For Christmas this year we celebrated it with Ryan's family. Since no one in Ryan's family has a place big enough to hold everyone, he had the great idea to make it a destination Christmas. He researched a lot of places and everyone finally decided on Durango, CO. We rented a little house close to the downtown and everyone in the family was able to make it. We rented a Ford Escape and i'm so glad we did. All of our stuff wouldn't have fit in our Honda. It was a fun time and glad everyone could be together for the first time in over 5 years.
Friday, December 21
Ryan and I left work early so we could try to beat the traffic in Utah county. I picked up Nolan and met Ryan, Kirsten and Jared at my parents house. We were going to leave the car there and the rental car place was in Sandy which is closer to my parents house anyway so it worked out. We were driving to Moab and spending the night - Dianna, Dylan, Natalie and Ivy were going to meet up with us there. Nolan wasn't too bad in the car which was good. I stayed back with Nolan, while Kirsten, Jared and Ryan went to grab some dinner. When they got back, the Denver crew was just arriving. It was good to meet Ivy for the first time and see the rest of them.
Saturday, December 22
Everyone slept great - we ate breakfast in the lobby/continental breakfast and hit the road. I was glad we broke up the drive down there to make it easier for Nolan and the driver. We arrived to Durango early afternoon. A few people made a grocery store run and everyone picked rooms/got settled. Ashleigh and her family arrived later that night. We played cards until bedtime.
Sunday, December 23
Spent the morning getting ready and taking it easy. We took family pictures at 1:00 pm before the Bronco's game started. During the Bronco's game I went sledding with Nolan and Ashleigh's crew. It was Nolan's first time sledding and I think he loved it. We went down the hill about 5 times before Nolan was done. He sat on my lap while we watched the other kids sled down the hill.
Monday, December 24
Ashleigh's family was staying at a hotel and it had a swimming pool. We went swimming in the morning, which was very fun. Nolan loved it! Ryan and I went on a date in the afternoon - we walked around main street, had hot chocolate and bought Nolan an ornament from the train station. We thought the train ornament was a fun thing since the train went right by the house multiple times a day and every time it would go past Nolan would want to look out the window to see it. We stayed in that night and had pizza, played cards and watched Elf, Trapped in Paradise and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
Tuesday, December 25
Christmas!
We opened presents with everyone. Dianna framed both of Ryan's diplomas, we got Casablanca, clothes for Nolan, toys for Nolan and Dianna made Nolan a stocking. Ryan watched Nolan while I took a nap. We had ham/potatoes/corn/rolls for lunch. Stayed around the house for most of the afternoon taking it easy. A few people went for a walk, watched movies, finished a puzzle. Ryan went on a drive with his dad to take some pictures of the city.
Wednesday, December 26
Packed up the cars, cleaned the house and hit the road by 10:00 am. Stopped for lunch in Moab at the brewery. The roads were fine except for Soldier Summit where they were a little snowy. Ryan did a great job driving. We made it back to SLC around 5:00 pm - Luckily Nolan took a little nap which allowed me to as well. :)
written Wed. Jan 2, 2013
