The drive to Utah was pretty uneventful. We were on the road early enough to
catch the most beautiful sunrise at the pass.
We had a little bit of dicey weather as we entered Utah, but
otherwise the conditions were good.
My ride to Utah however was super irritating. I had something on my side/lower back that was so itchy that
sitting in a car all day had me wanting to crawl out of my skin. I made the mistake to Google my symptoms
and at one frantic point I’d diagnosed myself with scabies (thankfully an
incorrect diagnoses). About half
way through the drive I finally called Teladoc – our over-the-phone medical
service and got myself a prescription that we picked up just minutes before the
pharmacy closed near my Mom’s house.
Our first day in Utah was a Saturday. That evening I threw out a text to my
family and let them know we were heading to Farr’s Ice Cream and the Ogden City
Lights that evening and asked if anyone wanted to join us or meet us for dinner
at Zupas beforehand. To my
surprise and delight Tyrone said he’d love to meet us for dinner. He brought Kingston and Brooklyn with
him and then Mary met us later with Ashley and Kaitlyn and we even got to meet
Kaitlyn’s fiancé Juston. It was
such a great visit.
I grew up seeing the Ogden City Lights and getting ice cream
at Farr’s so it’s always fun when I get to experience that tradition with my
own kids. Farr’s sure has changed
a lot since I’d last been. Lots
more seating and delicious options.
Justin and Jason opted for shaved ice instead of ice-cream cones.
The Ogden Lights haven’t changed much at all.
Katie and Drew really wanted to ride the little train before
we left.
We did a lot of relaxing at my Mom’s house. On our first day there we took Jason,
Katie and Drew to the library to check out some books to read. I was impressed with the availability
of books – either Utah has a lot more books than us or nobody checks them out
because we were able to get books right off the shelves that we’d have to wait
weeks or months to get back home.
Brenda invited the family over to her house on Sunday
afternoon for the first annual Hipwell Gingerbread House Contest. She baked all the gingerbread for the
houses and made a ton of icing!
There were so many options for decorations. I wasn’t planning on making one, but she had plenty of
supplies and once I started I was fully invested. Our family is pretty competitive so it was fun and pretty
intense. Brenda had generous
prizes for the winners – if I’m remembering correctly we had three winners from
our family – Abigail (Most Creative), Carly (Best in Teen), Jason (Best Younger
Kiddo).
My Gingerbread House
w/Lee’s in the back – Lee’s won best overall (background)
Carly’s Gingerbread House
My Gingerbread House
Jason’s Gingerbread House
We had some last minute shopping to do on Christmas
Eve. This pretty much illustrates
how smoothly that went.
My Mom hosted a Christmas Eve dinner with gift bags for all
the grandkids. The bags were full
of all sorts of random stuff. Travel
toiletries, toys, shirts, hats, cereal, shower caps, socks, juice, souvenirs,
etc… Each bag also had an envelope
with cash inside. There were
twelve out of eighteen grandkids there and all 12 got just $1 in their envelope
– what are the odds that the six bags not chosen were all the bags that had the
big bucks in them?
I think this is the first
time all six siblings have been together in five and a half years.
