You Know You're Not In Texas Anymore,

 the morning you sit down in the car to see that your water is frozen solid and the car's thermometer reads 13 degrees.

We had a great trip to Utah despite freezing our tails off.

The week leading up to Christmas, all three kids got the flu. We crossed our fingers that the Tamiflu would get everybody all fixed up before our big trip. For the most part it was all behind us by the time we got there.

Also before our trip we passed our 11 year wedding anniversary. It's still awaiting celebration.

We had a successful Christmas morning here at home,

with plenty of smiles and some new toys.

Best overheard conversation of the day was Max pretending on the plane with his two new Darth Vader's.

Darth 1 to Darth 2: What's your name?

Darth 2: Darf. What's your name?

Darth1: My name's Darf, too!

Dan and I agreed that we would not spend much money on ourselves this year.  He had a relatively small wishlist, which he ended up purchasing most of himself, with the kid's toys order from Amazon.  I decided that I only wanted to collect the money he would have spent and any I was gifted towards the purchase of a new lens in a few months.  (When I would have Christmas and birthday money to combine). I even came up with a fantastic plan for myself and made Dan promise that he would not buy me the lens unless I was faithful to the dietary restrictions that keep me well, yet I had shamelessly cheated on since getting pregnant.  I thought I was a genius and not too bad of a wife until Christmas morning when I opened up the lens and realized my dietary motivation had just flown away with Santa's sleigh and my poor husband only got to open some new work clothes and a popcorn popper.

I love you , Dan! And I promise next year, no matter our agreement, I will break the rules and spend your hard earned money on a surprise present for you!

We made a pit stop at Mom and Dad's for a quick breakfast with my sister Chandra's family who had driven into town the night before.

Then off to the airport. And off to Utah!

  Ava was not so happy to sit by a stranger.

 Luke was ecstatic to find that he was not scared of flying as he had dreaded.

And Max, on the other hand, was so scared he buried his face during take-off and never woke up.  Until about 20 minutes before landing, that is.

In Utah, we enjoyed plenty of time with family, including  present opening,

 story reading,

 lego building,

gingerbread decorating,

movie watching,

playing Luke's most favorite Christmas present-- Kirby (with Dan as the ever faithful coach),

 BYU basketball attending,

Angry Bird smashing,

and of course, all day, every day cousin bonding time,

 and one very chilly, very fun afternoon in the snow.

Max spent most of the time crying loudly over the constant falling-off of his mittens.  

He nearly sucked the joy right out of the whole afternoon, until we realized that just as long as Dan would hold him, 

He could be happy.

Luke could have stayed out there all day.  And was the last one who came in, saying, "There was nobody left to play with."

Our snowman attempt  fell apart and the activity digressed into snowman-head catch.

We really did have a fantastic trip.  The kids had fun, slept fairly well. We love being with our family. We made our way home after about 10 days, and all through the plane ride I couldn't help but think how lucky I am to have married into such a good family.

Back in Dallas, these were the faces of a  happy return from a happy trip!