Christmas Vacation in Utah

We made it!  So relieved that the red eye didn't involve a screaming baby for three hours as it has in the past with both Zachary and Kate at this age.  Granted, this flight involved a whole lot of breastfeeding and rocking and no sleep (although Brady contests that claim with a wretched picture of me sleeping for 10 whole minutes, mouth wide open and with hair in my face, which I will keep buried in the archives).  We arrived to plenty of snow in Utah.  Cory picked us up and helped us around town as we dealt with a 3 hour rental car fiasco, then took us back to the house while Brady finished up with the car and picked up winter clothes from a friend's house.  We always know the first day is a junky day, but with the kids playing with cousins and a quick run in the snow, it was better than expected.

Tuesday morning was the start of the Edwards Family Reunion in Heber, planned in detail by Kristen.  We originally planned to go to St. George, but that was scrapped so more family could participate.  Day 1 started with Kids Camp.  Kristen and Cory made rocked launchers, hover crafts, and marshmallow towers with the kids.  Brady and I did Tiki art and made Spam Musubi to bring some Kauai flavor to Heber.  Our kids told us it was one of their favorite days in their whole life and we loved watching cousins interact and participating right along with them.

Welcome to a post that includes 100% cell phone pictures, even though we took our fancy camera all the way to Utah.  It never made it out of the bag.

I suggested to Zachary that he give his Tiki art to Grandma and Grandpa but he couldn't part with it, because he "wanted to treasure it forever."  Writing this now, I realize I haven't seen this picture since we got home, so at least it made the blog.

Everyone was a good sport about the musubi.  I mean, it's spam.  Ewwww.  My kids love them and they are without question the most popular soccer/baseball/dance snack out here.

The kids loved making the marshmallow towers.  Zachary created a "Haunted Marshmallow House" which definitely used the most marshmallows of anyone.  I love this picture of him next to Walker.  They may have a three year age gap but these two are kindred spirits.

Kate was so excited to work with Kristen.

I've heard a lot of dogging on participation prizes lately as some kind of explanation for "what's wrong with kids these days."  I think it's all a little silly and overstated.  The prizes awarded by category from Grandma and Grandpa for their marshmallow houses made it into the top 3 of my kids' favorite experiences from vacation.

McKay has bonded with each of our kids over the years and wasted no time getting to know Owen.  Here's Owen giving him wide-mouth kisses.

Bottle-cap rockets in the freezing cold.  That night, the kids asked if we could do this science experiment with their friends when we got home.

That night, we all gathered for dinner at Angela's.  We are such a big crowd now!  The kids loved playing in Angela's basement.  Zac had a bright red face all night.  Kate loved holding a baby who was "the size of my American Girl dolls!"

Zachary talked about playing in snow for months before this trip and he was not disappointed.  We couldn't keep him out of it.  He loved shoveling the snow with Grandpa and scoring icicles.

Wednesday morning, we all went to the church for the Reindeer Relays.  Karen has hosted these a few other times but we haven't been there to participate.  Games included pac man, pass-the-skittle relay, poop a potato into a bucket relay, and life size tic tac toe.  The funniest was when everyone strapped a balloon to their bums and taped a pin to our noses, and had to pop balloons hands free.  Lots of laughs.

That afternoon, we went tubing at Soldier Hollow.  The weather was spectacular at 40 degrees and sunny.  Zachary told me, "Mom, you said Utah was cold in the winter!  I can barely stand wearing my coat!"

Tubing itself was kind of an expensive bust.  The first hour, grouchy employees made the experience not so fun for the masses that came that day.  We waited almost an hour to go down one time.  The second hour made up for it and we had 4-5 more rides.  Kristen, Angela, and Cory each took turns watching baby Owen so we could go with them.  Owen fell asleep riding around in the tube.

Kate loved it and squealed every time as she flew down the hill.  We barely saw Zachary.  He was so fast getting off the tube and back in line.

The last run of the day made the experience worth it for us.  All of us linked up and charged down.  It was so fun watching the kids' faces.

