Christmas Holiday

I love Christmas Break! It never seems to last long enough and I hate having to go back to school and life. I feel bad that McKay has to go to work while we stay home and play, but he was able to get time off to swim and play with us. I didn't take many pictures, but here some of my favorite things:

Reading together at night -- This year we read The Family Under the Bridge and Return to Christmas along with countless shorted books. It's so nice to cuddle up to a good book!

Party Time! We invited a few friends over for games and spudnuts (my grandma's donut recipe). It was so much fun to see old friends. I only wish my home were bigger so that we could have had more people!

Sledding -- We had to drive to the National forest to find the snow, but the kids had a blast! Fortunately, some people left a campfire (still burning!) just as we got there. The kids played in the snow until they were frozen and then we sat round the fire for awhile. The only things missing were hot dogs and marshmallows.

Swimming -- My parents came up for a day and we went to the Kamas pool. Such a blast!

Bathtime Before Presents

For the second year in a row, someone needed a bath in the morning. We don't do this everyday, just every Christmas! Sammy was so tired though, that he almost fell asleep in the tub and he kept asking if he could go to bed.

 Game time with the family

Santa brought us a lot of games this year, and other people added to the stash. If you turn your head, you can see that Sammy is stuck in the game closet. We heard screaming and ran around until someone found him up there. He thinks he can play all the games we do.

 Jammies on Christmas Eve (this year it was robes and slippers)

 Wrapping presents

Gabe wrapped this present for Carter, and I love it. He put a lot of time and energy into it, ,and even tried to curl the ribbon. It was a perfect example to me of giving gift because we care about others and trying to show that. I'll have to save this picture to remind those two that they love each other

Chubby Bunny

Mike got 11 marshmallows in his mouth!This is one of my kids favorite games, and I try to have marshmallows handy when ever we're having a crowd over.

 On the 23rd I told the kids that we had to have the house clean for Christmas, so we all spend several hours cleaning together. Amazingly, it worked out so well! They worked super hard (earning money to buy gifts for each other) and the whole house was clean! Actually, not. When we were finished I went to the basement and the boys had already pulled everything off the shelves in the playroom. Oh well. That's how it goes!

We spent New Year's Eve and the surrounding days at my parents house with my siblings. We played X-on in the BEAUTIFUL weather four hours one day. I love just getting together and laughing our guts out.