​Since Mike had to work the week after Christmas, we left on Sunday to go to Utah to go skiing. We were able to get really good deals on the Epic pass this year and so it seemed like a good idea to just go try Park City out.  The drive going to Utah took a little longer than usual because Madeline had a case of the poops.  Suddenly there was a tart smell in the back of the car, then you had find a place to stop. Fortunately, she did well during the great stretch of nothingness from the Colorado boarder to Provo.  It’s the little things in life that you have to be grateful for.  We arrived in Provo to a wonderful dinner prepared by Sara’s mom.  The Kelschs are always such gracious hosts.
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What better way to spend New Year’s Eve than skiing!  We woke up and drove up to Park City while Anne and Franz watched Madeline. It’s so much easier to ski when you don’t have a 2 year old to swap out watching.  We explored a good part of the mountain and even ventured over to the Canyons, which was a total waste because we didn’t make it over to the good skiing, rather we got stuck in all the rich people houses.  The only good part was watching Mike eat it and slide down a silly mogul run.  Jerry of the day for sure.  It was really pretty and fun to see where the 0.1% live, but the better stuff was on the Park City side.  We had lunch at the top of the mountain in a very crowded mountain hut.  We bought hot chocolate and ate our homemade sandwiches. Even though we are cold weather people and live at high elevation in Colorado, it was COLD at Park City.  We headed down the mountain early.  The amazing thing about skiing in Utah is that it only takes 30 minutes to get home.  It’s hard to know what to do with all that free time and how to act when you aren’t all stressed out from driving back from the Colorado resorts.

​Christmas Day is a blast.  In our house, people get up early on Christmas.  The boys slept up in the loft because all of our guests were sleeping down in the basement. We all gathered up at the top of the stairs in our Christmas jammies and took our traditional stairs photos.  Then we turned on the Christmas music and let the kids run down the stairs to the presents!  The kids were super excited.  Madeline immediately went to her new dollhouse and started playing.  She loved every part of it.  The dollhouse was definitely a work of love as parts of it were painted white to make it look a little cuter than the way it came out of the box.  Abby got her Ukulele and a great case to go with it.  Emma made out with a white Razor moped type scooter that was a lot faster than we expected. Peter got an electric Segway scooter that was even faster and likely more dangerous.  Andrew got a Nintendo Switch, which is what he wanted.  Mike and Sara both got the new KICKR snap bike trainer.  It was fun to see the kids playing and enjoying each other.  It was fun to see them get excited about all the other presents as well.  The favorites this year were definitely the various sushi and pizza socks.  That was all Mike's idea.  He is so clever.  Mike and Sara got a hefty check from Grandma and Grandpa.  The check was wrapped up in a play doh can and on the outside it said, "We thought you could use some extra "dough" around the holidays.."  It was such a generous gift and very much appreciated.  I was ecstatic to finally get a Garmin triathlon watch, the Fenix 5S plus.  I had been eyeing that watch for quite some time.  Mike finally got winterized mats for his truck and his traditional lego set.  Maybe he will end up putting together before December of next year. The best present by far, though, was when Ruby announced that she was expecting another baby, which was super fun.  In all, it was a great time to be together.  Once the morning festivities were over and the wrapping paper was all cleaned up, we took everyone to see the new Mary Poppins movie.  This was Madeline's first time at the movies and she did really well considering the fact that she is 2 years old.  It was really good and the kids enjoyed a ton of popcorn.  After that, we headed back home to be lazy.  There really are few days better than Christmas day.  
 

Christmas Eve is always such an exciting day.  Most of the day was just spent hanging out and enjoying each other.  Some worked on finishing the second puzzle while others played games.  In between all of that there was some cooking going on for our big Christmas Eve dinner of ham, rolls, sour cream potatoes, jello, stuffing, and pie.  It was a fabulous meal.  Everyone got on some nicer clothes for our dinner and when Peter came upstairs in his suit we all just laughed.  He, of course, did that as a joke but then kept it on during dinner.  After stuffing our faces we got on our coats and jumped in the car to go see the neighborhood lights.  We went and saw the ridiculous house over in Pine Creek that resembled that of the house from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.  Lights were on every inch of that house and every piece of land they owned.  It was so bright and crazy.  Our favorite house, however, was the one that had synced music on the radio with a cool light show in front of their house.  We stayed and watched for a couple of songs before heading over to another section next to Pine Creek with an entire coldesac of decorated houses.  They had stringed lights between the houses and Santa on his sleigh riding between the houses.  It was pretty cool.  After we got home we got dressed up in our Christmas pjs and read from the scriptures.  It turned out that Greg, Ruby, and Noble totally matched our family's pjs this year.  The kids laid out the plate of cookies for Santa and the kids headed to bed while the grownups prepared for the next day.

It was so much fun to have my parents, Greg, Ruby, and Noble with us for the holidays.  The kids loved being able to meet Noble for the first time and watch how Madeline and Noble got along so well.  Madeline LOVED being able to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and she really liked Greg.  I was pleasantly surprised how fast she let him hold her.  Everyone had fun just hanging out around the house while listening to Christmas music, eating yummy food, and doing both puzzles in the dining room.  One day it snowed and Ruby was all too eager to go outside and enjoy it since she doesn't get much of that in Texas.  Greg brought his awesome drone that he uses for work and went out front to show the kids how it worked.  As he was trying to land it where it took off it got stuck on the roof.  Oops.  Good thing we knew from putting lights on our house how to easily get to the roof through Madeline's room.  

I took Greg, Ruby, Noble and my parents to Garden of the Gods today while the kids were in school.  We had the best weather for a nice walk around the gardens. Considering the fact that it has been super cold we were lucky to get a good weather day.  Greg was with us for the first part but then had to take a call for work so we left him and took the long way around the paved path.  This was Ruby's first time to Colorado and one simply can't visit without seeing the amazing red rock formations at Garden of the Gods on a beautiful sunny day!  Madeline had a blast running up and down the path throughout the gardens.  She loved being free to roam around.  The only part she was not particularly fond of was the cave like nook we were trying to get her to stand in front of to take a picture.  Ruby tried to squeeze in the narrow slit in the rock and Madeline was only interested in trying to get her to come out.  She held out her hand for Ruby to help her out.  It was pretty cute.  

Mike took the kids skiing at Breckenridge while I stayed home with Madeline.  This was their first time skiing at Breck and they all loved it.  The weather was not too cold and the sun was shining.  Today's ski adventure was all about getting back on the skis and loving every minute of it.

​Every year, the Elves come to play on the 1st Saturday of December.  It’s a fun day because we have a silly big breakfast.  We have pancakes, doughnuts, bacon, fruit, and chocolate milk and get to enjoy this amazing food in our pajamas!  It’s a little bitter sweet because it’s Andrew’s last North Pole breakfast…maybe we’ll send him some bacon in the mail to his dorm. We DEFINITELY should send the Elves to make sure he is behaving himself.