Oops! Did I forget to blog? - Part 1

I have exactly 55 minutes to enter my last post(s) for 2009. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute, right? In November we took our annual trip up to Utah to visit Jeremy's brother, Scott, and his family. The girls were AMAZING travelers. I'm pretty sure in-car DVD players are one of my favorite inventions ever! On our first full day in Utah we went to the MTC to pay a visit to my sister, Caitlin. What? You didn't know you could visit people in the MTC? Don't get your hopes up. Apparantly, the only way you get to visit loved ones is if they have to have shoulder surgery and then have to spend weeks in missionary daycare while all the other missionaries get to go to class. Leave it to my sister :) So we got special permission to visit her and we snuck in fully caffeinated Dr. Pepper in the girls diaper bag. Those diaper bags sure come in handy :) Here are my goofy girls with their Aunt Caca (no, I'm not making that up, that's what they call her). We were hoping for snow while we were up there and, for once, we got our wish. The past couple times we've gone up in the late fall they have had heat waves. Jeremy snapped this picture in Scott and Michelle's backyard when the snow started to fall on Sunday night.

Here's the view on their street the next morning. Gorgeous, isn't it? I love the clouds on the mountains.

We bundled the girls up into their snow bunny outfits and let them go out in the backyard to play in the snow; their first time. As soon as Natalie started walking in the snow she was upset because her shoes "got all messy". I showed her that the snow can be wiped off but she started getting sad so I told her to pick some of the snow up and throw it. She did. Then she got very sad because her mittens got "all messy" and started crying and didn't want anything more to do with the snow. Tessa was not as upset about being messy but neither wanted to stay outside for very long. So much for their first snow experience. I think Nattie's face says it all.

Aunt Michelle straightened both of the girls' hair and they sat there and let her do it with no fussing. Such divas.

Ok, on our second to last night, after the kids had gone to bed, we played the "taste-testing" game. This is something that Jeremy and I have done in the past and it's so fun. Basically, each person finds 4 or 5 things in the kitchen to feed to their spouse. Then, with your eyes shut, you eat whatever is given to you and have to guess what it is. It's not always something good. We played this game up in Utah and Jeremy and Scott had to eat 5 things and 3 of them had to be good and 2 had to be gross. Scott's gross items that he had to eat were a spoonful of mayonnaise (I would have vomited) and a spoonful of pickle juice. Scott HATES pickles. Jeremy's gross items that he had to eat were a spoonful of raw garlic and a spoonful of unsweetened Kool-Aid. Surprisingly, the Kool-Aid was the worst item of the night. Check out Jeremy's Kool-Aid face.

So the next day, Michelle said she wanted to try the Kool-Aid challenge. This is what your tongue looks like afterwards. It actually causes a burning sensation on your tongue and after you have washed your mouth out completely, your taste buds remain quite inflammed for several minutes after due to taste sensation overload.

Our trip to Utah was so much fun and just the relaxing vacation that we needed. We always appreciate Scott and Michelle's hospitality (and delicious home-cooked meals to boot). The girls enjoy playing with their cousins and were asking to play with them for at least a week after we had returned home. Thanks again, Scott and Michelle! We had so much fun with you!