other Christmas break festivities

We were in Utah and Idaho for a week and a half, and we filled each day with something fun. 

Matt and Gary took Graham sledding.  Graham thought it was pretty fun.

He went down the hill with Matt and Grandpa

And then they had a snowball fight.

Grandma and Grandpa Serafine showed Graham Waffle Town.  

Graham also thought it was really fun to walk the Serafines' dog.  And turn off the tv.

The day after Christmas we went up to Idaho Falls and spent some time with my family.  We had a blast there, as we usually do, and go to see my family, which is always really nice.  We saw my cousins Ben and Zach, and their mom, Mandy.

We went to my Grandma and Grandpa's house, one of my favorite places to go.  *disclaimer:  the pictures from here out aren't super awesome...some are quite blurry.  I got a new camera for Christmas and I'm learning all about exposure, aperture, shutter speed, and the list goes on and on.  I learned this all years back when I did photography for the high school yearbook, but that was on a film camera.  Times have changed.  : ) *

This picture, albeit blurry, is one of my favorites.  I love my Grandpa sitting in his chair, Matt and my Grandma conversing, and Hannah holding Graham upside down.  There's a lot going on all at once, and I love that it's all recorded here.

For his birthday, Graham got a little train set from my parents.  He got some more tracks for Christmas from them, and a friend of my mom's gave us a bunch more.  So for the whole time we were their, Graham played trains with anyone who would sit with him.  Here he's playing with his Papa.  He loved playing with him, and would come grab my dad and say, "Papa, choo choo!"

And then it was my birthday.  27.  I'm not sure how I got to that age, but I'm feeling like 27 is almost 30.  It's getting there.  : )  But for my birthday Matt and I went on a little afternoon date.  We wanted to get out without small children in tow, but I wasn't feeling so much like a movie...so we went bowling.  We hadn't been bowling in years, so it was fun to go.  We're no good, at least I'm not any good, but we try.

See, Matt even has good form.

Me, not so much.

That evening we had my Grandparents over for some dinner and dessert.  My mom made a dairy-free cheesecake, which turned out quite well.  But just in case it didn't work out, we had made a birthday cake earlier that day.  We also had some pie from the day before...we had quite the spread of sweets.  But how else should a birthday be?

*Not pictured are the adventures of Matt.  I told Matt to take some pictures but alas, we didn't get any.  Matt went skiing with my dad and Hannah, and snow machining with my dad and grandpa.  Quite the adventurous vacation.

Then it was all done and we had to come home. It's always sad to leave, but I think I had my fill of snow for the year.  : )