Walking in a winter wonderland

Day two up the canyon brought more outside int he snow time. The cabin had a cool playground area the girls got to explore and a fun little slide that they all went down.

Hadley was all ready to go for the snow, and took a slow ride down the long slide.

This is Hadley posing for the camera 

(Rach must have taught her how to do this, because this move is not in my repertoire).

Allie had a fun time playing in the old mine town playground with her cousin Sophie.

This is climbing down the slush box for the mine.

Which apparently was illegal here since she was promptly placed in jail. 

But she kept her spirits up while doing hard time.

Later it started snowing lightly. This was one of the things the girls were soooo excited to see was snow falling. We had to go out and get some pictures and play in the fresh snow.

Here is the family (minus one sleeping baby).

The girls and me having fun in the falling snow.

And just for proof that Miles got to come too. 

He came out after the nap and enjoyed a little time outside with the snow too. 

(he however did not last as long as the girls)

With fresh snow we had to check off a few other things for the girls. 

Like snow angels!

And especially making a snow man! The girls had asked for a few weeks if we could make a snow man, so with the limited fresh snow we made this behemoth of a snow man. We used rocks for eye, and a carrot for the nose, mouth, and (thanks to Hadley's creativity) a chin. Great fun was had by all, and the girls were able to do everything on their Utah wish list (sled, play in snow, build a snow man and play with cousins). The vacation is a success!

The cold never bothered me anyway

 It had been a long time since we had gone sledding. I don't think Hadley has ever really been, so this was a big adventure today. Up at the cabin we had some great sledding hills available to use and they were right outside the front door. So it didn't take long for everyone to get all geared up to go sledding. We went the first day for a little while and then spent a large portion of the next day out on the hill. I wasn't sure how well they would both do since they can get scared easily, but they showed greater inner fortitude than I would have expected (I guess things are not scary if they involve having fun with cousins).

Hadley got to go down the big hill with me. We went down a smaller hill first, but she wanted to go on the big one like all her cousins (way to be brave kiddo).

Allie went down once with grandpa, but then she wanted to go all by herself. After the first time down the hill we couldn't keep her off of it. She would have stayed outside all day going up and down the same hill if we let her.

Hadley would have gone all day too, but I couldn't do that 

(I had to carry the sled and Hadley back up the hill every time).

Rach and I got to go down the really long hill once too. 

This was the picture at the very top. 

This is about a third of the way down. It was a long ride, but there was a road at the bottom so you had to catch onto the road closed sign to keep from flying into the street.

It was a long hike back up the hill 

(the altitude kills you, at least that is what we blamed it on).

 We had a blast sledding. The girls would love to make this a regular thing (like every day), but we don't get too much snow in the Valley of the Sun. Next time we come back to the snow we will have to schedule a sledding day.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Here are a few of my favorite things:

1. Getting to sleep in in the morning

2. Enjoying some peace and quiet

3. Enjoying a warm tropical destination

Well this week is not necessarily about what I like. This week is about spending time with family (and since we live the farthest away, we get to make the trek to see the Shaws). We started the 10 hour drive at 2 AM with the goal of having the girls sleep for the majority of the drive (however if they know they are going to Grandma's house, they can survive on adrenaline and sugar for at least 24 hours). It was a crazy drive with the girls bunked up in the back seat. 

We decided to bring about everything imaginable, notice the luggage piled up in the trunk. It was also under the seats, under the girls feet and in-between their chairs. Lets just say we were low riding the whole way up.

We did get to enjoy a beautiful sunrise by Lake Powell. The colors were really amazing and they made the snow covered red rock mountains look amazing.

Happy to report we all survived the long journey. Now let the fun begin.

It's Christmas Time

Welcome to the Meldrum family Christmas. It was a fun filled day of presents, toys, games, and food. It was an exciting morning that melted into a lazy afternoon, and transformed into a tragic evening (mostly because the girls were so tired, everything was way too dramatic for me at that point). However, we like to remember the happy times, so here are some pictures when they were happy.

There were lots of princesses, Allie and Hadley both got an Ariel doll and Anna (from Frozen).

 Allie got this fabulous chair (courtesy of Hadley, who couldn't help but tell her sister what she got her every day).

Hers and hers necklaces.

I got some sweet work socks!

 (everyone at work liked them too, that's right, I'm pretty cool)

We got a family singing game for the Wii. 

Allie and Hadley both loved singing the Disney songs from their favorite shows.

It was like they were rock stars (get to use a microphone and everything).

Rach got a cotton candy machine! 

(thus fulfilling her lifelong dream and completing her kitchen appliance collection. This goes perfectly with the snow cone machine and fondue set)

By afternoon, Hadley was spent. But she got to crash on her lovely new Minnie Mouse couch. 

