A week before Christmas we headed up north to spend some time with my family. It's always fun when we're together, even when our time together is short. We ate a yummy dinner and enjoyed our family gift exchange before heading to my cousin's daughter's wedding reception.
Nanny and Grampsie gave all the kids their own set of temporary tattoos. A huge hit with the kiddos. They all had to put one on right away!
Miss Koda opening her family gift from us
She was super excited to get Jenga! Her reaction was priceless!
Opening our family gift from the Perkins.
They gave us Mario Kart for our Wii! We were super excited! We've wanted that game for a long time! Thank you, Perkins family!
Listening to someone tell a story :)
Thanks for a fun evening together, family! We love you all!
Christmas Eve
We moved over the Christmas break (post to come later), which made things a little crazy and hectic, but we still managed to have lots of fun and made lots of memories with the kiddos!
On the afternoon of Christmas Eve, we made some yummy Hot Chocolate Cookies for Santa. It's become an annual tradition for us to make those yummy cookies for him (we heard they're his favorite).
Me and my Sweet Savannah
My girlies! They're great helpers in the kitchen, especially when we're baking.
Helping Daddy shape the cookies. Silly Daddy :)
(And I love Savy's face while she's snitching the dough!)
Then before heading up to Salt Lake to pick up Aunt Georgiana's boyfriend, Eric, we quickly went to a tree lot to pick out a Christmas tree for Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Searching for the perfect tree!
They found it!
Then we booked it up to the airport where we met Eric for the first time! We were so glad he was able to come out and join us for Christmas! When we left the airport, there was still too much daylight to go to Temple Square to see the beautiful Christmas lights, so we headed to Trolley Square and ate dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory first. Such yummy food! One of my all-time-fav's!
Being silly :)
By the time we were done with dinner, it was dark outside and perfect for going to see the beautiful lights. It was Eric's first time to Temple Square, so that was fun too!
The girls love water, even when it's freezing cold outside! I threatened them not to touch it ;)
Me and Miss Aurora just outside the Visitor's Center
Our little family
And by the temple
Hanging out by a statue of Joseph Smith
The beautiful reflection pool at Christmas time!
Geo and Eric!
After a chilly, but very nice stroll around Temple Square, it was time to head home and get ready for Santa to come! We brought the gifts of the girl's Christmas pj's with us, which they opened after dinner, and changed them into their jammies before heading home because we were pretty sure they would fall asleep in the car again, and they did!
(We hadn't moved into Grandma and Grandpa's house yet, but our little family of four slept downstairs on Christmas Eve and Santa came to their house this year!)
**Aurora's excitement this year was priceless. She definitely understands Santa better this year than she has in the past and she was so great and patient in waiting for Santa to come. She woke up several times during the night because of her excitement. At one point we heard footprints upstairs and she KNEW it was Santa! But, she laid in bed and waited patiently until morning time when Savannah could go upstairs with her to see what Santa had brought. Rori is such a great big sister!**
We got them cozy in their beds when we got home and then Darwin and Georgiana decorated the Christmas tree in record time!
Christmas Day
When we woke up Christmas morning, magic had happened over night! Santa had come!
He drank his milk and ate most of his cookies!
While we waited for Uncle Ryan to join us, the girls went through their stockings.
And Savy finished off the cookie Santa left on the plate :)
Daddy had fun going through his stocking too :)
After going through their stockings, the girls talked Georgiana and Eric into acting out the Nativity with the hand puppets Nanny gave us last year. They were good sports--especially considering the fact that Eric is Jewish and doesn't celebrate Christmas :) Thanks for participating, Eric!
When Uncle Ryan came, it was time to open presents! He won the prize for the most beautifully wrapped gifts!
Savy holding her present from Uncle Ryan
I love that smile!
Aurora's was wrapped just as beautifully!
Everyone got bubbles in their stockings. The girls are always a fan of bubbles! Aunt Geo made it super fun for them :)
Our girls were very patient in waiting to open their presents. Once the opening began, I think they felt like it paid off. Everyone was given really nice things!
Aurora got a super awesome play-doh set from Santa
Rori got a really pretty Elsa doll and Savy got an adorable Anna doll from Santa
Bummer that we caught Savy in the middle of a blink :/
Santa also brought sleeping bags for both girls! Lucky ducks! They've been wanting sleeping bags.
Me opening a gift from Daddy
He got me a new phone! It was definitely much needed. Thank you, Dar!
Best. Hubby. EVER!
One of the gifts I gave Dar was a little flying drone robot. I wanted to get him a bigger one, but the little one turned out to be perfect!
I also gave him a UVU hat. He's wanted one for a while now :)
My favorite gift I gave him was a Shutterfly book of our 10 wedding anniversaries together.
He was touched. I was so glad to get a good reaction from him when he opened it. I love you, babe. More than you know!
Andrea sent this for Grandma and Grandpa. It was perfect because they just got a little camper this year :)
The main thing Aurora wanted from Santa this year was a Barbie dream house (random because she really doesn't play with her barbies a whole lot). She was a little disappointed that Santa didn't bring one for her. But, I think we realized Santa didn't bring one because he knew Grandpa and Grandma were already on it!
You can't tell by her face, but Aurora really was thrilled! Haha.
I love the downtime after all the gifts have been opened. We gave the girls some fun new things too. One of Aurora's favorite items she got was this cool little projector/story book.
And we gave Savannah a really cool kid-friendly "CD" player. She loves it!
With all the excitement, Savy didn't get her nap in and crashed right about the time dinner was starting. Poor little thing!
During dinner, Aurora started a "Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer" sing-along with everyone and recorded the whole thing. Cute kid!
It was such a fun Christmas! It was nice to give Darwin's parents the opportunity to see their grandkids open gifts on Christmas morning. I'm always a little sad when Christmas is over, but it's just as fun to look forward to Christmas again the next year!
Merry Christmas!
DARWIN is on his 12th year of teaching, currently at Springville High School teaching astronomy, geology, environmental science, and physics. He also teaches physics at UVU for a 7 week STEM summer school program for junior high students. He also teaches teenagers in our church ward. He's super busy, but still makes time to be an awesome dad and husband.
