Day #8- Christmas Eve

'Today we just took it easy. Charlie, Amy, Mia, Eliza, and Claira came over for a few hours. The girls played outside in the snow and the boys played a board game. 

Shirley and Francis came over in the evening and we had a big turkey dinner. We gave Shirley and Francis their gifts and then I gave the kids their Christmas Eve pajamas. 

Then we watched "Ephriam's Rescue" because Shirley really wanted us to see it. I bawled through the whole thing and Arian said, "This is the worst Christmas movie ever- everyone's dying." So then we watch "The Polar Express" because that's Shirl's family tradition on Christmas Eve. The girls took a liking to Manov- which means they jumped on him and beat him up all night. 

Now the children are nestled all snug in their beds for their last night in Utah. 

Day #7- Ukrainian food

We saw "Frozen" this morning and loved it! Mimi- you will love the music! The theater had recliners for all the seats. 

Mom-mom came and cooked all day, making Ukrainian food. The kids went sledding on the neighborhood hill. Rich, Molly and Hadlee came up for dinner. 

Day #6- Christmas Sunday

Church didn't start until 1:00 so we had time to relax with Richard, Molly and Hadlee in the morning. Then we all went to Shirley's ward in Riverton. Steve, Camilla and Rorie met us there. 

After changing and packing up our stuff, we headed up to Layton to Shirley and Kapil's house. Steve, Camilla and Rorie came up too. 

Day #5- Girls gone wild

We spent the morning at Char's house. The girls had a great time with their cousins. 

After lunch, we drove up to Bluffdale to Richard's house. On the way we stopped at a sporting goods store called Scheels. It is a huge store- there is a Farriswheel in the middle of it. 

In the evening there was a birthday party for Richard. He and Molly live with Molly's parents. We stayed the night there. 

Day #4- Provo

We checked out of the hotel this morning and headed south to Provo. We showed the kids some sites and then stopped at the BYU Broadcasting building to see where Studio C is filmed. The guy who does the tours is gone for Christmas break so we could only look in through the observation window. It was up above the lights and curtains and you could barely see down to the set so I couldn't get a picture but the kids thought it was cool. 

We went to the bookstore and then had lunch with Richard. We headed down to Spanish Fork to see Charlie and Amy. Steve and Camilla came down too. The kids had a great time with Charlie's girls, Mia,Eliza, and Claira. We went out to dinner, the men and boys played a board game, and us ladies chatted while the girls played all sorts of girly things. 

We spent the night there and did some laundry. 

Day #3- let it snow

There was freezing rain over night which turned to snow early this morning and continued all day long. We got about 8 inches here at the hotel. We were stuck inside most of the day. The kids swam in the pool and we watched some TV and took a nap. In the evening, we had dinner with Mike's bestie from high school, Shane Beck, and hung out at their house right by the Oquirrh Mountain temple. 

Day#2- no rest for the weary

After skiing, I went to dinner with two of my roommates from BYU, Anne and Jen. Mike and the kids ate at the hotel and met me at temple square with Shirley, Richard, Molly, and Hadley to see the lights. 

We went across the street to City Creek which was also decorated with light everywhere. (Mimi would have loved the dancing fountain set to Christmas music. When they played "let it snow" and it got to the part where it says "the fire is slowly dying" flames shot up from the middle of the fountain.)