Favorite Christmas Pictures and Skiing

Chase opening up a A train subway car

He was so excited, it was by far the most played with toy of the morning.

Happy little Chase

Hailey, she's 15 months

For Christmas we made a quilt which represented my parents, my sister's did a great job putting it together and my parents loved it.
For Christmas Cara, my sister-in-law, made the little girls the cutest tutus.  Hailey, Taylor and Emma put them on and just started dancing around just like little ballerinas.

Anyone up for skiing? 

On Christmas it snowed most of the day, so naturally we as skiers wake up earlier the next morning and head out for first tracks...well that was the intent of the day for Tyler, Erin (brother-in-law) and Matt (brother).  However the canyons were closed for avalanche control until close to noon.  So they stopped by Mickey D's for breakfast and waited for the all clear.  On the way up Little Cottonwood Canyon the heater in my brother-in-laws stopped working and by the time they reached Alta the temperature was -2 degrees.  

Ski Day #2 - Park City

The next ski day was beautiful...

First and last day of the ski season for me

Lisa sporting her new gear and Hayes

Stephanie and Spencer

Mom and Dad
Matt

Cyd and Erin

 

We are so excited and can't wait to meet our little princess...in May of course 

Christmas Fun

1 tree + presents for 29 people = just a little chaos but a whole lot of fun

It was great to be home for the Holidays, we had a great time and a wonderful Christmas.  It stared with breakfast with Santa, and since there are so many of us (29 and counting), we hold our very own breakfast at a local restaurant.  We sing songs and wait for Santa to arrive, each one of the little kids get to sit on Santa's lap and are give a small present.   

Grandma and Grandpa with all but two of the grandkids

Chase loves the computer, he would walk over sit in the chair and say "Pablo" (from the Backyardigans) over and over again until someone would come over and help him.  It was a good thing that all of his cousins can navigate the internet and love to play on nickjr.com and playhousedisney.com so mom could have a break.  The picture above is Ryan, Ethan and Chase.

For Christmas we took the grandkids down to "Color me Mine" in Provo and had them paint coasters for grandma and grandpa.  It was a little crazy with 6 kids under 8 and each one wanting to paint by themselves but they turned out great. 

One night my dad watched Chase so my mom and I could go to a movie, when I came home my dad said Chase went down fine.  Note: we had major sleep issues in UT i.e. not sleeping.  I headed up stairs to check on him and found him sound asleep in the middle of the hallway. 

One of my families many Christmas traditions is we all gather together (including aunts, uncles, and cousins) on Christmas eve for soup, caroling and the reenactment of the Nativity story.  It doesn't matter how old or young you are everyone participates. Thanks to my Aunt Suzy being primary president for the past four years (she was just released a few months ago) we have actual costumes and not just bathrobes, sheets and scarves. 

Mary and Joseph (Sami and Ryan)

Angels (Steph, Audrey and Lisa)

The cow (Tyler and Chase) 

The Wise Men (Scott, Ethan, Matt and Gonz) - best in show, if I don't say so.

 Taylor, me and Chase just chillin' on Christmas Eve

Sledding: 

Chase just can't wait his turn...

Tyler, Chase and Oda
Walking back up the hill
Ryan - he could have stayed out all night
Steve and Audrey

It's been along time since my parents have had this much snow in their front yard.  It reminded my brothers and sisters of the time when we would go caroling and deliver neighbor gifts on our snowmobile.  It was great to have so much snow - not so much fun to drive in but still fun.

More Christmas pictures to come...

Exciting News and Holiday Greetings

South Seaport Tree

We started the Holiday Season off with our feet running in November and are finally home and taking a breather for the first time in six weeks.   We kicked off the season with three weeks of visitors starting with Tyler's family for Thanksgiving, then my Aunt Suzy and her daughter Deni for a weekend, and ending with my sisters and husbands and a few friends.  

Before I get to the highlights and Christmas, there are a few big announcement that I have been meaning to share:

#1 Number two is in the oven and Chase will joins the ranks of BIG BROTHER on May 26

Training started with cousin Soren over Thanksgiving

#2 My younger brother Matt received his mission call to Catania, Italy (March 11th)

#3 Cara, my sister-in-law is expecting child #5 in July 

Ok now back to the highlights...

 - Museum of Natural History (warning if you attend with Chase he is not a stop and look kind of kid, he prefers to look on the go)

- Thanksgiving balloons

- Thanksgiving Day Parade

- Rockefeller tree

- Holiday windows (Macy's, Bloomingdales, Saks)

- Trains inside Grand Central and Citigroup

- Amy Ruth's (Chicken and Waffles anyone)

- Shrek the Musical

- South Seaport tree lighting

- Levains Bakery (3x and yes I ate them and yes it gave me heartburn) note: I only get heartburn when I'm pregnant and sugar does the trick

- Lots of good food

- and let's not forget the SHOPPING

South Seaport

Thanksgiving balloons

back row - Tyler, Minde, Linda, Ryan and Melissa

Front row- Chase, Keira and Soren

Chase and Keira working on Thanksgiving crafts before dinner
Waiting to see Santa at Macy's Santa Land
Still waiting...we saw Santa and only had a mild break down
Chase and mom - trains at Citigroup
Chase - trains Grand Central
Rockefeller

One last note on this post, after all the visitors left we had two days before Chase and I flew out to UT and let's just say he became really, really sick if you can't tell from the picture.  On Monday he spiked a fever of a 103 hardly slept, I gave him some Tylenol and Mortin and decided if he woke up the next morning I would call the doctor.  He woke up and his fever had come down, we ran a few errands, headed home to put Chase down for a nap, an hour later he woke up with a fever of 103.6, I called the doctor at 3:30 explained that I was flying out at 7 the next morning and saw the doctor at 4:45.  He was put on antibiotics and for the next week wouldn't leave my side.