Christmas Day

Because we had done most of our celebrating with my side of the family the day before it really made Christmas and enjoyable day this year. We didn't have to split the day between 3 families and it was really nice. (Maybe we should do that every year from now on!) Matt had to work until 3 on Christmas day, so the kids and I slept in a little bit and then got ready and went next door to my parents for our traditional Yancey brunch on Christmas morning. We had pancakes, sausage, fruit and juice. It was yummy and a great way to start the morning. The kids played for a while and then we went home and loaded the car to head out to Unlce Kendall and Aunt Stephanies for the Keller get together. We got there early enough that we were able to skype and visit with Elder Keegan Keller that is serving a mission in Spain right now. He has been out for a little more than 10 months and will be home before we know it. It was really great to see him and talk to him and hear how he was doing. I know it was a highlite for a lot of the family. For the Keller lunch they did a pasta bar. There was lasagna, spaghetti, fettuchini with shrimp, and shrimp alfredo with salad and garlic bread. It was so fun to have all the different types of pasta, and pretty much all you could eat. We never go hungry at a Keller get together. Grandma Keller gave away some of her jewelry to her granddaughters, and great-granddaughters and Paige and I fell into this catelgory. It was fun to look through and pick something out special that belonged to her. I wore some of the jewelry this last Sunday and got several compliments. So that is fun! After dinner we did the pass around gift exchange. This year they changed the rules so that once a gift has been open it can only be passed 3 times before it is out. That made the game go quicker, but dissapointed some of the people that were at the end of the game because it made it so a lot of the items were out of play. Also we all drew numbers for the order in which we picked a gift so it was all random. I ended up with a $25 gift card to Chili's and a box of whoppers and Matt got a grooming kit. It was one of the better years for us! We had a fun time with everyone.

After that we went to Grandpa & Grandma C's house to open more gifts. Paxten got a new outfit, 6 books all about trucks and tractors, Jake and the Neverland Pirate toys, toy dinosaurs, a pack of gum (that was his favorite), and at our prior Christmas Party he got a headlamp and a Mcdonalds gift card.
Paige got a new outfit, a cheetah print jacket, the movie Brave, Tinkerbell toy, Fur Real Friends bunny, gum, and a lalaloopsy and a McDonalds gift card.
Parker got: A new outfit, remote control truck, Ben 10 4 in 1 gun, gum, Avengers book all about the characters, and a headlamp and a Mcdonalds gift card.
The whole family got the game Cootie and Matt got an affliction shirt and I got a bag and Adobe Photoshop, which I am really excited to use! We had a great day with family and spending time with the people we care most about.

Christmas Eve Dinner/Celebration

This year for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner we had lobster, prime rib, baked potatoes, spinach salad, yogurt salad, and rolls. It was all delicious and we all were stuffed after dinner. The kids could hardly take waiting until after we got the table cleared off and the dishes done to open their presents. After sorting out all the gifts into piles of who they would go to we started opening gifts. This year we did it differently having each person open 1 gift and then going around the room from youngest to oldest so that we could all see what everyone opened. Ususally there is so much wrapping paper and boxes flying around that we miss seeing half of what people open. So we tried something new this year. It did end up taking a little longer, but it was fun to see all the excitement and expressions on everyones faces as they opened each gift. Once again we were all spoiled and had such a great time together. We really do have a great family. This year Paxten got: A church outfit, a play outfit, a twin mattress (for the bunk bed), twin sheet set, dino racer, socks, drum set, RC & Woody car, Cars couch, elmo pop-up tent, bubble bath, cars slippers.
Paige got: Cinderella dress up outfit with a crown and glass slippers, church dress with tights, minnie mouse outfit, Rapunzel barbie, Hair bow holder, gold sparkly boots, 4 easy bake oven refills, bubble bath, duets sing-a-ma-jig, and an ipad mini with her name on it and an itunes gift card and a pink cover.
Parker got: a track outfit, a church outfit, socks, star wars lego set with a storage bag, Avengers acrion figures, angry birds hat and gloves, angry birds slippers, dream lite, bubble bath, and an ipad mini with his name on it with an itunes gift card and a green cover.
Erika: Amazon gift card, scrapbook paper cutter, cake decoration class and lesson kit, photo display frame made from an old door, lotions from Bath & Body Works, 3 iphone covers, scrabble shuffle game, dish drying mats, jewelry display holder, and a cricut cartridge. (I also got a cute decoration that spells Frosty from Sheri!)
Matt:a Harley shirt, golf balls, tees, 2 golf shirts, Callaway hat, white socks, Cal-Ranch gift card, earbuds, Wii Cabelas gun & game, otterbox iphone cover, Blackfoot Golf Course gift card and as a joint gift to Matt and I we got a Traeger grill and cover and 2 bags of pellets... which Matt is very very excited about!

