Christmas Break in Utah

After looking forward to going home to Utah for Christmas since.....well really since we drove away from Utah last July, I was worried that I had built it up too much. But after spending 2 1/2 heavenly weeks in Utah with our family and friends, Mitch and I knew we had underestimated how much we would love Christmas break and being with our families. There was snow, gingerbread house contests, more snow, Christmas movie marathons, game nights, playing with nieces and nephews, swimming, talking to Kev on his mission in Mexico City, very little sleep, more snow, and many more amazing memories. Because I have so many pictures from our trip home, this post is only going to cover what we did the first week...

But before I do all that, here's an adventure we had before we went home. These sweet boots are in a money store called Cavender's Boot City in Houston. We got Mitch's brother Cory a belt buckle from there. Just thought I would show you Houston's holiday spirit.

 

My family came and picked us up at the airport and these little guys were at the house waiting to surprise us!

Of course my mom had gourmet home made donuts waiting for us with a yummy hot chocolate bar- thanks Minds and Brady!

 We really wanted it to be snowy when we got home cause it just doesn't feel like Christmas without snow in Utah. I think we wished a little too hard cause there was a lot of snow! Mitch's little sister made a snow fort!

We also got to go see Nats cheer at the Olympus Jr. girl's bball championship game. It is a very different experience going to a game to watch the cheerleaders. I had to remind Mitch a few times that he was there to watch the cheerleaders and not the basketball game. 

Gingerbread house making contest is such a fun tradition. We had some pretty amazing looking houses (not including mine and Mitch's) and even better... lots of fun making them. The little kids couldn't believe all the candy!

                              
                           Richard got a little creative with the frosting...good old Santy Clause.

Our snowman turned out a little creepy and our peppermint theme was just a little boring. Oh well we had fun making it. That's all that matters right?

We also got to go to White Christmas at Pioneer Theater in Salt Lake with my family and it was so good! Mitch was falling asleep throughout the play but I think it was because of lack of sleep (he woke up at 5:30 to play basketball a few times with his brothers and dad) more than boredom. Maybe it was a combination of both. I loved it because they had really good dancing! 

 

On Christmas Eve, we went swimming with Mitch's fam and had a blast! (I wish I had some pictures) We had the attention of the whole place after we had played a few pretty competitive games. Or maybe it was because all 10 of us were on average about 15 years older than anybody else there and were making quite a splash on the water slide. By the end, they were all wishing they were part of our family. : ) Afterward, we went to dinner at yummy 5 Guys.

 

Mitch's neighborhood has a tradition of doing "curbside candles" on Christmas Eve. It turned out so pretty!

                                           Mitch's cute little sister dressed up as Rudolph!

Our Christmas Eve party was at Mitch's grandparents and we had a lot of fun. We made pizza for dinner, played Pin the Tail on Rudolph, played a little present exchange game, and had a little talent show.

Christmas morning was just as exciting as when we were 6 years old. We all waited at the top of the stairs till we could go downstairs to see if Santa had come!

                                                                So many presents!

We went over to my aunt Becky's house for Christmas morning breakfast and got to see all my cousins. It is one of my favorite meals of the whole year!

Later, we went to go see what Santa brought for my little nephews and they were so excited to show us!

                Rex made a Gingerbread house at preschool and just couldn't resist it any longer.

 This little guy knows how to get the goods. We watched this trouble making 2 year old drag a stool over to the fridge, climb up on top and go for the gogurt. We caught him red handed.

                                    They got this fun little shooting target game which they loved!

That's already too many pictures so I better be done for this post. More fun memories and pictures to come...!