February Road Trip to Utah

Chloe had a 5 day weekend in February and we decided to drive to Utah. I'm not sure we'll ever do that again! We had terrible roads and visibility all the way to the border, and when we got there we were informed that the highway south of the border was closed and we couldn't continue. We spent the night in the last motel room left in Coutts, with only a double  bed between the 3 of us.

Ken offered to take the floor, but by 3am he hadn't slept at all, so we traded and he spent a few hours in the bed to hopefully be ready to drive the next morning. As it turned out the I15 was still closed, and we made (what turned out to be) the right decision to drive to Del Bonita and crossed the border and continued on from there. Had we waited in Coutts we would have waited for 4-5 hours.

Chloe must not have slept well either, because she fell asleep in the car for the first time since she was a toddler.

The trip was well worth the drive! We explored the museum on campus.

Held hands on walks

Squeezed in homework help waiting for a table at a restaurant

Cute moments

Zoë engaged with the animals

So did Carmen and Chloe

Classic Carmen

I've never seen a cuter bear

Homework is more fun when you're babysitting

We celebrated Carmen's birthday a week early with a flourless chocolate cake

Carmen invited a couple of friends over for cake, we had a fun night getting to know those girls. They told us some hilarious stories!

The drive home wasn't perfect, but much better than the drive down

Christmas Time in Random Order

This is what happens when Grandpa babysits

Bonding over video games

Temple sealings

Sibling date

Olson family party and white elephant gift exchange

Cuddles

It was super cold in Calgary between Christmas and New Year's. Steven managed to get away to Revelstoke (which was warmer) with friends. Carmen and I did one day of skiing in Sunshine after the New Year.

Zo-Zo

Jaclyn's family spend Christmas Day with Mason's parents, and we opened presents with them a few days later

Christmas morning mom made everyone cry with a memory book of Flex for each kid.

Christmas Eve we went to the Nativity 

Made Sugar Cookies

Played "You laugh you lose"

And had all our usual foods and drinks

Christmas Lead-Up

Teaching Brent's girls how to make chocolates

Little Lila setting up Brent's tree

Chloe became a fan-girl after we went to see David Archuleta's Christmas Concert

Zoë's present ready under the tree

Chloe was a musical performer and interpreter in the Prince House during Once Upon a Christmas at Heritage Park

Flex

We had a sad interruption to our trip when we learned that Flex was very sick. He went downhill quickly and we lost him while we were away.

Cruising

Due to fog, our cruise actually departed a day late, which changed our itinerary and provided Ken with another day to rest up. I think any other trip could have been ruined by his injury, but with a cruise there was plenty of time to sit on a deck chair with his leg elevated. We managed to have a good time! Ken missed exploring the Acropolis in Greece and climbing up to the monastery ruins above Kotor, but we probably saw more of the island of Cephalonia since we elected to hire a taxi, and the walking tour of Split Croatia went at the perfect pace for Ken on crutches.