Christmas 2013

Another Christmas come and gone.  

I can't believe how fast time flies by these days.

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  Lots of time spent with family laughing, loving, and just being together.  It has been awesome.

Here are the kids after church on Christmas Sunday.

My little munchkins are not so little anymore. :(

That night we had an early Christmas party with Mark's family.  The cousins all draw names and exchange gifts.  I think Ellie gave Jake the best gift of all.  :)

On Christmas Eve, we continued with our tradition of going to the zoo.  We didn't make it last year because there was a terrible snow storm that day.  But this year the weather was beautiful and we had a fun time together sipping our hot cocoa and looking at all the animals.  We even ran into the Grinch, and the girls painted some windows so the seals could have something fun to look at.

After we warmed up a bit back at home, the girls put on a Christmas Eve show.  They have been preparing for weeks now and were so excited.  Even Bailey was enchanted by their beautiful dancing.  ;)

 That night we ended up back at the Ogden's for dinner and the annual nativity.  We were short a few cousins, but the show must go on!  Super cute kids.  Love them to pieces.

When we got back home, Mark finished reading "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever".  Another tradition that we love.  We read some scriptures and talked about what happened in the Americas when Christ was born.  (You can find that story here.)  Then we sent the kids to bed, finished up a few things, and headed to bed ourselves.  We were up bright and early on Christmas Day, excitement permeating the air.  After everyone brushed their teeth, they were finally able to go and open presents.

Mark was even able to surprise me this year, which is a hard thing to do considering I send him an email every year with my list or put things on our Amazon Wish List.  He is not a shopper.  But, sometimes he has a surprise up his sleeve.  This year, he shocked us all when he pulled out a new desktop computer.  Merry Christmas to us!  I am so excited.  Everyone got something that they were instantly in love with, even Bailey.  She couldn't decide which ball she liked better- the orange or the blue.  She was in heaven.

After we opened all the gifts and cleaned up our mess a bit, we packed our van and headed 4 hours South to be with my family.  My sister, Danette, and her family were able to drive to my parents house from Texas so we are all able to be together this year and it has been so...much...fun.  I have been snuggling with the newest addition to her family, baby Eli.  I love being an aunt.  It makes me super excited to be a grandma someday.

We had another cousin gift exchange and there was lots and lots of screaming, laughing, playing, and eating.  And the party is still going on so I will have more pictures to post next week.

I am so thankful to be a part of two wonderful families.  Family is central to God's plan for us and I am so grateful for the time that I have been blessed with to spend more time with my families here on this earth.  I am one of the lucky ones who have really been given a second chance at life.  My families are THE most important things in my life and I love them so much.