Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! My parents (Grammy & Grampy) and my sister Natalie and brother Jon came Christmas Eve and slept over. Lori & Todd weren't here Christmas Eve because they just had a new baby! We started the evening with one of our Albuquerque Christmas traditions of lighting luminarias. For my neighbor gifts this year I gave a luminaria kit to each of the people on our street. It was really neat to see some of our neighbors put out the luminarias when it got dark on Christmas Eve.

This is the Luminaria kit I gave to our neighbors. It explains what Luminarias are and the meaning behind them.
For Christmas Eve dinner we had ham, potatoes, jello pretzel salad, green salad, a yummy drink, and pie. We talked about Christmas: Steve shared a story about Christ as the carpenter, my dad talked about the Savior's atonement and we watched "The Nativity" a five-minute video about Christ being born. I'm so thankful for Christ and the gift he gave to each one of us. My mom talked about how he is the "bread of life" and the manger is where the food is put to feed the animals and that is where Christ was born because he is the "bread of life" and he offers Himself to each one of us if we will each but accept Him.

After we put the kids to bed we played the board game "Ticket to Ride". With all but one of us playing the game for the first time, the game took way longer than we thought it would, but we had a lot of fun!

Christmas morning the presents were stacked high with presents from Santa and presents to and from Heidi, Steve, Kaitlyn, Michael, Natalie, Jon, Grammy, Grampy, Lori, Todd, Brooklyn, & Savannah. I think the top 10 memorable gifts of 2008 were as follows (in no particular order):

1. New flat screen TV & Blu-Ray for Heidi & Steve

2. Nauvoo book from Natalie to Mom and Dad (it brought tears)

3. Hale Center Theater tickets from Dad to all of us

4. Little Polly Pocket Dolls from Grammy to Kaitlyn (she played with them for hours)

5. Electric Blanket from Steve to Heidi

6. Painting of the pioneer trek from Sam/John to Mom & Dad (it brought more tears)

7. Guitar for Kaitlyn from Santa

8. Jewelry Box from Mom to Heidi

9. Blu-Ray movies to Steve (he was like a little school girl watching them)

10. "Mr. Fuzzy" from Jon to Natalie & Heidi (Jon totally got ripped off!)

Natalie & Mom both got MP3 players and Natalie got a new camera too! Jon got an i-pod dock. The kids got lots of toys (courtesy of going to the Grand-opening of D.I. and courtesy of a neighbor dejunking exchange!) We were really blessed this year! Lori & Todd made it over in time to talk on the phone to our brother, Michael, who is serving a mission in Argentina. It was great to hear how he was doing and to hear his voice! Less than a year left and he'll be back home for next Christmas!

Christmas night there was a crazy snow storm resulting in my parents sleeping over another night. We had our annual Christmas treasure hunt where my dad puts together rhyming clues to different places in and around the house. The final gift was tickets to the 2009 Hale Theater. We each get to go to 2 shows with mom & dad! The treasure hunt is one of my favorite traditions.

Michael's First Time Playing in the Snow!

With the snow coming down here in Utah, Steve took the kids outside to build a snowman. This was Michael's first time playing in the snow and he loved it! It was fun to see him waddling around in his snow clothes like a cute little round ball of joy!

Michael's First Hair Cut!

Michael had his first hair cut! The hair on the top of his head wasn't bad, but he was starting to look like he was sporting a mullet, and his hair was growing over his ears. I held his head while my mom got out the clippers and the scissors and went to work! He would actually hold really still as soon as the clippers touched his head. He has the softest red hair and now it looks great!

BEFORE... DURING...
AFTER...

Savannah!

I have a new niece! Her name is Savannah and she is a cutie!! She has black hair and she weighs 8 lbs. 6 oz. We went to see her at the hospital today and she seemed so tiny! I can't believe Kaitlyn was almost 3 pounds smaller than her when she was born. My sister Lori looked great too!

We had fun visiting, holding the baby, and Kaitlyn even got to swing!

Christmas at Preschool

We had a "Polar Express" day at preschool. All the kids wore their pj's and we drank hot chocolate and ate cookies. The kids thought our "train" was so much fun. They even pretended they were going uphill.

Our preschool Christmas party was a lot of fun! We played pin the nose on the reindeer, had a gift exchange, sang songs, and made chocolate trains. Kaitlyn got a cute little apron and chef's hat for her gift.

Found It!

While I was laying on the couch feeling sick today I was halfway between awake and asleep and I was kind of dreaming about this stack of cd's that i always have to move when I'm dusting on the shelf of my entertainment center. At that second I woke up, walked over to the shelf, moved the picture frame hiding the stack of cd's and yes--it was my Christmas music!! I was so excited I called Steve at work. I think I'll have to extend the Christmas music listening into January to make up for my lost time!

Sitting on Santa's Lap

Notice Kaitlyn looking admiring Santa from a distance in the bottom right hand corner...

We had our ward Christmas party breakfast this morning. Santa came and Kaitlyn loved watching from a distance but absolutely did not want to sit on his lap! After all the other kids in the ward took their turn on Santa's lap I drug Kate up there with Michael and we got our picture taken. Michael was all smiles but Kaitlyn sat on my knee close to Santa.