Christmas in Utah Part 1

A few months ago, my sister Cindy's husband AJ called and asked if we would consider traveling to Utah for Christmas as a surprise for Cindy.  The reason, was because Cindy had been diagnosed with placenta previa in her pregnancy and due to the severity of it, were told they they were not to travel anywhere.  We thought about it for a bit, and then decided why not?  This was our first Christmas as a family not in Colorado.  It was quite the adventure, and I will break it up into a few different posts. I was determined to take more pictures then I had the past few days.  The original plan was that we would stay in AJ's parent's vacant house that they were selling and that had been on the market for quite some time.  Well, they sold it so that was no longer an option, so Katie and Forrest offered up their home for us to stay in even though they were in Colorado. So the first two days we stayed in their cute little house.  The plus to this was that it was right around the corner from Kristalyn and her family so we got some added play time with them =)  For those few days we found ways to keep ourselves entertained.  Lyla quickly wrapped our kiddos around her little finger, and they had so much fun together.

One night Brandon was showing a funny YouTube video to AJ on his IPad.  They were laughing a lot, and the kids all gathered around to see what was so funny.  Every time that everyone would laugh, Lyla would burst into the most hilarious fit of giggles, that it made everyone laugh even harder.  It was so funny!

  

Lyla could frequently be found snuggled up with Alexis watching "Barney Songs" or "Tangled"  on Alexis Ipod.

 One night, the girls got out glee karaoke and had a blast singing and dancing together =)

                                            

 One afternoon we met up with the Ford's and took the kids to see the new chipmunk movie. It was a cute movie and the kids all loved that.  We loved that Katie and Forrest told us about a giant popcorn bucket that they had purchased that cost only 2.50 to fill.  We all shared it and filled it up twice throughout the movie!  I am all about great deals =)

The last night we were in Provo we all bundled up and went to the Riverwoods outdoor shopping mall to see Santa.  It was quite freezing but we had a good time.  My kids had not yet been to see Santa, so this was a must!  Luckily there were several fire pits all around that we could stop and get warmed up next to.


                                        
 The line didn't seem to long, but we spent about 45 min to an hour in it.  We kept ourselves busy and our minds of the cold by taking lots of pictures.

 I promise I had a warmer coat for Levi, but he was so excited about his new hoodie for Old Navy, that he insisted on wearing it instead =) 

 We were thrilled to finally make it up to the front of the line to see Santa.  Each family quickly visited with Santa and then we we took pictures (the most important part!)

 Levi was so relieved to finally be able to tell Santa what he wanted =)  Tori had already written him a letter, so she wasn't too worried about it.  Alexis wouldn't sit on Santa's lap, but agreed to stand in for a picture =)

 We stopped by some fires along the way out to try and thaw out a little and then called it a night.  We heard that there were supposed to be carriage rides as well, but we didn't  look see any =)

 Cindy, AJ and Lyla decided to head back up to Salt Lake where we would be joining them in the morning.  Kristalyn was so sweet to invite our kids over for a sleepover.  The kids all slept in their sleeping bags in her front room and had a great last night together.

Tori decided to stay home to keep daddy and me company =)  Here she is trying to warm up with some hot chocolate =)

It was fun to be able to stay in Provo for a few days.  We had a great time!