And a Happy New Year!

To celebrate New Year we headed off to Utah. Our kids are getting a lot better at traveling, maybe it was all the interstate moving we did this year. Amazingly enough, we only stopped twice on the way there and once and a half times on the way back (the half a stop was just to run Kate in to go potty and then run right out and keep driving). 

I think the best way to blog about Utah is to divide it up by family. 

To start, Christian's mom's house:

When the kids opened up their Christmas presents, James gave the best reaction! He started shaking and then shouted, "I always wanted this!"

My in-laws just got a darling little puppy named Blaze. Kate wasn't sure at first if she liked the dog or not but quickly warmed up to her. 

Once Kate was in her snow clothes, she decided the dog was safe and she played and played and played with her. Here she is playing with my cute mother-in-law. 

The kids played for hours and then we enjoyed a delicious meal thanks to my step-father-in-law.

 Unfortunately we didn't get to see Christian's sister Cassie because she was out of town so now the kids keep asking me when we're going to get to go back and see her. 

 Christian's Dad's house:

For a long time, James said that all he wanted for Christmas was garbage. My father-in-law decided to save a bunch and wrap it up for James. My goofy son was so excited when there was a bag full of garbage for him waiting under the Kelseys' Christmas tree. He pulled out the garbage one piece at a time and would say, "Oh paper! A stick! More garbage!" He's a goon.

Christian's dad is known as the M&M grandpa. Can you guess why? Both kids got a bag like this for Christmas!

 Christian's Grandma gave the kids these cute dinosaur tails and feet. If you look close in this picture, I'm pretty sure this dinosaur is picking her nose. 

I like this picture because it shows what the boys did all morning, Christian and Michael played Madden Football and James played with his garbage truck. Very masculine. 

For some reason the only picture I got of Kayla was of her back. I'll do better next time getting a picture of her face! 

We went to Jordan Commons to go see the movie Frozen. It was so fantastic. Kate loved it and has since spent almost every day pretending to be either Anna or Elsa (the main characters). James also loved the movie, or at least the fifteen minutes he stayed awake for. Here James and Michael are waiting for tickets.

And here's one more picture of James and Michael because it's so cute. I think James and Michael have matching dimples. 

Finally, my parent's house:

One night while Kate was at a sleepover at her other Grandma's house James wouldn't go to bed unless Betsy came to listen to stories with him. It was fun to see the bond these two 2nd-borns have. They seem to understand each other.

Kate and Betsy played for hours with this doll bed from Christian's mom. They especially loved the fact that one doll had on blue clothes (like Betsy) and one had on pink (like Kate). 

The girls also played princess/queen for a while. Kate kept insisting that she was the Queen. By the way, my sister Carrie made these crowns. Aren't they amazing?

I actually got a picture with we-three-sisters. Here we are with our old friend Nathan who came to visit. I still think it's funny the oldest sister ended up the shortest and the youngest ended up the tallest. 

We went bowling. Of course Christian won. Of course! Kate took second place. She's got that Kelsey competitive gene. 

James enjoyed bowling but got tired near the end. 

Really tired. 

Christian was kind enough to go put the kids down for a nap while Carrie and I stayed and played arcade games. Just for the record, this girl is a fruit ninja NINJA! I was so excited with all the tickets we won, but Carrie burst my bubble a little when she pointed out the fact the the two stamps and one tootsie pop I got with my tickets cost way less than it had to play. 

That night all the grandkids except Luke went out to play in the snow. I went out with them. I forgot how much fun snow play is!

This snowman was a joint effort. Kate really only contributed the nose even thought she took full ownership of the snowman. 

Don't worry Luke, I won't leave you out.

Our drive home was kind of dreary. Oh Wyoming, I try so hard to like you!

A few days after we got home, Christian and I got the Christmas/birthday/anniversary gifts we are giving each other this year. 

 That's right! Our next trip is already in the works, and it's going to be a Disney trip.

And although Christmas is officially over, James and Kate have insisted on leaving out this music box (to the right of James) my father-in-law gave me. They would turn in on and sit next to it listening to the music all day long if I'd let them. I've been trying to limit them to only a couple hours a day.