It's Christmas Time Again.

I feel like I just posted about last year's Christmas adventure to Texas.  Now, here I am posting about our Christmas adventure to Southern Utah.  

Can time slow down a little bit?  Please?

No?  Well, I guess that is okay, but I really just would like a little bit of a breather now and then.

Let's begin with Christmas Sunday and the usual pictures of the kids in their new Christmas church clothes.

 I love these cute faces so much!  

 I am so lucky to be their mom.

The Sunday Christmas picture session would not be complete without a few blooper shots.

Here I am telling Abbie how to take a picture, and posing with my not-so-little-anymore crazy son.

And here is the best shot.  The one that just might make it on the Awkward Family Photos website someday.

Love.  This.  So.  Much.

After the picture shenanigans, (and I might mention here that there are no pictures of Mark because he is still Bishop and was hanging around at the church having meetings or something...) we got changed and ready to head over to Grandma and Grandpa Ogden's house for the annual Ogden Family Christmas Party and Nativity.

Another smashing success!  Unless you count the fact that the Baby Jesus (AKA Rudy) was not happy about being laid in a manger (AKA Rubbermaid container).  

"Unfit Mother!  Swaddle that baby!"

(That's a quote from Four Christmases.  One of my favorite Christmas movies.)

We had the cousin gift exchange and then Grandma brought out the kids' pajama gifts and the mayhem hit the roof.  The kids love their new Christmas jammies.

After we cleaned up all the wrapping and torn open boxes, I brought out my gifts for everyone- copies of my newly printed memoir.

It's hard to believe that I actually have copies to give to everyone.

I have dreamed for a couple of years now for the opportunity to surprise everyone with copies for Christmas and my dream actually came true this year.  

It was awesome.

As I mentioned earlier, we spent the Christmas holiday week down in Southern Utah.  Danette's family had traveled there from Texas, so we had the whole Fowlks Family crew together for the holiday.

It was loud, crazy, and a lot of fun.

We got to my parent's house on Monday the 21st.  The cousin's were there and Abbie, Logan, and Ellie decided to walk down to the park to play for a bit.  When they came back, Abbie was limping and said that she thought she might have broken her toe.  I guess she stepped off a ledge wrong and twisted her foot on the way down.  I found out later that she half crawled, half limped all the way home.  Poor girl!  I feel badly that I didn't send them with the extra cell phone so she could have called for a ride home!  Her foot looked a tiny bit swollen, but not too bad, so we iced it and wrapped it up in an Ace bandage.  Fortunately my mom has a pair of crutches so she was able to hobble around on those while we went to see some of the lights of St. George.

 St. George did not disappoint.

First we started off at the temple and loved walking around and feeling the spirit of the season there.  Then we headed over to the Town Square, which was beautiful as well.  Then we drove on to a couple of houses that won thousands of dollars in two different lighting contests this year.  Talk about overachievers.  These houses were ah-mazing.  Abbie was a trooper the whole night and did not start complaining about her foot until we were nearly done.  She decided that she was well enough to have a sleepover and we dropped her off at Brittany's house so that she and Logan could hang out.  Britt gave her some more ice and some pain medication and she did fine for the rest of the night.

The next day we went bowling at the Fiesta Fun Center and man, did we have a ton of fun.

I often complain a bit how I am never in any pictures because I am always the one behind the camera.  Well, on one of my turns, Mark decided to be helpful and take some pictures of me.

Umm, ya.  Maybe no pictures of me is the better way to go.

Thanks, honey.

While we were in St. George, we were blessed to see the red rocks of Southern Utah with a little dusting of snow and it made for some really breathtaking scenery.

We live in such a beautiful world.  I am constantly amazed by it.

The following night, we left all of the kids at Grandma's house in Emma and Abbie's capable hands and the adults had a nice dinner out at the Cliffside Restaurant.  

My dad had asked us to come prepared to share some of our favorite Christmas memories and we had a really wonderful night together.  I love my family and I am thankful that we were able to create this beautiful night together.  It was also nice to have Grandma Great with us.  Josh even accompanied her as her dinner date.

A little update on Abbie's foot.  

She was still hobbling around on it after a few days and I kept going back and forth- should I take her in for an x-ray or not?  Just when I would decide to take her in, she seemed to turn a corner and feel better.  We kept it wrapped and I encouraged her to stay off it as much as possible.

Finally, it was Christmas Eve.  We spent the day being lazy, watching the Christmas Story, making cookies, and playing games.  We had a delicious dinner and then some of the kids put on a Christmas show.  They did such a great job and it brought back so many memories of me and my sisters and cousins putting on our own Christmas shows.

After the show, the craziness level went up a few notches when we said it was time for the cousin gift exchange.  There was wrapping paper flying everywhere.

Josh was excited to get his "Chewie" onesie and we had to get a picture of him with his "Yoda" Grandma.  (My mom LOVES Yoda.)

We finally got the children calmed down enough to get ready for bed.  It is the one night of the year when there are no arguments about bed time.  It's very nice.

Christmas morning dawned...snowy!  We actually had a white Christmas in St. George!  That almost never happens.

Santa found us, even though we were away from home and he did not disappoint.  Abbie and Ellie received their "Reborn Baby Dolls", Josh received an electric shaver, and Emma was in clothing gift card heaven.

I had already given my family their copies of my book, which was the best Christmas gift for me.

The rest of Christmas day was once again, loud, crazy, and so much fun.  I did have to escape to my room for a little nap and to avoid getting a headache, but I loved being surrounded by my family.  There is nothing like it in the world.