Canyons Owner's Party

 This year's Canyons Owner's Party was once again, a huge success, 

with a Hollywood theme, lots of delicious food 

and a live band that provided great entertainment throughout the night.

 The little girls are ready to have some fun!

 Ash and Brooke love trying all the different hor dourves at each food station.

 Allie and Justin loved the mashed potatoes that they served in a martini glass with all the toppings,

just like a potato bar.  It was a hit with all the kids!

 After downing the mashed potatoes in a martini glass, 
Justin found the dessert table and came back with a wide variety of cakes and cookies!  Yum!

 And it looks like Dad found the dessert table too!

Last year, Allie had to leave the party early to go to work and we were all sad that she missed out on the fun.

The girls are so happy that Allie didn't have to work this year and was able to stay and party all night.

 Allie and Justin are ready to get their pictures taken in the photo booth.

 Brooke liked the pictures from the photo booth.

 The pictures from the photo booth. 

Dad found a moose!

That is, he found a picture of a moose!

He loves the moose, can't you tell?!!

 At the end of the night, waiting for our car, sitting on the bench under the heat lamps, keeping warm!  

Comfy, cozy and happy! 

Opening presents on Christmas Night

Brooke and Ashley were very patient about opening their Christmas presents

 and waited until Allie and Justin could join us on Christmas night.

Brooke, our crafty one, was happy to find a Michael's GC in her stocking.

And Dad was happy to find a BYU football PEZ candy dispenser in his stocking. 

Allie was so happy that Santa gave her the Anthro kitchen towels that she had been wishing for.

Santa gave Ashley a camera to take to Jerusalem.

Justin found a BYU PEZ dispenser in his stocking too.

Brooke got a vintage candle to decorate her room.

Justin and Allie love the gift bag with the Christmas zebra ribbon!

Dad loved his gift bag with the snow...

 that's probably the most snow he has seen all week:(!!

Mom and Ash gave Brooke a bear themed gift, with a bear apron, bear glass and bear cookie cutter.

"The Bear" loved it, of course!

Christmas Day!

Christmas Day was different this year with just "the little girls" here in PC with us.

 Since the married kids were spending Christmas with their in-laws, 

 we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner with Allie and Justin when Kimber was here.

 Dad and I decided that we should let Ashley and Brooke choose the menu for our Christmas Eve dinner.

The girl wanted to change things up a bit and suggested that we have a taco bar.

 And just like that, our Christmas Eve party became a Feliz Navidad fiesta!

It was so fun and festive that we decided that we need to make it a new Holt Christmas tradition. 

 After dinner, it was time for our Christmas Eve Nativity program. 

 We thought about making the little girls act out the Nativity 

but with just two kids acting out all the parts,

we decided that it would require too many costume changes, 

so we opted for the bible videos about the birth of Christ. 

 Afterwards, we watched "A Christmas Story." 

 Always a favorite Christmas movie at the Holt household.

The next morning we went to the "visitor's ward" in Park City 

and enjoyed a beautiful program of music from the Spanish branch and one of the Park City wards.

Our favorite number was "Far far away on Judea's plain", sung in Spanish. It was beautiful!

We came home and took a few pictures with our favorite Snowman.

And of course, we had to get every combination.

Fortunately for Dad, there was only four of us so there were fewer possible combinations.

And lucky for me, he was patient enough to get a picture of the two of us together!

This is the 30th Christmas that we have spent together!

30 wonderful Christmases together and looking forward to many, many more!

Christmas Dinner

We celebrated Christmas a little early with the kids in Park City!

We had our traditional Christmas dinner on Thursday night, before Kimber flew to Arizona, 

where she was meeting up with Brett to spend Christmas with the Crandall's.

Dad and the kids sitting at the dinner table, 

patiently waiting for Mom to take a picture so she could document the occasion.

The yummy spinach salad that Kimber made.

Kimber and Ashley.

I love the Christmas plates and reindeer glasses.  

And I love that I bought the glasses at Smith's a couple of years ago. 

 Can't beat $2.99 a glass! I just wish that I had bought more.  So festive and fun!

So glad that Allie and Justin could join us. 

Yay! for Allie not having to work at the hospital that night.

And so glad that the spinach salad and the raspberry jello salad 

that Kimber made matched the Christmas plates and holiday decor!