 That night, we went to Founder's Grill with all the adults.  I love eating in Utah.  Kauai is hard to beat in most categories important to me, but food is not one of them.

The next day was Owen's 1st birthday.  I am gushy, mushy in love with this cuddly baby.  He started taking his first steps in Utah and was walking up to 22 steps in a row by the time we left.  He has no teeth but shines his wide grin easily.  He shyly snuggles into our arms with a smile when people coo at him.  He is mostly quiet but has 20-30 minute periods several times a day when he is "talking" pretty loud.  He is clearly trying to communicate with us, so we've started teaching him a few signs.  He loves chaos--his favorite time of day is when Kate and Zachary are around.  He loves to be outside, even if it's to hang out in the yard while I salt weeds.  He gives high fives, hugs, and open-mouthed kisses on demand.  He lays on his belly and snuggles pillows, the carpet, or anyone on the ground.  His favorite spot is standing between my legs in the kitchen.  He loves to be held but right now loves even more to walk and get congratulated.

He loves balloons.

That morning, we met at Angela's and divided into groups to make music videos.  I will admit that Brady and I were sceptical about this activity and wondered if it would work out.  The videos ended up being the highlight of the reunion and something I hope we do again and again.  Our group video was to the song "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons.  Ellie, Garrett, Mom and Audrey joined us, with Garrett saving us with his tech prowess.  Our kids were in different groups.  Kate danced to Moana music (which definitely won with Scott's tattoos), and Zachary performed tricks with Angela and Paul's group.  I'm so happy we have copies of each video our kids can watch over and over.

Garrett, such a good sport to participate in (and create) our video a day after his wisdom teeth were removed.

By the afternoon, Zachary was running a high fever and we realized his hesitancy to participate in the music video was due more to not feeling well than anything else.  When this kid goes down, he goes down hard.  He slept in the living room for hours that day while the rest of us when out in groups for video scavenger hunts.  Scott compiled a list and point totals for each thing we captured on video in an hour.  Tasks included singing Christmas carols in a restaurant, eating ice cream off snow, making snow angels, waving to traffic in Santa hats, riding a bike in snow, and asking specific questions to strangers.  That night, we watched everyone's video compilations, and then the music videos.  I'm guessing we watched each music video five times and the day I had low expectations for turned out to be the very best.

Scott and Natalie brought over their new puppy and Kate was in love.

Right before dinner and videos, we grabbed the remaining daylight and some sleds from Angela's garage and cruised down her sledding hill a few dozen times.  Zac even came out for a few rounds, and Kate went down at least a dozen.  My favorite buddy that night was Allison, who didn't even wait for the ride to quit before exclaiming, "Again!  Again!"

I made a few cakes to celebrate Owen's birthday that night.  By the time we were ready for treats, it was past his bedtime.  Everyone was so sweet to gather around and be so excited for this little dude.  

I kept looking around the room at all these people who loved and hoped and prayed for this baby, and it was a little much for me.

 It was also a little much for him.  We all expected him to dive in, but he was not interested in dirty fingers.  We gave him a pass, smothered him with kisses and put him in bed.  Happy Birthday, sweet baby boy.  You are so, so loved and you've made this an incredible year for our little family.

 Friday morning, we took off with most of the family for the Museum of Natural History in Salt Lake.  It was freezing that day, so a museum was a good choice.  By this time, Zachary was doing even worse, but he was a good sport and excited to learn about poisons, crystals, and dinosaurs.

 In the evening, we hit up our favorite restaurant, Bombay House.  Scott and Natalie's family, Cory and Kristen's family and even Mom and Dad joined us.  That is love.  Mom says even the smell of curry makes her nauseous, but she came anyway.  We went to Cory and Kristen's to stay the night.

 The next morning, we planned to meet Emily's family at the Museum of Natural Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point.  Zachary was really down by this point, so we knew we needed to take him to Urgent Care and shouldn't expose her kids.  Kate and I went alone.  It was amazing, and I wished the whole time that Zac could be there.  He would have loved it.  Kate enjoyed playing with her cousins, and I loved catching up with Emily.

