Last of the Christmas Pics

We spent Christmas morning with my family in Midway. Ainsley had gotten sick in the middle of the night with the stomach flu and so she was a little lethargic all morning. We opened gifts and then ate our traditional breakfast of "Apples and Sausage." It is a german dish with layers of sausage and green apples. Then it is covered with a brown sugar struesel and baked. Some people may think it sounds strange, but I've had it every Christmas morning my entire life. My dad ate it with his family when he was young too. Ainsley got a Little People playhouse, blocks, a baby doll, a snowsuit, clothes, and books. My mom also made each of the grandkids a quilt. Tom and I got clothes and shoes. It was a fun morning!

That afternoon, we drove to Salt Lake to spend the rest of Christmas day with Tom's family. They had already opened gifts, so they watched us open our gifts. Ainsley was feeling a little bit better and enjoyed opening gifts with her Aunt Annie. She got two musical Elmo books, a sleeping bag, toy gears, clothes, shoes, and a tutu. Tom and I got clothes and restaurant gift cards. We were so spoiled by both families!

Unfortunately, gifts were not the only thing that Santa brought this year. Everyone got the stomach flu too. Ainsley was the first one to get it on the 23rd and was sick for a few days. She infected both families with it as well. They all had horrible 24 hour stomach flu that did not sound fun. Six people in Tom's family got sick and seven people in my family. I was lucky to be one of the few who didn't catch it. So for the next few days, all we did was lounge around, watch movies, and get our rest. When everyone was feeling better we finally got out and did stuff. We ate at all of our favorite restaurants, went to movies, and went sledding! Ainsley didn't like it at first, but after awhile she really enjoyed it. She was lucky enough to go sledding three times over the break. Here she is sledding with the Reeses:

Going on the nightly walk with Grandpa Reese

Sledding with Grandma Reese

Ainsley formed a special bond with her Aunt Susie this trip because they spent so much time together

Here she is sledding with the Butlers. There was enough snow on the ground, that we went sledding on the street infront of my parents condo. It was alot of fun! We would ride our old snowboards, they could get going really fast!

After a few runs, Ainsley was brave enough to go down by herself

Tom riding the snowboard down the street

Will even tried out snowboarding on his own, he was really good at it!

Caden throwing a snowball at Ainsley

One of my favorite things to do in Utah is to go snowboarding. Tom and I had the chance to go with my siblings to the Sundance Resort. We were a bit rusty since we only went once last year too. I hadn't been to Sundance since2003 when I took a snowboarding class in college with my friend and longtime snowboarding buddy Shae. Back then wewas at the peak of our snowboarding skills...now I'm too old and fat to try 180s and going off jumps. But it was still a lot of fun.

Cami and Jon were much better than us, but were kind enough to stick with us all day!

Tom, Jon, Me, Andrea, and Cami

One of the best things about being in Utah was letting Ainsley get to know her cousins a little better. We took them to the Children's Museum at Gateway and they had a blast.

One night my family walked around the Ice Castles at Zermatt Resort in Midway. These formations are formed by hundreds of icicles. The artist spends 14 hours a day sculpting and growing icicles into various formations. He will continue to build them until March and by then, the largest formation will be as big as the hotel. Those of you in Utah should go check them out, they were awesome! Click Here to link to the artist's blog.

I also got to have lunch with my high school friends and their kids. Four of us live out of state now and so it great that we were all in town to see each other. Who knows when we'll all be together again. I also got to go see my oldest friends Steff and Shae and their kids. We've known each other since we were four! But I'm sad because we forgot to take a picture!Ainsley never quite learned Cami and Jon's names right...she called them "Puppy or Kitty" and "Uncle" But she loved hanging out with them!

Ainsley wearing the wooden shoes my family uses for our traditional Sinter Klaus day

The Reese's tied a balloon to her tutu as she walked around, it was kind a funny to see her running around with a balloon trailing her

Ever wonder what Ainsley would look like if she actually had hair?

Thanks to our family for making it such a wonderful holiday! We miss you so much!