Christmas & Christmas Vacation

This is the first year ever in any of our sad, home-bodied lives (well, except for the 2 years Seth spent in Outer Mongolia……) that we have lived away from home at Christmastime. We all collectively found it entirely unacceptable to spend Christmas actually more than 10 minutes away from our families, so we packed up the car & headed North for an unprecedented TEN day festivus!

Christmas itself was wonderful.  A little difficult to navigate, when one doesn’t have their own home & possessions surrounding them, but our accommodations were wonderful & we can’t complain.  Here are a few photos of the happy day:

Thank you M.  You know who you are.  This was a hit!

And thank you to “A” for this one.  Silver definitely went over better than pink!

TWO DS’s. So exciting!  (Thank you to a different M this time.  Couldn’t have done it without you!!)

Could it be?  Yes, we have a new member of our family.  Meet Fred, the joy of Kenni’s heart.  He is a three month old Russian Tortoise and I have no one but Mr. Claus himself to blame, er, I mean, THANK for this one!

 

After the joy of opening presents we did somehow make it to Church.  I loved it so much!  This is something I rarely get to say about church, but really, it was so wonderful to be back in my home ward surrounded by so many people we love so dearly! The service was beautiful and we got to see and talk to so many old friends. I felt really loved. and welcomed. It was really nice. (btw- I did NOT manage to get a picture of our family in our Sunday best.  Boo. )

Christmas Day was spent out at the Harward home for yet another party. Things were a little off-kilter there this year due to the fact that for the first time in Harward history, we didn’t go up to Logan for Grandma Hansen’s Christmas Eve party.  It was so sad.  Grandma & Grandpa have finally reached an age where its just not feasible for them to host such a large event, and my siblings and I are such a LARGE body that I guess it is time that we start our own family thing- but its still hard.  I’ve been going to Logan on Christmas Eve ever since I can remember and we certainly missed our cousins, aunts, uncles & Grands this year!

 

As for the rest of our Christmas Vacation, here’s what we managed to squeeze in:

* Went to “Got Air” trampoline-a-palooza with my bff & all her Bowen cousins.  That place is a hoot- but too expensive. 

* Took the kids to the dollar movie to see Puss in Boots.  Yes, I know its already out on video, but my uneducated children do not and they loved it all the same, at 1/4 the cost of a current flick!

* Game night at Jeremy & Chris’s where I got my rear end handed to me in a not-so-friendly game of Settlers.

*Due to the ridiculously warm temperatures,  I got to go running & walking outdoors with neighbors & friends and even made it to the gym for a Zumbathon.  It was so much fun!  I miss my gym!

* Went out to Breakfast with friends at Kneaders for some all-you-can-eat French Toast. YUM!

* Seth got to play in 2 of his former indoor soccer teams games.  He loves playing with those guys and misses his team.

* Went to a couple’s “Ugly Sweater Party”.  Pics to come.  (really funny ones!)

* The kids spent hours and hours playing with old friends, having sleep-overs, seeing their cousins, and even went OUTSIDE to play several times.  Yikes!

* We managed to get in a few ski days, even though what little snow there is to speak of is not the best quality.  Seth took Sparky for a day up to Powder Mtn., We took all the kids for an afternoon at Snowbasin, and I got one momma ski day with Amberlee at Powder.  Not too shabby.

After all that fun, we decided to head home a little earlier than anticipated.  Seth had been asked to speak in Sacrament meeting with the new Elders Quorum presidency of our Price ward, so we left Mt Green Saturday evening and went home to spend New Years Eve and New Years Day at home with just our little family.  After all the excitement of such a long vacation, it was sort of nice just to be with each other for a few days before we had to resume normal life & go back to school/work.

Just us with our new years feast.  Hope ya’ll had a great holiday season & I’m looking forward to a new year with new ups, downs, and adventures in between!