More Christmas

So, we told the kids they couldn't go downstairs until we all went down together. You'll never guess who the first one up was... YUP, 6:30 our phone rings.. it's Lauren!! When we walked out the door all three kids were sittin in the hall outside the door. I love that the kids still get excited.

Lauren got some jewelry & books from Santa. Holly got a dance bag and some jewelry from Santa. Both girls also got a camera, & all the accessories to go with them, beaded watches and itunes cards from us.

Nate got legos, bionicles, and a nerf gun from Santa. From us, rather than getting him a camera, he was so hard to shop for. He ended up with a gift card so he could go shopping.

I can't believe how FAST three kids can open presents!! So, since we were done in a sum total of 20 minutes, Charley and I went back to bed!!

After that it was headed out to grandma J's. Here's just a few fun pictures.

This is everyone that was there... Minus me (taking the picture) and my mom and dad who were washing the dishes! Everyone that know my parents know that dishes do NOT sit in the sink.. EVER! Even on Christmas.

And I don't even remember when the last time my sisters and I had our picture taken just the three of us. But I like this one.. even if I do look like a "midget" as Michelle would say...

Christmas Eve...

We were able to have all the kids overnight for Christmas eve. Actually, it was Charley's first overnight Christmas with the girls in several years. We picked them up around 2 on christmas eve and headed straight to my parent's family party. Every year (started on christmas eve, but since, the date has varied a little because of family schedules). The Jamison family party is the one time that my dad takes the entire family to a nice restaurant and pays for everything. He loves to do it and we all love to get together.

This year's party was at Mimi's. We missed Craig's family because his wife had surgery, but it was fun to get everyone together. Here's a picture of 10 of the 12 grandkids.


It took them so long to get in one place for the picture, that we told them to make a silly face too. This picture is so funny!

And a couple quick pictures of our family.

Aren't my parents the cutest?

Michelle's Family:

And Erin's Family:

Afterwards, everyone went to my parents for the traditional pajamas. We actually didn't go this year. Instead, we took the girls back to our place and made gingerbread houses. My parents gave us this kit for Thanksgiving. (They always give a christmas decor gift to the families at thanksgiving). Nate has been dying to put it together, but we told him he had to wait until the girls were here.

This kids got bored of the gingerbread house pretty early and started eating the candy. We also went and visited Heather's family and also went over to our friend Denise & Carlos's to visit and exchange gifts. It was fun for the girls to see their cousins and to visit with friends.

Our 2009 Christmas Card

Here it is! This year's Christmas card. Believe it or not, this year's cards were actually quite a point of contention! (I'll explain). But anyway, I think they turned out great for last minute...


If you didn't get yours in the mail, I'm so-0 sorry! I found a stack the sunday after Christmas that never made it to the mail. It's because I mailed all the out of state ones and several of the in state ones... then had to buy more stamps. (As you can tell, I never bought more stamps). But, I did get the majority of them out.

Not bad for last minute cards eh? Ok, now for the contention explanation...

I had scheduled family pictures 3 different times... but we have 3 busy children and never made it to any of the photo shoots. My goal now is to get family pictures sometime before next year's cards!! We shall see (LOL).

I actually debated not sending cards this year. It was a week before Christmas and I didn't even have a game plan. But you know, me, I am a procrastinator... thus I work VERY well under pressure. And for those that know me, knows that I LOVE cards, both making and sending, so how could I pass it up this year??

So Thursday before Christmas eve (I think it was the 17th) I bought these dollar hats from Michaels. We picked up the girls and took these pictures over at the district by their house. I uploaded them to Costco Thursday night, and Friday afternoon... viola! Christmas cards. They were in the mail Friday night (well the ones that made it to the mail). Did I mention that I love Costco photo??


What do you think of the pictures? Not bad for an ametuer, eh? I actually love the way they turned out, and the kids were surprisingly cooperative!. The whole photo shoot was a sum total of 20 minutes, but they were freezing... Sorry kids!

Can you tell which of the kids likes to get their picture taken, and which ones would prefer to go without? Holly was dying to get pictures taken by this light post also. Afterwards, I actually liked those best, so they're the ones that ended up on the card.

And this is my favorite one. I love the way this picture turned out! Charley did NOT want his picture taken at ALL. (This is why we aren't on the card.. haha). But he ended up liking this picture a lot, and wished I was in it too. Maybe next year we can get pictures with all of us.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas, and thank you for ALL the wonderful cards we received.

