Christmas in Salt Lake

Christmas in Salt Lake was a little different this year with only Ty's family to visit, but we had a really nice time and Thatcher has begged to go back to Nanny and Pop's house every day since we have been home. I was also able to see a lot of my friends which helped me be a little less homesick for my family.

The boys were perfect as can be on the drive up and we made it in 8 hours. They are amazing how well behaved they are on long car rides. Thank goodness for a dvd player and how fascinated my boys are with tv.

I got to spend most of Friday with Bekah. Her family had two extra tickets to a really cute kids play about pirates so Thatcher and I went to that and then we went to Bekah's parents for a while and then we got Cafe Rio. It was fun and only having Thatcher was so easy, he is such a great little companion. That night we had Ty's family party and the boys took on their normal roles. James was a little terror (notice the picture of James sitting on top of baby Crew in front of all the other kids trying to watch Santa) and Thatcher was a sweetie. Thatcher was very friendly with Santa and very excited about his present. James was the opposite (but he did like his present and went crazy for the candy). I had to include this picture of beautiful Ann Dee who is every bit as cute and naughty as James. I love that they are so close in age and so similar in their temperaments. It will be interesting to see what they are like when they get older. It was a fun night that ended with kisses for the snowman on his carott nose.

On Saturday (Christmas Eve) I spent all morning with Emily Mitarai, Martha Fetzer, and Martha Birk at Eintsiens. We stayed for three hours just talking and it was so good for me. I love those girls. I think it is funny that I am almost thirty and refer to them as my roommates. I battled with the boys to take naps all afternoon (and finally won) and then made a salad to get ready for our Christmas Eve dinner. We spent Christmas Eve at the Garfield's and it was so nice. They got fun toys for the boys, we had a fabulous dinner, the Garfield kids are always so cute with my boys and it was just a really nice night. We drove through Christmas street on our way home which was fun too. James is pretty good at oohing and aahing every time he sees any sort of lights and it cracks me up. We let the boys open Christmas books and set out cookies for Santa when we got home and then they went to bed (very late) and we got everything set up for Christmas morning.

Christmas was really fun. Thatcher didn't tire of opening presents and both boys were their typical selves. Thatcher was so excited about everything and James just wanted to eat Ty's stocking candy. The favorite gift of James was probably his toy dog and Thatcher was pretty excited about his sword, hook, and Buzz wings and gloves. It was a fun morning. We had a great breakfast and then went to church. The rest of the Martin clan came over after church for a nice dinner. I made rolls and a salad and we just took it easy the rest of the night, which of course included taking a bath in Nanny and Pop's huge bathtub.

Our last day in Salt Lake I was able to meet Heidi, Martha, Bekah, and Maggie for an early lunch to celebrate Bekah's birthday. It was really fun to be with my friends who have been there for so much and who continue to be such great friends to me. We left that afternoon for Flagstaff and as usual the boys did fantastically well. It was a really short trip considering all the driving, but we were so glad we got to spend Christmas with family and had a great few days packing a lot of memories in.