Baking Christmas sugar cookies with Grandma Oldham
We spent half of the trip and Christmas morning at the Johnsons, and the rest of Christmas and the other half of the trip at the Oldhams. Here is Christmas at the Oldhams. The kids are opening their new bikes from G&G!
A Rapunzel bike,
and a "Cars" bike
and they look so cute in their helmets!
And of course plenty of snow play
Grandpa got a workout, and to thank him for pulling her around in the sled all day, Brynn used Grandpa as target practice for her newly acquired snowball-throwing skills.
And here is the "Shepherd Party" that G&G Johnson gave the kids.
Here they are, "shearing the sheep."
And listening to Grandpa talk about shepherds...
and loving every minute of it!
Pinning the bell on the sheep
and a few other shepherd games.
But of course, the evening wouldn't be complete without Shepherd's Pie and...riding around the house like total MANIACS on the bumblebees and ladybugs!
They babies of the families. I hope they will be as close as their older cousins.
Here was the traditional Christmas Eve Nativity reenactment. Definitely our least reverent year. :) Kids are hilarious, you can never expect what they are going to do next. So if you give them a costume and ask them to act, they get creative and come up with acting choices the adults might not have thought of.
For instance, Brynn not only loves princesses, she actually believes she is one. So here is Brynn taking her part very seriously, and possibly believing that she is Mary.
For instance, Brynn not only loves princesses, she actually believes she is one. So here is Brynn taking her part very seriously, and possibly believing that she is Mary.Daddy as the donkey (and yes, I refrained - no donkey jokes).
The rest of the cast. And don't judge us too harshly for having Buzz in the manger - we were with a whole house full of boys and not a single baby doll to be found!
The wise man had some problems with his costume
CHRISTMAS MORNING!!
and the Leapster.
And Santa heard about Bryce's new absolute ADORATION of trains.
Kelly and Christy were hospitable as always and invited us to share Christmas morning with them. I was so glad we did! The only excitement that beats "a kid on Christmas morning" is "a kid with her cousins on Christmas morning." Chaotic as it was, it was so. much. fun. Thanks for letting us crash your Christmas, Johnsons!
Kelly and Christy and fam.
The rest of the cast. And don't judge us too harshly for having Buzz in the manger - we were with a whole house full of boys and not a single baby doll to be found! The wise man had some problems with his costume
CHRISTMAS MORNING!!
Brynn's two much much much MUCH requested items, the "Woody Couch"
and the Leapster.
And Santa heard about Bryce's new absolute ADORATION of trains.
Kelly and Christy were hospitable as always and invited us to share Christmas morning with them. I was so glad we did! The only excitement that beats "a kid on Christmas morning" is "a kid with her cousins on Christmas morning." Chaotic as it was, it was so. much. fun. Thanks for letting us crash your Christmas, Johnsons!5 kids (ages 4 and under) + Christmas morning = 1 FULL living room!
We finally went to see the lights at temple square. Every year I say I'm going to, and every year we don't want to brave the blizzard and drive up to Salt Lake. But one night the weather was perfect. I was a little worried about being a wimp outside all night, now that I have acclimated to Arizona and get to see the AZ temple lights with temps in the 60s. Every year the first time we stop for gas in Utah, I step out of the car and shiver so hard I look like I am convulsing. But after a day or two in Utah, I remember that you just put on your coats and gloves and go out anyway, and it's JUST FINE.
I get homesick for the following things:
1. My family
2. Temple Square
So this was a wonderful night.
Kelly and Christy and fam.
Brynn is SOUND asleep in the back of the stroller. We tried everything to wake her up, but after a few days of sleeping in the same room as her cousins, I guess the sleep deprivation was getting to her.
On the walk from the conference center to the temple we were saying, "Brynn, look at the temple, look at the lights!" And we couldn't ever get her to look up. Finally, right as we were getting to the temple we saw a horse & buggy, and the words "royal horse and princess carriage" did the trick and she popped right up.
Stroller patrol!
Stroller patrol!
Unfortunately, my amateur camera and photography skills weren't able to capture the beauty of the night. At the end of the night it started to snow gently, and I forgot how much I love to be out in the snow on peaceful nights. But on the drive home, the snow started getting worse, reminding me of how much I hate hate hate driving on the snow. Maybe that was a good thing. :)
1 comment:
So now Brynn is good at throwing? Post a video and prove it! By the way Marty, I was a donkey EVERY year in the church play (while perfect Claire Lange was an angel EVERY year). Then one year they read off the cast and I wasn't on the donkey list, I wasn't livestock at all! I thought "Oh maybe this is finally my year, I'll be a beautiful angel". Nope, I wasn't on the list of angels. I thought "Could I possibly me Mary? Oh its too good to be true. All those years of being a donkey paid off and I'll be Mary! Yes that must be it!". The choir director keeps reading and says "the mean, spiteful, cranky innkeeper's wife who won't let Mary and Joseph stay at the inn will be played by Helen". That ended my stage career.
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