Neighbor Gifts...

I always try to come up with neighbor gifts that don't require any baking. One, because I feel like everyone gets enough "baked" goods over the holidays, and two because I'm not a great cook. The past couple of years we have done wrapping paper, gift tags, etc.

This year I found these cute little ornament photo holders at Michaels. They were on clearance so I had to go to 3 different Michael's to get enough for work and neighbors. I knew exactly what I was trying to say... something along the lines of "favorite memory, display here" but I couldn't find a poem or quote to fit. I found the first verse online, but then actually ended up writing my own second verse... I think they turned out pretty cute... SIMPLE, but cute...

(One small disclaimer: As with my christmas cards, I still have about 8 of these neighbor gifts on my kitchen counter that never made it out. If anyone wants one... let me know :) ).

Christmas in Idaho...

We finally made it to Idaho! It was an extra 75 miles (around Pocatello way since the main roads were closed) and an extra 3 hours, but what the heck. It was an experience. When we first got there, everyone was eating dinner, so we just joined in. It was just nice to visit with everyone. The next morning we all went and saw Beverly Hills Chua... however you spell it. The movie was actually really good!! After that it was shopping in the twin falls mall and some more visiting. We were able to get together to play games Saturday night as we watched it snow... and snow... and snow... wondering if we were going to be able to make it back home. Kinda funny, while we were sitting there playing games, Denise's phone rang... they were calling church off for a snow day! Wowza... I've never seen that in West Valley... but then I was reminded that a lot of people drive a lot farther in the rural parts of Idaho. So after a short-after christmas weekend in idaho, it's back to Salt lake and back to work tomorrow. And although sad, but funny, this is the only picture I took in Idaho. (Charley will probably kill me when he sees this! LOL).

More Christmas!

We have so many fun pictures from Christmas that it's hard to decide what to highlight. So here's a few more from Christmas with the Jamison's. This is for the family that couldn't be there, and for those in Idaho. Enjoy!

Christmas Aftermath...

Even though this has been one of the busiest Christmas's, it has been one of the most exciting. This is our first christmas as a combined family. I will admit it's challenging to shuffle the kids around on parent time, and I was nervous about how it would turn out, but everything turned out perfect and it's worth seeing the smiles on their faces.

Nate woke early as usual to find that Santa had brought him a set of golf clubs. He's been golfing with Charley several times, and has become quite fond of it. He also got a stocking full of bakugons & a few other small things. Then it was off to unwrapping.... some legos a DS game, a telescope... you know, the usual boy stuff. After that, I went back to bed to take nap! (I know... I know... but we had been up all night wrapping and such. One of these years i'm going to get to bed at a decent hour on Christmas eve).
Charley's normal parent time on Christmas this year began at 1 pm. The girls called at 11 and said they were going to close the roads down in their neighborhood and asked if we could come get them earlier. Looking out our windows, the snow was barely covering the grounds. So we got ready and headed out... The farther south we drove, the worse the snow got! Out at their place, there was sooo much snow you could barely drive though it. It was amazing the contrast from their area to the rest of the valley! So we took them to my parents to open their gifts. L got mostly clothes, a nightmare before christmas fleece blanket, pajamas, DS games, and cash for a shopping spree. For H it was a shopping spree, clothes, books, DS game, pretty much the opposite of Nate's boy stuff!

Then it was off to my parents. The kids mostly got gift cards (for the girls) and cash (for nate).

There was so much snow in Heber that my sister Erin couldn't make it, but it was still nice to be with family. After that it was dropping the girls home, and nate to his dad's. Christmas evening was sure quiet. Not the same without kids around. Charley and I were going to head to Idaho, but with all the snow, the roads were closed at the Idaho border... so despite the bad weather, we decided to go to a movie and head to idaho in the morning.

A Letter to Santa...

In All the rush, Nate never made it to see Santa. I am hoping the spirit just stays. I always tell him that if you believe, then you receive. Nate hears a lot from the kids at school, but I think i've convinced i'm not nice enough to leave him toys. Hmmm. Well anyway, here's his letter to Santa. I took a pic because I thought it was so cute. And in case you're wondering, yes, that's OJ and popcorn that he left him. We're very untraditional over here at our place!

Twilight Page

And Here's L's page. I'm so excited these girls love to scrap! Even though I know nothing about twilight (haven't read any of the books, nor seen the movie) it was still fun to help them make these pages.