Christmas Recap

We're baaaaack! Ok, so we've been back for a couple days, and though I did have access to the internet and all these pictures while in Utah, I didn't bother posting because we were just having too much fun. We spent 10 days with my family and though we never really left the comfort of their home for more than a few hours, our vacation was fantastic. Maybe it's because it was a greatly needed vacation, so the mere thought of doing nothing was so appealing. We were planning a trip to Vegas, but with some colds and a storm that hit Utah Valley, we didn't end up going. The things we did end up doing have been documented with pictures, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

We celebrated Christmas Eve a little early in Rochester.

Ethan loved his gifts and Eleanor loved watching Ethan.

We had a rough itinerary as far as our flights were concerned. 2 layovers on Christmas Eve... luckily Ethan and Eleanor were champs and Ethan decided to take a nap with his 2 candy canes in the Houston airport.

We enjoyed wonderful meals courtesy of my parents new toy, a sous vide. This little gem of a yule log was made by my sister in-law Julia (not in the sous vide).

Eleanor was given her baths in the kitchen sink. How many people does it take to bathe an infant?

My nephew Chase was finally given a "baby blessing". He munched on that roll through the entire prayer.

We took some family photos.

Some were better than others obviously.

At least we got one of all four of us. Ethan doesn't look too enthused, but oh well.

Eleanor got her girlie time in with her Aunts, Grandma and cousin Renee.

Ethan went for rides with Ben and Grandpa on their "new" UTV. They also helped plow the roads when the big storm hit Utah Valley.

Ethan and his cousins got the treat of going to Chuck E. Cheese's courtesy of Aunt Amanda & Uncle Ben.

Ethan and Lance were buds the whole time.

Lance showed Ethan the ways of whack a mole.

Ethan sang a lot. His favorite song of the season, and especially our trip, was "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and boy did he sing it everywhere! He knows all the words thanks to "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

Ethan received his most recent prized possessions. Mario, Luigi, and other Mario Brothers figurines from his 2nd cousins (by the way, I had to look up exactly how they are related).

Eleanor started to get really chatty while we were out there and was smiling up a storm.

Hana, the cat, kept us all entertained by seeing how high she could climb up the Christmas tree every day.

Ethan played in his first Utah snow.

He loved it and as usual cried when we had him come back inside.

Luckily there were some fun things to do inside. Like terrorize Hana.

Eleanor met her cousin, Hazel, who is just 6 days younger than her. Hazel has Eleanor beat on both size and her ability to hold her head up. You can see that Eleanor was trying really hard to keep up with her.

Future roommates?!?

We got to enjoy the company of all of my family and 2 of Ben's siblings while we were out there. We also got to be there for Hazel's baby blessing on Sunday.

Just like our trip out there, we had 2 layovers on the way back and the kids were great. Of course it's mostly because we had my Mom's iPad to keep Ethan entertained (we lost our iPod while at my parents house and borrowed the iPad for the trip home). We are now settling back into our normal routine and taking down all the Christmas decor that has been up for a month and a half. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, because we sure did.