A Wonderful Christmas: 2013

 

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were pretty wonderful. On Christmas Eve we went to the Menlove family party where we enjoyed a yummy turkey and ham dinner, played white elephant games, and passed out presents from Grandma and Grandpa. 

Afterwards we went to my families to open sibling gifts and hang out. 

Clark, Owen and I went home and enjoyed our first Christmas Eve evening and Christmas at home, just the three of us. It was different to be sure but I loved every second of it. 

We were so excited to get Owen up to open presents. He got to see Santa a couple times this season but he didn't completely understand what he does. He still loved opening the presents though, all the presents.. even if they weren't his :)

We met up with my family and Lori and Allen's for breakfast and then headed back to my family's house where we opened more presents from my parents and hung out for the rest of the day. It was different this year because everyone was gone. Amy and Hillary didn't come home, Hannah and Tyler left to spend the day with Tyler's family, and Travis left to spend the day with his new girlfriend, Angie. We still had fun though. We lounged, played games, watched movies, we got to talk to Clark's brother who is on a mission, we skyped Amy and her family and talked to Hillary on the phone, and ate a whole lot. 

 

Hope everyone had an equally great Christmas! 

Sam family party

The Sam family Christmas party is always one that I look forward to each year. Maybe it's that we don't see most of the family near enough. 

This year it was at my parents house. It was full of traditions like white elephant gifts, gifts from Santa (we were soo sad that Santa slid off the road on his way and couldn't make it.. But he somehow managed to doorbell ditch the bag of gifts for the kids, must have been those elves ;) and a Christmas message to end with. 

As always I'm not very good at taking pictures of the important things, but enjoy these various pictures of Owen.. :)

 

 

2013 Christmas Card

For journaling sake... Here is our Christmas Card. It was my first year making cards and I still didn't do a very good job at sending them out so sorry if you didn't get one! 

Decorating the tree

 

 

 

 

This post is a few weeks late, like most of my posts... But we had a blast decorating our Christmas tree. Owen loved helping daddy, he liked to bring him the ornaments and tell him where to put them. He's the boss. 

Clark picked out a great tree this year and it looks awesome with all the lights and ornaments. Owen insists on turning the lights on first thing when we come down every morning :) 

I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the final product. Maybe one will come later. In a few more weeks ;)

Hunting for Christmas trees

^^He mostly like to crawl around and lay in the snow

^^ And he was amazed by his mittens

 

 

 

^^ Warming up his little fingers on the heated handle bars

Every year my family goes up Ephraim canyon the weekend after Thanksgiving to search for Christmas trees. We've done this ever since I can remember. It's gotten a lot less hard core since we don't have to wake up at 5 in the morning to go wait in line in the freezing cold to get a permit. Now that we can get the permits ahead of time we get to sleep in. 

This was Owen's first experience going Christmas tree hunting, and it was his first experience with snow for the season and he's been obsessed with snow "noo!" Ever since.

 

Clark picked us out a good one, that smells so good all set up in our house. 

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving this year with Clark's family. We drove up to Logan on Wednesday afternoon and spent the evening with Clark's parents, brothers, and grandparents. We hadn't seen most of them since Easter. It took Owen a minute to warm up but soon he was having a blast. The boys went to a movie and the girls stayed home with a chick flick. 

On Thanksgiving we headed to Ogden to have Thanksgiving dinner at Clark's Aunt and Uncles house. It was delicious, and fun to see family we don't see very often. 

Can you believe this is the only picture I took the whole time?! I got a little panicky when Owen was nowhere to be seen. But found him down in the playroom with his cousin (second cousin?) Quinn. Can you even tell who's who? They're twinners, I tell ya.

I have so much to be thankful for, not only at this time of year but all year round. I am so thankful for my little family and for the purpose they give me in life. I am thankful for the chance I have to stay home with Owen and for how supportive Clark is about it. I'm thankful for the house we live in and for the (two!!) cars we have to drive. I'm thankful for the gospel and for the peace it can bring to my life even in the most trying times. Just to name a few :) 

Now I'm excited for the Christmas season to be here! Bring on the hot chocolate, lights, and parties!