christmas 2008

christmas eve...we spent most of christmas eve & christmas morning with the allen side of the fam (we trade back & forth each year between sides, it works out great). we ate a yummy dinner and traded gifts (we drew names & decided to trade the gifts we got for those whose names we drew on christmas eve since not everyone would be there christmas day). ben had jessica's name...we bought her a schnauzer! you can see that she was quite surprised! hehe! she's wanted a puppy for a while now. merry christmas jess! ben, gavin, & athena...
later in the evening we had a christmas program. here's all of us! we were so happy that kati came with her kids..singing c is for the christ child :)... acting out the christmas story (christmas eve just isn't christmas eve without reading luke 2!). cute, cute... kaden & kiriauna being silly...visiting gma becky...after being at the allen's all day we decided to surprise my mom and go see her for a bit that evening. two of these pics are polaroids that i scanned in, hehe :). we love you grandma becky & aunt kimee, we're so glad we saw you on christmas eve!...christmas morning..on christmas morning the allen's have always waited at the bottom of the stairs until everyone was there and they were told they could come up. so of course, we did the same...here's the boys racing up the stairs TO FIND.........THIS! santa gave them their very own motorized ride on thomas train! they both freaked out, it was great!!...opening up more gifts... i got more video than pictures, but here's what i did get... one of the gifts ben gave me was this awesome wall hanging that i saw at bed bath & beyond a few nights earlier..it was a total surprise. thanks babe for all your gifts, i didn't deserve it all!... more pictures of the kids on the train... you can tell that they both just love their new train...
visiting grandma fern...in the afternoon we went out to grantsville to see g'ma fern & wish her a merry christmas. (ben's mom & aunts n' uncles take turns taking care of her)...our little fam with gma fern. we love you grandma & are so happy we got to visit with you on christmas!...gpa & gma slaydon's...after visiting gma fern in grantsville we went to my grandparents house in sugar house. it's been a family tradition for as long as i can remember...we always end christmas day there with good food, presents, & fun. we love you guys! thanks for the cool picture, carter!...yay, cute new pj's from gma becky!...aunt kimee & erin with the fun game they gave the boys.... kimee gave kaden some balls for his bounce house :)... us & gpa & gma slaydon. thanks so much for everything you two!..i didn't take as many pictures as i would have liked, especially of everyone else in the fam that was there. but as you can see, we had a WONDERFUL christmas. thanks EVERYONE for all your gifts! thanks BEN for spoiling me & the boys..you're the greatest. the best part of christmas this year (& always) was spending time with all those we love. MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!