More Chistmas with family, and Snow!!!

Warning & Apologies: This post will be long as it covers 5 days! Wed. Dec. 26th - Sun. Dec. 30th.

Wednesday December 26, 2007: It's the day after Christmas and we're off to Utah! Adam, Meghan, Kaitlyn, my mom Cathy and I loaded up our van and drove to Salt Lake City, Utah to spend the next 5 days with my family. My sister Laura, hubby Johnny and daughter Sydney live in South Salt Lake. It's a long drive (approx. 700 miles) and takes 10 to 12 hours (depends on the number of bathroom stops, snack attacks, speed, weather, etc). We left our home at 4 am. We drove thru So Cal, Nevada, Arizona and then into Utah. We lucked out that it didn't snow on us so we made good time, arriving in Salt Lake around 4:30pm. My other sister Michelle, hubby Jared and daughter Annabelle were also in town (from San Francisco) having already celebrated Christmas with Jared's family in Idaho and Utah. (All of us were here except my brother Jeff who couldn't make it due to work)

Here are the 'Lewis Girls' ... Michelle, Laura and Andrea.

(FYI: Laura is 15 weeks prego, and I am 11 weeks prego in this pic!)

The other girls (Meghan, Katie and Sydney) were very excited to see each other and open their Christmas presents. Each of them drawed a name this year.

Annabelle had Katie; Katie got Barbie, Island Princess!

Katie had Sydney; Sydney got a Doodle Pro and a super Play-Doh Pack!

Sydney had Meghan; Meghan got a baking kit (comes with an apron and 16 accessories) and a jewelry making kit.

Meghan had Annabelle; Annabelle got some board books! (with Michelle and Jared)

Here are the foursome: Sydney (2½), Meghan (6), Annabelle (5 months) & Kaitlyn (2½)

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Thursday December 27th: After breakfast it was snow time!! The girl's got all bundled up with extra socks, bibs, boots, jackets, hats and gloves. Katie borrowed snow clothes from Sydney. Meghan borrowed from Laura's co-worker's daughter (Thanks Jen!) We played in Laura's backyard, which had plenty of room for the girls to play around.

Katie walking in the snow, isn't she adorable all bundled up!

Sydney laughing.

Katie and Sydney playing in the snow, they all decided it was fun to throw snow at each other.

Meghan all bundled up!

Johnny had already made a hill (about 4 feet tall) with a ramp so the girl's could sled in the back yard. This was a huge hit.

Meghan's first run on the sled disc, with her pink boots.

Here comes Sydney, in her pink boots too!

Next it was Katie and Meghan in the sled.

Here are my mom's little snow bunnies, Annabelle (5 months), Katie (2½), Meghan (6) and Sydney (2½)!!

Katie saying "Wheeeeeee!" Notice her pink cowgirl boots!

My girls.



After playing for over an hour in the snow we convinced my mom to sled down the hill once.


She then got congrats hugs from Katie and Sydney.

Time to get warm. For lunch we had Laura's homemade chicken noodle soup and Michelle made grilled cheese sandwiches. Yummy! Then it was nap time.

Later that night we all got bundled up and went to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake to walk around the Salt Lake Temple and the surrounding grounds. Everything was decorated with Christmas lights. It was very beautiful with all the lights and snow.

The McGary's in front of the Salt Lake Temple. The tree to the left was amber lights but the tree behind us wasn't lit up yet. All the bushes had green lights.


Michelle, Adam, Katie, Andrea, Laura, Johnny & Cathy
Meghan & Sydney
All of us at Temple Square (except Jared and Annabelle, we had been walking around for an hour and it was very cold, so Jared and Annabelle went back to the car to get warm)

Katie, Meg & Syd.

Next was dinner time. Laura got a babysitter, Maddie, to watch Meg, Katie and Syd. They had pizza and played with play-doh, and had a great time!

Meanwhile, all of us adults (and a sleeping Annabelle) went to Tepanyaki's (similar to a Benihana's) for an adult evening of fun.

Michelle, Jared, mom Cathy, Andrea and Adam.

Andrea, Adam, Johnny and Laura.

We had a great dinner and enjoyed the show.


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Friday December 28th: We all had breakfast together at the 'Waffle-Fest' at Laura's home. Johnny got a new waffle maker for Christmas, so we all got to enjoy delicious waffles.

The girls loved their waffles!

After the 'Waffle-Fest' the girls watched Cinderella and danced together pretending-to-be Cinderella dancing with the prince at the ball.

My mom and all 4 granddaughters. After breakfast, Michelle, Jared and Annabelle headed back home to San Francisco.

In the afternoon it started to 'flurry', which means light snow. Meghan was very excited to stand outside and feel snow fall on her face.


That night my cousin Tommy Judd (on my mom's side), his wife Angie and 3 sons came over for dinner, they live in Provo. We had a wonderful time catching up and watching the kids play.

Some of the kids playing.

Katie, Syd, Meg, Logan, Xander and Rygel. (3 girls vs 3 boys) They all had fun playing and running around together.

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Saturday December 29th: Laura, Johnny, Sydney and my mom came over to our hotel for breakfast. They brought bagels and juice.

So what do you do when its snowing and 20 degrees outside? You go swimming of course, in an indoor pool. So after breakfast the girls and their daddy's went swimming at our hotel's pool.

The spa was really hot....

... So they went in the pool instead.

Syd and Katie jumping to their dad's.

After swimming, we had lunch and took naps. After naps we all headed to Sandy, Utah to visit my Grandpa Lewis (my dad's father) and his wife Jean.

My family with my mom and Grandpa Lewis

My family with Grandpa and Jean.

After visiting with Grandpa we went to dinner and had yummy mexican food. It was our last night together.

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Sunday December 30th: We left our hotel at 5:30am, picked up my mom at Laura's and was on the road before 6am. We arrived home around 4ish. We had fun, saw family and enjoyed being with each other. I already miss my sisters.