Fun times in with the Thompsons

More Delta Fun!

Christmas Fun With the Andersons

Our Christmas time with Bryan's family was short, but action-packed! We headed first to Bryan's hometown, Delta. There we stayed a night and then enjoyed a day outdoors tubing and four-wheeling at the sand...er...snow dunes. We built a campfire to keep warm and roast hotdogs and marshmallows for lunch. Andrew was very good on the four-wheelers and was able to ride them all by himself! Logan also had a great time. While taking him for a ride, I asked him if he liked four-wheelers. He shouted, "They're the BEST!!!"

Aunt Chris and Logan being pulled on a tube by...

...Daddy on a four-wheeler!

Andrew and Aunt Deb

Andrew, Bryan, Grandma (Nancy) Anderson, and Grandpa (Carl) Anderson
Hannah and Grandma

From the cold and snow, we headed to the sunny, blue skies in St. George. We all enjoyed a dip in the heated pool and the hot tub, but only the bravest of souls (Andrew and Logan) dared to venture into the icy cold kiddie pool! Thanks so much for the great condo, Uncle Kelly!

Logan and Grandpa Anderson

Logan taking a flying leap to Aunt Chris

Chris, Paiton, Grandma, Andrew, Logan, and Grandpa

Hannah loved splashing in the pool!

We even took a little day trip down to Las Vegas and found some good (and some kooky) deals at the Swap Meet. Back at the condo, we had a fun homemade "Cafe Rio" dinner and even our old friends Kevin and Laura and their kids were able to stop by. Aunt Chris ended the night with a Christmas pinata for the kids before we had to jump in the car and head North to take Bryan to the airport.

Look at this handsome fella!

Thank you, Andersons, for a wonderful time! We will miss you!

Fun with Cousins

Sadly, our Utah trip is quickly coming to a close. We have had so much fun spending time with family and old friends that we haven't seen in a long time.

The last time I remember our kids playing with their cousins, Jaden, Ashlyn, and Cadence, was at Logan's first birthday in 2006 before we moved to Ohio. When I saw them again this time, I was so amazed at how much they have grown! Our kids are very similar in ages, so they really had a blast together! We were able to spend a morning together at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden, then breakfast and church together on Sunday, and enjoyed their company at Danielle and Spencer's wedding reception too. Before we left, we also stopped at The Pie for yummy pizza and visited Uncle Kelly's family together.

Firefighters Ashlyn, Logan, and Andrew at the Treehouse Museum

Andrew and Jaden building an archway

Jaden showing his piano skills to Uncle David/BryanAshlyn and Andrew dancing at the reception

It was so good to see you, Russ, Angela, Jaden, Ashlyn, and Cadence! Thanks for all the fun!

Festival of Trees

The Festival of Trees is one of my favorite Utah Christmas traditions! I was so excited to get to go last week! This was my very favorite tree this year. It was a life-size Grinch dressed as Santa with the decorated tree and toys and gifts stuffed in his sack. SO cute and creative!
We took a break and enjoyed delicious warm cinnamon rolls and cinnamon sugar scones. You could smell them almost immediately when you walked in the doors; how could we resist?! Silly Andrew chose popcorn instead.

When Logan sat down and looked at his scone and popcorn he announced, "Now that's what I call a MEAL!"

Leavin' On a Jet Plane

I had been physically SICK about this day for about a week, just dreading how awful traveling alone with three young children on an airplane would be! I imagined that by then end of the flight, every fellow passenger would seriously hate me! That is, if I didn't loose one of the kids in the airport before we even made it to the plane! (I purposely dressed them in the brightest colors they had, just in case I had to look for them in a crowd.)We made it through check-in and security relatively quickly, and got to the terminal in plenty of time. Andrew and Logan loved watching our plane prepare for our flight and asked lots of questions (most of which I didn't know the answers to). They couldn't wait to get on the plane!

This was the boys' second airplane trip, but the last one was over two years ago, so they didn't remember it very well. They were very good and stayed busy most of the time watching The Clone Wars DVD, and coloring with their ColorWonder markers. Hannah took about a 30-minute nap at the very beginning, and then was pretty good until the last hour when she got a little restless and squirmy. Luckily, I had plenty of snacks to keep her from having a total meltdown.

Overall, it wasn't nearly as bad as I imagined it! I don't think we made a single enemy on the plane. We are so happy to be here in Utah with all our family! Now I don't have to worry about the flight home for three more weeks...