Catching Up Part 5: Geat Grandma and Temple Square

For our Family Home Evening on the Monday we spent in Utah, we were able to head down to Salt Lake City with Brad's parents, and Skyler, Ashley and Kenadee. We stopped to visit Great Grandma Alta Benson (Grandpa B's Mom) at the care facility she was staying in. Grandma had been living in Idaho and came down for the holidays, only to get very sick and end up needing to be admitted for a while. It was Owen's first chance to meet his Great Grandma. She is always a pleasure to see as she cares very much about her family, and keeps amazingly good track of her nine children and dozens of grandchildren and great grandchildren. I am so grateful we had the chance to see her, because she passed away just a few weeks after our visit. She lived to be 90 years old, and spent over 30 years as a widow... she lived an honorable life and left quite a legacy in her family. We love and miss her, but are glad she is now reunited with her husband, patiently watching over and waiting for the rest of us.

After visiting with Grandma, we went up to Temple Square (the city block where the Salt Lake Temple and visitor's center are located) to see the magnificent Christmas lights! It's been a few years since we've seen them, and it was a first for both of the kids. Brad and I have special memories of walking around there at Christmas time - we visited together on our third date - the infamous night of "Buddy Ball" that started it all... ahh those were the days =). This night was just as magical, if not more so in that we were able to share it with our children. Eli especially loves the Salt Lake Temple, and was thrilled to see it in person. He now tells everyone that we all got married in the Salt Lake Temple ...I keep trying to explain that just mommy and daddy got married there, but he'll have none of that =). The only draw back to the evening was the temperature... IT. WAS. FREEZING. No exaggerations! We had on long john's and all our warm layers, and it still felt like the arctic. We only walked around for about 20 minutes, then headed upstairs to The Garden restaurant on the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building next door to the Temple.





This is the view from the window on the 10th floor of the JSMB. I have NEVER been up there before! Now that I know about it, heading up there for the view will have to be a new tradition! It was GORGEOUS to see the Temple and all the lights from that angle... not to mention much warmer =). We were able to see the Temple spires from our table.

See the spires in the background?
Now, The Garden was a nice treat for us, but unfortunately is was getting late in the evening and both of our kids were alternating with meltdowns. Eli was STARVING, but when his quesadilla finally came, he completely freaked out because it looked different than the ones I make him (aka there were black spots from the grill on it). Grr... so Brad and I jumped up and down a lot to keep the kids out in the foyer so as not to make a scene. I'm pretty sure the fountain out there is not for playing in, but thankfully the hostess turned a blind eye because there was not way to stop those little turkeys! They even got Kenna involved....

We stopped by the giant Christmas tree in the JSMB lobby on our way out. Can you see how soaked my children are? Anyway, here are some fun shots with the family!

What a fun and memorable night!

Catching Up Part 4: We love our Utah fam!

Getting out to Utah for a visit is nice for a lot of reasons. The change of scenery is exciting, we inevitably do things out of routine that are fun, Brad is off work so we get to be with each other ALL day, EVERY day for a WEEK, plus we get to go on a DATE and leave the kids with grandparents, we get to eat at Cafe Rio, visit Temple Square, and best of all, hang out with the FAMILY! This visit was really a blast. Last year when we visited, Eli felt really shy around everyone and would usually scream "Ow, guy!" whenever anyone looked at him (including Grandma!). This year he was so outgoing and friendly to everyone - he was excited to see REAL people that we had been telling him about and showing him pictures of. He got a kick out of learning and remembering everyone's names. He just seemed so comfortable and happy, that it was obvious he KNOWS this is his family! Owen made himself right at home as well, and got to exploring every nook and cranny of Grandma and Grandpa's house. It's also exciting that the boys have cousins now (with two more on the way this spring). Brad and I were the only married ones on his side of the family for a couple of years, so now that two of his brothers are married with kids, and my sister is expecting a baby, the fun is just multiplying!

The day we arrived, Grandma and Grandpa Goodrich and Aunt Nancy drove up from Salt Lake to see us. We sure wish we could have seen them one more time, but the week went so fast!



