The first day, the 23rd, we went tubing at Soldier Hollow. (We forgot to take pictures with all the drama of our kids.) We couldn't find Braden's sunglasses and it was really sunny so he was not happy at all. His eyes are so sensitive to light that they automatically tear up and won't stop so he gets extremely frustrated. He managed to go down one run happy but the second run he was crying the whole time. Taylor loves trying to keep up with the older girls and was enjoying herself until she saw Braden crying and decided that if he was crying she needed to be as well. Lily was cold but she did pretty good as long as I was holding her. Ella wasn't old enough to go tubing so she enjoyed watching and eating cookies and licorice.
That evening we went and rode the Polar Express. The kids LOVED it. It was their first time riding in a train. After passing the North Pole, Santa came on the train to ask the kids what they wanted for Christmas and to give them a bell. This was the first time my kids have ever seen Santa. Sad, but true. Braden and Taylor's eyes lit up and they were so excited. I was holding Ella and I told her that Santa was going to come. She immediately grabbed her blanket and said, "Santa's scary! When he comes I'm going to hide under my blanket!" Right when she said blanket Santa made his grand entrance and she hurried and hid and was pretty much done for the night. Luckily she ended up falling asleep instead of having a meltdown.
The next day, Christmas Eve, was packed again with activities. Andy took Taylor to go snowmobiling. Braden was more interested in staying behind so he could play the Wii with Carson and Ethan. Andy was "a thousand percent" sure that he would be miserable since we still didn't have his sunglasses so we let him stay home. I think it was a good choice because Braden had fun and Taylor had a blast snowmobiling. She called it "Snow-Man-Bill." She came back after a few hours but Andy, Earl, and Jon stayed to snowmobile the rest of the day. That evening we had the kids perform the nativity. Grandma sewed all the costumes. It was really cute. Unfortunately Braden was extremely sleep deprived at this point in the vacation and wanted nothing to do with it. The cousins had a gift exchange which was probably the highlight for my kids. They were so excited to give their gifts to their cousins. Ella got a baby doll and tutu from Emmalee which is what she really wanted. When we were putting her to bed Ella kept telling us that Santa didn't need to come because she already got the baby doll that she wanted.
Christmas morning didn't come as early as I thought it would. I was awake in bed listening for the bell to ring for almost an hour. Around 7:30am we heard the bells and we woke up the kids and went downstairs to wait with the cousins until it was time to open presents. All the kids rushed into the room with excitement. I love the magic of Christmas.
Later that day Andy let me go ice skating while he stayed home with the kids. I have only been one other time 10 years ago but I love ice skating. I had fun showing some of my nieces how to spin. (Not that I know the proper technique but I can do it and have yet to fall so I must be doing something right.) Agnese and I had fun challenging each other to do different things like skate backwards, skate on one leg, spin on one leg, etc. It was a fun day.
On the 26th we woke up and packed up to leave. As I was brushing Braden's teeth he closed his mouth and then spit out a tooth into his hand. He was so excited that he lost his 3rd tooth. It icing on the cake for him to have such a fun time with his cousins all week and then lose a tooth. Braden summed it up when he said, "This is so awesome!" and went and showed all his cousins his tooth. (Unfortunately the tooth fairy didn't come that night when we were at home. Andy woke up and went downstairs to see Braden lifting up his pillow over and over again and told Andy 'the magic' wasn't working. Braden later told me that the tooth fairy probably went to the 'Heber House' so he decided to write her a note. It read, "Dear Tooth Fairy, Please come to MY house tonight. Love, Braden" Man, I love this kid.)
We had a great trip. All the kids had fun with their cousins. Lily was especially loved and adored by her cousins. She was loving all the attention she got from them, especially the girls. I think she was held the entire time by one of them. All the girls loved having a real baby to play house with and would take turns with her. All of my kids are going through "cousin with-drawl" since we've been home. They keep asking if we can go back to the 'Heber House' so they can play.
Thanks Grandma and Papa for the time and effort it took to do this! We are so blessed to have a wonderful family.
Hope you had a Merry Christmas!
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