Christmas travelogue: Christmas Eve and Christmas Days

The two days felt festive indeed, despite a lack of snow. Brittany made this impressive fruit tree as part of our Christmas Eve Day breakfast. A lot of the day was then spent outside. We went geocaching around Pioneer Park and then a group went golfing in the afternoon. We had fondu dinner and dessert. Then, once dinner was all cleaned up, we congregated downstairs for some fun on Ethan and Megan's Wii fit which was followed by a Christmas program. After our Nativity reenactment and lots of songs, the kids hurried to bed so that moms and dads could play games and help Santa get things set up.

Christmas day was nice and simple. We opened gifts, enjoyed a big potluck midday Christmas dinner, played with toys, and went to the park. Grace really lucked out because her cousins, Sydni and Kourtni, both got make-up kits from Santa. Grace had two attentive "stylists" (she seriously called them that) and spent the day feeling incredibly beautiful.

Christmas travelogue: the next few days

I asked Grace which was her favorite tree and she ran pass all the Disney Princess trees, the Alice in Wonderland tree, the pirate tree, and even the jungle tree to the little tree beside the Barbie Tree. "Barbie?" I asked. "Mooom, its pink!" Duh!

The Sunday before Christmas, we went to Church in Cedar City. Cori's sister, Tiffany, and her husband live there and we were able to listen to Tiff accompany their ward's Christmas program. Tiffany's husband works at the Heritage Theatre in town and secured us a convention room for a big potluck and movie screening that afternoon. There were dozens of trees decorated in all sorts of themes in the main lobby of the theatre- and we got to tour them all by ourselves before attending a fun choir concert in the theatre that night. On our way out of Cedar, they drove us around some very festively lit houses.

I want these crystal nutcrackers. Aren't they great?

Monday night, we had a nice little F.H.E. and decorated our trees. Sandy made cute nativity ornaments for everyone to hang. And as part of our F.H.E. activity the kids all drew pictures of things that represented what they liked best about the holiday season. Those pictures got hung upon the tree as well.

Grace and Charlie connecting four.

One of the things we love about getting together with Cori's family is all the games we play. I personally am not a fan of intricate, strategic, and long-winded games. But there is always someone around who is up for something less committal. So when there is down time, little groups form up and get playing.

Cori working his stuff during a round of Stack-o-derm.

Another thing we love about getting together with Cori's family is how great everyone is with everyone else's kids. We got to go to the temple early one morning with Sandy and Ray. We got to go golfing a couple of times. We got to return a portion of the favors done for us. And all in one week!

Having 25 people around at all times proved a bit much for our solitary man. But we found that putting him in a quiet place with an iPod for a half an hour or so really worked wonders for his disposition.

Instead of giving gifts to extended family members this year, we decided to participate in a service project together. Ray and Sandy tracked down a morning of service that ended up being just perfect for our group. We spent about 2.5 hours at a D.O.V.E. center which is a shelter for victims of domestic violence. We cleaned out and reorganized storage sheds. We helped to organize donations. The kids helped clean up all the fallen leaves from the yard and playhouse area. There was a carpet installer there that day who was donating time and materials to replace some carpet. He was able to send his guys out on other jobs because our guys were there to help him. I don't have any pictures of the project, for obvious reasons of confidentiality, but this is a picture of the kids playing red light-green light in the parking lot. It was a wonderful alternative to giving gifts.

We made a few trips up to Pioneer Park. We did lots of geocaching and wandering around the rocks and hills there. By our last visit, Grace was insisting on exploring everywhere completely by herself (no handholding) and Grant was pretty much insisting on being carried everywhere. One of our last trips there was to take a big family picture. I just love the contrast of the red rock and the blue sky.






While the adults were busy filling any free time with game playing, the kids kept each other happily occupied. In particular, Grace was in heaven the whole trip. Tiff and Brett found stacks of holiday themed coloring sheets. Grace must have colored 50 pictures with her cousins.

christmas travelogue: the first few days

Our flight into Vegas was completely uneventful. It was one of the better trips we've ever had with the kids. Cori's Mom and Step-dad were there to pick us up and a couple hours later, we were in St. George. Cori's sister, Brittany, and her family came in that night as well. The next day, we paid a visit to Santa. The kids were getting their squeezes on before I could even get the camera ready. It was Grant's first time on the jolly man's lap. There was some hesitation, but this was one professional Santa. He was so cute! Grant couldn't help but like him.

We spent a lovely afternoon at Snow Canyon. There are lots of walks and hikes through the park that are great for little kids. We climbed around the grippy red rock for a while. We encountered a pond which was perfect for hurling rocks into. The views were gorgeous and the weather was perfect. Once we were done hiking, we loaded up and drove a little further to the sand dunes for a pick nick lunch.

The rest of Cori's family continued to trickle in. Cori has 3 sisters and 2 brothers. All of them are married. And there are (at the moment) 10 grandkids in the group. So once we were all assembled, we were quite the crowd. Cori's sister, Tiffany, works for Marriott and was able to set up some hotel rooms to help us spread out a little.

St. George also happens to be the present hometown of my mission president. We had a wonderful visit with him and his wife, and their youngest (of 9 children!), Cindy. It was a treat for me that they were able to meet Grace and Grant. Sis. W* cheered and laughed with Grace as she wrote her name 15 times, and then attentively listened to her count and recite her ABC's. Cori and I love spending time with this great family. It was great to catch up and reminisce. They consider all of their missionaries as family, and often refer to their 'mission grankids'. We are lucky to be part of this group.