Mangum Family: Christmas Surprise!

We were planning on staying in Nebraska for the holidays, but we spontaneously decided to go to Utah! On December 16th (about two days after we made the decision) we were all packed up and in the car at 6:00 a.m. We were shooting on trying to leave by 5am-so we weren't too far off schedule. The car was packed to its peak! We had Christmas presents, luggage, all the baby gear, a bunch of snacks and treats, and of course the kids! With two kids, especially with one of them only being 6 months, and the drive alone is 14 hours, we were prepared for it to be one VERY long day.

We ended up arriving in Beaver, Utah about 7:30 p.m. The kids were absolute ROCK STARS on the drive! We only had one minor case of car sickness from Hailey when we were going through the Rocky Mountain pass. Luckily I was turned around in my seat when she decided to toss the cookies, so yes I caught it in my hand :) Cause I'm awesome like that. But other than that the ride went smoothly and Austin did amazing! I think it helped that we were all so excited to get there and see family. Another big thing was neither of our families knew that we were coming. Seeing that we had only known a couple days before, we decided to just show up on their doorsteps and SURPRISE them! And let me just say, it was pricless!!!! Needless to say everyone was excited to see us, and when I say us, I mean Austin and Hailey. We also caught it all on video tape, so we've had fun going back and watching their reactions :)

We spent the first week and a half in Southern Utah with Wes's family, and then we went up north the rest of the time. The bummer part of the trip was that everyone got sick, and when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE! First Hailey and Austin caught some nasty colds while we were in Beaver, then Hailey got the flu, then I caught the flu, then Austin, and then my parents and siblings and their kids!! I think the only two left standing by the end was Wes and my dad. Yeah it was bad. But besides that......we had a great time seeing family and friends in Utah.

On the trip home we decided to stay overnight in Laramie, Wyoming just to split the trip up. For some reason the ride home seemed MUCH longer than the one out. It didn't help that poor Austin caught another bad cold and had a pretty high temperature. It was 102.4 when we woke up in Laramie. We were about to take him in somewhere, but then we were able to get it to go down with a warm bath and some medicine. We were sad to leave Utah, but glad to get back to our home in Nebraska.

Some fun presents that Hailey received:
Elmo Fold out sofa, Ladybug ride one toy, princess slippers, Belle princess dress and wand, Fisher-price play kitchen, clothes, Sofia the First DVD, play cupcake set, light up pillow pet

Some great presents Austin received:
An Exersaucer, a music/noise play station(don't know official name), alligator ball popper, clothes(including some cute camo ones!), toys/rattles.

Some awesome present Wes received:
Custom and engraved bullet/deer horn pen, socks :), gift card to go out to eat, BYU long sleeve T, a few movies, and his VERY favorite gift of all GEORGE STRAIT concert tickets!! (in Omaha) Going to a George Strait concert has been one of his dreams forever! And yes, his dream is finally coming true :) Lets just say there may have been a tear or two shed when he realized what they were, haha, and yes it's all on videotape!

Some totally sweet presents Emily received:
Kitchen Aid, JcPenney gift card, some cute clothes, Target gift card, socks, A Christmas decoration, jewelry...
Needless to say we were all spoiled and got some great gifts from some great people!!!

Some fun things that we did in between everyone getting sick:

Slept over at Mom and Dad Mangum's, played lots of games, stayed a couple nights at Jason and Jamie's, played lots of games, played a few rounds of basketball in beaver, went to St. George and

saw some friends-Lindsey, Luke, and Shyley Tebbs, went and saw Santa(Hailey was not shy at all), Stayed a few nights and Mom and Dad Friel's, hit a couple Christmas parties, spent time with Grandma and Grandpa Yorgason(they had us over for some pizza benders!), swimming with the Hendricks, checked out the Ice Castles, stayed a couple nights at the Hendricks and Jenne's, sledding, chucky cheese, Girls night... and I'm sure there was even more!