Utah, land that we love.

We went to Utah!  We had such a spectacular time.  It was nice to be there during the holiday season, but not in the thick of it.  We felt like we got to have some quality time with just about everyone and didn't feel like a major burden trying to get people to fit us into their busy holiday schedules.

We did something we haven't done for years.  We drove through the nice.  Ethan came home from work, took care of a couple things and then laid down to sleep so he could drive a big chunk of the time... I took the kids to dinner at Burger King to let them run off some energy.  It worked.  We left around 9 pm.

Disclaimer: poop talk this paragraph. However, I am cursed at this particular Burger King playplace.  Last time I was here, Levi had a serious case of diarrhea (cha-cha-cha) at the top... it was a couple years ago and I haven't been back because of the bad memories.  Ha!  That'll show me.  Eliza totally pooped her pants while playing.  I was pretty mad as we stormed out.  Luckily, her's was not a mess so we didn't have to close the whole place down.

I was worried the kids wouldn't sleep well, but they did such a great job!  Eliza looked particularly content.  Bolton was the only one who struggled.  He woke up when we stopped for gas around midnight and cried for an hour until we stopped again... when we got pulled over!  The light on our rear license plate was out, but the cop was a peach and didn't give us a ticket, even though we didn't have a current print out of our insurance.  Whew!  We do have insurance, just didn't get it printed and in the car.  Whoops.

Anyhow, the kids slept quite well, I was able to sleep quite a bit while Ethan drove and then we switched.  I drove for awhile and had to stop for gas around 5:45 am (I think).  I waited too long and was really afraid we were going to run out of gas because I could NOT find a station!  Finally we pulled up to one and filled up.  Ethan and I switched again and not 5 minutes from the station we got pulled over again!!!  Apparently we were speeding, not by a lot and we hadn't even seen a sign since leaving the station.  Again, the cop was a gem and let us go!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  What a blessing!

OK, enough babble about the drive, let's get to the fun part of the trip... UTAH!!!

We got in around 3 pm, Ethan dropped me off at a bridal shower for his cousin.  It was fun, but awkward, I felt like I was stealing attention from the guest of honor.  I was happy when we got to go see my parents, I mean, who wouldn't be excited to see this guy?!

Nineteen hours on the road and I still had a smile.

I really didn't take many pictures of our trip.  I brought our camera, but learned late into the trip that I left the memory card at home and the batteries were dead. So everything is pretty randomly snapped on my phone.

These boys could have a future as Elton John impersonators.

The main reason for our trip was to see this beauty be wed.  Ethan's little sister, Erin, got hitched the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We got to hang with her a little bit and every minute was delightful.

She and Ethan share a similar, silly sense of humor.  I think our boys might have inherited it too.

Can you believe Grandma Jane still had apples on her tree!?!?  The kids were only too thrilled to go pick them, even in freezing temperatures.

Nothing quite like warming up, snuggling with daddy.

We played lots of wii and had a fun time doing it too.  Even if the pictures are terrible.  I took an awesome photo of the boys and Ethan playing Just Dance, but I can't share it because Ethan's wearing his garment top and jeans (scandalous!).  Just take my word for it, my husband has got moves. :)

One night the Woody girls had a girl's night in making accessories for the wedding.  We laughed so much, it was awesome.  The next night we went to watch cousin Cade play basketball.  Then we talked Eric and Sara into coming out for to Kirt's for ice cream with us.  Erin, uncle Cade, and his sister Katie joined us too, but my phone was put away by then I guess.

The game started at 8 pm, so we left Levi, Eliza and Bolton at Grandma Hoss's in bed.  Levi was pretty sad when he saw these photos.  But Bryant and Jonas felt super special.  It was a fun treat to take them out without the littles.  And Kirt's is still one of my favorite places, it was so fun to share it with my kids and tell them how I used to ride my bike there nearly every week of the summer with my friends to get Avalanches (slushes with soft serve vanilla).  Ah, memories.

Sidenote, the owner of Kirt's had a son (the same age as Ethan, incidentally) who I had a big crush on. He played soccer with my brother Dave.  Anyhow, said son's name, Bryant.  So I introduced my Bryant to the dad.  And no, he's not named "after" my former crush... we loved the name and it was President Hinckley's dad's name.

I totally lucked out getting this catch to marry me!!! Swoon!

 We had Thanksgiving with my family and I didn't get a single picture!  Rest assured, it was delicious.  It was the first time in 8 years we've been "home" for Thanksgiving.  And in those 8 years, I've hosted Thanksgiving at my house 7 times.  This was a much appreciated break! I only had to make pies, stuffing, and cranberry relish/jello.  I made a free form apple/pie tart. It was pretty good.  I also made a raspberry tart that was quite yummy.

The day of the wedding arrived and we put on our best duds for the festivities.  I made the boys little matching bow ties.  They looked SO cute.  And this is about the only picture I took of them!  Not only didn't I take pictures of them, but I basically kept them hidden away in the nursery the whole night too, so no one really got to appreciate the awesomeness. :)

Eliza, hugging the new Mrs. Richins.  Two beautiful ladies, to be sure.

We were even in Utah at the same time at miss Ali and her sweet heart kids!  Sadly, Josh was unable to be there... but here you can see he's there in spirit.

The kids got to help decorate Grandma Hoss's Christmas tree for the first time ever!  A fun family tradition from when we were kids and my kids got to participate.  It was sweet.  And Levi built his own Christmas tree to be beside Grandma's.  Can you spot it?

Nearly every morning this guy found his way up the stairs to a couch and would drift off once again.  I loved coming upstairs and hunting for him (my parents have a lot of couches).  What a sweetheart.

And Bryant made his way up a time or two as well.  We really played hard this trip. The kids were beat!  I think they went up stairs thinking they were ready to be up, but their bodies knew better.

The main reason for our trip was, of course, the wedding.  A bonus to the trip was Thanksgiving.  And the sweet treasure of the trip was meeting baby Chloe, who is about as sweet as can be imagined and has the coolest hair I've ever seen.

And wonder of wonder, miracle of miracles this sweet baby boy, Luke was born the day we were leaving so we got to meet him for a brief, but special moment.  Oh I love new babies.

We have the best families ever!  We feel so blessed that we were able to visit them and renew our friendships.  One of our nieces even told her mom that she thought she had a new favorite cousin in Bryant!  It kind of makes me tear up writing it.  We love our families so much.  We miss being there with them.  We appreciate the sacrifices they make to take time to see us when we come to town.  Thanks families!  We love you!!!!!