Christmas!

Oh where do I begin...let's just say our vacation started out on a rough foot. Ben wanted to leave to Brian Head on the 20th so he could go snowboarding. (Sidenote: we bought a Ford Explorer back in October, first because we needed a second car but also so we could have a 4-wheel drive during the winter and it would never be a problem for us to get up to the Anderson cabin.) So on Thursday I told Ben to check the weather to see which car we should take. He said it says it's sunny, so I didn't question him. We didn't get to leave as early as we wanted but we took the Focus. We pulled into Fillmore to get some dinner. We weren't there but 20 min before the snow storm (the one that Ben didn't see on the weather) had caught up to us. We left as quickly as we could. It didn't help too much because we were already sliding all over the place. About a mile or so outside of Fillmore we spun out. It was really scary but to our luck there wasn't anyone in front or in back of us close enough to be affected by it. We really took it slow after that. So slow if fact we went about 30 miles an hour all the way to Parowan which was like 90 miles away. We made it there in one piece kicking ourselves every minute for being so naive as to not take our explorer. Parowan had about 6-7 inches of snow by the time we got there and it was still coming down. We ended up staying the night at the Days Inn there and got up early the next morning to go up the mountain. We were lucky enough to get right behind a plow truck. Ben didn't want to miss out on all the new powder. He went snowboarding with his brothers Zach and Jerm but they didn't last very long because it was sooo cold and windy. For Ben though it was worth the trip. We left Saturday morning for Ephraim for the annual Baugh Christmas party. We had a lot of fun. Ben was happy because he won two of his Grandma Baugh's famous wool rugs that she loves to make. That evening part of the Anderson Clan drove to Sandy to Ben's aunt and uncle's to watch the BYU bowl game. There was lots of food and entertainment. Thank you Aunt Raylene and Uncle Greg. Sunday evening we went back to Aunt Raylene's and Uncle Greg's for a Anderson Christmas party. All the little kids got to hear Santa on the walkie talkie and had Christmas presents delivered from Santa's elves. Aidan obviously had no clue what was going on but he still had lots of fun with his new tractor he got! Monday morning we left at 5:30 am to Vegas. We arrived in time to get some last minute shopping done. We had a mexican dinner thanks to our sister in law Katy. Our Christmas Eve was a lot of fun. Aidan got a singing elf that he loved so much he couldn't stop hugging him. All the girls got camo pajama pants compliments of Kathy and Belmont. All the boys received matching camo hoodies. But in all the chaos before we arrived Ben and I forgot to bring Aidan's portable crib. So we made do...and he slept in a Christmas bin. Luckily Aidan is still small enough to be able to do that. It worked perfectly. Christmas morning was more then I could have ever hoped for. It was so much more fun for Ben and I now that we have Aidan and he is old enough to open his presents and play with them. Between us and Ben's parents Aidan got more things then he knew what to do with. His cousins helped him out by taking his toys from him and playing with them themselves. I think everyone had a wonderful Christmas though. I remember that morning I was helping some of my neices with which gifts were their's. I handed my niece Clara a gift that was her's and she simply replied, "No thank you." I guess she had had enough. :) Ben's parents were really good to all of us. Part of our present was getting to go to The Phantom of the Opera there in Vegas the next night for the second time. It was better then the first time. We were on the bottom row about ten rows back, it was amazing. Thank you to Belmont and Kathy for all you did for us while we were there. We really enjoyed our Christmas vacation. Our New Years was really layed back. We spent it at the cabin and watched the Bourne Ultimatum. We had fun though. Ben took Aidan on a snowmobile ride on the first which he absolutely loved! All in all it was a wonderful vacation which came to a quick end but it was definitely one to remember!