Christmas Eve

We headed to church on Christmas Eve and then it was off to my Grandpa and Grandma's house for our traditional lasagna dinner. This was also the first Christmas Eve that Brandon and I had to stay up late and play Santa's elves by putting some of Rylie's toys together for the next day. :)

 

Fun in the Snow

The past few days we have had a blast in the snow with Rylie. She isn't really a huge fan of touching the snow with her hands, but doesn't mind playing in it and even seemed to have fun sledding!

 Catching snowflakes with Papa :)

 On our way home from sledding in the snow.

Rylie didn't miss us!

Meanwhile, while we were off snowboarding, Rylie was having the time of her life with Grandma and Gigi. They played in the snow, read books, did puzzles...I don't think she missed us one bit! :)

Shred Sleds!!

Our first day up in Pinetop my mom graciously offered to babysit Rylie so that Brandon and I could go snowboarding! If you have known us for awhile, we have quite a past involving snowboards (started dating on a snowboard trip, got engaged snowboarding, honeymoon? oh yeah, snowboarding there too!) but due to a certain little addition to our family, it has been a bit tough to go the past couple of years (pregnancy and snowboarding don't exactly go hand in hand). My Dad, Jeff and Laura also came with us (Laura's first day skiing and she did amazing!). We had a great day on the mountain! It was sunny and perfect snow all morning and then it started lightly snowing in the afternoon. One of my favorite things in the world with my favorite person in the world...pretty perfect way to spend the day!

 A little piece of my childhood...at the top of the mountain with my dad! Such fun memories!

Bearizona

After the Polar Express, we stayed the night in a hotel in Williams (Rylie only slept until 3am, so needless to say, it was a very long night!). The next day we headed to Bearizona, a drive through safari like park, but with forest animals. There is also a walk through part and Rylie seemed to really enjoy it!

The Polar Express

We were all so excited to go on the Polar Express (I have been waiting for a child old enough so I could go) and after making reservations back in August, it was finally here! We picked Mimi (Gammie's new name according to Rylie which means its ok with Gammie to now be called Mimi!) up from the airport and headed to Williams, AZ. My parents and Jeff and Laura also came on the trip.

After dinner and checking into our hotel, we headed to the train station to take some pictures, let Rylie see Mrs. Claus and Santa (yeah, not a fan this time around!) and then waited to board the train to the North Pole. I have to say that I loved Rylie's pjs, robe, and beanie that we got for this trip. :)

Once we got on the train, they handed out cookies and hot cocoa. Rylie, of course, loved both. We had brought our copy of the "Polar Express" book so that she could follow along while they read the book. She loved looking at the lights as we arrived at the North Pole and waved to Santa and his elf. It was so fun to watch her take everything in and how excited she got about the little things. 

Santa then boarded the train as we headed back and handed out bells to all of the kids. Not unlike the train station, Rylie was not a fan of Santa (she spider monkeyed up Mimi's arm as soon as he got to her), but she loved (and still loves) the bell. On the way back they sang Christmas carols and this was by far Rylie's favorite part (as you can see below).

The whole experience was so fun and we hope to make it an annual Christmas tradition!