Christmas Morning

After finally getting up at the kids perisitence, we got to opening gifts. Each of the kids got Something to Wear, Something to Read, and Something to Play With. We decided to keep it simpler and not get too extreme, after all we just took the kids to Disneyland and they knew that was part of their Christmas this year. Parker got Perry the Playypus slippers, new jeans, socks, and underwear. The Magic Tree House bookset, and some Cars2 cars. Paige got a Sunday coat, a maxi dress, and a black shirt. She also got the Junie B. Jones books set, her own kitchen cooking utensils and a Hello Kitty CD player for her room. Paxten got a Mater Christmas book, a sweatshirt, and another outift, and a Batman car to ride on. Santa did a familt gift this year and we got a Wii game system with 5 games. We got the wii sports game, Wheel of Fortune, Cars2, Toy Story 3, and a Tangled game. Along with the games we got 2 extra controllers, so that more than one person can play at a time. We all got some great stocking stuffers including some of out favorite snacks and treats. Matt got me the Hunger Games movie and I got him some new workout shorts, socks, and cologne. We were all pretty happy with our new stuff and got to work setting up the game system. After about an hour and it not working, Matt decided that the game system was defective. Luckily it wasn't actually Christmas Day and he was able to take it to exchange it at the special "Exchange Store" that Santa has. So a few hours later, we had the new Wii working and were having fun. Later on we got together and my parents house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner and gift exchange.

Christmas Jammies

My mom has started a tradition with the kids to give them Christmas Jammies, a book, and an ornament on Christmas Eve each year. This year she got the kids adorable jammies, as always! Paiges said, "I've been sweet all year." and Paxten's said, "All you want for Christmas is me!" Parker was excited that he got angry birds shirt and flannel pants that were long and fit him well. The book she got the family was a new book written by Thomas S. Monson called, "The Christmas Train." We enjoyed reading the book that evening about when our prophet was a little boy and the decision he made to make Christmas special for a little boy in his ward. It was a great story with beautiful illustrations. The ornaments the kids got this year were wonderful as well. Paige got a little girl building a gingerbread house, Paxten got a boy dressed as Batman, and Parker got a red Angru Birds ornament. The kids love having their own ornaments to decorate the tree each year and love to look at all the ornaments from previous years. It really is a fun tradtion.

Matt had to work on Christmas morning this year, so we got special permission from Santa to have out Christmas on Monday morning instead of Tuesday morning. So that made out Christmas Eve on Sunday night. The kids really had no idea that is was a different day and we so excited about the thought of Santa coming that they could hardly sleep. Who wouldn't have been excited that Santa was coming a day early?! Parker woke up about 6 times during the night and Paige woke up twice. At about 6:45 we decided that we shoule just get up and let them open their presents, we weren't going to be able to go back to sleep anyways.

Gingerbread House Building

The kids look forward to making gingerbread houses each year. I think it is one of their favorite traditions. We had Grandma Yancey over to help us out and she brought a bag full of goodies to contribute to the house building. I helped Paige and Parker was helped by grandma. Paxten decided he wasn't too interested and ended up laying with Matt and taking a nap. Between Paige and Parker we used 2 batched of frosting and about 6 bags of candy! It seemed like it became a competition to see who could put the most candy on their house without it collapsing.  We didn't decied on a winner, but I am sure it would have been a tie. They both had gobs of candy on it and wanted more and more. I finally had to tell Paige that there was no where else to put any more candy! Both houses turned out fun and reflected the personalities of both the kids. It was a fun evening and we had table centerpieces for the next 2 weeks! December 18th, 2012.

Scott & Marlee's Wedding

I was asked my Matt's cousin Marlee if I would take pictures at their wedding. I agreed and thought I was just going to be taking a few pictures of family and snapshots, when I arrived I realized that me and one of Matt's other cousin's Courtney, would be the Photographers for the day. I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of knowing that I was taking the pictures of their wedding day for them to have forever. I was glad that Courtney was there taking pictures as well, she is more experienced than me with her camera and knowing that she was taking many pictures as well kind of made me feel better. I took about 150 pictures at the temple and then ended up taking about the same about at the recption, so they will have plenty of photos to look through and hopefully they will like quite a few of them.

It was a great day and I could tell how happy and in love these two are. They are such an adorable couple and Scott will be a great addition to our family. I honestly don't think these two can take a bad picture, they were very photogenic and both of their smiles are so nice! I did have a fun time taking so many pictures and then seeing how they turned out. Some better than others, but I was suprised when I went to develop one of them for the reception, I was asked to show the copyright when I picked them up. I was flattered that they thought they looked like professional pictures. I guess they turned out better than I thought. I do like taking pictures of my family and it may be fun to get more into Photography, but I can sure understand the stress that phographers face when trying to capture those precious once in a lifetime memories. Congratulations to Scott and Marlee! We love both of you!

Our Elf Fritz

Our elf Fritz was very busy during the holiday season. He made his way throughout our house and the kids loved having to search for him every morning. I think it became the highlight of their day finding our elf. He was pretty well behaved and only made a few messes that I had to clean up, thank good ness! The kids expecially loved it when he would hide in their rooms. Fritz was a good elf and he helped the kids remember to be good so he could report to Santa how they were behaving. Parker and Paige were especially sad when they learned that Fritz would be leaving out house and returning to the North Pole for the next year. They cant wait for him to return next year, meanwhile I keep reminding them to be good all year long! We will see how long that lasts. We are so glad that this is a new family tradition and we are very excited to have this special elf be a part of many more years of family fun in the years to come!