Merry Christmas 2009!!

Wow!! We had such a wonderful Christmas this year. I have always loved Christmas time and often find myself getting a little sad when it is over. We partied for 4 days straight starting with Christmas Eve at Nana and Papa's house. We stayed home most of Christmas day, Nana and Papa dropped by for a little while to see what everyone got from Santa before we headed to Lyman to visit Shane's grandparents. Saturday we had our first annual "Polka dots and stripes" party (which was a HUGE hit) at Nana and Papa's house and were able to party with everyone except for Boone. Sunday we had our last Christmas dinner and present opening with Shane's parents and family here in Robertson. It was a busy weekend but we had so much fun.

I think that Christmas Eve day was one of the longest days in history for my kids. They asked me probably a million times how much longer until we were going to head for Nana's house. We didn't go until dinner time, so it was quite the wait. I can remember feeling the same way when I was a kid. My mom got all of the grandkids matching pajamas this year and it was so fun to see them so excited about everything. Kolby was the CUTEST thing ever helping Papa pass out the presents. He was so excited and everyone was getting a kick out of watching him! The kids all got a pair of cowboy boots and a toy from Nana and Papa. They loved it all and have worn their boots everywhere we have gone since then! Shane and I got a family picture and a gift certificate for a night alone at a hotel in SLC and couldn't be more excited to use it!!

Shane had to work graveyards on Christmas Eve so it was all up to me to get things ready for Christmas morning. I made it to bed shortly after midnight, which I didn't think was too bad. I was wide awake by 5 am wondering when the kids were going to wake up. I was excited for them!! Shane got home from work at 6 am and we woke the kids up then. They were all sleeping in my room with me and sprung out of bed the minute we mentioned Santa to them:) We headed out to the family room to see what Santa had brought and the fun began. I apologize that I didn't really get many pictures of Christmas morning because I was too busy using my new Christmas present from Shane's parents....a video camera!! Kolten got a Cabela's hunting game for the wii, Kaylee got her "real" guitar, and Kolby got a geo trax train track. Those were just the main things they wanted, they were totally spoiled!!Here are a couple pictures of the polka dots and stripes party. We played twister, bunko, and apples to apples. A good time was had by all!! We didn't make it home until 10:30! We can't wait to do it again next year!Sunday we had our last Christmas dinner and party up in Robertson with Shane's family. We ate prime rib which was nice since we had already had ham and turkey;) The kids were once again spoiled and I honeslty don't know where we are going to keep everything. It was always Shane and his brother Josh's job to pass out the presents and then to help their Grandma and Grandpa open their presents. Well this year the tradition was passed on to their kids, but not without them hovering every step of the way;)
So, as you can tell we were very blessed this year. We are so thankful to have such wonderful families whom we love so much! We wish that we could have been able to see a few more of you but we want you to know how much we love you too! Thank you to everyone who sent cards and money! The kids have really been wanting to to skiing and we told them we could use the money that everyone sent us to go sometime soon, so be looking for an update on that!! Merry Christmas!!