And the next stop is...St. George (Wedding Time!)

We went to St. George for Steven and Amanda's wedding.  All my siblings and my parents and all the kids got to stay in a beautiful, huge condo.  It was great -- we had lots of bedrooms and bathrooms and we were all together.

Ty was having a hard time fall asleep, so Jack was a nice brother and decided to do this...

The next morning (January 4th) we all got spiffed up and ready for the wedding...

 

The kids waited in the visitor center while we were in the temple for the sealing.  Amanda's little sister, Lindsey, my cousin Melanie, and Amanda's friend Malea watched all of the kiddos. I was a little worried about Ty but he did okay (only cried a bit).  He even took a nap on Emmy's lap during a video.


Steven and Amanda had just come out of the temple.

The whole Cox gang.

Our little family w/the bride and groom.

 (By this point in the picture taking experience, Jack had had it and would NOT turn around.)

My side of the family again.

The black and blue girls.

 The highlight for the kids of the picture taking was the graham cracker sticks.  Yum!

"Jack, did you know they're better dipped in snow?"

 

We had a delicious luncheon at Olive Garden.  Yum!  Kate loved being a grown up girl eating at a nice restaurant with her older girl cousins.  Then we went back to the condo and watched Despicable Me before heading to the reception.

Some of "the line".



The boys loved Alex's bakugan.

 

The girls took it upon themselves to greet people at the door and take their gifts.  They even decided to take the cards off some of the gifts and stick them in the cute mailbox on the table by the door.  Oop!

Dave and Peter took the boys back to the condo after a little while.  (After we spilled hot chocolate all over the white tablecloth.)  Lis and I and the girls stayed and helped clean up and watch Steve and Amanda open their gifts. 

I'm glad we could be there at the wedding.  It was fun to be with all my family at once.  It had been a few years.  I'm excited that Amanda is in our family now.  Good times!

Stop #4...Fairview

On Sunday, January 2nd, we headed from Coalville to Fairview.  We went to church with my parents and spent the night there.

Jack was convinced that he would get his own cowboy hat when we got to Grandpa Cox's house.  He's been talking about this since Halloween.  I told him that I didn't think they had a cowboy hat for him, but Jack said, "No, Grandma can make me one."  Kate didn't think she could make one, but it ends up that Grandma had a cowboy hat she doesn't wear. 

Jack was in heaven with his cowboy grandpa.

 His hat fit better with his snow hat underneath. 

 The kids bundled up and went to see the horses with Grandpa, Emmy and Skippy (the dog).

 Then they worked on their Wii bowling skills.  Ty was copying the kids and loved it!

 Jack was very serious about his bowing game.  He's pretty good.

 Ty worked on his play culinary skills.

When it was time to leave Fairview, Jack asked if we could stay another week.  He was in Cowboy Heaven (thanks to Toy Story for encouring his love of cowboys).

Stop #2 and 3...Logan and Coalville

We spent a few days (from December 28th - January 1st) in Logan with Dave's sister, Melinda and her family.  They were such great hosts that we stayed longer than planned. :)

Dave's parents were visiting in Logan too and Dave's brother, Mike and his family came up too.  It was a full house, but fun to be with family. 

Here's some of what we did...

Played at the Logan Family Fun Center

 

 Saw Tangled in the theater (I missed the end, since I dropped Ty's binkie and had to spend the last 20+ minutes out in the lobby).

 Cleaned the candelier...

 while Mike held (a.k.a. shook) the ladder...

 cuddled on the ottoman watching...

Toy Story 3

Shopped at Sam's Club for some yummy cheesecake and food  -- (Ben and Ty were being so cute during this picture and then Ben hit Ty on the head -- Ben is older, you know...) Cute boys...

 Watching more of Toy Story 3 at Sam's Club (can't get enough of that movie)...

Avery and Kate loved their matching pjs...

I didn't take many pictures when we were in Logan.  The kids were so happy playing together that I forgot to take pictures of them.  Thanks to Melinda for sending me pictures that she took on her phone.

After spending New Years' Eve together at Melinda's house we headed to Layton to attend my niece, Aubrey's baptism.  I hadn't seen my sister, Lissa in over 3 years, so it was fun to see her and her cute family.  Jack and Alex (5 years old) were shy for a minute and then disappeared to play with boy stuff.

Then we spent the night at Mike and Maggie's new house in Coalville.  It was fun to see their house and their new town.  It'll be even more fun next time we visit since they'll have furniture and toys and pans.  They were still great hosts even w/out all their belongings. :)

Christmas Vacation Trip Stop #1...Arches

On Monday, December 27th, we started our trek to Utah.  We drove to Moab and spent the night.  Tuesday morning we went to Arches before continuing our drive.

Park Avenue

 By the time we got to the Delicate Arch viewpoint many of us were melting down.

 Someday we'll hike to Delicate Arch, but not without a baby backpack.

 We loved seeing the snow capped mountains in the background behind the red rocks.  So pretty!

After spending a few hours at Arches, we headed to Melinda's house in Logan.

Christmas 2010

When we woke up on Christmas morning we found that Santa brought...

Kit (an American Girl Doll) for Kate

 an electric train for Jack

 Geotrax for Ty

Then we opened presents...

 (Ty was more interested in helping Dave open his presents than opening his own.)

 Then we ate some cinnamon rolls (our Christmas breakfast tradition).

 Then we played...Kate dressed Kit (and herself).

 Jack broke out the lightsabers...

 Ty tried to work the stomp rocket...

 Kate painted her toenails and did Perler Beads.

 Jack and Dave made some lincoln log tunnels/buildings for the train and watched it go around and around and around and around...(Ty liked the train too, but he got run over a few times by it, so he was a little scared of it).

The day after Christmas, we did more playing w/Christmas stuff...

I made this amazing Geotrax train track.

 Ty can say "choo choo" now.

 Then they played a little lightsaber...

 Jack gave Kate a coloring book and a Junie B. Jones book.  That kept her busy for a while.

Good times!

Christmas Eve 2010

We had a very low-key Christmas Eve this year.  Kate had the stomach flu and spent the day throwing up.  I didin't feel all that great either.  Ty had the stomach flu a few days earlier and shared his germs with us. 

Kate spent the day watching movies while I cleaned the house and got our Christmas treats ready (cinnamon rolls to bake Christmas morning and macadamia nut cookies for Santa).  Dave spent the day with Jack playing basketball at the church, going grocery shopping and to Walmart. 

We let the kids open one present each before we read the Christmas story from the Bible.  (Kate fell asleep during the reading, poor girl!).  Jack wrote a note to Santa and left him a cookie.  Then all the kids went to bed pretty early.

Jack was excited to help Ty open his present.  Ty liked his Cars slippers, but refused to wear them.

Jack loved his Toy Story Buzz Lightyear Rocket slippers.  They made him run really fast.

Sweet Kate had to open her present curled up on the couch.

She's photogenic even when she's sick.

I didn't get a picture of the kids together with their new jammies and slippers.  They wore them that night though.