Playing catch up

We are still trying to recuperate from our fun Christmas trip to Utah (although you wouldn't know we were there on Christmas because I have no pictures to prove it. That's 2 years in a row where I get so caught up in Kiara and her taking it all in that I totally space taking pictures. We do have video though for archival purposes). We were lucky enough to go for 2 weeks since this is Ben's "slow" season at work and his office was shut down most of the time we were gone.

I won't bore anyone with a day by day travelogue of everything we did, especially since there was too much going on to even remember. We did manage to sneak in a few naps

though since every night we stayed up way too late playing games.

(BTW, Kiara is totally faking in this picture. She likes to play "the sleeping game" a lot, she even throws in some fake snoring for effect.)

A few other highlights include:

• Bowling. We got a ramp for the 3 youngest kids and let them have a turn pushing the ball together. They thought it was the greatest idea anyone had ever come up with and got so excited whenever we told them it was their turn. Thomas and Kiara would start clapping as soon as they let the ball go, long before it ever knocked down any pins. The 3 of them even got a strike!
  
  
• Seeing my best friends. I love watching Kiara play with Allison's kids, Jonah & Caitlyn. They get along great...
  
  ...and I even got the perfect picture of Jonah giving Kiara "the eye." It will be perfect to display at their wedding! They are so cute together.
  
  
• Lots and lots of cousin time. I think there was only one day the whole trip where we didn't see at least one cousin. It was great and Kiara was in heaven!
  
• Playing in the snow. For the most part I see snow as a nuisance & I really don't miss it but winter, and more specifically Christmas vacation, is not complete without a little sledding. This was Kiara's first year and we didn't know how she'd like it, especially since she hated her snowsuit and refused to keep gloves on but once again she amazed us. She is our little daredevil and loved every minute of it. We wouldn't even get to the bottom of the hill before she'd start begging to go again.
  
  (I know you can't really tell who anyone is in the second picture but I think the mountains look beautiful.)

Overall our trip was the perfect mix of relaxation and fun but we are kind of glad to be home and back in our normal routine. You can only sit around eating junk and letting your mom (or mother-in-law) wait on you for so long before you start to feel lazy and need to be productive again. We do appreciate my parents so much though and are so grateful to them for always opening their home to us and spoiling us more than we deserve.

Except this little girl, she deserves all the spoiling anyone can throw at her!