christmas

We had a great christmas this year. It was really low key and it was nice to just be lazy. The kids slept in until 8:30am and then it took us 2 hours to open up all the presents. Our kids love to take their time and examine each thing they got, open it up and mosey on through them one at a time. It doesn't get better than that for us parents. I remember getting up at 2 or 3 in the morning because I would be so excited that I couldn't sleep. My parents would tell us to go back to bed.
We also had a very nice christmas eve. We cooked our ham dinner, looked at christmas lights and listened to christmas carols. We even found a neighborhood that does the story of jesus birth. The kids loved that and wanted to do it twice. We also came across a house that was totally decked out and in the front it said to tune into 92.5 so we flipped the radio to that station. In this yard they were projecting "It's a Wonderful Life" and the audio was on the radio station. That was interesting to say the least.
Here are some pictures of our christmas. The first two are of the kids getting downstairs thinking their santa presents were under the tree. Then of them spotting them on the couch. Thanks to both our moms and dads for the kids presents also to their many aunts and uncles. We love you all!!!

they would open their presents together. sooooo cute!

brex attacking his santa presents

showing off christmas goodies!

look at how happy they are awwww!

brex on his bullseye rocking horse!

grandma j's marshmellow treats

i'm making it a tradition to make my grandma jones marshmellow treats every christmas. the kids and i had a blast this year making them. they were so excited to help and by the end we were all on a sugar buzz.

here is brex sticking his tongue out.

trey and elle helping make the treats

i think he's up to something, what do you think?

christmas festivities

today was the day for christmas fun! elle had her school program and trey had his class party. elle did fantastic on her part and sang so pretty, she also got to sit on santa's lap!! trey built a christmas tree and made an elf. i was so excited that i got to participate in both of their activities. we weren't sure that i would be able to make it to both of them because of work and because elle's started at 8:30am and trey's started at 9:45am. the problem being that they are across town from each other. i got to trey's a little after 10 and i got the biggest smile from him as he spotted me. he told me when we were driving home, "mommy i was so excited to see you today. i've never had you come to class before, it made me happy!!!" awwwww but holy guilt trip. i love my kids so much and am so proud of them! they are growing up so fast and it's days like today that i wish i could freeze time.

trey listening to a story and building his christmas tree

elle's class program and of course santa's lap!

elle with 2 of her bff's sydney on the end and eliana in the blue!

hot chocolate

I love this stuff right here!!!!

and this movie right here!!!
it's become a family favorite

christmas tree

our christmas tree is finally up. every year we get a REAL christmas tree so we like to wait to put it up so it lasts til christmas day. it smells soooo good and cale has convinced the kids that it's better to have a real christmas tree than a fake one. (i will admit i like the real ones better too.) the kids were such big helpers decorating it and trey informed me yesterday that we forgot to put candy canes on the tree. oops!

the kids standing in front of the tree before it was decorated

our little reindeer

santa hats and reindeer ears

decorating

the kids in front of the christmas tree.

gingerbread train

December has been full of fun so far. Here is our gingerbread train that the kids and I made. We also went to Cedar City to watch uncle Brandon and aunt Paula swim at a swim meet. They got to have a small snowball fight too while we were up there. We have made our countdown to christmas chains, drank loads of hot chocolate and we are gearing up to get our real christmas tree. i just love christmas time!

date night!

date night was tonight but it wasn't cale and i going out. we had date night with our kids! i took elle to see the movie tangled. i loved it, and elle did too until he cut her hair.(sorry if i spoiled anything for you.) she was not happy and unlike uncle brandon did not like rapunzels new hair do. :)

cale and trey on the other hand went to go see megamind. they both had fun and trey keeps repeating the ending where he says "now gimme your wallet." it was nice to have some one on one time with the kids and i'm thinkin' we could make this a monthly thing.