Christmas Break

Holy Cow! I have been trying to get the photos from Christmas uploaded for a while now. I was struggling to put words to post here. A bit of a blogging funk. I'm not a fan, because I don't want to neglect this space to document life. I think I got past it, considering how long this ended up being. -So here we go!
Here is a shot of Del and Me on our skiing adventure in Utah. That story is included in this post a bit down the page.

We had a nice break this year. We went to Utah for Christmas. We decided to go kind of last minute. There are some health problems in our families, and while our showing up does absolutely nothing to change those situations, it is just important to see family sometimes. Living away can isolate us from what is going on a little, and we just wanted to be there for a short time.

It was a busy trip! We were able to fit a lot of fun in! I took very few pictures to document the trip! Most of what I do have is from Instagram. Oops! I have one picture of Christmas morning!
One!!
Del took video and I am so glad he did!
Because we decided fairly last minute to take this trip, we had to drive. This always adds to the adventure, and this time around was no exception.
We saw it all.
Semi trucks tipped over left and right in Iowa. We couldn't drive even a mile without coming across a car, or massive truck that had skid out, or flipped due to ice. We finally got off I-80 for while and drove on farm roads to save ourselves traffic jam time.

The man in front of us somewhere in Nebraska hit a deer going 90 miles and hour. Del hit the brakes just in time to miss two more that came running across the road. The deer hit was completely obliviated!

Poof!
Deer mist!

It was awful, and amazing! We pulled over to help the man. His car was in bad shape and the airbags had activated. We ended up driving him to a town to have his family pick him up. On the way home we saw a big SUV flip in front of us, and when we tried to stop, we started sliding all over on the ice. We called 911 for help. It was a mess, and we got home just in time to experience the Midwest's Polar Vortex.
Which was unreal! -40 degrees with wind chill.

I better start with a few events that led up to us leaving for the break.
First, Santa at the bank. Our bank once again brought the jolly old soul in for the kids to visit. It is awesome! No line, lots of time to go over lists, cider, hot chocolate, and cookies... it sure does beat the mall Santa experience!

Wally made sure that I understood that he was only doing this to be a good sport. And because I was making him.

So then we made sure to get a picture with me on Santa's lap to show Wally that I still believe! And Santa probably regretted that when he had to limp home after my visit. I held my weight on my leg to lessen the damage.

I set a goal in November to hold a 10 minute plank before Christmas. I worked at it, and just before we left, I did it! Here I am holding my phone with my 10 minutes recorded. But you can't see it, so that was pointless! The kids and Del were my encouragement, although they did leave me alone once I got into the more difficult minutes at the end! To distract myself mentally while planking I found that turning on the t.v. to cable news was my best strategy. Until they would start on a topic I found annoying, then I was just at the mercy of the television!

The kids ready for church the Sunday before we left for our trip.

Walker had his preschool program. Here is a little video of his "Shake" song.

Wally also had a school program. He was very into it! The truth is that all the kids always are at these concerts. Their teacher is good at brining out their performance sides. Wally was not too keen on the song the group sang that involved boys and girls dancing with each other off to the sides of the stage. He was covering his eyes an shaking his head during that one! This kid kills me! One of these days he is probably going to be some Rico Suave, and I am going to miss the little boy who used to be embarrassed about the slightest mention of girls.
He is kind of hard to see because there is a little girl standing right in front of him. He is on the second row behind the girl in the dark dress.

Our Christmas Card laundry line is still up. All of Christmas has to come down the day after at my house. All except for my laundry line. Now it is bursting with pictures of people who have touched our lives, and I love it!

One of our first stops in Utah was to see my Grandparents. My Grandma is struggling right now. She was recently diagnosed with cancer, which was a shock to all of us. My Grandma is just so vital and sharp. Unfortunately, just yesterday I got a call that my Grandma had fallen down, and is now in the hospital awaiting surgery to fix her hip. Her Chemotherapy treatments are complicating things. That is one of those moments when you wish you had the ability to step in and take someone's pain away, and bear it for them. At least for the night, so she could sleep pain free. It is no secret that I, along with my sisters and my many amazing cousins, think of my Grandparents as as ultimate examples, and pretty much heroes. It is a worrisome time.  Even more reason to be grateful for their example of faith. Time to put it into action.
This is my Grandparents' little yellow house.

We spent Christmas Eve at Del's parents house. Georgia with Grandma and Grandpa in her Hello Kitty jammies. Grandma sewed them for her, and they are her absolute favorites now! It was good to spend some time with Del's parents.

Group cousin shot.

We decided to go ahead and get he kid's Christmas gifts to Utah. We had most things shipped. We knew this was going to add to the challenge when it came to driving home. Especially because we bought Georgia a ride on size stuffed horse.
 I ended up riding with a horse head sticking up next to me in the car.

Here is the before mentioned one and only Christmas morning picture.

The best family picture we managed to get on Christmas Day.

We made a huge mistake and got the boys Kindles for Christmas. Now they have become like members of the family. Adding a dynamic we did not have before their arrival, and doing things like being grounded, and sentenced to "time out." We have created a Minecraft monster. Oh boy.

