Christmas Holidays 2012

We were so lucky to have my parents come down and help us celebrate the holidays!  After bring overseas for 7 years it's so nice to have company that can just drive to our house (even though they drove from Canada!)  We had so much fun preparing for Christmas.  Ava saw her first Ballet production of the Nutcracker.

We all made gingerbread men (a Christmas tradition that started with Grandma last year.) Ava made a few extra to pixie to her good friends Kimber and Holdyn Cluff.

We went on a fabulous lights show.  We printed out all the BEST homes and tried our best to navigate the city in search of them.  We got lost more then a few times, but this was by far the most "above and beyond."

Ava gave up 7 stuffies to get her special Build-a-Bear
named Rainbow!

Owen enjoying a little eggnog shake!

We exchanged Christmas Eve PJ's!  Even grandma and Grandpa got jammies.

Love the new jammies!

We set out cookies for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph.

and read The Night Before Christmas

 Then we all went to bed and guess who came
 in the middle of the night?   SANTA

Owen trying to help grandpa build his new zebra bike

Enjoying Christmas dinner together, complete with Christmas cracker crowns and gifts!
 I love sharing my childhood traditions.

A little holiday toast with sparkling apple juice, Ava's favorite.  

She calls it Fancy Nancy drink.

After Christmas we did more fun things with Grandma and Grandpa.We visited Old Town Albuquerque and tried on a few sombrero's 

Ate authentic and "hot" Mexican food

We went up the Sandia Tram.  No snow at the bottom but once you got to the top it was a winter wonderland.

Mom do you think you will be warm enough?

David the winter Sasquatch 

 Dave test flew his Christmas RC plane.  I literally stayed outside for about 20 minutes and had frozen fingers and ears. It was so cold that morning!

We took the Rail Runner Express to Santa Fe. Too bad it had so many stops...We could have drove there faster, but it was fun for Ava and Owen.

It was so cold in Santa Fe that we bounded from store to store trying to stay warm.  It was beautiful, and we have to see it once the weather turns warmer.

Thanksgiving in St George USA

3 years has gone by so fast.  At first I cried when I heard we were headed to England, I was convinced that after 4 years in Germany we were surely moving back to the USA.  Now that the time is gone I'm sad to leave.  Isn't that always the way? 

 This is all we have lived with for 6 long weeks and today is the day we head for London.  

Ava killing time in the shuttle

 Finally we made it to London, after a long detour around town.  Our hotel room had a huge picture window.  Owen loved to stare at airplanes and watch the people walk through the parking lot.

We made a pit stop at Washington Dulles Airport where we found this cardboard beauty.....

 Don't mind me, I love the spotlight!

and then it was off to Albuquerque, New Mexico.  My parents were kind enough to pick up our van in Dallas, Texas and drive it to Albuquerque.  They met us at the airport and had a room booked and ready so we could just plop our stuff down and go to sleep!

The next day we headed for St George, Utah. We took a little leave en route to spend Thanksgiving with the Millers.  This is the Colorado River flowing under the Navajo bridge at Lee's Ferry Arizona.  

 Totally different landscape then what we have grown accustom to over the past 7 years overseas!  Red dirt and sand...no trees, or grass or flowers

It was a lot of fun to celebrate Thanksgiving with family.  St George was even warm enough to eat outside!

We had a lot of adventures while we visited: 

New Harmony plot.  Ava created her own unique game of

 Hose Hoop Toss.

 We toured the St George Temple grounds and saw all the Christmas lights and nativities

.

Hiked in Zion's National Park

Visited Santa

Made cookies and decorated Grandma's tree!

 Our last day before heading back to Albuquerque was December 1st, Ava's 5th birthday.  We stared the day off with full tummies, enjoying the breakfast buffet at Golden Coral!

Then we had a fun family birthday party

We are excited to be back in the US and so close to family!  Now it's time to head back to New Mexico and find a house, unpack our stuff and decorate for Christmas!