Happy . . . everything!

Christmas Eve 2011

Here's hoping your Christmas was as great as you hoped it would be.  We spent Christmas Eve at Charlie and Mary Ellen's house with Charlie's kids and my mom. Charlie invited us to come early and attend their ward's live nativity.  It was beautifully done and really was a great reminder of the real meaning behind Christmas. We had yummy soup and sandwiches and then burned off all the calories playing Just Dance 2!  Becca is the reigning champ! We listened to Charlie read the Christmas Story and watched through the windows as someone in their neighborhood sent off floating lanterns into the night sky.  It was pretty magical!  We came home by about 9 and the kids went to bed with out any complaint!   In years past we have had my mom stay over night with us or come early in the morning to see the kids open their presents but after last year I decided I really didn't want to do that.  So it was just us Christmas morning and although I felt a bit guilty - I really enjoyed a less stressful Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning.  The kids didn't get up too early - of course it was the boys first.  They snuggled in with Lance and I until Hannah finally decided to open her eyes.  Lance put in the breakfast casserole to bake and soon enough the house smelled so delish! We turned on the lights on the tree and Lance started up the video recorder and the kids dug in.  We didn't do nearly as much for them this year but they didn't seem to notice.  They were all really appreciative of what they got.  I must say that my phone getting stolen a couple of weeks ago kinda put the kibosh on my Christmas spirit but it was good to see the kids eyes glow in anticipation and their total and complete belief in the magic of Santa and Christmas.  After all the presents were ripped open and enjoyed it was time to get ready to go to one hour of church.  That done we headed home to get in to comfy clothes and head on over to Grandma and Grandpa Madigan's house.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with them and Vance and Jessica's family.  It was fun to see the kids play and make memories with their Madigan cousins.

The next few days were spent preparing for Hannah's birthday.  I just can't believe that she is 8 already.  I still remember holding her in my arms, watching her smile up at me.  I couldn't ask for a better daughter.  The more I know her the more I love her!  She is so creative - she loves to create just about anything.  She is so loving to the people she cares about - especially Asher.  The two of them have such a special bond. Hannah chose to have a few friends come with us to the local pool on her birthday.  So we took our kids plus three of Hannah's friends and one of JJ's to the pool.  Hannah (after much convincing) even went down the big twisty water slide! She hated it but at least she can say she didn't chicken out! JJ won't even go down that slide.  We lucked out that it was a surprisingly warm day for December in Utah so we didn't freeze to death when we came out the pool with our hair wet.  I made cupcakes with clams made out of cookies, pink frosting and a yogurt covered raisin for the pearl.  The kids loved them!  We also made coloring books for each of the girls with coloring pictures we downloaded from the internet of Disney princesses. They each got a box of new crayons to color with too.  They opened presents and then when the girls all left went out to dinner with the grands to Sweet Tomatoes - one of Hannah's favorite restaurants. 

For New Years Eve this year we had brunch at Charlie and Mary Ellen's house with my other brother Joel and some of his family. Mary was the only one that could make it.  My mom decided she wanted to let everyone pick a quilt that she had made to keep as a remembrance of her. It was a pretty emotional experience for some of us.  I did my best to shove the emotions somewhere around my toes and just get through it.  I think everybody got the one they wanted.  Some people picked quilts that surprised us - like Hannah wanting the golf quilt mainly because it is a quillow type quilt.  On the way home from Charlie's we stopped at my new favorite spot - Orange Leaf frozen yogurt.  It is one of those self serve frozen yogurt places that are popping up all over the place.  I just think this place has great flavors and they taste so fresh! I am forever crazing them even though I have never been one to really like frozen yogurt or ice cream.  For New Years Eve night we decided to stay home together.  It was really nice!  We had a feast of yummy fondue cheese with garlic artisan  bread and chocolate dipped strawberries, little smokies, crackers and cheese ball and meat and cheese sandwiches in rolls. We watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets while munching on our goodies. After the movie we worked on a puzzle for a little while and played some Wii.  Asher conked out well before midnight but JJ and Hannah were still going strong at midnight.  We didn't even realize that it was midnight until we heard people shooting off fireworks. The kids shot off their poppers out side in the cold night air and them came in and snuggled into bed.  The Little New Year came sometime in the night to put coins in their shoes and a puzzle for each of them.  He also brought Hannah the money that the Tooth Fairy forgot to send over a week previous with a little note that explained that the Tooth Fairy had a cold and may have sneezed glitter all over the money.  Sure enough there was glitter on the money!

Jake and Carolyn were nice enough to watch the kids one night so Lance and I could go on a date - my favorite kind of date too! A night of all you can eat sushi and a movie.  We went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes - now I will say that I didn't really like the first one so I wasn't expecting too much but I thought this one was better than the first.  I would give it two thumbs up for being a good old fun popcorn flick.  Have I mentioned my slight crush on Jude Law?  I am sure he isn't nearly that dashing or cute in real life but he sure has stage presence.
Now here we are back to the grind stone.  It was good to get back to a schedule of some sorts. We spent yesterday getting the house cleaned up a bit for the luncheon after Hannah's baptism on Saturday.  She is so excited to be baptized and I think the boys are just as excited to watch her be baptized.  It will be a great day.