Even though we were in Sandy this year, we got to have our annual girls' date to the Voice Male concert. They performed at the Kent Concert Hall this year and Rylee, Grandma and I had great seats right up close to the stage. This is my favorite part of the Christmas season!
We also tried something new this year and did a few DIY Christmas gifts. For Ry's preschool class each of the kids got to bring a gift for a gift exchange. We decided to make bathtub paints for Rylee to take to the gift exchange. We also made the present for Ms. Lynette: an "easy clip" picture frame (an old picture frame from a thrift store with the glass taken out and then painted a fun color with two clothes pins attached to the top). Rylee made a special picture for Ms. Lynette that we hung in the frame before we gave it to her. We also made some homemade ornaments for all the grandparents, a gingerbread footprint plate for Grandma Joycie and Grandpa Ray, and bath salts for Grandma Great. It was a very "Pinterest" Christmas for us.
After preschool let out for the Christmas break we went up to Logan to spend the weekend. We had tons of fun with Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Mikey. We visited Santa at the Cache Valley Mall (and rode a few of the rides). Rylee was a little nervous of Santa again this year, but she did agree to stand close to him for a picture. She was also brave enough to tell Santa that Jayden wanted a car and she wanted a Barbie with pink hair. (P.S. Santa did not disappoint, despite the difficulty of finding a Barbie with pink hair.) We also made cookies, read stories and played all weekend long.
Christmas Eve was spent at the annual Shelton party with Grandma Great. The kids got cute jammies and books from Grandma and the adults all got gift cards to go out to dinner. (Somehow I managed to make it through the evening without a single picture - it might be a first!) Chad had to leave the night before to help with an emergency project at work Christmas Eve morning. His plan was to work for a couple hours then drive up to Logan for the dinner before bringing us back to Sandy for Christmas. Between a tricky job and a bad snow storm, though, Chad didn't make it back to Logan until dinner was almost finished. We decided earlier in the day that it wouldn't be a very good idea to try to drive back home in the horrible storm (after dark), but luckily Santa was able to pull off a miraculous delivery and find us at Grandma's house in Logan. Before bedtime the kids got to open their Christmas Eve present (slippers) and set out cookies for Santa while we read "The Night Before Christmas".
Christmas morning was so much fun and Grandma and Grandpa were so nice to let us invade their house with toys and noise all day on Christmas. We spent the morning opening and playing with presents, eating yummy foods and laying around relaxing. Mommy even got to have a bath (the first since we moved to Sandy)! It was great to unwrap presents with Grandma, Grandpa and Mikey. (Hopefully they didn't mind all the craziness.)
Grandma made a delicious dinner before we went back home. Rylee was so excited to use some of her new cooking tools to help make dinner. Afterwards, we barely got ourselves packed into the car for the trip back (in fact we had to leave a couple things behind for the next visit).
The Larsens had their Christmas party on New Year's Eve when everyone could be there. We all met at the church for great food, BINGO with some sweet prizes and a bounce house. Jayden was one of the first kids to win at BINGO and out of a table full of prizes he chose a ball (what else?) Rylee won a set of puzzle blocks, and we got a set of screw drivers and a Ninja blender. The kids especially loved the bounce house! After the party was finished we went home to spend the rest of the night watching movies and eating junk food.
We had another great holiday season and we are definitely excited for the new year and the many new adventures in store for us!
