Utah or Bust!

Christmas morning (and afternoon) at the Ingleby's

We did eventually make it to Utah! We had SUCH a wonderful time. We loved it. We truly enjoyed seeing family and friends and introducing Grant to everyone for the first time and Aaron to some for the first time. We stayed with Mike's sister Ann and her husband Adam. They were such great hosts and we truly appreciated their generosity. It was really fun to spend time with them and their fun, spunky boy Jake. Today Aaron has been saying, "I wanna play with Cousin Jake." Apparently, he misses him. We also enjoyed seeing Mike's brother, cool Uncle David. Now Aaron has two Uncle David's of whom he is very fond.

We saw many dear friends and relatives. We traveled to the home of Traci's parents in Kaysville one evening to see Jon, Kathryn, and their children who drove up from Cedar City. What a fun reunion that was! We also saw all of my mom's siblings, their spouses, and some cousins one afternoon at a lovely dinner at Ed and Marsha's. We also saw the Ambrose family (from Roseburg) and Mike spent a day cross-country skiing and biking with Chad. We also had a fun day at the Henry home in Springville. (Thanks to Greg and Mindy for wonderfully hosting the crowd!) I also saw Stephanie Halliday, Mollie Olorenshaw, and Melody Murdock. We loved every aspect of the trip! Even the flights weren't bad. Grant and Aaron did relatively well. I would say this was one of our best trips yet! We enjoyed the trip very much and are so thankful to all who made it possible -- namely, the Ingleby's for graciously opening their home and the Golding's for offering their sporty SUV to us for the week. We feel very blessed to have good friends and family. We are now optimistically looking forward to a great 2010!

Snowed In

The beginning of our vacation started (and ended) here. We were scheduled to fly to Utah to celebrate the holidays on Saturday, December 19. Due to a massive snowstorm, our flight was canceled and our trip delayed. Fortunately we had decided to drive to my parents' house Friday night so we'd be closer to the airport. We ended up staying there until we flew out on our rescheduled flight day, Monday.

This actually wasn't a bad way to start out the trip. It was like a winter wonderland in Annandale with an accumulated 21 inches of snow. We were so grateful to have a nice warm home to stay in, fully equipped with cable TV, Internet, cozy beds, and plenty of food. Oh how we were grateful to be in a house and not stuck in a hotel room! The only thing that would have made our time there better is if my parents had been there! They had already left for Arizona where they were enjoying 70-degree weather with my sister and her family.

Doesn't my parents' house look lovely!

My father picked us up at the airport when we returned home from our trip, and we stopped off at their house for dinner and headed south after rush-hour(s). Pictures from our trip to follow.

He Wants To Have His Cake And Eat It, Too!

Here is Aaron getting creative with wanting the last morsels of birthday cake (it was our neighbor Marshall's birthday.) I caught Aaron red-handed (with a glove on, no less!) standing on a wastebasket he had gotten and turned upside-down! Pretty resourceful if you ask me! I love the "busted" look on his face. :)

p.s. No, the stove top was not turned on. This is a lesson that we can't leave wanted food by or on the stove!

Thanksgiving at Lake Monticello

The gorgeous view from the house






The grandkids (and my Dad!)

We had so much fun at Thanksgiving this year. We met up with my parents and David, Traci, and Leah near Charlottesville. We spent a nice relaxing weekend at our friends' lake house on Lake Monticello. Gorgeous setting! We spent the weekend talking, relaxing, watching movies, playing games, taking walks, and, of course, eating. We are glad we were able to get away for a bit and enjoy the company of family. Aaron had so much fun riding his bike and playing with trains with his grandparents - it kept him entertained for hours!