Christmas in Utah - Part 3

This is the second post on our Christmas trip to Utah.  If you want to see the previous post, just click here.

I really, really loved having all of my kids together after Christmas.  I'm sure any parent will tell you exactly the same thing.  Particularly when you have grown children that live apart from you...these memories are the BEST.  I love the sense of humor that all my kids share - they're just so fun to be around.  We joke with each other quite a bit...but that's part of the love that we share.  This particular trip gave me a chance to do things like this:

Snuggling together to watch a movie

Just hanging out with my grandson.  For now, I have more hair...

We took all the kids to a local dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point.  They had several interactive areas to learn more...

I love the way that they would work together...we'll see how long that lasts...

Playing in the "dinosaur pit" to dig for bones

The night before everyone would start to leave Utah, I decided to take my family out to another of our favorite restaurants.  It's called Pizzeria 712, and we love it.  We always love sharing favorite places with my kids.  We're a family that bonds over food really well ; )  This place makes fantastic gourmet pizzas, but so much more.  They have a braised short rib dish that is simply fantastic.  I love, love, love gathering my family together like this:

I had the chance to hold my grandson for a while.  He started grabbing my face, which we turned into a game, of course ; )

The next morning was also a real treat.  My wife has followed a lot of fantastic photographers.  One of the best known in Utah is Justin Hackworth.  We wanted to have professional pictures taken of our family...BUT have my wife in them, rather than just take them.  We arrived at his studio in downtown Provo to find this delightful welcome sign:

At some point, we'll have finished pictures to share.  I found the process to be fascinating.  Basically, Justin took the time to get to know us, and then we used a GIANT room with just the pure light coming in from large windows that overlooked University Avenue.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.

G-Man has been trained to sit in front of a camera ; )

Everyone waiting for their turn...

Afterwards, we wanted to celebrate my youngest daughter's third birthday, while everyone was still in town.  We took everyone to a "nickel arcade" where most of the games cost only a couple of nickels to play.  My two sons had fun playing together - shooting spiders and monsters ; )

L had an absolute blast - I have to remember how much she enjoyed this.  If it wasn't for the fact that this was a "nickel" arcade, I would go bankrupt paying for this at a Chuck E. Cheese ; )

G-Man and L try a roller-coaster simulator.  The video below show how much fun they had:

Lauren had a BLAST playing several games that involved thrown plastic balls at the screen.  One game enabled our entire family to play at the same time.  She was right in the middle of all of it:

My wife's mother passed away several years ago, right at the beginning of the year.  The family started a really interesting tradition of releasing balloons into the air, to remember her each year.  We usually do this on her birthday, but they will also commemorate the day that she passed.  Since we were in Utah near her gravesite, we wanted the kids to remember her and to remember the celebration of her life.  I love that the kids will always associate the fun of releasing balloons with their Grandma.

L and G-Man with their cousins

That evening, as we headed to the airport to see my oldest son and his family off to Dallas, we held a small birthday celebration for L.  At her age, you can find some pretty cool presents.  We spent most of our time shopping at the Disney Store, as she's a big fan.  G-Man bought her a stuffed dalmatian puppy.  The look on her face in this picture is awesome.  The video below shows her opening the gift.

The next morning, on her actual birthday, we started with a tradition of donuts - you get one for each year that you're celebrating.  I think she loved the sprinkles more than anything else.  She loved the birthday tiara, as well:

That's it for the big trip to Utah.  From here, I left for a business trip to Las Vegas, and the rest of the family headed home.  So many wonderful memories were created...I can't wait for the next time that we can gather even more of the family together!!!

Thanks for reading!!