Precious Holiday!

It's hard to sum up all the happenings of Christmas time.  It was just one get-together after another.  Sadly I didn't take as many pictures as I should have.

December 22: Party at Nora's!  I love this annual tradition!  Anna and I hitched a ride with Paul and Stefanie to the ice skating, then a yummy dinner, REALLY!  Nora puts on quite a party.  We all eat a little too much and stay a little too late.

December 24: Christmas Eve!  Not much happened to start the day.  I was itchin' to ski and Grandma Christy was willing to babysit.  I took my teles and it was grand, and exhausting.  It's hard when you're out of shape.  Later, we met up with Heber Valley family members for a very cold trek up Memorial Hill.  It was cold.  That's it.

December 25: Christmas Day!  Bevan got the day off!!!  His boss graciously stepped in and covered for him.  He was there for Anna to open her presents, which she was bored of by 11AM.  We decided to go skiing for a couple hours in the afternoon.  It was interesting to try out her setup for the season, especially since her feet are the hardest things to keep warm.  She's only 6 pounds heavier this season than last, so that's OK with me.

December 26: Sledding Party!  It was snowing hard everywhere BUT the cabin!  We kept waiting and waiting for the blizzard, but nothing.  All the kids had fun sledding anyway.  I just sat by the wood-burning stove.

December 31: New Year's Eve!  Oh, boy!!! Literally!!!  We're having a baby boy in May/ June!  I know it deserves its own blog post, but consider this a reward for reading thus far.  We had our ultrasound on New Year's Eve and Bevan was beside himself with joy.  I was happy of course, but  find myself without any boy gear or boy name ideas.  Good thing I have a couple months to get prepped.  What a great way to end 2012!

Parties and Anniversaries

When we moved to Midway, I was pretty desperate for friends (I still am) so I thought I would bribe some fun/ young/ movin'/ shakin' couples with their one kid or less to our house for a Christmas party.  It worked and it's been a tradition ever since!  Well... many of those movin' couples moved out of Midway since then, but we've stayed friends.  It's been tough coming up with new ideas and I don't know how people used to throw Christmas parties without the internet!  We made reindeer antlers out of pantyhose and balloons and Santa suits out of tissue paper, cotton balls and tape.  Yeah, it got pretty rowdy.

A few days later was our 6th anniversary!  Can you believe it's been 6 years since this?!

Last year's 5-year was supposed to be a big deal, but ended with a loud dinner, cold food, and Santa making Anna cry.  This year Bevan put his foot down and reserved a night at Zermatt.

How romantic!  So what if it's only 5 minutes from our house.  Thanks Grandma Christy for  helping with Anna.  We planned the next morning for skiing, but with the weather as it was, a movie sounded better. It was definitely a step up from past anniversaries, but some day we WILL make it back to Kauai.

Thanksgiving at Cove Fort and Anna's Birthday!

I can't believe my baby is 2!  She is growing up so fast!  Her vocab is improving, although we couldn't confirm that it is between 40-50 words at her 2-year checkup.  I'm not worried.  She's just so active and busy, always finding something to play with, and they're usually never "toys".

We traveled to Cove Fort for Thanksgiving this year and had a blast!  Anna was in HEAVEN with all those grandmas and grandpas AKA senior missionary couples.  Her particular favorite was a senior Elder who kept giving her M&Ms.  She was completely adored by everybody, including her own grandparents.  Beverly and Lloyd seem like they're having a good time down there.  We sure do miss them, but it's not a far drive.  They're given a lot more freedom than I ever got on my mission, but that's a perk of being a senior couple.  We took a tour of the fort and learned a lot of pioneer history.  The tours close at sunset (no electricity in the fort) so we couldn't eat the Thanksgiving feast with everyone until 6 PM.  We were so lucky to be invited to eat with them, even though we didn't contribute any food.  I forgot what it's like to hang out with other missionaries.  The spirit is strong and everybody is just so... happy!

We left early the next morning, since we knew the missionaries would be super busy with tours.  We made it to the cabin for a quick party for Anna with her little cousins.  The afternoon was spent at the Kamas pool.  Ah, how I miss that place!  Anna is getting more brave in the water. She kept wanting to go down the BIG slide by herself and kept wandering over to the deep end of the lap pool!  Luckily her life jacket had a handle, so I could keep hold of her.  I wish we had a quality pool that close to us in Midway.  And I wish our little baby wouldn't grow up so fast!