I was a little sad once Christmas was over. It seemed like it came and went so fast because Matt had finals up until the Saturday before. It helped, though, that we had so many fun things planned after Christmas for the rest of our Utah trip!
After the Boxing Day party with my family, we made our way over to one of my favorite parties each year with some of Matt's friends from high school. It is always so fun to see everyone.
Amberly and I meeting for the first time
Mary and Amberly
The group photo with all our awesome white elephant gifts
Unfortunately, my family came down with this horribly contagious stomach flu 2 days after Christmas! Thankfully I was able to avoid getting sick, but it meant Matt couldn't join me at the annual Pound the Pavement for Parenthood Christmas party. There was no way I was missing that party, so I went by myself.
I wish we had a picture with everyone who was there, but we snapped this picture with Jill and Maren right before I left. I love these ladies!
One of the things I miss most about Utah is the mountains. Since everyone was sick and needed to get out of the house, we went for a drive up the canyon to enjoy some of these beautiful views.
Once Matt got feeling better he went ice fishing with a couple of his former mission companions in Wyoming.
Isn't that hat just awesome? :)
Can you tell he's in heaven? I love this guy.
Once things settled down after New Years and all the illnesses, we got together with all the Mateer cousins that are currently living in Utah (except Melissa and Ryan because she had to work :( ). It was so fun to see everyone and catch up. We can't wait to live closer and do this more often!
Crystal, Helena & Jordan Mateer; Aaron and Holly Mateer; Laura Mateer; Matt and I; Sterling and Hayley Mateer
And, here's a little goof picture for ya. I love that Helena has her finger up her nose--perfect timing right there! :) We love these people!
Sweet Helena and I
Oh Laura. I had missed this girl! I'm so glad she moved over from England for a few years to attend school! She made me feel tall for the first time in my life! :)
We also enjoyed some pretty awesome parties with the Purcell side of our family! We even made home-made pizzas one night! They were amazing and so fresh--I loved it!
The delicious pizza was followed by these yummy lemony desserts--they were really good!
There was nothing better though than watching people play a dancing game on the Wii. :) I love this picture of mom and dad getting their groove on.
And I think I might blow these pictures up. Matt usually hates dancing, but he actually loved the game and was getting really into it. So funny.
Our cowboys. :)
We were only able to see James and Steph for a couple days right before Christmas and we hadn't seen their new house in St. George so we made the trip down there to spend a couple more days with them and the kids. It was such a nice break from the cold! High 50s felt like summer to us! The drive wasn't bad either--especially with views like these.
The first night, Friday, we were there Steph made a delicious dinner and we left the guys with the kids for a night on the town. We went shopping and Steph was like my own personal fashion consultant. She helped me pick out a few things that I LOVE. Then we went to Wingers to share some asphalt pie. There's nothing like a good girls night.
The next day we spent some time seeing the town and visiting the Saint George
temple.
Such a beautiful temple! It's amazing how it feels so peaceful just to be on the temple grounds.
On Saturday night they got a babysitter for the kids and we went to dinner at Buffalo Wild wings. The food was delicious of course, and it was fun to have some time just the four of us.
Steph and James
Matt and I--He kept closing his eyes, so this is the best picture we got :)
After dinner we went home and had a movie night. On Sunday we relaxed, went for a walk, and had another movie night. We had so much fun and can't wait to live in Salt Lake so we can take trips down to Saint George to visit James and Steph whenever we can!
There were so many people that we would have loved to have seen while we were visiting Utah but it was so hard to fit everything in! We're so excited to be moving back so we'll have plenty of time to see everyone and spend time with all of our friends and family there. Next time we see those beautiful mountains we'll be driving in with everything we own! Only a few more months!
