Christmas 2012

Christmas was so much fun this year!! We flew up to Utah on Christmas Eve, so santa had to come visit a little early this year at our house :)  I love watching little kids on Christmas!  There really isn't anything better than the sweet, excited expressions on their faces.  Korver was even excited this year to open "pesents!"  When we got to Utah our kids were so excited to see the snow, and they loved it!! They couldn't get enough of it!! We thought they would complain because it was so cold in Utah compared to Arizona, but they were in Heaven :)  They have Wyoming in their blood.. ha ha! They are actually probably tougher than their momma!! I was surprised how good the cold felt to me too! I loved being out on the 4 wheelers with them.  It just felt so good to be back home in the cool mountain air (am I really saying that)!! Cody was so great to take the kids sledding.  They loved it!!  We all had crazy mis matched snow clothes, but whatever we could round up was great!! It's hard coming to the snow for a few days because I don't want to buy all new winter snow gear for just a few days.  Heaven knows we don't need the big coats, boots, and hats in Arizona!   My mother in law and my mom were great to get some stuff together for us.  We stayed plenty warm (even if Korver did have to take a few turns in the pink snow pants)!!
We had the chance to go on a sleigh ride up in Eden with Cody's family! It was a fun time for the kids to see all the deer and elk.  It has been one of my favorite things to do the last two Christmas's when we've been home.  We rode the train down to temple square, made cookies, rode the 4 wheelers for hours at my parents house in Wyoming, went ice skating, swimming,  had lots of fun cousin and grandparents time, and enjoyed yummy food.  I got really sick in Wyoming and never really recovered with my pregnancy.  I was sad to be sick during our stay with my parents but my mom was so awesome to help out so much with my kids.
We had a great time seeing all of Cody's family, Ryker and Natalie's family, my grandparents, a few good friends in Evanston, and grandparents.
I'm thankful for Christmas and the reminder every year what's really important, and that's giving, showing love, giving service, and family.
This year we were able to do Christmas for a good friend of mine.  It felt so good to help her out in some small way and she was so appreciative.  It meant so much to her, and anything I can do for one of my very best friends means the world to me, because she has always been there for me since we were young! I just hope this year brings less trials in her family's life.

A few fun things about Christmas this year was our elf who joined our family this year.  The kids named her Chrissy the Christmas elf :)  They loved finding her every morning, and the first few weeks Lexi kept questioning if she was real, especially because her eyes were always positioned to the side! I told her that Chrissy could hear everything she was saying, and she never made another comment!!  Trey was really cute with her, and one day I came down to him telling Chrissy over and how how beautiful she was.  He looked up at me and asked if Chrissy could hear him :)  Korver still calls out for Chrissy every once in awhile!
We got to go see the Forgotten Christmas Carols by Michael Mclean.  It was so neat and it was just what we needed to get us in the Christmas spirit :)

Forgotten Christmas Carols performance 

putting up the christmas lights!! 

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