Elf, Part 2: Then, we'll go ice skating.

After successfully completing the first item on our Elf Day agenda, we headed up to Salt Lake City for some outdoor ice skating at the Gallivan Center. Matt and I went ice skating there on our second date more than four years ago and that's when the sparks really flew, so we love going back to relive the romance. This time, it was cold and snowing, so we bundled up and enjoyed the ambiance.

Apparently, the weather scared away just about everyone else in the state of Utah. We were stoked to see an empty rink! Ice skating without the crowds and must-go-this-direction rules is even better than the regular deal.

So we hurried and put on our skates. Don't you just love ice skates? It was the babies' first time so they were excited.

Once our skates were on, we were ready to go! My dad snapped a group picture and then stayed warm by the fire while he video taped the big outing.

We eased the babies into it with "big kids" on either side a few times around the rink...

... and then let the lessons begin.

I was amazed at how quickly they caught on! In no time at all, they were prancing around the rink all on their own.

This, naturally, came with a few falls along the way.

Gabey was such a trooper, but eventually he had one fall too many between sledding and ice skating that day. He opted to warm up inside with Dad rather than risk anymore spills and refused to smile for a picture. That is, until I promised him 100 "checks" if he did. And voila! There it was. (Checks and X's are the babies new made-up rating system for how awesome you are or are not doing in life at the moment. Give them a piggy back ride = 30 checks. Cancel plans due to weather = 10 X's. Or whatever numbers they feel like doling out on a whim. It's adorable.)

Kaleb, on the other hand, made lemonade out of his lemons. He turned every fall into a break dancing and/or snow angel-making experience.

Joshie just laughed and said "I meant to do that" any time his bum hit the ice. Then he'd hop back up and go at it again!

Of course, we "big kids" had it all under control, too.

Once we were warmed up and the babies were masters at racing around the rink, we started a good old fashioned game of tag. It got pretty intense at times and was a complete blast! Oh, the joys of an empty ice rink. Matt was the best at being "it." He would speedskate around the rink, circling his prey like a shark before pouncing in on his victim--which, 98% of the time, was me.

It was so, so much fun.

However, all good things must come to an end. Matt and I took a final, nostalgic stroll around the rink hand-in-hand before heading home.

I'm so enchanted by that man.

We braved the blizzard on our walk back to the cars...

... but not without another nod to the movie of the day! We hopped across the crosswalk in full Buddy-style.

Matt made sure to be extra careful, because as we all know -- "the yellow ones don't stop."

Elf, Part 1: First, we'll make snow angels (and go sledding) for two hours.

Once upon a time, when I was a "rich" single gal, I used to spend ridiculous sums of money buying every single one of my family members a Christmas present. Then I got married and became far less rich, so I transitioned into buying for just my parents and the sibling whose name I drew, and then giving a little gift to my whole family. Last year, it was a very important year's supply of our favorite condiment. This year, I went along with my mom's idea of memories and gifted my family an Elf Day.

We are mildly obsessed with the movie Elf this time of year, so Matt and I replaced my family's scratched version of the movie with a new DVD that had our Elf Day itinerary inside. The itinerary was, of course, taken from the day that Buddy outlined for his dad in the movie. We switched "Dad" out with "Family" and followed the list to a T! Elf Day became one of our new favorite Christmas traditions on the spot.

First, we made snow angels (and went sledding) for two hours.

We, admittedly, spent more time sledding than making the actual snow angels :-) The weather was perfectly sunny that day and we had more than a foot of fresh powder to play with at the sledding hill just five minutes from my parents' house. It was a blast!

That fresh powder was greatly appreciated since we all had our fair share of wipeouts!

The worst crash of the day came when Matt and I hurtled toward Josh and Gabe. We saw it coming and tried to avoid them, but couldn't quite slow down enough to steer away.

We were so worried that the babies would be sad and it would spoil the morning, but they had the opposite reaction -- they thought it was hilarious that they had made us crash! Gabey Baby even whipped out some playful pointing and laughing. "We got you!"

So the sledding party continued without a hitch.

Of course, Matt and I couldn't leave without a friendly little race. It was working out swell from me for the first 90% of the hill...

... but then I hit a bump and Matt celebrated as my body was flung off the sled while he sped to the finish line. Once again, thank goodness for fresh powder!