The boys enjoyed playing with cousin Kenadee (Skyler and Ashleigh's daughter) who is right in between them in age. Funny enough, she was a little nervous about these two and their "scary" dinosaur toys. They eventually warmed up to each other, and I know they have some fun years ahead of them!

Eli totally reminds me of Brad in this picture:
I wanted some cute pictures of the boys in their matching Christmas outfits, but after 3 days on the road, this is all the cooperation I got:

Eli thought Aunt Heidi was especially cool this trip... he really enjoyed going to two of her basketball games to watch her play!

Of course Brad got to play some ball with his Dad and Skyler... Eli got to practice his dunking skills!

One of the hi-lights for me of course was getting to see my adorable sister and her adorable belly! I can't wait to meet my little nephew! Hopefully we can time our trip in May right so that I can be there for his big arrival... Aub, you are the most beautiful pregnant mama ever! Aubrey and Dale spent some time with us on New Year's Eve, and then I went down for a nice afternoon and lunch with her in Spanish Fork a couple of days later. It was fun to see all of her baby preparations, and just be able to shoot the breeze like the good ol' days =).

Owen took up with Grandpa this time around, and even took a few naps with him! Grandpa's got the magic touch for getting babies to sleep it seems....Eli was excited to see Uncle Chris this time around. He's never say so, but I think Chris was pleased since Eli was especially scared of him the last visit =). This is the two of them sharing a sucker and reading Dino Train together... it was so adorable I HAD to get a pic!
And last but not least, our newest little nephew Trevan - Scott and Jen's first baby. I am so sad I don't have more pictures of him, but our camera broke right at the end of the trip. He is really a GORGEOUS baby... all that dark hair and blue eyes to contrast it. He was born the day before Owen's first birthday! And of course, he looks cute in this sling with his pretty mommy, Jen.

We sure love and miss everyone!

Catching Up Part 3: Road Trip

After a wonderful day together, on Christmas night we loaded up the car to the brim and set out for a cross-country adventure! The boys were excited to snuggle under their new quilts from Grandma B. and watch the animated Nativity Story from Living Scriptures (though I have to say, I'm not a total fan of it, but that's another post). Complete with our gourmet Christmas dinner of bagel sandwiches, we headed out in a snow storm. Our intent was just to drive 4 or 5 hours and stay somewhere so that the next day's drive would be doable. It's supposed to be about a 20 hour drive from here to Brad's parents', and we knew our kids could not do that straight through.

As we headed toward Kansas City however, the effects of the day's storm were evident. Deep snow lined the roads, and the median was littered with abandoned cars that had slid off during the day. Snow was still coming down, and of course our wipers wouldn't work (come to find out, they were just frozen over in spite of the special winter wiper fluid). We met our goal of a 5 hour drive, but not nearly the distance we were hoping for because of the weather. We stayed the night in a cheap motel somewhere in Kansas. Eli was intrigued about the idea of a motel, and kept saying "the motel is NOT grandma's house!"

The next day's weather was a little clearer, but the wind was blowing and every few seconds the view of the road would be obliterated by blowing snow, then reappear. Beautiful, distracting, and freaky all at the same time. Kansas is NOT my favorite state to drive through though, and in winter it's even worse. Nothing but FLAT and white as far as the eye could see... except for a few snow covered hay bales here and there. We ended up getting stuck for a few hours just before we reached Colorado - the entire I-70 had been shut down because of ice and wind. We thought about heading north into Nebraska and completing the drive along the I-80, but found out through a series of phone calls that it was also closed. So we sat. And thought about getting a motel. And just as we picked a place to stay and Brad went in to get a room, they told us that the highway was opening up. Thank goodness! It was actually pretty smooth sailing as far as weather goes the rest of the way into Denver.






From Denver we headed north into Wyoming and hooked up with the I-80. We were still hoping that we could make it all the way, but our little Owen who had really been a trooper up to this point just couldn't take it ANYMORE. When bedtime came, he just wanted OUT of the carseat!!! No singing, hand holding, or me trying to squeeze in our tiny backseat to be near him would help. Unluckily, we were in the middle of nowhere when the crying spell hit, so it went on for over an hour before we found some podunk place to stop... Wamsutter, WY is NOT a place I recommend staying!

