Christmas in the U.S.

We had the best time in the U.S. for Christmas! Of course it went by way too fast but we jammed a lot in and LOVED being with both families. We ate, saw Scrooge, went to LA twice, spent time with cousins, shopped, played at the beach, saw Santa, saw friends and family, skied, walked main, shopped, saw more cousins, drove cars (this doesn't happen in Shanghai and we miss it), and got spoiled. We have the best family!

We landed at 8:30am at LAX after traveling for about 20 hours and were greeted by my parents and Shirley's bagels. We got to my parents house around 10:30am somewhat unpacked and then left around 12:30 to drive up to LA to meet the rest of the Garlock's at Scrooge! Tanner asked me if I realized what we were attempting to do was crazy and I must admit it was. However, the kids were troopers they took a nap on the way to LA and on the way home and then partied until 10:30pm that night. The good news is we woke up the next day around 9am rested with no jet lag.

My Grandparents started taking their family to see "A Christmas Carol" which we all call "Scrooge" 50 years ago. It is our favorite Christmas tradition.

Beck even asked someone in the Tokyo airport who was on our flight to LA if they were going to see "Scrooge" too.

We went with the Thacker's one morning to the Beachcomber at Crystal Cove.

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We then met my parents at The Grove where Reese got her AG dolls ears pierced. She had been talking about it for months. The fun thing was in Park City after Christmas her cousins got their ears pierced and she got to go. She is counting the days till she's next!!

We love The Grove at Christmas.

This was probably one of Tanner's favorite days.

We ate lots of Mexican while in the U.S, gotta have some La Sirena. It is hard to find good Mexican here in Shanghai!

Though we live on the other side of the world...we still kept the picture with Santa tradition alive. Poor Ford was super sick with a double ear infection, good thing for antibiotics. Thankfully, he was feeling pretty good by his 1st Christmas morning.

Then we headed to Park City and got to spend some time with Andrew, Elyse and Isla before they took off to California. It is so fun that Isla and Ford are exactly 1 month apart, we can't wait for them to be best buddies.

We woke up early Christmas Eve morning to have breakfast at Sundance, it was totally worth it!

We loved having Grandma Mundy with us in Park City for Christmas. She is so helpful and the kids all love her! I love how Ford is looking at Grandma Nell.

Christmas Eve the Jolley's came up, we had a yummy dinner and dessert and acted out the Nativity. Tanner is always the donkey!

Ford's 1st Christmas!

Christmas morning was as magical as ever!

Santa found us in Park City and we all got spoiled!!

Since there was NO snow, we got a little creative. We spent a day at Olympic Park and had a blast! We took a tour and enjoyed the Alf Engen Ski museum.

The kids are standing in front of a pic of Grandpa's uncle.

The mustache makes this pic look a lot more real.

The weather actually made the conditions great for the kids. They both did amazing this year and even ventured on a couple runs with Dad and Logan on the "big" lift.

We walked Main in Calla and Ashtyn's wagon and Beck was in heaven. He and Calla are two peas in a pod. They are inseparable and are counting the days till Summer!

We had an early New Years adults only dinner at Snake creek in Midway. This has become somewhat on a tradition and it was the perfect way to end our trip!

We walked into our apartment just in time to ring in the New Year Shanghai style! Here's to 2012!!