Christmas Vacation

We spent the last two weeks in Utah and Colorado partying with family. We had a blast playing with family and enjoying plenty of snow. Grandma Nancy picked us up from the airport and we spent the day playing at her house. Reece immediately recognized snow, though the only time he's ever seen snow was in Switzerland this summer. They got nearly two feet of snow in 24 hours while we were in Sanpete, and another nice snowstorm while we were visiting Adam and Kerrie's family in Colorado. So Reece got plenty of chances to don his awesome boots and his "pirate" gloves (they have skulls and crossbones...he picked them out).

Reece LOVED Grandma Nancy's house. He even woke up super early so he could play with her train (mom took a nap on the floor next to the train).


This next picture is not indicative at all of Reece's time at Grandma Nancy's. He LOVED his grandma and had a blast at her house. But what's Christmas-time without a few tears?


We then headed down to Sanpete to spend some time with the Carr family. Reece had so many uncles around, he didn't know what to do. He eventually just started calling all adult males "Uncle," but did not hesitate to spend any and all of his time cajoling them into playing with him. Mama Wendy loved having four willing babysitters around. Dave and Teresa's family stopped by for a day on their way to Idaho and Reece got to see his other favorite person, Eva. In fact, while posting this blog Reece kept asking for "More Eva."




Reece also learned very quickly that he loves his Grandpa Mel. He took to calling him just "Mel," and never hesitated to cuddle up with "Mel" to get some cookies and some cartoons.


We got to spend some time painting Grandma and Grandpa Allred's new apartment in Wales and show off Reece's love of horsey rides to Great-Grandpa Allred. One of Reece's favorite games to play with dad is "pick the color of horse" and daddy Paul does a great job of making sure the black horse bounces the highest and eventually bucks you off (just like Grandpa's horses).


Now on to our Christmas Eve extravaganza. Paul and I made a game we called "Carranium," which is basically a rip off of the Cranium game, but involving activities catered to the Carr family Christmas traditions and history. Here's dad acting out a Christmas memory. It didn't take long for everyone to guess:



Our teams also took turns acting out the Nativity. Teams got points depending on how many elements of the Nativity they included in their 60 second presentation. Strangely enough, both teams included a caganer. They got points, but they were reluctant points.


Here's one of the "penalties" each team got if they landed on a yellow square. They don't seem to be suffering too much.




Our gingerbread house competition was spirited, though Grandma Terri's team kind of ran away with it.








Another of the competitions, each team wrote an original Christmas song, getting points for creativity, rhyming, and number of team participants. The teams tied on this one.






I think we'll probably try this game again. We had a blast. Other highlights included: watching Jim push Bryce down the hill (and ripping his pants in the process), Matthew and Jason both putting their own faces in the snow, Dena getting sent to stand under the "Mistletoe of Shame" (Reece kissed her out), and dad's penalty of running three times around Jim (the "ginger"bread penalty). Thanks to everybody for being such good sports and putting up with our crazy games.

Moving on, Reece has trouble differentiating between "pee" and "poo." Possibly too much information, but makes for some funny situations.




Rounding out the vacation, we got to spend a night with Great-Grandma Carr:


And I promise we spent some time in Colorado with Adam and Kerrie's family, but we hardly took any pictures. Here's a bit of proof:

Reece keeps asking for his "cousin's house," or for his "uncles." We had so much fun and loved seeing so many people we love. That's the best part of Christmas (that, and the presents), and I'm so grateful that I have such amazing family. We really are incredibly blessed. I would wax more prolific, but this is taking forever and Reece is threatening to eat an entire box of chocolates. Merry Christmas for the last time, and Happy New Year to everyone!