Christmas Break

We had a nice Christmas break.  We kicked it off with some gingerbread houses with cousins.

Here was Matt's:

We all scarfed down plenty of candy:

Elizabeth's:

Natalie's:

Nate's:

TJ's:

We discovered that TJ is quite gifted at making gingerbread houses.  I mean look at that thing!

Here was mine:

We had a nice few days before Christmas full of last-minute shopping (like usual), looking at Christmas lights, delivering some neighbor gifts, and watching plenty of Christmas movies.  

Christmas Eve night we had a nice dinner of homemade tomato soup and crackers then we had our little Christmas program.  We had a mix of scriptures and songs.  The girls and I played songs on the piano, Joe played his guitar, we all played handbells, and we even had some drumming.  I really loved it.  Then it was off to bed.  We had a Christmas miracle that night---SNOW!  It was actually crazy windy, too, and it was keeping me awake but it was so exciting.  The kids were thrilled when they saw the snow.  

Sadly, when I tried to take video of the kids coming out Christmas morning, I took a picture instead.  So here's the pathetic picture that should have been a video:

They did love their gifts.  

Natalie got a big slinky and the movie The Lady and the Tramp (she always seems to be our child with pretty simple wishes---remember the broom and the butterfly net?)

Elizabeth got some Magnaformers.  They love playing with those at their cousins' house.

Nate got the wish of his heart--a Harry Potter remote control wand!  We programmed it to the TV in the loft.

Eli got two stuffed animals--Gerald & Piggie! 

Some more Christmas pictures:

Eli loved these Sesame Street people he got from cousins:

Nate took these pictures later that morning of some of our gifts.

I thought they were cute:

We got this firepit and wood for our patio from Grandma & Grandpa:

We're excited to use it.

Then it was time to play in the snow!

Eli is riding on Joe's Christmas gift--a kayak!  I had to store it in our side yard to keep it a surprise and it got covered in snow.  I was happy to have pulled off that surprise, though.

We're excited to use it once it warms up a bit.

That afternoon we visited Joe's aunt's house and then went over to his Grandma's.  It was fun to visit with family.  That night we came home and had a super delicious dinner.  We decided to go with steak this year and it was funny to watch Joe out grilling in the freezing cold.  It was so worth it, though.  We had steak, twice-baked potatoes, these cheesy garlic bread swirls, and a raspberry pomegranate salad. It was good and we all stuffed ourselves silly.

The day after Christmas we got up and at 'em early to drive to UT.  We planned to see a bunch of our family.  Sadly, it didn't work out that way.  Joe woke up feeling sick, but Natalie had had a really short-lived sickness of some kind and Joe's was manageable with ibuprofen so we decided to stick with our plan.  Unfortunately, by the time we got to Chris and Regina's house he was pretty wiped out.  Still, it was so fun to see them and where they lived.  It was my first time in Eastern Utah and I have to say it was a pretty drive.  It was so wide open where they live, too, and so quiet.

I took this picture from their front porch: 

Here's a quick shot of the kids playing in the snow:

Here are some that Regina took of the kids devouring their Gingerbread train:

 And watching something:

We had a blast there, despite the sickness.  They were such troopers to let us come crash right after Christmas and they took care of us well.  Sadly, the visit was over too soon.  We pressed on to our next stop--the BYU/Gonzaga basketball game.  We'd gotten the tickets for Christmas and didn't want to miss it, even though Joe was sick.

I thought the view of this sleeping guy during the drive to Provo combined with the endless snow was pretty cool:

We had fun at the game.  It was a really exciting one.  Eli had trouble at times so we took turns taking him out but the older kids all loved it.  It was too bad they let it go in the end.  I was out with Eli at the end of the game and who do I happen to see? Mitt and Ann Romney!  That was fun :).  They were trying to sneak out early without being mobbed and having a hard time of it. 

By the end of the game, Joe was really wiped out.  We picked up some food and then headed to our next stop--Richard and Toni's house.  Joe just basically stayed away from Archer and slept while we were there.  By then we realized we needed to just go home.  It was so fun to see Richard and Toni's place.  It is super nice.   I loved getting to hold Archer and our kids loved running around with Jace.  Richard made us a yummy breakfast too.  So, we headed for home.  We were so sad to miss having dinner with Matt & Melissa and Brad & Kelli and kids, and seeing Jon and Jaime and kids.  But, it was good to get Joe home and resting.  He crashed for a few days and slowly started to come out of it.  It was a rough flu that he had.  I don't think I'd seen him that sick before.  The kids and I stayed pretty close to home.  We did invite some friends over for a play date one day since they had been begging me.  

By New Year's Eve he was feeling better so we decided to head to Grandpa Tom and Grandma Lorna's house like we had planned.  We had a fun few days there with Tom and his kids for the first part, Richard and his boys, then Chris and Regina and kids.  The kids always love being at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  We had a fun New Year's Eve having a Back to the Future movie marathon. 

One night I left to meet Kari and Katie for dinner and dessert.  We had a blast like always.

 

I guess I missed the memo about the red lipstick. :)

That was our Christmas break!  It was a fun one.

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