Christmas 2011

This year we were up at 6:00 am....before the sun was up.  We kept our tradition of making the kids wait until the music was playing and this year...a fire was going in the stove.  They waited patiently on the stairs for us to "hurry up".

I love watching them go through their stocking!  There are always a few special treasures in there from Santa.

Nana and Pa surprised the kids with bean bag chairs!  They love them and fit perfectly in their rooms.  I can picture them now sitting in them and reading their favorite books.

We took a break midway through opening for breakfast.  Our traditional cinnamon rolls and orange juice along with eggs and sausage.  



We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  The kids were thrilled with their gifts, yeah!  I was able to actually surprise Matt this year with his gifts....outside fireplace, shop light set, and a Blue Ray player.  He TOTALLY surprised me with a 50mm lens for my camera I have been wanting to purchase for over a year!  It should arrive any day!  If only I could take a DSLR class here so I can really learn how to operate my camera.  I think my furniture might be delivered this week too!  Santa was very good to the kids this year and their cousins were very thoughtful too.

After all the gifts were open we hurried and got ready for church.  The kids were so surprised that we left the house in such a disaster, "you never have let us do that before".  It was a wonderful Sacrament Meeting filled with Christmas music.  We had a chance to visit with friends afterwards instead of rushing home because we didn't have our other meetings.  We came home, got into our comfy clothes and played with our gifts...and cleaned up the huge mess!  Later in the evening we headed out to the ranch to spend time with Peters', Dalton's and Hatch's.  Elaine cooked a wonderful meal and we just had a wonderful time visiting and spending time together!  We got home around midnight with everyone asleep in the truck, except Matt of course.

*a family picture in our front yard*

Yesterday we had a fun day hanging out and making more progress getting settled into our home.  Matt has been working hard getting things ready in the shop...painting, organizing.  I have been hanging things on the walls and organizing bedrooms.  Matt, Brayden, Ella and I headed to Scottsbluff in the afternoon with hopes to find a tall prelit tree for next year.  We didn't find one.  However, we did find some things at Menards and Home Depot.  We bought the wood to make my laundry/mudroom bench which I am quite excited about!  We had a fun night of watching movies and just hanging out together!  I love extended vacations from school!

Merry Christmas everyone!  We hope your day was wonderful!