Our November trip

Since we weren't planning a trip to Michigan during the Holidays, we decided to surprise my family in November. Long story short, I ended up telling my mom and sister that we were coming but we completely surprised my dad, brother, Skyler and Gracie, my grandmas, and everyone else!

Home sweet home

We knocked on my parent's door at 6:45 pm right as they were about to sit down for dinner. My dad was caught so off guard that he wouldn't even open the door until he knew who we were. The look on his face was priceless when he realized who it was.

It took 2.5 days to get there, but not because of the baby in tow. She was perfect. Snowy/icy roads held us up the first night, and the second night we decided to spend with Kyle's Aunt Chris and Uncle Scott in Iowa.

We got there just in time to Brad and Cami's families for Sunday dinner. It was my first time meeting them so I'm really glad it worked out. They provided great hospitality and after a good night's sleep the next 8 hours of our trip was a breeze!


A few of my favorite Michigan moments:

We play-doughed with Grandma V....

And papa, who made us all laugh with his ridiculous sculptures

We introduced Kyle to ear candling

Gracie and I went to lunch with Nana. Can you tell someone adores her?

Gracie and Skyler dressed up like their cool Aunt Kiki

Bentlee played with toys at Grandma V's for the first time

And she got some snuggling in with Grandma H

\

The drive to Michigan was so nice that we decided to take our time going back as well. We stopped in Kansas City where Kyle served his mission. It was fun to go to a place where Kyle spent so much of his time and has great memories of. He took me to Liberty Jail which was really neat. It is located in the same place that it once stood, but they built a replica of the jail. A sister missionary gave us a tour and bore her testimony of what happened here. It was just us 4 in the room, but the spirit was so powerful.  Joseph Smith was imprisoned and treated terribly there because his beliefs, and although it was extremely hard to be away from his family, he didn't give up hope. Instead, he grew closer to the Lord and received more revelation. He was an amazing man, and the reason our church was restored. He and his family went through so much persecution but never gave up because what they believed was real. I'm so grateful for his faith and great example. 

There's more information about it here: http://josephsmith.net/josephsmith/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=b2d3da73c0b52010VgnVCM1000001f5e340aRCRD

I'm not sure why I look like a freaky ghost in this picture. Scary.

The Kansas City temple which was dedicated last year

After that we went to a BBQ restaurant for the famous food that he's been promising me for years and that night we stayed with friends of Kyle's, the Smiths. They took good care of him when he lived there. Daryl was working but we chatted with Diana for a while. They are such a nice family. The next day we drove to Denver and stayed with Tom and Paula. Kari, Mark and Shannon, and Jamie and Emma all came over so it was a lot of fun. (Hailey was sick with Strep so Sarah stayed home with her) Emma is the cutest little thing and as always, had us all cracking up. Jamie sent me some cute pictures of her with Bentlee but for some reason I can't get them to load, and unfortunately I didn't take any pictures myself that night. I always enjoy being with my dad's family. If we weren't so tired from our trip and didn't have another 8 hours to drive the next day, I could have stayed up all night talking to Tom and Paula.

Somewhere in Kansas or Missouri

Our first cross-country road trip was so successful that I'm ready to plan our next one. Think she'll be as good next year when she's 18 months? Yeah probably not...

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning we slept later than we meant to. We had to wake Bentlee up so that we could open gifts before we headed to Kyle's parents for a big breakfast. The giant gifts were for me from Kyle. They were awesome gifts, but would have only required boxes 12 times smaller. Bentlee got an exersaucer from us and luckily we gave it to her early so she was able to use it for a week or two before she broke her leg. Santa brought her a few things that she opened on Christmas as well. She She loves her new little activity walker. The sleepers were items she needs (sort of) and the movie Cinderella was a must since it will soon be going back in the vault. :)

Her stocking stuffers were nothing special but as you can see Bentlee loved them and they made for great pictures. I like how she's holding the puffs up in the last one, as if she's showing it to us.

I think she was most excited about this old wreath of ours that Kyle wrapped up to fool me.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out in Elk Ridge

where Bentlee partied hard....

I love Christmas and love spending time with family! By far my favorite time of year. Dreading January and February.....

Christmas Eve

Christmas came and went so fast this year. I feel like we just put our tree up, and now I'm dreading taking it back down. And can you believe I never even made Christmas goodies to take to our neighbors? I finally had the itch (aka a super big craving) to make sugar cookies the other night. I tried making them look winter-y and not Christmas-y but I still feel silly bringing them to people after Christmas. And nobody would appreciate more goodies right now. So they're sitting on my counter to be devoured by yours truly.

On Christmas Eve we were able to go the Wiggins/Wardell's get together for a couple hours, and then Kyle's family's as well. The W/W's tradition is for the girls to wear a lovely (ugly) Christmas sweater, and the guys wear a sports jersey. When we saw his brother Andy's special sweater that his co-workers made him,

Kyle and I decided to mix things up a little. It's just not as funny on a girl.

Kyle and Janett tied for 1st place which was fun because we didn't even know it was a contest. Kyle's sweater was uglier than Janett's, but she got bonus points her hair, make-up and light-up jewelry.

Lauren, aka Auntie Lala, with the babies. She's leaving for her mission in Sacramento on January 2nd. We're all going to miss her even though she is a baby hog.

The Wiggins and Wardell's gingerbread house competition is....well, competitive. I'm glad I didn't waste my time entering. I'll let you guess which one won (I don't want to rub salt in anyone's wounds). Obviously both were amazing!

I got this for Gracie when she was about Bentlee's age

After the "film festival" where Jared/CoreyTucker/David and Chuck  premiered their short films (which were both hilarious) we headed to Lee and Maxyne's for their annual Christmas Eve party.  Uncle Andy brought dry ice for some cool science experiments with the kids. 

Grandma and Grandpa surprised the kids with really cool homemade gifts. Lee made the older kids their own chests/toy boxes and Maxyne made the younger boys Book of Mormon hero boxes complete with swords and capes. Kyle and I had a surprise from them as well....a 39" flat screen. They were at our house a couple weeks before Christmas and decided it was time for an upgrade. :) We all got spoiled this year. I took pictures on Kyle's phone and have been waiting to post this until I remember to email them to myself, but I give up!