crazy week

Does anyone else find this time of year to be stressful? I sure do! From all the parties, cooking, christmas, new years, and holiday visitors, I get a little frazzled at times. But now that it's new years eve, the craziness is nearly over and we can all get back on track.

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas, which we were in desperate need of. We had three pretty miserable Christmases in a row (especially last year) and we were really due for a good one. It was our first year of really being on our own for the festivities and we enjoyed it (although, we missed seeing family and getting to go to temple square in SLC with the Bollwinkels). It was also Ivy's first real experience with the holiday since last year she was still stuck at PCMC. We stayed home Christmas eve and did all the traditional stuff. We opened jammies and books, read our books, and then read the real Christmas story right out of the bible and talked about why we really celebrate Christmas (I was very pleased to discover that Corbin already has the basics down, I guess I'm doing something right, eh!). We also tracked Santa Claus all night via google earth (thanks ted for telling us about it), and Corbin loved knowing where he was at all times, making sure he was asleep by the time Santa was by the local grocery store down the street. Why the grocery store you ask, beats the heck out of me, that's just what he kept asking, "Is santa by Paul's yet?"

Christmas morning came and we videotaped the kids coming down the stairs and seeing the glorious bounty that is christmas morning, only for Dex to erase the video just a few short hours later. Despite that small disappointment, it was so fun and the kids made out like bandits! We even had a few secret santa gifts, which came from someone in our ward I'm assuming (Nicole Fenn, I'm looking in your direction!) So thanks to whoever sent those. Shawn and Shelley showed up later in the day to have dinner and help test out the wii that santa brought, and we enjoyed visiting with them. I'm so glad that we were able to celebrate as a family this year, and that we can experience the blessings from our savior not just on Christmas day, but every day.

Anyway, just two days later, Scott's parents came into town for a while. They stayed with us for a few days, and are now with Russell's family for a few days. We always love having them come, because they are so helpful and fun. Marde took the kids to the park two days in a row, in the freezing cold. I think she's crazy, but she is just a go-getter! She also taught them how to make play-dough and played with it for hours with them. Both Marde and Ross are always willing to watch our kids so we can have a rare night out away from them and that is GREAT! We were also able to have a big unplanned, unexpected party the day they came in, by having them, Shawn and Shelley, Shelly's brother and his family, and Russell, Collette, and their kids all come over and hang out. We had a total of 18 people in our house at the same time, the most ever. There was lots of good food, fun conversations, and all the kids had a blast together.

Anyway, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all that other stuff!

Opening the first gifts of the season

showing off their jammies

tearing into the books

Dex enjoying his book (while looking just a tad creepy)

Reading their Christmas books with Daddy

Twas the night before Christmas!

I think she likes it!

Corbin explaining to Dex what exactly this toy does

Corbin showing off his stack of stuff

I swear he liked his stuff, he's just a little grumpy

Ivy's haul

Family and Scott's and my gifts

trying out the Wii

Sportin' my new apron

Play-dough time with Grandma Marde