Christmas 2011

We spent Christmas this year in Utah with Trav's family.  We left for Utah a couple of days early since Trav's uncle Dwaine passed away suddenly.  We were lucky to be able to get there in time so we could attend his funeral in Salina.  We drove to Bountiful on Monday and then down to Salina on Tuesday.  Wednesday we went to visit my side of the family.  We first stopped to see my grandparents.  My kids are lucky to know their great-grandparents.

 Conner, Grandma Romer and Parker

Grandpa, Cosmo and Calissa

After visited with them, we went to see Kevin, Kellie, Abby, Sam and Charlie.  We had fun chatting with them and then going out to a yummy dinner.  That night Calissa stayed the night with Abby and the boys spent the night with Jarom and Eisley.

Thursday night we went to see the Zoo Lights at Hogel Zoo in Salt Lake.  It had to have been the coldest night we were there (at least I'm going with that)! 

 The kids bundled up, but found out not nearly enough!

 After trying to find a place to park, we FROZE, but still had a fun time.

 Conner wishing he had put on his sweatshirt like mom had suggested.

 Carving and ironing an ice sculpture.

 Luckily they had heaters all over the zoo so we walked from one to another.  Did I mention it was cold?

 It was fun to be at the zoo at night and see the animals as they slept.  The coolest were the tigers.  They were so close and their paws and heads were huge!  Most of the animals were sleeping together in a pile or right up against the glass window. (I guess they were cold too!)

 After freezing (I mean having fun) at the zoo, we hiked back to the car and then drove to the Little America hotel for some hot chocolate. 

Calissa wanted her picture taken in the fancy bathroom.

 Friday, we headed into Salt Lake again, but this time to the Grand American Hotel. 

 It was pretty fancy!  We went to this cool toy store in the lobby and were shocked at how much things cost.  $125 for a flower pillow and $95 for a stuffed dog.  We had fun looking at the cool things in the store though.

After that, we went on an adventure through the main level of the hotel.  They had all these windows decorated and you had to find the star in each one.  There were clues written down and you had to match them to what you saw in the windows.

It was pretty fun.  When we were done we each got a shortbread cookie of the star to eat.

It was fun for all ages.

 Standing in front of a gingerbread house.  It smelled really good!

A pretty tree along the way.

 Once we finished there, we jumped on TRAX and headed over to the church history museum.

 Then, we went to see the lights at temple square. 

They were beautiful, as always!

 This was the first time we saw the floating nativity on the reflection pond.  It was so beautiful with all the floating candles as well. 

Saturday, Christmas Eve we hung out at the house and enjoying a yummy dinner and played some games.

 We also took some family photos!

 All the boys.

The girls.

Burr Family

MiQuelle, Chandler, Melanee, Robert, Azure, Travis, Teylor and RK

Christmas morning we got up and read the Christmas story from the scriptures and had a family prayer.

Then we headed upstairs to see if Santa came.

He did! 

Calissa got an ipod touch from Santa.

The boys got a basketball, "Amazing" DVD and 3 tickets (+ dad) for the Kings/Warriors game in March.

Santa also gave them unlimited texting on their cell phones.  They must have been really good this year!

 We had happy, thankful kids on Christmas morning!

 After gifts and breakfast, we got ready for church. (Do you like Calissa's new dress?)

We only had Sacrament Meeting on Christmas.  Elder Anderson (of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles) was attending his home ward (which is Trav's parents' ward) and bore his testimony at the end of the meeting.  We also got to go and shake his hand after church.

 After church we went down to visit Monique's grave.  

We visited a little down there and then sang "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" to Monique.  There were not many dry eyes.  We miss Monique, but it was great to be together down there!

 After that, everyone came over for dinner and to open presents from Grandma and Grandpa Burr.

Then, it was time for more games.  Can you believe how many people were playing progressive rummy? 

 Monday, we all went out to lunch at The Pizza Factory.  They have yummy breadsticks there!  Then, we went to see "We Bought a Zoo."  Then, it was time for one last dinner (and probably one more game) before we packed up and headed home the next day.  It was a wonderful Christmas and we are truly blessed!