Christmas 2011

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Waiting for Mom and Dad to plug in the lights, turn on the camera... and take out Sammy :)

Who knew that Cameron only needed a candy cane to make him excited :)


The boys got lots of video games, paper jams, lots of legos, clothes, football, puzzles, games... but most of all they were excited about the pogo sticks :)

Daelyn got a lot of games, puzzles, books, arts and craft things, baking stuff, clothes, video games...

Josh got new clothes, work shirts, new books to read, movies, a soft blanket (he was the only one in the family with out one and felt left out ;), and a few other little things... oh and don't forget the YUM YUM sweats :)


Josh is in TROUBLE and SPOILED (and SURPRISED) me this year!!! I got a BEAUTIFUL new electric acoustic guitar (I have the blisters on my fingers to prove it :) and an amp, a new little digital camera (our old one died and I get tired of lugging the big heavy one everywhere for everything, so I am grateful to have a little one to take to events where we are walking around), and a new soft blanket (Josh left my old one at a hotel :)....

But most of all we are grateful for the gift of our Savior this Christmas. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas too!

Oh.... and yes we survived a Christmas outside of Utah, my first Christmas away from home and family, but we sure did miss everyone... A LOT!!

Oh.... One more thing, the kids were SO sad that our new shelf elf had to leave and go back to the North Pole. Here are a few random pictures that we snapped during his stay with us.
He hid all around the house, decorated cookies, made a campfire and made smores, went fishing for goldfish in the sink, played lots of video/computer games, colored, made friends with the nativity set, took barbie on a date, crashed a car, made a mess with the flour in the kitchen and made snow angels in the flour, got hyper and was swinging from the fan/lights when the kids gave him a little candy, got sick when the kids gave him A LOT of candy, left messages on etchastketch, he even followed us and showed up in Tennessee.... We will miss you!
(sorry all of the good pictures were on the little camera that died so I just have the few from my phone)

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas eve we opened the few presents under the tree today since it was Saturday. That way the kids could play with things today and so that the tree was empty underneath for Santa to come.
I got Josh some pink yum yum sweats!! (The kids laugh hysterically at the Furry Vengence movie when the dad puts on his wife's pink yum yum sweats, and so I thought we needed the movie... and Josh needed some pink yum yum sweats :)

Grandma and Grandpa Wilson got the kids roller blades/skates. The kids had fun trying them out today. Don't worry... I made them put on a helmet and pads (I would have wrapped them all up in bubble wrap, but Josh said that was going a little too far ;)

Oh and we decorated gingerbread houses/boys/girls. We left some out for Santa.

The kids also oped up the presents from Grandma and Grandpa Nelson and we all got some cute, soft pajama pants (which the boys had to run and put on!! And a fun mystery game puzzle that we can't wait to do this week.) Then we also saw that someone (we think it was either Mrs. Clause or an elf, since we knew that Santa was half way around the world delivering presents at the time) left the kids some pajamas and their favorite cold cereal.... they do this every year :) Then we read the story of the birth of Jesus.

Oh..... and sprinkled some magic food outside for Santa's reindeer...Daelyn was SO excited about the nightgown that was left with her cereal because it had a little matching nightgown for her dog too :) Now everyone was off to bed and went right to sleep.... well, maybe not quite right to sleep. Some kids might have been a little excited. Cameron was all "JIGGLY in his bed" (his words) as he was shaking and "jiggling" uncontrollably with excitement. Good Night!

The Polar Express!!

Finally on the train!! YAY!!!

Yes, the waiters danced around and gave the kids HOT CHOCOLATE and cookies :)

Then they read the story of the Polar Express while the kids followed along with the books.
We also sang Christmas carols, and then the conductor came by and punched words into all of their tickets (sorry, I didn't get a picture of that because I was filming it instead because he was so fast at it and it was really cool).

And Santa gave them each a special bell. Josh can't hear the bell (lucky guy) I guess he doesn't believe ;)

We had SO much fun on the Polar Express. It took us all the way to the North Pole and we saw all the houses and workshops decorated, elves dancing, the reindeers' lit up runway, and Santa (who boarded the train). The kids were SO amazed because the train was actually flying during a lot of the ride ( we were up high and the water was down below us and we couldn't see the tracks so we must have been flying ;). It was definitely a night that none of us will forget!!

Gatlinburg, TN

We LOVED the little village shops!




The kids had a FUN time at the Aquarium.







Cameron LOVES penguins, so it was great that the aquarium had a big penguin exhibit.