Our Christmas Trip to Utah - Part 2: Outdoor Fun!

We had a lot of fun outside while we were on our visit to Utah this winter.  The valley didn't get too much snow, but the day that it did snow, the twins went outside and took full advantage.

Sophie and Lexa playing in the snow.

Sisters!

Our big outdoor adventure was taking the girls skiing at Sundance on Wednesday, December 18 - the day after our Utah Jazz adventure.  It was the second part of Christmas adventures for the girls.  Yulia found good deals on the tickets and equipment.  We thought a lot about my Dad since it was his favorite place to ski.  Our girls never got the chance to ski with him, which is one of our regrets.

I don't ski - I missed it as a teenager and just don't have a love of fast things (unlike my speed demon wife).  The girls all got their gear and we got them on the slopes and I spent a lovely day reading and typing at the lodge.

The girls took to skiing like ducks to water.  They had been night skiing two years earlier when we visited and they picked right up.  They spent two hours skiing, took a short break to eat lunch, and then skied until 3:30 when it was time to come off the slopes and turn in the gear.  It was a really perfect day - not too cold, a small cloud cover so it wasn't too bright, and snow that was wet, cold, and groomed.

Getting skied up and heading to the lift.

Mama and the twins heading up for a run.

Riding the lift.

The view from the lift toward Timpanogas mountain.

Cool customers!

Mama is a happy skier!

Twins going down the slope.

Beautiful mountains!

Mama and Nika

Mama and Lina

Lina coming down the mountain.

Nika coming in fast!

Nika and Lina spent a lot of time on their own!!! Ladies love skiing.

Sophie, Lina, and Nika going up on the chairlift.

We really had a nice time.  We didn't give a lot of presents for Christmas, but we had some wonderful experiences and adventures.  

Our Christmas Trip to Utah - Part 1

For the second time in the six years (at least going on six) that we have lived in Kazakhstan, we decided to travel during winter break back home to Utah.  The University will pay for two trips a year, but we liked staying in Astana and celebrating New Year with Babushka on the quiet campus. We also love our family and we had the need for Nika to take exams for her BYU online high school, so we braved the winter weather again.  We also took advantage of the extra trip to bring back things that we won't need so we have less to bring back when we come home to move to Texas in the summer of 2020. (Well, Yulia took advantage and packed a bunch of stuff.)

Our trip changed from the time we booked the travel in September to when we were flying out.  We were supposed to fly Astana-Frankfurt-Chicago-Salt Lake City.  The itinerary was changed (we suspect because of changes to flight schedules from Chicago to SLC) to include a stop in Denver after we landed in Chicago.  In both itineraries we had tight connections (1 hour in Frankfurt and just under 2 hours in Chicago).

We started early in the morning - leaving for the airport at 2:30 a.m. on 11 December).  We were worried once we checked in because the flight tracker showed that the flight from Almaty (Lufthansa flies from Frankfurt-Astana-Almaty-Astana-Frankfurt) was late.  We were happy when we learned that the flight had left on time.  It landed in Astana on time and we boarded with no problem.... and then the auxiliary power unit (APU) went out and we were plunged into darkness.  Long story, short, our flight was delayed by about 40 minutes taking off.  We resigned ourselves to a rough adventure of missed flights and delays.

We made up time in the air, though and landed only about twenty minutes late in Frankfurt.  We also arrived at the Z terminal - the same one our flight was out of.  Joy! They made us completely exit the security zone and re-enter security during shift change. Misery!  By the time we got through security, the boarding time for the flight was at its end.  We ran (literally) from security through the duty free and down the concourse.   The doors on our flight had been closed, but they opened up boarding because our family of six plus one other family arrived just then.

United had already begun the process of re-booking, so they broke me and the families itinerary up and gave us new seats.  We were told we could sit in our original economy plus seats, though, so we boarded.  We had to kick out some opportunistic passengers who had moved into our empty two rows of seats. They were unhappy, but they were our seats and we were not going to back down....

