Sledding

The next morning we woke up to this:

So we decided to hunt out a place to go sledding.  We ended up by the Temple in Daybreak.  There was a park that was nicely covered in snow.  Since it was snowing so much and there was no cover so I kept my camera in the car and did not get any pictures.  Infact, I did not take any pictures for the next three days.  Such a bummer!  We had a wonderful time visiting close friends that we have not seen in years, the girls had a sleepover with our friends children.  How thankful we were that they all got along so well!  Too bad I did not get any pictures.

Our last day in Utah was spent in Logan for a very special day.  However I will write about that in another post as this special day is how we started out a New Year 2011!  There was no better way to spend it!

Lights at Temple Square

After a busy day of walking around SLC we got to experience the lights at Temple Square as a family.  Visiting Temple Square is one of my favorite childhood memories.  We went to the visitor center and had a good time watching all the Mormon Messages and Commercials and seeing the replica of the inside of the Temple.  The kids really enjoyed seeing what the inside of the Temple looks like.

The red and orange lights were so powerful!

Here is a small nativity on an "endless" fountain pool.  The reflection of the nativity and lights was just beautiful!

Scattered around were different nativities from other countries.  We thought the "Hershey Kiss" nativity was funny!

Here is a picture of the kids inside the Tablernacle.

Visiting Church Sites in Salt Lake City

Our first full day in Utah was spent visitng different church sites in SLC.  The weather was cold, but there was no snow on the ground so we thought we would take advantage of the good weather.  This was a good choice because the next two days were full of non-stop snow!

Our first stop was at the Conference Center for a tour.  We have done it once before with the girls and it was so nice to go back to learn even more.  It was still decorated for Christmas and the David Archeleta performance.  It was beautiful!

Here the kids are standing outside:

Here are a few shots from inside:

Here we are up on the roof top:

Nice view of the SLC Temple:

Next we visited the Church History Museum.  The kids loved standing behind the pulpit and calling everyone to repentance.  It was quite embarrassing as I was across the room and could hear them shouting it out.  One of those "that is funny, but those are not my kids" moments! haha!

Trevor LOVES Captain Moroni.  Everytime he sees a Temple he looks for Him.  He was so excited to see one in the museum!

We ate luch at the Lion House.  It was so busy, but worth the weight.  We all rolled out of that place.  We could not believe the number of people with dessert on their trays...how do they have room to eat all that food??!!!??

After lunch we snuck over to the Beehive House for a tour.  One thing we have learned about Trevor on this trip is he LOVES tours.  He just soaks in everything the tour guides tell us.

We visited Welfare Square and got to learn more about the church welfare system.  We are so blessed to have such an inspired program in our church.  We were amazed and the number of members and non-members who benefit from this system all over the world.  The kids were amazed at the story of the children in Etheopia who had gone without food for so long that their tiny bodies could not digest food.  The church supplied a nutrient (sorry I cannot remember the name) to these people so they could survive.  We also got to see the different type of humanitarian packages that are sent throughout the world during times of natural disasters, famine, etc.

At the end we got to sample some of the products that they make on site.  We sampled the cheese, bread, chocolate milk, peanut butter and jelly.  We could not get enough of the chocolate milk...it was sooo good!

Later we went to the Joseph Smith Building to show the kids the view of Temple Square and to watch the movie.  The goal was for Meredith to get a little nap, but she was so into the movie that she did not rest her eyes!

UTAH Road trip

This year we decided to take all the kids on a road trip to Utah.  Trevor and Meredith had never been to Utah and I have not seen the Christmas lights at Temple Square in years so this was my excuse to go!   Here are some shots on our way there:

A traditional stop at Iceburgs on the way up for a Mini (yes those are mini's) shake- yum, yum!

Drove by the burned up Tabernacle in Provo.  The whole place was gutted...so sad!

Stopped by BYU to show the kids around and visit the bookstore:

We found this shirt at the BYU bookstore.  As a family we cannot stand the taste of Mountain Dew, buy our nephew, who is currently serving a mission in South Africa, is addicted to the stuff.  So we got a good laugh out of this shirt!  Especially since just four days earlier when we were on the phone with him he told us they DO have Mountain Dew in South Africa with much happiness!

Christmas at home 2010

Christmas morning began with all the kids assembling in our bedroom around 7:00 a.m..  Then the traditional trip downstairs with a photo.

Santa brought exactly what all the kids asked for this year.  The list went like this:

A 32 gb itouch for Mackenzie:

A digital camera for Madalyn:

Pokepark Wii game for Trevor:

A Go Go Puppy for Meredith:

For the past year Trevor has been asking for an ipod, but we told him he was too young and needed to wait a few years.  Well, Madalyn has an itouch and decided she no longer needed her ipod so she gave it to Trevor for Christmas.  He was soooo excited!

The big ticket present this year was a group gift.  After a late night/early morning with our neighbor/Bishop the TRAMPOLINE was completed! 

The kids were so excited!  As you can see from the picture the enclosure was not completely done, nor was the ladder put together, but it was good enough to jump on for now.  It was super foggy and cold in the morning so the kids had to wait a few hours before they could jump on it.  I am sure it will provide years of entertainment!

Christmas at G & G Wrights 2010

Later Christmas day we traveled up to Grandpa and Grandma Wrights house to open presents, eat, and celebrate with the extended family.

The kids were spoiled by G & G Wright as usual...some of the great things they got were...Toms, baby dolls, Wii Resort, tennis shoes, tons of gift cards, etc.

Ryan and I were also super spoiled...new cookware, a hedger, gift cards.  We will be eating well on gift cards this next week!

Uncle Brad made this hat for a Christmas party he attended this Season.  Isn't it hilarious?!?!

Since Scooter is gone serving his mission in South Africa I decided to make a display/countdown board for my mom and sister.  Needless to say I hit the "tears" jackpot! 

One of the best parts (for the kids) about visitng Grandma and Grandpa during the holidays are all the "musical" toys.  My parents have at least 25 different musical displays...my kids listen to ALL of them...sometimes all at once!

Here are Trevor and Meredith playing with their 2nd cousin Carli.  She is the cutest little thing!  She has all four of my kids wrapped around her finger!

  Here she is bouncing on their belly:

At the end of the evening we had our families 2nd annual gift exchange.  There were a lot of good presents for us all to choose from.  We got lucky and came home with See's candy and a Snuggie (thanks Uncle Doug)!

Volleyball banquet

Mackenzie's volleyball banquet was a week ago.  It was a nice event held in the high school auditorium.  Coach Brandon and Coach Austin spoke about each girl individually.  It was nice to see that they really took time to get to know the girls.  The best thing the Coach said about Mackenzie is that "she is an asset to this program for the next three years".  We were so happy to hear that!

One of the mom's put together a yearbook for each level of volleyball.  It is fabulous!!  Tons of pictures, stats on the girls, etc.  We really appreciated all the time she put into making these books special for the girls.

Mackenzie with two of her favorite teammates (Celeste and Anika):