Over the river & through the woods...

...is exactly the journey we took to get to 'Grammie & Papa's' house for Christmas!

We got to spend 5 days there and it was a fun time like always!  The kids couldn't wait to get there and play with the cousins & hang out with Grammie & Papa.

Aunt Kenzie flew in from New York, the kids were sure excited to see her!

We ate lots of good food, played games, the ladies did a fun craft, the guys stayed up till all hours of the night playing video games, we got to visit lots and relax a little, and enjoy opening too many gifts from each other :)

Aunt Ramey, whose always the coolest, made sugar cookies for Santa with all of the kids --there was flour flying everywhere and her kitchen was a wreck but they sure had a blast! (And of course, it didn't phase Ramey!)

We spent Christmas eve at my cousins house with all of my Mom's extended family --it was fun to do the usual Christmas eve dinner, Nativity reenactment & white elephant gift exchange.  Laex & Loa got to be 'Mary & Joseph', they were sure cute!

The kids were a bit worried Santa wouldn't find them in Vernal, but he did!  I'm still enjoying the fact that the kids aren't quite at the age where they are up at all hours of the night to see what Santa brought :)  we got to sleep till 7:30 and it was nice :)  We headed back for home around 10:30 am on Christmas Day.  We grabbed a hot dog at the convenience store for lunch (that's all that was open on Christmas day in the middle-of-nowhere Wyoming on our trek home) and we were happy to FINALLY arrive back home 5 1/2 hours later!  It's always nice to be home but I sure hate the 'aftershock' of being out of town, a ton of crap to unpack and put away, grocery shopping that needs done & mountains of laundry, ugh!

December fun

December always goes by like a blur, someday I may figure out how to slow time down :) 
We always love our family time as we decorate for the holiday --this year we once again had TWO Christmas Trees -My beloved tinsel tree covered in my grandmas antique ornaments (and a few of my 'new' ornaments ;) 

We also went on a little hunt (right out back our house to be exact) and cut down this beauty (what we really did, is top the tree because it was much too tall)!  Yes, it's a Cedar tree, and I realize it's not an official "Christmas Tree" but it sure made our house smell YUMMY, probably the best 'real' tree we've ever had!

The crazy Christopher Elf visited us all month to keep his eye on the kids, nothing got them more excited than searching for the Elf each morning!

Laex also LOVED our advent calendar, each day gave us a different activity to do and he had a blast looking forward to what the next day brought.  One day we got to write a letter to Santa, he did an awesome job!

Another day we got to make & decorate this LARGE gingerbread man, so fun!

Of course I couldn't let December by without an Ugly Sweater party!  We invited some couples from our ward and had a fun night of yummy food, white elephants and good company --lots of laughs and good times!

 These are our awesome friends the Simmons (also the great people we got to hang out at Lake Powell with) --they ended up with matching mugs in the White Elephant exchange, so funny!

 Linda also won the Ugly Sweater contest and was awarded the footie PJ's which she proudly modeled for us all!

Thanksgiving 2012

LeGrand had to work the morning of Thanksgiving but the moment he got home we hit the road!  We met my parents & Trev & Ramey & the kids at Little America in Salt Lake!  This is our second time to enjoy a Thanksgiving Feast at Little America, while it's not your 'traditional' Thanksgiving, it is a good time with no one worried about cooking or cleaning!

 Entertained by Uncle Trev while waiting patiently!

 My FAVORITE part, the Crab!!

I'm pretty sure all she ate was desserts!

Following our yummy meal we headed to the Holiday Inn Express in west valley, they have a fun water park and slide connected and we all had a blast playin in the pool!  We quickly cleaned up and decided we might attempt some shopping, after a stop at Carl's Jr. to suffice the kids we made  our way to Target.  The boys decided to take the kids and head back to the motel while Mom, Dad, Ramey & I waited until Target opened then made our way to the door --we waited 15 minutes before the entire line got inside and we were able to get in - it was a nut house, but I kinda enjoy the craziness of black Friday!  We were out of the store and back to the motel by 10:30!  The next day we shopped till we dropped and the family headed back to Vernal.  LeGrand, I and the kids stayed another night and I soaked up all the shopping I could get --remember, it's a pretty big deal for me to get some time to shop, it's not like I have any stores within an hour of Grace ;)


The week after Thanksgiving I was really missing those Turkey leftovers - so we deep fried us a Turkey and I made our favorite fixings & we had Thanksgiving round 2!

Wish Bone!  Loa was the 'lucky' one!

Hostess!

With the 'BIG' announcement, in November, that Hostess was going bankrupt --we couldn't help but get in on the action!  --Let's face it, do we ever buy anything Hostess??  Maybe like once a year, maybe.  But, we couldn't let Twinkies disappear without the kids at least tasting them :)  LeGrand went on a hunt and was able to locate one last box of twinkies, and a few single packs.  The kids each got one and neither of them liked it, ha ha!

Thanksgiving Program

The kindergarteners put on the cutest Thanksgiving program!  They sang some fun songs, recited poems & each had a part --Laex rocked!  He had to say, "Thanksgiving has many colors, orange is the color of pumpkins!"  He'd practiced for weeks & had a blast 'preforming'!