Christmas recap

Christmas was incredible! We crammed in as much Christmas activities as we could here in Idaho before we went to California on the 16th. The drive down to Cali was pretty awful weather wise, but our kids were the ultimate champs and were great in being stuck in the car for 16 hours (we only had to turn on 1.5 movies, too!) Once we got to my parents house, we shucked off our winter coats and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Riley thought it warm enough to go swimming. It was nice, but not that nice out.

There was some pretty intense games that went on.

Dad got a Wii, so pretty much a lot of time was spent playing each other bowling, tennis, golf, mario kart, and other games. (We also did some real bowling, which I am MUCH better at on the Wii! But Riley got a turkey - 3 strikes in a row, very impressive.)

The kids loved playing with each other, dancing, running around outside, having wrapping paper tube fights, reading books, playing with the dogs, making cookies, and all that other fun kid Christmas stuff. It really was fun to see them all play so well with each other. I really wish that Jaxon and Sami could be closer to all of their cousins.

Santa scored big this year, as the kids were feeling extra generous and gave him not only cookies, but cheese, a ham sandwich, and pictures and notes from everyone. Santa was grateful to say the least and left a load of goodies for everyone.

Christmas morning was great, Jaxon and Sami were so excited to see that Santa had come to leave them presents. There's nothing better than seeing an excited child's face with the Christmas lights shining in their eyes!We came back home on the Sunday after Christmas and found that our awesome neighbors had plowed our driveway because, as they put it, we "missed the storm of the century". There was a ton of snow, and it really was nice to not be snowed out of our house when we came back! That Monday night we had our own little family Christmas where the kids opened even more loot. After each present Jaxon would proclaim, "Just what I always wanted!" It really was a lot of fun, and they did the traditional toy swap where all they wanted to play with was the toys that the other sibling got.

On New Years Eve we had the Hall party. Kevin and Kelsi and gang came up from Utah and we had a bunch of food to eat, opened some more presents, watched the kids chase each other around and played a bunch of games. Rick and Barbara gave all the grand kids matching hoodies with their names on them. They are so fun! Jaxon loves his to say the least. All of his clothes are folded up in a dresser, but his sweater he must hang up if he's not wearing it. So his closet is full of toys and one hoodie hanging up.

So all in all, everything was perfect. I just love being around all of my family. They aren't just people that I HAVE to be around, they are all awesome and totally people that I would choose first to be with. Thanks for making our Christmas and New Year the greatest ever!