Christmas Continued

After celebrating Christmas with my family, we headed up to Idaho to do some more celebrating with Chris' family. All of Chris' brothers were there, so it was pretty neat. We had a lot of fun, as always, playing games and eating great food. Everyone was definitely spoiled this year, but the best part was just being able to see everyone! Thanks to both Chris' parents and my parents for a wonderful special holiday.




Kenli was given an adorable purse by her Great Grandma and she absolutely loved it. She loved it so much that she never wanted to let go of it. As you can see from this picture she even took it to bed with her. I thought this was too funny and just had to get a picture. Good job on the present Grandma Sharon-Kenli really loved it!

Family pics

Aunt Brittney with Ben's little Paige


Westover Family: Kyle & Bridget, Turnbow Family: Josh, BreeAnne, Brooklynn 7, Emily 6, Katie 4, Ashley 1, Mom, Dad, Ben & Paige 6mo., Hess Family: Chris, Britt, Jaxon 5, Kenli 3, Drey 1,
Blake's family: Blake, Brycie, Breckin 6, Addison 2.


Our "silly face" family pic


Cousins: Breckin, Kenli, Addison, Drey & Jaxon

We all got together to celebrate my Grandma's 80th birthday and so we just had to take a family pic with all of us. Surprisingly, for how many people we had, the picture turned out really great!

Sledding

The kids really wanted to see snow for Christmas---and play in the snow. Jaxon told me that he wanted to go sledding, have a snowball fight, and build a snowman. Lucky for us there was snow, but unfortunately -it was really hard and icy. We never got a chance to have a snowball fight or build a snowman, but we did go sledding. After about 2 seconds of sledding Jaxon fell flat on his face-which resulted in a icy bloody nose and a fat lip. I was thinking, O great now he is going to be through with sledding, but I was pleasantly surprised that he wanted to stay. He had so much fun sledding down the hills. Chris, Bridget, Kyle, and I enjoyed it too, although our bums and backs were a little sore afterwards. Kenli wasn't a big fan. She did go down a few times, but she really wanted to build a snowman. She kept herself entertained though trying to build a ice-man and splashing in the icy puddles.

Christmas Day in Utah

It was so great to be with everyone on Christmas Day. First we woke up and opened presents at mom and dad's house then, as usual, we went up to my Grandma & Grandpa Downey's house for some more Christmas celebration. We got to visit with my Dad's side of the family which was great because we don't see them very often. Grandma's chip dip and green fluff made Christmas complete!

Utah Christmas Eve

So, we headed up to Utah for Christmas. I was able to see all of my siblings this year-and it was so fun to see each of them and their awesome families. For Christmas Eve we went bowling, played games, and Kenli and Jaxon played Joseph and Mary in the Nativity story that night-uncle Kyle was the donkey. Earlier that day Chris, Kyle, and Bryce all went snowboarding at Brighton. Thankfully they all came back whole and not too sore.

Our Christmas Day before Christmas Day

The kids were, of course, super excited to see if Santa had come or not. Lucky for us they didn't wake up unusually early...we got started with things around 7. I really love visiting family for Christmas and doing all the fun traditional stuff with them, but there is nothing like having Christmas at your own home. Lucky for me we got to do both this year! After "our" Christmas we packed up and headed to Tooele to be with my family for Christmas.

"our Christmas Eve" before Christmas Eve

This year the we really wanted to go be with my parents and siblings for Christmas. But, we really didn't want to bring all of the gifts up-honestly I don't think everything would have fit in our car if we had wanted it too. So, we had our own little Christmas before Christmas. We pretty much got to celebrate Christmas all week long--which the kids were just fine with. They totally got spoiled with presents, but I know that they were the happiest just being able to see their many Grandmas and Grandpas and cousins!

It has been a tradition for as long as I can remeber that on Christmas Eve you would get to open one present, and that present would always be pajamas. So, we had all the kids on the couch and they were super excited to open their one present when Jaxon says, "Yay I am so excited, but I hope it isn't pajamas." What? Lucky for us and him he changed his mind once he saw that he got STARWAR pjs.

After the pjs had been put on the kids left out some cookies and milk for santa-along with carrots for the reindeer. We made sure to leave out oreo cookies for santa - since he told the kids in his return letter that they were his favorite!

The manger

This year Chris' mom sent us a cute activity to do for family home evening. She sent us a manger and a bag of straw. Throughout the holiday season everytime you do something nice for another person you would get to put a piece of straw in the manger. It came with a really cute story about a family who did just that, built a manger and did kind acts so that they could put a piece of straw in the manger to make it really soft for Jesus. Our kids really thought this was a great idea. We didn't start it as early as we should have, but I think this may become a yearly tradition too. It really helped emphasize what Christmas is all about and how we can be more Christ-like. I really loved the whole idea.

Gingerbread Men

This year we didn't make gingerbread houses we made gingerbread men instead. The kids, especially Kenli, really loved helping me make these cookies this year. I had never made gingerbread cookies before, but I found this really good recipe and I just had to try it out. It is a little different then your original gingerbread cookie recipe. You use no molasses and you add in butterscotch pudding, so it still has the gingerbread taste but with a twist. I think all the kids liked this much better then original ginger bread recipe.

Temple Lights

We always love to go to the Mesa temple lights. The lights are so beautiful, plus you can listen to the story of Christ's birth while walking. They also have nativities from all around the world on display. This year they had all new nativities-some were pretty neat. Visiting the temple really helps bring the true meaning of Christmas home. This is definitely a tradition we will always keep up.

Tempe Boat Parade

We went to the tempe boat parade last year and we really thought it was different and fun. This year we decided to go with our friends-and we could not figure out where to park. We missed out on seeing Santa, but luckily we were able to see all the boats. Our favorites were the guy rowing the canoe and his manger scene, the grinch boat, and the cars boat. Next year we may skip the boat parade and go to the Phoenix light parade instead--we'll see.