Christmas

We had a great Christmas, as always. I really love Christmas time. It comes and goes way to fast though now. When I was little it seemed to take forever for it to actually be Christmas. But not anymore... We started out Christmas Eve by meeting Doug's college roommate and his wife at a mall. They acutally got married the same day we did... At the same time I think too, just in a different place. They were up here for Christmas and so we were excited to see them. All the kids played on the toys while we talked. We also ate lunch with them before heading over to my parents' house, where we spent the rest of the day. I'll let the pictures and their captions tell the rest of the story...

This picture is actually from Christmas Eve Eve. We went to Bell Square to Snow Flake Lane. They have lots of drummers walking on stilts and people dressed up as other things like bears, and Rodolph, I think. We only saw bears and the drummer. There's also Christmas music playing and snow falling. The snow is actually bubbles though, but really looks like snow. The boys got suckers while were there. We learned a few lessons from our night out: don't go the day before Christmas Eve; it's way too crowded. Don't bring strollers if you can help it; it's too crowded for strollers. Leave more than an hour and a half before you want to get there so you're not late. It's not as good when you're a little late. Although if it's not Christmas Eve Eve it wouldn't be as crowded, so getting there wouldn't take as long and it wouldn't be so crowded.

Ashlee's family was at my parents' house in Christmas Eve too. We decorated sugar cookies together.

Jordan with Alli holding Mackenzie again. Alli really loves Mackenzie.My sister said Alli wishes Kenzie lived with them.

A family from my parents' ward that my family has been friends with for a long time, comes over every year for Christmas Eve. Here are some of their kids with Jack and my nieces. They are decorating ice cream cones with icing and candy to make Christmas Trees. Much easier than ginerbread houses. And probably more fun for the kids since they don't ever cave in.

Jack and his tree.

We had a pinata this year again. Jordan enjoyed hitting it. Jack was excited all day to do it, but after hitting it one time he was done. We think the stick probably vibrated after he hit it and he didn't like that. I didn't have a turn for the first time ever I think. And I was ok with that. Doug didn't have a turn either.

Kenzie in her cute Christmas dress with Doug.

Jordan, Kenzie, and Jackson in their matching jammies. I made them some again this year. They're the same as the ones I made last year. I bought way too much fabric then and decided to just use it up.

Sam, Kimber, and Alli also got pjs on Christmas Eve.

Jordan with his presents on Christmas morning. We got up around 8. I think it was our earliest year. The boys were really tired after opening present since they went to bed so late the nightbefore. Jordan loved playing with his presents. He was as into opening them as I thought he would be. He mostly just wanted to play with ones that were already open.

Santa brought both the boys Rudolph noses.

My mom and I made the boys blankets. This one is Jackson's. I couldn't have made them without my mom. I didn't realize there was so much to do with making a blanket. I had only ever helped tie them before. There were fun to make with my mom though.

Jackson got a dollar from my grandpa and he was so excited he ran over and gave Doug a hug. It was cute.

Jackson was funny when opening his presents. He was the opposite of Jordan he just wanted to unwrap them all and not play with them until he was done. But after opening a present and grabbing a new one he kept moving to a new spot to open the present. So there was a trail of wrapping paper across the room.

Cute Jack posing.
Jack helped Kenzie by opening her presents. She was lucky and got lots of cute clothes :)

Kenzie with her present from Santa.

Us with out matching pajamas. I didn't make new ones for Doug and me. Luckily we still fit in ours.

Jack got this fun Candy Land Bingo game from my parents and he loved it. We all played it a ton on Christmas. This is him playing it with Grandma.

Doug and happy Kenzie.

Jordan and his new broom.

Grandma and Kenzie.

So as you can see we really had a great Christmas. We loved spending time with family. We loved remembering Jesus' birth and trying to help our kids know why we really have Christmas. Christmas is really my favorite time of year. I also like summer though...

I must mention that Doug gave me great presents this year, as always. The highlight was that he planned a cruise for us to go on for our 5 year anniversary this year! He got a us a 5 day cruise that will leave from LA and go to the Catalina Islands and to somewhere in Mexico that I've never heard of. He even asked my sister to watch my kids and she said yes (thanks Ash!) I'm so excited to go. We've never been on a cruise before but my sister and her husband say that they're the best way to travel. And you can't beat the price, since lodging, food, and entertainment are all covered under one cost. We both can't wait! And don't worry, my kids will love it at my sister's house. They probably won't even miss us. And Alli will probably by so excited to have Mackenzie living with her for a week. :)