we also took a quick opportunity to take some family pics before we headed out using a self timer and used them for our christmas cards... merry christmas! ha!
the dental battalion also threw an adult holiday party (meaning no kids). we got all dressed up for this one. i wore an old sparkly red dress of my grandma doris' and took a gold purse of hers. the night was really fun. and crazy. they played musical chairs which was all fun and games till some young girl pulled the chair out from under the generals wife... whoa! the whole crowd was shocked and gasped and the generals wife took it well and smiled and got up but whoa... haha they also did some tossing game and handed out a bunch of gift cards from a raffle... we won $100!!! yahoo!! then the dancing came... and if you know me... you know i like to get down! it was pretty hilarious. we were having so much fun. the enlisted from chris' office kept telling him how awesome his wife was and they were impressed how crazy i was... and then they were shocked to find i was sober. like people can't be fun without alcohol?! we also got some pictures taken in the photo booth. super fun night.
my awesome friend sara watched daniel for us... he loves her house... partly for the doggy door and she has treats!
i also attended a ornament exchange with my NOSC ladies... super fun. they are such fun women to be around. we had a great time with awesome food and lots of really pretty ornaments.
the last party we went to before we left town was a progressive dinner with a bunch of friends from the ward. our house hosted the appetizers this year... and i will say they were pretty yummy. fun night with songs, nativity, dinner, dessert and good company... i also wore my beautiful christmas sweater i found at walmart this year... its truly special
then we jumped on a plane to vegas for the next 2 weeks!!!! daniel was perfect on the flight. he slept for most of it and watched elmo the rest of the time. we arrived pretty early in vegas and took quick naps... switching to pacific time zone is always tricky... we woke at 3 am the first morning... luckily we all wake together and get to enjoy watching my mom work out before seminary. daniel was mezmorized watching the dancers on moms wii just dance video. haha we spent on evening over at emily and gregs house before they ditched us to spend christmas at park city... lame! we spent most other days at grandpas house with sam and meesha and mom. since he hadn't been doing very well someone was staying in the house with him at all times and my mom was down there most afternoons... so we spent most of our break hanging out down there. especially since chris and daniel both came with really bad colds... no one was in a hurry to do much. we did get to play a lot with gigi and axel... hes such a cute baby!!
one morning we drove out to boulder city and rode on the santa train they do out there. it was a short ride but really fun... daniel was in a terrible mood (super tired) till aunt meesha saved the day with some fruit snacks. santa came through and gigi was so excited to give him her letter... otherwise we enjoyed the scenery and the kids jumped around and had a good time...
we then decided to grab a quick bite and drive up to see the new bridge over hoover dam. daniel fell asleep so chris sam gigi and i walked up and over the bridge... very high and very cool.
that was a really fun morning and super glad meesha had invited us to go with them.
chris mom came down that weekend for 2 days to see us and daniel... they had a good time playing together. chris went to mass with his mom before they both came to church with our family. it was a fun quick little visit.
christmas eve was a pretty fun night. for the first time we decided not to host a huge party with moms other siblings and all my cousins. we were just feeling overwhelmed with taking care of grandpa and everything else and our family has just gotten so big we decided to keep it simple this year. we met at grandpas house and did our usual white elephant gift exchange but with a twist. it was silly and fun. we had soups that i made for dinner and i must say they were yummy... the group favorite was the tomato tortellini soup but sam said the chicken noodle was by far the best... we even got grandpa to come out and eat with us. he and daniel enjoyed eating together.
then we went in the front room and sang some christmas songs. always my favorite part of christmas is singing around the piano as my mom plays... we even walked down to grandpas room to sing a couple songs for him... which was beautiful... he was choked up and i was choked up and it was just neat.... i'm sure everyone else was choked up. we ended the night helping the kids open their presents from grandma karen. we sure missed not having emily and her family there but were really glad my dad was able to come and be at the party with us.
christmas day was pretty good. daniel still doesnt really get presents or enjoy opening them.. but he likes toys especially cars! he got quite the collection of cars and he immediately just wanted to play. he also got a playdoh dentist.. chris had a good time playing that with him and showing him how to drill on teeth.... even grandma got on the floor to play some cars with him.
chris and i spoiled ourselves with a kindle.... we feel super fancy now. its mostly to read books on but i do like some pinterest or other apps on there.
we also spent the afternoon over at grandma slades with my dad. they had gotten capriotti sandwiches (of course) yum! and we played for quite a while. then the kids discovered a neighbor boy playing with a remote control car in the street so they all ran out and spent the next 20 min chasing the car around. daniel was in heaven!
after that we went to aunt joans for pie! we always love pie. and it was fun to see more family and cousins.
the next couple days we spent with mom and grandpa and sam and jack and meesha. really glad we got to make a longer trip this time... and we did get to spend some more time with emily and greg and family before we left.... one more party night with raising canes and games... we played a card game emily and greg have. it was so silly but really fun. i love my family.
we said our good byes to grandpa and everyone else and headed to bed. we left very early the next morning to head back home...
 |
| not wanting to be at the airport! |
once home we mostly vegged for a couple days... time change is killer!! chris worked one day and then we had another week off. daniel enjoyed playing with cups... i finished our stockings and we got more presents from chris family in the mail including the awesome star wars potato head.
i will admit this christmas season was tough this year... with grandpa being so sick and miserable it just put a damper on it for everyone. we just feel so bad for him and hate seeing anyone you love that miserable... so glad we went home... nothing i miss more than my family!
for new years eve we spent it with our favorite neighbor the Millers.... we had lots of yummy food and then played games till late and even remembered to give each other a little kiss at midnight... (me and chris...not kiss the other couple ha!) it was a really great easy night as daniel slept upstairs in the craft room and their three girls went to bed and we just had a good time playing rumikube... perfect way to end 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment