Colver Christmas 2009

John and I spent this Christmas this year with his family in Elk Ridge, Utah. This was the first time the whole family had been together for Christmas since before John left on his mission about 8 years ago. John's Granparents from St. George also came up to stay for the week. We had a wonderful trip despite John having to work at the hospital for school. We were able to coordinate his required clinical rotation that fell over Christmas with his dad so that we would be able to be with family. This was a special holiday as Mike and his girlfriend Anne got engaged on New Years, John's cousin Tayla announced her engagement, John's cousin Brian and his wife Ariel announced that they are planning to adopt, and we were able to announce the coming new addition to our little family.

We had some pretty fun reactions to our news. John's Grandma Stephen just got teary eyed as she's waited a long time to become a great-grandma, Jason gave me a very unexpected hug, and my personal favorite, Mike who wouldn't believe us. We were telling everyone individually but John's dad just couldn't keep our June due date a secret as Mike was planning his June wedding. Mike sarcastically said Ya right, next your going to tell me you're 3 months pregnant. To which John replied, Actually 3 months and a week. He took a little convincing since he thought we were joking the whole time.
(Just as a plug for Brian and Ariel, who said word of mouth is the best tool, they are wonderful people and are going to be the best, most fun and energetic parents. So if anyone knows a soon-to-be mother in need, now you know of two great people who are looking for a baby to adopt.)
We did lots of fun things over the holidays, mostly involving hanging out with family. We visited Shari's new house, had dinner at Dan and Megan's apartment, spent New Years at Brian and Ariel's, and played games just about every night of the week. We also went to see Avatar and Sherlock Holmes in the theaters, and a theater performance of April Ann at the Hale Center Theater. We also visited some old friends Heidi and Cristian Icleanu, Catie Lutz, Zack Brockbank, and Keith Penrod. Mostly it was just nice to be with family for a while, smell that fresh mountain air and have a white Christmas.

The boys together again playing what else but Halo

At the family Christmas Party at Grandma and Grandpa Chatterton's

Shari and Lilith, Anne and Mike, Alan and Jenna, Shari and Austen

The Colver boys, John, Michael, Alan, and Jason

This is the feeding frenzy that often occurs at the Colver house

The Colver Family, Christmas 2009

John and I were also able to spend some time with my brother Patrick and his wife Kari who live in Draper. After I went home, John attended the Snowboarding Grand Prix with them and saw Shaun White compete for the Olympics qualifier at Park City Mountain Resort. Here's a video of his amazing moves.

One of the things we were looking forward to was having a white Christmas. Christmas in the South just isn't the same, it actually feels wrong to listen to Christmas songs on the radio when it's a balmy 70F outside. So we were excited for the cold, crisp air and the winter fun. Here are some pictures of all the white.

A snow-peaked Mt Nebo behind John's house

The fresh-fallen snow in John's backyard

Ready to shovel the driveway after a fresh snowfall, its actually peaceful and invigorating, at least when you only do it once and by choice

The crazy icicles-likely-to-cause-death hanging above the garage

John posing with a death-cicle