vacation at last part 3 (Christmas with my fam)

After landing in Salt Lake City, my mom rescued us from the blizzardous weather. As we were driving home, mixed feelings of missing Ammon's family, excitement to see mine, and dreading work filled my mind.Then, a Christmas miracle occurred: my co-worker called to say I didn't have to go into work. I can't tell you how relieved I was!

After unpacking, Christmas Eve was filled with a delicious dinner, watching movies, playing games, reading stories, and watching my brothers open their new pajamas.

Christmas Eve

Reading Stories

My cute mom

                                                                             

Daniel made me a calendar

Christmas Day

haha

Mom and Dad

My favorite tradition my family does is ornament-making. Every year we use clay to make anything that tickles our fancy and then we cook them in the oven. After they're done, we pick out an ornament for each person on my mom's side and write their name on it. This year we had a few extra, so I kept my favorite one:

"Hey, you rhinos, you have really small brains. Did you know that? It's just a fact, no offense. I mean, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about."

Nephi's ornament making skills are very impressive

Ammon made this one. It's the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Another Christmas tradition is that we go to my Aunt Laura's house. There, we ate Mexican food and played  oodles of games. Oh, and of course there was lots of baby-holding and cousin lovin: 

I really had such a great Christmas this year. I've had more treats, kids, games, hugs, and family in two weeks than I've had all year! It felt a little weird at first when it was all over, but right now I am really glad to be back in my own bed and getting some one-on-one time with my lover! {wink, wink} 

vacation at last part 2

After living the dream and spending a couple days at Northstar ski resort, we packed our bags and drove to Susanville, California where Ammon's family is from. There, we celebrated Christmas a few days early.

Here are some pictures: 

Woke up to this Christmas day

Eveylyn with her stocking

 Santa brings exotic fruits to the Lott house

My man looks good with a little scruff

My stocking. No touchy.

Rise and shine Caleb

 Isaac helping out with the fire

Mom making breakfast

Nephi sneaking through his stocking

Merry Christmas Taz!

This one is self-explanatory

Issac opening his fort-kit I made him

The coolest socks ever!

Ammon playing with his new dinosaur toy that Evelyn gave him

Mood mustaches. This one is "happy"

Eveylyn holding the cat hostage. haha.

This is my "I just survived a snowball fight" face

One of the chickens got loose

The power was out all Sunday night. No worries, we just kept playing monopoly and ate dinner by candle light. Thank goodness we had our blankets and a fire to keep us warm.

Early Monday morning (Christmas Eve), Ammon and I packed our bags once again, this time to head back to Utah. While waiting at the Reno airport, I finally got to do something I've always wanted to do... gamble.

This is me about to put in my dollar.

Pulling the lever

And I won seventy-five cents! 

Wahoo!

Ammon bet a total of 5 dollars

And left with nothing...Haha. 

Nephi was also with us. He walked with 50 cents worth of profit. I pride myself in walking with the most profit, even if it just 75 cents. 

After a turbulence-filled flight back to Utah, my mom picked us up from the SLC airport. Ammon and I then got to spend the next few days with my family. Those pictures will be in my next blog post, so stay tuned!

it feels good to be...

89% done with school!!  

vacation at last

 Playing Chess

This cute kid was playing peek-a-boo

 View of Nevada

                                                                                             

View from our hotel

After staying in Reno for the night, we drove to Northstar Ski Resort which is by Lake Tahoe. We are staying in the cutest little condo! Ammon and I have a bed all to ourselves up in the loft area. Oh yeah... :)

Here's a little bit of what we've been up to:

Ever since leaving for college, I tried snowboarding exactly 6 different times. And all 6 times, I couldn't quite figure out the whole "carving" dealio that snowboarders seem to grasp with finesse. So Ammon's mom introduced these things called ski boards to me and now I'm a convert! After 2 days on the mountain, I can tackle any slope! Aw yeah! 

My little sis Evelyn is a pro skier. I learned everything I know from her.

My husband's a babe!

Nephi

So far so good!