Christmas and the New Year!

What a wonderfully special time of year!  I don't think anyone could say enough how magical Christmas is.  The spirit in the air is nearly tangible and I love the excitement it brings to everyone.  As always, our Christmas was fabulous!  We have been blessed to spend a lot of time with our families and enjoy everyone's time off before reality sets in again.  About a week before Christmas I was reading my friend's blog and she was talking about how she and her husband were going to do a Sub for Santa in honor of their precious four year old daughter who passed away this year.  I loved the idea and couldn't get it out of my mind.  It didn't feel right not doing anything for Eli so I ran the idea by Logan and he was right on board!  Despite it being so close to Christmas, we were able to find a little boy in need of some new clothes so we went shopping and fell in love with the outfits and shoes we were able to find for him.  I loved the experience of being a tiny light to this little boy and can't wait to continue the tradition each Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' this year and it was so much having our entire family together!  We ate a delicious dinner, listened to my grandpa read about the Savior's birth, sang songs, opened a few presents, and attempted to get a picture of all of the kids in their PJs.  They may not all be looking but at least we got something!

I like to tell myself that Eli is standing right there with them to bring the number to 13 :)
Left to Right: Nathan (6) Liam (6 Mos) Ben (4) Adam (4) Lily (2) Tanner (8) Will (10) Sterling (10 Mos) Amelia (2) Klara (6) Mady (9) James (6.5 Mos)

On Christmas morning, Logan and I woke up around 8:00, exchanged gifts and stockings, got ready for the day and headed over to my parents' to begin the festivities.  My mom always puts on a brunch so we enjoyed her delicious breakfast casseroles and hung out with the fam for the rest of the afternoon.  Around 4:00 we made our way to Logan's aunt and uncle's for their yummy Christmas dinner.  We spent the rest of the evening with Logan's family which was a great way to cap off a great Christmas!  I managed to take one measly picture.

Slowly but surely I'm starting to look pregnant!

A couple days after Christmas we took advantage of Cheryl being in town and went out for  a girls' day!  We started by getting much needed pedicures and then did what girls do best--shop!  We went to a couple stores and then made our way to the mall.  Not a ton of purchases were made but it sure was fun to look around and imagine what it would be like if I could afford to dress my kids in clothes from Janie and Jack!  They have the most adorable baby boy swim suit and shirt that I wanted soo badly but together they would have been like $60!  Insane.  We went to dinner at the delicious Brio and I'm pretty sure everyone loved what they ordered so it was definitely a success!  The part of the night we were all looking forward to the very most was seeing Into the Woods!  Cheryl sent us a text over a month ago saying we should see it when she was here so it had been on our schedule for awhile.  My mom and Cheryl bought tickets a couple days early so we'd have good seats but when we got to the theater and she swiped her card it wasn't able to find the tickets.  LOOONG story short, she accidentally bought tickets for the previous day.  We were super bummed but couldn't stop laughing at the situation!  Unfortunately the movie was sold out but the nicest man gave us movie passes to come back another time so we sat at a table to eat our treats and laugh a bit more.  We ended up getting home earlier than anticipated but the day was still a ton of fun!  Thanks for everything, mom! 

I'm not sure why this picture is so fuzzy...

We spent New Year's Eve/Day with Logan's family this year and they planned a great couple days for all of us!  We went to dinner and a movie on New Year's Eve and then we all went home around 10:00 because we're old and boring like that and we had to be up early the next morning.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, Logan's sister and her husband own a cabin up in Oakley so they rented snowmobiles for New Year's Day and it was tons of fun!  Because I'm pregnant I didn't want to take any unnecessary risks so I only rode one from the car up to the cabin but throughout the day everyone else was able to go out and ride for hours.  Logan was in heaven!  If you know him, you know that he loves anything like that.  He could have stayed out all day!  While people were out on the snowmobiles or sledding, those of us inside hung out by the fire to keep warm, chatted, and played games.  Hopefully next time I won't be pregnant so I can go out as well!

It was chilly!  -15 when we got there...

 

Our holiday season truly couldn't have been better!  Logan and I feel so blessed to have two amazing families that do so much for us.  Until next time!