Christmas in Utah Part 1

This year we decided to visit Utah for Christmas. We hadn't been home since February and it was about time to go back and connect with our families. Besides, most of my family, including my dad, hadn't met Teddy yet. So we packed up the car and headed the 13 hours to Utah.

The wonderful thing about the drive is that I have family almost the entire route. We left Friday the 19th in the morning and stopped for lunch with my sister Emily in Hermiston. We then camped for the night with my brother Mark in Boise. Saturday we woke up early and made the rest of the drive. The kids did okay; not fantastic but not terrible. Teddy struggled more than Nayeli. In the end, they watched a lot of movies. You do what you gotta do, you know?

When we got into Utah we stopped in South Weber to visit Zach Taylor, one of Ben's friends from high school. We then drove into Kaysville to attend my cousin Circe's DeBry party. It is every year and all my DeBry cousins get together. It had been so long since I had seen so many of them and so it was great to catch up.

Teddy with my sister-in-law Marilyn and Owen (the blur). She is one of the most amazing people I know.

Nayeli with Adaline

Teddy was not excited about Santa this year (Matthew is holding him)

Nayeli and Santa aka my nephew Parker. She was very explicit in telling me that she did not want to sit on his lap. Maybe she wasn't too convinced about his costume (see below).

Parker got roped into being Santa, only to discover that the beard to the costume was missing. Nothing a little cotton and glue couldn't fix! The result was that he looked a little like a diseased Santa, but the kids didn't really seem to notice so it didn't really matter.

After the DeBry party we went to my brother David's new house in Kaysville. He and his wife Marilyn with their 9 kids just moved to Utah after living in Tennessee for 13 years. He was ready for a career change so he now works for the church. It was so fun to see their nice home and enjoy time with them. We hadn't seen them in over a year! I wish we lived closer but we really enjoyed the time we got with them while we were there.

Sunday morning we went to the Rock Canyon ward in Provo- the ward I grew up in. The chapel is still on Mojave Lane in Indian Hills. Although the ward has changed, there are still many of the same people who I love. It was so wonderful to see many of my youth leaders who shaped who I am as an individual. I sure love that ward.

That night my immediate family had their party at my Mom and Dad's house. We ate a delicious dinner, exchanged gifts, and chatted. I love my family so much. It was so fun to be together.

Ben's brother Sam has lived with my parents twice (while attending BYU) so he is practically a part of the family. Of course he was invited to the party.

My wonderful parents. I sure love them.

Wonderful chaos. Only Emily's family wasn't there. That made 49 of us all together.

Monday morning Ben packed up to go skiing with his dad, Sam, and Chelsea at Snowbird where Dave is ski instructing for the season. Unfortunately, at about half day poor Chelsea caught an edge and face planted. She got a concussion and dislocated her shoulder, earning her a toboggan ride down the mountain and an ambulance ride to the hospital. Poor Ben called me worried and said, "She didn't remember who I was when they loaded her into the ambulance!" Luckily everything looked okay on the x-rays and she didn't have to stay at the hospital long.

I was going to meet all of them at the resort so we could go snowshoeing, but after Chelsea's accident I drove with the kids up to see Ben's grandparents in Ogden. We got to spend most of the day with Kent, Nyla, Aunt Leslie and Grandpa Dave and we had so much fun. The Petersens always make us feel so welcome and we had a great time chatting and eating together. Grandpa Dave had even picked out some really great gifts for the kids that they love. It was a wonderful day together.

Poor Chelsea post-accident. She was pretty dazed from her concussion.

Teddy with Grandma Nyla

Tuesday we spent the day with Grandma Jane. For months Nayeli had been sooooo excited to swim in her pool, so armed with goggles and her swimsuit she was ready.

Ben took Nayeli down to the pool and when I walked in to take some pictures I saw this. No, this picture is not staged. I believe he was yelling something like, "I'm the king of the POOL!!!" Ben is a total kid at heart and so he invented some competitive game to play with Gary's granddaughters. Of course he felt super manly beating a bunch of 10 year old girls :) I kid, honey, I kid :)

Later in the afternoon we took Nayeli to the Alta ski resort to go down the bunny hill. We borrowed some ski equipment and before we knew it Nayeli was getting a ski lesson from Ben and Grandma Jane, with Uncle Sam in tow filming it all. As we started Jane said, "You know this is more for us than for her, right?" A truer statement could not have been spoken. Ben was SO excited to have his daughter skiing that I just rolled with it, and so did she, until she got cold. We made it down the hill only two times before she had had it, so we then headed back to the car to reward her with a bag of promised Cheetos.

Tio Sam and Yeli

Jane was having Nayeli pretend to ride a horse so that she would spread her legs apart. The conversation then went something like this:

Nayeli: What color is my horse?
Jane: Uh... blue.
Nayeli: No, it's pink. What color is your horse?
Jane: Uh...purple.
Nayeli: Okay.

After the horses had been colored she was ready to ski again. At the least the girl has a very detailed imagination, right?

Look at that beautiful canyon. Utah is gorgeous.

When I later asked her what her favorite part of skiing was, she responded, "The Cheetos". Glad to know all the effort was worth it :)

Nayeli reading a bedtime story with Grandma Jane. We relaxed the rest of the day with anticipation for Christmas Eve the next day.