Autrey and Shilo: 1st Miller Christmas in Utah

The boys and I were in Utah from Dec 17-Jan 6. A glorious 3 weeks with family and friends. I LOVED being around my parents and siblings. The cousins LOVED being together and LOVED the new house. Definitely a kid paradise!

We had a Tournament of Champions in the basement. The events were ping pong, pool, foosball, double shot, and air hockey. Teams were: Autrey and I (tied for 1st), Kristen and Danny (tied for 1st), Meagan and Ken, Desiree' and Atim. It was so fun...and quite intense!

Yeah, I beat Atim. That made me happy.

After Kristen went on a winning streak, I beat her. Admittedly it was an ugly win, though. She was a good sport:

Guess what game I'm not so good at? Foosball (well, and pool too):

But, thankfully, Danny was good!

"I'm Kobe!"

G-ma is still an amazing ping pong player. Teaching Ashlyn:

My kids playing Legos first thing in the morning. Surprise, surprise:

And again the next day:

And the next:

Crazy Aunt DeeDee:

Uncle Atim is pretty awesome. Loved the monsters up in the castle:

Reading Elf on the Shelf in the cave under the tower before bed. I started to read, but 1st grader Ashlyn was excited and took over. I was floored by how well she did on a cold read with tough vocabulary words. I only had to help a few times:

Sleeping in the 'bat cave'.

Dylan is a great sleeper. This one? Not so much when he's not in his bed at home:

Lookin' good at Grandma Holdaway's house:

The kids getting G-ma and G-pa's tree decorated:

Christmas morning:

The Millers:

Meagan, Ken, and sweet baby Gideon:

Kristen, Danny, and crew:

G-ma and G-pa got 2 wiggle cars for the kids to ride around the main floor of the house. It was like a Nascar race most of the time. Huge hit! From the basement it sounded like jets were flying overhead:

I'm with you, buddy! Nap time!

We played in the snow a few times since Utah had REAL snow to play with:

Colton doesn't have a snow suit, so we borrowed from G-ma's clothes stash. We later found her other size 9 BOY boots. But not in time to save him from the pink boots that 1st adventure:

Twin tubers:

Snow angels:

Travel-sized snowmen are the way to go:

I think that used to be Meagan and Desiree's snow suit:

Clip of Autrey sending Dylan on a tubing ride:

The 3 amigos:

Tube train:

Playing on Grandpa's tractor:

G-ma and G-pa's house. I am in love with the wooden nativity mom designed and dad built:

Grandma Miller with the great grandkids on Gideon's blessing day:

More bars in more places:

Panorama just before the blessing:

Proud momma of our little miracle baby. Gideon had his 3 month MRI while I was in Utah. The results came back inconclusive as to long term effects, but the words of his blessing gave great hope. Just love him and pray for him always:

Reading to Aunt Marilyn and Aunt Elaine. Once teachers, always teachers!

With Aunt 'Lane

Colton was lovin' on baby Gideon as often as possible:

Photo shoot at Sleepy Ridge Golf Course club house:

The funny one:

Twinners:

Moved venues to sit on the house front steps:

Soldiers, marching to bed:

Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway came up to the media room to give us our Christmas presents:

Which included pens with cool doctorish flashlights on the end:

And to see our family HELIUM MOVIES on mom and dad's big screen! Kristen filmed everyone telling 30 second stories. She then, without warning us, used an app on her phone to mess with our faces and voices. They were so funny. We watched them over and over. I wish I had all the other ones. Autrey's middle school basketball story:

Shilo's G-ma and G-pa's 7 Dwarves story:

Dylan's shy Tony Chestnut Elf on the Shelf story:

Colton's true story about how he dropped his new Paw Patrol toy down the crack between the plane and the jetway as we were boarding in Fort Worth to fly to UT and the pilot man got it for him. It was a traumatic story. He told everyone who would listen during our trip. Colton sounds hilarious with a deep voice. Also he looks just like my cousin, Mitchell Riley, does now in his 20s:

Snow much fun going off the jumps:

Snuggling to warm up:

Can I play The Great Dalmuti with you guys?

Nope. Adults only at this fun game that starts after bedtime and goes until the wee hours of the morning. Or until someone's kids wake up crying/coughing. *sigh* There was a lot of kids not sleeping. Danny always started as the Greater Peon. Kristen rocked the Great Dalmuti hat. Ken just happened to be wearing a random hat unrelated to the game:

The cutest Greater Dalmuti, who could never get the hat to stay on:

The twins turned 2 on New Year's Eve. They flew out early on the 30th (because they were still free fliers), so we celebrated with Theresa's Torte on the 29th:

About 3 seconds after this, Avery had her face in the Torte. Wish I had that pic:

New Year's Day bowling with Grandma Holdaway. Long-standing yearly tradition. The Riley Family was there too. Sad we didn't get a big group pic. Grandma pays a quarter for each strike. I think Meagan and Ken got the most strikes, garnering $4.25:

Even both boys got at least a quarter:

Colton rubbing his hair because he was tired:

And fell asleep on the way home in his cool shades:

Went on a double date with Alison and Nick to the Body Worlds exhibit. There was a lot of physical therapist talk:

The museum had a weather green screen we played with:

We battled the cold to see the Draper Tree of Life. Pictures don't give it justice because it doesn't show the twinkling fruit:

Ali and Nick:

We went and had lunch at Traci's house a couple days later:

My dear TX friend, Annalee Dinkel, came up from her new house in Nephi to hang out and have brunch:

We went and saw Pat and Anndalyn Hobbs one night:

Big Autrey and little Autrey:

Mt. Timpanogos temple night with Ali:

We spent a day with Dylan's future wife, Chloe:

Seriously. This was the conversation as soon as Chloe saw him:
C: "I love Dylan. I'm going to marry him."
D: "Yes, but 1st I have to grow as tall as my mom."
C: "AND serve a mission."

Meagan and I decided it's all settled. I could handle one of my besties being my son's mother-in-law. (Ali, I have made a note of your request to have Colton marry into your family. Let's get you married, shall we? *wink, wink*):