Christmas in Utah Part 2

CHRISTMAS EVE

Ben's family had planned to all go skiing on Christmas Eve, so I made plans to go down to Provo and eat lunch with my mom. When I arrived, however, my poor mom was so sick and had no energy to get out of bed. I was a little bummed that my plans with my mom had fallen through, but luckily I was able to con my dad into taking me to lunch (he went willingly :) ). We headed to Kneader's because there is no Kneader's in Oregon and, oh, is it delicious.

My dad is a really great man. He is so patient, wise, loving, funny, and kind. It was really fun to take a minute with just him a me- an opportunity that doesn't present itself very often. We had a great time chatting. It was also wonderful that the kids got to spend time with him. This trip was the first time he had met Teddy. As you can see from the following picture, Teddy was quite taken with him.

I then drove back to Salt Lake to meet Ben at Jane's house for some festivities. It had kind of been a bust day for me with many plans falling through, so by the time Ben arrived we had to have a good discussion about how Christmas Eve should be a day for our family to be together. All I know is that I sent Ben an irritated text earlier in the day and he wrote back, "I'm sorry you're having a bad day. I should have stayed home with you. How can I fix this?" He's a winner, I tell you.

We had a delicious dinner and then celebrated the evening with Gary's family and kids. Of course we had to have a nativity.

Ben and Teddy. Ben was the innkeeper and Teddy was the baby Jesus.

Nayeli was a shepherd

Later that night we did a little photo shoot with the kids in their Christmas pajamas.

She smothers him with love. Usually he tolerates it, but sometimes...

We have a pair of pajamas that Ben wore when he was a baby. They say "Merry Christmas" on them and we have tried to get a picture of all the kids wearing them at Christmas time.

December 2012- Nayeli in Ben's Christmas pajamas

This year it was Teddy's turn

One day he'll be big enough to pummel her, but until then she's definitely got the upper hand

Before bedtime we had to follow the Petersen tradition of reading the Polar Express. We then left out cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer and the kids went to bed.

It was then time for Santa to work to work his magic. We set the stockings up on a ski pole between the piano and the couch so we could have our own area to open gifts.

We had brought a few gifts with us from Oregon, but the big family gift for this year was a inflatable kayak that we purchased in Utah. Ben grew up riding down the Weber River on rafts like this, so he has been wanting to get one for years. We're planning on taking it on the rivers near our house- we live by quite a few. It's going to be really fun and we can't wait.

Santa came!

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas morning we awoke to snow! Santa had left a blanket of beautiful snow on the front lawn for us to play in. We couldn't wait. But first we had to open presents...

He was so quiet and then I saw he found the sugar...

Teddy trying out the raft

They were pretty excited about the "boat" (as Nayeli calls it).

We had delicious Christmas breakfast and then, of course, we headed out into the snow! Nayeli LOVES to eat snow and can not be deterred. Isn't that some sort of essential childhood experience anyway?

Teddy with Grandma Jane

We had planned to drive to Provo that day but due to the snow and my mom's illness we decided to stay at Jane's. It was wonderful to relax, eat good food, and enjoy our gifts. It turned out to be a very relaxing Christmas Day. It was the first day of our trip that we didn't drive anywhere.

The 26th the weather had improved and so we drove down to Laura and Gordon's house. Ben had not seen the addition on their house yet and Tina ended up driving down too. We all sat in Laura's beautiful living room and looked out on their snowy yard while we chatted. It was so fun to be together.

Matthew pulling Nayeli, Bridie and Eleanor on a sled. They had so much fun playing together in the snow.

We stayed the afternoon, then said goodbye so we could meet up with Ben's dad for dinner. We met at a Cafe Rio in Salt Lake because a trip to Utah MUST include a trip to Cafe Rio. Of course. Anyway, we had a great time chatting with Grandpa Dave and were so glad we got to see him one more time on our trip.

I know this isn't the greatest picture of Ben's dad, but I had to include it because it shows how Teddy grabs at people's faces and shows no mercy. In this case he was pretty taken with Dave's mustache.

The 27th was Saturday and the day we were to head home. We had driven up and down the Wasatch Front more times than we could count, but my mom was finally well so we drove back down to Provo to spend the morning with her. Sam and Laura came up and we all visited while my mom laid on the couch. I realized this trip that my family loves to visit and Ben's family loves to play. It's a good mix to hang out with both families on our trips.

The other thing I realized about my family is that we love houses and we love to see each other's houses. Why? I love to see the way my sister's and sister-in-laws decorate, plus we're all just a little house obsessed. Ben jokingly says it is strange, but as different as we all are, it's something that we all have in common.

That's why Saturday called for a quick visit to Christina and Julia's homes. I wanted to see the color Tina had painted her living room, and it was fun to see some other updates she had done after one of their bathrooms flooded. Then on our way out of town we stopped in Perry, Utah to see Julia's new house. She and Terry have designed much of it and are doing a lot of the finish work themselves. It is gorgeous and she has done such a good job making it look stellar. Julia and I have always joked that I may be book smart but she is street smart. It was extremely evident in the way she has been able to manage the building of their house.

We then headed toward Boise, trying to beat a snow storm. We hit it just before we pulled off the freeway, and worried the rest of the night if we'd be able to make it home the next day. When we awoke Sunday morning, it was clear it was going to be snowy roads much of the way home. We debated whether or not we wanted to go to church, then decided that we needed to put the Lord first and ask for his help on the ride home.

We attended a 9am Sacrament meeting near Mark's house and headed west on the snowy roads. It ended up being a long, long drive with some harrowing moments going over the Blue mountains, but we really felt like the Lord protected us and helped us along the way. The kids also did great, and we stopped at Emily and Darren's to have a few minutes break for dinner. We arrived home that night after spending a total of 16 hours in the car on the way home, 29 hours round trip.

Bottom line: it was a long, long trip, but so worth it. Being with our families over the holidays was wonderful and our time with them was irreplaceable. I don't think however that we'll ever drive it again. It'll be airline tickets next time for sure. But we made great memories and that's all we'll remember.

Me: Nayeli, why did you draw on your face with marker? Nayeli: It's supposed to be cool Mom!

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