One more shot with the horse. Whose name is Brownie, by the way.
I don't have a picture of Walker with his presents, but he wanted, trucks, dump trucks, and trucks that haul trucks.
Oh, and a Spiderman backpack. All of which Santa came through on.

Our kids live for their sleep over at Aunt Wendy and Uncle Randy's house while in Utah. Because they were so kind, and we were kid free, Del and I went up to Midway for the night. I love it up there, and we seriously consider it as a good spot to live if we end up back in Utah at some point.
We stayed at the Zermatt Resort.

Now the funny part.

As we were checking in, I noticed that there seemed to be an organized group of people in the lobby about my age range. Del ran out to the car for something and as I stood waiting for him, I started to be aware of a lot of questioning smiles, and friendly looks coming my way from the people in this group.

As Del and I walked around the hotel, we saw many more people who appeared to be mid 30's. They would look at us curiously, or yell out a friendly hello as we came by. We started to really wonder about all the attention, and question if we were just paranoid. Then, we saw a sign directing attendees of a certain event to a room in the hotel for check in. Del asked a bellman about the event, and we were informed that it was a weekend retreat for LDS (Mormon) singles in their mid 30's to 40's.

Aaaa, ha!
We are exactly in that age demographic. Not the single part, but the "mid" part.
And, because we are both prone to forgetting our wedding rings, and we have been married for thirteen years, therefore we don't walk around hanging all over each other, we were inviting a lot of singles weekend retreat, attention!
We were invited to dinner, asked where we were from, circled around like prey, and approached with an introductory handshake enough times, that we finally ordered a pizza and took our plates from the restaurant table to eat it in our room.

Like two old married fuddy duddies.

I really felt bad when one of the single girls came up to me looking for someone to hang out with for the evening while I sat in a chair in the lobby. She was so nice, and so brave to come to that weekend solo, I almost wanted to go along with it rather than reject her friendship!
That was the cool thing about it though! They were all so nice, and came across as really successful and attractive. Guys and girls. I hope at least a couple of them made a good connection during their weekend.

Del and I decided we were flattered. But we got a good laugh out of it!

We returned to the scene of my Summer mountain biking, broken wrist incident. We went skiing at the Canyons. I grew up in the valley of these mountains and I had never skied. Del was patient with me, and while it was very frustrating to spend so much time on the ground at first, I started to get the hang of it, and felt good about the day after I made my last run.
I was leaving the mountain on a high.
Until I was informed that the gondolas, and lifts we had ridden up the mountain to the runs, were all out of order due to a power outage. Probably a thousand skiers stuck on the mountain.

We could wait hours to be taken down on snowcats, after all the children from the ski schools were seen to first. Of course.
Or, we could take a run that goes all the way to the base of the mountain.
No problem, the ski instructor told me. If I could do a blue run, I could do this. It would be only slightly more challenging.
Cold fear started to set in when the girls I rode the lift up to the start of the run informed me that at points, it ran the same grade as a black diamond.
Oh, and there were a few moguls.
HUH??

I held it together pretty well, until we almost took a wrong turn where there was no clear marking, onto a black diamond drop off where the two runs connect. I had to make my way back up the mountain a little bit to get back on the right course.

That is where I lost all confidence and had  bit of a panic attack. I can't remember the last time I did not want to do something so badly.

I started down the mountain again, and I could not pull it together. I was falling left and right on a steep down hill. By  this time, people in the same boat as me where all over the run. Falling, screaming, crying, sliding down on their rear ends, or in an X shape, skiing down with little kids clinging to their chests or backs. Anything to get off the mountain before nightfall.

Instructors where doing their best to help all of us. Trying to give tips, holding kids as they skied down, and calming the criers. Red cross workers were assisting some people. But they just wanted to get people off that mountain.

 Finally, I sat down, yanked my skis off, and started walking sideways, slowly down that steep grade. I was beyond frustrated, and so sick of falling all over the place. I didn't even care what people thought!

My first day on skis, ever, and this was my only option! I felt like an idiot with Del skiing slowly next to me, but I made it off that steep drop. I put my skis back on and finished on them, happy to get my wits about me. People were going bananas at the base! SO angry. Especially the parents of the ski school kids. What a panic! Your kid stuck on a mountain with nightfall coming, without you!

Ugg. Rough day for the Canyons.
Apparently that is my destination of choice when I want to have a character building experience!
I am so excited to try skiing again! It is one of those things you want to conquer. Del is sure I could do that run without a breakdown with a little more experience. So am I!
However, after the end to our day, I am pretty sure he is is not as excited about getting me back on a pair of skis. My mom, sisters and I laughed pretty hard about it as I told them the story though. Del was probably wondering at what point I decided to find it so funny!

We went to St. George for a few days after Christmas with our parents. I am going to put those photos in a separate post.
Del bought 40 tickets to the Jazz game, so we finished off our stay by going with all of our siblings and parents! Shelley and Renee and their families could't make it, but we used every last ticket we had! It was so much fun! And they won! I think our cheering section helped! Ha! It was hard to get a picture with all of us clearly in it!

 We did some hiking in Zion National Park, and loved our time in Southern Utah! I'll get that post up soon. At least I plan to!