That new snow also came in handy for a snowball fight to end the outing. Part one was a total success!

Then, we went ice skating. And that's coming up next!

War Eagle! And welcome to my family.

It should be pretty obvious by now that we love sports. And college football?

Why, it's our ultimate favorite.

Needless to say, the BCS championship game is like a national holiday in our lives. Last night's game, which is indisputably the best championship game college football has seen in years, was even more important because it included Auburn. Remember that one time we became Auburn fans? We've cheered them on ever since, and while we'll always be loyal to our alma maters, we've very much enjoyed having an SEC team to call ours as well.

Matt and I decided to sport our Auburn pride in public for the big game, which was maybe not the smartest thing to do in Pac-10 country. Poor Matt had to keep asking me to tone down my cheering so we wouldn't get jumped by the sketchy-looking drunk kids who were rooting for Oregon at the table next to us. But come on, in a game like this, how can you not cheer wildly? It was such an incredibly match-up, and such an incredible game. We're big proponents of some sort of college playoff system (which also includes bowls and uses BCS standings as seeding), but to be perfectly honest, this time we really felt like the BCS got it exactly right with the championship teams.

Before the game started, Matt told me that one of his friends predicted that the game's winner would be obvious after the first quarter. I nearly spit out my water at the ridiculousness of such a statement, and then proceeded to spout off how many times each team has come from behind to win this year (Oregon: 8, Auburn: 7). "I don't care if a team is down three possessions at the beginning of the fourth," I told Matt. "This game isn't over until the fourth quarter is." Bless his heart for putting up with my indignant sports reporter-ness. But you know, in the end I was right: the game was tied 19-19 with two seconds left on the clock, and Auburn lined up for a field goal.

Normally, this situation would make fans nervous. But I made sure to take pictures of key stats with my baby camera to have on hand for times like that (did I mention I'm a sports reporter?). I quickly looked up Byrum's kicking statistics and was satisfied to see that he made 70-of-71 PAT attempts this year, from essentially the same spot. So we breathed a sigh of relief, sat back, and watched the national championship-winning field goal sail through the uprights as time expired. War Eagle! This, naturally, made us very happy. Matt and I came home and celebrated with some ice cream and friends. (Because nothing says "celebration" quite like Ben & Jerry's.)

In addition to Auburn's victory on the football field, I was also celebrating the fact that their win gave me the victory in my family's ESPN College Bowl Mania group. Welcome to my family, where that is a huge deal! I finished in the 99.8th percentile in America this time around, including getting 12 of the last 13 bowl winners right. Not bad, eh? My family also had a friendly College U Pick 'Em competition this season, which Jordan won with my parents in a close second and third, and me and Matt finishing fourth and fifth. All this means that the months and months of friendly trash-talking and "spying" on each others picks has sadly come to an end, and will be on hold until March Madness rolls around. So in the meantime, I guess now it's time to give Jordan and me a big reward... right, fam? :-) Although, bragging rights are more than enough 'round these parts.

War Eagle.

Wagon rides and wallyball

You may have noticed that I tend to post more about my family than Matt's after we visit Utah. It's not that we don't love his family or spend time with them, because we do and we do. Rather, it's because of this:

My friends, that is a true-to-life candid shot of Matt's grandma Edie opening a present on Christmas night with no less than five nice cameras on her. And want to hear the crazy thing? There were THREE other DSLRs in the room at the same time (including ours, which took the picture). It's non-stop paparazzi in there! Needless to say, whipping out my own camera tends to feel a little superfluous when we're around Matt's family, so we usually give it a little break and sit back and enjoy ourselves sans-trigger finger... hence why you see less of them on the blog. Still, we spent half of our Christmas vacation with Matt's family in Northern Utah and I did manage to get a few shots of the festivities.

Opening presents on Christmas night:

An impromptu guitar session with Matt and his brothers:

Seeing the elk at Hardware Ranch:

More Hardware ranch, from Clark's camera:

Annual wallyball showdown (from Clark's camera):

And a little bit of sledding (once again, stolen from Clark):

It never ceases to confuse me that my parents get three times as much snow as Matt's even though they live two hours South!

We had so much fun with the D family, and are so excited to play with them again this summer!