Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We got to go home to Utah for Christmas! We've been looking forward to it since we moved here. We all miss the weather and the outdoors and the seasons. I was so excited for Cole to see snow for the first time!

After Tyler's last test, we loaded up the car and the family and drove to St. George. We got there late, but my grandparents were waiting up for us. It was fun to spend some time with them before we made the rest of our trip. Cole made himself right at home. My sweet grandma remembered that I wanted pecan pie at Thanksgiving and we didn't have room to make it or eat it. She greeted us at 11:30pm with pie! Trust Grandma to make everything special! She and Grandpa made us a yummy breakfast in the morning (we even had sausage) and then we were off to beat the storm.

Coleman did really well in the car and we miraculously missed the crazy onslaught of snow we were supposed to hit. When we finally did get snow, it was really exciting! Tyler seemed to have a good time driving in it!

We had lots of fun while we were in town. Cole LOVED spending time with his grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles and Annie (his cousin - her real name is Addie, but 'ya know). He remembered where everything was at both his grandparents' houses and made himself right at home. He LOVED the Christmas decorations - especially Grandma's musical soldiers and music boxes and Grandma Marilee's snow globe with the train. Grandpa Terry was home during the day a lot, so Cole had a full-time buddy.

Cole (and his parents) also loved the time they were able to spend with all the family. It was so nice to be home. I loved chatting with my mom and Tyler’s mom. It was fun to see our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins too. The time seemed so short! We didn’t get to spend as much time anywhere as we would have liked. I think I almost miss everyone more now after just a little taste of hanging out than I did before we made it up for Christmas! I guess we’ll just have to plan another trip soon and for now enjoy the fact that we have so many people who we love and who love us.

Cole had so much fun being together with everyone and playing with everything in sight! He learned so many new words while we were there that I can't even begin to write them all down. MY favorites were when he stopped saying ssssndirt and started saying sno. He also loved saying SANTA! He says it with such enthusiasm!! He also was really excited about Uncle Trent’s toot toot (train).

We got to hang out with friends who were home from all over! I wish we had more pictures, but it felt like home to be with them and just hang out. We really miss you guys!!! Cole loved being with Byce (I’m not purposely misspelling it, that’s how Cole says it) and Hannah. He was really excited to meet Will. So excited, in fact, that he tackled him. We’re glad you’re ok, Will! :)

Our trip home was a breeze as well. We stayed with my grandparents again and enjoyed being with them. Once again, the time was way too short! We had to say goodbye when it felt like we’d just arrived. The drive through Vegas in the morning proved to be a much better option than our experience over Thanksgiving. (We drove 7 hours Sunday and ended up back at my grandparents’ house in St. George). We made it through in a little under 6 hours.

Well, I could go on and on (and I guess I already have). We had a wonderful Christmas. We hope all of you did as well! Thanks for making it great! We love you! We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and family!