The First DATE of Christmas

In a rare moment of me trying to be an awesome wife, I planned 12 dates of Christmas to do with Ammon. And by dates I mean 12 Christmas experiences of some sort (the majority of them may or may not include our built-in third wheel).

For the first date, we went to the Alpine Living Nativity.  I had never heard of it before, but thanks to my awesome Googling abilities we found it just in time to kick off our December.

We started out being driven up to the Nativity with the greatest hay ride  horse trailer ever.  Nothing puts you in the Spirit of Christmas more than being locked up in one of those bad boys.

Once we were freed, we were greeted by a Shepherd and his sheep.  Emerson of course LOVED the sheep, and kept saying 'Baa' to them over and over.  She also tried to crawl under the pen to get to the sheep.  She loves sheep.

They also had these massive camels which were both amazing and a little bit disgusting.  Ammon let Emerson pet one and I just tried to pretend that it had been washed recently (still stoked to ride one at the end of the month though).

Thank you Mr. Camel for looking at the camera.  It really took this picture to the next level.

And then my camera died.

iPhone to the rescue!

The Wise Men

Looking at baby Jesus

(this is also the only picture we got that included the Mitchell's who went with us.  I'll just blame my lack of a decent picture with them on my dead camera)

Had to stop to visit the sheep one more time on our way out!

There were a lot of other really cool things to see that we didn't get pictures of, but this was such a fun outing.  We loved it!  I'm so glad that we were able to go, even if the highlight was the sheep.

'Greece' is the Word....

Can you name what movie I referenced in my title?  I'll give you a hint.... my sister and I watched it every day after school from about 4th-6th grade.... until my mom took it away. :(  Boo!

(Side Note: I started this post MONTHS ago.  We've been home from Greece for like 4.5 months.  But it was too great of a trip not to post about.  So I'm doing it now.  And because Ammon's greatest wish in life was for me to finish this post.)
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For Christmas Ammon surprised me with plane tickets to Greece! (Yes indeed, he did win the best husband ever award).

We went in April.  I can sum up the entire trip in three little words.

The.best.ever.!

Except for the plane part.... big, big fail for United.  I won't bore you with the details... I'll just say that they made us miss a flight (the one from Denver to Germany), cancelled ALL of my plane tickets for the remainder of the trip (like 5 flights), refused to give us a hotel room, when Ammon forced them to give us one we got one that only had a hide-away bed (and a dining room table that sat 8), lost our luggage, cancelled Emerson's tickets for our whole trip back (Oh, did I mention that we brought our 10 month old baby?  Maybe we're insane?  Maybe.), never fixed my ticket, made us miss a day in Greece, and still never fixed my ticket so that we had issues at every stop we took on the way back too.  Laaaame.

This little lady did AWESOME on the flights.  We figured out that we had 27 hours of flight time, and she cried for about 10 minutes TOTAL.  Serious gold stars for her!

Good times were had by all.


But... once we were in Greece it was the greatest trip ever.  I'm serious, that if you have a chance to go to Greece DO IT!!! And if you can, bring a baby.  The baby will get you all kinds of special treatment.

She loved being in her carrier.  She loved looking around, and she would nap in it whenever she was tired.  It worked out perfectly for everyone.

We spent most of our time in Athens.  How could I describe Athens?  Amazing.  Fabulous.  Wonderful.  Historical.  Beautiful.  Rejuvenating.  And sweet.

(Sweet mostly because all of the desserts are soaked in honey.  Or flavored with pine.  blah.)


Our first day in Greece we were extremely jet lagged, had no fresh clothes (due to the airline losing our luggage), and ready for adventure.  After a nap.  Always after a nap.

We spent most of the day wandering around the area by our hotel, which was so fabulously located that we were literally within a 15 minute walking distance to almost EVERYTHING.  We also were right next door to a metro station, so we could jump on and off that whenever we needed.  Seriously,  A for Athens is where it's at.  If you go to Athens and stay anywhere else I will cut you.

 I'm just kidding.  That wouldn't happen.  But you definitely would be sad that you stayed at the wrong place.

Seriously, is this real life?!

One of our favorite parts of Greece was the food.  Oh, the glorious food.  Ammon and I still talk about the food with fondness, and are trying to figure out if/when we can go back.

Day two we were able to see The Parthenon.  It felt like a place where I should fold my arms and be reverent.  I kept thinking back to 6th grade Social Studies with Mrs. Nielsen, and learning all about the ancient Greeks.  I actually teared up thinking about 6th grade Me and how she never thought she would see those things.

It was fabulous.  But I think I've already mentioned that.

Check out that detail!  Mind=blown.

I have to take a moment and talk about Vangelis.  He was a manager at the hotel we stayed at.  He was THE nicest guy, and he was in love with Emerson.  Every time we walked into the lobby he had to take a minute to talk to her and kiss her feet and tell us how he could just tell that she was a wonderful baby.  He really just thought she was great, we obviously agreed.  Our last day in Greece he wasn't working, although he did come in hoping that he'd be able to see us before we left.  Sadly, we didn't get down early enough to see him.  At the front desk he left a sweet little necklace for Emerson.  It's the Eye of Medusa.  He left a message with it was to turn away evil because she was so beautiful that she attracted a lot of attention, and the Eye of Medusa turned the evil attention away from her.  Tell me that isn't the nicest thing ever?

He loved Emerson.  She thought he was awesome too!

While in Athens we had to stop and see some Olympic sites.  This one was cool because it was used in 2004, the 1800s, AND was in the same spot as the Olympics that were held in ancient times.  It was HUGE (and definitely not handicap accessible, the steps were so high).

Emerson would NOT take a bottle or sippy at all while we were gone.  So I nursed in alllllll kinds of fun places.

We are clearly ranked in order of importance.  Ha!

