Utah Trip I

John's parents rented a cabin in Utah for a week and we went to go spend time with everyone before Christmas. We flew Allegiant to get cheap flights (not recommended unless you're desperate to save a buck) and Joseph picked us up at the airport and shared his car with us the whole time so we didn't have to rent one.

I was not looking forward to traveling with Jonah, because he'd been a teething beast the previous several weeks, but we were so excited to see everybody. Terri came and held babies, Sarah did hair, Jonah found a little crawling baby to talk to.

The cabin was enormous to accomodate everyone and it had a nice, spacious kitchen. 

Julie and Christian brought a train set that Scott commandeered. 

He didn't mind other kids playing with it, but whenever someone destroyed his track he lost it. Luckily that was the only trigger for him acting out the whole trip.

The big boys on their electronics.

Sweet little Annabel and her tired mom.

Woody and Buzz working on their train.

Amelia likes being held and she was in the right place for it--lots of aunts and uncles took turns holding babies.

Great Grandma came to see everyone and asked John for a picture with her.

Jonah was smitten by the "baby" and kept asking to hold whichever baby I had.

The main living room accomodated lots of people, plus there was an upstairs loft play area and big basement room with more seating.

Stori always ready with a smile

Scott also liked the little ones and came to me very upset whenever a baby was crying. He watched me soothe Annabel with a pacifier and then copied me the next time she fussed. It was really sweet and surprisingly helpful, but unfortunately with 4 babies I think she shared germs from all her cousins' pacis Scott gave her.

Dallin came over and asked me to help him get his pajamas on and put him to bed. How can I get Scott to do that??

We didn't have anything planned Saturday or Sunday. We took the boys to church and they both went to nursery without a hitch. It was a blissful 2-hour break.

On Monday, we went out to see what snow stuck from the previous night.

After lunch, we went to ride the Heber Creeper to the North Pole.

We were told to arrive at 1:15 and were on time, but the train didn't leave until 2, so we had a lot of time to kill.

Of course I spent it taking pictures. How do you not with all these sweet baby faces around?

Jonah was in desperate need of a nap, but fought and fought it.

His cousin Logan was sleeping peacefully.

And Bennett.

And Annabel.

Three of the sisters and their bundled babies.

Scott doesn't know anything about Santa or the North Pole, but he was ecstatic about getting on a train.

We took up most of the car.

I think there were 28 people plus little kids.

Ryan's eyebrow is my favorite.

Jonah waved bye-bye to everyone.

Scott's favorite part was probably the hot chocolate--heated to the perfect kid-safe warmth. We each also got a chocolate chip cookie.

Jonah eventually crashed and slept the rest of the ride. We went to dinner afterwards at a nearby train-style place that was fun.

I've always wanted to see Temple Square with the Christmas lights and decorations and thought going Monday night was perfect for family home evening.

Nobody else wanted to come, so it was just our family.

It was pretty cold out, but both boys liked walking around. Jonah kept pointing and saying, "light! light!"

We saw the nativity displayed and heard the story of Christ's birth accompanied by beautiful music. After a busy month I felt like December was passing us by and we didn't get to feel Christmas coming.

Going to the temple was the perfect remedy.