Merry Crazy Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 started like most of them in the Lindhardt household--early morning awakening by the kids, too many presents, coffee cake and pears and an extended family gathering in the afternoon.  The kids got everything they hoped for and Santa even pulled off a surprise for Cooper, which is a nearly impossible task.  His nickname should be Snoop!

Probably Kaiya's favorite gift--a homemade wall plaque to hold all her medals.

Decided she kinda likes Uncle B, too.

We knew we wanted to try to get to Utah that night instead of trying to get up early the next day, so we finally headed out around 5pm.  That's when things got interesting.  About 20 miles west of Laramie in subzero weather and snow packed roads, Doug noticed that our tire gauge was showing low tire pressure in one of the tires.  Since it was below zero, I figured it was just the cold temperature.  We were not so lucky.  Slowly, the tire pressure number on the left rear tire fell from 31 to 25 to the teens.  Time to pull over.  The second Doug's opened the door, I heard a strong hissing sound.  Seriously?
So, here were our choices.  1) Stay on the side of I-80 and try to put a spare tire (not a full spare, mind you) or 2) figure out how to limp back to Laramie.

Doug knew we had passed a gas station about 10 miles ago, so we found a place to turn around on I-80 and literally hobbled into the gas station.  It was closed, but had free air hose.  We inflated the rear tire from 5 back up to 38 and then watched it go from 38 back down to 3 as we pulled into a Laramie truck stop.

We must have had Christmas angels watching over us because we had two amazing encounters in Laramie.  The first one occurred when the guy at the truck stop whom I had called ahead of time (love my iPhone!) put the spare tire on for us for no charge while we ate dinner at a greasy spoon.  Doug watched as the car slipped off the jack and nearly crushed the guy, too.  After dinner, we settled into a hotel across the street and then found a tire store the next morning.  Turns out, we had hit a large bolt in the road.  The tire shop was able to patch the tire and again, NO CHARGE for their time or labor.  It really restored my faith in people.

Souvenir bolt

Once we finally got there, we had a great time in Utah.  We were able to attend the wedding of Doug's niece on a beautiful, snowy morning and the kids played until they could play no more.  Kaiya had to come home early for gymnastics and she made flying alone look like no big deal.  We really missed her, but she enjoyed a fun weekend with my mom and was able to get herself ready for her back-to-back competitive seasons.

LOTS of snow at Grandma's house

LOVES running Grandpa's snowblower

It just doesn't get any better than being pulled on the sled behind Grandpa's 4-wheeler

This pic takes my breath away.  Spencer looks fantastic and I love the relationship these two boys have together!!

Kaiya & Maiya--her newest cousin

Looking pretty with Corinne at the wedding luncheon

Ready to board the plane and looking way too old!

Bear Lake on our way home

In the two weeks before Christmas, we enjoyed having Bennett home with his fiance, Casady.  He proposed on Dec. 8th and I hear she said yes.  The kids love having Uncle B and Casady home and they made the most of it going to an indoor trampoline facility and out to dinner while Doug and I got a date night.

Perhaps the highlight of Bennett's trip home for Kinley was when he and Casady came to school to have lunch with her and play at recess.  She may have mentioned to the boys in her class that her uncle was a minor league baseball player and she may have made sure they all knew he was pretty famous.  He ended up spending the entire recess playing catch with the kids and then had to sign about 30 autographs before he left.  Kinley pronounced that she is now the most famous 3rd grader ever.

Signing autographs at Kinley's school

A lot of good family time.  Love all these boys. 

Celebrating Jay's big 5-0!

Bennett's first night home--getting reacquainted. 

OK, I like you now! You're just as goofy as me. 

Love this picture of all 5 guys

Their fun night with B and Cas

Excited to have a new aunt!

 We also celebrated Sydney's 1st birthday on the 22nd and she was absolutely priceless, digging into her cake and shoveling it in her face.  Too bad we don't love that girl.   Enjoy the photos!

I'd like to order a birthday cake for myself, please.