Merry Christmas

looking at the presents waiting to go open them:)

GO ahead! open them up!

from SANTA

its a globe that displays the stars on the ceiling. we're having a little trouble getting it to work though. i hope we don't have to return it, it looked so cool.

He loved the UTAH wrapping paper. thanks jen!

a kiddie cam

abb needed some time to wake up.

his new camera (yes its pink, i got it for such a great deal i didn't think he would really mind. and he doesn't, he loves his camera.) i figured if abb really likes it too, i can get andrew a blue one for his birthday or something.

she liked the baby swing. she said "weeee" when she would push the baby.

this was a big hit. andrew actually got it when he was 1, but then i thought it broke. however, i tried new batteries after 2 or 3 years is it? and it worked! so we just wrapped it up. it had been in storage so neither one remembered it.

the glow-worm from aud and don, she loves it. she loves to see it light up and play music, and gives it kisses.

kissing the new "baby"

remote lightning from aunt jen!

a UTAH football!!!!

he was SOOO excited. he couldn't stop looking at it even when grandma was trying to open the box.

he was cheering for it, sooo cute.

i love how he can't stop looking at it...

a wagon from grandma and auntie jen. they will love it when the weather gets warmer! they already love it, but i think it will be so much fun to take to the gardens at thanksgiving point and that sort of thing.

a take apart truck, it came with a little screw driver, and he was able to unscrew it and take it apart, and then with some help get it back together. 

this was the one thing he asked for every day.

a REAL utah helmet. complete with a football and a UTAH football outfit.

trying to get this car out of the box took FOREVER> thanks jen! 

trying to hold BOTH new utah footballs.

i really like this one. 

wearing the pearls my mom got her and the heels jen got her. what a little lady.

abb REALLY liked this toy of andrews. of course, she likes ANYTHING of andrews, but this one talks and has buttons!

daddy made sure to try out all of andys toys- hes such a boy. 

magnetic building set! it has been fun so far. i am pretty happy with it, i have been wanting to get them this for a while.

she was posing for the camera. sitting to the side, holding her hands, smiling and saying cheese- ALL her idea. which she very consciously set up, sitting just so.

i love this little girl. she is SOO fun and cute. i dont think a day goes by we don't talk about what a CUTIE and sweetheart she is, and how lucky we are to have her and andrew. andrew is such a sweetheart as well. almost every morning he comes into my bed when he wakes up and wants to snuggle for a few minutes, and has the biggest grin on his face when he is giving me hugs. yesterday when i had fallen asleep watching the Grinch, he leaned over and kissed me. he is sooo sweet.

daddy helping andrew take it apart.

Watching Santa enter the house, he is so excited.

Sanda made andrew and carter his reindeer. they LOVED it. these here and below are from wednesday.

santa needs to learn NOT to point to the camera when trying to get kids to look...we got this more than once...

little reindeer buds

watching while santa brings out the first gift

Andrew was the first one to get a gift, santa gave all the kids Christmas books. 

Thanks santa. thanks....

notice the tears running down abbs sweet little cheeks. she was super upset about santa.....

SUCH an abby look. totally NOT into santa and making it as obvious as possible that we would all be much better off if he would just leave her alone!

i LOVE andrews face here. tooooo cute. abby did find a suitable job delivering Candy canes. reluctantly. 

Everybody loves to sit on santas lap....maybe not.

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Our little family, i love them so much. with each child we have, i feel like more and more of my heart and soul is outside my body. like there are more and more liabilities, that if something happened to them, i would be inconsolable....but i wouldn't trade it for anything. i love having a family. 

aunt jen and the nieces and nephews. 

i LOVE these hugs. 

Andrew and mommy.

she wasn't having it....

Carter LOVEs Andrew so much. its so cute. they are getting to be little buddies. Andrew used to be so scared of Carter when he was a baby. funny...

bubbles anyone?

opening presents from Sam and Heidi

from sam and heidi. andrew actually can play a game! hes getting so big!

So we did have a very Merry Christmas. Wednesday we went to sam and heidi's where Santa came for a visit! abby was terrified of him, andrew was very curious and happy to see him. thursday we dropped the kids off to Jen's, and dan and i went to the anniversary inn. that was our Christmas present to us. a very good one if i do say so myself. then the next morning (friday), we met my brother Tom at the airport and picked up our gifts from my fam in ak, and then went to eat at the olive garden, always great- soup and salad. MMM. then we went to see the new Narnia movie in 3D. i really liked it. then we went back to Jen and Margo's for Christmas Eve dinner, and hung out for a while. The kids fell asleep on the way home, which worked out great. put them to in their beds and wrapped presents while we watched Christmas Vacation. This morning andrew came into our room excited that he stayed in bed and was therefor able to play the Wii. He soon forgot all about the Wii when we went out to the living room and he discovered Santa had come! We made him wait until dan got Abby up and jen and margo got there. Opening presents was a lot of fun for andrew, but abby would have been happy with just a piece of chocolate. i don't think she opened ONE present. so andrew and I helped her out. both kids made out pretty well. i am excited for  their new toys, hopefully they have fun with them. we got so many fun/useful gifts this year, i feel very blessed! Earlier this season dan took me as a surprise to see The Forgotten Carols, i really like that almost best out of anything. we were walking back to our car yesterday and the news interviewed me about what i like about Christmas and the season. i think i kind of rambled, but i heard i was on the news! we recorded it but it must have ran late. dang! i don't think i've ever been on the news before. today was a good day. harmons onion cheeseball, broccoli cheddar soup, quiche, chocolate chip pancakes, of course lindt balls, and Andes Creme De Minth cookies, lots of good food. andrew and abby played with their new toys all day. andrew of course didnt eat much for breakfast, and then kept eating candy and as we expected had a big meltdown about 5. it was catching up to him that he had refused real food all day. and sneaking chocolate wasn't keeping him in good spirits. so he did finally eat some lasagna, which i had to call "like pizza. meat, cheese, sauce and noodles", and then he did eat. thank goodness. i want a good nights sleep! abby LOVES the broccoli soup- she eats it and then dips her fingers when her spoon can't really get much, and then drinks the bowl. i love my good little eater. it makes me feel like SOMEONE appreciates my cooking efforts. dan really HAS to say its all good you know?  but andrew and abby are the true test, they don't eat gross food. not that i cook gross food.... kitchen is ALMOST clean. its a BIG job...lots of cooking and on Christmas its not a day you want to spend cleaning...i'm okay with that. i think my favorite Christmas song- the one that ALWAYS makes me in the Christmas Spirit- is The Inn Keeper by Micheal Mclean from the forgotten carols. my favorite was when i was probably about 8 or 9, my mom convinced my dad to sing it at the ward party in des moines where we lived. i can still remember it. he did a beautiful job. his voice is deep and strong, and does the song justice. he sings it perfectly. i hope someday we can get him to sing it again, so i can video it.  my Anyways, i am going to get on to the pictures, i didnt have time to edit, i'm just trying to get them up so you can see. and yes, there are a million of them. but its Christmas! what did you expect....Merry Christmas.