i heart ... christmas

here is the story of my christmas.

'twas the night before christmas when all through the house...

...lots of people were (there's not an appropriate word that rhymes here

so forget the rhyming thing!)...

lots of people were gathering to celebrate.

we always spend christmas eve with my dad's side of the family.

and we always begin the evening with lots of good food...

my dad & his brother brian

i made
martha stewart's triple chocolate peppermint trifle

which i've been waiting all year to make for christmas eve!

sierra, breanna, & brennan

after eating we just hung out for a little while.

it was nice and relaxing.

and it gave everyone a chance to chat -

because that's what my dad's family likes to do the most!

seriously!

super seriously!

look where thomas found santa?

this child loves santa!

we were having a debate over

what this creature was on eli's head.

someone said hedgehog.

i vote for that.

clayton & ava

kaitlyn & eli


after eating and hanging out

it was time for the nativity.

the most important part.

here come the players:

ava & ammon

look at this shy little lamb

(ha! don't be fooled!)

thomas


after the nativity we had numerous musical numbers

which were so awesome

and helped everyone to feel the christmas spirit

(but there is no way i can show all of them here

because there were so many!)

but i will just show you the final musical number.

scroll down further for the video.

can you guess the song?

last but not least,

eli received his stocking!

this is a very important event in our family.

my nana makes every new baby in the family a stocking

which is presented to them on christmas eve.

when it's presented we all sing

"hang up the baby's stocking".



aaaahhhhh,

christmas morning!

finally!

first we ate brunch...

... which is one of the best meals of the whole year!

creme brulee french toast, spinach quiche,

biscuits & gravy, fresh squeezed o.j.

and these amazing sticky rolls!

then the chaos begins

with the children opening their presents first...

...then finally it was the grown ups turn.

after all the presents were opened

then we played with the presents!

especially this one.

it's called floam.

clayton gave it to natalie,

but she shared it and we all enjoyed it.

it felt so good to squish it through my fingers!clayton, natalie, sierra, ammon, & kaitlyn

clayton, natalie, & thomas

thomas loved squishing it, too.

sadly christmas day always has to end.

the children were getting sleepy.

so were the adults.paulina

eli



but happily

there are always plans for after christmas.

it's the only way to not fall into a post-christmas depression.

i have to have something exciting to look forward to.

like,

our annual cousins soiree at matta's!

a few days later,

i was invited to go with stacy and her girls

to see "meet me in st. louis" at broadway palm. stacy, brennan, kaitlyn, & sierra


and another thing to keep my spirits lifted

is this new little gift i received on new years eve.

meet lucy!


and finally,

new years eve.

i don't have pictures of the partying

only pictures of the goodies i made.

the food is the most important part anyway, right?

i made these candy cane kiss brownie bites
and in case you're wondering,

yes,

i loved them!

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i heart ... living near family

this is why i love living near family.

while i was out driving around

doing some christmas shopping

look who i saw.

these cute girls!

my niece kaitlyn and my cousin summer.

.

i heart ... christmas sprinkles

i went into sprinkles today.

i told myself i could have one cupcake.

one.

so of course

i got two.

eggnog spice & vanilla peppermint

so now do you understand?

it was impossible to choose one and not the other!

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i heart ... middle-of-nowhere, arizona

while my aunt carol was in town
she asked my dad to take us on a road trip
to visit his property in middle-of-nowhere, arizona.

on our way we stopped to take in this beautiful view

from the mogollon rim.

when i got out of the car

look what i saw!

maybe the only snow i'll see this year!

and now,

middle-of-nowhere, arizona!

we just drove around the property.

there's nothing there.

but it's pretty!

oh wait,

there is something there.

there's this skull tied to a tree.

why do the boys in my family like dead things so much?

while we were driving, carol asked what kinds of animals live in the area.

i said i just hoped there were no mountain lions!

those things are scary!

they will silently stalk you and you don't know they are there until it's too late.

we didn't see any mountain lions (until later),

but we did see some cows (that had trespassed from another ranch)...

... and we also saw javelina

(see him on the other side of the water, running behind the tree?)

there were 5 of them, but my camera wasn't fast enough.

in town, we drove by this beautiful church.

there was a cemetery behind the church

which of course we had to explore.

i thought this was really pretty.

i guess they couldn't afford a proper headstone.

have you ever eaten lunch next to
a kodiak bear and a caribou.
dead ones?
well we did.

at the antler's cafe.

i don't know how i did it.

i should win some kind of award.

the food was actually good!

and what in the heck is this all about?

remember how i said earlier that i didn't want to see a mountain lion?

well, what do you know?
there he is.
sitting above the t.v.
of course!

driving around middle-of-nowhere
we saw some interesting signs.

this is my personal favorite:

umm... why is there a bicycle and a coffee pot on top of this sign?

"go away".

i thought cowboys were supposed to be friendly.



we left middle-of-nowhere, arizona

and drove to small town, arizona

to have a quick visit with my brother and his family.

but first we stopped by

my great-great grandfather's house

which is now a museum.

then we stopped by his statue

(that's him standing in front of the wagon.

his name is jesse n. smith

and in the wagon is ira hinckley

who is gordon b. hinckley's grandfather)

(umm, i don't know if i should tell you this,

but paris hilton is also a descendant of jesse n. smith,

but let's just keep that between you and me.

i'm not sure if he'd want you to know that!)

also there are statues of my great-great-great grandparents

lucy and william jordan flake.

on the right is erastus snow.

after our little diversions

we made it to my brother's house

where i smothered these little munchkins with kisses!!!

and finally,

on our way out of small town, arizona

we drove by the temple

(do you see the moon to the left of the temple?)

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