The Miscellaneous

While we were in Utah we were able to participate in all sorts of fun activities. I only have a few pictures of the activities we did, so you'll have to trust me when I say that they were fun.

Hobbit
The Wednesday after Christmas we went to the movie The Hobbit. It was fantastic. We went with Brig's parents and some of his siblings and then also Melanie, Dustin, Chris and one of Chris' brothers. We had my mom and dad babysit Andy and Ezra for us, but it wasn't too hard because I fed Ezra right before we left and it was close to Andy's bedtime anyway. I really enjoyed the show and couldn't believe that it was 3 hours long. It certainly didn't feel that way.

Late to Work
The next day we had a "date night" with all the Moore adults. For Christmas Shannon and Makell gave everyone a night out and they would have a cousin sleepover. Andy would have loved it, but I doubt he would have gone to sleep, so we left him with my mom again. Chris and Melanie ended up putting him to sleep for us. Brig also convinced Dustin to come with us, which was super fun. We started the night off with homemade pizza at the Moore casa and then headed to Brandon and Heather's place in Richmond. All of the kids stayed at the Moore's house. When we got to Brandon and Heather's we decided to play a game called "Late to Work." It's the perfect game for large groups.

One person leaves the room and then everyone else comes up with 3 totally random reasons why that person is late to work. Two people then act out the reasons while the person is guessing and then a third person is the boss.

Some of my favorite reasons people were late was an infiltration of piranhas into the shower, being Superman and saving a beautiful woman but then realizing she was not pretty and dropping her, drinking a unicorns blood and then having to sleep inside it like Star Wars because it was cold, etc.

Dustin's 3 reasons that he was late to work was that he received his mission call to the moon, had to raise money for his mission at a demolition derby and then while there he converted Obama. However, the people acting it out pretended like they had big ears like you see in the political cartoons, and Dustin said he converted Dumbo. It got a pretty good laugh considering most of Brig's family are not in favor of Obama.

Wedding
Conveniently while we were down in Utah our good family friend Derek Davis got married. His timing couldn't have been any better. And we were lucky enough to score some invites to their Wedding dinner that night. The venue was so neat, and the decorations were fantastic. The Haynies and Erin's parents let us join their table. At one point some of the men were out decorating the car, but since it was frigid I stayed in and watched the dancing. Here are some of the photos I was able to take with my phone.

Friend Brunch
The day after Christmas we were able to get together with a handful of my friends from High School. We met up for a brunch at Angie's Restaurant. I always love seeing them and wish we would have been able to do more together. I'm so grateful that Scott planned something.

Ice Croquet
During the first week we were in Utah Brig had this crazy idea and he got Tal and Dustin to help make it a reality. They made an ice croquet course in my parents front/side yard. It was epic.

These were the teams: Nicole and Talon, Dustin and Nick, Chelsea and Brigham, Melanie and Chris, Shannon and Makell, and then Chase teamed up with the Snelgroves.

Pretty much Shannon and Makell kicked everyone's trash, and had some of the most epic hits of the night, but everyone did really well for the most part. And we almost lost our toes in the process. We played at night so it was pretty cold.

The course started down a ramp to the first wicket and then you had to go up a hill through the next and down through a tunnel. Then there was the "S" curve to another tunnel that you had to hit out down on your stomach. After that was an ice bridge up a hill and then back down again. There was a little ramp down to the sandbox area which as the ice forest. There was a mote you had to cross over and then launch off a ramp to the end wickets.

Like I said, it was epic.

Here is a photo my mom took of the boys building the course.

New Year's Eve
Not super eventful, but fun none the less. We had the Bouchers and the Snelgroves over to celebrate with our family. We played a fun game of Imaginiff, chatted a bunch, and then had our own ball drop from the loft at midnight.

My 2012 Letter
One day while I was nursing Ezra my mom came skipping in and handed me a letter I had written to myself back in 7th grade that said, "Do not open until 2012." And since it was 2012 I got to open it! She had found it in the safe a couple weeks prior and pulled it out for me.

According to my letter I am only going to have one more child and it is going to be a girl. I had written that I was going to have 2 boys and a girl. I also said that I was going to be a teacher of either math, science, or PE. It was really fun to reminisce and read a letter from way back when.

A Visit to Santa
We had to do it. And we did. It was a quick trip, and no tears. Woo hoo!