Our typical holidays in Arizona involve rotating houses in the Valley, but this time Dallin's parents each had different ideas for a fun week. 

For the first few days of our trip with the Samuelsons, we enjoyed a peaceful stay at their new cabin in Heber-Overgaard. Beckham and his two cousins enjoyed romping around and riding quads.  Dallin's sister Danielle planned out gorgeous and delicious meals and appetizers, and the rest of us did our best to help her put together the perfect Thanksgiving meal. 

For the second half of our trip, we joined the Urness family in Tombstone. Originally Dallin's dad, Danielle and little Maverick were scheduled to compete in the mounted shooting rodeo event, but the rodeo was cancelled last minute due to an outbreak of an equine illness. We all went to Tombstone anyway and stayed at the historic China Mary Inn.  A carriage ride, gold panning, and meals at the Big Nose Kate Saloon all made for a classic Tombstone trip.  Beckham's favorite part? Sprinting along the old boardwalk as fast as his legs could carry him. 

It wouldn't be the holiday season without various illnesses, such as Dallin having no voice above a whisper for the entire second half of the trip. A Chipotle worker thought that Dallin was deaf and recruited someone who spoke sign to try to take his order. Beckham, on the other hand, was already on antibiotics for an ear infection, and then on our last evening in Tombstone he started vomiting. He threw up again four times on our car ride back to Mesa (while stuck in stop-and-go traffic in the middle of nowhere at night) and then once or twice a day over the next three days. Thank goodness we survived the plane ride to Utah without incident. Poor Dallin finally got his voice back after we got home. 

watching Grandpa land

A week after we returned from Europe, Beckham and I boarded another flight, this time to Phoenix. I had thought the flight would be a piece of cake after our international travels, but he was a lap child on a late-night flight, and our flight got stuck on the tarmac for 45 minutes after we landed. Poor bubba was fussing with exhaustion and finally fell asleep draped at a 90 degree angle over my lap.  

We spent Christmas Eve with the Samuelson family, making ebelskivers for breakfast and a traditional Christmas dinner in the evening. Beckham loved hanging out with his cousins and discovered the trampoline for the first time. 

The Lundgreen grandparents got Beckham this remote control car, including a radio that plays "If You're Happy and You Know It" in a very thick Chinese accent.

following our annual trip to the hibachi grill, Hannah posted a video of Beckham reacting to the flame and it went completely viral: around 30 million views on Hannah's video alone, plus it got reposted by several accounts including Barstool Sports.

Christmas night we went with the Lundgreen and Urness families to the temple lights.

It took several Lundgreen kids and their spouses quite a long time to catch this bird that had somehow evaded the hungry dogs despite being stuck in our backyard all morning. We took it to the nearby duck pond.

a Mediterranean-style dinner

walking through several blocks of impressive Christmas lights

Christmas with the Urness fam

The day after Christmas, we took family photos and then hopped right in the RV with some of the  Urness clan to drive to Disneyland! Disney was even more magical than I remembered, and Beckham did great.  With the stroller pass, we were able to take turns watching the baby and going on rides.  Beckham enjoyed a few rides himself, though mostly stone-faced the entire time.  He cried after Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, not because of the scary hell scene, but because he had to let go of the steering wheel on his car when we got out. After 2 days at Disney, we drove to San Diego for a day at SeaWorld. Thank you Urnesses for such a fun trip!