Where To Begin?!?

I do not even know where to begin. It feels like such a daunting task. I feel like I could write a novel about all the events of the past couple weeks. I am going to try instead to make it as short and simple as possible. Here it goes...

On December 17th, we had our 2nd annual grandkid party. This is a night totally dedicated to the kids. We started out at Gardner Village were we took a ride with Mrs. Claus. We then went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for some yummy homemade soup. Then Grandpa announced that Santa had made an early delivery...

Matching pajamas for all the grandkids! They all looked so cute together.

We ended the night by making gingerbread houses. I didn't take any pictures of the final product because well, quite frankly, it was pathetic! Oh well, the process was fun!

On the 21st, we enjoyed a quieter evening - our 2nd annual adults only party (with the exception of Maya and Trent). We love our children, but it is nice having a night without all their noise! We had a game night, which was great because we hardly ever get to play games anymore. We used to play games all the time before we all started having kids.

Dad and Mom also surprised us all with Indian blankets, hehe - it's an inside joke.

And once again, the food was delicious. Thanks Dad and Mom! You guys are the best!!

The next night, the 22nd, we had Brian's parents and sisters over for dinner. It was a very nice evening. I was feeling pretty stress free by this point because all my Christmas projects were 98% complete!

On Christmas Eve, I finished wrapping my presents in the morning - yeehaw, no staying up until 4:00 am! I then went with my parents to visit Grandma Lifferth. It was a nice way to spend the afternoon. The evening was split between the Smileys and the Lifferths. We first went to the Smileys.

Brian's mom had invited their extended family over, both sides. This meant that our usual group of eight (Brian's parents, sisters, Brian, myself, and our two kids) almost doubled in size to 15! This is crazily small compared to a Lifferth family gathering.

I think Brian has a total of eight cousins. Needless to say, he was a little blown away when he married into my very large family with 80+ cousins. This is his cousin Jason and his then finance Marci. Then, because they were married on the 28th - Congrats! Even though it was a small group, it was a lot of fun. We do not see his extended family very often and it is always fun when we get together with them.

We then went to my parents for our annual Christmas Eve fondue dinner. This is my absolute favorite dinner of the entire year! After dinner, we had the kids act out the nativity for the first time. It went remarkable well, better than any of us expected.

Great minds think alike and dress alike! Somehow, all us girls coordinated our sweaters. Don't we look festive:)

Christmas day was busy, but so much fun! Brian and I woke up around 8:00, read some scriptures and a talk my dad once gave on choosing to believe in Christ. At 8:30, we decided to get moving and wake up Ashlyn.

We got Ashlyn a big stuffed bear, which I thought she would love, but it scared her! She warmed up to it after about 20 minutes and now she absolutely loves it.

Trent and his Christmas loot. What do you get a one month old? Not much. Better luck next year buddy!

After we opened our gifts, we had our traditional Christmas breakfast - breakfast casserole and bubble loaf. Another one of my favorite meals. Then we were off to the Smileys.

Of coarse Ashlyn and Trent were spoiled by Grandpa, Grandma, aunt Stephanie and aunt Stacey. I am going to have the best dressed kids in town! After Smileys, it was back to my parents again. Brian gets tired of all the back and forth, but I am grateful that we are fortunate enough to live so close to both our families.

The highlight at my parents was a playroom that they put together for the grandkids. They have been working on it for some time and did a very good job of keeping it a secret. The kids loved it! It has a kitchen, table & chairs, doll house, igloo, and tons of toys! It is a very cute, very fun room.

This picture was taken on Christmas day. I think that Trent has caught up in size with Maya, he might even out weigh her.

On the 26th, my moms brother, Rob, and his son, Robbie, came up from Vegas to visit. Robbie just came home in November from serving a mission in Australia. It was great seeing them both again and hearing about his mission.

The only bad part of the holiday season was Ashlyn catching a 12 hour bug. I think she got it from her uncle Aaron. He was unfortunately sick on Christmas Eve. Poor girl could not keep anything down. She began throwing up around 7:00 pm on the 26th and threw up at least every hour until 5:00 am the next day. It was a long night!

I do not usually say this, but I am so glad the holidays are over! I am really looking forward to some slow and quiet January days.