One of my favorite pictures from the whole trip.  Cousin moments captured.

After the museum, we went to eat with Ryan and Cory and Kristen and then to the BYU store.  I planned to take Zac to the doctor while everyone went shopping but Zachary started to cry thinking he'd miss out on the Cougar shop, so we went there first.  By the time we were done, he seemed to be feeling a little better and we wondered if he really needed to go in.  We decided to anyway, and it was a good thing.  He had strep.  Of course.  We can't make a mainland trip without some nasty bug.  We spent the next few hours hunting down a pharmacy before heading back to Cory and Kristen's for a New Year's Eve celebration, watching OSU get toasted (sad), eating delicious, fresh salad and playing foosball, drums and video games in the basement.

We like to party hard.

 We had some envy pangs with their huge, kid-zone basement.

 Happy New Year!!  With a few exceptions, we loved 2016.

Sunday morning, we went on a walk with Kristen.  Kate wanted to come with the adults and even brought Cosby.

After church, we visited my grandparents.  They had a homemade cheese ball and hot cider waiting for us.  I was sad Zac wasn't with us because their house brings me vivid memories of Zachary in his first few days of life.  We stayed here for the week after he was born.  He peed all over the carpet right behind where Kate is standing.

 Kate was so excited to visit with her namesake.  Marian Nufer and Kate Marian.

 Cory and Kristen fed us again and their kids entertained ours again.  This is not much of a give and take relationship.  On our end, we take.

 Owen adored Scout, and she was so patient with our baby.

That night, we went on an "envy drive" with Cory and Kristen, gawking at the beautiful estates in their surrounding area.  Brady almost hit a deer while driving Cory's Jaguar.  We came so close and I shrieked.  Then, about 20 minutes later, while we were going a whopping 5 mph, another huge deer jumped out in front of the car.  I screamed, "Again!  Again!" and Brady narrowly missed hitting it by a few hairs.  Whew.

Monday morning started off with Daylight Donuts, which Cory insisted on even though he is gluten free.  Love.

We spent the morning at Airborne, where there's dozens of trampolines, foam pits, and even a Ninja course.  Brady almost finished the course.  Cory completed the whole thing.  I made it past one obstacle.

We tried out Zao for the first time--it's like an Asian Cafe Rio with delicious curry.  Owen entertained us by sucking on lemons.

 Scheels was across the street and we couldn't turn down the ferris wheel.

We also made it to the Lego Store for Zachary to pick out a present for his birthday.  By the time we backtracked to pick up a coat one of our kids left at Airborne, the weather turned nasty.  For the next several hours, we were on scary roads all the way back to Heber.  At one point, we slid around without full control.  When we finally pulled into Heber, we couldn't make it up the hill to Mom and Dad's house.  Dad came to the rescue, as well as a neighbor with a snow plow.  We spent the evening relieved that we made it back to Heber, and preparing to ski the next day.

We originally planned to ski at Alta, our favorite ski resort, but with the roads in such bad condition, we were nervous even to drive close by to Deer Valley.  It was fun to try a new resort, although you pay top dollar here.  It was our first experience skiing on such fresh powder--17" of it.

Gorgeous and freezing.

Brady was patient with me, and took a few green hills to get me comfortable.  He stuck to blues the rest of the day.  I was proud of myself for doing 6-7 blues, but I will always prefer the bunny hills.

Brady loved finding the "Little Kate" run and finally convinced me to go down it on my final descent of the day.

Brady has a couple pictures of me in action but my phone froze up so I have none of him.

This $15 pho was killer, and a steal compared to Brady's $24 hamburger.  Deer Valley.  Eye roll.

Grandma and Grandpa made the day memorable with the kids, building a fancy snow man, rocking Owen to sleep, and doing art with the kids.

Grandma and Kate creating an ocean picture, complete with an island and palm trees.

