Vacations Over!

Well, as you can see, I've been on vacation for a bit. On Christmas Eve we left for Richard's parents. It was so much fun! We stopped at my sisters on the way and picked up a pizza to take with us up the mountain. It was starting to get dark and a storm was coming in, so I was getting a bit nervous. Last year we went up there we couldn't get up two hill with the van, however, I felt a little more comfortable with the suburban. We had no problems and got there just at the beginning of the storm. Richard's mom arranged for a couple in their branch that dresses up like Santa and Mrs. Claus come visit. The kids were floored to see Santa sitting in Grandma and Grandpa's living room. It was fun to watch Elly!

I don't think Elly quite knew what to do with the real live thing! She was just used to him sitting on the table reading her stories. I think he must have been bigger than she imagined!

We had such a good Christmas. The kids didn't get up too early and they all seemed happy with what they got. It wasn't an expensive Christmas, since we are going to go to Disneyland, but I didn't hear any complaints at all.

The next week we spent having so much fun in the snow! It made me feel a little bit better about going to South Dakota. It snowed 41" the week we were there. We woke up to 17" of new snow on Christmas morning alone. Richard and his dad took the snow blower out and cleared out the driveway. We got the 4 wheeler out and tied a tube to the back and had such a BLAST!!

As you can see, Elly was too sure about the 4 wheeler or the tube. We made it her try a ride just one time but she was very happy to watch everyone. Addi and Rylan are our daredevils and they were in heavan! We made 2 ramps out of snow and they made for good jumps! Here's a video for your enjoyment. One is Rylan and the other is of Richard.

Even Richard's dad took a ride (of course, we were much easier on him!) Richar'd brother came down and surprised us on New Year's Eve and the next day we showed him the new trails and he helped the twins make a slide. Yes, that's snow you see just right below the roof!

We had a lot of fun and was sad to leave our vacation, but ready to be home and get back into the swing of things! Hope everyone else had a great New Year!!