Merry Christmas!

Santa was here...and he left a mess!

But he also left some really good stuff!

Cole LOVED his garbage truck (even though it was green instead of blue like he wanted), and Ellie was thrilled to have so many treats at her fingertips :)

She also liked her rapunzel baby and matching outfit...I think. Her face in this pic is saying "Embarrasing! We are wearing the same dress. You should go change."

We all were very spoiled this Christmas with lots of presents and love!!

Merry Christmas to all!!

Christmas Eve

We decided to get Santa's cookies and the reindeer carrots set out before we left for our family party. Cole was excited to leave them, but from Ellie's face it seems she was a little nervous that we were inviting a big fat man and his animals into our house :)

We celebrated Christmas Eve with the Green family this year. Even though my parents are on a mission, all of the kids still got together at Brendan & Marli's house.

We had a night full of family, food and fun!!

After dinner we played the rip and rollin' tape game. Cole and Ellie had a hard time getting doubles, but when they did Daddy was ready to help them rip some good stuff off:

After the game we had a talent show on their stage. The little kids got really into it and didn't want their turn to be over:

And some of the big kids got into it too:

Yes, that is my big brother and nephew doing a jumprope routine...and I am proud :)

Cole impressed everyone with his garbage truck skills and Ellie danced the night away for everyone :)

After the talent show we opened cousin gifts:

Then we got in our jammies and headed home to bed so Santa could come!!

It was a perfect Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve a night early with the Coombs fam so that everyone could be here. It was a great night! We covered all the basics:

The Nativity

(Cole was Joseph and Elise was the angel)

Cousin gifts

Christmas Jammies

Sugar Cookies

And the talent show (which I forgot to take pics of). It was a fun talent show with our musically talented family...and then there is Cole who sang Jingle Bells and Ellie who danced to all the songs. Hey, at least we contributed.

Luckily Cole was able to make it to the party. You may have noticed his right eye looks a little funny. He has been sick and his right eye has been swollen for two days. I made Ben take him to instacare last night to get him on an antibiotic so that he didn't miss all of the Christmas activities this weekend. It worked. He was back to his normal crazy self tonight...besides the swollen right eye :)

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve Eve with the Coombs family!

And it is still going...the big "kids" are going strong playing games. I love this time of year, I love our family, and I love my Savior.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!!

The Ultimate Gingerbread House

Ignore the goofy faces and enjoy the beauty and majesty of the ultimate gingerbread house.

We went to the Grand America Hotel today and saw this magnificent peace of art. It is life size and entirely made of candy. From the gingerbread roof and walls to the rice krispie floor. 100% edible. Pretty awesome!

Temple Square

We decided to ride the "train" to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square for FHE. Cole was very cautious around the frontrunner. He made sure that EVERYBODY stayed away from the tracks. He was pretty hysterical when I stopped to take a pic while they were getting on. He was pretty sure Ellie was going to fall and I was going to miss the train. Sweet boy.

The kids had a blast on the train. Cole was so excited that he couldn't stop talking...the whole hour it took us to get there :)

We finally made it to Temple Square.

The lights were beautiful, but it was FREEZING!! We spent more time getting warm than we did looking at lights. It was worth it though. The kids had the time of their life on the train and we got to see the beauty of Temple Square at Christmas time!

Santa Lucia

We had the annual Santa Lucia party with the Coombs fam tonight. After a yummy dinner we all got to decorate our own gingerbread house. Cole and Ben had fun designing and decorating...Ellie had fun eating the candy :)