Merry Christmas Everybody!

Gosh, this Christmas sure snuck up on me! With all that we have been going through to get the house the whole season almost passed us by. We had the fore thought to go shopping for gifts the first week of December, but after that it was all kinda about getting closed on the house and moved in. We moved our big stuff in on Saturday 17th but Jacob was still in school until Wednesday the 21st. I picked Jacob up from school that day and we moved in that night. It was so nice to be in our home, but then I realized I had so much to do and a Christmas to celebrate. Although we did not get to do much for the season we did get to go see Christmas lights and walk around Temple Square. I loved it, but wish we could have done more. Next year we will be sure to do it all! We did manage to get a sweetish Christmas (Shumway tradition) on Christmas Eve and had a fun evening watching A Christmas Story. Jacob loved it and Ricky laughed at Ralph and Randy each time they were chased by the Farkas kid. "Mommy's little piggy" was quite a hit as well. That night I wrapped presents, set up the stockings and headed off to bed excited to see the kids sweet excited faces just hours away.

We all woke up at 6:30am and the kids were so fun to watch. Ricky and Jacob both stood in amazement as they took in the bounty that Santa had left them. Ricky wanted to open everything and Jacob just bounced around the room in excitement.  Presents did not disappoint and we all got a wonderful Christmas haul.  I have felt so blessed to have so much this year.  It is good to be with family and enjoy the moments with them.  I miss my family very much when the holiday hits but I am thrilled we did not have to do it all alone.  The morning was fun and when it was all over we headed we had breakfast and headed for showers because we had church today.  I generally hate having to go after the presents but I really enjoyed this one.  There was mostly speakers and chorus songs.  It really made me feel like it was a special day and a sacred day.

We got home and did naps and did the traditional drive up to Centerville to visit with Jerry & Kathy & the Jensen clan. I love going up to see them. They are such an easy family to be around and there is never a lack of conversation. The kids had a ball playing with cousins & ate until sick. It was really nice to see everyone and after hours of relaxing it was time to go. We said our goodbyes and headed home. I wish we could have ended the night on that high note but no such luck. We got about 20 minutes down the freeway on the way home and Jake said his stomach was hurting. We figured it was just too much pop or candy but when he turned green we realized he was serious. We had just enough time to get pulled off of the freeway with a bag tucked under Jakie's mouth when he blew! It was horrible but we managed to contain the whole thing. We took a 20 minute break to clean up the car and headed home. We thought that night would be the worst of it but we found the next day that it was not pop or candy. Within 24 hours we were all horribly sick with an unbelievable flu! I have never been that sick in my life. We laid in bed with both kids on the floors around our bed for 48 hours until we could get up the strength to go get some drinks and light food. It was truly unbelievable. It was a great day until that though. We will focus on that.

 Here are a few of our winter picture efforts followed by our Christmas morning & afternoon photos.  (IT WAS FREEZING when we did the photos in the mountains with the boys so I am amazed that we got the ones that we got with Katie's help!)