Joshua Tree and Christmas nostalgias

No one is blogging, everyone is gone and it is almost time for us to jump in the car and bust on out of this joint. But I can't check off my entire "get ready to leave" checklist unless I post one more time. Quick summary: The restoration company is going to tear into our house and start stitching it up again tomorrow. So naturally, we are going to leave tomorrow and go hang out in St. George until the BYU game on Sat. Then we'll be up in Utah on Sunday. Adam-home and done with one quarter of school. Eli-fighting the eternal teething battle that never actually yields any teeth. I think he is doomed to remain toothless and cranky forever. Duane-ecstatic to see Steve and balance pepperonies on his nose. Me-happy to leave the California rain for Utah snow and then Hawaiian sun. Wahoo.
We have loved having this week to hang out, wrap up loose ends, Christmas shop (actually, that's a lie. Christmas shopping was miserable. I don't know who behaved more poorly between Adam and Eli.) Yesterday we went to Joshua Tree to do some outdooring. It was cool. We were hard core hiking with the jog stroller...it really wasn't that hard core, but E was like little Prince Eli Ababua as we lifted his stroller up and over the rock stairs. Good times.

I have missed being in Utah for the beginning of December. I think the thing I miss very most is making fun of Christmas cards. We are not nearly popular enough to get the plethora of Christmas cards required for this, my favorite holiday festivity. I have a total of two, and neither one has anything tacky enough to criticize. No spelling errors, bad pictures, obnoxious bragging, bad sentence structure or hideous corny Christmas designs. Disclaimer: none of you reading this blog entry have ever sent a Christmas card which I have deemed ridicule worthy. And I also really enjoy reading the good ones too. No, sadly, I have missed out on that splendid splendor of the merry season. I will just have to catch up this weekend at our parents' houses. I think I went to my mom's house nearly every single day of December last year just to see if any more Christmas cards had come. I love it. I miss snowboarding too. I only went once last year because of my delicate condition so it has been entirely too long. I miss the cold. I mean real sweater and boots cold. It is chilly here, but only obnoxiously so. I miss running in the crunchy snow. I miss things being forced to slow down because of wicked blizzard weather. And I obviously miss family. See you all on Sunday.