Christmas Break in Utah

We were so lucky to be able to spend 3 full weeks at home this Christmas break. We flew out of Houston on December 16th and my mom picked us up at the airport. Boy were we so excited to see her!!

Up until this point, Kaiser had not really said anybody's names other than "papa" and "Boston." We got in the car and headed towards In and Out for dinner. Right when my mom sat down by Kaiser, he grabbed her hand and said, "Hi Grandma!" My heart just about melted it was so precious.

We stayed with my parents the first week, and then the last few days and Scott's Dad and Andrea in between those times. The timeline of events is kind of a blur but luckily I have some photos from the break.

We had the best time and feel like we accomplished everything that we wanted to. We were able to spend quality time with each of our families (although it never did seem to be enough).

*Scott got to go skiing with his dad and brothers a couple of times

*I got to enjoy doing crafts with my mom and spending time with my family

*Kaiser got to be smothered by everyone who loves him again...

*We were able to spend a couples evenings catching up with best friends

*We got to play in the snow as a family for Kaiser's first time

*We went to temple square with Scott's siblings

*We were finally able to go to Alta for Scott's extended family's annual Christmas tradition

*We spent Christmas Eve with my parents and Scott's mom

*We spent Christmas Day with Scott's Dad and Andrea

*Kaiser got spoiled like crazy and got to see how many people really love him

*Kaiser finally said everybody's names

*My family all got to go bowling for our after Christmas tradition

*We were able to spend quality time with our siblings and had great conversations with our parents

*We ate yummy food and Christmas treats

*We got to go to my grandma's annual Christmas party and see my extended family

*We got to watch the Utah State football bowl game with my family

*We enjoyed playing games with our families

*I loved watching Kaiser have so much fun playing with his grandmas and grandpas

The list goes on and on...and as I type I get more homesick, so I'll stick to that list.

But, here are some awesome pictures. Here are some from Kaiser his first time seeing snow. We were at my parents house, and when it started snowing we took him out exploring, and it ended with him puddle jumping!

I love this mid air jump

Here are a few pictures we took at beautiful temple square with Scott's siblings:

Here are some pictures of Kaiser opening some of his presents on Christmas. He was so cute with each present he would open. He would go, "Ooooooh wooooooow looooook!" It was the cutest thing ever how grateful he was :) He loved opening presents and he got so spoiled!

Kaiser got to enjoy spending quality time with family. He seriously had the best time. There was always someone around to keep his busy mind occupied.

Kaiser was enthralled with the "no-men" on the Christmas tree

Watchin' shows with Grandma and Grandma

Playing the piano with Aunt Noni

Love his face going down the slide with daddy

Playing in his "house" with uncle Kendall

Here are pictures of our very first snow day with Kaiser. Grandma Perkes got out the four wheelers and we were able to have fun with those for a while along with the sleds! Kaiser loved being able to play outside. He was a little weary of the four wheeler at first but ended up liking it! (I love love these snow pictures!)

Here are a few photos from our trip up to Alta with Scott's extended family--We went New Years Eve. It was super cold but we had a blast!

And last but not least, here are a few random pictures that I took that don't necessarily fit under any category. I just wanted to document them.

A little family Christmas photo (best we could do with Kaiser :) )

Kaiser helping Daddy put together his car present from Grandma and Grandpa Lehman

Kaiser and I bowling

A gorgeous view of the Wellsvilles. I miss mountains terribly

Our last night was spent at my parents house having dinner with my family (all except for Toni.) I love watching Kaiser with my parents. I love watching Kaiser interact with his cousins. He loves them all so much. This photo below depicts Kaiser and Boston perfectly. They are such goofballs together. I love everything about this photo!

Grandma Teddy bathed him that night. He loves playing with the toy singing alligator in their tub. He loves their dinosaurs and the rest of their toys. This is a cute picture of him brushing his dinosaur's teeth.

Goodbyes were hard to say. I hate goodbyes. These ones were especially hard because we aren't sure when we will be able to come home again to see our family. We left on Tuesday January 6th. We went to the hospital to say goodbye to Scott's Dad, Andrea, and Connor. They were short, quick goodbyes which is good. And it was good that they were at work so we didn't get too emotional. We then went to lunch at Firehouse with my family. After we got done, we said goodbye to Cody, Chel, Boston, and Emmy. On our way out of town we stopped at Watertree Dental and said our goodbyes to Scott's mom. I did fairly well with these goodbyes because they are short and quick.

When we got to the airport, We had to say goodbye to my parents. That was hard, obviously. I hate to watch anybody say goodbye to Kaiser...but it's always hard to watch him say goodbye to grandma and grandpa. I didn't cry until after we had said goodbye. We were headed through our security line and looked up to wave bye bye to them. We had to wait for them to go up the escalator, and Kaiser could sense something was off cuz they were gone. He started whining for "grandma and grandpa." That broke my heart. He didn't understand why they were leaving but he didn't want them to. It was rough :(

But, we made it through. Kaiser spent the wait time staring at airplanes and we ended up making it home smoothly and safely. Back to life. Back to reality.

We could not have asked for a better Christmas break. We are so blessed to have such amazing family and friends. 

Gee, this blog post has made me extremely sad and homesick to have Christmas break back. I miss our friends. I miss our family. We have great friends and great support here in Texas, but it still doesn't fill the void of those back home.