We were also able to see the Temple of Hephaestus.  This bad boy was sa-weet. 

We lucked out and were able to get sandals made by Stavros Melissinos.  This guy is pretty much the bees knees when it comes to the sandal making and I can proudly say that my most favorite sandals in the history of the world were made my Melissinos.  (I have to say that having sandals made by the same person as Sarah Jessica Parker is what I consider a win.)  He loved Emerson, everyone did, I'm serious when I say only go to Greece with a baby.  You will be loved by all, and possibly judged by the lack of socks on your child's feet.

Getting our sandals fitted to our feet.

I know what you're thinking, how am I so cool that I wear my high school drill team jacket 5 years after graduating? 

 Ammon and I both picked out a pair of sandals, but sadly they didn't come in Emerson's size.  It was really fun getting sandals there because they customized them to your feet so that they would fit perfectly.  I can honestly say that I've worn my pair of sandals almost every single day this summer.  They are perfection in the form of a leather shoe.

Us and Stavros.  We were tight.

We rented a car for 2 days and drove to a little town called Meteora.  This is a small town that is famous for these monasteries that were built in the 1400s on the top of these massive mountains and cliffs.  It was so fun driving up these (extremely) windy roads and seeing a Monastery pop up on the side of a cliff.  They were absolutely beautiful, and the scenery and views were breathtaking.

Does this not look like a fairy tale land??

 Emerson slept most of the car ride, but I'm sure she enjoyed that just as much, if not more, than seeing the view.

While we were in Meteora, we had one of the Top 5 best things that Ammon has ever eaten IN HIS LIFE.  This fried cheese:

This is fried cheese with herbs and olive oil drizzled on top.  

Emerson got to experience the ocean and beach for the first time in Greece.  (Is there a better place in the ENTIRE world to experience a beach for the first time?)  I would say it was a success.  She thought digging in the sand was fantastic, and laughed hysterically every time the waves came in and washed over her legs.

I could kiss that face forever.

We ate a LOT of Gyros.  Because we were in Greece.  Duh.  It had to happen.  Our last night there we even went to dinner (had like 10 dishes), went back to our hotel, put Emerson to sleep, and Ammon went out and got us one last gyro to enjoy before leaving.  It was perfect, and delicious, and perhaps an uncomfortably full way to end our trip.

If you were at all on the fence about going to Greece this picture should send you over the edge.  Are you booking  yourself a ticket yet?  You should be.

So that was our trip to Greece in a nutshell.  I didn't write about quite a few things (more ruins, more food, more adventures), but this gives you a small taste of what we saw and did while away.  

THE END

phew! 

,

Our week with Uncle Brenner!

I started a huge post about our vacation to Greece, and then I realized that the camera card that I had with me didn't have the pictures of Greece on them.  I'm way too lazy to look for it right now, so I'm going to post about what I currently have pictures of.


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Two weeks ago my parents went to Spain with my two 'bigger' brothers (note that I said bigger, not older).  Yes, you heard (read?) me right.  My parents went to Spain and they took some of my siblings, but not me. Cruel.


Instead of Spain, we got Brenner.  Which may not be the fairest trade, but he definitely makes for an entertaining one.  I had an 11 day experience seeing what it would be like to be the mother of two.  I can now say with every confidence in myself.... that I am totally not ready for that type of responsibility.  One baby is good for me.


So, we had 11 days with an almost 6 year old boy.  I had to get creative.


We played a lot of board games (and let him win almost every time).

We had a "water party".... which turned into us watching him go down the Slip n' Slide over and over and over and over and OVER again.

Emerson got in on the action too!  She didn't care so much about going down the slide, but we had a hard time keeping her away from the water!!

This one is just because I think she's fantastic.  

After the first day was over Ammon had to go back to our house.... but we managed to keep the party going without him. ;)

One day we made cupcakes.  And by we, I mean Brenner.  He did it all himself.  

Practically. 

Go ahead, tell me that doesn't look delicious.  What's that you say?  You don't like half a bottle of blue sprinkles on your cupcakes?  Huh.

After we thoroughly trashed cleaned my parents house, we came back up to Orem to spend a few days at my place.  That's when the real fun began! 

We went to Seven Peaks.... (Not pictured because we didn't bring a camera OR a phone).  But let me tell you, it was awesome and fun and fantastic and the best ever.  Those were exactly Brenner's words. 

Then we spent a day up at Thanksgiving Point visiting the Dinosaur Museum.  Again, it was totally awesome and rad.  I forgot my camera that day, but I did take some pictures on my phone.  I've already sent them to my mom though, and since I know that this post is basically for her anyway... I'm not going to worry about getting them onto my computer.

Anyway, moving on...

Brenner and Ammon used their iPads to figure out Sunday dinner for us.  Brenner, being a true carnivore, chose steak and beef jerky.  We made one of the recipes for Sunday dinner.  I'll let you decide which one it was.... ;)

We also spent a day at the dead animal zoo Bean Museum with my cousin Kayla and her little girl Alexis (somehow I managed to not get a single picture with her.  How did that happen?).  Brenner thought it was WAY cool.  Until I wouldn't buy him an overpriced stuffed rabbit, but that's another story for another day.

Emerson totally loved it too!  

Here Emerson is worried that the lion is going to eat her.  Or that the antelope will crush her?  Either way.

These two were the best of best friends by the end of our time together.  The day after Brenner left Emerson was totally grouchy and grumpy the whole day and I'm almost positive it was because she missed her Uncle Brenner.  

And here's Brenner with a picture of leopards that I lied and told him were cheetahs.  I don't regret it.

We had a very very very busy few days and we had a lot of fun with Brenner  (especially Emerson!  Favorite uncle forever)!

But... we were totally happy when my parents came back from their trip too.  

:)