Sunday, December 26, 2010

The Joy of the Holidays

Merry Christmas! I absolutely love the holidays. It is one of my favorite times of the year. It is so wonderful to spend time with family and friends. I also love to give gifts! We are currently in Western Washington with my side of the family. My sister Tiff opened up her beautiful house to all of us and Abby just loves to play with her cousins. We were missing my brother Kevin though and his family, and we missed them a lot. But before we get to pictures of Christmas, let's review the fun and festivities of December!
We are trying to experience the holidays in Bakersfield and so we went to a Seventh Day Adventist Church event called "A Walk Through Bethlehem." They tried to recreate Bethlehem and had oils, foods, animals, etc. similar to what it might have been like in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. Abby got excited about baby Jesus.We went down to Matt's parents to celebrate Christmas a little early with them on the 11th. the night we arrived there was a mysterious track set up and so Abby enjoyed driving some cars on the track. Little did she know what it was for. . . .On the 12th we exchanged gifts with his family, and earlier that day we hit Disneyland! We mainly walked around seeing characters and shows because we knew we would ride the rides on Wednesday when we spent the whole day there!
Jen and Abby and Matt and Abby waiting for the train.
Abby loved the cars in Toon Town. We could not walk by one without her getting in and saying, "Abby drive." Matt and Abby in jail in Toon Town.Matt and Abby walking around Disneyland.On the Mark Twain steamboat.Posing with Lightning McQueen in California Adventure.Our gift exchange with Matt's family was great. Abby received a choo choo train for under the tree from Grandma and Grandpa and was just ecstatic. She ripped open one corner of the package and loudly exclaimed, "choo choo!" Then ripped open the paper. Grandpa Roger had already set up the track, so the train went right up!Matt worked so hard to convert all of Heather's old VHS tapes to DVD. We watched a lot of old dance videos! We gave cousin Dexter a couple things including a little jacket with a hood that makes him look like a bear. He is adorableTuesday night, the 13th we were able to attend the LA Temple with Heather (Matt's sister) and her husband Brandon. Grandma and Grandpa so kindly watched the kids so that we could go. It was so wonderful to attend the temple. Wednesday in Disneyland was a blast! We were there from around 8:30 until 10 p.m. We were tired and I think it was one of our most fun days ever! Abby loves Minnie and Mickey and was so excited to get to see them.PlutoGoofyRiding Dumbo in Fantasyland.Ready to see Muppets in 3D!Woody!!!!!!!!!!!!What could be better than Santa in Disneyland?We saw 2 parades--one in Disneyland and one in California Adventure!Our Ward Christmas party was a lot of fun. I was in charge of some music for the party and one of my piano students named Dallin played the piano and was amazing. I was so proud of him! On our way to Washington we got to stop at my brother Kevin's house to see him and his family. Their kids Preston and Noah have lots of trains, cars, etc. and Abby was just in heaven. She could have stayed there forever!Our drive on the 21st was extremely long! It takes a while to get from northern Cali to Puyallup, WA. We were so happy to arrive. The next day Abby and I both got hair cuts and I also went a little darker! I LOVE when my sister cuts and colors my hair!Jen and Brynley (neice)--notice the darker hair color!Playing with Uncle Matt.Uncle Matt did their hair because Tiff and Jen were gone!Kylee and Abby.Slumber party under the basketball hoop!On Thursday the 23rd we went up to Mount Rainier. We checked the weather and it said everything was clear. When we got up there the Ranger to enter the Park said that chains were required 11 miles ahead and we would not be able to get to the place we wanted to sled. Our Honda did not have chains, so we didn't know what to do. We decided to all pile in the van for the couple miles we had to go, and tried to put the chains on the van. Unfortunately they were the wrong ones. So Matt and Jeremiah went to rent the chains. It took over and hour so we played with the kids and ate lunch. Then we put on the chains and started driving--one problem--no snow on the roads. We had to drive so slow we knew it would take forever. So we pulled over and took them off. Then we pulled over at another spot that said chains were required and put them on. Got back on the road--no snow. So we pulled over, took them off and asked a passing car if we needed them. He laughed and said no! We wasted 2 and a half hours on chains we did not need! When we finally made it to where we were sledding we had the greatest time as you can clearly see by the pictures!
Abby playing in the snow while waiting for the chains.Once the rangers left we broke all the rules!
Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the year! A lot of family and friends came to Tiff's house and we played games, ate food, had a little Christmas program (Abby was an angel), opened gifts and laughed a lot!
A little nap before the Christmas Eve festivities.Abby playing with Uncle Jeremiah.Playing games and talking.Kylee and Kennedy.Brynley and Caleb.My brother Brent and his wife Nicole visiting from Hawaii.Abby loving Crash the dog.Matt and Brent.Sisters! Tiff and Jen.Opening pajamas on Christmas Eve.Yummy food.
Aunt Christie and Jerry gave Abby and the kids some very cute gifts including a new blanket which Abby of course calls, "Baby."Abby's gift from Grandma and Grandpa.The girls with Brent and Nicole.Kylee, Kennedy and Abby.All the girls in their new pajamas.Jen and Abby.Abby as the angel in the program.A Christmas Eve movie to get the girls to go to sleep (didn't really work!).Waiting to come down Christmas morning.Coming in to open gifts.A new choo choo movie!Matt received a 1954 BYU basketball program from Tiff and family. We are collecting sports stuff for our game room!BYU stuff--training Abby early!Abby trying out her gift from Santa with Nicole. She loves to look at books, so Santa brought her a Tag Junior with some new books. Grandma and Grandpa opening our gift--some money to help with their future trip to Hawaii.We had Tiff's family this year, so we got them Mario Kart for the Wii.Check out the new plaque for Matt's desk!Playing games and Dad tuning my new ukulele on Christmas day.Abby on Christmas day--isn't she cute!Christmas day was wonderful. I wish we could spend this much time with family and friends more often. I am so grateful for the holiday season and the time to focus on the Savior's birth. One of my favorite things about December was reading Abby Christmas books and helping her begin to understand the true meaning of Christmas. How blessed we are to have the truthfulness of the gospel and to know that we must look to the Savior in all things.