Home for the Holidays

Since our parents live in different places we switch off with our families each Christmas. We spent last year in Denver with the Tanners so this year we were in Boise with the Petersons. We did lots of fun things but of course, forgot to take pictures for nearly all of them. So here are some highlights:

-It was the biggest Christmas we've ever had as far as numbers go. Five Petersons + Two husbands + Two grandparents= nine people.

-We went to a Steelheads game and Grant saw one of his friends from high school that he hadn't seen in years.

-We ate TONS of food.

-We found out Lindsay and Taylor are having a baby!

-We stayed up late on Christmas Eve and all the kids slept in the same room. It's been a tradition since we were little to sleep in the same room and I was afraid it might fall apart with marrieds joining the family. I prevailed. Well at least until "Dino" McFarland shows up.

-We got some great presents: Grant's presents seemed to be camping themed: a huge internal frame backpack, ready-to-eat meals, a headlamp, etc. My presents seemed to be accessory themed: shoes, hats, tights, a headband, etc. In addition we have some Christmas money to spend. Grant is forcing me to spend a certain amount because if he doesn't, it will all go into savings.

This is one of my new pairs of shoes. I'm in love.

Of course, we also made chocolate covered pretzels with the cousins. The Logsdons and Freeneys come over and everyone has a different task. Older kids (Petersons) are on dipping duty while younger kids are on sprinkle duty. This year I helped Molly graduate to dipping duty-- she was a natural. Somehow, I didn't get pictures of any completed pretzels...

All the little cousins sported their bag aprons.

Reindeer Grant was at the stove.

Their attention lasted about 12 pretzels lengths...

We also played a ton of Mario Kart Wii and my skills are much improved. I have nearly mastered the manual drift. (This has been a long time coming). Robbie, Grant and I each have our own specialty races. For example, I am a master at Peach Gardens, thank you.

However, if you ask Grant what his favorite part of the trip was, he would say the skiing! We were so excited to get out on the mountain and it was the perfect day up at Bogus. Grant was a little skeptical of the resort because he's grown up skiing Colorado and Utah powder. But it was beautiful and the snow was pretty good too.

The boys in the back of the truck heading up to Bogus. I was the only girl which made for an interesting trip. Boys like to go fast and do crazy things so Dad stayed behind with me and helped me carve my turns.

This is a picture of the road that made me throw up every weekend when I was younger. The good part: I get the front seat, no questions asked!

The clouds covered the valley that day but the mountain was clear. It was more beautiful than this picture could possibly show.

At the top.

A beautiful picture to end a long post about a wonderful vacation.