Christmas 2013

We headed south for Christmas and went to stay with my mom and my two sisters and their families in Georgia. I had not seen my older sister, Katie, or her husband and two kids in so long! So it was really fun to get to spend time with them. And the kids had a blast together!

On Christmas Eve the kids got their pajamas from Christopher, our Christmas elf, who went back to the North Pole and they were SO excited for Christmas morning. Every day they asked if it was Christmas yet and Ryder kept going to the tree if there was a new present under it and saying "Presents for Ryder? Santa brought presents?" Then later that night after the kids were in bed we had a white elephant exchange and ugly sweater contest with adults only. My favorite thing we brought to the exchange was butt/face soap. It was a bar of soap that was white on one side and black on the other and one side said butt and the other said face :) It was pretty funny to see what everyone brought for the exchange. And I definitely underestimated how ugly some of the ugly sweaters would get :) I thought OURS were ugly with flashing lights, tinsel, and santa heads, but winter birds nests, holiday beads, and ugly wreaths made an appearance and definitely beat us! My brother-in-law, Cameron, took first prize with a sweater so full of beads it probably weighed 10 pounds.

This Christmas we had all the sisters and my mom together for the first time in many years so as a surprise Christmas present (with the help of my brother-in-laws and Brad) I set up a girls day out. We went shopping, got massages, and I took us out to dinner at a fancy restaurant. It was SO much fun and that was the first time I had had a professional massage and it was so nice to relax and just have some girl time. I am so grateful for my mom and sisters and I am so happy we got to spend time together.

The rest of the days were filled with playing games, going hiking, and just hanging out.
(And of course eating tons of delicious food too.) On New Years Eve we counted down to midnight with balloons that had the time of each hour on them and an activity inside when you popped it. It started with kids activities for them to do before bed time. They made party hats, wore mustaches, played glow in the dark hide and seek, played with balloon punching bags, and lastly ate oreos and milk before bed. They had SOOO much fun :) Then the adults started popping the balloons and we played celebrity charades, card games, and then opened up the sparkling cider at midnight.

We are so excited for 2014! This year has a bunch of big, exciting things happening like having a baby girl, Brad graduating and becoming a doctor, Aiden starting school, and moving to who knows where! It is going to be full of adventures and we can't wait. For now we are headed off to Idaho to visit Gigi and Poppi for a week! Brad has his last residency interview in Spokane next week so we decided to all join him and make a visit out of it.