We weren't going to be home for Christmas this year and we knew we couldn't fit 10 days worth of clothes, diapers, baby stuff, winter gear, us and the kids AND presents in our little car (though it does have a VERY good sized trunk... lol). Anyway, because of limited space we decided we would open presents on the 23rd (which happens to be our wedding anniversary too :D). So we had a whole week of present opening fun beginning on the 23rd of December. Of our amazing 10 day vacation, I think I only took like 8 pictures and all of them on Christmas Day ... HORRIBLE ... I know!!! I thought about taking pictures a lot but was feeling "vacation lazy" I guess .. lol ... as a result we have little to no proof of our Christmas vacation in Bear Lake! I'll just have to be boring and write about it without visuals ... sorry :(.
December 23
My parents had Crystal's present from them shipped to us instead of them so we wouldn't have to haul it home. Its a good thing because it was quite a large gift! We decided it wasn't going to fit under the tree so the night before Ty and I assembled it and sat it out so she would see it when she came downstairs!
By 9 that morning we had my parents and Ty's parents on the web cam and Crystal hadn't woke up yet so Ty when upstairs to wake her. One thing you should know about Crystal is she has a morning routine and DOES NOT like it to be disturbed! So mistake #1 we woke her up instead of letting her wake herself. Mistake # 2 we didn't let her sit with a blanket over her and watch her cartoon while drinking her warm milk first (yes it has to be JUST LIKE THAT!)!
Here is a video showing how it went:
So Ty carries her down the stairs all excited and showed her the spring horse we worked so hard to put together the night before .... and she whined and cried ... I know RUDE right? So we pull out the 1st present we want her to open. It was a MASSIVE present from her Grandma and Grandpa Cook! I didn't get video of her opening it though... surprise surprise I know...lol.
Once she realized we were going to let her open the presents under the tree that she'd been eying for weeks now, she started warming up to the idea of a different morning routine.
This is the presents under the tree before we opened them... we aren't spoiled at all are we... lol!
We all did pretty good. Especially Crystal! The MASSIVE present from Grandma and Grandpa Cook turned out to be a kitchen! And a Spring Horse from Grandma and Grandpa Gordon! Not to mention the other toys she got from us!!! We NEED a BIGGER place ... lol!
Once Ty got the kitchen assembled (it took 2 hrs and as you can see in the pic that didn't include putting the stickers on), we got ready for the day and celebrated our anniversary with the kids at Red Lobster!! It was SO good! One of my favorite places to eat so I was happy!
As SOON as we got home, it was time for Ty to go to work, sad I know! We didn't even have time to play with our new toys! Ty got a miniature ping pong table (it folds up and stores easily). When playing it, its the perfect size for our living room so its great! Ty got me a tennis racket so I could play tennis with the family in Bear Lake! He also got me a Movie Theater Popcorn Popper!!! I love it!!!
December 24
We got up and got ready for the day and started packing up the car!!! It was tough but we managed to fit EVERYTHING we needed/wanted in our little car, including the kids ... lol! We had really good roads all the way to Bear Lake! Only bad thing was our windshield randomly cracked from the seam on the passenger side toward the center of the windshield. Six months off the lot and the stupid windshield already needs replaced! We figure a rock must have hit the seam of the windshield for it to crack like that. It was upsetting but hopefully our insurance will pay to fix it (when we get around to it). I don't really want to replace it because then I'll just have to worry all the time about it getting a crack in it ... lol ... right now there's no pressure ... hehe ... doesn't matter if a rock hits it or not.
Anyway we got to the condo around the same time as Ty's parents and brothers and we all unpacked the vehicles and got things situated. Then it was time for the fun to begin!!! We had yummy steak and shrimp for dinner!!! And there was a ton of candy and snacks to be eaten! Later that evening we opened a present from Ty's parents... it was PJ'S!!! Ty and I love our new pjs. She got Crystal adorable PJ's too but I of course didn't get a picture... darn it! We all got comfy in our jammies and were ready to play bingo! But Bingo was no where to be found... it was in a sack with several other Christmas Eve Activities that was no where to be found. (We decided it got left at home but the day before we left Bear Lake Leslie found it in a rubbermaid container filled with boots... lol). Anyway since we didn't have bingo but we had tons of little presents to open we decided to improvise. We pulled out wits and wagers and played that to win presents. Ryan and I didn't do very well and only won a few presents, but I think Todd and Scott won the most ... lol ... it didn't really matter. Though Ty did win one of the gifts with money in it ... hehe.
