Utah Christmas Trip 2013!!!

On Friday, December 20, the kids and I set out for Utah on our own!  It was a relatively easy drive, with only 2 stops, very little crying, and a very peaceful final 1.5 hours when the kids slept and mom enjoyed the peace and quiet!  We were SO excited to drive and see the beautiful white snow and get ready to have a white Christmas!

 We arrived just in time to send these two lovebirds off to my dad's Christmas Work Party, and then we convinced Sam to stay with us and hang!  And good thing since this little princess only wanted her "Hammy" and fell asleep on him that night!

Grammy got little miss Ivy to let her put her hair in pig tails - her very first ones!  They looked SOOOOOO cute, but Ivy wasn't happy and pulled one out right after and cried until we took the other ones out!  Mom was sad cuz they seriously were the cutest little piggies ever!

Cash was excited and played in Grammy's Christmas recital, his very first recital experience ever - doing awesome playing Jolly Old St. Nicholas!

 We had lots of fun trips over to Jamestown to visit my Grandma who has dementia and stays there.  Some of the times she was happy, and others she asked us if we were coming to take her away from the awful place.  I love my grandma, and it was hard to see her when she was upset, but also very funny when she would tell us other things.  She is pretty mixed up most of the time, but she did manage to know who I was all but once, and each time was an adventure there!  The kids did great and she was always happy to see them!  They especially liked this spinning rocking chair!

 Ivy thought the chair remotes were phones, and was talking away to somebody one time!

 The boys were SO excited to be out in the snow and played for awhile when we first got there, enjoyed sledding, snowball fights, and forts!  It's fun to have a big yard to play in!

 The Romans Christmas party is always a highlight and we had a great time, and Cash was doing awesome at pictionary here!  Too bad right as we got on the freeway on the way home we got, yet another, flat tire and had to pull over on the side of the road and change it out!  Luckily for me Houston was with us and my Uncle Rand also came to the rescue and brought his headlamp and gear to help, and since it happened just last week I knew where the jack and the spare were!  It was a little scary, VERY COLD, and not the greatest thing to have to deal with at the beginning of a 1.5 hour drive home, but we survived and made it back, and Sam's friend hooked us up the next day for a much cheaper tire then we bought in California (the same tire of course just 150 cheaper!)

 Griffin was the BEST babysitter and always wanted to help with his cute little cousin Emma bear!  Here he is watching her on the monitor as she sleeps!  He wanted to make sure she was ok ALL the time, and from the moment she saw him she instantly loved him and tried to hug him over and over!  Instant bond those two!

 Ivy got LOTS of bonding time with her Grammy, who she can't ever seem to get enough of!

 I played a fun surprise trick on Chip for Christmas - found this Ipad box that my mom had in her closet and knew Chip would think I got him a new Ipad or fixed his so used it to wrap his actual present - new ski gloves!  He really thought I had fixed his Ipad so it was a fun surprise - and he loved the ski gloves so that was great too!  Thanks to Brad Curtis for always knowing the best to recommend to me when it comes to ski gear!

 For Christmas Eve we had our usual dinner with Karley and Phil and Amy and my Grandpa and Grandma, and then since Grandma was going back to Jamestown we all went too and played our pipe chimes for them!  It was hilarious and very fun, and we think they enjoyed it:)

Then it was time for games and off to bed for the kids, and Mom got to help set out more presents and get ready for Santa to come!  I love helping fill the stockings and tonight was no exception!

 I had forgotten to tell Cash when he woke up to come get me before going upstairs to see what Santa brought, so just decided to wake up early at 6:30 and be ready for when he got up since he is our earliest riser.  However, for some reason Christmas day was the ONLY day when we were in Utah that my kiddos slept in, and Griff was actually the earliest riser at 7 am, and Ivy and Cash didn't wake up til 7:30.  I went up with Griffin and we checked out what was in his stocking - but he was a good sport and waited for his siblings before opening his gifts from Santa!  Instead we read books and looked out the window to check for reindeer footprints.  The pic below is the 20th one I tried, but whenever the flash went off he blinked and always looked like his eyes were closed!  Oh well!

Christmas morning is ALWAYS so fun with kids, and even Ivy got into the spirit of opening gifts and excited about her presents.  Truly a magical time and very fun day! 

 Switch 'n Go Dinos were up there on their wish lists, and they were excited they got them!

 We enjoyed the Riverwoods lights too and had a fun time pretty  much ALL alone there on Christmas night!

 We celebrated Emma's first birthday since they were there and I made the cake!  Turned out so cute and was DELICIOUS too!  She is SOOOOOO cute and it was fun to watch her try to figure it out!

We went skiing with the Mattson's on Friday after Christmas up in Park City and it was a blast!  Thanks to Whitney for letting me do easy stuff and helping me out get back into skiing since I am such a beginner.  It was so fun hanging with them!  ALso, Chip had bought me my helmet and hot chilis for Christmas and they kept me extra warm and also extra safe as I got taken out by a snowboarder the last run of the day and slammed into my head on some ice on the mountain.  I was so grateful Hollie, my sil, had convinced me to keep the helmet and wear it!  Definitely prevented a concussion or worse!  Thanks honey for wanting me to be safe!

 Rand, Haley, and me!

 Learning to love what my hubby is passionate about!  

 We got to meet up with our besties from Beijing and go bowling with the family and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  Also got to meet their cute little guy Coen!  Love them!

 Uncle Sam came with us and beat me bowling, even though I bowled my best game ever I think this time!  It was so much fun!

 Proof of my awesome bowling:)

Ivy enjoyed being extra cute ALL the time and also Emma's cake!  She was a big fan!

 She also liked hanging with Stan and Mary!

 And although the first days she wouldn't go to my dad at all, she became his best buddy ever again by the end, and wanted him to hold her all the time!  She loves Papa Dave!

 We took Cash skiing to Brighton one day and he LOVED it this year and totally rocked ski school!  He was going down the mountain without his clips by the end and liked going fast!  A big improvement from last year!  I had another private lesson for the day and it was very helpful and was awesome to have the same guy I had the previous year and he got me better in the 4 hours I spent with him!  I will learn, I will learn, I will learn to love it!

 Our friends from Cali met us and Cash and Harper were in ski school together! They are great buddies at home and so it was even more fun for them!

When I finished my lesson I found this - Cash had gotten the whole star sheet for doing so awesome!  He was happy and wanted to go again - although not for the whole day next time cuz he still wanted time to play at Grammy's he said!

Sadly Ivy and Griffin ended up getting the stomach bug on New Year's Eve and Day and so it was a gross/sad end to the year for them - but we survived it, and no one else got it and we were able to travel home safely, stopping in St. George to eat with Hollie and Kevin and Emma, and having dad travel home with us was nice!  We were happy to get home and for the great year that 2013 was!  We all look forward to another great year of 2014!!!! May it be as good of one!