Christmas Vacation

We'd been talking about this vacation since sometime before Isaac was born, but honestly, when there's about 20 people involved, you need a lot of planning time!

We rented a house in West Virginia w/the hopes of spending time together- and skiing.  We left the ridiculous chaos of Christmas Eve- then Christmas morning- then Church- then family lunch- then packing for five for a week- behind us, and hit the road for Davis, West Virginia.  And then, six HOURS later, we arrived- I don't know how we would have made it w/out Ezra's cousin Susan.  She sat in the back w/the kids, and basically kept everyone happy and things in order- amazing!

Here are TEN THOUSAND pics from our trip, w/short narrations...below, it's pretty sunny/blinding w/the new sun roof!

Judah spilled food on himself at a rest stop, so he got into jammies half way through the trip...typical.

The house- this place was FANTASTIC for our large group!  It technically only sleeps 8 (bc there are only four bedrooms), but there was room all over- including a huge game room (where four girls slept), and the couches:

Our room- we had the largest since we had the most people in it!

The main living area:

Excited to be out of his carseat:

The back porch, w/hot tub, and...lake view!

Time for bed!  (They got these blankets and the sheets- on their pillows- for Christmas):

The Church cousin line-up-  Jericho (nearly 1), Judah (nearly 3), Tirzah (about 2 months), Eve (4+), and Isaac (6 months):

We spent lots of time indoors bc...well, it was cold, but there was NO snow until about Wednesday.  We amused ourselves in lots of ways, including...craft time:

Or, using the HAM Radio (is this the right term?)

Or, plotting out dream trips, once the snow came:

Or, the most common occurrence- posing for group pictures!

Funny baby!

Oh, there was also a lot of computer-time!

And, feet-finding:

And just general craziness!

See what I mean- walking in the falling snow in BARE FEET?  Obvious craziness!

We also played a lot of board games.  Here's one example of me dominating Ezra in Scrabble- he played 'zig,' so I played 'zig' when I finally got the right letters...amazing!

It finally snowed!

Aunt Laura and Uncle Asa:

A lot of these snowy, outside pictures are from Susan- I rarely went outside, and never skiied! ;)

There was a lot of snowball-throwing...at the windows:

And, making porch snow-angels:

There was also lots of sledding:

And pestering whoever happened to be sleeping in the living room! ;)

We enjoyed lots of family time in the kitchen, too:

While we were away, Ezra and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary!  We left the kids at home w/everyone, and went out for a date of ice skating and dinner.  PS- I stink at ice skating...I totally fell once, in a way that probably made everyone laugh out loud, but was fine after that! ;)

We went to dinner at this CRAZY place called "White Grass Cafe"- it was actually in the earlier pics of the skiing bc it's the ski rental place.  (We actually sat at the same table that Julia and Jericho had!)  It doubles as a nice restaurant after hours- and, it's really good!  We had a bottle of wine, DELICIOUS food, and good live music- couldn't have been better!

It was very busy, too!

Some of Susan's pics:

You can see the slopes in the distance from our kitchen window:

We played lots of games:

Enjoyed "tummy-time":

And good food:

Which included lots of these, of course:

And, I continued to work out on-going projects:

Like reading- wow, I got LOTS of great ideas for the cooking blog!  So excited for the new year!

We also did lots of manis/pedis:

And, hot-tubbed:

And, got first black-eyes:

And just relaxed:

We enjoyed good story time w/Grandpop:

Shenanigans w/uncle Aijalon:

And pizza dinners:

We saw family members that we don't often see:

And did crazy things together:

Like puppet shows! ;)   (Honestly, this was hilarious!)

We also found some really pretty sweater dresses...

...and sundresses!

And, chopping onions gear! ;)

We bought finger puppets:

Made anniversary gifts:

Hung out:

We had the annual Church Musicale:

And watched Daddy-set fireworks from our bedroom window:

Happy New Year!!

We had the best week!  It was so great, getting to spend time w/family, to see family that we don't often see, to ski, to be outdoors, to just enjoy our family...so glad that we did that, and that everyone was able to make it out!