Love this little girl . . .

Because even though we have a lot of this . . .

and occasionally this . . .

we get a daily dose of this . . .

and tons of this.

Christmas

I love this cousin picture except the red eye, which for some reason I could not edit out. At least the red eyes match the PJs.

Christmas this year was WONDERFUL. It had been 4 years since my family was all together for Christmas . . . way too long when you have so much fun together. There was potential for utter chaos with 9 adults, 6 children, and 4 dogs under one roof, but everything went great. A few highlights of the holiday season I don't want to forget.

• Celebration of the Nativities at our Stake Center. It was so incredible we went multiple times.
  
• Before heading out of town, Matt, the kids, & I headed to the zoo to visit Santa's Reindeer. Though they were too nervous to get a picture with Santa, they did have fun with all the other animals (and statues of animals). We even got to ride in Santa's sleigh. Cool.

• Car ride with Chris & Stacey - delicious bagels with lox cream cheese.
• Decorating TONS of cookies.

• Late night jigsaw puzzles.
• Treasure hunts and snype hunts.
• Cherokee the horse dancing as the Sugar Plum Fairy
  
• Beagle escapes (thanks for fixin' the fence . . . twice . . . Matt & Dad)
• Many delicious meals.
• Polar Express Pajama Party. Only 2 hot chocolate on the carpet mishaps.
  
• 
• Free garage sale (aka. I'm not ready to give this stuff to charity, or put it in the trash, but I don't want it. Take it to your house please. I came away with some beautiful pewter candle holders & Danny snagged some decorative Japanese arrows. Just what we needed.)
• Bell choir on Christmas Eve
• Jingle Bell Disco Dance with my big brother.
  
• Uncle Chris doing Christmas Eve crafts with the nieces & nephews.
• Men's campout chorus at the Christmas Eve Program.
  
• Uncle Aaron's poprock candy surprise.
• Christmas Day Canasta tournament. The Hongs won . . . no . . . the Hongs dominated.
  
• Early morning stockings on Grandma & Grandpa's bed. We're too big to fit on their bed now, but it's always fun to try.
• Adult only lunch out on Christmas Eve. Nothing says Merry Christmas like a good helping of sushi.
  
• Christmas morning excitement. After failing last year, Santa got it right this year. Star Wars Legos for Danny and a doll stroller for Kaylee. "This is the best Christmas ever" was heard more than once.
• Lazy Christmas day opening presents & playing.
• Dad's playing with children's toys while children are nowhere in sight.
• Amazing sibling teamwork to pull off a 60th birthday lunch for my mom and a Retirement/Birthday party later that evening for both parents. All this the day after Christmas.

Thanks for an unforgettable Christmas everyone!