...but the greatest of these is love...

Derek and I talked a while back that we'd like to go on a little family vacation before tax season starts and we don't see our daddy until April 16! We had some free flights and a deal came up to go to Vail, Colorado, so we jumped on it. After Christmas with my family, we left early that Monday morning. We actually stayed in Avon, which is between Beaver Creek Resort and Vail. We knew we weren't going to ski, but it was fun playing in the snow anyway. Michael enjoyed it and was a super good boy the entire time! He only threw a fit when we had to get out of the swimming pool at the condo!!

This is right when we got there....he wanted to go outside, so we went to the balcony, where he is saying 'cold'!

Sweet boy all bundled up...

Touching the snow for the first time!

Ummm....nope....it's cold!!

I do heart me some of this boy!

Derek and I talked about how we took more public transportation in 4 days than either of us had in our whole life! On the other hand, Michael loved riding the bus up to the mountain!!

Outside of the bus stop to go up to Beaver Creek....

My boys in front of the bear at Beaver Creek...

After no naps during Christmas at Juice & Pa's....this boy slept for about 2 hours on the shuttle from the airport to Avon, then that night for about 14 hours!!! He was one happy boy at breakfast!!

Yes, we were representing Tech at breakfast!! :)

Family photo at Beaver Creek....

Checking out the snow at Beaver Creek...

Stopping for some hot chocolate!

Not quite tall enough to sled or tube....

but tall enough to ride the gondola up the mountain...

just to play in the snow...

lots of fun at the playground at Beaver Creek...

It's not everyday that you see a live reindeer walking down the streets...

He wanted me to take his 'pishure' in front of the ram!

After nap is when he got to go swimming....so excited!!!

Wednesday, we decided to go to Vail. It was snowing big time and freezing!

He was so funny with the snow hitting his face....

Snow in Vail!

My boys in beautiful Vail...

And the most fun part of the whole trip was cleaning off the bench in Vail!!!

The last night, we went across the street to a little pizza joint. Michael got spaghetti and LOVED it!!!

Do you think we like our technology!?! Daddy on his iPhone, Michael on the iPad and I took the picture with my iPhone! We were waiting on the shuttle back to the airport on Thursday morning...

Sleepy boy on the shuttle to the airport...

After about 3 hours in the Denver Airport....still waiting for our plane, wondering if we can leave in a snow storm!!

The plane finally got there, but then we were delayed again because of visibility in the snow storm. I was beginning to think we were going to be spending the night in the airport with a 22 month old!

We finally got to get on the plane and we sat right on the wing. This is us waiting in line to de-ice! Seriously. I've never flown in a snow storm and never had to de-ice a plane!!! For some reason, neither one of us were nervous about getting on the plane or flying.

We finally got back to Amarillo (where it was super bumpy landing because of a wind storm). We got back to Juice & Pa's to spend the night about midnight. What a great trip (all except the last part). I guess....here's to Tax Season. Love you Daddy...we'll see you on April 16th! :)

The last part of our Christmas is at Juice & Pa's...with them, Uncle Bruce, Uncle Curt and Aunt Shelley. And of course, Michael was the center of attention and loved every second of it. We loaded up and drove there after Santa on Christmas morning. We enjoyed two full days with all of them and Michael having no nap either day! He didn't want to miss out on anything!!

He couldn't wait to get his car slides put together....so while Pa and Uncle Curt worked on that, he got to see what was in his stocking with Juice...

Hugs for Juice....

two peas in a pod....

'helping' Juice & Pa open their gifts...

No wonder he loves Aunt Shelley so much!!!!

We always try to get everyone together from my mom's side of the family at some point during the holidays. We usually do this every other year. It's so fun to have everyone together, laughing, talking, eating and enjoying each other. Anna & Audrey loved their gifts from Juice & Uncle Dandy....