Short synopsis: We had our Christmas a few days early, and left for Utah on Christmas Eve morning. We left at 4am to get some miles under us before the girls woke up. We made it to Flagstaff at 6:30am...(and it was 1 degree mind you) when the van temperature gauge was reading below the C. I woke Nate up and he said to pull over. We waited in front of Checker for it to open, and the girls and I hung out in Burger King for a couple hours while Nate changed out the thermostat. I am SO grateful that Nate knows so much about cars...and that he has a Dad that knows even more. We would have been STUCK in Flagstaff on Christmas Eve!!
Anyways, Utah was COOOOOLD, the kids and Nate got sick, but it was a BLAST to see family. And sorry for all of you friends that we didn't get to see...but believe me you wouldn't have wanted to get what my kids and Nate had. Yuck. Ok...enough jabber. On to the pictures....
You're gonna use WHAT to pull my tooth out?!!
(And yes..I pulled her tooth out. It was hanging forward and grossing me out!)
I think Abby was more thrilled than Caitlin was about her losing her 1st tooth.
THE tool. Worked like a charm! :o)
Emma thinks my bathtub is her little playground. She is in there all the time!
The girls having a blast at Grandma Mary's house.
Emma sportin' her jingle-bell headband my Grandma made for her.
We had a GREAT pre-Christmas dinner...thank you Grandma Mary for the good food and fun!!
Christmas Eve and the traditional PJ presents...
She was SO excited about these jammies! She is obsessed with monkeys.
Christmas morning!!
Emma's new bike!
She just couldn't get enough of it.
Chillin' with Aunt Heather at Grandma Nielson's house.
The ACTUAL Christmas morning.
Caitlin is Nate's only 'son'. It was like 5 degrees outside, but she wanted to go for a loooong 4 wheeler ride. Guaranteed I was nice and warm on the couch inside.
The girls' pillow fight with Zach.
Go Emma!
Horsey rides with Daddy.
It started out as a mild game of Twister.
It was almost as fun to watch Mom Nielson bust a gut laughing as it was to watch the boys play Twister!
Uh...gross.
Yup. Nielson love.
Mom still couldn't pull herself together.
I think it is INTENDED for people this size.
Abs and her cousin Brookie.
Emma got a cute new monkey from Grandma and Grandpa Nielson! She loves it!
The girls opening their cute new outfits from Sherstin. Thanks Sherstin and Kentimus! We missed you Kent.
We went to J and Becks' new house in Farmington for our sibling gift exchange. We had good snacks and had fun watching the girls thoroughly exhaust Jake the whole night.
Nate and his acrobatics with the kids.
Abs and Sare.
The Poooooot Dawwwwwg!
All the girlies. So dang cute!
The theme for the gift exchange was the letter L. So Joseph got us the new movie "Light at the Museum." I've never even HEARD of it! ;o) Clever, eh?
Maddy, Isaac, Caitlin and Abs
Maddy was SOOOO good with the girls! They did their hair the same, and played the entire time. And she wanted us to stay even longer! She is such a sweetheart!!
Joe and Nate...playing Madder or Madden or some football game on Joseph's new PS3.
Emma was UNPERSONABLE the whole time. She wouldn't go to ANYONE but Nate or I. But Maddy managed to sneak a little hug in for this picture.
Don't let this picture fool you. This was when Abby was throwing up for 8 hours straight..every 15 minutes. And then had a fever after. Poor kid!
Emma can't hide it very well when she's sick. Nothing worse than sick kids when they are too young to understand what's going on. (And that is Sam's monkey that Isaac let her borrow to make her happy :o)
We had some live performances at my Dad's house. Goofy kids.
Yup. Emma's ticked that someone else was holding her.
Happy New Year! I couldn't believe my kids lasted until midnight without a nap! 
This girl needs her own karaoke machine. For real. 
Sam, Joseph, and Abbalicious. 
Joseph said to do 'peace'...Caitlin just decided to do peace behind Joseph's head. Little squirt.
Some SERIOUSLY exhausted girls after a looong trip and a lot of sleep deprivation!
Thank you to everyone who let us stay at your houses, and hung out with us, and for the good times and memories! Thanks Trista...for showing up EVERY male at dodgeball..you make us women proud :oD. All-in-all...it was a great trip.
But let's be honest...I am SO GLAD TO BE BACK IN THE 70 DEGREE WEATHER!!!
