SNOW!

It's here! Snow in North Carolina! They have been predicting this storm all week and it has come! Camden and I went out for a few minutes this morning to check it out. I can't believe how much there is! Now that the snow has fallen, it is mostly just little pieces of ice falling from the sky, rather than snow.

We went to the store last night to stock up on a few last minute things, like D batteries. They were all gone! I finally found some on a random rack with some flashlights, so I picked up some batteries and an extra flashlight. While I was in the store, Calvin waited in the long line to fill up the truck with gas! Everything at the store was crazy! There were so many people there stocking up on food and water! The thing is that most of the stores shut down once the storm sets in because the roads are just so dangerous to travel on, with inexperienced people and a lack of snow removal vehicles. I haven't seen many tracks leading out of the parking lot this morning! Right as I came out of the store, the snow started falling! I just can't believe how warm it was yesterday morning, and how cold it progressively got throughout the day. Wish us luck!

Week 3 (and a half) The Winders!

On Sunday morning, we got up very early and headed for Boise to see Calvin's grandparents, the Oylers. We drove through a lot of fog, but made it to their church by 11 am! We changed in the car and went in to listen to their beautiful Christmas program.

We spent a nice Sunday afternoon with Calvin's grandparents and aunts, Nadine and Gaydawn. Calvin's grandma made a delicious dinner and we had some very good pumpkin bread (made from a fresh pumpkin!) made by Calvin's grandpa. We were sad we couldn't spend more time there, but we were so glad we were able to visit them!

On Monday morning, we headed through Oregon and South to Nevada. There was a lot of snow in Fallon! On Monday night, we had FHE, and made carmel popcorn for the family night treat (I think it was that night?) On Tuesday, we went to Reno to do some Christmas shopping. We made sure we got home in time to watch the Las Vegas Bowl. Go BYU! Camden loves watching sports.

On Wednesday, we made delicious spudnuts :) Yum! Camden was so excited about them, he ate almost a whole "dough-nut" before it was cooked! I think he enjoyed the cooked ones much better.

On Thursday, it was finally Christmas Eve! We had a fun day getting ready for Christmas, wrapping presents, doing a little last minute shopping, etc. Calvin surprised me with some Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve! He knows how I love my family tradition of getting pajamas on Christmas Eve, so it was really nice of him to get some for me! My Mom and I found these really cute ones for Camden.

We also got to participate in a Winder family tradition. We listened to Calvin's mom read the Christmas story from the bible, and we sang different Christmas carols throughout the story. I really enjoyed it! Then we had some rice pudding with a danish dessert topping. Hidden in one of the bowls of rice budding was a white almond. The tradition is, that whoever finds the almond in their pudding gets a prize. McKay found it this year!

After that, we had another treat! Calvin and I bought Tim Tams so we could do a tim tam slam. We made some hot chocolate and taught his family the tim tam slam. It is so good! We watched Mickey's Christmas Carol and a couple short films on the same DVD, then got ready for bed!



(Warning: Santa Spoiler Alert!) It was fun this year to be at Calvin's house where the little kids still believe in Santa! We got up with Calvin's mom after all the kids were asleep to put out all the presents and fill the stockings. Ivan was getting a dog for Christmas, so Calvin brought it inside from where they were hiding it and let it sleep in the laundry room.

At 4:45 am (so early!!!) we got up and put the dog in the living room with his leash looped over the front door, then we went upstairs to get the rest of the family (their tradition is to have all the kids sleep upstairs in their parents room, due to the fact that one Christmas, Calvin and his sister got up early and peeked at all their presents). We came down the stairs, youngest to oldest. Everyone got to spend some time looking at what Santa brought and looking in their stockings, then we opened presents from everyone else. I was totally surprised that Santa brought some things for me that I had been wanting! Camden was excited about his new bike and all the other things Santa brought, including some balls (all types!), some farm animals, a train, some blocks, a bath toy, clothes, and more! Thanks to our kind families for all the nice gifts!

The day after Christmas, we took the kids to use the sleds we had gotten for McKay and Ivan. We had a hard time finding a good place with some snow, but we used what we could find! It was a little rocky and we ran into a few sage brush, but overall, it was a lot of fun!

We had a lot of fun sledding and tubing! After we got back, Calvin, Katie and I went to Reno to do some shopping and see a movie. We saw Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. It was very disappointing. I really liked the first movie, so I thought it would be good, but we were not impressed. We did get to have dinner at In-N-Out Burger, which was pretty good, although not my first choice.

On Sunday, I got to see my second Christmas program and Calvin saw his third! It was a really nice program. They had some very musically talented people who put it together. I really enjoyed reflecting on the Christmas holiday.

For the last couple of days, we just spent time with Calvin's family and visited a few friends. It was so fun to be able to visit the Winders and they were so kind to let us stay with them! Thanks and we love you!

