Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, indeed! Honestly, the biggest gift that I could have been given was to be able to spend time with my family on Christmas, and that's precisely what I got. Hazen was so cute and excited when he woke up, and saw that Santa had brought him EXACTLY what he had asked for! Imagine that! We opened gifts slowly, and then had a light breakfast before getting ready to go to church. It was an absolutely beautiful day, with clear skies and no snow anywhere to be seen! After church, we got ready to head over to Wade and Jenny's house for more Christmas festivities. My parents were with Heidi and her family in Florida, and Heather had gotten back from a vacation the day before, so we wanted to let them have a chance to have a holiday without all of us crashing on their front door. So, Wade and Jenny were kind enough to have us over. It's pretty much like we were with family, anyway, and I am SO GLAD that we spent the day with them. Like I've said a million times before, Hazen LOVES Wade's kids, and we couldn't pry them away from each other after the moment that we walked in the front door. Jenny made an absolutely delicious meal, and I brought a few things as sides. After we stuffed ourselves, the kids went down to the basement to continue to play with their toys, and the adults played a few games. I don't think it's good form to pee your pants from laughing on Christmas Day, but I almost did! We had such a great time, and look forward to the next holiday that we'll be spending with our second family!

Christmas Eve

This year, it was my year to work Christmas. I was scheduled to work Christmas Eve, and while I recognize that it's something that I've totally signed up for as a nurse, I was still a little bummed out to know I'd miss Christmas Eve. The plan was to have the boys stop by work for a little, so at least I could feel like I got to see my family on this special holiday. You can imagine my surprise of course then, when I received the phone call saying that I was cancelled outright! The only negative, was that I hadn't planned anything for dinner. Luckily, Tucano's caters to people like me, and we were able to get a reservation. We all really love Tucanos, and everyone was super friendly there that night. Afterwards, we came home and set out the cookies for Santa. We were lame, and Kneaders provided Santa's cookies this year. Might I suggest in the future not obtaining such fancy cookies, because Santa told me that they're pretty hard to eat after having downed a big dinner only hours before......

We opened jammies, and sent our little elf off to bed. That boy is the cutest thing in the entire planet. I sure love him, and am so grateful that even though we weren't with our whole family, we were still able to enjoy Christmas Eve!

Thanksgiving Point with the Olsen's

I was NOT messing around when I said that I was going to knock a whole slew of things off of my Holiday to-do list. Next on the list was going to Thanksgiving Point to see the lights. We decided to invite our buddies, the Olsen's along for the ride. We all piled into the Durango, and off we went. Luckily, we went on a night when the line to get in wasn't too bad. The lights were really beautiful, albeit slightly shorter than I would have liked. Afterward, we treated ourselves to some serious delicious hot chocolate inside. Thanksgiving Point even has Reindeer, so it was fun for the kids to be able to see what Santa would be utilizing to guide his sleigh just a few days later. We love hanging out with the Olsen's; Wade and Jenny are two of our very best friends, and they kids get along so well. It really is a match made in heaven!

Visiting Santa at the North Pole

Next up on our list of things that absolutely must be done during the holiday season? A visit to go see Santa at the North Pole. And by North Pole, I mean the Riverwoods. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm sure that the University Mall Santa is just fine for people who are lame, and don't care that their Santa DOESN'T EVEN HAVE AN ACTUAL SUIT. No worries to them, and the skewed visions their posterity shall have of what Santa should look like. Ain't no thang. WE are real Santa peeps. So, we braved the butt cold, and Hazen got to tell Santa that he wanted Smokey the Fire truck. Let's hope that Santa was listening!!

Cookie Exchange

During one of my trips to Vegas, I purchased a box of invitations for a cookie exchange party. Not necessarily wanting to store them for yet another year, I decided that this was the year to have a cookie exchange! So, we had as many people who's schedule would permit, which included the Lawrence's, Robisons, Kevin and Becca, and the Olsen's, and we had a gathering at our house. There were some serious deliciousness that occurred at our house, and I'm pretty sure that I gained 12 lbs from the Salted Caramel Butter Bars that Aubrey made alone. Pretty much some of the most delicious cookies I've ever had in my life! It was a lot of fun to get together with our friends for the evening. It was seriously low-key, but really nice to be able to invite everyone over, also so they could see how cute my Christmas house looked. :)

Temple Square with the Vances and Lawrences

On my list of things to do/places to see for the Holiday season was a trip to Temple Square to see the lights. Since pretty much everything is always more fun with friends, we went with the Vance's and the Lawrence's. It was FREEZING, but so much fun. Hazen is just to the age where these types of things are fun for him. He loved getting together with all of his friends that he also gets to see pretty frequently at the "Little Gym". We first went to Cafe Rio for dinner, which was quite the feat getting a table for all of us. Once we found a place to park, we took Trax to get to temple square, and then immediately got some hot chocolate. We were only there for an hour or so, but we enjoyed every minute! Hopefully this can turn into a yearly tradition with our friends!