All Worth It

Vacation can be hard. A 20 hour car ride. Amelia throwing up the day we got there. Maya spending 3 full days terribly grumpy before adjusting. Naps are impossible. Schedules are thrown out the window. And still, there are those moments that make it all worth it.

1) Napping with grandpa.

2) A very serious and attentive Mary played by Amelia.

3) Christmas party with most of the family. Most memorable when we all sang Jingle Bells together to help 3 year old Benjamin who hilariously forgot how to sing it. The joy in Amelia's face as we all sang together. And again when my dad sang Chestnuts and we all joined in to sing it a 2nd time. All worth it.

4) Christmas Eve filled with caroling, new pajamas, and an exhausted Juan who must be devastated that he missed out on our annual viewing of White Christmas.

 5) Christmas morning. Amelia loved it. And so did Maya, she was delighted with each gift and would point point point until we took toys out of the packaging. They've both been playing with all their toys nonstop ever since. Juan and I were pretty spoiled as well.

One day they will appreciate my family shots and not consider it torture.

6) Temple Square. The nativity and feeling the Spirit so strongly and knowing that Amelia knew how special it was also. And the temple, it was breath-taking. A very special experience there.

7) The view from our car at any given time and Amelia yelling, Mountains mommy, mountains!

8) A visit to the temple, our first time to the beautiful Draper temple. And brunch with our dear friends Andrea and Matt and Addy (in which we were too lame and didn't take pictures).

9) Cousins in matching pajamas. We bought these while Ginger was still pregnant and finally got our photo shoot.

Both folding their little hands.

 10) Sledding. There was a moment while I was laying down with Amelia for a nap. She looked at me with such a glow of happiness and said, I went sledding mom. She just loved it. Again, all worth it.

After a tiny spill.

 11) East Canyon. Playing games. Talking. Eating. Walking to the store. Watching the girls with their cousins.  The scavenger hunt my mom does for the grandkids. It was lovely.

12) And the road trip. It goes into good and bad. Bad because it got L O N G. Good because I love my road trip memories from growing up. And quite enjoy being in that tiny space, spending time together. The girls were extremely good. A bit of whining here and there, but we really had fun with it.

I took a lot of sleeping pictures of Amelia. She is the most gorgeous sleeper.

Playing peek-a-boo. And giggling ensued. No better sounds

More silliness.

 13) And being home. Playing with their new hut and tunnel from grandma. Lots of laundry. Lots of lounging. Going on 3 days of laziness and recovery from vacation. All worth it.