Hurricane Trip: Friday: Skiing Dec 27, 2013

 We went down to Hurricane to visit my family and it was an awesome trip. To start the trip, my Dad took the kids to buy a present and I went skiing with my sister Shannon and her daughter Rebekah. We met my brother Josh and his wife Emily. Emily was a ski instructor so she gave us a few lessons for the first hour and then we were off. I am in love and it is a good thing we are moving to Texas away from snow or this could turn into an expensive hobby for me. It seemed so much easier than snow boarding and I only fell once the whole night. I LOVE SKIING!

 Josh and Shannon

 I'm getting better at selfies. NOT!

 Rebekah and Shannon

 See, I am getting better at selfies! NOT!

 Rebekah waiting in line with me to rent our stuff.

 I think the selfies are actually getting worse.

 Emily, Rebekah and Shannon right before we went on the lift for the first time.

Shannon, Rebekah and I on the lift!

CHRISTMAS 2013

 In our home we have many traditions, but for Christmas Santa Clause comes every year. When, Santa comes he brings each of the children one already opened present and their stockings. In the stocking there will be a favorite cereal and favorite drink for the child among other small presents. This year for our family Santa came early with the children's big present and he brought Odin in November, so Santa brought the kids stockings this year. Mom and Dad give the rest of the presents that are wrapped though, which I think has been a super fun tradition. 

On Christmas Eve we usually let the kids open one present and it is usually a bedtime something. We nixed that this year because we hit our budget before we could buy them. But, Christmas Eve was still a fun night. We had Grammy come over that day and the kid opened their present from Grammy which replaced the night time present. All month we had been reading from Luke about the baby Jesus and doing the nativity story over and over, so Christmas Eve we got to read it one last time for the month of December. We watched fun shows in preparation for Santa to come. Then, we put all the presents from family under the tree. All the christmas cards from Grandma and Grandpa and the Greats were on the tree too.

We had our traditional cinnamon rolls and bacon. I made up paleo cinnamon rolls the night before and that is why they look so dinky and weird, but they tasted pretty good. :) As for the stocking toys Santa brought, I do have to say that Santa is good at getting second hand stuff from the DI that cleans up really well! Barbies for .50 cents, Disney Little Mermaid doll for $1 (Normally around $25!!), and stuffed animals for $1.... YUP, Santa did AMAZING this year and the kids LOVE these toys the most! 

Then, after breakfast we broke out the toys. Each Christmas just gets more and more exciting. The kids are at a super fun age and seeing their sweet faces just makes it better and better!

One new tradition we started this year that was a tradition Derek had growing up is putting the kids pictures on their stocking from each year. Then, when they turn 18 they get to have a grown up stocking of whatever they want without pictures, but they can see how much they've changed since their first Christmas. I love this soooo much! Needless to say, it was a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS at the Bradley home this year. 

Before kids photo and after kids photo...

Better Late than Never "Fall Photos"

In October 2013 we needed some fresh air, so out we went to find some fun fall leaves. On the drive we found this awesome little playground and we had to get out and play. The views were amazing! It was just east of Hogle Zoo and up on the hill a little right before emigration canyon. The timing was just PERFECT for fun fall leaves. If I remember right it had a light rain that came down while we were out and it was a super fun family outing.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert

I have to admit... I am pretty lucky. I entered our names for tickets for the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert in October. In November I got an email saying we won 4 tickets for the Saturday night concert! I was so excited because the concert is free and I didn't tell Derek about it, so this would be the first time being able to actually surprise Derek about something amazing! He always guesses, looked at the bank statement, and I just can't surprise the guy. Well, he had to check my email for some billing purpose and happened to find the tickets before I could surprise him. Boo. So, it wasn't me surprising him, BUT we were both super excited to go! We took our friend Hulkaroy and her husband who are from Uzbekistan. Hulkaroy is studying to teach special needs children when she goes back to Uzbekistan. Her husband was visiting for the month of December, so it worked out perfectly! It was fun being the tourist guide instead of the tourist. We ate dinner at the blue lemon at city creek before the concert. It was pretty awesome. They had guest performances from an opera singer Deborah Voigt and then John Rhys-Davies AKA Gimly from Lord of the Rings did some acting. It was a really fun date night! Another something to check off the bucket list.