UtAh ChRiStMaS!

I had so much to be thankful for this past Holiday Season. I was able to (sadly without Jerry) spend Christmas in Utah with my family. Originally I was only planning on staying at my sisters and brothers house with my younger siblings because mom and dad were not due home from Arizona. Dad wasn't ready to come home just yet without a doctor to do check-ups every few days. His case was very serious and on December 22nd 2 doctors had refused to take over his case. There was one more hope with one more doctor and we were all very hopeful he would take over my dad's case. On December 23rd after talking to our mom, me and Kristy were pretty sad that they hadn't heard from the doctor and that it was likely mom and dad would not be home for Christmas. I spent the day shopping with Kristy, Jason, and Boston. We had gotten a call from Kory that he needed us to pick up Parker because he was stuck in Salt Lake for work (which was not unlikely for him). After picking Parker up from day care and feeding the boys some lunch we were unable to get a hold of mom and dad because their phones were off. Kristy said to me, "the only reason their phones would be off is if they are on an airplane right now!" and I said to her, "and that's why Kory is in Salt Lake picking them up from the airport!" It was funny that we had both figured out at the same time that mom and dad had fibbed and were on a plane home for Christmas. We were excited but I can't believe that mom had fibbed to me because I specifically asked her if she would pull a stunt like that and she said, "oh we wouldn't do that". Well we tried talking to Kristie to see if she what was going on and she said we were crazy but we knew we were right so Kristy called the hotel mom and dad were staying in and verified that they had checked out that morning. Chelsi had begun putting the puzzle together as well but me and Kristy kept saying that we shouldn't get our hopes up (even though we knew that mom and dad would be home shortly). We were talking to Parker and Kristy said, "we are going to see grandpa," Parker said, "no grandpa is in the hospital," and Kristy said, "no Santa is bringing him home," and Parker said, "no my dad is!" The whole time we were frantically trying to slove the mystery, Parker knew (at 2) that Kory was bringing grandma and grandpa home! After we got dad settled at home we took mom to Target (which is where Brady was working) and we just casually went through his check-out lane to show him that mom was home. He acted all sly like he knew the whole time. It was a great Christmas to spend together. This year it was more about health and being together as a family, not about the presants. It was nice to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. Dad has a lot of recovering to do but we are still very excited that he is home. Kristy posted a similar post on her blog and I'd like to agree with her and thank all of you who were support to our family these last few months with fasting and praying. As Kristy said the Mayo Clinic couldn't have been better and more supportive as well as the Smith family. We love and appreciate all of you!!!