Vacation . Utah . Days 7-12

Day 7

Now that our kids know what BYU is and where it is, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to show them where we went to school and where we met. We went to the Tanner Bldg (my old stomping ground) and saw the new addition they added to it. WOW, it's amazing.



Then we went to the new Humanities Bldg and it was also amazing. We even got to go and talk with one of Mike's professors that we still keep in touch with. It was really good to see Dr. Hallen. The boys also enjoyed a mini snow ball fight in the courtyard of this beautiful new building. It was so nice to be touring BYU with the kids knowing that I was just a visitor and not studying for finals like all the students there. I'm just glad I am done with all of that! Of course it wouldn't be a BYU experience without a trip to the Student Bookstore. We all got new sweatshirts and yes, we got an alumni license plate holder for our car sporting the BYU name. We will do whatever it takes to encourage our kids to go to BYU. Mike and I both loved it and had such a good experience both educationally and spiritually.

DAY 8

Today my mom and dad watched all four kids so that Mike, Jeff, and I could go skiing up at Snowbird. My parents are the best grandparents ever. They are always willing to watch the kids so I can have a break. There was a lot of snow on the roads but we made it to Snowbird just fine. As we pulled into the parking lot, however, we got STUCK. We were driving my parents old Tahoe and the 4 Wheel Drive was not engaging. We kept sliding and I was so nervous that we were going to hit another car. We finally got out of there and parked somewhere else. We skied for half the day and enjoyed doing some interesting runs. My brother Jeff is an awesome skiier but has now converted to Snowboarding. He is pretty much awesome at whatever sport he picks up. Mike was kind enough to go on some easier runs while I got used to my skiis again. Then it was up the mountain for some harder stuff. Lesson of the day - I could really use lessons to progress past my not beginner but not so advanced stage in skiing. By the end of the day we were tired and were so happy to be heading back to our kids so that we could have a little Christmas with the family. While we were gone, the kids had fun playing in the snow and building snowmen with Grandma and Grandpa.

*Grandma and Emma's snowman*

*Andrew's snow fort*

*Andrew's snowman*

*Just chillin Pete*

*Pete's shadow*

*Mike on the lift*

*Sara and Jeff*

*Mike and Sara*

Later that night we opened up gifts. It was so nice to be able to enjoy and little Christmas with family. The boys were so excited to get their remote control cars and Emma just loved here new set of pots and pans. Abby was just hanging out in her new joy - her purple bumbo seat.





Day 9

Today we headed up to Salt Lake City to take a tour of the Conference Center, watch the Joseph Smith movie, and see the lights at the Temple Square. We took the boys to the Conference center 5 years ago but they were so little we thought they would enjoy it more this time around. There are so many neat things to see there and the construction and decor inside are beautiful. Inside the conference hall that seats around 20,000 people (give or take) it is magnificent and so BIG. We also enjoyed seeing the waterfalls outside, the hall of prophets, the Book of Mormon story paintings, and the little fountain that the kids were able to throw pennies in.

After touring the Conference Center we headed over to watch the Joseph Smith movie. I can't watch that movie without getting so emotional. That movie just makes me all the more grateful for Joseph Smith and his family and all the suffereing and persecution they went through in order to bring about the wonderful restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It makes you realize that sometimes your problems aren't that bad.

The reflecting pool outside of the Salt Lake City Temple

And of course our trip to Utah wouldn't be complete without seeing the lights at Temple Square. It was so cold and so we didn't stay out for long. We took a couple of pictures and then quickly walked to get something to eat.

*photo taken by my dad - he is amazing*

Day 10-12

We left my parents condo to go and spend two days with Mike's dad in Midway, Utah who had flown in to see us for the weekend. We were so grateful that the kids were able to see Grandpa and have some special time with him. We went sledding outside and enjoyed watching a live performance of "A Christmas Carol" in the downtime theatre. We were in the first row. It was quite spectacular for a small town production. The morning before we left to head home we had Christmas with Grandpa Al. Al brought a little tree all the way from VA just so that the boys could have a tree with presents. That was so nice considering he was flying.

*Al opening our gift to him - a coffee table book of the best pictures of our kids for 2008*

Our trip home was interesting. We basically traveled in the storm that hit the entire Northwest and it took us an extra day to finally make it back home safely. We did try and have fun along the way but were finally happy to be back home in our own house and our own beds! It was a great vacation.

Vacation . Tahoe. Days 1-5

Scenes from our Car

Days 1-2

We spent most of December out of town this year. Mike had an advanced allergy course in Tahoe, CA and we were not going to miss the chance to be there with him. We took two days to drive to Tahoe and stayed in Medford, OR on the way down. Our good friend Drew Ostler was down in Medford for business. What are the odds? We all ate pizza at a fabulous little pizze place in the small town of Medford. Then it was an early start the next day to get to our destination. We were happy that the weather was gorgeous on our drive but a little sad that there would be little snow when we got there. My parents met us at our Resort and stayed with us two of the nights we were there. It was so much fun to have them with us. I know the kids also enjoyed being able to spend some time with them in such a fun place.