Our flight to Chicago left a few minutes late, but we landed in Chicago on schedule.  At the same time as four or five other international flights.  The immigration and customs lines were all understaffed and we were herded into one mega line that it took us 90 minutes to get through.  When we got through to the baggage carousel, we were missing one bag - the one bag that had all of mine and Yulia's clothes.  We went through and went to recheck our bags and we were told to go directly to customer service.  We had missed our connection to Denver.

It took about twenty minutes to re-book us on a flight to San Francisco and from there to SLC.  We went to our next terminal and through security (with a few adventures) and then picked up some lunch/dinner to eat as we waited 2.5 hours for our flight to San Francisco.  Long story short - we made it to Salt Lake 7 hours late and our bag and our rides (my mom and sister in law, Shellee) were there waiting.  All's well that ends well.  We were in Utah.

At Astana Airport waiting for the first flight.

In Chicago.... looking loopy after 24 hours of travel.

The Mountains of Utah.  It was warm and snowless in the valley mostly, but the mountains are awesome.

After resting for a couple of days, Nika started her testing at the BYU distance learning testing center.  She got A- on most of her exams (in Algebra 2 and English she got As on the exams), but earned As in all of her classes.  While she was taking exams, I was working at the BYU library.  There were some books I needed for a paper I am working on - so I got the books and used the scanners there to scan the chapters I needed.  I also did some writing.

In summer 2018 we met with some of my high school friends.  Nika and Dan's son, London correspond via gmail still and they told us we should all get together.  Dan and I arranged to meet up before his family went to California for Christmas.  We went to their house for Sunday dinner - delicious tacos and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.  We had a great time visiting and catching up.  Dan gave us a signed copy of his latest book - The Star Shepherd.  I am looking forward to reading it still - I haven't been able to get it away from the girls yet.

The kids trying to pose (one of Dan's girls is missing from the picture because she was down with flu that day)

The grown ups (in my hands is a signed copy of Dan's book)

On Tuesday, December 17 we went to Salt Lake City in the afternoon after Nika had finished her tests for the day.  Last time we went to the US we went to see a Jazz game.  The girls really liked it.  Rather than doing presents - since we are trying to avoid accumulating more stuff - we offered the Jazz game for a Christmas present this year.  The kids jumped at the chance.  We got tickets in the second row of the second level in a really nice location on the court.  We also wanted to go and see Temple Square.  It wasn't really "Christmas feel" when we walked through since it was still light and there was no snow.  We did make it to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and saw the big Christmas tree, some carolers, and the "Light the World" service vending machines.  It was a nice little visit.

Then we went across the street and had lunch before walking down to the Vivint Smart Home Center to watch the game.  The kids and I all got through security and were scanning our tickets and I looked around and Yulia was missing.  She was stuck at security.  She wasn't allowed to bring her big camera in with her.  Our car was parked half a mile away.  I ran it to the car while Yulia and the girls browsed in the team store.  When I got back, we all picked our Jazz gear, paid for it, and then found our seats for the game.

The Jazz were playing Orlando.  The team won - in an exciting and fun game.  Last time we watched, they also won.  But Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell didn't play in that game.  In this one they did, and we had a great time.  The experience was worth it.

Salt Lake Temple

Watching the carolers

Alexandra

Polina and Veronika

The whole family

We had fun buying some vaccines!

Temple after we ate and were walking to Jazz game.

Beautiful night view of Temple Square.

Walking to the Jazz game.

Comparing foot size with Rudy Gobert!  Rudy wins!!!

Jazz Uniforms through the ages.

Tip off!

Girls watching the action.

Yulia and I in our Jazz gear having a fantastic time.

Trip to Utah Part 3 - Young Women's Camp and Family Reunions

Papa's Note: We had Veronika write about the adventure that she and Lina had attending Young Women camp with the Mountain View 8th Ward girls.  I'll pick up the writing when we talk about family reunions a bit later.

***

This year, we were finally able to go to Girls' Camp for the first time! We haven't been able to in the past, because of issues with the timing. Lina and I were really excited as we went shopping for supplies we would need while we were there. On Monday, the day we were leaving, we packed our supplies in tubs that Oma bought us, and drove to the church building. Our dad dropped us off, and we waited for the others to arrive.

