Christmas Day with Family

This year we got to have two Christmases on Christmas day since both of our families were in Utah.  We started early at Mimi and Papa's house with all of Drew's family.  The boys were really cute to watch.  Alden loved opening all of the presents and seeing what he got.  He didn't really want to slow down while there were still presents to unwrap.  Anders was the opposite.  He opened his first present and was very happy to just sit there with the first present (headphones) and ignore the rest that still had to be unwrapped.  It was fun to see them get so excited and happy.

The boys were very excited to see that Santa had come and filled their stockings.

Alden got glow sticks in his stocking and immediately cracked about 20 of them.  He thought they were lots of fun.

Anders was very happy to carry around the two candy canes of candy until we got to the presents.  Alden was more anxious to get to his presents.

Anders was so easy going but curious at the same time.

Anders was very happy sitting on Dad's lap holding his headphones.  Drew got a new nerf gun to play with all the boys.

All the boys, including cousins, got matching nerf guns for Christmas and my boys were so excited that they had to hold them while they were eating breakfast.

After finishing up at Mimi and Papa's in the morning we went over to Aunt Jenni and Uncle Rick's house to meet up with all my family and get to Skype with my brother who is currently on his mission in Peru.  It was so cool to get to talk with my brother and have all of my family there to see how well he looks!  After we talked with him we had fun opening the presents there.  We then had a nice time relaxing, eating and hanging out with family for a few hours.  It was a very busy Christmas for us but also a lot of fun!

Both boys love that Jenni and Rick have kids size rocking chairs for them to sit in!

Alden, Maren and Katrina all waiting to open stockings.

Anders was very excited about his new book and sweater,

Anders was very intrigued by the Snoopy plates that got given to our family.  Alden thought they were really cool!

Alden was very excited to open a new lego set for a plane!

Alden got a remote control car for Christmas and he was so excited to use it.  Anders loved it too and loved watching it and hearing all the noises that it made!

    

While dinner was coming together my dad and Drew had fun figuring out how to put together the Lego plane that Alden opened.

Christmas Eve

We got to spend Christmas Eve with Drew's family in Utah this year.  It was a lot of fun because all of Drew's family was there, including all 4 of his siblings and all 6 of Alden and Anders' cousins.  It was fun to see all the kids playing and having fun together while getting to interact with all of the family.  We had fun making paper chains, decorating the tree, visiting, letting kids decorate sugar cookies with Mimi, and watching Christmas videos in Christmas pajamas.  We had a good and memorable Christmas eve.

The kids had a lot of fun making the giant paper chain.

Drew and Magann went down and helped finish using all the paper at the end too.

Alden loved getting to play with the dogs, when they were interested.

Drew, the paper chain monster, getting ready to decorate the tree.

Drew and Nathan got the paper chain put up around the tree together.

The boys had a lot of fun putting ornaments on the tree.  Anders needed some help but still had lots of fun.

Uncle Nathan helped all the kids put ornaments higher up on the tree.

The boys were very excited to open up their one Christmas Eve present.

I love seeing Alden and Anders loving on each other!

The boys showing off their new Christmas pajamas.

We ended the day watching Christmas movies together before putting the kids to bed so that Santa would come!  It was a very nice Christmas Eve.

Salt Lake Temple Lights

Whenever we are in Utah for Christmas time we love going to see the lights at Temple Square.  This trip we got to go with my sister, Aunt, Uncle and cousin and we had a great time even though it was rather cold and Alden was feeling a little sick.  We did not get to stay and look at the lights as much as we normally do but it was still well worth the trip to see the beautiful temple and light displays.  I love seeing the lights surrounding the temple and seeing the wonderful nativity displays all over the grounds.

 It was beautiful!

 I love this nativity of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus on the pond.

 Anders and Alden were mesmerized by everything and loved looking and taking everything in.

 Alden wanted to be carried 90% of the time because he was feeling sick which was part of the reason we didn't stay too long.  (It was also very cold)

 I love the giant nativity that they have with lighting and narration.  It tells the story of Jesus' birth and shows what the true meaning of Christmas is very nicely.

 I loved just taking in all the lights and it was really nice to have some family with us too!

It is fun to see the nativities from all over the world showing the same story in different ways.  I loved visiting temple square with the family and I am so glad that we made the time to do this while we were in Utah.