Day 3

Unfortuantely I didn't take any pictures of our resort...I know that is bad. Bad Bad me. But you can take my word for it that it was beautiful. Thanks to the military for paying for it!! Today we headed 20 miles down the road to the only ski lift that was open that day. Our resort didn't have enough snow yet. My mom stayed with the girls and Mike and I took the boys skiing. My dad joined us to take pictures--what a great Grandpa! This is the only picture I have so far because it was from my little point and shoot. More ski pictures to come later when I get them from my dad. Skiing was perfect this day because the sun was out and it was warm. That made is easier for the kids to enjoy skiing. We each took one of the kids and went up and down the lift many times. The boys were really getting the hang of it. Then my dad watched the boys so Mike and I could do a more difficult run. This was the first time I was back on my skis after 10 years of snowboarding. I do love skiing but also am attached to the snowboard.



Day 4

My parents left to drive to Utah to get everything ready at their condo in prepartion for our family and my brother to arrive. We decided to drive down the road to the Olympic Village and take the kids up the gondola to the Olympic Ice Pavillion.



This was the first time we all went ice-skating together. Andrew held onto the side but eventually got the hang of it and could eventually skate by himself. Peter and Emma had to take turns with me holding on to them. I tried to go with both but they were not steady enough on their skates to hold themselves up. It was probably more effort on our part to keep them up, but it was fun nevertheless. Abby just stayed asleep in the stroller and since the rink was small enough we could leave her near the entrance and just keep an eye on her.







The kids really enjoyed the Gondola ride. This was one of the views from our ride up to the Ice Pavillion. We were told that this mountain landscape was the original inspiration for Big Thunder Mountain at Disneyland. Doesn't it look so familiar??

Back down in the Olympic Village we spent dinner eating pizza and enjoying being warm again. It was really windy when we were ice-skating. Thanks to the storm that was coming the winds started to pick up so we headed back to our resort. It started to snow that night. The boys wanted to go ice-skating again and since their was a rink at our resort I took the boys while Mike watched the girls. The coolest thing about that rink was the little "old people pushers" they had for the little kids to keep balanced. Peter used that which made it easier on me. I could actually ice-skate next to the boys. After a dozen times going around the little rink Peter decided he wanted to try skating without the pusher. HE DID IT! I was so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself. We had a blast.

Day 5

Mike took the boys back to the Olympic Village because their lifts opened up. He put the boys in ski lessons and then took his snowboard up for a couple of good runs. The boys had so much fun learning things that I couldn't teach them. I stayed back at the resort and took the girls sledding. Emma liked it until she got a bunch of snow in her face and then it was time to just build a snowman. It was really cold because of all the new snow that had fallen that night. We hurried back to our room for some hot chocolate and marshmallows. YUM!

Day 6

We got up really early to get out of Tahoe because we had a long drive ahead of us. Today would be a 9 hour drive. The roads were already covered in snow and for the first 30 miles we were driving a bit slow, but then the sun came out as we got closer to Reno and the rest of the drive was clear. Hip Hip Hooray! We stopped to get gas and some brunch. Literally five minutes down the road from the gas station was an IN AND OUT BURGER. ARGGGH.. I can't believe we already stuffed our faces full of food. We were a little sad to pass it knowing that we were already too full. Our drive went well but it was way too long!

First Foods

Is Abby really almost 6 months already?? We started Abby on REAL foods this month. By real food I mean rice cereal! She was a little unsure what I was giving her at first until she realized that she did in fact like something other than boring milk. I always seem to forget how much work it is the first couple of times just trying to get the cereal to stay in the mouth. She was a mess, I was a mess, and it was so much fun. I love my little bald baby. She brings so much joy into my life.

Playing Dress Up

What would we do without our princess dress-ups?? Not a day goes by without Emma digging in her dress-up box for a pretty dress to wear. She usually will pick her Cinderalla dress because it is her favorite. She used to come to me for help to get it on but not anymore...she can do it all by herself. When Uncle Greg came for Thanksgiving he brought her a set of four princess shoes. We are so glad that the set came with Cinderall shoes because her other light up Cinderalla shoes are almost too small. I love watching her pretend to be a princess. However, if you ask her if she is a princess she will undoubtably respond, "I am not a Princess, I am Emma." She is as cute as she is strong willed.

Thanksgiving Festivites

Now that we all feel totally full and fat from our fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, we can start to think about this upcoming Christmas season. This year my younger brother Greg came from BYU to spend Thanksgiving with us. He has always been the funnest uncle to my kids. He gets down and plays with them and truly has fun doing it. We had a week of relaxation and late nights catching up on old shows and movies we used to watch growing up.




On Saturday we drove up to Seattle to spend part of the day with Mike because he was stuck being on call that day. We went to an Asian Japanese grocery store called Uwajimaya and got all of our favorite treats and drinks from when we were kids in Japan. YUM YUM! My favorite Japanese candies have to be hi-chews, pocky's, chocolate filled koala bear crackers, Ramune soda drinks, and chocolate horns (bread filled with chocolate creme). Of course Greg and I also love Pizza-mans which are these soft pita like rolls with pizza stuff inside. They didn't have them...so sad. I remember getting off the bus from school while living in Japan and going to the 7-eleven which was right where our bus dropped us off. My best friend Beth and I would either get pizza-mans, Japanese version of chips ahoy cookies, or a scoop of chocolate mint ice-cream. Oh the memories.





After we packed our car with our yummy treats we headed over to eat Japanese food at a Restaurant near the Harbor Steps in Seattle. We always get a kick out of the plastic Japanese food they display in their window.

Can you tell I miss living in Japan?? Hopefully we will be able to visit or possibly live there some day. I still consider Tokyo my home even though my family doesn't live there anymore. I have such great memories growing up there. It was fun to reminisce with Greg about the good old days back in Japan. Thanks for coming to see us Greg!