Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

As I write this blog post, I'm watching the light snow fall outside and I can't help but think how magical it all is. I love love love the snow! 

We had such a great Christmas. It was most definitely a White Christmas this year. I've missed that so much being in Texas. On Christmas Eve, we actually took the chance to register our car and get Idaho driver's licenses by taking the test (which we didn't study for). We are now officially Idaho residents in every sense of the word.  We then drove through a bit of a blizzard to Pocatello to have lunch with Haley, Dad, and Sheryl. We had a great time visiting. We then headed to Dad and Sheryl's house to exchange gifts and have some more fun. 

We had some fun with the selfie stick. Here we were all saying Ho HO HO!

That night, we drove to Soda Springs to stay at Mom's house. I really love the magic of Christmas for kids. Kayla was a little nervous about the idea of Santa Claus busting into the house while we all slept, but we assured her he would only leave the gifts and then head right back up the chimney.

We spent some time watching the nativity video and reading a book at Jesus. We gather snacks and wrote a note for Santa and the Reindeer. Kayla didn't put up a fight at all to go to sleep that night. She usually wants her door left open a crack, but she asked me to close it so Santa wouldn't wander in. Haha!

We are so blessed this year to have Brett off work for the entire holiday! He has always worked holidays with his TV news jobs, but University jobs are amazing!

These kiddos were all ready for Santa!

I snuck some photos of Santa's gifts before the kids woke up. 

Kayla woke us up around the same time she normally does, but she was so excited to see if Santa had brought her the baby stroller and Cinderella show that she had asked for! When she saw what Santa had brought her, she exclaimed, "Santa brought me EVERYTHING!" It was perfect. 

Tyson would get bored of opening gifts and go back to the baby toys he knows and loves at Grandma's house. 

Kayla was so excited to open every gift, including the ones to everyone else. She was a good little helper though and loved retrieving the gifts from under the tree for everybody. 

 

 

After Christmas dinner, we went sledding at the elementary school. It was COLD! The kids only lasted about 30 minutes but we had fun. We also drove around looking at Christmas lights that night. 

The day after Christmas, we headed to Logan and had lunch with Brett's Grandma Renie. I love that the kids get to spend time with their great grandparents. We also visited the Nash family. It was a great to see some friends. We then headed back home early Sunday morning to make it home in time for our church. 

It truly was a great Christmas and we are so happy to be living so close to family members and be able to spend time with everyone! 

Our Early Christmas Celebrations

Christmas has come and gone! It always seems to go so quickly. We had a wonderful holiday season this year. One of my favorite traditions is going to SLC and visiting Temple Square to see the lights. They're beautiful and majestic and definitely bring the spirit of the season. We went with my family and we all had a great time. Kayla's face says it all!

We made a gingerbread train for FHE on week. It ended up being Brett and I doing all the work while Kayla shoveled the candy into her mouth as quickly as she could. Immediately after we snapped the photo of the finished product, it all collapsed, haha! 

Kayla and I spent one morning making Christmas sugar cookies. She wore the apron Grandma Jean made for her and loved cutting out the cookies, and of course eating the dough!

The weekend before Christmas, we went to Pocatello to visit Nick, Melanie, Carly, and Natalie who were visiting Tom and RaeJean from Nebraska. It was so good to see them! Kayla and Carly had a blast together, (as much as two toddlers do). 

More than anything, Kayla loved baby Natalie. She couldn't get enough of this sweet baby girl. 

These two even got to have their first sleepovers together! That was mostly successful. :)

Kayla also loved Uncle Nick, although she couldn't remember his name. At first he was Carly's daddy and then he was just Uncle. :)

 

All the kids loved Grandma time! Grandma and Grandpa watched all four kids while we went to see Star Wars. It was a really fun double date!

The whole crew in our Sunday best! We celebrated an early Christmas on Sunday, ham dinner, gifts, and all. And we had a little photo shoot with the kids all dressed up. Grandma got matching dresses for the girls and they all looked beautiful! 

Tyson was happy to be eating while the girls took their photos :)

The girls loved dancing around and twirling in their princess dresses!

 

We tried getting a cute picture of the babies, but they weren't cooperative. :)

On Monday, we took the kids to the indoor pool at Lava Hot Springs. After Kayla recovered from the "hot water" and the noise inside, everyone had a blast! Its basically a splash pad in a hot tub inside. Perfect for the winter weather!

We had a great visit and wish Mel and Nick lived closer. Kayla has been talking about Carly ever since we left. I love seeing her develop relationships with her cousins! We had a great early Christmas celebration!