Christmas Trip

We had an awesome road trip for Christmas to see Grandpa Vance and Nana for Christmas.  The next post has all 8 states that we visited.  This is the rest of the trip in photos.

The kids' hotel room in Texas.  We used hotel points and got two rooms for once.

Eating at Subway, our restaurant of choice on road trips.

Watching a movie on Grandpa's reclining couch.

Nana spent a lot of time cooking good food for us!!

Docks that were destroyed by Katrina.

The remains of a house destroyed in Katrina.

The glass elevator in New Orleans, Jackson Square.

A river boat in New Orleans.

River boat up close.

Some brass performers in New Orleans, they were on every street corner and square.  Lots of jazz music and tap dancers.

Burbon Street.

The cool architecture of New Orleans French Quarter.  Amazing!

Eating at Gumbo Pot.  Everyone's favorite food was the Jambalaya.  The shrimp in all the dishes was HUGE!

Christmas Eve at Burger King.

Christmas Eve treats made by Nana.

The master candy maker.  So yummy!!

Christmas morning.  It was so hard to wait for Grandpa and Nana to wake up!!  Too much excitement!!!!

Carving the turkey.

Carving ham.

Christmas dinner.  It was so yummy!!  The missionaries joined us for the day.  It was great to have them!

Touring the USS Alabama, a WWII battleship!

The eating bar inside the battleship.

We've decided that this is the new solution to our bedroom problems.  All in one room in a six bed bunk!

And this is our new idea for time outs!!

Big B hugging one of the battleships warheads.

On the front of the battleship.

Look at all of the guns!!  Are you kidding me!?

Grandpa and Nana's beautiful house.  The bayou is in the backyard.

Deep in flooding country.

Doing a craft with Nana.

Three generations of Vance Men.

Chinese food in our hotel room!

This hotel we got TWO SUITES!!  Each suite had a bedroom and a living room couch bed so everyone was in a bed.  It was the best hotel experience of our family's life!

The boys playing Xbox in their hotel room.

Road Trip!!

We took a LOOOOONG road trip for Christmas to go see Grandpa Vance and Nana in Mississippi.  Here are the states we got to see.  It was supposed to be a two day trip, 11 hours each day, but the days were more like 13-14 hour days.  The kids were great travelers, except Big B.  He did not love the trip!!

New Mexico

Texas

Louisiana

Mississippi

Alabama

Oklahoma

Arkansas

Kansas

Colorado

11th Birthday!

Little L turned 11 in December.  It was just a family party this year.  She is so grown up that it is hard for me to believe that she is only 11.  We love this beautiful, kind, smart, happy girl!!

EY Christmas Party

Dad and Mom got to get all dressed up for the fancy EY office party.  It was a great night of fun food, great chatting and dancing.  Mostly, mom loved having a chance to wear her fancy dress and jewelry. It was a great date.

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

On our way home from Orem we stopped in SLC to go to Music and the Spoken Word in the Conference Center, the Orchestra on Temple Square was there too and the entire place was decorated for Christmas.  It was a wonderful performance and the kids loved watching it in person.  There was such a wonderful spirit there.  Uncle Russ and Grandma Vance joined us for the broadcast and afterwards we walked to Russ's new apartment for smoothies.  It was a great morning and a wonderful start to our trip.

Thanksgiving/ 50th Birthday Party

We drove to Utah for Thanksgiving to be with Dad's family.  All of his siblings were there and we had a great time looking at temple square lights, playing football, watching football, cooking and eating food, watching movies, playing at the awesome rec center, and most importantly, celebrating Grandma Vance's 60th birthday.  It was great family time!!

Temple Square lights, Big B, J Man having his dream come true watching football with his uncles.

Grandma Vance and Kim's oldest V.

The Turkey Bowl participants!

Thanksgiving dinner.

Black Friday ads.

The Saratov Approach movie night.

Partying at the Provo Rec. center.

My boys on the climbing wall, yes, that is Dad on the far part of the wall.

The girls with their cute cousin.

Boo and Kim with their cute kids!

Uncle Gary and I.

Aunt Ondalynn and P.

Playing basketball, Lady K and Big B.

The Knockout game.

The Queen decorator of the 60th birthday party.

Uncle Clayton posing by the cake Aunt Bonnie made (he helped dip strawberries.)

Aunt Camille, the party planner extraordinaire.  The salad bar was incredible!!

Dad with Grandpa and Grandma Gardner.

Camille and Jared.

Cute twinner cousins.

Uncle Ryan with the boys.

Baby R with Cousin J.

Intense ping pong game.

Aunt Carissa and Uncle Ryan with baby girl in belly.

Aunt Ondalynn, Uncle Gary and baby P.

Catching Fire

We had a little Hunger Games fever at our house in anticipation of the Catching Fire moving coming out.  Lady K invited friends and we made a party of it.  It was a great night for everyone.  A company was handing out gift cards for free and we had a ton of food to enjoy while watching the movie all for free.  Even the tickets were free thanks to a gift card from Dad's work.  It was a fantastic, fun, memorable night.