Christmas Extravaganza

Every other year we go up to Utah for Christmas.  I think my mom thinks we might stop sometime, as if we are doing HER a favor.  What I don't think she realizes is how much everyone (kids and parents) really love it.  We left on Tuesday afternoon before Christmas and stopped in St. George for a night on the way up.  We even let the kids swim in the outdoor pool in the morning (it was pretty brisk outside).. Fox, of course, also wanted in, so why not, right?

We saw a ton of snow at our lunch stop in Fillmore - Fox loved it! of course, I told the kids not to worry because they could play with it all they wanted at Grandma's house (didn't realize there wasn't any snow there, oops)

The drive was uneventful, both ways, which was a relief with all the rainy/snowy weather around.  We had to get an extra rack for the back of the car to load even more stuff on (I had some girls' clothes to deliver to my two sisters who are having babies in the next 2 months), which actually meant we weren't too smooshed in the car with bags, etc.  I remember when I used to be able to make the drive with just me and my twin sister, Jenn, in my Nissan Maxima with just our bags in the back - now I need the roof rack, the rack for the back and a full sized SUV to make it.
On Thursday we went to Salt Lake on the train (after a brief morning at the BYU Bookstore to continue the indoctrination process with the kids).  The train was a big hit.  We walked right across the street to check out the updated visitor center and then waited for the lights to turn on.  My brother, Mike, though I was stating the ridiculously obvious as I pointed out how much busier it was once the lights turned on.. um, yeah, I guess so.

We were headed up to Hardware Ranch in the mountains on Christmas eve, so we decided to try to find some sledding on the way up since we hadn't found any around my parent's house.  It was a lot harder to find a snowy hill than we thought, but after a sketchy turn down a snowy lane, we found some. 

We had to meet the rest of the family up at the Visitor Center at 4, so Brooke and Ashley didn't have nearly enough sledding time (Fox and Lauren had had enough anyway).  The kids loved seeing the elk at Hardware Ranch.   We did go on the very last trip of the day, and it got pretty chilly on the little sled.    Ashley was in a very silly mood (even for her, and that's saying something), so she was naming all the elk (starting with Drool-y 1 and Drool-y 2).

My extended family has a big party on Christmas Eve in Brigham City, but since my mom had a broken hip 2 years ago, we haven't been in 4 years.  I'm not going to lie, there was a little bit of awkward.. I haven't seen them in a while and then all of us barrel in - but I know the older people appreciated it (Aunt Beverly and Louise).  Thank goodness for facebook, so at least I knew a few of the people there.  Good news is that Santa always comes, and we hadn't seen Santa yet, so no better time than the present (see random relatives in the background - do they look happy to be waiting for us to sit on Santa's lap?)

The annual Christmas Eve jammie distribution went well - Fox sure loved his!  of course, reading the Christmas story from the scriptures and singing Christmas carols had to finish off the evening.  We let the kids stay up as late as they wanted, which means Christmas Eve was a late night for all of the parents (FYI, only the Walgreens in the neighboring city is open after midnight on Christmas Eve - it was hilarious to see some of the last minute gifts other people were getting while I got my toothbrushes).  The weird thing is that the kids haven't clued in to the "waking up early" part of Christmas yet.  I would say it was because they stayed up late, but even when we are at our house and they go to bed at a decent hour, they still just sleep in until their usual hour - I was whispering about it to my family (didn't want the kids to overhear and get any ideas) and we were laughing that they just just aren't showing Christmas morning the respect it deserves. 

The kids went with Grandma to see Yogi Bear and the adults went to see Tron.  Tron is a weird movie, yet I liked it.  Just don't ask me what happens because I'm really not sure :)

Since we weren't heading back to San Diego until Monday we had one last day with Grandma and Grandpa.  We played games, hung out in the snow and mostly just relaxed.  miss you guys already :)