Taking the Show on the Road

Tomorrow we head back home after a wonderful week with family in Utah. My Aunt has always said traveling with children is just taking your work on the road. It is very true. Everyone gets to enjoy the vacation. Brad and the kids have spent hours lounging about soaking up their free time. And while I will admit I have had plenty of time here and there to do things I would never be able to do at home (two puzzles, one-now two-blog posts, even one wondrous nap), for the most part my work has just come along with me.

So, while I had hoped to post little updates of our fun adventures each day, here I am making one giant catch-up post again. Better late than never.

Day 1: Church. We clean up pretty good.

Day 2: Salt Lake City. We visited the Church History Museum. I was in charge of Jacob so all of the pictures are of him. But there was plenty for everyone to see and do here.

After the museum we walked through Temple Square to see the lights. It's tradition.

And to finish off the day we all had the crown of burgers. Mmmmmmmm.

Day 3: sledding. My kids could sled all day every day. 

These two made me laugh. They start the hill smiling and looking tough. But one little puff of snow in their faces and:

Plenty of snow ball mischief.

Lots of tandem sledding fun.

An abundance of cuteness.

Eating snow.

And just good old fashioned fun.

Day 4: Tuesday we spent mostly at the house lounging about. But there was one outdoor moment for the boys. Can't go a whole day without going outside in this family.

Sometimes I think I might miss this "little" stage.

My Angles.

Day 5: Wednesday we visited the BYU bookstore.

And then there was night sledding.

The kids all decided to stand on their sleds and "snowboard" down the hills. Even Amber was repeatedly successful. Love their adventurous spirits.

At one point this one came flying by me saying, "Mom picture!" as he struck a pose. I kinda like this one.

During one of his speedy attempts Justin came a little too close to a soccer goal post. 

This one finally got over his fear of night sledding solo and was the master racer on the hill. He is a scrappy little thing. He busted his lip on his last run of the night and the next morning said, "Can we go back to that place I hit my lip last night to sled again?" I love boys.

New Year's Eve we now have a tradition of taking the kids night sledding and watching the fireworks. Brad also has a tradition of getting a "frozen beard" picture.

The littles get to toast the New Year with hot cocoa when we get back and head to bed. I didn't get any pictures of the big kids doing the real toast at midnight. I was too busy smooching my date...

Friday we went to "The Big Hill." Justin had been waiting (and complaining) all week. He was tired of putzing around on the little kid hills. So we took him to our usual spot, strapped their helmets on and took on some monsters. The snow was not ideal. It was super choppy and unusually hard. Drew never does the big hills so he and I had a blast while Brad, Ty, Amber and Justin searched around for a more forgiving 'big hill.' It was a bit of a bust. 

Brad yells, "Let's go chicken!" It was a rough hill. All of them did it. And Drew and I found a small spot in this bowl too. But I can't say it was our best sledding.

We made up for the crummy sledding with an awesome dance party. The cousins went all out this year with a fog machine and new lazer lights.

And today our outing was a little hike/walk at Timpanogos Park.

And to finish our trip with one last tradition we had a coloring contest. Caity won first place, Ty second, and Justin (begrudgingly) third.

It's been a perfectly long week of fun and family. You know it's a good trip when you feel like you could stay longer. Tomorrow we drive.