The next day was wedding day! Abby and Greg had a beautiful ceremony, and a simple but gorgeous reception. We are excited to have Greg join our family!
After the wedding, we had a really low key week. Everyone who had come for the wedding went home and we still had a week before Jon and Emma finished work and school and could join us.
We were lucky enough to arrive in Idaho to snow falling (apparently the first snow in a long time). I figure if it's going to be cold, it might as well be snowing. :) It snowed the first 3 days we were there and Matthew was thrilled. He spent most of his days jumping on the snow covered trampoline and attempting to make snowballs and build snowmen. He was in little boy heaven! Ellie takes after her mom and can't stand being out in the cold....thank goodness! We had a lot more fun staying nice and warm inside while we watched Matthew play.
Two of my nephews had birthday the first week we were there. We went to Leo's Pizza to celebrate Jake's birthday one night. It just happened to be the night Santa came and raffled off a ton of gifts for the kids there.
Ellie LOVED Santa. She went and saw him several times, and made off with more candy canes than she should have in the process. :)
Ellie ended up winning this 4+ foot tall sock monkey...lol....We thought it was hilarious....what do you do with a sock monkey this big??? Ellie was terrified of it the first night but eventually warmed up to him. Max has since taken up residence in her crib and she loves using him as a pillow.
:)
Max is also very mischievous...Matthew found him tucked into his bed one night.
Homemade thin mints....mmmm....my mom made these for Abby's reception, and then we made more the next week...even though we probably shouldn't have. They are so good and I ate way too many! It was a fun night though....staying up a little too late, making cookies and watching Miracle on 34th Street with my mom.
The next few days were filled with shopping, visiting, playing with Legos, Christmas-decorating, and trying to stay warm. :) The snow stopped Monday and then it was just plain cold! By Thursday Matthew was going crazy from being inside all day, so we called up some friends and went to iJump for some indoor trampoline fun. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon.
Jon was planning on coming on Saturday, but there was supposed to be a lot of snow in the mountains that day, so he left Friday instead. He left really early and completely surprised us when he got to my parents house in the afternoon. It didn't really feel like Christmas until we were all together as a family again. It was a happy day!
The next day my parents watched the kids so Jon and I could go on a date. We've been wanting to go to the Rexburg Temple, so we made that our first stop. What a gorgeous temple! And it was the perfect way to start our day. After the temple we went to Olive Garden for some lunch and then did a little last minute shopping for the kids. It was a perfect date.
Our next to do was decorating gingerbread houses. Emma and Matthew each decorated a side of the roof. I was really impressed with how well they each did. The rest of the house was pretty neglected. :) Turned out cute though and they had fun.
Christmas church outfits
Somehow this is the only picture I got of either of my parents. Makes me so sad. Next time we're together I'm going to remedy that!
The kids all LOVED reading stories with Grandma and Grandpa
On Christmas Eve we woke up to snow! The timing couldn't have been more perfect.
The kids headed out to play first thing in the morning.
That afternoon Jon and I took the kids to iJump (yes again!). It was a blast. We decided we should go to iJump every Christmas Eve. :)
We came home and got ready for Christmas Eve dinner. My sister-in-law, Kaci, her boys, and her parents joined us all for dinner. Then we did the traditional gifts to Christ, and reading Luke 2 and a Christmas story. Then it was off to bed so Santa could come.
2 comments:
What a huge post! Loved seeing more about your family and all the excitement through December. That sock monkey is insane! :) I'm glad for you that you got to be with family and that everyone made it safely for the holiday.
Fun post with fun pictures, but I have favorites. What a great picture of you and your sisters with your mom. Also love the picture of Matthew shoveling snow with his grandpa, and the picture of your mom reading to Ellie. Family is really what it's all about!
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