Christmas part Two-Utah

We had our Christmas on the 24th here in California because you can do that when your kids don't understand the calendar and then we drove to Utah on the 25th to be with our families.  

We got into town literally just in time for the festivities to start at the Johnson family Christmas party 

  Me with all the Johnson girls minus Sue

Pete and brother Dan

 We got some great sledding in with the cousins and this year Syd was old enough to do it all by herself.  She and Emily went up and down over and over.  And GG loved it too!

 Pete with as many kids as we could fit on the sled-and yes, they went down the hill like this, 

with GG on his shoulders!

 Pete and I got a ski day in and then we took Syd out for her second time skiing-she loves it and that makes her Daddy very very happy.

Then we headed down to my parents and more family events. Andrea and her family drove in for the holidays and it was so fun to see them.  Her big kids are all so sweet with my little kids and GG was quite taken with them all.  When it was time to leave, they joked they were going to take her with them and she surprised us all by saying OK!  Then when we explained they were only joking and she had to stay with us, she cried and cried.  Someday we'll be as cool as the Jensens :-)

 

Sydney especially enjoyed hanging out with partner in crime-cousin Jill

Pete and Syd with her little snowman

We had a rocking time ringin' in the New Year with my family.  We went to dinner at this great pizzeria and then partied with balloons, noise makers, poppers and sparkling cider.

 My girls were in heaven and got a little punch drunk with all the fun.

We let them stay up until "kid-night" (9:30pm) and even went out and banged pans like we used to when I was a kid.

 My mom reading a new book to the kids-they look so absorbed.

Uncle Rob even got a kiss

-GG always takes a while to warm up to everyone when we go to Utah, so this was a big deal.

Thanks to both our families for showing us such a great time and being so fun-we miss you guys!

Christmas Morning

Christmas with kids this age is the best.  Our kids were so excited, but they still slept in until 7:45!  It was the first time in a few years that we had Christmas morning at our own house and that made it so special.

  We gave the girls money to buy each other gifts at the dollar store this year and they were so cute about it.  GG could not keep what she got for Syd a secret and blurted it out as soon as we got home! Here's Grace with her pink recorder from Syd.

 Gift giving as a parent is the best.  Pete and I loved picking out and wrapping all the gifts and the anticipation of whether our kids would like it all.  It was awesome watching our girls open all their presents. Everything seemed to be a hit except the basketball hoop-but Pete and I play with that.

GG helping dad assemble her new scooter

 It was pretty much heaven at our house as the kids tried out all their new toys

Getting in the Christmas spirit

The kids were so excited for Christmas this year, 

so the day after Thanksgiving we went for a hike at Castle Rock 

 and then went to the tree farm and picked our our tree

We all had fun decorating the tree and house for Christmas.  Sydney was obsessed with the ornaments and I kept finding them hidden in her room, under her pillow and with a dozen or so in her school bag to share with her friends!  I was so glad she wanted to share, that I let her give them away.

 I took Syd on a special date to see a 50 min, kid-length version of the nutcracker in the city.  I was so excited because I thought she would love it.  She did.... for the first 20min and then she wanted to leave-so sad! Guess we jumped the gun a little.

We went to our church Christmas party.  

Sydney was so cute with Santa, 

but GG wasn't so sure about the whole thing

 They had the kids do the nativity and it was so sweet

Family photos

We had our first ever family photos taken this year.  

We had fun playing at the beach on a gorgeous day.  

My kids do not put up with picture taking and even though we shamelessly bribed them with treats they weren't into the idea.  We did manage to get a few good shots.  These are my favs

 

Halloween-I know, I'm a little behind!

We got back from our trip just in time for Halloween.  

We had so many fun Halloween activities this year, 

but the best was trick-or-treating with our buddies the Richmans.

 All the cute girls in costume

France part II

We left Paris and headed down to Provence where rented a sporty little Alpha Romeo stick-shift and toured some of the hill towns.  This was a stop Pete really wanted to make to see a Roman aqueduct.  It's the largest remaining Roman structure next to the Colosseum. It was massive.  We learned all about how it was made-can you tell my husband is an engineer? :-)

 It was also in a beautiful setting and we got to hike around the woods and riverside

 Then we stayed in this tiny, but beautiful hill town, Roussillon.  It was built up around an ocre mine and the surrounding hills are beautiful reds and oranges.

 Then we drove white knuckled on the tiny winding roads in our little stick shift, on to the Verdon Gorge.  It was worth it-a beautiful turquois river (tinted by some kind of algae) that cuts through enormous rock faces and flows out into a wide, picturesque lake.

 We hiked off the bridge up above the lake, it was an unbelievable setting!

We spent a couple days in the nearby town of Moustiers Sainte Marie-quite possible the most gorgeous hill town ever!  It's a walled city with a waterfall that cascades down the mountain and runs right through the center of town.

 It was a captivating place and seemed like something out of a storybook to me

 

We hiked the very long stone stairway up to the ancient church on the mountain above the town and loved the view of the little city and surrounding countryside.

The next day we hiked down to the river inside the gorge

 Pete had to jump in-it was not warm water.

 We tooled around this pretty spot for a while and then it was back on the road heading south towards Nice.

 Here is our trusty little Alpha Romeo

 We drove all the way to the coast and spent a few more days enjoying the French riviera, but I was bad and didn't take any pics.  Here's to a great trip with the best and most handsome tour guide-thanks babe!