Christmas Vacation

The Saturday before Christmas we left early in the morning to go to Utah and Idaho to spend the holiday with our families. We drove all day and 800 miles later we stopped in Salt Lake at my sister Amanda's house and had dinner with her and her husband Andy. It was so nice, Andy has been overseas for about 7 months and got a two week leave of absence that fell right at the holidays. After visiting with them for a little while, we left and went to my parents house in Ogden. The weather was really nice, but it was COLD!

This is a view from my parents house. It was so beautiful, the sky was blue, and you could see all the way across the valley! That blue sky seems so foreign to Quin and me!

Sunday we went to church in Ogden. It was fun because we got to take Evelyn, and go out in the hall with her.

After church we hopped in the car and headed north to Idaho Falls. This is the beautiful warm Idaho welcome we received. That is Kade snow blowing Emily and Bryon's driveway. I (Quin) then got to play with the snow blower at my parents house. Like a good uncle I chased the nieces and nephews with it.

Note the needles on the tree how they all point off to the left. No, the wind is not blowing. The tree was frozen in this position after the wind stopped.


Sunrise at the farm.

This is the thermometer on Wednesday before we headed back to Ogden. Yes that is a 3 point 4 °F not a 34 °F. It actually got down to 2.5 °F when we got stuck at the end of the driveway leaving. Someone didn't seem to do a very good job snow blowing the end of the driveway the day before. Luckily some passerby pulled us out. On the downside it packed the rims full of snow and made the car feel like the tires were out of balance and vibrated down the highway for an hour before all the snow fell off.

On Monday night we had a Nativity Re-enactment where we all got dressed up in costume. While getting ready for the party, during the day, we made sugar cookies and decorated them like little birthday cakes. My mom kept talking about the birthday party and Natalie had the audacity to ask "who's birthday is it?". My mom and I both looked at her and simultaneously said Jesus'. Ooh...

We acted out the story as we moved throughout the house.

No room in the Inn.

Mary (Halle) asked, "Why did the wise men bring Jesus Frankenstein?"

I was Joseph, Halle was Mary, Natalie was an angel, Carter was Cesar (hilarious to watch), Mom was narrator, Liberty was Gabriel, Dad was the Inn keeper, Jarom and Alyssa were wise men, Kade Deidra Kayson Brylee and Brancyn were shepherds, Elena and Emily were townsfolk, Kate was an angel (we all know the truth though), Dogs played by Trigger Layla Sadie and Jack, while Bryon was making us all worried that he was in trouble out hunting (the weather was getting really bad).
We then went and sang a special happy birthday Jesus song. It was kind of funny. But Quin's mom is great about celebrating birthdays and we definitely can't leave out Jesus!

After the Nativity we did family gift exchange. Elena suggested to her kids that the gift haul was so great that maybe Santa didn't need to even stop by their house. Halle promptly spoke up, "He better if you want your basement cleaned." I guess Elena had been threatening the kids that he wouldn't come to a dirty house. I think her bluff got called.

Quin and I gave the girls some nail kits. They LOVED that they got to make Uncle Quin pretty!

The next day we went to Quin's sister Elena's house. We found the girls still playing with their nail kits.

Of course Uncle Quin had to get his nails done again.

After Kate did Quin's fingers, he asked if he was done. Kate responded "no, not beautiful!" Quin then asked her what had to be done to make him beautiful. Her reply "Toes!" When she was done he was painted on every digit, toes too from the first knuckle down. But he was finally beautiful!

We left Idaho Falls the on Christmas Eve morning and headed back to Utah. This is a picture of the roads headed back to my (Natalie's)parent's house on Christmas night (it is a little out of sequence).

Some of the icicles at my parent's house in Ogden.

The snow was so deep, it was awesome to have a white Christmas.

Quin and I and my parents all got up Christmas morning and got dressed and drove to Salt Lake to spend Christmas with Amanda, Andy, Evelyn, and Andy's parents and brother.

Here is Evelyn on Christmas morning. If you are going to take a picture of her you don't say "say cheese", you say "ready, set, go" and on go she poses and makes this face, it is the funniest and cutest thing.

She loved opening the presents and was thrilled with everything she got. She got these pink boots for Christmas. At first she had trouble walking them because they have a little heel on them, but she got them down. Hey after all she is a Thornock girl and it is pretty hard for us to walk without wearing high heels!

My mom made these awesome aprons for Amanda and me. I think it was my favorite gift. Amanda and I are trying to convince her she should make them to sell!

Evelyn got a little kitchen for Christmas and so Quin and I got her some play food. For some reason we didn't get any pictures of my parents. This is the only one of my dad and we didn't get any of my mom.

My parents gave Andy RockBand for Christmas. I don't remember him playing it at all, we kind of took over it. Here is Manda rocking the mic, I am on drums and Andy's brother Tyler is playing guitar. He was awesome. Manda and I sucked it up. When it was just Manda and me we got booed off the stage. The only way we could stay on was if Tyler was playing with us and he was playing on the hardest level.

I kinda just hit the drums randomly instead of when you were supposed to. I did a lot better when I was on the mic. Quin played drums then and we did pretty good.

On the way back to my parents house Christmas night my trusty Altima hit the 100000 mile mark, oddly it did it right in front of the dealership where I bought it. I bought that car 2 months before my 21st birthday. It was my first car that was all mine and I bought myself. Quin and I decided that night that we are going to try to hit the 200000 mile mark.

The day after Christmas, my friend Rachel and her husband Jon came over to my parent's to visit. They stayed for a few hours. It was great to see them. She is going to have a baby in the next few weeks and she was so cute and pregnant. Amazingly her Grandma was in our old ward here in Bakersfield. On our first Sunday I sat down next to her and we got to talking. She found out I was from Ogden and asked if I knew her granddaughter Rachel. I almost fell over. I couldn't have gotten married if it weren't for all the help Rachel gave us with the reception.

When Quin and I bought the house she got the two of us a little mixed up and started telling people that I was pregnant. Rachel had to correct her that she was the one that was pregnant and Quin and I were buying the house. Fortunately she didn't tell too many people. Anyway the whole point of that was that it was good to see my friend.

That night Quin and I went and had dinner with my parents and Quin's old roommate Jeff and his wife Becky at Maddox. We hadn't met Becky yet so it was nice to meet her. Quin had a buffalo steak! Unfortunately we didn't have our camera. Afterword we went and met Jeff's two daughters. Yes it seems that everyone is multiplying and replenishing the Earth but us!

We went home the next day. We were so sad to leave but really enjoyed our trip!