Christmas 2014

For Christmas this year we were at my parent's house in Burlington, Wyoming. We switch off at each family's home every year for Christmas day and then we go to the other family's house for about a week after Christmas. We had a very Merry Christmas this year. I wasn't sure if Easton was going to enjoy the whole Christmas idea for Christmas morning so I wasn't really expecting any over the top emotion as he saw all that Santa had brought him. However, he was really delighted. We woke up around 8 am which was great we got to sleep in so that was nice. We had to wake Easton up and we told him it was "Christmas and Santa brought you some toys" Immediately you see a lightbulb flick on in his head because he got really excited about that little phrase. We took him upstairs and Mark took a video of his reaction and it is priceless. The first thing he saw was his big Tonka Ride-On Tractor. This was his big present from Santa and he loved it!

Next he went through his stocking and it was the cutest thing ever! He would pull something out and say "oooo cool" then pull something else out and respond the same way. The next item is where it got tricky… you see toddlers apparently only have two hands to hold two objects of choice and when yet another awesome item (i.e.: his cars socks) this means you dramatically throw aside the two previously cool prizes to oodle your new found favorite thing in the whole wide world! It was quite a sight!!!

Then suddenly he realized that this really neat tractor was sitting off to the side and he throws all his other presents to the wayside and jumps on that hot ride for about half an hour. What do the adults do while they wait for his attention span to grow weary on the tractor? Well we watch him and take a billion pictures thats what we do! It was so cute to see him get so excited! He even made tractor noises as he rode his sweet ride around the living room.

The rest of the morning went as follows… opened mostly all of Easton's presents from under the tree besides the other small tractors from grandma and he continued to play with his new found joy ;) He got clothes from both grandma & grandpa and his mommy & daddy and of course those aren't nearly as cool as tractors.

Meanwhile the adults & my little sister Bethany (just kidding Beth you can be an adult just this once ;)) decide to delve into our Christmas goodies! Mark got me a new lens for my Cannon Rebel. He purchased a 55 mm wide angle portrait lens which is to die for and I am already in love. It is hard to tell the difference in these pictures from Christmas morning but it is AMAZING! I also got a few outfits from Mark that I picked out ;) My Mom & Dad got me a kitchen aid attachment with scraping blade to incorporate the ingredients from the side of the bowl that is pretty cool and a nice ROXY cardigan that I love. Mark wouldn't let me get him much this year. He wants to trade his old bow in for a newer/nicer/cooler/more-awesome new one so I gave him money towards the new bow. My parents got him (with the help of his lovely wife) some 35 Mile range, water proof, two way radios. He had been eyeing some for a while so I knew that he would love them and he was so surprised. It will be nice for him to have when he goes hunting without his Dad. We got my Mom a blender that I have and she has wanted. It is a long kind of stick blender and I love it for cream cheese! We got my Dad some elk skin leather gloves and as you can tell in the following picture he is uber excited!

I think Bethany had the greatest surprise of her life with his present! Spoiled turkey! ;)

The rest of the day is what we were all excited about the most! We got to Skype with our missionaries! My brother-Jacob got to call around 10 am and we talked to him for about an hour and 20 min … he seems so good and it was so great to see him! He did a neat thing where we each got to ask him a question and then he got to ask us one back. It really made the conversation flow and you didn't run out of things to talk about. He seems so happy serving the people of Virginia and I know he has changed spiritually so much and is becoming a better person. My brother in law-Tyson got to call around 1 pm and we got to talk for about 45 min. He is also doing great in Chile! The connection wasn't always the best but we did get to hear him tell about his experiences as a missionary. Things definitely got really emotional during both of these calls. It was so great to see these two young men as the serve the Lord and bring joy and happiness to the people in their area. I am sure proud of both of them, love and miss them everyday, we pray for their safety!

We had a lovely Christmas dinner later on. Charlene and Matthew came over for their second Christmas dinner and the sister missionaries joined us as well! I love Christmas and all the wonderful things that come with it. I enjoy the season and especially the true reason for the season. I feel fortunate to be able to celebrate and commemorate the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ and be able to be with my family as I do this. Merry Christmas everyone… I hope you were able to enjoy all of your blessings this time of year as I did!

Ugly Sweater Partay!

Christmas Eve we all went over to my sister's house in Lovell for a family fun Christmas Eve party including ugly sweater wearing and whit elephant present giving. It was a funny evening thats for sure! Everyone looked so festive and "ugly" in their rather fashionable sweaters. We had lots of delicious feasting on lots of scrumptious treats including lil' smokies, crackers/meat/cheese trays, bbq wings, cheesy garlic santa bread, cranberry orange bread, jalepeno dip (so proudly made by mark), and mom's homemade hot cocoa! We did a white elephant exchange with an array of wonderful gifts hand picked with embarrassment and jokes in mind including an old makeup bag with seven year old makeup, fake tattoo sleeves, hand knitted cloths and floral oven kits, a wallet, a rather fashionable mushroom shaped knitted hat, poo-pourri in all its fancy smells, and some flashy christmas boxers. All in all it was a wonderful Christmas eve that ended in reading an all time favorite Christmas story about a good dead done in secret and the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ from the scriptures. I love this time of year and especially love spending it with my family. Happy Christmas Eve!