Wonderful Christmas 2008

I am way behind, I spent Christmas Eve & most of Christmas day pretty sick (& still not feeling all that great), but I am thankful that Dave was able to be home to make it wonderful for the kids.... I do want to post a few pictures & recap our week/weekend.

Christmas Eve the kids had fun playing, sledding, etc. Today along with several other times this week we have taken time out together to watch Grandpa Young's DVD (& cry) as this was his favorite time of year & we miss him so much! It has been a hard one & we all knew how much he loved Christmas eve! He has been greatly missed this Christmas!! Today Dave was brave & went out in the cold & made his visit down to Grandpa's memorial bench. Something he hasn't been able to do yet, but finally was able to take the step & make the visit!!

Dave made baked potatoes for dinner as we wanted to do something easy & we had tons of potatoes to use up, so luckily I had done all our last minute shopping & groceries the day before!! It was just perfect!

Then as it got dark we read the Christmas story in the scriptures & talked about our Savior & once again what Christmas is all about!! (I was so proud that all the stories & things I have been teaching the kids & talking to them about this month. They actually learned something & they each told Dave all they knew about what Christmas is really about!) We sang some of our favorite Christmas songs & opened our traditional Christmas gift & the kids got their Pjs on for the night... Then Dave told the kids to get their pillows & blankets & we all laid in the family room & watched a Christmas movie & the kids chose Home alone!! (As I think they have watched all the other movies we already have.)

So before we went to bed... we had been tracking Santa & the kids were so excited!! I mentioned to Dave - I better go check Garrett's alarm, as I am pretty sure the others will sleep at least till the sun comes up... (Waking up REALLY Early drives me crazy... even on Christmas! I grew up where we woke up no earlier than 9am.. sometimes even 11am. Dave's family had the rule that they couldn't open gifts no earlier than like 5am... UGH!!) So we have tried to compromize & I think a couple years ago we let the kids get up at 6am & the rest of the day was ruined so I swore we would never do that again!! So low & behold Garrett's alarm was set for 1am, 3 am & 5 am.... I checked it at 12:20 am... so I was lucky enough to turn them all OFF!! BUT THAT didn't matter.. Garrett still woke up at 3am & then chose to go wake up all the others!!! (UGH!!) Dave & I weren't ready to get up!! (Laughing!) So Dave told them to either sit & wait or go back to bed... but we kept hearing the packages rattling -then we heard paper getting ripped... to our dismay Tyler tells us that Garrett said it was o.k. if we open our stocking stuff (NO!!) So WE did make them wait till 5 am!! I knew they were going to be a wreck!! But they loved opening their presents & giving gifts to each other!! It was fun to watch them be so excited!

We got some awesome cinnamon rolls from a great friend of ours & that made for the best breakfast (as I still wasn't up to moving very quickly!) So after that the kids played for quite a while with their toys. Dave went back to bed, I prepared a turkey so we could have something to pick at for the rest of the day - then I helped Brady build a track for his trains & then each of the kids played along... after a couple hours I had to go lay down again, then a little while later into the day the 2 younger ones had to lay down too!! (Madison could have slept the rest of the day!)

Mid-day - Dave got a call & took Ty with him to go Rescue a family from our ward whom their vehicle broke down on the interstate - then the boys spent some time outside sledding & having fun!! (I don't know what was wrong with me... but I still spent more time down in bed, but about 3pm I started feeling a bit better & was able to get some presents finished I was making for neices & newphews for our family Christmas party.) It was a great day though & the kids really had a fun time. It was so fun watching their faces & seeing how happy they were & how excited they were to see each other open the gifts they had bought for them & wrapped & kept secret!!

Here is Madison with a Huge coloring pad she got for Christmas &
I think it is almost completed - as she LOVES to color!!

Here is Tyler in his new Robe & opening a HUGE suprise to him!!
(Dave waiting patiently on the couce for his turn to open a gift!)

Here is Garrett with one of his Gifts. A Knex model you can make in several different ways & it came with motors... he loves to take things apart, build them, make them move... so this should be great for his desires... but now he doesn't have to take apart the kids' toys to do it!!

Here is Brady with his Train set & all his new Engines/cars playing trains... he is in love!! I am no engineer & not all the tracks connected - but we had fun putting it together & playing!

On Friday we ran over to Evanston to see my family who was starting to gather for our annual Family Christmas party. The older boys had much fun in the freezing cold sledding again & 4wheeling. The rest of us stayed inside playing games, watching tv, eating, & resting. Brady & Madison had a sleepover at Grandma & Grandpa's. Saturday we woke & started partying that afternoon!! Thanks to Josh, Tammy, Shelby & Chad who planned it (It was a wondeful break & made my Christmas a lot less stressful) Thank-you all so much!! We had a great time & the food was wonderful!! Here is a slide show of the pictures I got & some (appropriate) that others took with my camera too!! (Thanks boys!) Enjoy: