The Christmas Extravaganza!

Wow! Christmas flew by so quickly! We have always gone to Tri-Cities to be with our families for the holiday, and this year was no different. We began celebrating on the 23rd. Instead of taking all of our presents down to the Tri-Cities, we have our own little Christmas before we leave...which we all love doing. This is where we do some of our own traditions and read from Luke about Christ's birth. The kids are getting old enough to really understand the deeper meaning to Christmas and this year was much more meaningful and we could really feel the Spirit. After we did our reading and activities, we began the task of opening presents! The kid's had so much fun opening and playing with their presents before we left for Tri-Cities.

This is all Tyler ever wants!

Jamen with his new beanbag

Kyle has an obsession with gum!...now he doesn't have to steal other peoples.

Hugs from the kids are the best!

American Girl...what more can we say?!

Christmas Eve morning, we packed up the van and headed down to Tri-Cities to spend the day with the Hollands. We had a great time seeing everyone and playing with cousins. Chris' brother, David, came up from CA. It was good to see him and let the kids hang all over him....sorry David. Chris' mom made a yummy Christmas Eve dinner which everyone gobbled down quickly so that they could get to the big job of opening presents. The kids pretty much tore into the presents with no order what so ever and had a blast doing so.

Kaitlyn loves her Uncle David. She likes to sit on his lap every year while opening presents. We have a picture of each year, so this is the 2007 picture. I don't know how much longer she will be able to do this...she barely fits!

Tyler with his cousin Tanner

After the kids were fully exhausted from their day with Grandpa and Grandma Holland, cousins, uncles and Aunt Laura, it was off to Grandpa and Grandma Wilson's house. We have a tradition that we do Christmas Eve. We started this with our kids years ago and my family has loved it and looks forward to each year with the kids. We prepare food for Santa's reindeer and sprinkle it outside. Kyle loved it so much! He was into sprinkling the oat mixture so much that there was barely any left for the other kids. Unfortunately, my pictures did not turn out so you will just have to imagine the glitter and oats flying everywhere. After sprinkling the reindeer food, the kids got in their pj's and cuddled up to watch Christmas movies all night. The kids had a goal to stay up all night...ya right! They were all out by midnight...yippee for us! This means we could get some sleep. Christmas morning came nice and early...thanks Elise! Even though the kids had been opening presents for two days now, they were still going strong. They ripped those presents open like crazy people! They had a great morning!

Kyle's hungry...wait, when isn't he?!

More weapons for Tyler!

Kaitlyn sporting her new Hannah Montana pajamas

Kyle loves to dress up !

Kyle the Power Ranger!

The kids favorite gift...the Wii! They were completely surprised!!!

On December 26th, my little brother Michael was ordained an Elder. It was neat to be able to be there with him for this occasion. We are proud of you Mike...we will miss you so much while you are gone!

Dad, Mike and Chris


Josh and Mike

Then, if we hadn't had a full enough week, everyone, except my sister Kaylene and her family, packed up and came to our house to go skiing the next morning at Schweitzer. The skiing was fantastic. It was beautiful weather, great snow and just a fun time all together. It was the perfect way to end the holidays! Jamen, Kaitlyn and Tyler snowboarded for the first time and did exceptionally well. I was amazed at how quickly they caught on and were flying down the mountain (sometimes to my horror!) ! They loved it so much, they are counting down the days until we can go again. FUN! FUN! FUN! We love skiing.