Christmas Break

We had a fun Christmas break. The kids and I pretty much spent the whole time at my parents' house. Ross had to go back home on the weekend to take care of some bishopric stuff. But then he came back to join us. Here's some of fun stuff that we did. 

One of my favorite things was getting to spend time with the Price family. We hadn't seen them in almost a year, so it was a visit that was long over due. One afternoon we exchanged gifts and played a game together. Leah and Hannah enjoyed playing together. Here's a picture of both of them wearing their Elsa dresses they got for Christmas.

On Friday, before Ross had to leave, we went to a local family fun center with my parents where we played miniature golf and rode some of the rides.  

Leah just played at her own pace, which was usually much faster than the rest of us. But she was determined to do it all herself and got really excited when she got her ball in the hole. The second picture below is from one of her celebrations after getting the ball to go in.

Riding the carousel is always a favorite!

These next pictures make me smile. Leah was so excited to ride this bus ride with Ross and me. It wasn't anything too terrifying. You just get in this bus and it goes up and down in a circular motion. She was all smiles until it actually started.

Then she did this:

So I told her to calm down and smile for a picture. Then she was fine. She was probably a little nervous still, but at least she stopped clinging to me and looking like she was going to cry.

Leah really liked this balloon ride. Here she is riding it with Ross.

Still loving the carousel.

I don't have any pictures from it, but on Saturday morning we had our Tucker Family (Post) Christmas Party. We got together at a local church for a yummy breakfast and enjoyed visiting together. It is always fun for me when I'm able to get together with my extended family.

Later that day, the Prices came over so that Melyssa could cut their hair. While they were there, Lyndsee got out Makynlee's new princess doll house and put it together. The kids were all more than happy to help. Even Corbin had to get in on the fun.

I have known this handsome young man since he was about 6 months old. He's Lesley's nephew, Taylor. And now he is serving a Spanish-speaking mission in Boston, MA. His mission farewell was during Christmas break, so I made sure that the kids and me were there for it. I used to babysit and spoil him so much when he was a kid and now he's all grown up and on a mission. Crazy!

One of my very favorite activities during the holiday was getting to go out to lunch with Lesley. Like I mentioned before, it had been almost a year since we had seen each other in person. We talk on the phone about once a week, but it is so much better to be able to talk in person. Lesley and I have one of those friendships where we can just talk and talk for hours and never run out of things to say. So it was so nice to have just the two of us (no kids and no husbands or other family members competing for our attention). We talked in the lobby before going in to eat, talked all through lunch, talked after we finished eating, talked while we walked through the mall, talked in the car on the way to her parents' house and talked some more in the driveway before saying goodbye. Boy do I miss having that girl living nearby!! It felt just like "the good old days." (Not that these days aren't good too, it's just an expression.)

For New Year's Eve we stayed at my parents' house and played games, ate lots of munchies, and visited with some family friends (namely, the Petersons and the Maples). Our kids (the night owls that they are) stayed up late too. Corbin almost made it to midnight. I wasn't trying to keep him up, he was just enjoying the excitement. And Leah had no problem staying up. She liked being able to go outside to bang pots and watch fireworks at midnight.

On New Years Day, we decided to go to the movies before packing up to head back home. Ross and Jason went to see The Hobbit II. Meanwhile, my sisters and I took the kids to see Frozen. It was the second time for all of us to see Frozen except Melyssa. Leah and Makynlee wore their princess dresses for the event, sang out during all the songs and laughed out loud at all their favorite parts. They love that movie. Afterwards, we took the kids over to the family fun center again so that the girls could ride the rides play the arcade games.

But like all good things, our Christmas break had to come to an end. Ross had to be back to work on the 2nd, so we went back home and resumed Leslie life as usual. Well, kind of. More about that in my next post.