Utah Christmas Vacay Part 1

This year for Christmas, we had originally planned on staying in Cleveland. Matt was on the best rotation in the world and he had 3 days off for Christmas. We love our family, but we also really enjoyed having our own Christmas here last year, so I was happy to stay again. A few weeks before Christmas we found out that the entire Clark family was going to be in town. 5 of the 8 children, and their families live across the U.S. so it was a pretty big deal. Everyone would be there, but us. So Matt was able to get an extra day off, we purchased some tickets and before we knew it we were on our way to Utah for Christmas.

It was very exciting! Two of my sister's had no idea we were coming. My sis, Susie especially had no clue at all. We showed up on her steps and surprised the heck out of her. It was awesome and her reaction made the whole, hiding-the-secret, worth it.

As always, our weekend was cram packed. I have been so busy since we got back with photo shoots, my YW calling, planning preschool lessons (no more Joy School) and looking at our options for preschool next year (which surprisingly has taken a lot of time too), it has been taking me a lot longer than usual to process the 700 and something photos taken on our trip! So...here are some.

There is NO Clark family gathering without a few hours spent at a church playing all sorts of sports, always including soccer.

Each year it's crazier and crazier with all the new little people running around!

This year with cousins it was especially great! The McArthur kids are getting older and love to carry and play with the younger kids. It's so nice to have little helpers around.

Matt had not seen anyone in my family, besides my parents, for 2 whole years! We were lucky enough to have had Matt's whole family come to Cleveland a year before. So, we had a lot of family to cram into in about 3.5 days. We wanted to go see my grandparents. On Christmas Eve morning my parents took us out for breakfast and then we headed over to my grandparents to visit with them and their cute dog Sammy.

And Devin was terrified of him.

It may not appear this way in the pictures, but every time Sammy jumped at him Devin made these awful screams that sounded terrifying! It was sad, but a little entertaining.

I tell people, my parents live in a yellow house and they believe it, not too odd. Then I tell them and my grandparents live in a pink stucco house, no one believes me. Well, here's the proof. It's a light pink, and fits my grandma and mother perfectly.

Alright, a whole slew more are on the way....

Christmas in Cleveland and little bit of Devin.

The Saturday a week before Christmas, Santa made a special stop at our house. We went to Utah over Christmas weekend, so we decided to have our own Christmas day early. 

It wasn't quite the same, because Matt worked the night before. He couldn't be there for any "Christmas Eve" festivities. And we had to stay upstairs until he got home from work in the morning. He brought home bagels and orange juice from the hospital for breakfast. The kids were very excited. It was fun to see Devin's reaction. He wanted to deliver all the gifts, but didn't really have a big desire to open any of them.

Our little Christmas.

Matt asked for some of Frank's hot sauce....well sometimes Santa stops at Costco.

Matt did a GREAT job this year. He bought me red, leather gloves, a yoga mat, boots and gold, glittery, Steve Madden shoes. Sadly, they didn't fit that well, so they were returned, but it really was the thought that counted this time! :)

We spent the remainder of the day returning half of the stuff we purchased! And lounging around, like Christmas should be. 

Off the topic----here are a couple of pics of Dev. He loves to growl and play with these little animals, it's so cute.

One of his cousins sent him a Christmas gift and he wanted the box more than the present. He'd sit in it until he couldn't get out.

Next up...is Christmas Part II-Utah Style....

Merry Christmas!