Christmas Vacation

We spent Christmas at my parent's house this year.  Since my sister was in town from AZ and my little brothers were there, we decided to pretend that we were on vacation in Draper, even though it is only 25 minutes from our own house.  So we packed up our bags and spend five days there.  It was really fun.  Landon was able to go to work and I got to hang out with my siblings.

Here are some pictures from Christmas.  I didn't take any pictures so these are all stolen from my dad.

The family in matching monster pajama pants. 

 Landon spent a good amount of time fixing this receiver.  It is his idea of a good time. 

 Here are the kids with the tray they made for santa with all of his favorite goodies.  Grapes, goat cheese, water crackers, sparkling grape juice. 

 When the kids went to bed on Christmas Eve, the adults got some delicious dessert- chocolate mousse, whipped cream, and berries.  My mouth is watering looking at this picture.

 

Earlier in the day Pampa took the girls home and helped them nap. 

 Meanwhile, Landon and I took Aiden bowling with the other adults. 

 

On Christmas morning we lined up according to height before we got to see what Santa brought. You can't see Landon's head because he is SO tall. 

 Aiden got some awesome skis.

These are the presents Aiden and Annie picked for eachother.  They were thrilled.

 Little Norah got this snack cup from Santa.  She couldn't have been happier. 

It was a perfect Christmas.

Post-Christmas

There is a huge pile of Christmas toys a mere 20 feet away from the kitchen.  But this is what my kids have spent all morning playing with.  Why did I even bother with all that Christmas shopping?

hi

 At our house, it's safety first.  Merry Christmas.

shake what your mama gave you

Every once in a while you find a gem.  And with Annie's dance class, we found a true jewel.  Her teacher is the sweetest woman and adores teaching all these little girls.  Her backyard dance studio is full of pink and sparkles- ideal for my little Anne girl. Last Saturday was the Christmas dance concert, a very casual affair which was perfect for Annie's first time on the stage.  At one point during the performance Anne got offended because another little girl was being mean to her, but she eventually got over it.  The show must go on!

gross

Landon in a mustache.  Not a good look.  I honestly could barely look at him for the three days he had it.

St. George

For Thanksgiving we drove down to St. George to meet up with Landon's extended family.  Thanksgiving happened to coincide with his Grandma's 80th birthday so everyone gathered to celebrate.  Admittedly, Landon and I had low expectations.  And, lucky for us, it turned out to be an absolute blast.  The first two days we hung at a rented farm. We had Thanksgiving dinner and birthday celebrations in the barn and played outside the rest of the time.  The last day we went to the temple then headed to Snow Canyon and hiked around.  It was a perfect weekend.

Landon sported a beard in honor of "Movember" or "No-Shave November".  All in the name of Prostate Cancer Awareness.  Consider yourself more aware. 

 Norah cruising on the giant jumping pillow. 

 The boys jumping at night

One reason that this trip was so great was that we had plenty of time with the Landon's cousins/aunts/uncles, plenty of time with just his siblings and parents, and some good time with just our little family.

We had an hour or two in the evenings to hang out with the kids in the hotel room while we put them to bed.

I love these pictures of Norah and Landon

 And j'adore this picture of her cute little belly.

 Annie and Aiden watched TV.

 We played some good games.

 And read some bedtime stories.

After the kids were asleep we headed down the hall to hang out with Landon's siblings.  The evenings were our favorites.

Landon's brother Evan is majoring in geology and took us on a couple mini field trips.
The first was out to see some dinosaur tracks.

 Turns out Norah's feet are smaller than a dinosaur's. 

 Landon was in love with the landscape.  I can't blame him.

The second field trip was to a gypsum pit.  Gyspum, for all you non-geologists, is this cool white/clear rock. 

 Norah stayed in this hole for a long time.  Don't worry, if she would have fallen, she would just have landed on rocks.

 Here are some more pictures of the farm.

The cowboy.

 Grandma, her sister Ada, and other guests at her birthday party.

 The two Ann's.

And lastly, Snow Canyon.

Roger pulled a Lion King with Norah at the top of a sandstone formation.  His new heart is clearly working great.

 Norah insisted on hiking by herself (with a little help from me on the hard parts)

 While we played on the rocks, Aiden dug in the dirt by himself. 

Landon's family.

I clearly missed some crucial pictures. woops.  But I assure you that we did have Thanksgiving dinner together, and, most importantly, had a wonderful lunch Saturday at the Golden Corral.