Chillin in Logan

The Johnson joined us on most of our adventures and the Thurstons spent most of the week home being sick, but we still managed to see everyone while we were there.  McKenzie's one request was that we play pinochle for hours.  I can get behind that!  

The boys and the Thurstons just really wanted to open cousin gifts.  We can do that!  

Moki just wanted to play with everyone all the time.  He even melted my dad's heart and the two of them would cuddle and watch TV together.  That sounds great!  

We also got to exchange gifts with Grandma and Grandpa.  They were perfect! 

 After such a great holiday week we did actually have to go home.  We ran into a little trouble on I-80 so we took the long way down through Grand Junction.  Cambrie didn't mind, it meant she had more cuddle time with Moki.  Her only request was that we make it home in time for her New Year's Eve Bash.  Ok teenager, we got you!

Ice skating skills

Ryan has picked up ice skating in the last couple of months.  He's taking a class and private lessons.  He even had a Christmas performance this season.  He was excited to show us his moves and his skates so we joined him for open skate at Eccles Ice Arena.  My kids haven't been on the ice in years and the boys were definitely a little rusty.  Kelton fell more than any other kid, but he also got up the most often without complaint.  

Daxton learned it was a lot more fun with the walker to keep him upright.  Everyone took turns zooming him around the ice and he thought that was fantastic.  

Jeremy and Cambrie were trying to learn some skills with Ryan.  

McKenzie and Cambrie decided they should be ice skating partners and tried a few moves and they cruised along.  

I watched it all from the sidelines and soaked it all in.  (My knee was giving me grief).  It was fun talking with everyone as they came off the ice to rest a little bit.

I was a little surprised the kids lasted an hour and a half.  

I'm not sure how bruised their knees are going to be, but everyone had a great time out there.

Sledding in the Sinks

We were craving some mountain time, so we bundled everyone up and drove up Logan Canyon to see if we could find a great sledding hill.  We drove all the way up to the Sinks.  I've seen snowmobiles playing up there and knew that my mom would go hiking up there with her friends, but I have never had a chance to explore the area myself. We parked in a pull out and started hiking.  We found a perfect, private sledding hill.  Despite being a great place to play, it was simply gorgeous!  The snow was fairly deep and we could walk through it, most of the time, without falling through up to our knees.  

Moki thought it was incredible!  We let him off leash and he was having the time of his life chasing us on our sleds.  He would run down, then run up, then run down, then run up, without stopping.  When he decided to chase some snowmobiles into the forest we had to leash him back up again but it was pretty great to watch.  

\Next to our sledding hill was a drop off made from blowing snow.  It was a short seven foot cliff which we naturally decided we need to jump, flip from, and sled off.  We played until it started getting dark.  While all of the humans were toasty warm in our snow gear, poor Moki was completely covered with snow balls.  I spent 45 min in the car trying to pick the snow from his fur and warm him up.  I think we'll be getting him snow gear too so he can play with us again.  

As we were leaving I was just struck with the beauty of the mountains.  Oh I love them!  (And as a bonus I now have a family picture I can use for our belated Christmas cards!)

Pop'N Pins

When we were trying to come up with activities up in Logan, my mom suggested we go bowling at an old-fashioned bowling alley.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it definitely had character!  I don't think anything has been updated since the sixties.  We all had to take a lesson on how to keep score with a paper and pencil!  That was actually pretty fun.  

We arrived early enough that we had a corner of the alley to ourselves for awhile.  The first game was rough as we worked out the kinks.  The second game went a lot more smoothly. 

Strike!

Spare!

My finger is stuck!

Surprisingly my girls wanted to bowl a third game.  The boys were starving so we picked up some food, Hawaiian BBQ of all things, and they enjoyed their fries while we enjoyed another ten frames.

  This is the bowling alley where they filmed Napoleon Dynamite. It's been awhile since I've seen that movie, but I'm thinking it's time to watch it again and enjoy the crazy hometown-ness of it all!

Christmas in Color

Christmas in Color is a super fun way to see some great lights.  We had to change our tickets a couple of times because we were having too much fun doing other things, but we finally fit it in the night before we left South Jordan.  The last time we did this we all piled into the back of the truck and it was great.  Well, now there are more of us and we are all a lot bigger.  It was pretty cozy in the back of that truck.  At least it was warm!  

Watching the lights dance along with the music was great. We loved it as we drove through the tunnels because it felt like we were flying through space.  I also really like the light forest.  I still remember the first time I saw them they were blue for Elsa's power ballad and it was so cool.

Moki didn't know quite what to make of everything.  I was just worried he was going to leap from the bed of the truck and take off running after Frosty the Snowman.  

I was grateful it was a temperate night to enjoy the lights.  There's something about Christmas lights that just bring out the joy in life.