After our game, the girls discovered the Elves had been there and left them matching PJ'S (On Christmas Eve the Elves always sneak in and leave PJ's on their bed!)... it was a good thing they found us since we weren't at home in our regular beds!
Christmas morning we discovered that Santa had found us too!!!!
Crystal LOVED her Little People Barn she got from Santa! She also got a microphone in her stocking that she loves to sing into!
Honestly, Lily really didn't care about what Santa got her, but I'm sure she'll love it in a few months! Crystal enjoys playing with it too! Lily also didn't care about any of the candy in her stocking, but it was okay cuz the rest of us ate it all for her... hehe.
Crystal didn't want to stop playing with her barn long enough to get pictures!
This picture was taken the day after Christmas. Crystal spent the ENTIRE vacation with a sucker in her mouth ... sometimes two! lol!
We had tons of fun in Bear Lake. We played tons of tennis in the indoor court (though it wasn't heated so it was freezing cold!). We also went swimming in the OUTDOOR pool almost every night! It was a good thing they kept it well heated or we would have froze! We spent lots of family time playing cards and a few Wii games we got for Christmas! We also went tubing and snowmobiling, but only for a few hours. It was VERY COLD, so the little ones faces were pretty cold after just a short time. Crystal, Ty and I went for a snowmobile ride... Ty had me nervous a few times (I was a little overprotective since my 2 yr old was riding with us). After that Ty and Crystal went down the hill on a tube ... Crystal loved it! Ty enjoyed being pulled back up on the tube with the snowmobile even more I think (don't worry crystal was riding up front with Grandpa not in the tube with Ty). He then insisted I go down with him ... I was actually REALLY scared but he made me go anyway! It was lots of fun! Cold but fun! After that Crystal didn't want to go down anymore ... her little face was cold! So Ty took the snowmobile and was pulling people back up the hill.
Now here's the climax of the tubing experience! We decided it would be fun to tie 3 tubes together and go down all at once. So the last people down the hill (I believe it was Todd, Kaylee, and Jared) went down together! Ty put Crystal on the snowmobile with him and rode down to get them. They were pretty heavy to pull even with the two seater snowmobile, but they decided they'd try it anyway. They tied the tubes to the snowmobile, and all three of them climbed back on the tubes. Watching from above we thought the snowmobile wouldn't pull all of them up the steep hill but figured if it didn't work it would just stop the snowmobile... no big deal. Well Ty decided to take them for a ride around the bottom before trying to pull them up it. He realized they were going too fast and stopped the snowmobile thinking once it caught the rope it would just stop the tubes. Instead the weight of the moving tubes pulled on the machine and tipped the entire snowmobile over!!! WITH MY BABY ON BOARD!!! Watching from the top of the hill my first worry was Ty's leg cuz I knew Crystal's legs weren't long enough to really reach around the machine. But upon second look I realized the machine didn't just tip over, it had ROLLED!! I then began yelling at Ty for not being more careful fearing that my baby was hurt (i know rude! But in my defense I could see he was okay at this point). Crystal was sitting under the snowmobile crying! The windshield and the seat back for the passenger had created a "triangle of life" of sorts and she was sitting underneath it! She was just fine thank goodness but it scared me SOOOO bad! Ty had probably saved both of them by only letting it roll upside down and not continue to roll. He knew if it kept rolling it would crush both of them so he did everything in his power to keep that from happening.
On that note, it was time to leave! I felt bad that we had to go after something so traumatic for Ty. I think he felt like we left because of him but we had to get back because some of his family was heading back home that day. We were concerned for a bit that Crystal had hurt her hand but it had just landed in the snow and was COLD! I'm so glad no one was injured. The snowmobile is even okay (other than a crack in the windshield!). We were not having good luck with windshields that week!!!!
We were going to leave for Idaho Falls Wednesday to spend some time with my family before going back to our regular routine of life, but it snowed and it snowed a lot! So Thursday afternoon we left with Ty's family to head for Idaho Falls. The roads weren't very good till we finally hit the freeway in McCammon. After that it was smooth sailing the rest of the way! That night at my parents house we yet again opened more presents (Crystal's going to think Christmas is a week long event ... lol). We spent New Year's Eve with my whole family! It was fun with movies, LOTS of food and fun games!!!! We spent Saturday recovering a bit and went home Sunday. We got home JUST in time for Ty to get in his car and go to work!
We had a wonderful Christmas break with family!!!! And I still haven't recovered ... or should I say my HOUSE and the LAUNDRY still haven't recovered! LOL!
(PS. These are also the only pictures I have of Lily and 2 months ... I know I've been a major slacker!)