 We finished off our lovely ski date with hot cocoa at a charming bookstore in Park City.

The next morning, we had nothing planned in particular.  Snow, snow, snow meant we were keeping it local.  We had a raging fun snowball fight that Grandma and Grandpa joined.

Grandpa hit snowballs like baseballs.

We went to the Rec center to play soccer and basketball.  We introduced the kids to "Poisonball" or knockout or whatever name you like to call it.  This is the day we realized Owen was pretty sick.

That evening, Brady took the kids up to the sled hill and played for an hour while I let Owen sleep and fixed dinner.  Kate went down first, and was shocked to hit a bump that flew her up in the air.  Brady thought she would be done after that, but she went down again and again.

Grandpa went and tried to capture a few pictures.  The kids were fast, though!

Warming up and getting our static on.

Thursday morning, we planned to meet Erin in Provo.  The weather and roads were terrible again and it took us well over an hour to make the 30 minute drive.

Zachary and Kate were warm, friendly, talkative and kind.  I was proud of them for their easy conversations with Erin.  She brought them both gifts, which sent Kate over the moon.  We love having this unique relationship in our lives.

That afternoon, I went to see a doctor and we drove back up to Heber.  Brady drove the kids around to our old stomping grounds while they waited.

Thursday night ended up with a trip to urgent care for child #3.  He was so grouchy and sad, and we worried he still had an ear infection leftover from a week before our trip.  He did have a double ear infection, but the doc felt confident his body could fight it off and gave me a prescription if Owen wasn't on the up and up in a few days.  We never had to use it!  Hooray.

I was anxious to leave my sick baby, but we knew he'd do well with Mom and Dad.  We woke up 

early the next morning and headed down to ski Sundance with Kate and Zachary.  The temperature when we arrived at the resort was a whopping -9 degrees.  Youch.  

By the time we had our passes and stood in line for skis, the kids were both in tears.  We thought the day was likely a wash.  We still trekked it up to the tow rope for them to try.  Zachary was so anxious to get down the first time but had to go all the way back with Brady because his ski wouldn't clip inside the boot.  Kate went down the hill three times (hooray!) before crying that she was too cold.  We went inside the lodge and I figured that at 11am, our day was finished and Brady and I would be taking turns hanging out with her.  Oh, well!  After some selfies and hot cocoa, she asked if we could order lunch.  I asked her if she thought she had it in her to do three more runs up the tow rope and then we could get lunch.  She said, "Yes, I can do it!"

My mommy heart swelled with pride watching her do not just three runs, but another 10.  She even went up the tow herself several times, and never wanted help skiing down.  She said the only problem she had was that she wanted to go faster!  It helped big time that we ran into one of her Kauai bestie's, Tate.  We knew they were coming but weren't sure if we would see them on the slopes.  They were thrilled to be there together.  

I can't think of anything cuter than a 5-year-old on skis.

Nic and Tate:

Sunny, and still cold!

Tate and Kate:

Meanwhile...Zachary was with Brady.  They went down the tow rope 1 time and then Zachary insisted that he was ready for real mountains.  They went up a lift and he picked it up immediately.  He was a little reckless at first (read: I'm so glad Brady was with him at this point and not me), but he quickly learned how to turn and slow down.  After several runs down the mountain, Brady and I switched kids.  Skiing with Zachary was one of my favorite parenting moments ever, right up there with watching Kate ski alone, and also tying with surfing together.  It was so fun watch him cruise and be just a moment behind him.  He took falls here and there, but jumped back up, recovered his skis and acted like nothing happened.  I think kids his age can bounce off concrete.

I had Zachary at lunch.  Mother/son date.

Kate was begging to go on the lift, so Brady took her up for her first run down the mountain.  He had the hard jobs that day.  She was exhilarated and wanted to go again and again. 

