New Years

A thing we started last year when we were in Utah was going to Brick Oven for dinner on New Year's Eve.  It was so fun and so delicious that we decided to make it a tradition and go again this year!  We were even seated at the same exact table as last year!  Go figure!!

We enjoyed the all you can eat pizza and salad option.  It's the best because they bring all the different kinds of pizza around for you to choose from.  They also do the same with the desserts! It all goes perfectly with their delicious root beer!!  Love it!!

When we got home we watched movies, played board games and worked on puzzles until midnight.

We also enjoyed the many fireworks shows all over the valley!  My parents have a great view from their bedroom window!  It was mostly Austin, Ashlyn, Papa and me watching, but we had fun!  It was fun watching Austin and Ashlyn's reactions every time they saw a firework!

Once midnight hit, we celebrated with some sparkling cider!

Then it was time to hit the pillows!

New Year's Day we relaxed at the house, but by the afternoon the kids were getting restless, so Papa and I took them sledding.  This time we went to a little park up the street.  It is known as the bowl.  The bowl shape acts as a water run off.  The boys loved racing down the bowl and then continuing to circle until they sled came to a stop.  You never really knew where the sled was going to go - we had several near misses and a couple of collisions!

It was nice that the bowl is right next to the playground because that is where Ashlyn hung out.  She was soon joined by her brothers!

While we were standing there watching the boys sled noticed a man taking a picture of the mountain. I looked up and saw a beautiful scene.  I pointed it out to Papa and he wanted to take the picture too, so he ran back to the house and got our cameras.  We got some nice shots!

We left soon after New Years, but not until we stopped at my Dad's favorite restaurant - IN-N-OUT Burgers!

We got a special treat from my parents when we got to their house and part way through our visit - sugar cookies!  My parents make the best sugar cookies!  I'm not sure who ate more - Chad, Tanner or me!  Thank you!!!

Our drive home was snowy again this year.  We actually got stuck for at least four hours because the freeway was closed.  We always see the gates that close the freeway, but we have never seen them shut.  There's a first time for everything.

We had an awesome Christmas vacation!  We kept ourselves busy with lots of fun stuff!  We loved being with Nana and Papa and the Kreys!  Thanks for a wonderful Christmas!

Skiing at Sundance

We decided to go skiing one more time while we were in Utah.  This time we decided to go back to Sundance.  We all really like the resort.  It's a great place for family skiing.

Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day to go skiing.  We should have picked up on our first clue while driving up to the resort.  We hadn't even entered the canyon when the winds started blowing very fiercely, creating white-out conditions.  We decided if it was that bad at the resort we would turn around and go back home.  It was nice and shiny when we arrived, so we stayed.

We didn't have time to rent our skis from BYU, so we rented them at Sundance.  The only problem a lot of other people had the same idea and the ski rental place is very small.  We spent most of our time outside in line and it was freezing.  We kept thinking the line would pick up.  We were in line for two hours.  I can't believe it took that long and I can't believe we waited, but when you are already up there and ready to go you don't want to have to turn back.  Since it was so cold and it was taking so long, we decided that if they didn't have the equipment for anyone of us we would just go home.  Again, we probably should have left because they didn't have the right size of skis for Tanner, Kaden and Trevor.  They told us they could give them shorter skis.  They weren't kidding.  They got the same size skis that Austin had!

By the time we were all outfitted and ready to go, it was almost lunch.  At that point Chad said he felt like going to get our money back and heading home.  He asked me what I thought we should do.  We were finally ready to ski and we had waited so long, so I said we should stay (whoops, my bad).  We did ski, but it was brutally cold.  From the top of the mountain to the bottom my fingers were burning because they were so cold and I was not the only one who felt that way.  We went on a couple of runs, but when Trevor started crying because his hands were hurting so bad, we stopped for lunch.

We were hoping to warm up in the lodge, but we were disappointed big time.  Once we finally found a spot to sit (on the floor in a hallway) we had a hard time warming up.  There was a radiator on the wall, but it wasn't working.  Chad was ready to call it a day - he was not getting warm, but Kaden, Trevor and Austin still wanted to go back out.  So we decided that Chad would stay with the Tanner and Devon while I went back out with the other boys.  Kaden and Trevor went by themselves and I took Austin.  I figured by the time Austin got down the mountain he would want to go back in the lodge.

Austin and I had a good run.  Austin did have a bit of an adventure in one spot.  He had to go around a group of girls that were in his way and he ended up going over a big jump.  As I watched, I was amazed that he landed the jump, but then he couldn't stop.  He ended up falling a bit later.  He wasn't too happy about the fall and didn't want to finish skiing down the mountain.  We worked it out and he did finish going down the mountain.  He didn't enjoy it then, but if you ask him about it now, he would be pretty proud to tell you that he went off a jump and landed it!!

After our run, we found Chad, Tanner and Devon in one of the restaurants drinking hot chocolate.  We hung out there until Kaden and Trevor came back and then we headed home.

It took Chad a long time to warm back up that night.  Chad and all of the boys sat in the hot tub to warm up.  So, all in all, it wasn't the best day of skiing.  We did have a little bit of fun.  Kaden and Trevor had fun going on their own and they mastered the art of the singles line when the lines were long.  We enjoyed being together, but it was a pretty brutal day to go skiing.  Lesson learned!!

Sledding

Today was our last day with our cousins.  They had to get back home fro work, so we tried to get in as much fun as possible!  To start off the day we went to Cracker-barrel for breakfast.  Mason really wanted to eat there before he went home, so we all joined him!  Th only downside was that it was practically a blizzard on the way to the restaurant.  We took the freeway and we were going pretty slow.  We saw lots of cars off the side of the road and the Kreys almost got hit.  Luckily, though, we all made it there in one piece and we enjoyed some yummy food and great company!!

On our way back to Nana and Papa's house we stopped at a couple of stores and found some sleds for our next adventure!  There is a great park just above my parents house that is great for sledding!  We went there the previous year, so the kids were anxious to go again!!  So we grabbed Papa and our snowsuits and headed up the mountain.

There were quite a few people at the sledding park, but we didn't let that stop us!  Austin was so excited to go that he went down on his belly - without a sled!!

Everyone had a lot of fun.  There was no shortage of smiles on the mountain!  I love those kind of activities!

This year was Ashlyn's first time on the sledding hill.  She loved it!  We did have to shield her face on the way down though, because it was snowing and a bit windy (that didn't slow her down much though)!

We had several good wipeouts!

Cousin time!

Going off jumps!

Even Arie went off the jump and amazingly Aaron caught her!

More fun shots!

Several years ago I was looking at a photography blog and I saw a really cool family picture that was taken while it was snowing.  Ever since then, I have wanted to take a family picture in the snow.  Well, today was my chance!  It was snowing pretty steady, so we gathered the kids and and recruited my dad to take family picture!  I love it!  Thanks Dad!

We were sad to see the Kreys leave the next day, but we are so glad they were able to come!  We had a blast laughing and playing together!  What a great present it was to be with my parents and the Kreys for Christmas!