December was a pretty wild month, not only because of the usual holiday festivities, we were hosting all of Lehi's family! But more of that to come....
Santa at Cabela's
Christmas w/Thomas Family
It was nice having the whole group staying at different houses at night, just so everyone was able to unwind and have their own space. We had the Lloyd family while Bill and Gina had Jared's family at night. Matt crashed our couch Christmas Eve, so he didn't have to make the trek back to Morgan, only to drive back the next morning for Christmas. Grandma Thomas also spent some time at our house leading up to Christmas. We were grateful to have her--especially with the health challenges she was facing. Terri let us know that she wasn't quite herself. She was very quiet, wasn't eating/drinking much, and had some bouts of confusion here and there. We certainly saw a little of that side, but she also was her usual bubbly self, especially with Brielle and the boys.
We made gingerbread houses with Grandma, Gigi, and Poppi (before everyone came in town). Since it has been Mandalorian season, the boys made baby Yoda on their houses. I told them the next morning that they had 5 minutes to eat as much of it as they could, and then I got to throw it away. Man, those were some eventful, double fisting, 5 minutes!
With all the gang in town, we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner, Gina made her cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning (it was a triple batch that took up my entire island when rolling it out & up), we opened presents, and the cousins played non-stop. Gina had some Thomas Family shirts made, with a T 2020 on the front and the order number in the back (ie Bill 1, Gina 2, Jared 3, etc) for us to wear Christmas morning.
Some of the highlights of the morning were:
-Maverick finally giving Lehi the 2x4x8 he got him (thought of all on his own), for when Lehi "finished the basement." Seriously, love that kid and his creativity/thoughtfulness
-Matt giving all the kids Nerf guns and a ton of bullets for all chaos to break out. Bullets were in every corner of my house. A few causalities (like Lehi's eye), but it was a genius move and awesome gift
-Grandma Thomas unwrapping her earrings, which were small "Watch out said the Elephant" books, she was so excited
-Rebekah announcing they were expecting a baby girl in June!!
The kids played with their toys (and each other's), a few of the big hits were Maverick & Lincoln's boxing stand--the kids made a line, would take 4 punches, then get back in line--Raelyn's team Disney game that took up the entire floor, Hudson's Pokemon balls, nerf darts flying all over the place, a baby or two napping upstairs. It was pure Christmas bliss/chaos.
Throughout our time together, a puzzle was completed (which was quite the accomplishment, especially when a piece was found in the floor vent), card games were played, naps were taken, the kiddos made ice cream cone Christmas trees (with a lot of sprinkles, in true Thomas fashion).
Gina planned to have family pictures taken while everyone was together, too. It was a little cold out, but the kids were great sports and played their hearts out when it wasn't their turn to say cheese.😉
Towards the end of everyone's visit, we went to Layton to walked around the park that was decked out in Christmas lights. We met the Blue/Izatt families there as well as Aunt Sue. It was beautiful. Sweet Melissa pushed Grandma in a wheel chair and had her bundled up to stay warm (it was really cold). After making our lap around the park, Terri had Grandma read her book, Mouse's Christmas Cookie and had all the supplies to make an accompanying craft (a felt mouse with a candy cane tail).
Christmas Part 2--McDonald Surprise
Quotables/Small Conversations/Tidbits:
-Brielle feels the need to copy any blown raspberries, any time, any place, any temperament.
-Brielle starting to walk backwards towards you when she wants you to pick her up
-Lehi taking the boys shopping at Ross. They were in line and Maverick told the person in front of them, "I'll take your cart!" and proceeded to put it away. Lehi said, "Mav that was a really nice thing to do." Maverick replied, "Yeah, I did it to get on the nice list."
-Lehi to the boys, "Did you clean your room yet?" Maverick responded, "We were too small, so we ate."
-Lincoln slept under Maverick's bed and then reached his hand up the side and scared the tar out of Mav
No comments:
Post a Comment