Mission Calls, Christmas and Family

So I received my mission call over three weeks ago, right before Christmas and I’m just now writing about it! I’m off to a great start! So, my mission call arrived in the mail Thursday, December 20th. That whole week, leading up to the 20th, I was constantly checking in with my mom and sisters at home to figure out if the mail had come or not! I think my mom purposely avoided the house, whether because she was tired of me calling every 30 minutes or so, or because she was just trying to postpone the moment when she would find out where her little girl would be running off to for the next year and a half. I’ll leave that up to you to decide!

So I got a call from my mom on Thursday informing me to start calling our family. I was so excited, work went by so slow after that phone call, but I made it. My family (including Grandparents, Aunts/Uncles, Cousins and Flanders) came over to be there when I opened it and then eat pizza. Katelyn and Jason were even able to be there over the web cam, although, they missed out on the pizza afterwards. So it was finally time to open my call and find out where I was going. When I read where I was going, my immediate thought was “This is the best mission call ever.” Alright, Alright, Alright, I’ll quit building up the suspense for those of you who don’t know, and tell you already. I have been called to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the California Sacramento Spanish Speaking Mission and I report to the Missionary Training Center (Provo) on March 5th. Yeah Buddy! I was so excited to read that I was not only serving in the Sacramento Mission but that I would be teaching the gospel in Spanish. My dad had said from day one that I was going to be serving a Spanish speaking mission!

Now that I have had time to reflect and think back on my call, I realized that I wasn’t only feeling like this was the best call ever (I’m sure most feel that way about their mission calls), but I realized that what I was feeling was the Holy Spirit testifying to me that my call was inspired by God, that Heavenly Father knows me extremely well and that I am needed in the Sacramento area. I am looking forward to serving the people of Sacramento and I am grateful for this opportunity to serve that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with.

After I opened my call, I was blessed even further with the opportunity to attend the Nuggets vs. Rockets basketball game that went into double OT, which we won in the last 4 seconds of the game! It was a beautiful thing! Although, I must admit that if it weren’t for Stephen and his desire to stay until the last second of the game was over, my dad, Camille and I probably would have left for home before the first OT! We were all really tired. Dad and I finally got home at 12:30! Lucky for me, we only had a half day at work the next day!

Which brings me to Christmas. Christmas was a blast this year! For work, we had a half day the Friday before Christmas and we went out to lunch at a really nice restaurant in Boulder. After lunch, my Uncle Rich and I decided to head over to the Flatirons Mall and see National Treasure Book of Secrets. I don’t care what the critics say, I thoroughly enjoyed that movie!

Saturday, I finished getting everything ready for Katelyn, Jason and Austin’s arrival and then spent the rest of the day playing with Trisha and Dylan Robertson. Katelyn, Jason and Austin finally came and we had a party at the Bradfield’s with the Roberts and the Robertsons! The men watched some football game (Blah!) and we girls had a fun time playing with the little boys and spent the rest of the evening laughing and chatting about various things that we girls chat about. The best part of the night was when Trisha’s foot got stuck between the chair and the table and in slow motion fell to the floor. Our abs all got a great work out!

Austin absolutely ADORES his Auntie Kelly. He and I had so much fun over break. His other aunts just couldn't compete with me. Haha ok, so Austin really loves all of his Aunts equally but he and I had lots of fun. He especially loved it when I would take him trail riding on my lap and trotting down to Boston for butter! Grandpa tried to take him on a Bucking Bronco ride but Austin didn't really enjoy that much. He only liked it when Aunt Kelly did it! Hahaha!

Sunday and Monday were spent with family. Sunday night we celebrated my cousin’s birthday with Pizza and Cake. It was a lot of fun, Katelyn, Jason, Mom, the birthday boy and I played a game called Ticket to Ride. I didn’t win that night but every other time we played over the break, I kicked bootie!

Monday, Christmas Eve, we spent the first half with dad's family at my grandparents house for a couple snacks and opened up a Christmas Eve gift. This year, all of us girls received some extremely yummy smelling bathroom sets, complete with soaps and lotions. Mine smells like Vanilla, one of my favorite smells! Austin got a plastic ring toy with a bear head that goes on top, as you can see, he was extremely pleased!

After that, we drove to my other grandparents house for our traditional snacks and games and Christmas Eve talent show with mom's family. This year was a little sad though, since Kim and Shay were the only two to share a talent with us all. After that, Jason read the Christmas story found in Luke and then we sang Christmas carols until Santa arrived. This year Santa gave all of us cousins Chipotle gift cards in hopes that we would all use them together. Yummy Yummy Chipotle! When we came home, we opened our Christmas Eve gift of PJs from mom and dad and all headed off to bed. I love Christmas Eve just as much as Christmas. I love getting together with family and just hanging out and it’s even better with the spirit that Christmas brings in the air!

Christmas morning, thankfully, has been starting later and later every year at the Bradfield house. This year, I was able to sleep in until 7! It’s amazing how all the wrapping takes hours upon hours of your time but in the end, it can all be undone in less than 5 minutes. After opening gifts at home, we got ready and headed out to traditional breakfast with the Bradfield’s. I love Christmas morning breakfasts. My dad wanted to change Christmas breakfast to Christmas Eve dinner this year and the rest of us squashed that idea immediately. Christmas afternoon was spent at my Aunt’s house where we opened presents, ate a delicious dinner and played a couple games and watch a movie. Trisha, Steve and Dylan joined us at our house Christmas night. We had a fun time hanging out and I thoroughly enjoyed watching Katelyn and Steve battle it out. Steve and Trisha won in the end.

After Christmas, we spent most of the rest of our break relaxing and hanging out with family. The day after Christmas, the entire Cousins Gang got together to make yet another famous Cousin’s music video. We are still waiting for it to be put together but once it’s done, I will post it for all to see! We all had a great time taping it and took a break from all our hard work and went to Chipotle to use our gifts from Santa. We all had a great time!

New Years Eve, it was a FlanField party at the Bradfield’s. We had the Flander’s over for movies, games and snacks to take us into the New Year. Of course, the parents didn’t last until midnight, at least not with us kids anyway, they all went home or headed up to bed! As for us children, we made it to the new year and all took part in the Martinelli’s challenge. I made it about 1/3 of the way through my bottle and decide to call it quits! I was ready for bed!

After all the fun and games and relaxing time home with the family, it was time for Katelyn, Jason and Austin to head home. It was great to have them home for Christmas and since we had so much fun, it was hard to see them go! Now I’m back at work, finishing up my last weeks before I visit my sister and her family and then report to the MTC to prepare for the mission field for the next year and a half!