We pulled into this scary little motel around 1am... when Brad knocked on the door, a wild looking lady with long, flowing gray hair came running out of a back room in her night gown. I was half expecting her to grab a shotgun from a closet somewhere before answering the door. After Brad checked us in, he came out and told me "she was cranky." It got even worse after we checked out our room... it REEKED of smoke and included some nice cigarette burns all over the furniture. Poor Brad had to go back and talk to the scary lady again... luckily she had a non-smoking room available. And the lack of smoke smell is pretty much the only good thing I can say about the place. We didn't let the kids walk on the floor without shoes if that says anything! We just grabbed about 4 hours of shuteye and hit the road again as fast as we could! Thankfully Owen was able to consider going back to sleep at this time of morning as a "nap" instead of bedtime, and was more cooperative about it.


We had a little less than four hours to drive on that third day, and were exhausted, dirty, and very relieved to finally make it to Morgan! I laid down with Owen and slept right through church... Eli went with Brad and the family, but took a nap in Sacrament Meeting. Out of all of us, he had gotten the most sleep because unlike Owen, he falls asleep in the car at bedtime without a problem, and miraculously wasn't awakened by all of Owen's screaming in the night!

Catching Up Part 2: Christmas Day!

Christmas morning was wonderful. We woke up to a white Christmas - in fact it was blizzard-like conditions all day with heavy snow and wind! We were able to get dressed and have breakfast before then letting the kids down into the living room to see the magical transformation. They were both pretty excited to see and try their new bikes. They rode them around for a bit before opening anything else. It was nice to be able to take things slow, just opening and playing with one gift at a time. We tried to keep the gifts simple, and the kids were pretty thrilled with everything they got!




Owen has been LOVING his pound and roll toy, wooden rings, and lacing beads. Eli was THRILLED with the trains he got - especially "Stepney" as he asked Santa for that one. He's also really enjoyed the lacing animals by Melissa and Doug. Grandma and Grandpa B. sent them the awesome tent and tunnel (though we had to send it back for exchange and haven't gotten the new ones yet). Grandma and Grandpa K. and Great Grandma K. paid for a slide and picnic table, but they arrived later and I don't have pics to upload of those yet. Both boys got a new lap quilt from Grandma B and love those as well - they came in very handy for our road trip! Aunt Aubrey sent Owen a soft soccer ball, and Eli some foam dinosaurs for the bath - those have been a huge HIT! Brad's gift was an awesome office chair that I snagged off Freecycle and kept hidden in our basement!












After the fun morning of toys and more toys and a bath with the new dinosaur toys, Owen passed out for a nice nap and Eli played quietly with trains while Brad packed the car and I got our travel food ready.

Catching Up Part 1: Christmas Eve!

Our Christmas celebration was especially fun this year with two little boys to share it with! Christmas Eve ended up being a busy day, with Brad working and me scurrying around packing our stuff for our last-minute-decision-trip to Utah. In spite of a lack of structure and definite plans for the evening, it ended up being a lot of fun. The boys and I played "riding in Santa's Sleigh" with a huge cardboard box... we sang lots of Christmas songs together and rang our jingle bell sticks. Daddy came home to find us still in the sleigh, and some roughhousing ensued!

We finally hung our stockings up, much to Eli's delight! We also set a carrot out for Santa's reindeer (no cookies though... we figure Santa gets enough treats this time of year, lol). Of course both boys had to taste the carrot before brushing their teeth. Eli had just watch Caillou (a PBS cartoon) that morning about Santa, so when we told him it was time to go to sleep so Santa could come, he bolted to his room and was out like a light... I have never seen him go to bed so easily! Owen took a little more convincing, but Daddy finally got him cuddled to sleep so we could start the wrapping!


Wrapping gifts together this year was especially fun. It's actually the first year I remember Brad helping me wrap, haha. It was fun to be up conspiring together, and Brad said he felt like a "real dad" while putting Owen's bike together. Eli's bike was a special FREE find this year!