Christmas Catch-up

We have had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It's been so busy though. I've taken tons of pictures but haven't had time to post them, so I thought some catch-up time would be fun.

I spent Wednesday baking and cooking and getting everything ready for our Christmas Eve dinner and for Christmas Day. Kevin requested that I make fudge since it's one of his favorites...Tyson loved licking the bowl, so it must be one of his favorites too.
I caught this picture too late. Tyson had the bowl on his head and he was licking out the bottom. Yum!

Our good friends the Clows came to have dinner with us. We enjoyed BBQ chicken and ribs with all of the fixings. It was so good and we had a lot of fun visiting. Below is Shelli, Chris, Andrew and Sam. Chris and Andrew had to leave after dinner, so Shelli made them sing for their food. To anyone that ever feels the need to invite these boys to sing...don't. I thought Shelli was kidding when she told me they were monotone AND tone deaf. I'm pretty sure that I've never heard Christmas songs sung that way.

Shelli's husband Craig and daughter Hannah helped Kevin and Annie set out some of the food...I could only catch Kevin's backside, but since it's one of my favorite views, I was ok with that. :)

After dinner we went outside around the fire pit and sang Christmas songs and read the nativity story as well as some other Christmas stories. It was a beautiful night and so special.

We had arranged for a little surprise...a "special guest" to come Christmas Eve. The only thing we told the kids is that they loved him and that he was going to live with us. He finally he came and the kids loved their surprise of my sister's dog Tiger for our family. The kids were extremely excited. They have wanted a dog for so long and they love Tiger. Apparently, they also love Tiger's cage. This is my kind of house...kids under control. :)

Troy was thrilled when he found out Tiger was coming to live with us. He and Tiger have already become good friends and the other kids are fighting over who gets to pick up the poop. (I'm sure this will change with time though)

Fast forward to Christmas morning. We have a rule that they can't wake us up until 7, but they overslept, so we got to sleep in until 7:26 (I know the exact time because Annie came running into our room yelling, "It's 7:26...you guys have to get up!) Tyson was so cranky and it was hard to get him into fun mode, but he caught on pretty quickly.

Annie love every gift she got, but she really loved this High School Musical music player from Aunt Julie and Uncle Brian. She's been singing and dancing to it non stop.

A very special friend bought this bike for Taylor and he was so excited because it's big enough for him...his other was so small. Taylor was a little upset that the rain stopped him from trying it out on Christmas day, but we've promised him a spin around the block a little later.

Uncle Brian and Aunt Julie hit the nail on the head with each of our kids. Troy got another sword from Eragon and was so excited. He knows everything about this sword and has been scouting out places to display it. I think he finally decided that he needs to build a special shelf for it.

After gifts and breakfast, we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a visit, snacks and movie watching.

Taylor had quite the adventure at Grandpa's house. He was trying to love on Aunt Darbi's big dog Ardie and unfortunately invaded his personal space. The next thing we new, Ardie got really upset and went after Taylor. Luckily Darbi and her husband Nate were very quick and separated them. Nate took the dog to the back bedroom and Darbi and I worked on Taylor's head. He has some minor scratches on the side where the teeth rubbed and a puncture mark at the bottom of his head from a tooth. Annie freaked out and both she and Taylor were crying. The blood terrified him, but thankfully it wasn't serious and we got it stopped and it's healing just fine.

After a nice visit we headed back home and spent the rest of the day together as a family and with Tiger playing, eating, and watching movies. I really enjoyed the day and was so sorry for it to end.

Ok, jump ahead to the day after Christmas. Each of the kids got some Christmas money and it was burning holes in their little pockets so we braved the stores for the sales and shopping on Friday. Tyson used his money to buy this "laser" gun and some big boy underwear for himself. He was so proud when we tried on his new chonies (as Aunt Karalee calls them) and he threw a huge fit when we took them off and put his diaper back on. The only way to calm him down was to put them back on over his jammies. He was still a little upset at me so he decided I needed to learn a lesson at laser point. I just have to laugh at this picture. Kevin tells me that Tyson will hate this picture forever and that eventually I'll be in big trouble for publishing it, but I couldn't help myself. It's a classic. :)

Last night we had the chance to go to an After the Holiday Holiday party. Noah and Rebecca always do something fun and we had a great time visiting and laughing and just relaxing with good friends.

So now we are to today. We had a brilliant idea to go to the grand opening of the new Light Rail system. Holy Cow you should have seen the crowds! We were packed like sardines into the cars, but boy was it fun. They glide so smoothly on the tracks and you can get places in hardly any time at all. Tyson loved the ride and watching the train go by. Here, he is a little upset that we were getting off to see something at one of the stops.

A view of the train from the platform. They are so nice.

During the ride. There was no place to sit, so Troy, Kevin, Tyson and my mom and dad and I had to stand. The train takes off pretty fast so you had better hold on, or you are going down!Annie and Taylor had a blast riding the train. Their favorite part was when we went on the bridge and crossed over Tempe Town Lake.

At the end of the day, we were so tired and so hungry and our arms hurt from carrying Tyson, but it was a great day and lots of fun and now the kids can say that they rode the Light Rail train on the first day.

Well, we are caught up. I hope everyone had as good of a Christmas as we did. I also hope that I can remember what we did this year that was different and really set the mood for the season. I have always enjoyed Christmas, but this year has been my favorite. I don't know if it was the spiritual start to it by attending the First Presidency Christmas program or the live nativity, or if we just didn't stress as much. Whatever it was, it was worth it and I hope we can duplicate it next year.

Merry Christmas everyone and to all our friends and family...we love you! :)