Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Just the 6 of us

In 14 years since Jay and I have been together we have NEVER spent a Christmas with just our little family. As much as we love being with all of the extended family it was time for us to keep it small and intimate. Everything leading up to this day was so memorable for me. It was the first year we actually had time to take the kids shopping so that they could shop for one another. To see them roam the mall in search for the perfect gift for their brothers or sister was so sweet! Then watching them wrap their gifts for each other, then give them to each other was such a blessing to Jay and I. It truly is better to give than to receive and this year our kids experienced that. It also made Jay and I look at each other and say "we need to do this more often". And we will. Christmas Eve day went to lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Costa Vida, then came home and watched the Nativity Story together...the kids LOVED this and want to "watch it together every year" (Kenna). Then we had dinner together, cleaned up and headed to church for a reflective Christmas Eve service. We then headed back home to open our gifts!!! It was such a fun day! Christmas morning we opened our stockings and had breakfast together. Then we hopped in the car and drove to Yakima to spend a few days with my family. We had a great time....unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures...which is weird, I know.

On December first we started reading a story for advent called Jothem's Journey. It is a story about a little boy that gets separated from his family and while he searches for them he encounters the people in the Christmas story and comes to learn about the Messiah. GREAT story! Our kids looked forward to reading this together each night...actually I looked forward to it! We would light the candle on the Advent wreath and cozy up by each other and daddy or I would read our chapter for the night...it was so relaxing! Then we would have wonderful conversations about the story and how to apply the lessons to our lives. It felt like Christmas should....to be focused on Jesus, his coming, his death, and his promise that he will again one day return as our king! What a meaningful month it was for us. I'm already looking forward to next year and I cant say that it has been that way for me....for a while.

Here are some pics from our time together!~


Tyson and all of his pearly whites! My little cheese ball!
Huddy....could those eyes be anymore BeaUtiful??? And I'm diggin the feaux hawk!

Our sweetie heart! Cant believe how old she looks in the picture. =(


Poor Jaxon had a canker sore the size of a quarter inside his top lip....made it hard to smile so I got a "stop making me try to smile, mom" look. =)

Our Christmas Eve Dinner! Yummy!


The Ham that we bough the day before Christmas Eve....not easy to find a ham that late in the month!
Kenna watching the end of the Nativity Story. She was all teary eyed! It was so sweet.


Jay & the cuties!
Mama and her little chicks!

Poor Jaxon just couldn't smile any more...so here are the other 3 hammin' it up!

Christmas Eve reading our Advent story. Ty seems to be paying really close attention. =)

Advent Wreath
Ty & Hudson


Daddy just opened up the present the kids got him...a NEW wallet!

Kenna got some slippers from Jax! She "was totally wanting some just like these!"

Hud & Ty opening up their storm trooper helmets!
"now we're just wike wheel (real) star wars guys, Huddy!" Tyson age 3 1/2

Here is Jax opening up his "big" gift from Jay & I. It was a little box with a BSU Fiesta Bowl T-shirt in it and a ticket to the Fiesta Bowl!!!! But when he ripped the package open the ticket fell on the floor and he didn't even notice...so while we snickered at his excitement over the t-shirt, Kenna pointed out the ticket on the floor. This is the picture of him figuring out that he gets to go with us to the FIESTA BOWL!!!!!!!! GO BSU!

He knew that Jay and were going but we didn't tell him he was going to get to go. NOT ONCE did he ask if he could go so it made giving him the gift even more exciting! When we asked him if he thought we were going to take him he said "no, I thought you would have told me by now". He was AS excited as we have EVER seen Jax!


Looking forward to Jan 4th! Go Broncos....PLEEEEEAAASE make it worth the money we spent!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

One of our FAVORITE Christmas traditions

If you live in Boise there's no doubt you know of this place. Every year this guy lights his house up for all of Boise to see and every year we drive up Quail hill, park, walk a ways in the snow and marvel at all of the lights...all of his hard work! The kids love it, I love it...even Jay loves it! =) This year we went the night before Christmas Eve and it took us 30 minutes to get up the hill to the house. It was bumper to bumper traffic! But well worth the wait!

Apparently 10 year old boys don't wear pants anymore no matter what the temp!









This year the neighbor next door went all out! I love it! DITTO!





Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Welcome back???

Facebook has taken over blogging....its sad, I know. This is my attempt at coming back to the bloggers world...we'll see how it goes. Im going to attempt blogging in December...if it doesnt work then I will have to say goodbye to this past time...one that I enjoyed for so long. =) Im just not sure I can keep up with both....plus its a lot of work if no one looks at it! =0)