As always the holidays came and went quickly. To say the last couple of weeks have been busy would be a complete understatement. I really can not wrap my head around all that we have done in an incredibly short amount of time. In the last two and a half weeks: We took two trips to Utah and back home, went to a funeral, had two visits from Santa, had multiple family parties/dinners/gatherings, attended my brother's sealing, hosted visitors at our home on five separate occasions, did multiple major projects around the house and loved every minute of the holidays with our family and friends. Most of these I did not take the time to document. But I will share just a few of the highlights that I did find time to capture.
By some miracle of miracles Dave got the weekend before Christmas, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off of work! We really do not know how this was possible...it just sort of happened. And since it is unlikely to happen again in the foreseeable future we thought we would spend the holidays in Utah. So before we left Santa came a couple days early to our house.
You can guess what this little guy has been asking for since he figured out the whole Santa thing:
A red BIKE!! He was VERY excited!!!
Maddie was happy and totally clueless!
The Friday before Christmas and the day before we took off to Utah I had these two little cuties and their sweet mom's over to make gingerbread houses.
On Saturday we left for Utah. We spent most of our time in Orem with Dave's family. His parents are leaving next week for a two year mission in the Dominican Republic. They will be presiding over the MTC there.
We took the kids sledding the first night. It was cold, but they LOVED it!
We played games, sang songs, had a tea party, made gingerbread houses...
James & Aunt Nancy with their Graham Cracker train.
The Sunday before Christmas. I insisted we take this picture the second we were all ready. I knew each of us being dressed and clean simultaneously wouldn't last long, I was right.
Dave made the family an amazing authentic Italian meal, yum!
89-years-young Grandma Lu Rocking the mini tutu
The Angels.
Madeline, the shepherd, and her sheep
Ken and Jill...I'm not really sure who they were. But seriously this had to be one of the best dressed Nativities of all time.
Stealing cuddles from Grandma Lu.
We had a great time at the Freestone's. It was so great getting to be with the cousins and having quality time with Grandpa and Bonnie before their mission.
On Christmas Eve we traveled north to my parents for Dinner with my family.
We had a delicious meal
And some people got really festive.
Really Festive
Then we tried, and tried, and tried to get a single good shot of the grandkids in their new matching Christmas Jammies from Grandma/Lady. I took about 50 pictures. With seven kids three-years-old and younger, ten kids total, this pretty much sums every single shot I got..
Actually this is one of the better ones.
Then we had the brilliant idea to throw the Grandparents in the mix.
Certainly two Adults sitting with the kids would help right?
Nope, they make more ridiculous faces then the kids. I think we definitely captured the memory though.
Then as if pictures weren't chaotic enough we threw presents into the mix. CRAZY FUN!!
James had the gift opening down by this point!
I love this. Here is my niece Elsie (3) trying to talk Maddie into switching dolls. Or really, letting her, the older and wiser one take care of both dolls.
Maddie didn't fall for it. She was pretty attached to her first Cabbage Patch doll. They look quite a bit alike too!
As the evening was wrapping up Granddad showed off his Christmas Jammies! Hard to believe He will be 90 next month!
A little bit of cuteness.
My talented sister Jenn made Maddie this beautiful dress for Disneyland! I am so excited to see her running down Main Street in it!!!
Christmas Morning, Santa had a lot more surprises for us....
And a REALLY BIG surprise for my mom! A brand new car. She was really excited, can you tell!
We traveled home Christmas Day. My best friend since grade school and her sweet family came and spent the night with us. It was fun having Christmas dinner with them and meeting her sweet new baby. The next day Dave's parents came to stay on their way to San Diego. We then headed back to Utah for a very quick trip to see my Brother and his sweet wife be sealed to each other and their cute boys. When we got back home to Nevada we celebrated New Year's with Dave's brother Jon who lives in Virginia. We said our final Good-bye's to his parents on their way back home from California. Finally my dad came to stay this last weekend and help us with a few things around our house. In the midst of all of this Dave and I put together our new entry-way:
