The end of the party...

I feel like our life has been stuck on fast forward mode for the whole month of December and the end of November. I feel like I haven't slept since Thanksgiving! Between having Thanksgiving at my house, preschool, Christmas parties, New Years, family and a baby blessing I am exhausted.  I really loved every thing we have done the last few months. But it is kind of like Christmas decorations and Christmas music. I can't wait to get it all out and fill the house with holiday sounds, but come January 1st, get it all out of here! The last we has been especially busy. Here is what we have been up to...

My sister Jill and her kids came in the last week of December. They moved out of state a few months ago and it was so fun to have them here. The kids played and played and played!! Here they are "water skiing" along with the Wii. 

Saturday morning my mom, Jill and I went to Goodwill. Got to love a trip to Goodwill on 50% off Saturday. 

Saturday afternoon the rest of my family showed up to have the annual Merrill family White Elephant Party.
Before the actual eating and present exchanger the 2 brave men took all the kids to the park. Only one casualty  though, my little nephew Jett, who is Laine's age, decided to swim in a huge puddle.

In the evening we did a cousin gift exchange and the White Elephant exchange.

The only cousin too young to play was little Daisy.

We were trying to put a tiny clip in all that hair.

All the sisters and sister in laws.

Brittany, Me, Lee, Jill, Connie.

Everyone stayed at my house that night because the next morning Aaron and Lee blessed their sweet little Daisy at church. Arron did a great job or at least I think he did... Laine was getting madder and madder that her dad was in the blessing circle and not holding her.  

After the blessing and lunch Tim and Connie came back to my house along with Jill and all the kids. The competitive ones play Settlers. Tim won for the official record :)

The last family to leave on this past Wednesday morning was Jill and her kids. They we making their way around Arizona to visit the rest of their family. I loved everyone being here. Bode had so much fun playing and staying up late. But all thing come to an end. Preschool started up again, Christmas decorations are down and we are getting back on our routine.

Here is a shot of my whole family,

minus John, who didn't get to come back to AZ with the rest of his family.

Missed you John. If you look closely behind Parker (white sweater, purple dress) you can see Boo. I guess she wanted to be in the Merrill Family picture too.

Spreading Christmas Cheer....

one piece of gum at a time.

Last week we decorated a gingerbread house.

We saw the little kit at Safeway a few days before and every day after that 

Bode bugged me to get one.

So since there was no way I was going to actually make the gingerbread,

and make the actual thing, the kit was perfect.

I decided to let go and let them basically do whatever they wanted to.

I just put down frosting and they went to town.

The kit came with little gum balls.

Of course part of the fun of decorating a gingerbread house is sampling the candy.

So the kids were just eating and decorating away.

Then Laine got really exited and pointed at her side.

This is what I found...

 A piece of ABC gum.

Yes, "already been chewed" gum is proudly displayed on our gingerbread house.

 The finished product.

 Bode's side. He did such a good job.

Laine's side. Gum and all.

Christmas is in full swing...

 Last night was our ward party. Bode always gets to excited to go to "actibities". I (have said this before, but...) love Jeremiah's new schedule. We were able to go as a family.

 The ward put on a nice program. Bode was very excited to see Santa. 

Although you wouldn't know it by the look on his face. 

Last year went the kids sat on Santa's lap, Laine cried so hard the Bode couldn't get a word in.

This year Laine sat very quietly and Bode did all the talking for him and for her.

Here is what he asked for...

In case you missed what he said it was a candy cane, helicopter and a flip-over car aka a remote control car.

 He made sure Santa knew Laine wanted a Baby Doll.

White Elephant Party...

Every year we have a White Elephant Party with the Merrill Family. This year Tim and Connie hosted and we all met at Jill's house for the party. We ate way to much great food, opened white elephant gifts, played "ticket to ride" and enjoyed each others company. This picture sums up the chaotic night. I love my family!!

I guess I forgot...

This was our tree this year.

It was a beauty.

I love fresh trees.

It's about time...

My poor oven-mitt has seen better days. When we got married I had one hot-pad. I always thought gee it would be nice to have anther one. I never once thought about buying and new oven-mitt when I would go to the stores. Well it has been nearly 5 years and I have still never bought another oven-mitt. As you can see by the picture below the old hot-pad wasn't really doing its job anymore. I am pretty sure the purpose of the hot-pad is to keep your hand safe when handling hot items. The hole at the top of mine was really not working out to well. So my sweet husband bought me a new oven-mitt for Christmas. He asked me when we were going to bed on Christmas night what my favorite gift was and I said it was my oven-mitt. It was a thoughtful present and exactly what I needed.

We...