Week 2-The Eggett's House

We were so excited when Calvin arrived in Utah! He got in late Monday night. On Tuesday, my parents bought tickets for us to go see Avatar in 3D at the IMax theater. After watching the trailer, I was a bit skeptical, but I actually really enjoyed it! The whole 3D-IMax experience was pretty awesome. Even Camden did really well in the show until he got tired (and tired of eating popcorn) near the end. He fell asleep in the theater. We missed Amy and Danny due to some miscommunication in confirming the purchasing of the tickets.

On Tuesday or Wednesday night, Calvin, Camden, and I took my grandma Helton out to dinner at one of the places I just had to go in Bounitful, Nielsen's Custard. We had the grinders (sandwiches) and concretes (a shake with custard, yum!).

On Thursday, Calvin, Camden, and I rode up to the lodge with my dad. It was fun to see all of the snow and tour the new five bedroom cabins! Everything looked great up there! Poor Camden was sick during the week; he had a cold and a fever and just wasn't himself! We were so happy when he started feeling better toward the end of the week.


On Friday, Calvin went back up to the lodge with my dad and my mom and I went down to help Emily move out of her apartment. Amy came over to help and we quickly cleaned and and packed everything up. Emily had already done most of the work, so it was easy! While Emily was checking out and getting her new key, we took a little video of Camden being goofy in the car.

On Saturday it was time for our Second Annual Eggett Christmas Party! We had so much fun! In the morning, we had egg casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls. Also that morning, Amy and Danny passed out a little present to all of us to make a little announcement...they're going to have a baby in July! Yay! Camden will have a cousin! We are so excited for Amy and Danny!

After Camden's nap, we played our favorite, the packing tape ball game! The packing tape ball is filled with prizes; this year there were movies, lotions, fizz balls, socks, etc, and most importantly, little peppermints! For each of the peppermints, there are envelopes with other prizes. To play, you sit in a circle and roll two dice. When the first person rolls doubles, they get the packing tape ball. They rip at the tape to try to get the prizes out. They get to keep ripping at the ball until the next person in the circle rolls doubles. Needless to say, we Eggett girls are pretty competitive. At the end of the game, we all got to trade our peppermints in for the prizes in the envelopes. In half of the envelopes, there were prizes like cash, gift cards, etc. In the other half of the envelopes, to signify the hard year in the economy, there were prizes like coupons, reward punch cards, and mostly used gift cards. Calvin and I were really excited when one of our "mostly used" gift cards had $16 on it to use at the Megaplex movie theaters! Brooklyn was pretty disappointed that 3 of her "good" envelopes contained $5 gift certificates to Keva Juice. Sorry Brooky!

At the end of the day, the plan was to drive to Salt Lake to go to dinner and see the lights at Temple Square. We were getting ready to leave when there was a knock on the door. My dad said it was someone from the ward, and then we all went out the front door...and what was waiting for us? A white hummer limo!! My dad had traded with a guy the weekend before for a hummer limo to take Brooklyn and her friends to the Christmas dance. After seeing how much fun it was, he made plans for us to take one to Salt Lake for our party. It was awesome!

The limo dropped us off right by the Lion House, where we went and had dinner. Then we spent some time walking around temple square and admiring the lights. It was very cold but very beautiful! Camden had on his BYU cougar paw gloves, so cute! What a fun night and a fun week!

We're Back in North Carolina!

Wow! We've been to Utah, Idaho, through Oregon, to Nevada, back to Utah, and we're now back in North Carolina! We had such a great time visiting family and friends. I'm sad I got so behind on updating my blog! What I am going to do is go through and make posts about each of the activities we did, rather than making one gigantic post (although be warned, this is one is pretty long!).

The first week, Camden and I spent time with my family while Calvin was in North Carolina studying and taking finals. It was hard to leave him with such a tough week, but in the end, I think it was best for him to have less distractions. We were so happy when he was finally done and got to come out to Utah too!

At my parents' house, Camden loved playing outside in the snow and seeing all the animals. He said "meow" to the cats and "moo" to the cows and horses. He got to wear an old snow suit that Emily and Brooklyn used to wear. We also bought him his own pair of snow boots. He loved to say, "boot, boot."


If Tiger was in the house, Camden would find him. He loved playing with Tiger-sometimes a little more than Tiger appreciated. Tiger has this hiding spot in the drawer under the dryer and Camden saw him in there once. After that, he would just go to the dryer, and say, meow meow, and pull it open to see if Tiger was in there. He is one smart boy!

During the week, we went down to Provo to see Amy and Emily and give them a break from classes. We went to the Sky Room for lunch. On Friday night, we went to the Farmington 14th ward Christmas Party. The decorations and desserts were great! We had fun watching talents from different people in the ward, and at the end, the bishopric put on a skit. My dad pulled some awesome dance moves!

I was so excited that we got to see Brooklyn off to the Christmas Dance on Saturday night! She looked so pretty in her dress (thanks Carrie!) and Sierra did a great job with her hair. Love you Brooky!

On Sunday, we went to the Eggett Christmas Party at the Jeep Posse Building in Bountiful. Camden got to meet Santa! Over the holidays, he learned how to say "Santa." He was mostly shy, but at least no crying happened!

So there it is! The first week of our vacation (and Calvin's week of finals). Look for more to come!