Christmas Firsts

My sisters and nieces and nephews made this hill in the backyard that turned out to be a really awesome sledding hill.  I had my first experience snowboarding.  I consider it lucky that I didn't fall.  Maybe someday I'll get to do the real thing. 

 Audrey got to go sledding for the first time.  She was so happy.  She wanted to go over and over and over again until her little fingers couldn't take the cold anymore.  She also really enjoyed tromping around in the snow with her boots.  It's really the first time she's been able to run around in it.  Last year we didn't get to see very much.  She loved the sound it would make and the feeling of it under her boots.  Her older cousins were a little more adventurous taking the snow shovel as a sled down the hill.  

Earlier that day we got to go ice skating.  I love ice skating, but it's been years since I set foot onto a rink.  I got out there and thought I would never get the hang of it again.  Finally after a few times around I got used to it.  Audrey was struggling.  In no way was this what she had practiced at home on the tile in her socks.  I could tell that this was not what she imagined when she thought about dancing like a princess on the ice like she'd told me a thousand times before.  After a couple times around holding hands with me a Aunt Tamara she was ready to try using the kids skating aid.  She got pretty good at that after a couple more times around and before I knew it she was going around by herself without me behind her.  She kept yelling to me, "This is so much fun!".  It was only after her feet started to hurt that she wanted to get off and I got to go around a few times on my own.  I loved it!  I think it will become a yearly tradition for us.

A few more "first time" things happened this year.  We had a ladies night for the women on Paul's side of the family.  I thoroughly enjoyed painting nails and watching Leap Year with my sisters-in-law.  Again, another tradition worth adopting.  

Audrey also got to make her first snow man this year.  She was so excited about it and kept asking me if he was going to come to life.   She was a little disappointed when he disappeared when she was gone and became a sledding hill, but we told her he melted.  Somehow it was a little easier to take than someone burying him with snow.   

Grandpa Rod and Anna Christmas

We had second Christmas with Grandpa Rod and Anna this year.  It was pretty awesome.  The kids exchanged gifts this year, which was Audrey's favorite part.  She was so excited about giving her gifts to her cousins.  

Paul was excited about Grant and Nicole's gift to him.  Nicole has an Uncle who lives in Spain so she was able to get some Spanish meat and cheeses for Paul to relive a little bit of his Spanish days.  He was in heaven.  He couldn't stop talking about how awesome it was.  I'd have to say, I wouldn't mind living in Spain.

I cried when Grant and Nicole gave me my gift.  Grant had drawn a beautiful picture of a cathedral for me.  He's so busy with work right now and it meant so much to me that he would take time out to work on something like that for me.  

Another one of my favorite Christmas moments was Dean opening his gift from Grant and Nicole.  They bought him what I would call an expansion ball.  The look of pure joy on his face when he opened it was priceless.  

Later we had a Jerusalem dinner, we all sat on the floor and ate really good food together. Shannon, Paul's cousin showed up and I got to spend time with her talking about her very soon to be husband.  The kids enjoyed time out in the snow together and some of us adults watched, "When I was a beehive".  It was a really good day.      

I love this family of mine.   

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's House

It was a beautiful wintry morning.  It was even snowing.  There was magic in the eyes of a child that only gets to see snow once a year.  By the time she sees it again she's forgotten about the last year. Almost everyone was there. 17 people, all of their children, and my parents. We were there for quite a while.  My favorite parts were: 

Watching my Dad hand out gifts like he always does. 

Watching Audrey open Captain Hooks boat saying, "Mom, I can pretend that this boat is Bucky!"  Little did she know that we bought Bucky too which was total Christmas miracle. 

Watching Chase open a quilt my sister had made for him. He got all teary and it was so sweet.

Watching the latest Mormon Christmas video.  

The Ti pee from Mom and Dad, Audrey spends two hours in hers everyday.  

Watching Emma play with her selfie stick.

All the little girls playing with their Legos. 

A Handmade gift from my sister that has become my motto for life. 

Watching Mom and Dad get teary when they opened their gift from all of us.

Watching Ashton play among all the gifts.

Being with people I love.  

Merry Christmas everyone!  

  

Coloring and Engineering

Audrey's obsessed with making books these days.  She loves to empty my shelf of paper and draw for hours at a time.  This time she got Grandpa Rod in on her book making.  They sat and colored for what seemed like hours.  He was drawing designs for her and teaching her to color inside the lines and she was coloring page after page after page.  

Later Audrey spent time showing her Dad how to build "machines" with the gear set. Paul built a big "machine" and then added Audrey's to the top.  She thought he was pretty awesome.  She still can't stop talking about machines.  

The Christmas Pageant

 When my whole family gets together for Christmas we always have a Christmas Eve dinner and a telling of the Christmas story.  This year all the kids dressed up.  Audrey was an angel.  

She told everyone that she was going to sing "Angels We Have Heard On High".  Except for when they told her that it was time she didn't want to.  I'm sure it was because all she knew was the chorus and she got confused when they weren't calling it the "Gloria Song".  I helped her along and she sang her first part solo ever.  I was proud of her for even wanting to sing in front of everyone.  She's already leaps and bounds ahead of her Mom.  

It was so nice to be with everyone that night.  There's something special about us all being together.  We may not agree on everything and we may even get on each others nerves every now and then but when we all come together like this I can't help but think that I wished that we all lived just a little bit closer to each other.  

I loved to watch all of these kids together being so reverent, Tessie as she sang, Jennifer with her sweet new miracle baby, James as he got in his Mom's face to give her a kiss.  This is what it's all about and I'm glad that I got to be apart of it.   

Singer

She's a singer and I can't help but love it.  Most of the time she doesn't sing the right lyrics, she prefers to make up her own.  She really never stops singing.  I think my sisters doubted until they spent some time with her during Christmas Vacation.  Sometimes I have to turn on the radio to get her to sing something else.  After hearing the same phrase over and over it's the only way.  I try not to sing songs out loud that I don't want to hear for the next few days.  :)  

I'm excited to teach her and see her grow.  We'll see if she decides to continue with it.  She seems to love a lot of things right now.  

Th Kindness Elves

Meet Audrey's Kindness Elves.  I know what your thinking...the whole elf on the shelf thing.  This is different.  Every morning Audrey would wake up to her elves doing something kind.  In their note they would challenge her to do something kind during the day.  Everyday they made mention of the Savior and the things that he did to be kind while he was here.  

Every morning she was so excited to find the elves and see what they were doing.  

Just a few of the things we did were:

Made cookies for someone who needed a cookie and a smile.  

Made a couple dinners for people in need.  

Watched someone's baby who had to go to the hospital.

Wrote love notes to Daddy.  

Wrote Christmas cards to cousins who are Audrey's age.  

Made Christmas goodies for the people in our neighborhood.  

and so many other things. 

I was a little nervous about this tradition over running my life, but it was so fun to hear Audrey talk about the Savior during Christmas and all the good things that we were doing.  It was so worth every note written.

I think that this one is a keeper.