Utah!

We were able to spend eleven full packed fun days in Utah and it was everything we wanted and more. The boys and twins flew for the first time, we met four nephews, met my future sister in law, took advantage of all the cousin and grandparents time our kids could get, saw our favorite Santa, spent time with family and friends, saw some snow, ate food we've been missing in Texas, remembered how much we love seeing mountains, spent some time at my sister's headstone, did her temple work as well, and created new memories that hopefully the kids will take with them until we can see family again.

Day 1 ( Mon Dec 18th) - I thought I would be nervous for our first flight as a family but I was so excited. The kids were so excited as well. I couldn't have asked for a better flight, they all did fantastic. You would have guessed that they were frequent fliers with how well they did. On my row I had Rylee by the window, me in the middle and Quinn to my left. Directly behind me I had Hudson at the window, Addie in the middle and Grant to her left. Danny was given a seat a couple rows in front of all of us but he switched with a guy that was seated closer to us which was really nice. Not only was this the first flight for four of the kids but it was also the first flight that Danny and I have ever been on together (even though we didn't get to sit together). It's a fun milestone.

We landed in Utah where Dave and Donna were waiting for us. They brought two cars which allowed us to borrow their vehicle for our stay there. Super generous of them. We were pretty hungry by that point and headed to the Crown Burger. We'd never eaten there before but just the sight of fry sauce again was so nice. We then hung out a little around Temple Square. We spent about an hour at the family history building and then walked around and saw some lights. It was a fun but cold night. We got to my parents house after 7pm and Hudson was able to open up his birthday present from Oma and Opa before we got everyone settled in their sleeping arrangements for the trip.

Day 2 (Tue Dec 19th) - Danny and I started our morning at the Jordan River Temple where I was able to get temple work done for Camila. It had been awhile since I have been able to find time to do a session so it was nice to do it again in her honor. Meanwhile the kids were able to decorate Christmas cookies and decorate a Christmas tree that we would use for our time there.

We then headed to see Grandma Great. We always love seeing her and being at her place. The kids felt right at home being back on her property. Grandma seems to be repeating herself a lot which is kind of sad. I hope she still has many more years to go before she returns to be with Grandpa Great. We love her so much and appreciate any time we get to have with her.

That night we saw almost all of Danny's family as we met up at the Riverwoods to see their Santa there. One of the only things Addie asked for us to do during this trip was to go see the Santa at Riverwoods. We saw everyone but Rand's family, Jaina, Jackson and Joey. We were able to meet baby Milo, Oliver and Tommy for the first time. When we left Jack was one and Max had just turned two. They both seemed so grownup to us. I'm sure that's how everyone else felt about Rylee and Quinn who were just 17 months old when we moved out of Utah.

That night we also met my now future sister in law. Jacob had told me that morning that he would be proposing later that evening to his girlfriend. We got back just in time to put the kids in bed and wait for him and his now fiance Deb to come home. It was a quick visit but we couldn't be happier for him.

Day 3 (Wed Dec 20th) - We decorated Christmas cookies again but this time with Giovanna at her new house. We also met another new nephew, baby Liam. You would think the kids would be cookied out but they had so much fun making new ones. It was so good seeing Giovanna and her family again.

We then spent some time in Mapleton where we were able to say hi to Margo again. She's looking good and seems to be doing well. Rylee and Quinn loved being outside despite the cold and did not want to go back inside.

We met up with Rand and Jayden and played some pickleball. It was my first time and it kind of showed. I got a little better near the end. Hudson LOVED playing. It was so fun watching Rand hit it back and forth to him.

We ended the night at Marie and Ty's new house in Spanish Fork. Their house is a dream. Mostly everyone showed up there for dinner and the kids were able to just play together which was great. Dave and Donna made Navajo Tacos for everyone which is one of my favorite meals. We knew it would be a long night and spent the night there.

Day 4 (Thur Dec 21st) - With us waking up in Utah county we had to start our day off with our favorite Kolaches place. They just don't make it this good in Texas. Even before we landed in Utah we had put this breakfast place on our vacation bucketlist. 

We had the most downtime I believe on this day. We spent a couple hours at Marie's house before heading out to lunch at Burger's Supreme with Dave and Donna. We have always loved this place. We also went to the Bean Museum while in Provo. I honestly don't even remember what we did after that. I guess we headed back to South Jordan and relaxed?

