We had planned for 2 years to go to my grandma's house in Salt Lake for Christmas to see her huge set-up one last time. I'm really sad I didn't take any pictures of it. Then about a year ago we found out that Ryan's mom was planning his grandmother's 80th birthday party for December 21st. So guess what we did?! Huge road trip! I was honestly kind of dreading it; 30 hours in the car with 2 babies was not sounding very great to me. We decided somewhat last minute to drive to Phoenix through the night. Hard on Mom and Dad, great for the kids. And I tell you what, I am really really glad that we bought a bigger car last summer. It was quite packed!
We arrived safe and sound in Phoenix at 11 AM on the 18th. We spent the next few days in Phoenix spending time with Ryan's side of the family and celebrating his grandma's birthday. She seemed incredibly grateful that we all came to see her and I am glad that we decided to go, even though it wasn't the most convenient thing for us this year.
We took family pictures to give to Grandma Carolyn for her birthday. This is the whole gang. Maya, oh Maya, where have you gone? Oh there you are, on the left. Trying to run away. (I couldn't blame her; we had just sat through 45 minutes of sacrament meeting and then straight to another 45 minutes of another church service.)
Cindy and Berne have an amazing backyard for kids. Maya was in heaven and if we couldn't find her, we knew she must have ventured out the back door. Her older cousins were great at taking care of her. It was quite nice to have babysitters around all day long!
We left Phoenix and headed to Taylorsville, UT, on the 22nd. We left at 3 PM and didn't make it to my grandma's house until 2:15 AM. It was a lot more tiring after having just driven through the night a few days earlier. But we made it! We went to Temple Square on the 23rd. It was really cold and CROWDED. Maya's favorite part was the castle (temple) and waterfalls by the mall where we parked.
Christmas morning was great! We had fun having a yummy french toast breakfast and then opened presents.
Later that morning we got to Skype with Ben and all of the family! It was fun to see him. The time is flying by. I know he will be back before we know it!
And then more presents from Nana and Papa.
We had a lot of fun seeing family and relaxing in Utah. We got to see The Hobbit too! Always a fun treat to get to go to a movie these days. I was really sad to come back home, but was glad to be here when we got back. It was even super exciting to plan a menu and cook dinner again!
I am looking forward to a fun-filled 2015, even if I am turning 30 next month!
2 comments:
Thanks for sharing such sweet and fun pictures of your amazing Christmas 2014! It was great to see pics of the events that I was not present for, and also relive some of the fun moments and special memories we shared. I loved getting to be there for Grandma's "Christmas Extravaganza"-- Thanks for getting the ball rolling on that!
Ditto everything your mom said!! Loved spending Christmas with you!!
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