A Utah Christmas

Months ago we decided that we would make the trip and have Christmas in Salt Lake with Ben's family. As it grew closer and closer, I was feeling more and more overwhelmed and sad. Overwhelmed at having to pack up all of our presents and things for a week and half away from home and sad because I'd be missing Christmas traditions with my family. It turned out to be a great trip full of family and fun. I was able to facetime with my parents on Christmas night and that helped my homesickness and we really enjoyed our time up north.

It never snowed while we were there but luckily they had tons of snow still on the ground. It made for a magical Christmas time. There's something so beautiful about Christmas lights glistening off the snow.

 Snowball throwing!

Ben's brother had an extra tree we were able to set up and have our own little Christmas around. The kids were so excited for their presents that it made all the stress of the season totally worth it.

The night after Christmas, we took tracks down to Temple Square to see the lights. It was so freakin' cold! Like 15 degrees cold. We layered and bundled and had a great time. And I only got separated from the group once as I wandered off to take more pictures. It was just too beautiful!

We stayed up there till New Year's Day eating super yummy food, singing karaoke, watching football, staying up really late, and just hanging out. On New Year's Eve we headed to the park Ben played at as a kid and went sledding. The hills were small but for these first time sledders it was perfect. We forgot gloves and hats so it was a quick sledding trip but the kids sure had loads of fun. Later that night we ate traditional stuffed mushrooms and hung out with cousins but I started getting really sick and we cut the night short. I barely made it to midnight and fell asleep right afterward. 

We drove home on New Year's Day and made it in time to eat Fuddrucker's with my family. It was the perfect end to our holiday vacation. I spent the next few days super sick running a high fever but I'm so glad we spent so much time with Ben's family. And so grateful to all of them for feeding and housing us for so long. Love ya guys!