They came they saw they shopped!

After years of dreaming, months of planning and many days of enjoying our family reunion/trip/white Christmas is over. It was so wonderful and I cannot believe the amount of things we were all able to do and see, and for them buy! They are all so amazed at the shopping here, it is so much cheaper than in Australia, so they came prepared with money saved for a whole year and nothing new for a whole year and then just went crazy with shopping and buying. It was so fun to watch them with their purchases and the bargains they were getting. They now are very familiar with outlets(all of them between here and Utah), the mall, Walmart, Marshalls, Ross and Kohls! In fact I think they boosted our economy!

It would take forever to go day by day of the trip, so I will just list some highlights

1. Waking up Christmas morning to a fresh coating of snow over everything and then after opening presents, sledding through the fresh powder. For people that usually spend Christmas at the beach this will be one Christmas they do not forget!

2. The Sunday before Christmas we went to music and the spoken word in the conference center, because we were on temple square we decided to go to church in the Joseph Smith building. Right before sacrament started everyone stood up and before we realized what was happening in walked the prophet. We attended church with President Gorden B. Hinckley. I cant tell you how special it felt, I had a perfect view of him the whole meeting and had a hard time not staring at him with a big smile the whole time, except for when I was desperately trying to make my kids extra reverent! He was so small and was only accompanied by a bodyguard which made me a little sad, being so close to Christmas, I felt like he should be with family. It felt so normal for him to be doing just what I was doing, taking the sacrament and listening to the speakers, being at church. He is an amazing man, I know that he was called of God and we all felt the spirit that day being in his presence!

3.There was skiing, snow ball fights, sledding, snowman making, snowmobiling and tubing, which were all so fun, but the best part of the snow was the 1st time it snowed and it snowed hard. We were on our way up to Park City when it was getting quite hard to drive so we stopped in Heber at a park and all suited up and played so hard and had so much fun. That time was pure joy it was breathtakingly beautiful and everyone was so happy playing in this snow that was so foreign to them!

4. I love how my kids only see there cousins every 2 years but they play and hang out with them like they see them every week. It was so fun to watch them interact and be so cute with each other. Hayley got to do baptisms in 3 different temples with her cousins, Luke adored all the attention he was given non stop and nicknamed my sister Becky Aunty Pinky because he really thought that was her name, it has now stuck! What a blessing a good family is and I'm so grateful that Families are forever!

Oh my good times were had by all! It seems weird that it is now over, we worked up to it for so long. I wasn't overly sad to say good bye, I have a good year ahead! Mum and Dad come back for Abby's baptism at the end of March, and then in August we are going to Australia for 2 weeks, so I have nothing to complain about. However it sure is a lot quieter around here, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way!


The whole gang after tubing up at Park City

Everyones first attempt at a snowman

Making yellow snow!

We were married in this temple and this was the 1st time 3 of my 5 siblings have seen it, it was neat to show them around.

Disneyland at Christmas with a bunch of kids that have never been - priceless!