CHRISTMAS
This week has been SOOOO much fun! For the first time in our 12 years of Marriage, we did Christmas all by ourselves. No grandparents, no aunts, uncles, cousins and especially NO TRAVEL! We LOVED it! On Christmas eve we invited Adam's Best Friend from High School and his family over for dinner. They moved here last January and were also alone for Christmas. It was so fun to hang out with them, eat yummy food and open the "Santas elves" Christmas Jammie delivery gifts.
Adam, Kevin, Spencer, Garett, Logan and Sam (Kev's son)
Marilee, Athena (Kev's wife), Annie and Gracie (Kev's daughter)
Christmas Morning was just our little family of 6! As is tradition with both of our families we took turns opening gifts, one at a time, youngest to oldest! After about 3 rounds of opening gifts, we stopped for our traditional Ebelskevers/Scotch Stew breakfast and then continued with our unwrapping! Adam takes after his dad with his desire to make Christmas morning last as long as possible. Between each gift we'd talk about the gift, open the box, read the directions, play for a bit, and then move to the next one. When all was said and done we didn't finish until about 1:00pm (we started at 8:30am). With just the 6 of us, there obviously weren't as many gifts under the tree as when there are 20 of us, but we managed to drag it out for just as long!
Christmas Morning, waiting to go see what Sangta brought!
Adam, Spencer and Annie with the Rubiks Cube
Logan and his Diego Rescue house
Two Broncos and One Raider
For the first time since our First Christmas together in Canada 12 years ago, we had a WHITE CHRISTMAS. The news said that in 106 years it had only snowed in Denver, on Christmas 12 times. This was #13!
Christmas night, Julie and TJ, who are in town spending Christmas with TJ's parents, and all of TJ's siblings and family came over for a yummy dinner of Potato Cheese Soup, rolls, salads, and leftovers! It was a fun night that ended with Julie, TJ and the kids spending the night and the four parents staying up until 1:30 in the morning playing "Rock Band". SOOOO fun!!
Our Little Reecey Elf! She wasn't feeling very well, poor baby!
Logan and Egg Nog!
SLEDDING
Since it snowed ALL DAY on Christmas, the snow was perfect for Sledding so the next day we took the kids to a great sledding hill. Julie and I made up a huge thermos of Hot Chocolate so when the kids got cold, they'd stop for a drink to warm up and off they'd go again! It was a fun fun day!
G and Mar getting ready to go down!
Adam, TJ and the kids all making their way back up the hill!
G-man warming up with some hot chocolate!
Spencer carrying Logan's sled and his own!
Annie crashed into some people on her first trip down the hill. It took some coaxing to get her back on the sled but once we got her back on, we couldn't get her off!
Mar and Ju with some yummy Hot Chocolate
Nanny Rae coming up the hill!
Adam and Mar
Sideways view of hot chocolate. (sorry)
Lindsay trudging back to the car. Madison had the time of her life. Though she was frozen we could hardly get her off the hill. Even if she didn't have a sled she'd sit on her bum and slide down!
THE WEEKS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
The weeks preceding Christmas were packed full of parties, and activities. The first was:
SPENCERS 10TH BIRTHDAY!!
We cannot believe that our boy is 10. Where have years gone? Are we really old enough to have a 10 year old? We are so proud of everything Spencer does. From helping with his siblings, to working hard at school, to passing off his Scouting requirements, to trying to do what's right everyday! He is such a good boy and we are so blessed to have him in our home! Love You Spence! Happy Birthday!
Spencer's beloved new Bronco Facts Book
Our Birthday boy!
CHOIR CONCERT
One new event that we were a part of this Year was the School Choir Concert. Early in the school year Spencer decided he wanted to sing in the School Choir. We've always thought him to be a bit "tone deaf" if you will, but supported him in his decision to participate in school activities. To our surprise and pleasure, he has learned how to sing (in tune) and his choir teacher says he's not tone deaf at all. The Christmas Concert was at the school. Spencer was SOOOOO cute and sung his little heart out! The favorite song was "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch".
Spencer in the Choir
I love this one. He's totally singing his heart out!
Spencer and his Buddy Jordan! These two are hilarious together!
ADAM's COMPANY CHRISTMAS PARTY
One of our favorite events of December is the Annual BLACK TIE Christmas Party Adam hosts for his work. It is always so fun to dress up all fancy and go downtown for a yummy dinner and dancing! This year the weather was supposed to be bad so Adam and I decided to stay downtown at one of the nice hotels. It was tons of fun! The kids had a blast too as our babysitter brought her brother with her and the kids to their hearts content while we were gone!
Adam and Mar (I love my man in a Tux)
Lindsay Smith and Mar
Mar and Dan, one of Adam's agents! He totally reminds of Jack Black and is seriously just as funny!
UTAH TRIP
Another fun event we look forward to each December is the SLC office Christmas party. Since Adam oversees the SLC office we get to fly out and go to a nice dinner with the agents and their wives! This year we went for few extra days and took Garett and Spencer with us so we could hang out with The Armstrongs for a few extra days! Spencer, McRae, Garett and Ty had more fun in 3 days than any kids should be aloud to have! Adam and I had a blast at the company party but our highlight was most definitely seeing Kerry, Mindy and the boys! We sure do miss having them here! I always miss them more when we are with them! Mindy took the boys to have their pictures taken. The pics turned out soooo cute!
Our Handsome Boys
G and Ty Ty LOVE thier Blankies ("Mana" and "Night Night" respectively) AND thier fingers!
DECORATING FOR CHRISTMAS
Usually I love and look forward to decorating for Christmas. This year, for some reason I was dreading it! I told the kids that I refuse to put up decorations before December so on DECEMBER 1st they were chomping at the bit for me to decorate. Since it was a Saturday, everyone was home and ready to help. After Adam and I finished getting the outside lights up, we came in and started on the tree. This year the kids were a HUGE help and we got it up and decorated much more quickly than I've ever done before. Because we got a later start on it than we had planned to, it was pretty late by the time it was finished. Adam turned on the movie "Home Alone" and the kids and he watched it while I finished decorating the rest of the house. Though its a big job, I'm always so happy when its all finished. The house looks so festive and fun!
Our "Stocking" hats
Decorating the Tree
Adam's job is to put the Angel on the top!
THANKSGIVING
Before all the Christmas stuff was Thanksgiving! We had an AWESOME THANKSGIVING this year as we travelled to see Julie and TJ in Chicago. The kids played and played, Adam and TJ hung, watched football, played with the kids and enjoyed some time off from work. Julie and I cooked (a most delicious Thanksgiving dinner), watched movies, played with the kids, and enjoyed being together with our families. The Brinks were wonderful hosts. We are so excited we got to visit them in "Cago" before their big move back west to the Beehive State!
A successful dinner!
The kids ready to eat!
Playing football in the backyard!
Brady and Logan with their Icees at the movie "Enchanted"
TJ and Adam-total fools!
Mar and Ju
We went to Benihanas and the kids got to sit at their own table! They LOVED it!
Handsome and Beautiful! (Logan was being a stinker and would only pose in a picture with Brady)
Logan and BrayBray
