Some Christmas Fun

So after finally getting unpacked and coming back after our sneaky Thanksgiving trip, I got right on to decorating for Christmas.  Last year I was grinched in the most unfair way possible - since we moved back to Utah from Oregon about 5 days before Christmas.  I was determined to enjoy it more fully this year.

Ross and Ruby loved opening my big tubs of decorations and taking everything out while I fretted over where to put everything - I am NOT a decorator.  It takes me WAY too long to decide what goes where and how it should look.  Anyway - we put everything up and began to feel a bit more Christmas-y.  

We found out our little town does a Christmas Light Parade (just like the one in Oregon) so we showed up to Main Street and loved every second - especially since it wasn't freezing - just nippy.  Ross yelled for every car or float that came by - since we live in a farming area there were a good handful of tractors all decked out - even a bulldozer that barely fit on the road.  It was Ross's dream come true.  They threw out lots of candy, but Ross was content with two suckers, tried a peppermint stick but handed it to me after one lick.  
 

Totally excited and blinded by the flash!

Ruby really is happy I promise. :)  She loved it too - especially when one of our friends shared his hot chocolate with her. ;)

Mater even made an appearance!

Ruby is obsessed with snowmen (and boots) and died when she saw this - she always demands the songs Frosty the Snowman (which I still haven't learned all the words to) and Once There Was a Snowman.

An awesome Christmas tractor

After the half hour parade (I love short parades) we walked over to the "Enchanted Forest" where Santa was hanging out with an insanely long line, so we decided to take a free train ride instead.  This video will illustrate how smooth that went.  
 

We've made some paper chains, picked out our Christmas tree (not as fun as when we were in Oregon cutting our own, getting free s'mores and hot chocolate - we picked it up outside Walmart - the only place selling real trees that we could find - we're in the Great Plains - I understand real Christmas trees are scarce), decorated it including making our traditional shrinky dink ornaments, put up our lights, and have been playing Christmas music galore - funny how happy that can make a person. :) 
 

Ruby just can't decide which ornament should go where so she is (still) constantly pulling them off and trying to put them back on.

Ross putting the star on - the best part.

I love glowy Christmas trees - also it smells incredible!

Waiting for Shrinky Dinks to bake.

Ross and I made ours too big so they melted together when they were trying to shrink - whoops!  Ross's was an airplane and mine a prego self portrait with baby bee #3.  Ruby has a boot on hers - because she wears them constantly.  Steve's is of a windmill - they have loads of them out here!

Christmas countdown (oh and Santa Elf - as Ross called him - is watching.

So I sewed an advent calendar from a kit I bought - I was pretty impressed with how it turned out - especially with how dumb I am in the sewing department - oh - and the 1 on the 14 fell off - don't worry - I caught that. ;)

Ross and Ruby love reaching in the pockets and pulling out our instructions for the day. :)

Stockings plus our chains. :)

In their Christmas Jammies ;)

I love these faces :)

Cuties :)

 Here are some tunes brought to you by Ross and Ruby - so funny :)

Cozy Christmas moment watching The Grinch - Ross and Ruby won't stop asking me why he's so grumpy all the time - haha.

For some reason, I have felt panicky that things will not get done in time for Christmas and I won't get to enjoy any of it.  Maybe because it's coupled with me being so pregnant and tired all the time.  All our little traditions seem like they've been jam packed - but really - we're just fine.  I finally had a moment last night when Steve was out with the missionaries and I had the kids in their Christmas pajamas from Grammy Joanne, watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas with just our Christmas lights on where the fun came back to me, and then most of all, remembering what this whole holiday is all about. :)  I'm so thankful for the birth of Jesus Christ - what a miracle and gift He is to us.    He is the reason for the season. :)

A Sneaky Thanksgiving!

Stephen and I have been quite open with the fact that we are NOT night drivers - seriously - we are not good at it.  My first experience realizing Steve was not a night driver was back when we were dating.  We were coming home from Provo to Mapleton...that's about a 10-15 minute drive people...and about halfway over Ironton Hill Steve said, "Hey, I may pull over and let you drive Stace - I'm getting pretty tired."  This is at about 11PM.  I knew then - this boy was not to be trusted driving late at night.  It was later confirmed over and over again when Steve would get all excited to watch a late night movie only to fall asleep two minutes in without realizing it.  He doesn't realize he's falling asleep and continues (to this day) to deny it whenever it happens.

