Last Half of December

What a marvelous, jammed packed last 2 weeks of December we had in Utah! Devin, Emily and I stayed with Devin's parents the week before and after Christmas, and had such a great time being in the midst of family every single day. We tried to fit in as much as possible, hence the massive amount of pictures that capture our memories.

Devin, mom and I went to the Mormon Tabernackle Choir Christmas Concert. Jane Seymour was the host, and it was a fantastic show that brought tears to my eyes on a few different occasions. Amazing how powerful music can be!

It was so fun to be able to tell Devin's family in person that we are expecting baby #2.

We spent a day at Grandpa Finch's farm in Payson. Devin grew up going to this farm, and he loved being there and doing the farm chores again. I loved visiting with grandpa, and Emily loved walking in the snow-frosted grass.

Before we left, we did a little bit of target shooting.

All of the Tranter siblings, spouses, and mom and dad went to the Salt Lake temple the Wednesday evening before Christmas. It was so special to be in the temple with the whole family, and have the focus of the Christmas season be on what matters most, the Savior. After the temple we walked through beautifully lit and decorated temple square, followed by a delicious dinner at Charlie Chow's chinese restaurant. We love our Emily and our nieces and nephews, but it was nice to have uninterrupted conversations with each other. What a great night!

We celebrated Suzy's 28th birthday, and Rob's 25th.

Christmas Eve was one for the books. My 2 worlds collided when my brother Josh drove from California to be with us Tranters over the Christmas weekend. It was so special to have him with us. Dad cooked prime rib, mom made french onion soup, and we had all the traditional holiday dinner food for our Christmas Eve dinner. So delicious.

We had the kids put on the Nativity pageant (with dad narrating from Luke). Emily did not like her shepherd's headdress, but she did tolerate it just long enough for us to get a few pictures.

After we opened the cousin/grandkid gifts, we moved the party downstairs to watch the classic It's a Wonderful Life.

6 of the 11 grandkids (Sam, Lucy, Jack...Ruby, Emily, Reagan)

And then Christmas morning came. Devin opened the door to where Emily was sleeping, and this little face is what greeted him. She was excited for Christmas morning. And from the pictures above and below, you can tell just how much Emily LOVES her little cousin Reagan (7 months younger). Every time she's with Reagan, she smothers her with hugs and kisses.

The day after Christmas we all headed up to the cabin for 3 days and 3 nights. We love escaping to the cabin and having everyone in the same house. No one had to leave to put kids to bed. No one had any responsibilities to attend to. We were all there together, with plenty of pack n plays for the babies to nap and go to bed. As always, we played game after game, ate like royalty, spent time outside sledding and snow shoeing, and stayed in sweat pants all day long.

After the cabin, Ashley and Emma spent an evening with us. Devin and I made sushi for the whole family, and it turned out really good (if you ask us). As it always is, it was great to see Ashley, and watch Emma and Emily play. Emily is 2 months older than Emma, and they were so cute together.

On New Year's Eve Devin, his brothers and his dad went shooting. I'm so glad that they were able to fit this in before Devin left for his rotations. It's rare all these boys get to do a boy's day out together.

This has been a common scene, mom reading to Emily.

And here is the last picture of me and Devin in the year 2011. We rang in the new year, and 6 hours later left for the airport so Devin could fly to Iowa for his first rotation.