Ty had a meeting with the Stake President tonight and they called him as the Ward Clerk. It's his favorite calling. Haha. In the 14 years we've been married he's been an Assistant Clerk of some sort for 12 of those years. I'm just glad the meeting was for him and not for me. They never specify when they ask both of us to come in. Haha.
The kids couldn't see well so they watched from the top of the expedition. Only problem was I didn't have them dress warm and it was VERY cold outside. They still had fun though!
CHRISTMAS TRAIN
We decorated our yearly Christmas train! So much easier than gingerbread houses!
CHRISTMAS TREATS
We have the sweetest neighbors. One of them brought us a reindeer cinnamon roll! So creative!
We had a Christmas party a week before Christmas since it's an "off" year (in laws turn for Christmas). We played games and had fun activities for the kids and we opened presents from cousins and Grandma and Grandpa. It was fun! Ty and I got an awesome camp chair from my brother and sister in law! Ty and I made cutting boards for everyone. I think they turned out pretty good and they were a lot of fun to make! Grandpa bought Grandma a new wedding ring for Christmas. He even got on one knee! It was so awesome! Bennett and Livie didn't get to open presents at the party so they opened them at Sunday dinner the next day.
EARLY CHRISTMAS
We are spending Christmas in Arizona and we didn't want to take everything with us from under the tree. So we decided to have Christmas early! We opened everything from each other. Ty and I took one present for each of them that they couldn't open until Christmas morning, but other than that they got to open them all a few days early! A lot of the presents were things for them to have during the trip which was another good reason to have Christmas early!
Jingle the elf knew we were leaving after school to head to Arizona, so he left early to help Santa at the North Pole. He knew cousins elf in Arizona would be able to keep an eye on things! Since he left early he also left us all with new PJs. Jay and Lily wore them to school that day. Crystal stayed home and did online school so we could leave a little earlier. She was a big help getting things ready to go!
We made it to St George and there was a wardrobe malfunction with one of the PJs. Dad to the rescue again! He fixed it! All better!
The second leg of the trip was on our 14th anniversary. Spending all day in the car with the family we created was fitting I suppose, but exhausting and not tons of fun. Haha. But driving to warmer weather was definitely a plus. We stopped at a little cafe on Route 66! The food was good and the kids thought the cars were neat! When we finally got to Arizona, we went to look at Christmas lights with cousins and then after the kids were in bed we celebrated our anniversary by going through the drive thru of Sonic to get milk shakes! All in all it was actually a pretty good day!
CHRISTMAS MORNING
CHRISTMAS EVE
I don't know why the pictures keep uploading in reverse order but it's too hard to fix it. Just have to start at the last picture in the section. Haha. Aunt Brooke made waffles for breakfast! We had a lot of fun decorating cookies, making ornaments and decorating the second tree upstairs! While we were having fun, the guys were busy fixing a few things around the house. Haha. Ty's favorite thing. I always call him Mr Fix It.
Santa found us in Arizona! Crystal finally has her own makeup. She's pretty excited about it. Lily got a vet van and Jay got a drone. We went to the park later so he could try it out but he didn't like how hard it was to control. I'm sure with some practice he will get the hang of it. We gave the kids the one gift we wrapped and brought with us! Inside the box were a few random things. First a stuffed wolf, second a magic wand harness, third a gift card to Great Wolf Lodge, and fourth a brochure for the Great Wolf Lodge. Then we told them we were going to spend 2 days at the Great Wolf Lodge for their Christmas gift this year! After watching reading the brochure and watching some videos they couldn't wait to go! We booked rooms for Monday and Tuesday night thinking it would be less busy and we could avoid being there on Sunday.
SUNDAY
We all went for a leisurely walk around a park in Mesa today. We are loving the nicer weather considering all the snow we are getting at our house! We also went to Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori's for dinner and games! We took some family pictures as well but I naturally don't have any of them. I also apparently only took a couple pictures of sweet Dax while we were at Mark and Lori's house. Picture fail!
We all had so much fun! We stayed 2 nights and spent 3 days playing at the water park, mini golf, mining, bowling, rope course, rock climbing, candy shop, ice cream, and lots and lots and lots of Icees and sodas so we wouldn't have to wear our masks. The evil guy in the red shirt in the background of the first picture was the worst. I'm pretty sure the employees even hated him. Haha. I watched him go in the stifling water park and tell the life guards to put their masks over their noses. No one else in the water park was even wearing a mask. Life guards with a mask on wasn't going to prevent anything. Haha.
When they weren't in the water park, they spent a lot of time playing MagiQuest with their wands throughout the hotel. They all LOVED it!
NEW YEARS EVE
We spent the day with cousins again! It was so good to be able to spend so much time with them. It never feels like enough time! We checked out yet another awesome park in Mesa! In the afternoon/evening, we went to Brandon and Marissa's for New Years Eve. We rang in the new year at 10 pm with everyone, fireworks and all. And then again at midnight with everyone who made it that long! Haha.
NEW YEAR'S DAY
It was time to say goodbye. Always the worst part! But we made plans to go to Mexico in October with them as long as the world doesn't go too crazy by then! We did sleep in since we had such a late night the night before so we didn't leave until afternoon. We were just going to drive to St George but Grandma and Grandpa Cook were back at their condo and we didn't want to risk exposing them to anything the day before they got their Covid Vaccines, so we decided against it. We thought about stopping in Las Vegas for the night but when we got there, Ty wanted to keep driving. We ended up making it clear to Spanish Fork and staying in Grandma and Grandpa Cook's basement there for the night. We got up the next morning, got lunch with Vanessa, Jackson, and Isa in Lehi and made the rest of our journey home! One thing this year that we've found we love during car trips is listening to audio books. We spent A LOT of time in the car this year and managed to listen to most of the Alcatraz and the Evil Librarian series. It makes these long trips a little more interesting and fun for the kids too!
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