Enjoying down time

Christmas has come and gone and 2012 is just around the corner! We spent our first Christmas together in Utah with our families. We were looking forward to the cooler weather and it didn't let us down. We were frozen the whole time and loved every bit of it. We both enjoyed seeing family and friends whether it was at a christmas party or just a lunch outing. Wish we lived closer to do that more often. 

Tyler has been working A LOT lately....or for the last 5 years, rather. I was happy to see him take some time for himself and be lazy a few days. He definitely deserves some time off. He woke up Christmas morning at 10:00 a.m. and then took a nap from 12-4! Just a few hundred more of those naps and you'll be caught up Tyler! 

Jenny b-day dinner at Macaroni Grill. It was some good company but disgusting food! Can't believe I used to like that place. Maybe it was just an off night for them. 

Dec/Jan birthday celebrations - Tyler and Hanna

Cute little Annie modeling her new yellow shirt. Watch out Jackson's, you've got a model in the house!

HAHAHA! Good old High School memories. Brian and Tyler thought it would be fun to dig up their letterman jackets and see if they still fit. Good news everyone...they do! 

Ok, so maybe they are a little too big. This is my proof that Tyler buys everything way too big.

Now here is the best and not to mention, the most stressful part of our vacation - getting home on standby AND a buddy pass. First off, I have to say traveling standby is so overrated! I have flown standby my whole life and it about gives me a heart attack every time I wait for my name to be called. Despite all of my experience, Tyler and I decided that he would use a buddy pass to get to Utah for Christmas. We left a week early to insure we'd get there for Christmas. We got on the first flight out from Houston to Salt Lake City. What a breeze! Little did we know that going home was going to be a nightmare.  We anticipated the airport to be packed due to the holiday so we arrived a few hours early. Come to find out the crowd wasn't our enemy, the buddy pass system was! Somehow Tyler had no reservation even though we talked to a Delta representative the day before for an hour, AND it was an embargo day for buddy passes. No buddy passes were allowed to fly on that day. How did I miss this!?!? I was so upset because Tyler now had to buy a one way ticket on a different airline back to Houston adding up to $500!! I knew there was some way around the system so I tried to work my magic. Just a few tears and a fib or two later the gate agent printed out this beauty....

A ticket on my same flight in First Class next to me! We couldn't believe it. We got so lucky. He flew on a buddy pass with no reservation ON embargo day! We have no idea how that ended up working out but we were so relieved. He was able to refund his one way ticket on the other airline and we had a peaceful flight back to Houston...