Our Holidays in Utah

We spent our Christmas and New Years with our families back in Utah this year. We departed on December 20th and stayed until January 4th. These are a few events that happened while there. This was our lay over in Cincinnati. The kids were thrilled to be eating in a restaurant let alone right next to a huge airplane.

They were pretty wired about this point so they were bouncing off the walls. Austin was away getting us some food, and a lady came and sat down near us and was looking rather irritated that they were so hyper. (Austin was taking forever though.) So I let them play for a minute.

Ashton was just about to start freaking out. He wanted out of that stroller sooooo bad.

And if any of you know Jaxon and how loud he can be when he is super excited about something. Yup. He saw the airplane.

Payton was excited to actually get on the big airplane though and not the small ones. Her patience was running thin. We go to the Louisville airport rather early(3 1/2 hours just waiting after security). She was almost all done with the excitement of airplanes. After arriving in Salt Lake, my mom picked us up and took us home to my parent's house. We spent the next two nights there. We then headed over the the Finklea's home in Morgan for a few days. The kids were so excited to be able to go outside and play in all of the snow.

This was there first attempt at making a snowman (with dad's assistance)

They didn't have the perfect snow gear, but their Grandma Finklea went out and bought them their own hat and gloves and even some boots for little Jax. They were in heaven.

After 4 1/2 years of being married, and even before then.... Utah hadn't gotten this much snow in a long time. And once we leave.... it all comes down.

While up at Austin's parents house we went into Ogden and saw a little Christmas Village. It was so cute to see all of the houses decorated. Payton loved looking in all of the little windows. It didn't last long because it was absolutely FREEZING, but still fun all the same. We took the kids to McDonalds and let them play on the playground and get their wiggles out before we took them home and put them to bed.

Payton started getting sick while we were there which kind of puts a bummer on things around this time of the year. Poor little girl. She never seemed to kick it until 2-3 days before we came home.

One of the days up in Morgan the kids got to go sledding with Grandma and Grandpa Finklea. The hill wasn't steep enough so they ended up going all the way down the road.

Payton and Grandma.

Grandma and Grandpa walking up to the hill to come down on the sled. Christmas Eve day was spent up in Morgan with Austin's family. He had most of his family from the area there. It was good to see and spend time with everyone. Christmas Eve night we spent the night looking at pictures form Bob and Virginia's mission in India. It was so fun to see some of the experiences that they had over there, and to hear the stories. The next morning we woke up early headed upstairs and Austin's mom had her traditional Christmas morning breakfast for us all. Banana bread and French Chocolate. Very Delicious! We then headed on over to Syracuse in the disastrous weather.

As soon as we got to my parents Grandma and Grandpa Smoochie were quick to take the kids downstairs to let them see what Santa had brought.

We were still waiting on my brother David and his family to make it up from South Jordan. They were slowed up by the weather as well that day. So our kids patiently waited. But it was great. Plenty of time for me to get ready, get them ready, lay Ashton down for a nap. And by the time we had breakfast it was already time for Lunch. So we ate.... and then headed downstairs.

Holy Cow!!!! Santa loves these little kiddies.

Payton and Anastasia waiting patiently.

Grandpa Smoochie finally took them down and let them take pictures of each other with his camera.

For Christmas we had with us, Grandma and Grandpa Nead, Jim (my mom's brother) David, Tiffiny and 1/2, Anastasia, Ereland, Austin, Laura (that would be me) Payton, Jaxon, Ashton, Milly, Grandma and Grandpa Smoochie.

And so it begun.......

and continued....

and kept going.......

until Ashton woke up..... and he was ready to play with all the paper.

Austin and I just kept eyeballing each other about how we were going to fit everything in our suitcases.

So after arriving in Utah with 3 suitcases..... We ended up coming home with 6 suitcases and box. OUCH!!!!

Payton and Anastasia were getting ready for Christmas Dinner. All of my my Mom's family lives around her, so they were all coming over except for her brother in Seattle. HOUSE FULL!

More sledding!!!! The kids got snow suits from Santa. So this made it a little more enjoyable to be outside for a longer time sledding. My mom and dad's back yard is a golf course with this hill right out there window. So this was absolutely perfect.

The first day they went with Jacob and Bryn-lee Ireland.(My cousin Shannon's kids)

The next few times they went just ended up being with Anastasia. The snow was melting a little bit, but still perfect. Austin made a little jump for the kids so my dad thought it would be fun to get some action shots. So here are some of the ones that turned out really good.

On the Sunday after Christmas we went to Austin's brother's house in Bountiful. We had a family get together. We ate, and visited. It was so much fun to just visit. Our visit was cut a little short when we got a call that Payton was crying and didn't want to go to bed. So we had to head on out, but wished we could have stayed longer to hang out. One of the other fun things that happened while at my parents house was getting in thouch with some friends from Gillette. My mom and her sister are Real Estate agents in Syracuse, and have helped 2 families that we knew from Gillette, Wyoming move down into the area. So on the Monday before New Years. The Dewey family, and the Sparks family came over for dinner and a fun filled night of BUNKO!!!! What a blast. It was so good to be in contact with old friends.

New Years Eve was spent at my parents house. They have a big basement and that tends to be where most of the family gathers. We set up the tables and started up the night full of games. Which is definately one thing that I miss about being away from family. That is a favorite past time of mine with our family gatherings. So we made sure we filled up on plenty of game time.

Grandpa Smoochie and Grandpa Nead on New Years Eve. Don't party too hard and break a hip!!!!

Tiffiny my prego sister in-law, and David my hairy brother.

My friend Ashley and her husband Alan

And me and Aust.

New Years Day my parents were ready to take us on a little outing. So we loaded up the kids in the car with all their warm gear and headed over to the Train station in Clearfield to catch the front runner.

The kids were super excited, they were going to ride the train, and we were going to spend the day in Salt Lake at Gateway Mall. So we headed on over and got to the train station, purchased our tickets and waited for about 10 minutes for the train until Austin noticed a sign that said for Holiday Schedules please call this number. So Austin called and ...... Christmas and New Years Day...... NO TRAINS. LOL. There goes that money. Hopefully my dad can take someon else for a ride.

We got back in the car and drove down in the car anyway. We went to the planetarium and let the kids walk around in there, and play in the gift shop.

Grandma got them some magnets that they thought were way cool. They held those for the rest of the day. We walked around the Gateway Mall, caught the tail end of a little water show, and ate dinner. The kids were pretty exhausted but it was a great day. The next couple days were spent hanging around and getting all of our belongings together. All in all it was good to go back and spend time with our families. We are not going to be doing it for quite awhile now. We love our families and are so thankful for everything they do for us. Now on with the grind again. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!