-shoot digital camera. We're excited for them.

That night we got to go over to my sister's and visit with her and my bro ... so fun.

Monday - we had the 'Kickoff Luncheon' ... we were supposed to eat while the program was going on but our table managed to get overlooked and we ended up eating as fast as we could while people were standing up to leave ... it was good food though.

Matt and the rest of the traveling team left to stay at the JW Marriott for the night and prepare for the game. The wives came over to the hotel for the Senior Tribute ... Matt and his group were pretty funny.

Tuesday - GAME DAY

I went shopping and relaxed in the room. The game was awesome ... freezing but awesome. Matt played awesome - he's had a GREAT SEASON. It's still weird to me that it's over for the year. Matt's parents came down for the game and Heather and Billy came as well. Heather took some great pictures at the game - I haven't gotten them from her yet so those are to come later.

Wednesday - ate crepes at Paris. Visited the Tigers, Lions, and Dolphins at The Mirage - saw 5 month old white tigers ... soo adorable. I wish I could have a tiger for a pet. Went to Aunt Dawn's for a family dinner - it was so fun to be with family and spend time with that side of my family. Here's some pictures Dawn took:

The girls: me, Alyssa Eubanks, Aunt Dawn, Heather, her kids (Pammie & Will) Grandma Douglas

Christmas Eve - we went to my mom's gravestone. It's been a few years since I've been there - it was special and definitely sobering for me and that I could share it with Matt. We had a family dinner at Heather's with Jimmy and Michael.

Christmas - we woke up bright and early so we could go see Heather's kids open their presents and see what Santa had brought them. Always funny with her kids. Keller: "Pancakes! Yes!" as he grabs the box and hugs it and starts walking around with it. Then off to Grandma and Grandpa Alger's for traditional waffle breakfast with all the extended fam. We played games and visited with the fam - it was a lot of fun and I was so happy that I got to share with Matt what Christmas was like for me growing up. We had dinner at the Worthen's - Billy's parents.

We left the next morning as soon as we got everything packed .... once back in Provo ...

We went to my parent's house that night - first meeting them for dinner at Applebee's. We had an extended Christmas celebration there.

After church on Sunday we headed up to Matt's parent's house and continued Christmas to that evening. We came back to our apartment with tons of stuff. Thank you so much to everyone! It was so much fun being able to take a break from school and work and spend the time together and with our families. We really had a blast. I kinda rambled off a little bit but oh well. Now it's on to the New Year.

HAPPY NEW YEARS!!! A new year ... new adventures.