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| On the way we hit the big 100K miles on our van |
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| Bennett loved looking at all the guns at the Browning Gun House |
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| Nauvoo is all but a ghost town in February so the senior missionary couples were so excited to see us. We got extra special treatment as you can see here we got a special tour of the brick house. |
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| Printing Press |
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| Also that weekend was the Nauvoo Mormon Exodus re-enactment (Feb. 1846) |
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| Bennett and I decided it might be too far and too cold to walk for an 8-mo pregnant lady and an almost 3 year old. We definitely would not have been able to hack it with the real pioneers! |
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| We all got name tags representing people who made the great exodus and a few people carried flags for their ancestors native countries. |
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| These are the horses that pulled our carriage |
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| Bennett got to help make this rope |
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| He was pretty excited about his new rope, we had to go outside and try it out. |
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| Nauvoo was great but it's always fun to come home and play guns with grandpa |
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| The Idaho Tormans joined us for sledding at Grandma Oka's house |
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| Rub-a-dub-dub... |
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| Grandma Swenson wrote, produced, starred in, and directed a giant epic stage play event a lifetime in the making spanning the course of centuries and testing the limits of modern science (not to mention the limits of cast and audience patience). Picture here are three old professors employed by the wise old owl university. |
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| Frontiersman, lasers, giant spiders, Harry Potter, and the Queen of England were all featured prominently. |
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| To Hardware Ranch to see the elk with the Larsons. Lincoln's Dr. Zhivago hat is pretty fly. |
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| A few elk started sparring for our viewing pleasure. |
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| On the way back, we stopped at the Hyrum City Park halfway up Blacksmith Fork Canyon for some merry-go-round shenanigans and king of the bridge excitement |
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| Across from the Larson's house |
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| Bennett got to sleep in Julia's castle bed |
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| We went to the Larson's Hyde Park church gym to test Bradley's air pressure car, play indoor soccer, basketball, and line tag, and one final theatrical triumph. Bennett and Julia are desperately trying to operate on then resuscitate Bradley in this emotional sequence. |
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| Traditional root beer consumption on New Year's Eve with a taste-test twist. Is it sad that A&W probably was the consensus winner? |
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| Mochi |
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| White men can make Sushi |
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| Bennett and Aiko enjoy a rare moment of solitude while watching Frozen. |
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| All too soon, it was time to leave for home. A mere quarter mile down the road, we quickly circled back to watch one last train go by with Grandpa |
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| The famous Pine Bluffs rest stop playground fort... |
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| ...and boulders |
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| The rocks get much smaller the further East you go as this random Iowa rest stop amply demonstrates. |
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| Christ mas Eve Nativity Play at the Andreasen family Christmas function, starring great-grandkids, Lindi, and Lillie with Special Guest Star Great-Grandpa Andreasen as King Herod. |
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| Not quite sure what we're witnessing here. |
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| Bennett sorely missing male great-grandchild reinforcements (Tyson and Zach had the off-Andreasen year and Max and Franky were still in Colorado). |
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| Aunt Betty and Uncle Paul gifted a transforming T-Rex/Car hybrid |
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| After his dramatic turn as Joseph earlier in the evening, Bennett took on the bigger challenge of playing Baby Jesus in the Larson kids' production of the Nativity. |
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| Making sure Santa is appeased. |
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| Laney's note offering up the culinary delights as well as apologizing for the biteful Bennett had removed unwittingly. |
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| Bennett really got into the unwrapping spirit this year. |
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| "Say yer last words!" |
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| Simple breakfast combining Lincoln's ancestral heritage in the form of Scandinavian ebelskivers with Tracey's undying affection for bacon. |
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| Christmas morning hot tub session |