Waiting in the shade for the other girls to arrive.

This photo was taken right before we left to camp.

We had an interesting experience on the way up to Bennion Creek, the campsite. It had started raining while we were on the highway, and once we drove into Spanish Fork Canyon, we made a turn up a road that wasn't paved. As we drove further up, it started raining harder, and the roads began to be very muddy. Sister Waite, who was driving her trailer in front of everyone, started to make a turn on the road, and her trailer got stuck. What was worse, was that it started slipping down the side of the hill, because the road was too narrow. We had to wait for about an hour until some of the husbands of the Young Women leaders were able to calm everyone down and get the trailer out. Luckily, the rest of the way up was less difficult, although each car was zigzagging its way through the slippery mud. Everyone made it alive and in one piece.
After that adventure, we had a lot of fun at camp!We took turns making our meals, and did a lot of fun activities and projects.

Helping set up the tents. It was a bit hard because the ground was wet.

Resting by the campfire after a long day.

Opening bags full of surprises after receiving matching hoodies.

Warming ourselves by the campfire. The smoke was constantly in our faces.

Sitting by the campfire early one morning.

The Mia-maids were making breakfast, and I made most of the bacon.

Contemplating whether to get in the water or not.

One of the girls, Jackie, decided to swing into the water.

When I jumped in, I realized that the water was freezing!

Learning how to make boondoggles.

My dad, who volunteered to help out for 2 days of camp, is talking to Sister Davis.

Papa talks to everyone about his life choices that brought him to where he is now.

Lina and her friend, Addie, were working on their boondoggles late at night.

Working on a fun project.

This was a fun activity to test our first aid skills.

Working on projects in pajamas.

Playing games.

Learning how to make anklets.

Charades.

More games.

Even though Girls' Camp was really exciting and an amazing experience, I was glad to be going home. Spending 5 days up in the mountains without showering, sharing one bathroom with 30 other people, sleeping in tents, and being away from civilization, made me appreciate the comforts of home.

Home at last!

***

While the girls were away at camp, we made a trip down to Ephraim and Manti to see the last year of the Mormon Miracle Pageant.  We stopped and swam at the Activity Center in Ephraim and then went and dropped off our things at Clyde and Becky Bailey's house (Becky is the daughter of my Dad's Uncle Arch).  We went and ate the turkey dinner at the Manti armory and then went back and visited with the Baileys for a bit.  We ran into my cousin Jeff Huffman at the dinner, so we had a nice visit with him as well.

It was a bit rainy, but not too bad.  We had agreed to meet my friend Jonathan Peterson and his family.  We finally connected with them and sat near them and their extended family for the performance.  We got a bit of rain, but it let up toward the end of the performance.  There were a lot of nice things in the pageant, and we were glad we went, but we could see why the Church is moving away from such large-scale performances and commitments as well.

Manti Temple.

Sitting and waiting for dark.

The sun peeked out for a minute!

We spent the night at the Baileys and woke up early.  We stopped by the pancake breakfast, but it was a bit crowded, so we drove to Ephraim and had breakfast at McDonald's instead.  After McDonald's we stopped by the Peterson's house (Jon's parents' house) and visited with them for a bit before heading home to Payson.

On Saturday morning we had a reunion planned at the Payson park.  Once the girls were home from their girls' camp, we joined everyone.  The Petersons stopped by so that Kate could see Nika and Lina since they really missed each other.  They still Skype and chat - the two years they were here in Kazakhstan was so much fun for all of them.

Nika playing with Kate's Ukulele

Peterson - Willardson photo

The Reunion was the Crane Reunion, but it was mostly just our family and a few of the Aunts and Uncles.  It is harder and harder to get everyone together, so Mom decided this would be the last year of the reunion.  We had a good time hanging out, eating, telling stories, and just enjoying each others' company.

Kid cousins hanging out at the park.

Kids playing Croquet

The Girl cousins minus Emma who was babysitting in Las Vegas!

Our little family!

We go home and visit our family each year.  It is one of the best benefits of working in Kazakhstan.  We really love seeing everyone, so each small or large reunion is time that we cherish.  This year was no exception.