Christmas Stuff

Ok, its almost February so I'll go ahead and post our Christmas stuff. This is my journal, after all, so I need to get caught up.

Christmas morning dawned early and amazingly, the kids had no trouble waking up at the crack of dawn! Garrett had his alarm set and had already been up and 2:00 am asking me if we could get up yet. No way! 6 am is as early as it gets. Blake had woken up just before then so he was awake and fed and ready to open presents!

We had a great Christmas this year. A little lower key than prior years but that is just fine by me. I didn't wrap Blaine's big present because it was so BIG. Here he is waiting for me to drop it in his lap. It was a sleeping bag that goes to -35 degrees. He is in scouts and I guess he is tired of getting cold on their winter camp outs. He hasn't had a chance to use it yet but my friend's hubby has the same one and it keeps him nice and toasty.

Blake wasn't quite sure what to think of everything. He just wanted to eat the paper. He loved his musical toy though. Here he is...5 months old! Growing so fast and so darn cute. And mellow!

Garrett was very happy with his gifts. He got a radio controlled helicopter and a spy gear watch. He was stoked. He has become an excellent helicopter driver, although has learned his lesson about flying it outside, especially if any bit of wind is blowing. Two days after Christmas, Blaine was at work and Garrett took the helicopter outside. Soon he is back in telling me the helicopter is on the roof and he can't get it to fly down. Great. So, we haul out the ladder and I made him climb up there and get it. Glad the pitch of our roof isn't very steep and it was real close to the edge. No more outdoor flying when dad isn't here.

Ryan got a Chuck Truck and was very happy about it, although his favorite present I don't seem to have a picture of. Its Cranky the Crane. If you know anything about Ryan, its that he loves Thomas the Train and all things Thomas. Garrett loved it too at Ryan's age and so we have LOTS of trains. Now we have Cranky too. That's pretty much the first thing Ryan will tell you. "I got Cranky from Santa for Christmas."

Hannah loves all things princess and was very excited about her Magic Rise Oven. Me too. No mixes or mess. Among other things, she got a new comforter and sheets for her room. Much more girly now.

Here is her pretty new bed along with her La La Loopsy doll.

No Christmas morning pictures of me. Way too scary! Here I am the next day, getting ready to go to my parents for Christmas dinner. I made the rolls. They were awesome and my brothers were impressed (I think) that I made them from scratch. I used this recipe. They really are good and worth the effort (not much).

Christmas morning we went to my parent's ward and listened to the choir sing. It was kind of a sing-a-long with the congregation at times and my kids were so good. They sat still, sang the songs and were just little angels. In the car on the way home I asked them why they were so good at Grandma and Grandpa's church and not ours and Garrett's answer was "Our church is boring. All they do is talk. Here we get to sing songs and they read us the Christmas story out of the Bible like we did last night. It was awesome!"

We weren't able to get to Burley until into January but we had a great time there too! Overall we had a wonderful Christmas and are so blessed to have all of our loved ones around us!