 Another impressive moment came after I took the kids into the lodge to warm up in the late afternoon.  The sun was headed behind the mountains and suddenly temps were frigid again.  I assumed we were finished but the kids begged to go down once more.  We took them and shivered all the way down.  Zachary's last comment of the day was, "I'm really going to miss this place.  Can we come again tomorrow?"

 On the way home, within 2 minutes of getting in the car:

Grandma wrapped her up and turned on the fire after her shower.

 That evening, we went to dinner at Angela's.  We felt like zombies but it was fun to socialize.  Kate wanted a picture with Ang, "because she loves me so much."

Saturday was Zachary's 9th birthday!  Mom and Dad cooked him his favorite breakfast--pancakes.

Zachary is such a good brother.  He loves to entertain little kids and genuinely likes to play with them.  He has so much energy!  We hear from coaches that "he really has wheels!"  His piano teacher thinks he's very serious, which cracks us up because we mostly see his silly.  He loves to tease and play harmless pranks.  Tonight, he dressed up his pillow and laughed his head off when I kissed it while he hid behind the door.  He is smart and remembers vivid details from the books he reads.  His piano is getting better and better.  He dances and entertains as long as he can be wild and funny.  He loves to answer questions in class and gets impatient when there isn't a lot of "new stuff to learn."  He is confident and sometimes shy.  We adore him.

One of the highlights of the trip for us was when we casually mentioned to family that we were taking Zachary to the Nickelcade, and then to lunch.  Suddenly, we had Mom and Dad, Cory and Kristen's family, some of Scott's family and Paul and Ang's family join us.  We were so touched by their quick willingness to drop everything and come.

This place was Zac-heaven.

Lunch at Rubio's.  Zachary is drinking a Dr. Pepper, introduced this trip by Cory.  Zac says it's his favorite juice.

Back-scratching chain:

Zachary and Kate had one more "playdate" with Cory and Kristen's kids and met us at the BYU game that night.  We were in the highest possible seats but that didn't bother Zac one bit.  He cheered and wouldn't take his eyes off the game for a minute.  We finally tried a Cougar tail donut, and said goodbye to Cory and Kristen a little early after Ellie had tummy trouble.  Nic and Heidi were there, too.  We slaughtered the other team, but it was a no-namer so....eh.

Sunday morning, we ate breakfast with Karen and her girls before heading to church.

Our final, much-anticipated stop was at Emily's house for Sunday dinner.  We headed there in the afternoon and played with cousins, chatted, and ate.  Eric and Rebecca, Janece and Mindy had only just come back into town from the holidays so it was our one and only shot to hang out with them.  It was so nice to see Eric looking healthy after a rough semester learning how to control diabetes.  I finally got a chance to talk one-on-one with Rebecca, who is planning to get her PhD in psychology.  I loved catching up with Mindy and meeting her new flame, Peter.  Janece told me all about her classes and her excitement to be in two dance classes this coming semester.  Being around college students feels like energy and anticipation for the future, and it was infectious.  Thank-you, Emily, for hosting and feeding this crowd in your new house!

 My favorite part of the night was watching Zachary play the organ with a tune that sounded spooky and theatrical.  His cousins put on a scary play to the music.  I loved that the kids bounced from cousins to cousins to cousins on this trip.  The final event of the night was singing him "Happy Birthday."

 Owen and Jason playing together.  Jason took a toy away and Owen protested.  FIRST TIME EVER!  It was so funny to listen to him grunt, and I encouraged Jason to keep taking toys away so I could capture it on film.

 Rebecca and I matching in our leggings and boots with a bunch of photo bombers.

 Siblings and significant others!

The next morning, we left early to head out.  It was time to go home and we felt content and ready.  Our chapped lips, dry elbows and static-filled hair needed he humidity after our 15 day trip.

Our wild card did great on the flight.

Two full weeks later, I'm finally getting this done.  Catching up after a long vacation is a bear, especially when we decide to factor in Christmas decorations, baseball schedules, and major decisions.  What we feel the most right now is gratitude and love for all the generosity and kindness family showed us on our trip.  Thank-you, thank-you!  We love you.