Christmas in Virginia Part Four

Well, we did go to other fun places, but just hanging out at home was fun too.

Here's us driving somewhere, it was a full car...

We went out to dinner for my parents anniversary...

Elora fashioning my new scarf...

We went to the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA. It's a cool place where they have different houses set up from different countries and different years. It's a historical view of what immigrant came from, and then to the life they built for themselves in the United States. We saw lots of animals, and yes, it was very cold that day!

Here's the ducks, yay!

Christina likes ducks...

Did I tell you that she really likes ducks?

Pig stepped out of his hut for a moment...

Some of the gang...

The German house I believe...

Max happier outside...

Christina holding a chicken...

Christmas in Virginia Part Three

Well, of course, the whole reason we went to Virginia was to spend Christmas with my sister, Mom, Dad, and Grandma. I love our family Christmas traditions. One tradition is to have a nice big dinner on Christmas Eve of Chicken Kiev. It was delicious! Then we have our program where everyone participates by sharing a talent of their choosing.

Here's Christina playing her flute...

Here's Mom reading a story for the kids...

Elora made a cute Mary for our nativity...

Dad always reads the Night Before Christmas from a book he got when he was little.

The kids got to open up pajamas, yay!

Christmas morning... Max loved his train set! He played with it all day!

Elora got a new baby and accessories, she named her, "Snow White" Why not? Right? :)

Christina finally got her digital camera...

After seeing what Santa brought us, we had our nice sit-down breakfast of cream of wheat.

Elora's new dress...

My new scarf...

I used to play with calico critters when I was little, so I knew Elora would love to have a family of her own. Oh, and she has named them all after us: Travis, Cynthia, Elora, and Max

Max and Daddy both got a hot wheels track. Gotta love it!

Mom and Dad both got leather jackets. Looking good!

Yay Barbie movie!

Me stylin' my new scarf and MP3 player...

And this is what Max did the WHOLE rest of the day. Oh and he also got a Buzz Lightyear. That night, he was so excited, he didn't want to go to bed. He kept saying over and over, "I wanna play, Buzz, race car, choo choo train." He even woke up in the middle of the night, ran out and woke us up and said, "Buzz, race car, choo choo train!" We told him, no, it's not morning yet, go back to bed... Then, first thing in the morning, he wakes up, runs out, "Buzz, race car, choo choo train!" Ok Max, go play! It was sooo funny! So for this kid, the night after Christmas was more exciting than the night before Christmas...

Christmas in Virginia Part 2

Well it sure was nice to finally make it to my parents house in Virginia! We did a lot of hanging out and playing in the snow. This past winter season has been a record breaking winter where my parents live. They usually don't see snow like this, good thing we timed our trip so nicely to coincide with it... not...

Now do you see why I mix Christina and Elora's names up frequently? I remember Christina so vividly when she was Elora's age, and she reminds me so much of her. But you can definitely see the family resemblance...

Grandma had some great dress-ups to play with!

Playing in the snow was just a little different than playing in St. George snow...

My parent's beautiful house in the winter wonderland...

The kids had a blast!

Christmas in Virginia Part One

Alright, I'm getting around to blogging about Christmas... I'm lame, I know... awwell...

We embarked on our adventure on December 18th, 2009. To read about our whole story about our trip out there, read it here. But here are some pictures to go along with the story...

First flight...in good spirits at the moment...

On the first Amtrak train, also a good moment...

On our second train after a while after we got transferred. Some people had already gotten off the train by this point, so we're not as crowded as we were... But the kids were getting restless, so someone let us use their dvd player, and that gave Max a chance to finally calm down and...

Finally go to sleep...

Are we having fun yet???

Waiting for my Mom and Dad to pick us up at the train station...

Chad's Eagle

Back in December, Chad received his Eagle Scout award. It was a pretty cool experience, especially seeing ALL the Gough boys in the Eagle's nest. (Those who've received their Eagle)