December is always our busiest month for the Utah's Adventure Family website. We get to do so many fun Christmas activities. Mom burned everyone out on Christmas lights this year, so she promised to be better next year. We also have lots of fun family traditions. We were busy almost every night. Luckily, sports were sparse, so we had plenty of time. Here are some highlights from our month!
Mark Reflections
Mark's photo won an Award of Excellence at the Council Level. We were so proud of him. His entry moved on to Region, but did not earn any more awards. We are just grateful our boys get to experience a little of the arts through Reflections.
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| Mark was a reluctant winner! |
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| Mark borrowed Randy's clothes and jacket for this event. |
Ward Christmas Party
Our ward put on the most amazing Christmas party. It was a live Nativity and it was so well done. We loved it. The weather was perfect and Dad got to be one of the wisemen.
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| We rode on a wagon pulled by a tractor over to the Nativity. |
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| Dad was a great wise man. |
Park City
One evening we headed to Park City for some Christmas fun. We walked Main Street and enjoyed the lights and the snow globes. We also were there for the Electric Light Parade. It was fun, but short. Then we headed to Jordanelle for a wagon ride through some Christmas lights. We had hoped for more snow, so it could be a sleigh ride, but it stayed pretty dry. We ended the evening by eating at our favorite train restaurant in Heber.
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| The Snow Globes were fun and someone offered to take our photo! |
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| Waiting for the wagon ride. |
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| Someone else offered to take our family photo. |
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| Seth loves the Dairy Keen. |
Riley's Family Christmas
Last year we made the trek to Genola for Riley's Family Christmas, and we loved the small farm and their cute Christmas activity. So when they invited us down this year, we had to go! They added a new light show, which was really cool. The wagon ride through the lights was fun, too.
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| We love the small farm feel at Riley's. |
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| The kids had fun with all the photo spots. |
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| Seth took this awesome photo of Mom and Dad. |
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| Such cute boys. |
First Snow
Seth was really excited for the first snow. He hurried home from school and went right out to build a snowman with mom. Of course, he ate as much snow as he could hold.
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| Seth loves the snow! |
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| Mom and Seth did pretty well with the snowman. |
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| Mom and Dad enjoyed a date to the Smoked Taco. Best tacos! |
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| Seth also loves these huskies!!! |
Alpine Live Nativity
We were excited to visit the Alpine Living Nativity since it didn't happen last year, and it has moved to a new spot. The large barn was cool, but the crowds were tough. We kind of missed the old days, but it was still a fun night.
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| Waiting to walk through |
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| We do love seeing the camels. |
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| Seth got to hold the shepherd's staff. |
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| Walking in to this moment is always special. |
Gingerbread Houses
We were so glad that our friend, Emily, was making her little gingerbread kits again this year. We had a fun night decorating, and a lot less mess than when we build the graham cracker ones. Check out our creations.
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| The little kits are so nice and easy! |
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| Seth made an awesome cottage. |
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| Mark had bears guarding his house. |
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| Dax went with the green house! |
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| Randy made Santa, which some dubbed "creepy clown." |
Candlelight Christmas
This is our favorite event of the entire Christmas season! Candlelight Christmas at This is the Place is the best. We had a ton of fun walking through the pioneer village, and we spent lots of time doing the pioneers dances. Watching our boys smile and laugh together is the best part. We ended the evening with a quick stop at Frosty's Winter Wonderland. This house is awesome! We met the owner and he was so kind and even gave us a gift.
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| The pioneer traditions are so fun! |
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| We love to pioneer dance. |
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| Mom got to take a turn dancing, too! |
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| This is the Place is our favorite. |
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| Look at this house! It has over 400 figurines. |
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| What a kind gesture to give us this cute gift. |
Randy's Birthday
Randy celebrated another birthday after Christmas! He got his own electric blanket that he and Dax still fight over, and he requested Lemon Cream Pie for dessert. We have the best Dad in the whole world and hope he had a great birthday.
New Years Eve
December ended with New Years Eve games with Laurie, Glen, Nate, and Jason. We played lots of games and ate lots of food. Seth really wanted to play Doodle Face. And this game is not for the easily offended. Take a look at some of the finished drawings.
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| Mark loves seeing what everyone else is drawing. |
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| Seth's turned out pretty good. |
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| Umm....Dax....what happened to you?? |
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| Not too bad Randy. |
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| Poor Mom! She always gets drawn in some crazy way. |
