Our Christmas started on a sad note - Colin didn't do so well in his preschool Christmas program. I mean, we're talking holding his ears and crying bad. I was so looking forward to seeing him perform Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer, but what do you do? He was the only kid to freak out, so at least he's original!
Friday was spent bustling around getting everything ready to leave town. Like crazy people, we decided to drive to Utah in one shot. We picked Kevin up from work and away we went! With 18.5 hours of driving, about 20.5 hours of travel time, two Five Hour Energy drinks, lots of snacks, and endless movies we made it to Cedar City at 9 AM the next morning.
The kids did amazing! No fighting, whining, or fussing! They were excited and happy to be in the car and were pretty cooperative. Plus, with the price of gas being so cheap and only stopping for one meal, we made it there with only spending about $100!!
For three days we had the entire Grady clan together at Grandma's house!
At church on Sunday, this sweet neighbor of Grandma's invited all of us over to their media room to watch the Polar Express and have hot chocolate!
We all wore our pajamas and had a great time! Bonnie Jones had gold tickets, bells, and hot chocolate for the kids just like in the movie! The kids were in heaven!
We couldn't all be together the whole time, so before the Sharp clan left for Idaho, we had our cousin gift exchange where all the kids got to hold the gift they were giving instead of receiving.
With the Sharps and Larsons gone, we had to fill our day sans-cousins, so up the canyon we went in search of snow for sledding!
The kids loved having so much daddy time!
Cedar City has a great indoor aquatic center with a lazy river, hydrotube slide, lap pools, a hot tub, and a huge splash pad area. We had so much fun, we ended up going twice! Of course it did seem weird bundling up to go swimming!
And then it was Christmas Eve and the traditional turkey dinner complimented by all the trimmings! Leslie (Willes), Artis, and I had some good girl-time prepping all the goodies together! Nothing seems more Christmasy than everyone hanging out in the kitchen making goodies and laughing!
That evening the kids put on the cutest Nativity while Kevin read from Luke 2. Reagan is the angel (given the proper elevation by Derek) Connor is the shepherd, and Colin and Lydia are Mary and Joseph.
Reagan and Connor were also excellent Mary and Joseph understudies!
Time for bed!
Grandma read How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Ah....quiet time!
The stockings were hung by the children with care!
The kids patiently waited to go into the living room until the great-grandmas were there and everyone was awake.
Reagan carefully crawling under the strings!
Following Colin's string...
Reagan's string went to her new easel!
Reagan's big present was a collection of Disney princess dresses for her to play dress-up
Not to be left out, Colin got an astronaut and fireman costume to play dress-up as well!
Did I mention that Santa also brought us snow?
We woke up to 8 inches of snow to make it a magical white Christmas!
With snow in Cedar, we headed down to St. George to fulfill one of Kevin's dreams: taking the kids hiking on the Dixie Sugar Loaf!
With his new flashlight in hand, Colin was ready to explore all the "caves!"
Kevin and I love to eat (obviously), but you can't really really enjoy the holiday eating if you already feel bad about yourself. So, we dieted for months before Christmas and had a weight loss competition with our families ending Dec 15. Neither of us won (go Jessica Chapman!) but we didn't feel bad indulging in all of Cedar City's fine cuisine! One of our favorite burger places is Hermie's! We went there FOUR times! Three times for burgers and once just for shakes! Holy Cow! Not to mention an obligatory trip to Pizza Factory, Wingers, and Cafe Rio - wowzers!
But then it was time to come home!
The trip home was brutal. We left early in the morning and hit snow in Albuquerque. The snow lasted until Wichita Falls, about ten hours of driving! The snow wasn't sticking, but it did make the drive more intense. Plus, the kids were sick of being in the car and poor Reagan cried about the last two hours saying "Out, Mommy, out!"
At that point, no amount of snacks, candy, movies, or treats can do the trick and we just prayed for a quick finish to our trip. We ended up getting home around 3:30 AM, put the kids to bed, and all slept in until noon!
