We had such a wonderful Christmas break in Wyoming with Joseph's family. The week was filled with so many fun activities. The first day we were there the kids made ginger bread houses with graham crackers. I tried to make one for Nora to decorate, but after getting the base of the house set up, she just ate it. Silly girl!
Fanny thoroughly enjoyed this activity. Joseph put together a little castle for her to decorate.
Look at the concentration on her face. She had to put marshmallows all around the top!!
The finished product. She did most of the decorating. I helped a little by putting frosting on, but she applied most of the candy. Just like mommy, organized and minimal!!
Traditional Christmas Eve pizza dinner at Grandma Shumway's. The girls got the cutest Sesame Street jammies from their Nana Nell. Joseph's mom made them for all the kids. They were super cute!!!
Sisters playing together.
Fanny didn't want to be in the Nativity, but she was really curious about it when the kids were acting it out. I was bummed, because she was such a good little shepherd last Christmas.
Christmas morning. Church was at 9:00 a.m., so we let Fanny open her stocking before we went. I LOVE the hair in her face in the next two pictures. She was still pretty sleepy, but pretty excited to see what goodies she got.
Lining up her candy.
It was so nice to go to church BEFORE opening all the presents. What a great way to start Christmas. We got to listen to talks and sing songs about the Savior. It was beautiful. A perfect way to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. I wish every year we could go to church before all the presents and food. The Mormon church should have something like a Christmas Mass every year :). When we got back from church I HAD to get pictures of the girls in their dresses before all the chaos began. Fanny was NOT happy, to say the least. I think it wasn't because she wanted to see what she got from Santa, but because she just wanted her dress OFF!! Just look at that mad face!
Joseph's four youngest sibling and the three oldest cousins.
Best picture of Nora in her dress. She had no clue what was going on, but didn't want pictures taken of her because she was super tired and ready for a nap.
Best one of Fanny.
Only decent shot with the two sisters together. Fanny was looking down and Nora was looking back at the tree, but they were both not screaming :).
After pictures, everyone got back in their jammies. The video shows what happened next:
Fanny playing with her kitchen. She absolutely LOVES it!!
I really surprised Joseph this year and got him an effects pedal for his electric violin that he really wanted. Here are the pictures in sequence of him opening up his gift. He was really surprised, especially since I told him I bought his present from Wal-Mart to throw him off. Can you tell how happy he was??!!!
Nora playing on a fun bouncy toy that we got her. It bounces, it makes sounds, and it moves!! She was pretty happy about it!
Alicia read a cute story about how the animals felt that were there the night Jesus was born. Every time she mentioned an animal, whoever had that picture of that animal had to hold it up. Fanny had the sheep and was pretty cute holding it up when it was her turn to. Yes, that is a naked barbie in her other hand :).
This trip had a couple of firsts for Fanny. On Christmas Eve, while Santa's helpers needed some time to accomplish a few things, Joseph's sibling took the younger kids to a free matinee movie at the movie theater. It was Fanny's first movie at a theater and she loved it. I think it was because her Uncle Jacob got her some popcorn to eat!! She did so good, though. I was sad I didn't get to take her to her first movie, but she had a great time.
Another first was going bowling. Fanny pushed the ball down when it was her turn and FREAKED out! But, after going down the fun dragon bowling ball "slide" a couple times and seeing everyone else bowl, she wanted to try again. She ended up having so much fun that she couldn't wait for her turn to roll the ball down and hit the pins!! I LOVE the automatic bumper rails that come up for kids when it is their turn, so their ball doesn't get in the gutter!!
Nora really enjoyed the "slide," too.
Joseph's Dad took everyone on sleigh rides one day. It was so much fun and the girls loved it. Fanny even wanted another turn in the sleigh when we got back.
We took the girls around the farm to see the calves and cows.
This is what the girls were looking at in the last picture. Nora was sooo excited!! Both of the girls were saying, "Moo!" as we were looking at the cows. It was too cute!!
We really had a great time over the Christmas holiday. I loved spending it with family, enjoying fun times and creating good memories. It was super hard when Joseph had to go back to work yesterday :(.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah and New Years! Hope this year will be a fantastic year for all of you!!!
1 comment:
Looks like you had a great Christmas. We went bowling there too! It is SUCH an improvement from the old place. I'm sure Joseph can tell you many stories. We had many fun times there. I'm pretty sure I was in a group with Joseph when he was picking out a ball and dumped the entire shelf of balls. I laughed so hard. Ask him if he remembers that, I'm pretty sure it was him. :0)
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