The salads looked great and tasted delicious too!

The little girls.

Dad grilled some filets, which were amazing!

It was such a fun night!  All that was missing was Tyler & Sonya and Brett!

It's a Christmas Miracle!

 As many of you know, Dad loves the moose at Canyons.  I mean, he really LOVES the moose. 

 Most of all, he loves looking through his spotting scope for the moose.

Remember this post?!  It's one of my favorites!

So, right after church today, as soon as he changed from his church clothes,

he started staring through his scope, looking for a moose.

Now, those of you that know Mark, know that he takes his looking for the moose, very seriously!

While the rest of us ate Christmas cookies and candy, Dad spent the afternoon leaning over, 

peering through his scope, patiently waiting and watching, hoping for a glance at a moose.

And just when the rest of us had given up hope, the moose appeared and Dad spotted him through his scope!

"It's a Christmas Miracle", Dad exclaimed!!

It was truly a Christmas miracle, for not just one moose was spotted but two!

Dad was so happy!  So happy that when asked to share your favorite Christmas memory 

at the dinner table tonight at Grandma's, 

Dad whipped out the camera with pictures and video for the whole family to see.

I think the little cousins were really impressed...

And I'm sure you will be impressed too, that's why I included this video.  Enjoy!

Gotta love that Dad and his Christmas Miracle moose!

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

It has been snowing all day.  But that didn't stop us from getting out on the slopes.

Although, I have to confess, we may have spent quite a bit of time at Red Pine lodge,

thawing out and enjoying our free hot chocolate.  Yum!

I'll just try not to think about the extra 20 lbs. that I'll be packing around come spring!

 I'm not sure what is happening in this photo, but this is my life, on a snowy day with Dad and the girls!

I swear, all that they drank was hot chocolate!

 Somethings never change... this is exactly how they skied together about 15 years ago.

Allie being silly and egging everyone on.  Ash and Brooke, always ready for a good time.  

And Kimber, really not sure about the whole thing but doesn't want be a party pooper, relunctantly joins in on the fun!

Ash and Allie, best ski buddies.

What a difference a day can make!

Here is Dad and his girls at the top of Doc's run. 

 The same spot where I took a picture of this group yesterday.

Just a little more snow today and the girls were a bit more silly 

so they threw in a lunge or two... for Kate, of course!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

 It truly is the most wonderful time of the year, especially when we are skiing with this cute bunch of kids!

There is plenty of sunshine, a sufficient amount of snow (it's all manmade but surprisingly great snow!) 

and best of all, our season pass includes free hot chocolate every day!  Simply wonderful!

At least, it was wonderful, until dad informed me that if we drink one of these every ski day 

that we will probably gain 20 lbs. by the end of this ski season.

 That would not be so wonderful, but on a cold, snowy day, it just might be worth it:)!

Dad thinks it is pretty wonderful spending time on the ski slopes with his girls.

Here's a little Christmas cheer!

Here are my little nieces singing a Christmas carol.

Aren't they absolutely adorable?!

Hope you are having a wonderful Christmas time!

BYU Basketball!

It was a full house at the Marriott Center to watch BYU play Baylor on Saturday.

We were lucky and scored some sweet tickets.  It was awesome!

The student section was rowdy and the kids came ready to cheer their Cougars on to victory!

 Some enthusiastic fans held up some pretty clever signs, which read: 

"Welcome to the Marriott.

 Ainge built. Jimmer remodeled it."

We thought it was very clever and quite enjoyed it.

Upon closer observation, we realized that it was our good friend 

and favorite former missionary, Trent Boulter.

Yes!  He is the one holding up the Ainge sign, wearing the white headband. 

He was hands down one of the most enthusiastic missionaries in our ward,

and now he is definitely one of the most enthusiastic Cougar fans!

 While getting snacks during halftime, we ran into our friends from home, Greg and Pat Smith.

They are also dear friends of Elder and Sister Wilkes

 so we chatted about how much we missed our favorite missionary couple! 

My favorite snack was the blue popcorn!  Yum!

 During a timeout at the end of the game takes a timeout to try 

and make a plan to score in the last few seconds. 

Unfortunately, it didn't quite go the Cougars way today. 

It was a tough loss but the Cougars played great against the #5 ranked team.

Here we are with Cosmo and some of our very favorite Cougars!