Part 2...Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day went a little like this:

7:00 a.m.

Seeing what Santa brought.

7:10 a.m.

Trying to wake up enough to ride my new tractor.

7:25 a.m.

Cuddling in the new tractor blanket that Santa brought.

 7:30 a.m.

Kyler trying out his new construction potty seat.

 9:00 a.m.

All ready for church.

 11:00 a.m.

Opening presents at Grandma Shirley & Grandpa Gary.

 1:15 p.m.

Enjoying some wonderful family time.  

 5:00 p.m.

Eating a wonderful Christmas Dinner with my family.

6:15 p.m.

Kyler playing with the gun uncle Todd gave him.

 6:30 p.m.

Annie getting up long enough to open the toy kitchen grandma & grandpa gave her.

8:45 p.m.

Capturing the joy of Christmas on Kyler's face.

Christmas 2011 was one of our bests.

We hope you all had a great one too.

Part 1...Christmas Eve

I have so many pictures from Christmas I decided to separate them into 2 posts.

We had a wonderful Christmas and

can't believe it is already over!!!

This post is all about our Christmas Eve.

We started off the morning with a new tradition.

Our Family Christmas Breakfast

Because we live so close to both sides of our families, sometimes we

don't have much time for our own little family.

So I decided that Christmas Eve would be a great time to have a little family breakfast

(it also worked out great to have leftovers for busy Christmas morning).

Yummy Kneaders french toast. The carmel syrup it to die for.

 After we finished up with our breakfast Kyler and I made some sugar cookies for Santa.

This was the first time that I have let Kyler help me cook.

He LOVED it.

He could have stood their for hours rolling and cutting the dough.

 On Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents house for their

annual Christmas Eve party.

We enjoyed a yummy dinner.

The kids made mini gingerbread houses.

We had some good laughs playing Minute to Win it.

We ended our Christmas Eve by opening up the traditional Christmas Eve jammies, and 

putting out the cookies and milk for Santa.

Best Gift Ever...

The BEST gift that Jason and I have ever received was

the gift of becoming parents.

At times during (going on 7 years) the

uncertainty of infertility we questioned if that one dream would ever come true.

But through the beautiful miracle of adoption we were blessed with our son Kyler.

Kyler's birthmom Michelle, is one of the most strong, courageous, and beautiful might I add, people that I know. I can't imagine the pain and heartache she must have felt on that day when she left the hospital empty handed. WE LOVE HER SO MUCH and can't thank her enough!!!

This Christmas will be full of excitement and happiness as we get to celebrate as a little family with our overly excited 2 year old. It won't be filled with tears and heartbreak like Christmas's in the past. We won't have to avoid family parties because of the sadness that it would bring seeing everyone else with their children.

 Because of these 2 amazing people we have experienced more happiness and love in the past 2 years than we thought possible. Thank you Zack and Michelle!!!



Holiday Highlights...

With Christmas quickly approaching

(I can't believe it's this week),

I wanted to list a few of my Holiday Highlights thus far.

Family Parties

This is a must have for the holiday season. We have had 3 parties in the last 4 days and we will finish off the week with 3 more. Kyler has never been more excited. He LOVES all of the attention, gifts, and play time that he is getting.

This is my sweet Grandma Donna. It was kind of a different feel at her party this year. This was the 1st year that Grandpa Max wasn't able to join us. He is in the nursing home and wasn't able to come.

I'm sure it was hard for my grandma to have all of her family together and not be able to have Grandpa Max with us.

                                                    Having Aunt Joni with us.
      Nothing made me happier than to see my sweet aunt Joni show up at the family Christmas party. She is one of the kindest, happiest, and most thoughtful women you could ever meet. She always includes everyone and makes them feel special and loved. She was recently diagnosed with glioblastoma multiforme /brain tumor and had just gotten home from the hospital the day prior to the party. It was so great to see her there with her positive happy attitude.

                                                    Christmas Cards
                 I love getting the mail everyday and seeing what fun Christmas card were sent that day.
                          I love this time of year when I'm able to reconnect with old friends and see what they
                                                    have been up to the past year.

                                   
                                                        Holiday Baking
                                  I don't know what it is about this time of year, but I always seem
                                                  to find baking/candy making enjoyable.
                           Any other time of the year I would think of nothing worse that standing over
                                              a hot stove stirring constantly for 45 minutes.
                                  But there is something about the smells and listening to Christmas music
                                        that really gets me excited and in the Christmas Spirit.

                                              The Glow of the Christmas Lights
                                 I love having all of the Christmas lights turned on and being
                                         able to just lay on the couch and enjoy them.
      

    And last but not least the last thing that would make this holiday complete would be to wake up to a
                                                          Winter Wonderland

Their predicting a snow storm for tomorrow.

 Let's hope it looks something like this!!!

A Slow Start...

It seems like forever since I blogged last.

(I guess blogging everyday in November burned me out a bit.)

Our December got off to kind of a slow start. Usually we have the entire month

planned out and full of fun outings. For some reason we couldn't get it together this year.

With only 2 weeks until Christmas we decided we better start getting in some of our traditions.

We decided to try out something new this year and went and saw the lights on

25th street in Ogden. I remember going there a couple of times as a child, but I remember

that we always felt scared and didn't really enjoy it.

I was totally impressed with how family friendly, safe, and beautiful all of the lights were.

Kyler loved riding on the train, seeing Santa, looking at all of the magical little houses, and staying warm with hot chocolate. I think this will be added to the yearly Christmas tradition list.

So excited to see Santa!!!

            
Usually when we talk about Santa, Kyler always says he will bite you. I'm not sure where he came up with that idea. So I guess that kind of explains his expression on his face.

Once Santa gave Kyler a candy cane he warmed right up to him and could have stayed there all night talking to him.

On Saturday we celebrated Jason's birthday by going and seeing Voice Male and getting all you can eat shrimp at Sizzler.

We ended our weekend celebrating Jason's and Rachael's birthdays at Gary and Shirley's house and making gingerbread houses. Kyler was in heaven having all of that candy in front of him. Even though the month started off kind of slow we are looking forward to the next two weeks and all of the fun that is in store!!!

Kyler's new smile.
Anytime I say smile for the camera this is the expression I get.
Love it!!!