The End

Let me just wrap up our Christmas vacation...a month later...

While out west, Darin and I took advantage of being so close to the temple and went twice. We went to Idaho Falls our first week there and Boise our second (which is a new temple for me!).

 It looks just like the Buenos Aires temple! Which is pretty cool to me for obvious reasons.

 We hung out in Poky for a few more days before heading back down to Utah. We went to Wyatt's baby blessing on Sunday. It was really nice to spend Sunday with family, and to meet Anna's family who are a blast. Grandma Sharon gave Shae some play dough, which he LOVED (and still does. He knows exactly where it is and pulls it out every. single. day. Usually multiple times).

 We made sure to take advantage of the Idaho snow, since we knew we probably wouldn't be seeing much snow in Virginia.

The day before we flew out, we went down to Provo for a basketball game. We of course had to visit campus...and Slab Pizza.

Poor Shae had been having some stomach issues that really went wild at the Wilkinson Center. It's been a LONG time since he pooped through an outfit, but it happened right here on our old stomping grounds. Thankfully his grandma was nice enough to go buy him a new shirt. (Pretty happy for just having had the worst diarrhea of his life. Oh if we only acted as children do when we're sick).

Going over the fight song one last time before going to the game.

 Then off to the Marriott Center we went. Shae was really good for the game. Towards the end we had to go out and walk around a bit, but he seemed pretty entertained with all the excitement. The best part of the game had to be watching our nephew Kyler throw out some of the greatest dance moves known to man.

 The next morning it was back to the airport. Our flight in Denver was delayed three hours so we had a good long time to hang out there. We were SO thankful that Shae finally fell asleep. He really needed it.

When we got on the plane, we continued to make our way all the way to the back of the plane. We quickly realized that we were going to be sitting in the very last row. I was not very happy about that (no recline at all!), until people slowly stopped boarding the plane and we realized that the open seat in our row, was just that, an extra seat! Hallelujah! Having a seat for Shae to sit in/play in was GREAT. I would take that over a reclining chair any day. Although, he obviously didn't want to sit in the chair the entire time...

We had such a great time on our vacation. Our family is awesome. Period. It was great to be with them. Shae mentions them at least once a day now. I'm so glad that he was able to really establish them as a part of his life as he slowly understands relationships better. We can't wait to see Gan-ma Sharon and Aunt Mee-a again so soon when the baby comes (and my family too!).

3rd Christmas

We spent our third, and actual, Christmas in Caldwell. Christmas Eve was spent chowing down on delicious food and relaxing after the fun day in the snow.  After stuffing stockings and eating Santa's cookies, we stayed up far too late playing Password and super-intense-crazy-Uno. If the kids only knew what we did after they went to bed...

 Shae was excited to finally open the presents that he had been told not to touch for so long. However, his excitement only lasted for a few presents before he peaced out into the play room. He stayed in there playing with a train ornament that he received in his stocking for a good while. I think there was just too much going on for him to handle. We continued to open presents, putting his aside for when he was ready to come out.

Shae in the playroom

 Later that afternoon, Stephen's family came over and we started the present opening all over again (and ate some DELICIOUS Lasagna courtesy of Anna). 

It was such a fun day filled with goodies and presents and family. With that said, my favorite part of the day was later in the afternoon when we sat down to watch some Christmas videos that the church has made. There is so much that happens during the month of December, so many things to try and get done and traditions to make and keep. It really is so easy to get caught up in everything. I loved being able to sit back and remember the true reason behind the season. I'm grateful that we have this beautiful time of year to remember Christ's birth...to remember why it's important that Christ was born...to remember who he was, and who he is...to remember what he did for us and how he continues to bless us...to remember his example and ponder on our own lives and how we can be more like him. The great thing is that even though the Christmas music and candy canes and decorations and presents and advent calendars come to an end, Christ does not. He stays with us all year round. That is special. 

Bogus

Christmas Eve day was appropriately spent out in the snow at Bogus Basin Ski Resort. Sharon, Derek, Claire, and Kyler skied.  The rest of us just played in the snow. It was a blast being up there with everyone. 

Shae quickly caught on to the throwing snowballs thing and was content to do that the entire day. 

Darin had some great bonding time with baby Wyatt while hanging out in the resort.

These two hit it off pretty quickly.

After warming up inside, we made our way out one last time. We watched grandma kick butt in her ski lesson. She did such a good job braving the snow. We were all so proud of her.

Poor Claire being smashed by Shae... she was a trooper.

We made our way back down the slippery mountain and found that it was actually snowing in Caldwell as well. We hadn't expected to have a white Christmas at that point, but we did! It was just a light dusting, but it was white nonetheless. There's just something about snow and family that makes Christmas magical.