Deliver Us From Savage Garden (and Other Post-Christmas Stories)

I am not very good at putting in these pictures yet... I meant for them to go at the end of the post. Oh well! Here they are:

1. Building our candy houses

2. Displaying our candy houses

3. Eating Christmas Eve dinner (mmmm... chicken and sukiyaki)

4. Zak playing the Lightning Shock game (look at that bicep!)

5. Christmas morning at the parents'

Now, for the rant that originally started this post: You know, I don't have anything against Savage Garden as a general rule. But when you're made to listen to their entire (lame) cd due to forced proximity, it's really not cool. Quite distressing, actually. "I would fly you to the moon and back if you'll be, if you'll be, if you'll be my baby"?!? Come ON.

Coming back to work after a weeks' vacation is hard enough, right? Whatever happened to a little peace and quiet? Or a little U2? Some Beatles? Maybe even some Elvis or John Denver? Can we get some cool music in here, please? Come on, people!

Zak and I had a great Christmas. We took a trip to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho last Wednesday. We enjoyed the outdoor hot springs only slightly more than the jetted tub in our hotel room (it was 14 degrees outside...brrr), and ate at the only two open restaurants in town. There are probably about ten restaurants total in Lava, but only two are open in the winter. Typical, right? We took some pictures in Lava, but they were taken on our camera phones since our camera wasn't working. I haven't gotten around to downloading the pictures to a computer yet. Look for those in an upcoming post.

We took a short trip to Provo as well and had a chance to play the Wii (thank you Carolyn and Jacob!). It was very fun to play, and many of you know that's saying a lot for me. I don't usually enjoy video games much, but I stayed up until 3 am playing Wii Sports... that should give you an idea of how fun the Wii is. Zak wants to save some money so that we can buy one... We'll see!

We got back to Logan in time for Festivus on the 23rd. We got together at Burke and Ben's place and the guys played Halo or Far Cry (who knows?! aren't they practically the same game?) while the girls sat around and chatted and watched Law and Order. We went for hot chocolate at Village Inn, which was fun. I think there were supposed to be some feats of strength and airing of grievances, but that never materialized. I guess the video games were too much fun.
Christmas Eve and Christmas day were spent at Zak's parents' house. We had a good time just hanging out with family. I got a new flat iron and a facial at Serendipity Salon, and Zak got a Keane cd and some framed Van Gogh prints. We also received a few gift cards -- my favorite, guilt-free shopping!

We learned from my mom on Christmas Day that my uncle, David Thompson, was in a bad car accident on the 23rd. He was life-flighted to LDS Hospital in Salt Lake from St. George and has had an operation to re-fuse base of the skull and the top of the spine. From all reports, he is doing well, and can move all his limbs, so we are hoping for a full recovery for him. Please keep him in your prayers!

And finally, the countdown until 24 premieres is down to 17 days! Can't wait to see Jack Bauer back in action. Come on, January 14th!

And on that very happy note, happy new year, everybody!