Saturday, January 9, 2010

Christmas in Utah

Here we go. I've got a lot to say so I hope you are ready. December 18th we started our trek to Utah for the holidays. It is the first time in 9 years we have gone home for christmas. The kids were begging to go to the snow for christmas so that what we did. And boy did they love it. For the first time no one had said they were coming to the warm weather so we decided to endure the cold weather. I don't know what came over us. We started out first by stopping and seeing Rich's Grandma Moore and Uncle Scott. We had a nice visit with them and the kids had fun playing at Great Grandma Moores serviing everyone food from the play kitchen.
After their visit we went to our friends the Mcdonalds in St. George where we spent the night and had a lot of fun with them. They live in a little town up in the mountains of St. George called Diamond Valley. Stacy decided to introduce us to deer spotting. We went out in her car with a spot light and went looking for deer. The kids got a kick out of this and I think we saw 22 deer. It was fun to see them.I wish they still lived in Arizona. The next day we headed up to my parents in A.F. to go to the Child Christmas party. It was a lot of fun to see most of my cousins, since we don't get to see them much. On Sunday my brother received his Eagle Scout. It was nice to be able to be there and support him in his great accomplishment. We are so proud of you Brad.



Then the next day we headed up to Logan to Rich's mom's to spend a few days there. That's were all the snow fun began for the girls. They were outside every day for sometimes 6 hours or more. They couldn't get enough of it. We finished our last bit of christmas shopping that we needed and just enjoyed being together. We took the girls to the indoor fun park and let them climb in the play area and we also played some skeeball. We also made some cookies for Santa one day. Don't worry the kids ate the cookies they decorated. Sheryl and I decorated some for Santa that hadn't been licked while decorating. Rich was able to go to 3 Aggie games with Jerry since they were having a tournament during that week. He had so much fun going. Thanks Jerry!






















Christmas Eve was a fun night. We had dinner with Rich's sisters and mom and Jerry and then the kids got a surprise vist from the one and only SANTA CLAUS! They were so surprised to see him right in front of them. They all got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for christmas, and then he gave them a little gift. The girls opened their 1 present before christmas of p.j.'s and then went outside and sprinkled reindeer food outside so the reindeer would be able to lead Santa to them.









The next morning was christmas and boy oh boy Santa did not leave them empty handed. We enjoyed opening presents with Rich's sisters and their kids. All of the kids had a lot of fun being with their cousins. After breakfast we packed up and headed down to Ogden to Rich's dad and Ellen.















When we got to Ogden we did some family pictures and then Ellen made ginerbread cut outs so each family could make their own gingerbread houses. The girls had a lot of fun decorating their house, all though I think more candy ended up in their mouths than on the house. But I guess that is the fun of doing a gingerbread house. Later after dinner the kids opened their gifts from Don and Ellen. They got scrapbooking things. They were just thrilled. Paige and Abby had so much fun decorating their scrapbooks. Grammy even printed out a bunch of pictures for them to scrapbook with. I think Paige might be a future scrapbooker. She didn't want to stop. On monday we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks "The Squeakel." It was a good movie. The girls really enjoyed it. We had so much fun spending time with Don and Ellen, it's always hard to leave. After that we headed back down to my parents. On the way down we hit a snow storm so it took longer than usual to get there.

























When we got there the girls opened their gifts from G-ma and Papa. They loved playing with their new toys. After they were done playing a little the girls decided to get their snow gear on again and start playing in the snow. Papa went outside and started snowblowing all the sidewalks on their street. Abby and Paige wanted to help so bad so they followed him up and down the streets. Some neighbors even came out and gave them hot chocolate to bring home to make. It was so cute watching them just following behind papa in a straight line. We also went and so my niece Halli because she had broken her foot just days before. So we went and checked on her. The kids had fun playing for a little while. Meanwhile when we got home there was a late christmas present for my parents. They had gotten a new Grand Piano delivered. So Rich and my sister Megan sat down and played a few little tunes for us. Later Rich really wanted to go to 5 guys so we headed out in the snow and went their for dinner. I don't know what we were thinking, it was really yucky outside. But he got his 5 guys so he was happy. The next day we just hung out let the kids play outside and G-ma and Papa helped them build their first snowman. My mom and the girls also enjoyed doing snow angels.













On New Years Eve we took the kids to see The Princess and the Frog. What a cute movie. The girls really enjoyed it even though Maren fell asleep midway through. I guess that's what happens when you go 2 weeks with no nap. After the movie we got some things for that night. We made yummy hot wings and some other appetizers. We played the wii into the New Year. The girls even stayed awake the whole time.







On Saturday we had the Farnsworth holday party. My mom got a lodge rented for the day. We had so much fun sledding and seeing my cousins on the Farnsworth side. The girls loved sledding. They were a bit hesitant at first but once they went we couldn't pull them back inside. Maren was a maniac on the hill. She'd go down and before you'd see her get back to the top of the hill you'd see her going again. She didn't care if there was someone in front of her or not. If they didn't go fast enough she'd just go right in front of them. It was so funny to watch her. Later into the day she had a little run in with the snow. She went down on a 2 man tube and hit the bump and flew off the tube and so did the other person and it landed Maren face down into the snow. She was upset and came screaming into the lodge with some lovely skid marks on her cheeks, mouth, and by her eye. I asked her if she wanted to come in and she said no I want to go back out. So back out she went. What a trooper! The kids kept sledding into the night, until we finally made them come back in to get ready to go.











We got home and started packing up our things to get ready to leave in the morning. It was hard to leave. But we had so much fun spending time with all of our families. The girls loved being with their grandparents and playing with their cousins. I'm glad we decided to go there for the holidays. I hope everyone had a fun and safe christmas and New Year! I know we did! Can't wait to see everyone again.

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