Christmas in Utah

Since we weren't able to get together with the whole Atkin family over the summer, we planned a reunion over Christmas. So, we took the kids out of school a little bit early and headed for Jon and Jaime's house. We left after school on Thursday and hit some delays so were behind schedule. We ended up driving through the night. Luckily, it was a great drive with no bad weather and Joe and I were both able to stay awake the whole time talking and having fun. We tried giving the kids Dramamine for the first time since they sometimes get carsick and they all slept well. We made it at about 5:45am and got a little bit of sleep that morning. We had fun playing that day and shopping to get ready for Christmas. Regina and her kids were there that day. Marsha and Rich and Toni and kids came later. Unfortunately, Tom and Shari and kids couldn't make it this time but Chris drove up after work on Saturday.

Grandma reading the Grinch to all the kids:

Playing in the snow:

I snapped this picture of Joelle taking care of her animals:

We fun making gingerbread houses (until my kids starting fighting :):

We loved seeing how much cute baby Ross had grown!

I brought our handbells and we had a lot of fun playing some Christmas songs. I was super impressed with how well the kids did:

The group that stayed for Christmas Eve:

Some scenes from our nativity play:

It even snowed Christmas Eve night a little bit!

Santa came!

We had a great, relaxing Christmas day doing puzzles, watching movies and playing with new toys. The day after Christmas, we met Brad & Kelli, Matt & Melissa and kids at Cafe Rio for lunch since we were all in town. Then we went hiking around Salt Lake with Matt & Melissa and kids. Unfortunately, Elizabeth and Eli both started coming down with something so we didn't get much time with them. When Eli's fever got worse that night, we decided to just go home in the morning. We'd planned on staying a few more days but it was probably best we left because a bunch more of us got it, too. The drive home was a little rougher but we made it safely (a big relief after our last winter drive when we had our crash!). We spent the rest of our Christmas break recovering from sickness so we had a Harry Potter movie marathon and that was basically all we did. We were so glad we got some time with family, though! It was a Christmas to remember!

We had a low-key New Years's Eve. Only us girls managed to stay awake for midnight. The boys were exhausted!

Goodbye 2017! It was a good year.

Family Pictures

We decided it was time for some new family pictures so we could send out a Christmas card this year and we got it done just in the nick of time in December. A woman in our ward did it and she did a fantastic job! I love how they turned out.

(Nate was struggling a bit again so that's why he wasn't in that one)

Eli was the only one who didn't mind posing alone:

Joe and I even got some just the two of us! We're not the best at acting natural for those but these turned out pretty cute:

December

We had a fun December. Here are some random snapshots of our month:

On a one-on-one time date with Natalie:

On my birthday lunch with Eli at (where else?)...McDonald's:

We finally ordered Nate his scriptures and it has been so fun to watch him read from them:

Eli had to have his own scriptures, too:

We met Mary and Andrew and their kids on their side of the peninsula to go to a fun area that has tons of Christmas lights. It was beautiful!

We had really warm weather in December and one night I checked the weather on the coast and made a spontaneous decision to take a mental health day and go to the beach. I was so glad I did! It was a really fun day. We went to Roosevelt Beach in Half Moon Bay and met some friends there:

Joe's one Christmas request was to see a performance of The Messiah at Grace Cathedral so we got tickets and had a fun date night. 

The music was beautiful. I did wish we were closer up, though, because we couldn't see much and the way the sound carried made it tricky to hear everything. We didn't quite stay the whole time either so we could get back before too late. I loved sharing Joe's love of that music with him.

We also had his work party in the city, too, at a delicious Chinese food place:

It was fun to meet more of his coworkers. They are all really great people.

We had a ward Christmas around the world potluck dinner and it was awesome! There was so much amazing food! I loved it so much. The kids also put on a nativity play. Natalie got to be the angel and had some lines. Eli was a cute cow and Nate go to be the curtain guy and loved that!

I loved Eli's expression in these:

Natalie's part:

There was even a visit from Santa!

We also got to see Santa at Grandma and Grandpa's house again. We had smaller numbers this year with the Nelsons gone and Emily on her mission but it was still a lot of fun.

Eli really wanted to buy that hat when we were out shopping one day and I couldn't resist. He loved wearing it all the time--especially at his birthday party. :)

Elizabeth asked for more knitting supplies, Natalie asked for a chemistry set, and Nate and Eli asked for new Wii games.