Christmas

Dead Luminaries!

Kid's in their new pj's!

Ammon working on his puzzle from Lily.

Anna getting her doll from Lily.

Lily made daddy bookmarks.

Ammon made dad a can to put on his desk at work to hold his pens and pencils.

So much snow!

This is what we drove through! Yikes!

We had a great Christmas! It is so fun to watch the kids get so excited. Thankfully they didn't wake up early because we were up late putting Lily's present together. They were excited about the little things in their stockings as well as their presents from Santa. I loved the gifts they gave each other. Ammon made Lily a bracelet and necklace and gave Anna two of his toys, a train and a truck. Lily made Ammon a puzzle and gave Anna one of her dolls. It was awesome to see the kids think of what they wanted to give each other. Kids are great! Lily painted a picture of her and Ammon playing in the snow on a thin piece of wood and Adam helped her cut it into pieces. It turned out great! Anna had a blast opening presents and wanted more after we were finished. She thought it was so fun tearing the paper. Babies are so fun with wrapping paper! Santa gave Ammon a BB Gun with the soft air pellets, Lily got a kitchen and Anna got a bike/rocker. Santa also visited me, surprise! He wasn't supposed to come for me and Adam. I got spoiled! I got some awesome new running clothes, sheets, a towel and a HUGE jar of chocolate covered raisins! Santa is always so nice to me. Adam always gets me to agree that we will only get things for the kids and not each other and then he never sticks to it. I get spoiled and he gets slim pickings, this year, a box of orange sticks and a can of mandarin oranges. Next year...!

The kids also got gifts from all their grandparents, can we say spoiled?! They are so lucky to have such awesome grandparents! They help make Christmas so much fun! Lily got some pet shop animals and I think it may have been her favorite gift! Grandma Christy also provided them with their new pj's, which they all love! Who doesn't love opening a new pair of pj's on Christmas Eve? Lily got a night gown with Ariel on it and she absolutely loves it! Ammon wanted to wear one of daddy's shirts to bed with his new fleece bottoms. He looked so cute! Do you remember wearing your parents clothes and feeling so special? I used to love to do that!

Well after presents we had waffles with pear syrup, orange juice and Ammon's favorite, sausage for breakfast. It was yummy.

We also had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve and that was tasty as well. After we went out in to the cold to set up our luminaries. The kids were so helpful, even Anna, and they all had fun. The disappointing thing is they didn't stay lit. Don't buy tea light candles form Wal-Mart! They didn't work. All that work setting them and freezing and they didn't even glow! So sad! At least we did have fun doing it though!

We got everything ready and hit the road to head to Grandma Margie's for the rest of the weekend. We stopped in the mountains to play in the snow. It took us a while to find a nice spot, but when we did it was great. I love being in the mountains with tons of snow and especially while it snowing! It was beautiful and the kids had a great time. They were like puppies in the snow. They were jumping and rolling all over the blast and thought it was so cool, and so did I! I will admit that driving over the Sierra's in the snow is really scary to me, but it sure is beautiful! Thank goodness for a truck with 4-wheel drive! The drive was slow and thankfully uneventful.

We met up with the Peterson's at Margie's for Christmas dinner and visited with them that night. They left early the next day to go to Salt Lake and we are enjoying the beautiful Sacramento weather here! It is so pretty here in the winter! Everything is green and gorgeous. I do love the snow though! I am glad we have some in Reno. I wish we would get more, but what we have is great. We love the weather.

All in all it was a great Christmas! I feel so blessed to have everything that I do. The Lord has provided so much for me. i am so thankful for my kids and for Adam. What is more special than family? I couldn't ask for anything more. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas as well!