I, on the other hand, have freak out attacks when I drive at night as I try to solely focus on keeping my eyes open which stresses me out the entire time.  Truth be told - the only time I've ever felt comfortable sleeping in the car while someone else is driving is when my dad is at the wheel - dad's just make you feel safe don't they. :)  

When we found out that Stephen actually was getting Friday off as well as Thursday for Thanksgiving, we thought - hmmm - maybe we could head back to Utah for the holiday!  Steve wanted to make it a total surprise, but I slipped the info to my dad just to make sure life wouldn't become complicated by us showing up - but he did a great job keeping it quiet until we arrived. :)

The only problem with this plan was - if we were going to make the most of this trip and not spend Thanksgiving Day entirely on the road - we would have to drive through the night.  After much thought - we decided to give it a go.

I researched tips for staying awake - finding some interesting advice.  Did you know you shouldn't drink caffeine, or eat sugar, or salty things?  They all contribute to you hitting that wall after they wear off.  You're supposed to drink water - consistently, eat tangy foods like oranges or lemons to keep your tastebuds awake, and consistently snacking on crunchy things help as well.

You'll be surprised to know we didn't drink any caffeine that night - my saving grace was actually a bag of beef jerky - it woke me up right during those sluggish hours when you want to die - between 2 and 5 AM.  We had planned to stop if we were feeling tired, but that beef jerky came to my rescue. :)

Our kids did well - though they crashed at 10 and then woke up for another few hours at 2 when we had stopped for gas.  Ruby was seriously little miss bubbly - I wished we could have made her drive since she was so awake.

When we got to Steve's parents - it was a quarter to 6 - we were not planning on being there that early, but somehow made record time.  At 6 Steve called his dad, all chipper, asking why there were so many cars outside their house.  After it dawned on Don (hee hee), he woke up Claudia and they came and peeked out their window at us.  It was so fun to see their faces!  We settled in - and slept till just after 10 when Steve's sister Meghan was calling from her mission..  We chatted with her for a while and then got ready and went to surprise my family.

We drove up to lots of surprised faces again.  My mom was so confused why my dad was trying to set up an extra table since they weren't going to have that many people, and then hugged the grandkiddies to death when we realized we were there.  I was so happy to be there too - my grandparents came and I got to visit with them as well.  We had a yummy dinner complete with our traditional Turkey Bowl (bowling on the Wii).  Steve won with the highest score, but Rachel and my dad were the only ones who managed to get Turkeys (three strikes in a row).  

The clan!  Ruby is handing me back her food - little stinker.

Ross likes turkey but not stuffing.

Ruby just wanted juice.

Turkey Bowl winners!  Note Rachel holding a pumpkin since no turkeys were present (I guess we ate ours already).

We got home and put the kids to bed early - I was SO tired, but we had babysitters at our fingertips - so we snuck away to see Interstellar - eh - it was interesting and then went weird - and it was crazy long!  Fun to go to a movie though.

The next day I did some serious Black Friday shopping - setting our kids for Christmas AND birthdays.  Steve may or may not have had a spending heart attack (mostly in behalf of me since I was enjoying every minute of it), but we got through. :)

My parents were fabulous and watched the kids while Steve and I went to the Temple - and loved it.  It's always so good to go.  We came back and visited some more before again - stepping out to see Mockingjay - which was also good.  

Saturday we hung out with my family, eating leftovers, playing a rousing game of Mall Madness - Dain won...ever since I started playing that beloved board game with boys - they always win.  It must be that carnal instinct to get in and get out quickly.  I have never beaten Steve in that game...and I have a feeling I never will.  We played Farkle too - always a goodie - and I got to see my cute Nephew Jaxton as well.  I've decided he's a little angel baby - so chill, sleeps a lot, and just hangs out letting you hold him.  I hope he's rubbed some of that chill off on this new little guy coming soon to our family. :)

That night we headed up to Temple Square to see the lights - along with every other possible human being who lives on this earth.  It was crazy!  We finally made it in and had a great time seeing all the lights everywhere and getting our traditional picture in front of the temple.  We got back quite late, but pulled ourselves together to leave the next morning.  

Ruby LOVES her Daddy :)

Our crazy clan!

Grandkids picture with the Grandparents!

Rach, Dain, and cute Jaxton who's enjoying the lights!

Ross's face cracks me up here!

Ruby got banned to the stroller - so we tried to distract her with the fun nativities they had around.

Me in my whaleness mode - I'm 31 weeks now! 

 Ross was just sick about leaving...literally.  How is this always our lot when we travel?  Ruby took her turn when we moved out here to Colorado.  I guess Ross wanted to relive that.  He threw up around 2AM - so we threw in some wash and then tried to get more sleep.  We left about 6AM and Ross had a few repercussions throughout the morning - thank heavens for that big gulp cup we snagged at the gas station - it was well used.  Ross actually did fine - even trying to keep watching whatever movie was on in the midst of puking.  CRAZY.  He took a nap later in the car and then seemed right as rain after that.  Ruby went a bit bonkers being in the car that long, but still managed to do okay.  We got home that night and were SO happy we had made the trip - it was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and we are so thankful for such wonderful families.