Decked the halls

Wrote out letters to Santa

We sat down a few nights ago and wrote Bode's letter to Santa. Bode went and put his in his stocking and brought me another piece of paper and told me we needed to write a letter for Laine Jo too. So we did. I had to run to the store after that and when I came home Bode had written letters for all of us. Jeremiah told me that Bode was concerned that Santa wouldn't bring anything for Mom and Dad and we needed letters too.

This year Bode wanted:
Transformers

A bike

And Lightning McQueen Stuff

McQueen story to follow someday soon

We torched a ham.

Yum. If you ever what a yummy ham make sure you do it this way.

Partied with family.

Took our traditional family picture by the tree.

The kids got to open their Christmas Eve gift.

Of course it is jammies. Bode was super excited to open a present. I wonder what year it will be when he realizes the only gift he gets to open on Christmas Eve is jammies.

Then we all slept like babies and opened presents in the morning.

Well the babies slept like babies. I didn't sleep all that well. I honestly was so excited I could barely sleep. This year Bode has been really into Christmas. I was looking forward to his Christmas morning. He didn't disappoint. He ran down the hall and jumped on our bed telling us the "Ho Ho brought me a bike!!".

I wonder what next year will bring for our family. Judging by this picture below it could be a fun one.

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas this year. We sure did. I thoroughly enjoyed this whole season. Children put a different spin on the holidays. Every Christmas light, song and decoration is amazing to them and I enjoyed the joyous spirit my children brought into our home this year.

On Christmas Eve we enjoyed having family over for dinner. We had a great homemade honey-baked ham made by Jeremiah. And stayed up later than normal having fun with the Brooks family. (same time next year?) Bode was so wound up I was afraid he wouldn't ever go to sleep. But he finally did thank goodness. Although Laine had no idea what was going on she was silly all evening because she could tell things were different. As soon as Bode was asleep and family was gone Santa came ;)

Luckily Bode and Laine were nice to Mom and Dad and they slept in until 7:30. We opened presents and then got all ready to spend Christmas day with the Davis and Brooks Families. I am grateful that we have such good people in our lives. It was fun to spend the day with people and not sitting around the house. Jeremiah was able to have Christmas Eve off but not Christmas day. I did however really miss not seeing my parents and family for Christmas. I was talking to my mom and she was talking about having a beautiful white Christmas and at that time I was driving and all I could see was dirt and cactus, it made me homesick. I am glad that I get to see all of my family this week for our Merrill White Elephant Party.

Just one more small story before I get off the computer and on to taking down all my Christmas decorations. We had lunch at the Davis's home on Christmas morning. There are a bunch of people and kids around and Bode loves to go and play with everyone. We were all inside while all the kids were outside playing. After a little bit I noticed all the kids were inside but I didn't see Bode. I went outside and there was no Bode. I went back inside to get Jer. We started looking for him. The Davis's house is kind of off the road with a bunch of other custom homes around and land. I was trying not to panic but we couldn't find him anywhere! I knew there were pools around and my heart was pounding. Jer enlisted the help of Rena, Lee, Aaron and Heather and we all were looking for him. Right about the time I was about to really panic we found him. He had followed some people to the neighbors house to see horses and chickens. He wasn't gone for more than 10 mins but oh boy it scared me. It was such a relief to hear Jer yell that he had found him. Bode just told us they said he could go see chicken so he went. Needless to say he got a good talking to about letting Mom and Dad know where you are going. BUT that wasn't the only little scare of my day. We were over at the Brooks's house in the afternoon. Bode was outside playing when I thought it was about time to go check on him. And again, no Bode. We looked around the property and the garage and then I saw him in our car. He somehow open the door to the Tahoe and locked himself inside. Oh man, I need a GPS on this kid.

Now I am off to take down Christmas. This season has gone my too fast. I normally can't wait to take down Christmas stuff but I am loving the warmth all my Christmas decoration have added to my house this year. I am feeling reluctant to take it all down.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Merry Christmas Blogland...

Dear Santa...

We got to see Santa last week. Didn't even know he was going to be at the store. Bode was shocked to see him. He barely said a word. He just kinda sat there and gave me a goofy face. Laine on the other hand took one look at him and screamed her head off. She cried all through the picture and was done right when I picked her up.

So she wasn't a big fan of Santa but she loved playing a reindeer.

I could just eat this girl up. She is so cute!

On the hunt...

for the prefect Charlie Brown Christmas tree.

Our family tradition is to pack up and head to mountains in search of our imperfect tree in the woods.

Bode loves to ride in Grandpa Dave's big truck.

Some of us are not as active on the search as others.

We took quads this year to go deep in the woods to find our trees.

They didn't help us find a tree but they sure were fun.

And there it is... our imperfect, perfect Christmas tree.

Even Laine woke up to see our tree.

Bode had a blast running around in the snow.

Then we played "spot the three year old the the woods".

I hope we can always plan to get our tree this way. I remember doing it as a child and those are fond memories. I hope my kids feel the same way.