Christmas Trip 2013

We actually took our 2013 Christmas trip the first week of 2014 (January 3rd and 4th, coming home on the morning of the 5th) because it just worked out better with the hotel we found.
It was kind of weird to think of going on a "family" trip without Mike. I talked to the kids and told them that we would just keep it kind of simple and small this year so that next year when we are back together as a family we can do something big. They all agreed that was a good idea.

So...what did we do?
I found a hotel near Salt Lake City that had an indoor waterpark...the term waterpark should be used lightly here as it's nothing compared to Great Wolf Lodge, but still more substantial than a regular hotel pool. They had water slides and stuff like that.

We spent two nights there. We had a nice time together. It was pretty cool that they also allowed us to bring Sasha with us and she was so well behaved while we were there too!

When we weren't in the pool area we were watching Merlin, playing games and going out to eat.
We even got to go one afternoon to Leatherby's and meet up with some old friends for some delicious ice cream.

Isom, Chandler and Peterson kids

We have known these families since our time in Monterey California

back in 1998-2000, back then we only had 4 kids between us 

and now there are 16 :)

It was so fun catching up with them!

Saturday night I took the kids to eat dinner at the old spaghetti factory. We got to sit inside the trolley and they thought that was cool.

Our dinner was very good and we were even able to facetime with Mike while we were there. We also played some movie trivia games while we ate. We had some good laughs.

After dinner we walked around trolley square a little and just enjoyed being together.

Noah and Dallin tried to have a pull up contest, it was pretty funny to watch. Dallin might be taller, but Noah can jump higher :)

I think it was a pretty successful little trip and we all had a good time, but we are all really looking forward to having Mike back with us!

Trek West - Part One - We Leave

We decided that instead of taking a direct route to Utah

we would make the most of it and take the time to visit some

family before we left that part of the country. 

Our first stop was in Myrtle Beach South Carolina

to visit Mike's brother Joe and his sister Kim.

We got in late and were able to crash (thank goodness!) at their place.

Then we headed to Valdosta, Georgia for a visit with Mike's dad and step-mom

They fed us a delicious lunch of pulled pork.

The kids enjoyed playing Mancala and Checkers

Anna was constantly checking on Sasha in the heat and

making sure she had enough water.

Johnny gave Noah a leather jacket that belonged to his father

He gave Dallin and Isaac each a pocket knife

Shelia gave the girls each a doll.

 Mike and his Dad

 Our air conditioner in the truck decided at this point to be very selective about coming on...

You could say we were HOT!

After Valdosta we headed to Byron to visit briefly with Jan and Dale.

This visit was nice also because it gave us a chance to cool off in their house.

 When we left Jan and Dale's it was a little later so it wasn't so hot outside,

that made it so we weren't burning up as much in the car.

I felt especially bad for Sasha...I know she was uncomfortable in the heat.

We made it to Marietta to stay with Mike's aunt Juanita and her husband David.

They kindly took us to dinner at Howard's Delicatessen.

I guess parts of the movie "A Joyful Noise" were filmed there.

The next day we took the truck to Juanita's mechanic to be looked and he

said it would take a day or so to get everything working properly.

If I remember correctly the air compressor had to be replaced

and the front and rear brakes or rotors! Not cheap!

We decided to make the most of it!

We went and visited with Mike's grandma.

This was something that was very important for us to do.

She hadn't been doing very well lately and we didn't know if

we would be able to see her again.

 We also made a trip to the Coca-Cola museum,

we took Mike's cousin Jessie with us too.

  Dallin and Isaac getting carbonated

 Dallin by the vault where they keep the secret formula for Coke

 I wish they would have had these for sale in the gift shop!

 Yep...her face pretty much says it all

Beverly is disgusting!

...but if you go there, you must try it...
I got Dallin's reaction to it on video...

 Olympic torches

Kids on the couch from the Coke lounge on American Idol

On the move we tried to eat at a different place

for each meal, and we tried to introduce the kids

to places they hadn't had before.

While in Marietta we introduced them to Krystal.

Since we had the delay in Marietta Mike's mom decided to drive there and visit with us

so we wouldn't have to make a stop at her place in Alabama.

We were glad to see her and thankful that she would do that

for us so that we could try to get back on schedule.

Anna's Day

Here are Anna's choices for her day

Hanging off the side of the car

Rock climbing
I love Isaac's climbing shadow in the middle picture

Drawing game

We love this game.

It's always fun to see how everyone's pictures are different, and similar
* this is a game that I remember playing with my brothers and sisters when I was growing up.
In response to my friend Robyn's request, I'm going to tell you how to play.

What you need: paper and colored pencils, crayons, markers...whatever you have...(I've even played it a few times with just regular pencils, it's still fun!)

How to play: Everyone gets a blank piece of paper. One person goes first and tells everyone what to draw and where to draw it. For example in the game below  you can see that we had to draw a shark in the bottom left corner... then the next person tells something else to draw and where to draw it... we had to draw a man with a hat in the upper right corner...and so on and so on. You can go around as many times as you want. For the game pictured below we only went around the table once, so each person only picked one thing. 

Anyway, like I said, It's always fun and interesting to reveal the pictures. 

Red robin for dinner

She wanted to go to the Humane Society to look at the dogs,

but unfortunately she didn't come up with that idea until they were closed :(

Watch Jurassic Park

(in Clearplay of course)

Have apple slices with caramel dip, yum!

Backscratch train

even Sasha got in on this one :)

Sleep somewhere other than your own bed

Dallin's Day

In order to make it as fair as possible, we put the kids names in a bag and drew one out each night at dinner for the next day.

Dallin's name was drawn first. 

Here are his choices for the day. 

IHOP for breakfast

See The Hobbit

Get popcorn and vanilla Sprite at the movie

Everyone wear mismatched socks

Kids draw names and do some Christmas shopping

Watch Minute to Win it

NYC - Day 5

Day 5

This was our last day, and it wasn't even a full day at that.

Constance left at noon, I had to catch my bus at 3:30

and the others had to leave for the airport around that time too.

Anyway, we still had a good day.
First we went to Magnolia Bakery for some muffins

...we went back later for cupcakes :)

Then we walked down to the United Nations Building

On our walk to lunch I took some random pictures
an interesting circle building
no corner offices? or all corner offices?
What do you think?

this building stood on columns
...not sure how I would feel about that!

had to get a shot of this one with the purplish-pinkish part!

These statues made me feel better about the size of my bottom :)

We had lunch at Norma's
(liked their sign projected on the floor)

*My review of Norma's*

nice atmosphere

loved the free little smoothies

great service

HUGE portions, glad I shared with Mom!

After lunch we went back to the hotel and got our bags...
grabbed a couple of taxis and went our separate ways.
...my taxi ride to the bus was terrifying...I was so glad to get out of that car.

Anyway, it was a great little trip.
I loved spending time with my mom and my sisters. 
I really wish Jan had been able to come.
We want to do another trip in a couple of years and have our awesome sisters-in-law come too!

Hmm...I wonder where we should go next time...