Christmas Morning

Christmas morning was nice and relaxing.  The kids got up around 7 and we headed downstairs.  We were spoiled by Santa and grandparents.

I love Greydon's expression when he came down the stairs and saw all the gifts.  He was so excited and happy with anything he got.  

The kids were happy with everything they got and I think all their wishes were fulfilled!  Grey got a Batman house and rescue bot toys, Leila got a fake American Girl doll and Asher got lots of Elmo toys, Despicable Me 2 minions and a marble track.  I was happy to get a kindle, new steam mop, and printer and Paul has loved his blue tooth speaker.  We truly had a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed to have generous family members!  After all the present opening we had are traditional breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls.  Then we spent most of the day playing with new toys, watching movies and Face timing with family.  

Leila was spoiled with several Lego sets and 37 new chapter books,  everyone knows how much she loves to read so they spoiled her with books,  which I think is the best present!

Christmas Eve

We started out Christmas Eve by going out to breakfast and then stopped at a couple stores.

We really wanted to take the kids ice skating or sledding but it was so cold and windy, so we ended up having a pretty laid back day and evening.  Paul was thankfully off work the four days leading up to Christmas and Christmas day.  We watched some Christmas movies, had our traditional pizza, opened new pajamas, and put out cookies for Santa.  

Christmas Best

Oh man trying to get a picture of them all looking at the camera, eyes open and smiling is immpossible, this is the best we could do.  Merry Christmas!

Tis the Season

This Christmas Season seemed really short to me, partly because Thanksgiving was the last week this year and then we were in Utah.  Our Elf Eli made an appearance after we arrived home from Utah.  He arrived with a yummy breakfast for the family which is tradition for Eli.  Eli was a little lazy this year and mostly just moved around each night, the kids noticed there were not as many tricks from Eli this year, so I guess next year he will have to step up his game.  

We have an activity countdown calendar and the kids get to pick and activity out each day.  Some days were things like go get hot chocolate or make a craft or watch a Christmas movie.  The kids loved having something special to do each day even if it was a little thing.  

All the kids wrote letters to Santa.

We went sledding with our neighors even though there wasn't much snow.  Any time we got lots of snow the temperature would be around 0 degrees and by the time it was warm enough to be outside most of the snow would be gone.  The kids still had tons of fun.

We spend every Friday at the church for play group, I volunteer at the school in the morning while Austin's mom watches the boys then I pick up all the boys and head to playgroup while Austin's mom goes and volunteers, it works out really nice.  The boys love getting some of the energy out riding bikes and scooters in the gym.  And I love getting to visit with other moms.  

We always have to get a peppermint shake at chick fil a during the holiday season.  

We saw the lights at Jolly Holiday Lights

We went to a hockey game downtown and saw the Iowa Wild play.  They won in a shoot out, it was a really exciting game and the kids are dying to go to another.  

We made Christmas cookies with lots of frosting and sprinkles.  

Greydon at his school winter party.  He loved getting to make gingerbread houses.  

Leila had a fun week at school, she had a bunch of activities and several parties.  One day they got to wear their pajamas, bring blankets and snacks and then they made hot chocolate and got to watch Arthur Christmas.  She told me it was one of the best days at school.  She also had a winter party which I was there helping at but didn't take a single picture.  

We saw Santa and the kids told him their wishes for Christmas and a Santa picture wouldn't be complete without out me in it, our kids are all afraid of him.

That pretty much sums up our Christmas festivities, well at least the things I took pictures of, we did do more thinks but I can't remember everything especially if I don't have a picture to remind me.  

utah

Sometime in September we were looking at Paul's schedule and realized he had Thanksgiving and the whole weekend after off.  I suggested that Paul take the first week in December off because that would give him 11 days off (totally  unheard of in residency).  We both didn't think he would get it especially since there was other people that had requested some of those days off too.  By some miracle his request was approved and so we started talking about going to Utah.  Its really risky driving to Utah in the winter, the weather can cause lots of problems.  We decided to plan to go but not tell the kids in case the weather ruined our plans.  When we were about a week out we knew the drive would be OK but I decided to still keep it a secret from the kids.  Paul was working nights all of November so he had to work Wednesday night and our plan was for me to pick him up at the hospital on Thursday morning and we would start driving from there.  Trying to pack and get everything ready in secret is no easy task but it was so fun to wake the kids up Thursday morning and tell them to hurry and get in the car because we were going to Utah!!!  They were shocked and so excited!  The drive was pretty uneventful,  Paul drove a little at the beginning and then I took over so he could sleep.  Since we were traveling on Thanksgiving there was not much traffic,  we would go miles and miles without seeing another car or truck.  It was a little sad to not have a big Thanksgiving meal but we did stop at a Perkins and ordered Thanksgiving lunch there.  I was totally shocked at how delicious our meal was.  The wait for our food took forever but in the end it was totally worth it.

waiting for our lunch

Our time in Utah was pretty laid back, we just wanted to enjoy time with our families and the holiday season.  I really didn't take very many pictures because I was just trying to enjoy the moment.  But here are a few things from our trip.   

We got to spend some time in Midway with my family.  We watched movies, got in the hot tub, had a delicious dinner prepared by my mom, and celebrated my moms birthday. 

We went out to eat with Paul's dad and his family.  Asher especially loved the chocolate fountain.

We went to Temple Square

We made ornaments and played with cousins

The kids got haircuts

We went to the festival of trees

I got to meet up with some friends from Henderson who have all moved to Utah. Allyson always says this and I totally believe it, "Henderson is the best place to make friends."

We hung out with friends.  One night we hung out with Seth and Jenn and Colin and Kara and all our kids.  And then on another night we went out to eat with Seth and Jenn at the Red Iguana.  

We went to Classic skating

We did so many other things too, like going out to eat, watching football games, visiting with family, going to movies (Hunger games and Frozen), sewing Christmas presents, and making chocolates.  We had such a fun trip and many  tears were shed when it was time to leave.  How I love our adventures of living away from Utah but how I hate living away from family and friends.  

We ended up needing to leave early because of bad weather, we still had yucky weather but not as bad as it could have been.  We drove through the night on Saturday and arrived home Sunday morning.

This was in the middle of the night, in the middle of Nebraska during the snow storm.  We had some scary moments but made it home safe and sound.