Day 5 (Fri Dec 22nd) - This was a very fun long day. We spent the day at the zoo with my cousin Allen and his family. The kids had the best time. It's awesome because each of Allen's kids line up perfectly in age with my kids. Their kids are ages 9, 7, 5 and their youngest turned 3 the day before. My kids are currently 9, 7, 5 and will be 3 in two months. It was a great time.

Allen then treated us to lunch at The Pie Pizzeria. The kids thought it was so awesome that the walls had names written all over it. Hopefully they don't become inspired and create similar artwork in our own home. One of the employees handed some sharpies to the kids so that they could add their own names to the walls. I haven't been at the Pie since probably high school and that was with Allen as well. It was just as good as I remember. The kids all thought the size of the pizza was amazing. It was really nice of Allen to take us back there.

Since we were in downtown Salt Lake City I felt like we should stop by and see my mom. I felt the same way the first night we landed when we were walking around Temple Square but never brought it up. I was still having some mixed feelings about going after The Pie but Danny knew I would regret it and he drove us over there. I called my mom and told her we were literally two minutes away and asked if we could see her for a minute. I still need to sort out all my feelings but it ended up being the best thing for us. She has only ever met two of the kids and it was back when Hudson was one years old so he and Addie didn't remember her. I'm really glad we did get a visit in. It was good for me, good for my mom and good for the kids.

That night we ended the night feeling very happy as we relaxed on the couch with some popcorn and a Christmas movie.

Day 6 (Sat Dec 23rd) - I was able to spend the morning with some really good friends. I met up with one of my best friends Alyssa Rodriguez and my bonus mom Loraine Rowzee and also my good friend Whitney Lindsay who recently became a widow last month. It was awesome just having a moment to be with them. With Jacob getting married soon I hope to return and see them again. I then headed back and we left to get lunch. Danny and I got Cafe Rio while the kids ate McDonalds. We let them play in this play place for almost an hour. They probably felt like they were in heaven because we never do that.

After lunch we took the kids to the cemetery for a quick visit to Camila's headstone. It was freezing cold so we unfortunately didn't stay too long.

Lamoni and Aide hosted a dinner at their place which was really fun. We met Sam's girlfriend and got to spend more time with Giovanna's family, Jacob, Moroni and Tiare, and Pollyanna's family.

Day 7 (Sun Dec 24th) - We got everybody ready and on time for church which is not something we always do. In fact we were the first ones there out of the whole Ferguson family. Jon and Halle had Milo's baby blessing in their ward that morning. It's also the same ward that Grandma Great attends so we were able to spend more time with her. We actually most of our day at her house after. We had Milo's luncheon and then everyone changed for family pictures with all the Fergusons. I'm curious how those will turn out because we had a couple crying kids (Addie and Quinn) who did not want to be out in the cold. Danny also forgot his pants at my parents home so he wore his church pants instead of the jeans we packed. There was one point where Donna and Jaina both assumed we were done with pictures so they left and weren't even in the best ones by the barn that we took. It should be interesting to get those back. I was already happy that we did our own family pictures just a couple weeks ago but now after that experience I'm extra happy about it. Eventually everyone went their separate ways to celebrate the rest of Christmas Eve. We were the last ones to leave but it was nice because we got extra one on one time with Grandma Great.

Once Grandma had to leave for a different family party we headed back to South Jordan where we were able to have a shepherds dinner with my parents, Ben, Jacob and Deb. In my entire marriage with Danny we have never done this before. We've always spent Christmas Eve with his family and then just on our own. This year was his first time doing the shepherd's dinner tradition that I grew up doing. The kids all did so well dressing up as shepherds. The kids all really became obsessed with their uncle Jacob and future aunt Deb. Whenever he was around they were glued to him and Deb. It was also cool seeing the kids interact with Ben. It makes me wish we lived closer so they can continue to build on these relationships.

We don't normally do this but we ended our Christmas Eve with ice cream. The kids were pretty impressed with Opa's selection and all the different options they were able to choose from. We then got into our Christmas jammies that Felix had somehow delivered under the tree while we were gone during the day. Once they were asleep in bed Danny and I were able to get things ready for the next morning. The nice thing about already having done our own Christmas before we left is that we only had to worry about one gift under the tree for each kid which was their Santa gift. My parents were super nice enough to prepare two stockings for our family. I'm really glad they did that, it was really nice of them. Another really nice thing was the note that Oma left from Santa for the kids to find in the morning. I appreciate the small details a lot.

Day 8 (Mon Dec 25th) - The kids woke up around 8am and we were able to start our Christmas day. My parents came downstairs to watch the kids open up the stockings, Santa gifts and the gifts that they had bought our family.

