End of December

One evening went downtown to see the lights on Temple Square.

First we ate at the Lion House.



Then we walked around Temple Square to see the beautiful lights.







Here is our New Year's Eve celebration (which happened 2-3 hours before midnight.)  We had sparkling cider, did some poppers and blew on those blow-y out things.

Christmas

On December 23 we had a sleepover by the Christmas tree.  The kids LOVED it.



Here is our Christmas Eve dinner:  red and green jello, rolls, ham, canned green beans (from our garden), and 7-Up with green snowflake shaped ice cubes.  We ate the meal by candlelight, which the kids thought was very cool.



We acted out the nativity story.  Megan was Mary. Tyler was Joseph and Emily was an angel.  Then Emily became a wiseman with Darrell and me.



Christmas morning.  Waiting to go see what Santa Claus brought. (Emily, Megan, Tyler)



Heading downstairs.



Christmas morning fun.



After breakfast we opened up our presents from under the tree. 

Tyler



Megan



Emily



New princess dresses for Megan and Emily





And superhero capes and a mask for Tyler



Legos for all







It was a great Christmas.

Emily



Megan



Tyler



That afternoon we walked down to the sledding hill (literally 2 houses away from us) to try out the kids' new sleds. We sent Tyler down by himself, which was very scary for him, so after that Darrell and I took turns going down with them.

Emily, Darrell and Megan



Megan and Darrell





Emily and Darrell





Tyler and Darrell





Megan and me

 

 

This was our first Christmas with just our little family.  It was nice to be together and start some traditions of our own.

California Part 2

Heading to church on Sunday



Enjoying lunch and some play time out on the patio

Megan





Emily





Tyler





We had a family Christmas dinner.  It was so great to be together.  Nellie was able to be there also.





The kids enjoyed playing yard games.



Jeff trying out Nellie's wheelchair.



The kids were ecstatic to be able to open their Christmas presents.





Emily was so tuckered she fell asleep before she could get her bedtime snack.

 

Playing with their toys before we had to pack them all up.




Grandma helping the girls with one of their floor puzzles.





I had to get a picture of the girls with their "carry ons."  Carol gave each of the girls a puppy with a carry case and that's what the girls took on the plane as their carry ons.

 

 

 

We're so grateful we were able to spend a part of the holidays with family--it's definitely what they're all about.