Utah for the Holidays

Chris and I were so excited to be home for the holidays. We were glad to be around family and friends and to enjoy the cold Utah weather and snow. After living in the city we are very appreciate of how beautiful some more rural places can be. (and, typical for us, we forgot our camera so these are phone pictures)

Chris was able to take advantage of some good ski days while I took the pregnant lady route and stayed at home visiting with friends and family or snowshoeing. My mom was wonderful and threw me an open house baby shower that brought together a lot of people I hadn't seen in a while. Thanks everyone for coming! I only wish I had had more time to sit and really chat with each person more individually. We were given some much needed baby supplies and we are so grateful for everything.

With all the snow that fell while we were there Chris got a lot of experience clearing out the horse property using the tractor. He was a huge help to my parents, but I think it was more fun that work to him. The Utah temperatures were only in the teens most days, but we loved the crisp cold air that made it feel like winter and Christmas. There is something about having air so cold your nose hairs freeze when you walk outside.

On new years day my mom and Jan hosted a family baby shower at the horse property. It was fun to have all the Sonntag girls together. We played some fun games, my favorite being one my aunt came up with. She melted candy bars in the bottoms of diapers and smooshed them up so they looked more like poop than candybars. Everyone had to sniff, examine, and taste (if you dared) to find out what kind of candy bar it was. I laughed seeing everyone sniffing dirty diapers. I was given another load of stuff for Baby Girl Bell - all of it very useful and necessary. One of my favorite gifts was a little red sweater from my Aunt Susan. It was one I wore when I was little. My mom had given it to Susan's daughter, Heidi, after I had grown out of it and Susan had saved it and was giving it back to me. I loved that it had survived the years and was going to be worn by my own little girl. It is definitely one of a kind.

The rest of the day was spent sledding behind the 4 wheelers (well, not me) until the sun went down and it turned too cold. It was a great way to spend the new year and our last day in Utah before heading back to Cali.