Christmas Trip 2010 - Part 1

Early last week, we headed out to Montana for the holidays. It is always a fun, but busy time whenever we come out due to the plethora of loving family we have in Montana... and we been enjoying every minute. Here are some highlights from the first part of our trip.

The first couple days of the trip were filled with a remodel project at Chet's parents' house! For Christmas, his mom is getting her room redone... complete with removal of 70s wallpaper, fresh light fixtures and hardware on the doors and new paint. Removing wallpaper is not our favorite thing (and very time consuming) but the early finished project is looking good after two days of work!

On Christmas Eve morning, we headed up to Polson to see my grandma and some of my relatives on my dad's side of the family. We spent the day enjoying the snowy, foggy view smelling lovely things baking in the kitchen and lots of visiting. It was such an enjoyable visit!

Out to lunch to Pizza Hut with Grandma, Aunt Debbie, Uncle Mike and the girls.

Cara was baking amazing rolls, cookies and more!

Afternoon nap time...

Danae with her toys and creations...

Me and Danae

Rolls in the oven!

View from Grandma's kitchen window!

Danae and I went outside after lunch to take some pictures of the snow. After the most recent snowstorm, it had not warmed up so everything was just crystallized in snow... and it was apparent that the wind had been blowing during the storm as all the crystals were on the south side of the branches!

Us and Grandma

Aunt Debbie and Cara

We headed back to Missoula for church on Christmas Eve. It was a nice service and we were able to see lots of Chet's family friends there. After a nice dinner and opening presents, we had a special dessert! Chet had mentioned liking "ice cream cake roll" when he was little for his birthday. So his mom made one and pulled it out for dessert! I had never had it before but it was quite tasty.

On Christmas morning, we drove up to Lincoln to have Christmas with Chet's parents and his entire side of his family. There were 32 people in his aunt and uncle's place! Here is some scenery driving up there that morning...

Since we were already in Lincoln on Christmas, that evening we drove another hour and a half over to Great Falls to see my mom's side of the family, staying with my aunt and uncle for a couple nights with other family members visiting. We also had the treat of going skiing/snowboarding with my cousins, Nicole and Nolan, to the Showdown Ski area. We had a great day despite lack of fresh snow!

Today we'll leave Great Falls and head back to Missoula for more fun and visiting! And maybe some more snowboarding... :)