The past 6 days...

Phew! What a wonderful Christmas we had. So wonderful and busy in fact, that I am barely getting a chance to document it all. I haven’t had time to read or comment on anyone’s blogs due to my busy-ness, so I apologize, but here is a run down of the past 6 days.

Thursday-Christmas Eve. The kids nearly drove me crazy. Seriously I was about pushed over the edge. I know they were just excited, but my goodness. I broke up 50 million fights, cleaned up more than my fair share of disastrous messes….what a day. It did end on a good note though. We had a lovely dinner at my parent’s house with my Grandpa and Brother and his wife. We also had a wonderful nativity story, opened our traditional jammies and one gift and did all the preparations for Santa. The kids were in bed by 8 and sound asleep, and Santa entered our house and was gone by 9:00 p.m. We must have been first on his route in Vernal…. ;)

Friday- Christmas. We had to wake our kids up again this year…Kayler really did not want to be woken up, until he realized what was going on and then he was so cute along with the rest of the kids. I had to laugh at Kayler. After opening all his wonderful gifts-instead of playing with them…he was at the sink again doing his water messes as you will see in the picture below!

We had fun opening our stuff, having a nice breakfast, and after getting ready we went to my parent’s to open more gifts from them. After that, we went to our annual Stewart Family Christmas Party. My kids had so much fun with their cousins. I had a lot of fun with all my cousins and their spouses on my Stewart side. The meal was delicious, and the kids got another gift from my Grandma and Grandpa Stewart.

After that we headed home, put stuff away, and started to pack for our trip to St. George. We got that done, the kids bathed and in bed, and then I went to play games with my cousins from the Bowthorpe side. I had a ton of fun learning how to play Texas Hold-Em…..I was not very good, and will not be entering any tournaments soon!










Saturday-ST. GEORGE!!! We were SO excited to get out of this frozen wasteland and go to G.J.’s parents place in sunny and warm St. George. The kids did very well on the drive down, despite poor Gavin having the stomach flu. We only had to make 3 minor stops and made the trip in just under 6 hours. I would like you to notice in the pictures the temperature when we left Vernal at 8 that morning…. -17 YUCK! Then the nice temp when we arrived! We got checked into our beautiful hotel room, freshened up, and then had our party with all of G.J.’s siblings and some of his cousins. My kids had a blast playing hide and seek in the hotel and running around. It was a great night. We went to Target for some shopping that night and then out to Spoon Me for the best frozen yogurt I have ever tasted.

Sunday-Most of G.J.’s family was leaving, so we went to G.J.’s parent’s 5th wheel to open some more presents. We all got sweaters and gift cards to Dillard’s. After that we went to lunch at Chili’s and then to the coolest park ever! The kids (including G.J. and I!) had so much fun. Then I sent G.J. and the kids back to the hotel for some swimming while I went to Dillard’s to cash in my gift card. I got some Ugg boots that I have wanted forever and ever. We went to Costco to get some supplies, then it was time for dinner again, so we headed to Chuck-a-rama. Unfortunately for me, that night my dinner turned into UP CHUCK-a-rama. It was so miserable!

Monday- We woke up feeling very sad that it was the last day of our vacation. Our car was stuffed with things from top to bottom. Poor Hallie had a tiny little tunnel to sit in! We took the kids to the Wildlife Museum and then off to Pirate Island. For those of you who haven’t been…it is like a glorified Chuck E Cheese with a Pirate theme, much nicer, cleaner, better food….you get the picture. We said our goodbyes, and then on the road….again.

The trip home seemed a little longer this time. Kayler was super ornery. We tried to break up the trip by a stop at In and Out Burger in Orem. The kids hated the food but loved the hats. We finally made it back to our frozen wasteland/Home Sweet home! It took forever to unload everything and get it all put away, but we really were glad to be home and out of the car.






































Tuesday- Cleaning day!!! Since we left the morning after Christmas, we had a huge mess of gifts, Christmas decorations, and laundry to take care of. I have been working hard ALL day long, and I am almost finished and it feels so good. I am truly having a wonderful time having my kid’s home and having no schedule. They have had so much fun playing with all their toys today. We are off to pizza and a movie tonight, and who knows what the rest of the week holds. All I know is that I feel truly blessed for the last week’s events. It came and went so quickly, but I tried to cherish every special second!