(that also folds out into a bed! Now future visitors will have a pull out couch to sleep on!)

Twas the night before Christmas...

Since this was the first Christmas we have had without extended family, we had the chance to try some new things (at least that was the plan). However, things didn't go exactly as planned this year. The girls were so excited for Christmas that they could hardly contain themselves during the day (Hadley was so excited, she peed her pants 3 times! I don't think I have ever been that excited in my entire life, but that is part of what I love about Hadley) and so Rach was very ready for me to come home from work. We had planned a new tradition of fondue dinner, but we had some issues (so we got to eat hamburgers instead! Hooray Wendy's!). Then we had some family time and reviewed the reason for Christmas. The girls wanted to do a nativity play (a new tradition).

Mary (Allie) and Joseph (me) on their way to Bethlehem.

Jesus (Miles) is born in a manger.

 An angel (Hadley) announced his birth.

One more look at the beautiful actors in the family play. They all had a fun time, and maybe even learned a thing or two.

The kiddos each got to open one present. Amazingly enough it happened to be pajamas (Wonder how that worked out). They wanted to get all changed and wear their new digs (A Shaw tradition).

Then we got to do the crazy fun stuff. The parade of presents started after everyone was jammied up. Per Meldrum tradition, only the people bringing out presents can open their eyes until the bells stop ringing. It is like magic with a few presents coming out each time.

Hadley started the present parade by getting gifts for her sister. She got to ring the bells and I got to carry the loot.

All the kids got to take turns bringing out gifts. So everyone had a chance to close their eyes. No peeking Miles (Although Meldrum tradition would require that you sneak a glance or two)!

After the presents were placed by the tree with great care, we hopped in the car to see the lights around town. As soon as we got in, Allie started saying she was tired and needed to go to bed (she really wasn't). When the lights were all viewed and the children sufficiently excited, we sent them to bed (we put them in our room so they didn't wake up and go get the presents in the middle of the night). 

Allie was definitely not tired, since she kept Hadley up for at least an hour! Eventually they slipped off to sleep, so now Santa can come. We'll see if we have been good or bad tomorrow morning!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Christmas Trains

For family night we decided to have some Christmas fun. We had a great lesson about the birth of Christ (it had to be great since I gave it), and then let Rach come up with an activity. She decided we are not a gingerbread house kind of family (too many pieces that can fall apart) so we made Christmas trains instead.

 Treats were made from rice crispy treats and lots of candy. Hadley was very interested in the whole process since she helped unwrap the candy earlier in the day (She always knows where the candy is located).

The girls each made an engine and one car. There was great variety in the decorating techniques (Allie making it look pretty, and Hadley trying to get as much as possible on the train).

Completed masterpieces! They will last about 2 days before hurricane Meldrum gobbles them all up.

I wanna be in pictures

Allie had her very first school play today (with play being used in the loosest of ways. It was more of a singing performance with a lot of 4 year olds. I didn't even know they did performances in pre-school, but I guess they do here). She was so excited to do the performance. I was able to sneak away from work for a few hours to surprise her on the back row (which only sort of worked since she didn't see me for at least half the time).

Allie was way excited to come onto the stage.

Allie knew all the words and sang very LOUD! 

(thanks dance class that always encourages her to yell instead of sing)

At the end there was a special visitor (yep, that special visitor), 

and he brought all the kids a box of bubble gum.

Santa even made time for the audience. 

Hadley was sad she wasn't going to see Santa, so this made things all better.

Dashing through the snow...

One of our new favorite parts of Christmas is participating in the Phelps family FHE. All these crazy fun people get together, have a big meal, and then go out and sing Christmas carols. The girls love it because they use a truck to pull three trailers full of people for the signing. This year the girls got to ride up high and sing as loud as they could. Their particular favorite this year was Jingle Bells (complete with their very own ringing of our jingle bells). Thanks to the Phelps clan for adopting us into your extended family.

Ready for the warm up musical number.

I hope you dance

Allie had her first dance recital during the last class before Christmas and she could not have been more excited.  She told me that morning that she wanted her hair up in a ballerina bun and that her teacher said she could even wear some make up.  We arrived a few minutes early to change into her red sparkly dress and she could not stop smiling into the mirror in the room.  

 Allie performed each dance perfectly, smiling her big smile the whole time.

 After each dance, she would pose for the camera :)

Most of the songs they got to sing along with - and Allie was sure to be heard!

 This was the teddy bear for Christmas dance in which they start out on the floor asleep - the quietest it got while we were there.

Here is another great view of Allie singing. 

Allie loves Miss Jennifer and can't wait for "dance day" every week.