Manditory Christmas Post

For all you clever folks who put generous thought into my movie quote (Melanie), you'll need to go rewatch Sleeping Beauty. "What are you three dears up to?" "Up to?" "Up to?" "UP TO??" I think that's one of my very favorite Disney movies, and Fauna is the most hilarious person in the whole thing! "Cups, cups, cups."
So anyway... This Christmas we went out to see Kevin's parents in Washington. Usually this entails weeks of dreary rain, but this time, we got into town just as a huge snowstorm was hitting. It snowed like 8 inches, which is CRAZY for Washington, where snow usually doesn't even stick. So everyone kind of freaked out. Kevin's mom (who is from the tropical island of Taiwan) was VERY worried, and it eventually worked out that a friend of the family came to the airport in their 4-wheel drive Jeep thingie to pick us up. This is after we'd discussed options of getting a shuttle, getting a hotel room right by the airport, or even staying home in Utah instead of coming out. I thought it was pretty hilarious, personally. But that is because I have very little compassion.
For Christmas, we cut down a tree in the yard and planned to bring it inside to decorate. However, instead of being a small, room-sized tree, it was actually the top of a 40-foot tree that Kevin's dad needed to get rid of. During the huge crash when it fell to the ground, it kind of knocked all the branches off one side of the tree. The top was really spindly, so we cut it off. We put it into the Christmas tree stand, but since it was a pretty big chunk of tree, it actually broke the stand. And it was too wide and looked pretty ugly once we trimmed down some of the width.
So no Christmas tree this year. Which is okay, since there weren't any kids-- just Kevin and me with his parents.
On Christmas day, we opened presents and then some relatives came over for a big dinner. It was really fun! If I had a camera, I would have taken some pictures, but that's still on the list. Officially that's what Kevin and I are getting each other for Christmas. We just haven't bought it yet. So perhaps in the near future, there will be some pictures on this blog.
After Christmas, we went to Seattle for a day. There was this store I really wanted to go to, and it was just a half mile from the Seattle Aquarium (response from Kevin's parents and brother: "There's an aquarium in Seattle?"). So we went to the aquarium too.
I've been to aquariums before, and this one was maybe a bit smaller than some others. There was a big area for kids to play with starfish, and there were a bunch of demonstrations and stuff. If I had kids (like kindergarten age or so), I would definitely take them. But for me, the best part of the whole thing (and the reason I went in the first place) was the sea otters!!! They had a whole bunch of them, and they'd swim around and rub themselves on the mats in their cages. They are just so incredibly cute! We saw the ones in their tanks, and then the last stop before we left was a huge waterfall. On one side of the fall, there were some trout and salmon or whatever. I looked at them for a while until Kevin told me to turn around. Right behind the glass on my left were two otters sleeping right up against the glass. I just about died from squealing with joy! They were so cute! And right there!! Inches from my face!!! Yes, the Seattle Aquarium was wonderful.
So Christmas was snowier than I'd expected. We didn't get to use the Christmas tree skirt I'd made last year for my in-laws (who might have thought it was a cape, but I won't mention that part). And the Seattle Aquarium is awesome, especially if you came for the sea otters.