Christmas in Utah

Fasten your seat belts everyone! This is going to be a long post! We were in Utah from Dec. 23rd until Jan 5th. We had a wonderful time. (I am going to try and group pictures chronologically.)

SNOW!

On the way to Bamma and Bampa's house from the airport Tuesday night G looked out the window and said "Snow!" Who knew she even knew what snow was? I certainly didn't! When we got to the house it was pretty late and something like 9 degrees outside so she didn't get to go out in the snow until Christmas Eve. Aunt H was nice enough to take her out to play in it. She had a great time.

All bundled up and ready to go outside! G loves the scarf Aunt H made for her.

Other Christmas Eve activities included installing a new dishwasher and a delicious dinner with the whole family, all 13. We also read Polar Express, the Christmas Story from the Bible, had a short talent show (G's contribution was singing Jingle Bells - She had been practicing for weeks but was a little shy when put on the spot. She did sing most of the chorus for everyone.) and exchanged gifts with Aunt H and Uncle M because they were leaving to surprise M's mom that night.

B wanted to help with the dishwasher. It won't be long :)

Luckily B didn't pull the tree over while we were there but he definitely got into his share of trouble.
Aunt H made these flip flops for G. She loved them. They will be perfect for summer!

B checking out Bampa. They were best buds this trip. We even found a picture of Bampa when he was 1 year old that looks exactly like B. Looks like we picked the perfect name for him :)

Christmas Morning

We waited and waited and waited for G to wake up Christmas morning. B was up by 6:30 or so. It was at least 8 before T finally couldn't take it anymore and went and woke her up. She was pretty excited when we reminded her Santa had come.

If you are wondering why G is the only one dressed it is because she has a thing these days where the second she wakes up she has to have her clothes on. She had some really cute candy cane pajamas that were going to be perfect for Christmas morning pictures but I guess the Jingle Bells shirt will have to do!

Santa brought G Wonder Pets toys.

Santa brought B some Amazing Animals Horses.


Presents, Presents, Presents!

Clothes from Bamma and Bampa.

A doctor station for her babies from Mom and Dad. A new baby from Bamma and Bampa.

A digital camera from Aunt L. I am sure I will be posting pictures from G soon :)

A princess story and sticker book from Uncle C, Aunt K and cousin C.

A tu-tu, princess wand and a princess crown from Aunt S (mostly referred to by G as Weese). The slippers were from Santa. I am loving the expression on her face :)

About half way through present opening B had had enough and went to sleep. T and I opened the rest of his presents so he could just play with them when he woke up. So no pictures of B actually opening his presents but since he is only 8 months old it is ok :)

After his nap, he was ready to play! I can't remember why he didn't have any clothes on but again he is only 8 months old so it is ok :)

Who needs actual toys anyway?

G with her Snowman friend. Just about every time she walked by this snowman she would stop and want a picture with him :)

G checking out her new hat and mittens from Bamma and Bampa which wouldn't be complete without that new scarf from Aunt H.

Temple Square

On the 26th we braved the elements (it was about 27 degrees) and went to Temple Square to look at the lights. Before we got there we stopped at Cafe Rio (T's FAVORITE) for dinner. YUM!

G and B after we bundled them up for the lights. G reminds me of the kid on A Christmas Story that says "Mom, I can't move my arms!" B doesn't have any shoes so we doubled up his socks. They both had multiple layers under their coats.

What a beautiful temple. I love the Salt Lake Temple especially at Christmas time when it is all lit up! It was so Beautiful I almost forgot how cold I was :)

G got out of her stroller and took off running through the snow. You can see how the side walk was cleared but she wanted to run in the snow. The whole time she kept saying "Yay Hoo, Yay Hoo" It was really cute!

B and Bampa inside the Visitor's Center. We needed to adjust B's blanket and warm up a bit so we stopped inside for a while.

This is one of those pictures where I wonder what is going on in his head.

And then we lost him. Somehow in all the cold and lights B fell asleep. I guess he was warm enough :)

We checked multiple times to make sure he could breathe!


As soon as G saw this fire hydrant she called it a snowman. Funny girl!


Sledding & Playing at the Park

New Year's Eve day we took G sledding. Well, at least we tried to take her. About half way down the hill the 1st time she started crying and when she got to the bottom she said "No more!" with a little tear rolling down her cheek. So that was the end of sledding. We were already at the park so we just took her to swing and slide. She had a lot of fun!

G and Bampa swinging. She really is getting a lot better about likeing swings. Finally!

Her feet kept sinking in the snow so she had to hold hands while she walked.

She made it all the way up by herself. She is getting way to big!

Smiles for Bampa!

Bampa took G on a few 4-wheeler rides while we were there. She loved it.

Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden

On Jan. 2 we went to the Treehouse Children's Museum in Ogden. It was such a neat place. There was a huge tree in the middle that had stairs to get to the 2nd level and a slide for the kids to come back to the 1st level. Every corner of the museum was basically a different activity for the kids to do. G had a blast but I am sure she would have had just as much fun and learned lots if she would have been older. We could have spent hours there. We are definitely going to go back next time we are in Utah.

Wheelbarros of building blocks.

There was a whole music station. G had fun going back and forth between the instruments.

At one point she was using the xylephone mallet as a microphone.

Jumping, jumping. G does love to jump these days.

There was one section of the museum that had these trains (just for the holidays, I think). About 1/3 of the trains are shown in the picture. We didn't spend too much time in this part because all the little pieces were too tempting for our little fingers.
B trying to get in on the action of writing on the clay wall.

G being a good little mommy and feeding her baby a cookie.

Planting some lettuce.

Driving the fire engine.

The big Grandma Sophie chair. If you push the button on her right arm, she tells you a story. Our attention spans weren't quite long enough for that part plus we were afraid B was going to fall off any second.

Other than the log (below), B played with the body parts the longest. There were x-rays you could look at and things to look at under the microscope. Maybe he is going to be a doctor :)

B's favorite part was this log. He would crawl through, sit up, turn around and crawl through again. He was so proud of himself everytime he made it through.