Christmas '09

I keep waiting for things to slow down so I can blog about the holidays, but have finally decided that may never happen, so things will just have to go undone for now so I don't get too far behind!

Our holidays were so much fun and went by way too fast! As always, Christmas was so much fun, filled with friends, family, parties, food, and more family! I absolutely love this time of year and everything that goes with it!

We spent Christmas Eve with Matt's family at his parent's house. Every year we have dinner and the kids do a little Christmas pageant. They love doing it and it is our hope that it helps them focus on why we celebrate Christmas. Then we open presents from Gma and Gpa W. and then go home to open a present before putting out the milk and cookies for Santa and going to bed. On the way home from Matt's parents house the kids watch for Rudolph's nose in the sky, which is amazing to hear how many times they see him! ;) Uncle Chris even called some hotline that tells you exactly where Santa is in the world. When he called, Santa was in Bolivia (which was no more than an hour before we drove home). So Santa is very quick! Here are the kids in their Christmas Eve pj's. I tried to do away with the traditional opening a present on Christmas Eve. We started it when Alli was tiny, and it's not always pj's...but usually something they can sleep with. One year I made them blankets (when it was just Alli and Caden). But they really didn't need anything this year. So when I told the kids we may not do that this year, they had the most disappointed looks on their faces, and that did it!!! They got a very un-needed pair of pj's. But they loved them and that made it all worth it!

Sadly, I only took a few pictures on Christmas morning. When I'm in the middle of it all, I'm enjoying it so much and I forget to pick up the camera...then a month later I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures!!! The kids all got bean bag chairs (which was a huge hit!!! Especially for Owen). I love them too!

My sister (Cadie) and my brother (Russ) came in from out of town so the whole fam was together for my Mom's birthday and New Years. All the grandaughters ended up staying in Lehi between my parents house and Thayne and Amber's house (big thanks to them!!!) I got to bring a couple of the boys back to sleep over with our boys for a few days. We loved having them and I must say...boys are so easy!!! All they need is a wii and some food every once in a while! :)

Crazy boys! From bottom to top: Ian, Caden, Brayden, and Taylor. Oops! Half of Taylor! I'm not a very good photographer!

One of the days all my family was here, we went to Thayne and Amber's house to go sledding. Owen loved it out in the snow!

Yes those are cement stairs they are sledding right next to, and yes they are headed strait for the road. Luckily Thayne and Russ built a snow wall to keep them from sledding out into the street! Jeff also brought his four wheeler over and pulled the kids behind that. It was lots of fun! Thanks again Thayne and Amber for letting us bombard your house!!!

I didn't get any pictures of it, but we spent New Year's Eve at my sister Kelli's house. We had a fun time playing games, and we even had a talent show with all the grand kids. We have some pretty talented kids in our family!

It was a lot of fun spending time with family over the holidays! We look forward to it again next year!