We headed to Mapleton around noon to be with Danny's side of the family. It had snowed a little the day before so the kids were able to finally see some snow. It wasn't a whole lot but it was enough. The kids were spoiled this Christmas by so many people. They got presents from Grandma, Grandpa, aunt Jill, aunt Marie and aunt Halle. We had to get an extra luggage to take everything home. We played the saran wrapped ball game as adults and then the kids played their own version. Our favorite gift was a homemade clock that Dave made for each of his kids. He then shared an awesome testimony about how life is all about time and not just what we do with it but who we share it with. He talked about how family is the most important thing and that we shouldn't take our time with family for granted. It was awesome to hear with share his heart with all of us. We had lasagna for lunch and then later for dinner Jill and Mike ordered Chinese food for everybody that was still there while we watched the Christmas Story. We got home really late but it was an awesome full Christmas day.

Day 9 (Tue Dec 26th) - We spent most of this day in South Jordan before spending the night in Spanish Fork again. We had a relaxing morning and then Danny and I were able to sneak away for a lunch date while Jacob watched the kids for us. We had four places on our 'have to eat while in Utah' list that we really wanted to do. These places were Cafe Rio, Burgers Supreme, the Kolache's place and Zupas. We were able to have lunch at Zupas and check off all the boxes on our virtual food list. It was even better than I remember it. I love Zupas.

We got back in time to see more of my siblings who showed up to spend time with our parents for Christmas. Giovanna and Sophia came, along with Sam and his girlfriend, and Pollyanna and her family came. We spent all day just visiting and being together. After everyone left and we said our goodbyes we headed to Marie's house for the night again. We had told Addie that she and Georgia could have a sleepover at Jill's house but I didn't want to be too far away so we were close by in Spanish Fork. I'm still trying to form my own thoughts on sleepovers as I'm not really a fan of them but this situation turned out fine and she did well.

Day 10 (Wed Dec 27th) - We had chosen the night before for the girls to have a sleepover because we knew we would be in Utah County all day. It was Tommy's first birthday and they were throwing him a big party that afternoon. While the rest of us were at Marie's house Georgia and Addie were able to have a brunch outing which they both said was a lot of fun. We were able to reunite later at the party where they had a hard time saying goodbye later that night. Before the party though we took the four other kids to Rand's house where the kids were able to play cars with Jayden while Danny and I were able to catch up with Rand and Ashley. It was nice. While at the party the kids all had a blast. It was the last time we would see most of them.

Day 11 (Thur Dec 28th) - We were able to have everything packed up and ready to go. We said goodbye to my parents before they left for the temple. My other best friend Charisa stopped by to say a quick hello and goodbye. We had tried all week to see each other but she was dealing with some really sick kids. It was good to see her and meet her newest little babe.

Dave and Donna showed up and we were able to load up all the vehicles. Then Jill called and of course Addie had left behind her new Christmas pajamas from her stay the day before so they were coming down to bring those. We're still not convinced that the girls didn't plan this for an additional get together to happen haha. We all had lunch together and then headed downtown. We had talked about going to the Natural History Museum but we then changed our plans and opted for the Clark Planitarian since it's free. We didn't have to be at the airport until later so we were able to spend all afternoon with Grandma, Grandpa, Jill and Georgia.

Once the time came we said our goodbyes again and headed to the airport. The kids were just as excited as the first time to be getting on the plane. We had a similar setup as the first time flying in but switched who would sit by the window. This time it was Quinn at the window, me in the middle and Rylee to my left. Danny was across the aisle on the outside seat. Behind me was Grant at the window, Addie in the middle and Hudson in the aisle. Since Addie had flown before she agreed to be in the middle on this Utah trip to help out her brothers, be on snack duty, and give them each a chance to be by a window. It was really nice to have her help out on both flights. Once again the kids did awesome on the flight. Grant apparently was watching something funny because every once in awhile he would just burst out in uncontrollable laughter. It's a lot better than crying. It was also adorable. I thought at least some of the kids would fall asleep because it was a late flight but they all hung in there with high spirits.

We landed around 11pm and found that our van wouldn't start. We believe one of the lights must have been left on. It was a minor inconvenience especially with the timing but we eventually got it all squared away and the van running again. While we were waiting for the van to get jumped I got the twins in pajamas and they fell asleep right away. It took us a few days to recuperate from this vacation but even days later I'm full of gratitude that we were able to make this trip happen. It was full and amazing.