Ashcraft Family: February 2011

Our Christmas Trip- Part 4 Christmas Day

"We all enjoy giving and receiving presents. But there is a difference between presents and gifts. The true gifts may be part of ourselves—giving of the riches of the heart and mind—and therefore more enduring and of far greater worth than presents bought at the store.

"Of course, among the greatest of gifts is the gift of love....

"Some, like Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens's A Christmas Carol, have a hard time loving anyone, even themselves, because of their selfishness. Love seeks to give rather than to get. Charity towards and compassion for others is a way to overcome too much self-love" (James E. Faust, "A Christmas with No Presents," Ensign, Dec 2001, 2–6).

You know it's going to be a great day when you wake up to this smiling face!

The kids patiently wait to come up to see what Santa may have left them in Utah.

We all enjoyed Camille's cooking.

Beka and Emma play with some things that Santa left while waiting to open presents.

Devan and Ivan successfully find their hidden stockings.

Chad and my mom

Camille and Maleah

Emma and Beka

Barry and Katherine

Maleah and Aunt Kami

Can you tell that Devan loves Legos?

Christmas Mayhem

Ivan with one of his gifts

Our Christmas Trip- Part 3 Children's Museum

From Idaho, we headed back to stay with my brother Chad in Lehi. While we were there, we went with a bunch of my family to the Discovery Gateway Children's Museum in Salt Lake City. There were so many things to do at the museum. We had a great time. Here are some of the pictures from our visit.

Devan and Ivan try their hand at playing music.

Pretend Grocery Shopping

Spencer checks out at the grocery store.

Rock climbing was a big hit for both the young...

... and the young at heart!

Emma and Becca had a blast riding in the cars.

Devan found a horse that wouldn't buck him off.

Ivan and Uncle Barry

Emma's favorite spot was the playhouse. She found a chair just her size.

The KSL set had to be the kids' favorite section of the museum.

They had such a great time pretending to be the anchors while reading the prompter and looking into the cameras. It looked like an actual television studio.

My family can be quite comical at times. They had way too much fun playing with the life flight helicopter. Here you see Jeremy and Derek trying to escape.

Becca did not want her picture taken. It was pretty funny. Devan's facial expression cracks me up in this picture.

Valerie pretending to be hit.

Uncle Derek just isn't as agile as his wife. :-)

Our family is full of hams. :-)

I don't know who had more fun playing. The kids or the adults?

My brother Jeremy

Hoping that it's not going to fall.

The kids put on their 3 bears show for everyone.

Becca and Aunt Valerie

Our Christmas Trip- Part 2 Snow Fest

My kids' favorite part of the trip besides seeing family was playing in the snow. I thought I'd post some of my favorite snow pictures from the trip.

Just getting ready to go outside was exhausting! Spencer is finally ready to go.

Emma loved being outside for short periods of time. She liked watching the kids play from the front window the best. Idaho was a little to cold for this Arizona girl.

Tyson and Devan had a great time building a snow fort at Grandma's house.

Elizabeth's expression says it all.

Megan and Liz enjoying the white fluff.

Austin wasn't sure what to think about Emma hugging him. Emma sure loved spending time with all her cousins.

Cameron was sure excited for us to come visit.

Devan had a blast driving around on Grandpa's old snow machine.

Tyson enjoys the tunnel he built.

Austin, Uncle Ben, and Megan

Liz

Spencer

Devan

Our Christmas Trip- Part 1

I'm only 2 months late in sharing our Christmas Vacation. We headed north on a road trip to visit both Ivan's family in Idaho and my family in Utah for Christmas 2010.

We took a detour to see the Provo Tabernacle which was destroyed by fire. We got a phone call from a friend telling us about it as we were getting ready to leave. Over 24 hours later, you could still see the fire fighters working on the building. We have so many great memories in this building.

We stopped at my brother Chad's house to help celebrate Maleah's 1st birthday. My neice is so cute! We were able to see my sister Katrina who was visiting from West Virginia and her girls as well as grandma.

The kids were also finally able to meet Aunt Paula. My brother Troy married Paula 3 years ago. It took them over 2 1/2 years to get her to the United States from Brazil legally. We were so excited to get to know her on this trip.

After the party, we headed up to Idaho racing a BIG snow storm. We were so grateful to make it safely. Devan learned how to scrap snow from the car.

Spencer fell in love with the snow. He wanted to be outside more than inside. Forget the coat. He didn't think it was too cold!

Ivan enjoyed running the snow blower again. He only gets to do it when we visit Idaho, so it never gets old.

The Sunday night before Christmas, most of Ivan's family gathered at his brother's reception hall in Terreton, Idaho. It was a stormy day, so we were grateful that everyone made it there and home safely. Liz was thrilled to be reunited with her girl cousins, Chanamy, Eliza, and Megan. Here are some of my other favorite shots from the party.