Christmas stuff.

December 23rd we had dinner with my Dad's side of the family. Lots of soup with lots of cousins. It was fun. I finally saw and held Stella, she is beautiful and still so tiny! I got to see Abbie and her little family and so many others. We all ate and visited and Grandma Donna gave all the grandkids gifts of stuffed animals, flashlights and little purses. What a great time!
Adam and Moqui cheesing it.

Christmas Eve we had a wonderful ham dinner with Trent's family and my MIL read the story she reads every Christmas eve, I Believe in Santa Claus which likens Santa to Christ. I love it. Then we all exchanged gifts, which was so fun. I love seeing all the reactions and the excitement of the kids. I made Jennifer a cool calendar on Costco.com with personalized photos and dates which turned out really great. All the kids got jammies and gifts.
Charlotte was loving on Ashlyn a lot. And trying to steal her toys.
Christmas morning is all on video, but I didn't take still photos until later. I'll post video later. The kids got bikes and a play cottage, which we'll keep inside for now. They have been the biggest hits. Tucker was pleased to get the binoculars ("bee-noculars") that he had requested from several Santas.

That afternoon we spent a couple hours at Bart and Dusti's hanging out with family and then went to my parents to exchange gifts which was great. Trent enjoyed trying out Spencer's Wii. I got some very cute and much needed clothes. Not to mention that my dad got us a fantastic present of beautiful tall baseboards! Can't wait to get those installed! It was a wonderful Christmas all around, and I'm not talking about the gifts, although they were great. We had so much fun with so many family members and I loved all of it!

Busy

For whatever reason, I haven't been blogging much. I've been finishing up Christmas shopping, I still have a couple small things to get, and I don't even know what else has been making me feel like I have no time. Monday night we went to the temple lights with Blake, Andrea, and Ashlyn. Tuesday was a huge day. I picked out the best Christmas present for myself ever. I've been wanting a headboard ever since we got married-over 6 years ago, and Tuesday we bought it! I can't wait to get it home and all set up. Pictures later. That night Karen babysat all the kids while we went to Trent's company dinner at a fancy steakhouse in phoenix! It was a fantastic night out, complete with white elephant gift exchange. Wednesday we went to my mom's and hung out with her and Chandler and Jackson and Sarah and Karen and Mark and Claire and Spence and Gabe. Thursday Jill and Jordyn visited us. Jill was completely entertained when Charlotte began feeding her baby doll "boo boo milk". Tucker had his school program and treats. We went to a very crowded Target and home again. Today is Trent's work's family lunch party and tonight is the ward party. Tomorrow Tucker has a make-up soccer game for one of the ones that was rained out and then the season will really be over. We finally got Christmas pictures taken and cards ordered, I'll be happy if I get them to our friends by new year! Whew!

All he wants for Christmas is a ?

Imagine you are a man. A very handsome, athletic 29 year old man named Trent. You have 3 kids who climb all over you from the second you walk in the door. You are a workaholic. When you are not working at your actual work, you are fixing our cars or doing some project in the garage or doing yard work. You love Lake Powell. You like guns. You like to snowboard. You like to watch Mythbusters, Dirty Jobs, Man vs. Wild, and pretty much anything on Discovery or the History Channel. You are not sentimental. You don't care much about music or movies. Now tell me, what is it that you want for Christmas?

mugs

She just does this to get a reaction.

FHE

We actually had a family home evening this week, even on Monday night! We made a gingerbread house, sang songs and read the story of Jesus' birth from Luke 2.






Charlotte loved helping (eating candy).

sock puppet?

You Are Socks!

Cozy and warm... but easily lost. You make a good puppet.

What Crappy Christmas Gift Are You?

Santa

Friday night we had a fun family night. We went to the mall and had some dinner and visited Santa. I got a couple of bracelets and necklaces at Claire's to put in Charlotte's stocking.

Saturday I got a little more Christmas shopping done with Tucker and Henry along for the ride. Tucker's soccer game was canceled due to the rain! I loved watching the rain out the window and smelling it through the screen door. I t rained most of the day Friday and half of Saturday.

Sunday night we had a great dinner with Trent's family and celebrated Jennifer's birthday. Overall, it was a very nice weekend. Although, Henry woke up about a million times. He was literally up every 2 hours or so for the last 3 nights. I can't take this much longer. Let's hope we get it right tonight!