the polar express.

I got off work two and a half hours early yesterday, and when I did, I went straight to the school to pick Zac up from work, and we drove ourselves up to Heber with my family. After eating at Don Pedro's, we made our way to the Heber Valley train station, where we would soon ride to the North Pole on the Polar Express! Each of us were bundled up, because, even though there was no snow on the ground, it was really cold. When it was time to board the train, we handed our tickets to an elf named Soda Pop, and found some seats be the heater fueled by coal. My entire family took up seven benches, each bench fitting two people. As the train slowly started to move forward, I watched my parents shout, "We're going! We're moving!" to my niece and nephew, Brooke and Aiden, to get them excited.

The inside of the train was lit only by strings of Christmas lights running along the tops of the windows. Outside, you could see houses with Christmas lights. We made out way over a bridge and saw the lake on the left side. During the ride to the North Pole, we sang songs, told jokes, ate cookies, and drank hot cocoa. Jack Frost, with his microphone in his hand, entertained us passengers.

When we got to the North Pole, Santa Clause met us inside the train car, and gave everyone a Christmas bell tied with ribbon. He said hello to all the children. Brooke and Aiden were afraid of him, but Aiden eventually gave him a high five.

On the ride back to the station, I rested my head on Zac's shoulder and listened to the children sing more Christmas songs. The drive back to Provo took a good 2 hours or so, and I slept almost the whole way there.



Oh yeah, we also had an Ugly Sweater competition. I liked Matt's the best, although my mom looks pretty fantastic (see first picture).