We packed a whole lot into this trip to Utah. Sledding... shopping...a birthday party for Abby... playing with cousins...The Nutcracker Ballet...a shower for Emily...more sledding and playing in the snow...more playing with cousins....church with Grandma and Grandpa....visits with friends... lots of last minute wedding preparations...Christmas Eve party at the Lee's...Christmas Eve dinner at the Vest's...a Christmas wedding dinner with the Vest's and Covey's...a temple wedding and celebration....early morning hikes for Joe with his brothers...many late night visits with siblings...early mornings to get everyone bathed and showered...going to the movies...guys nights...a baby blessing and a brunch.....oh and how could I forget....CHRISTMAS!!! It was a jam packed 10 days and we returned with our suitcases equally packed with lots of love and Christmas surprises!
I flew into Utah a couple of days before Joseph and brought with me most of the suitcases, not to mention 4 kids with car seats. When my dad picked us up at the airport, I took Aaron and Isaac to him and the girls came with me to retrieve our baggage. Everything was done with a very calculated effort in the planning of this trip, from the list of items to bring, to the weighing of each bag, right down to the pass off of the kids to get the luggage off of the conveyor. The girls both rolled a suitcase while I pushed the luggage cart stacked 7 feet tall. My dad said he thought he was picking up the U.S. Bob Sled team...we had so much stuff. But what would you expect with so many events packed into a 10 day trip. I pulled out my list and crossed off the 12 pieces of baggage to make sure we had it all, we stuffed ourselves in to the Pilot and made the trip to Utah County. In planning for this trip, there were many times I thought it would be much simpler to drive to Utah, but traveling through a snowy Donner's Pass by myself with 4 children, including a frequent nursing newborn didn't seem like the safest idea, so we organized everything, packed tightly and we flew.
The kids were thrilled about the snow and jumped right into it the second we got there. I even thought it was pretty...until the next day when my mom and I were driving during a snow storm in Salt Lake...it was then that I had had enough.
Brynn taught Aaron how to go sledding for the first time. Grandpa picked up these special sleds that go right under your toosh, they're easy to store and have no hard or pokey parts to injure other sledders.
Grandma and Grandpa's hill makes for great sledding grounds.
Isaac enjoyed the spirit of the season indooors, staring at the lights on the Christmas tree.
We managed to throw a little last minute party for Abby on her birthday. Thank goodness for lots of cousins closeby! Abby woke up on her birthday morning and after a few hours said, "Mom, my birthday wasn't what I expected it to be." Luckily with her little party and quite a few phone calls with birthday wishes, she was pretty pleased by the end of the day. 
Abby graduated from the American Girl Itty Bitty Twins to her new Emily doll. She affectionately told me that I could have her blonde twin (whom she named Mancy) because I have blonde hair.
Abby made a list of the things she wanted to do on her birthday and dictated them to Brynn. They took the list to Grandma's house and throughout the course of the week, we crossed off nearly all of the items on the list...*make a gingerbread house
*decorate Christmas cookies
*ice skate on a pond
*go sledding
*pinata
*play "Pretty Pretty Princess"
*show Baby Isaac
*Show Anniversary Care-Bear (her present from Brynn)
*eat cake
1 comment:
We love that Abby Jo and were so glad to share her little party with her. Her wish for that blessed chocalate cake fulfilled a dream of mine as well!
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