Christmas in Utah!

We swore off traveling for the holidays years ago because the unpredictable wintry weather made it so stressful, and we got into our own groove of enjoying holidays at home. We had such a fun, successful trip to St. George/Salt Lake City this summer though that we thought we should do another one and spend Christmas in Utah. We are so glad we did!

It always feels hectic preparing for a trip, but this time was even more crazy because it was December, which is always busy, and Makall's wedding was the day before we wanted to leave, and we left on a Sunday, so I had to do all the shopping and prep way earlier. It all worked out, we had a wonderful weekend with Poulsens in town for the wedding (more on that later), and we were so ready to go that instead of leaving in the middle of the night like we had planned, we left at 8pm!

The kids were SO excited. They got all cozy in the car with their blankies and animals and movies. They are great travelers, which we are so grateful for! They slept some, watched a movie, talked to each other, listened to music with us, and stared out the window. They had fun picking out snacks and asking how long until we would be there. Claire slept pretty much the whole drive, waking up to take a bottle and then immediately going back to sleep. At one point right after we had stopped, she spit up because she had a burp that she couldn't get out and she was wet and crying. We didn't want to stop again, so Austin just got her out and held her in his arms for a while, which was so cute (albeit illegal). Hello, 4th child!!

Claire at a pit stop, enjoying some Daddy cozies

we made it!

We had zero weather, construction, or bathroom problems on the drive and made it to Salt Lake in exactly 12 hours. New record for us! We only stopped three times (after we almost ran out of gas the first time, that was stressful) to get gas and go to the bathroom, and each stop was super quick. I am so proud of the kids! They just hunker down and embrace the ride. Thanks to two Red Bulls in a row I was wide awake for my part of the drive!

We got to Utah on the morning of the 23rd. My mom and I took Claire and Natalie and went to Target, of course. We had some last minute shopping to do, plus we had to catch up on our browsing!

In the afternoon my dad took us to the aquarium. It was a huge hit! I love this aquarium (in Draper) because each exhibit starts and ends in the same big open area, so it is easy to find each other if you get split up. It's not too big, but interesting enough to keep everyone's attention.

Stockton was nervous about the sharks getting too close.

we took a break in the cafe and waited for the
others to catch up

wearing their new hats from Makenzie!

we came at the perfect time to watch the penguins being fed!

The kids were so happy to be able to spend time with their PopPop. He is the champion of doing what they want and will drop what he is doing to be with them in their preferred way. Also, Claire learned a new skill this trip that you can see in the stroller pic...she does a thumbs up! It is SO cute.

We got back and had some major present wrapping to do. Austin and I ordered all our presents online and had them sent to my parents so we didn't have to bring them in the car. My mom had them in her closet downstairs and we got to work, calling the kids over to deliver a finished present to the tree. Jack was very happy about all the wrapping and wanted to wrap presents, too. He used the leftover materials littered on my mom's floor and made "presents" for us (he drew treasure maps on cardboard, so cute!). He was so proud of his work and carefully placed his gifts under the tree.

We had kind of a hilarious amount of gifts spilling out from under the tree. It was very Christmasy and magical! We had our 6 Poulsens, my parents, Grammy Bee, Jack and Sara, Jason, Sam and Krispy, and Annie.

I love watching my children play with the same toys that I used to play with at Grammy Bee's.

For Christmas Eve dinner, we went to my Aunt Jennifer's house for ham and all the delicious sides you could ask for. The kids were thrilled to explore her giant house (and Stockton was especially delighted that they had an air hockey table, his new favorite activity).

I walked in on my mom getting our stockings
ready....stockings are my FAVORITE!!

Christmas morning!!!! The girls woke up first and we had some pleasant anticipation waiting for the boys to come in. They loved waking all of the adults up and it was cozy to have everyone trickle sleepily in to the sitting room.

of course, my favorite Chocolate Covered Cherries

Isn't this the most beautiful Christmas backdrop?! The kids had so much fun going through their "stockings" (I accidentally left ours at home so I used gift bags...the kids didn't care one bit haha). It was so fun for everyone to experience Christmas morning with children! It had been a long time for the other adults and they all said many times how much more magical and special Christmas felt opening presents with kids.

It took us a good two hours of sifting through presents, enjoying the slow unpacking of stockings, and reveling in the gifts as people opened them. I love taking our time on Christmas. Make it last as long as possible! Everyone was so excited about the things that they got, but it was just so happy and Christmasy to be sitting together in our jammies, drinking orange julius from Jason and eating sweet rolls from my mom, enjoying the moments. I am so happy we could share Christmas morning together this way!

the man on the couch to the right is my Uncle Jason. It was an absolute BLAST to have him in town! He lives in Montana
and I don't get to see him very often, but he is funny and awesome and it was definitely a highlight of the trip for me that he was there. We played cards, cooked (he's a chef by profession) and listened to 80s music.

My mom knew that I had my eye on this special nativity set and surprised me with it on Christmas. I was so grateful - I don't have nice things in my house on purpose because that's not my season of life right now, but I had been waiting for the right nativity to come along and when I saw this earlier in the fall I knew it was the one. My mom is the queen of surprising us with the gifts that she knows we really want (I don't know how she gets away with it but somehow we truly are always surprised!) and when I opened this present I had to fight back tears. It is so wonderful. I love that Joseph is holding baby Jesus and I love the humble, leaning posture of everyone there. I love the shepherd that put his hook behind him and the wise man who put his present down. I just think it is so dear and the spirit was so strong as Grammy Bee and I unwrapped all the figures.

it came with a little art print!

There was already snow in Salt Lake but we got a lovely fresh layer for Christmas and it was magical. The hills were calling out to us, so we bundled up and went sledding. Claire had a frosty winter nap and didn't make a peep the whole time.