Home for the Holidays Part I

The best part of this Christmas was spending it in Utah with my family. It was so fun sharing all of our traditions with Blake this year.

We introduced my mom to Trader Joe's and had a blast shopping at City Creek for some last minute gifts. The candy windows are back! Although not quite as good as the ones from my childhood but I still loved them.

I chopped 9 inches off of my hair and then we ate Blake's faaaavorite meal at the Dodo. Anyone in SLC, go eat their turkey sandwiches NOW.

Blake has never been to a family Christmas party (no extended fam in Seattle) so the Siddoway party was quite the introduction! We ate the traditional meal of pulled pork sandwiches, salad, scalloped potatoes and jello :) This year we threw in a baked brie to be extra fancy.

 Then my 40+ family members played the notorious "Left Right game" in honor of Grandpa. You read a dumb story and everytime "left" or "right" is said, you pass a candy bar left or right. Sounds simple but we seem to mess it up every year. Grandpa always bought THE worst candy bars like Mounds, Look, 5th Avenue, Big Hunk or Necos so all the kids always fought over the few good candy bars. Then we sing Christmas carols and dance our hearts out to Calypso Christmas- a great 80s Christmas song my uncle produced.

 Our best cousins Cori and Nate who are expecting a baby boy this spring! yay! 

 On Saturday we drove up to Logan to kidnap my naughty 2 year old niece Anne because Sara had the flu and bad babies make everything more fun. First things first, a top knot of course.

 Every year we go caroling to a rest home that is a little run down... and... well, sad really. Old people just make me cry. But it felt nice to brighten their day and they all adored Anne- and Blake's singing of course.

Delivering their goody bags- bananas, tissues and candies!

This lady only spoke Spanish and was obsessed with Blake once he started speaking back to her.

I just smiled and nodded my head.

Part II up next!