A Very Merry Christmas

Holy cow. 

December was so packed with parties, food, gifts, and I hardly took any pictures. 

But here's the rundown. 

1. We had a ward Christmas party with Santa and all. My dad was chosen to sit on Santa's lap and did a rendition of Buddy the Elf when he found out Santa was coming to Gimbles. He yelled "SANTA!" and hopped all the way up to the stage from the audience. And a month later I still haven't quit laughing about it. 

2. There was an ambulance Christmas party that we attended. I made yummy potatoes that turned out to be not so yummy after all and it was embarrassing. 

The month was pretty calm (as calm as December gets anyway amid the shopping, school, and everything else) until the 21st. And then we were really busy.

21st- Our anniversary! We celebrated by being apart from each other all day. I made chocolates with my mom and Kolton went to a family party. That night we finally got together and had our annual (two years in a row!) couple's Christmas party at the Simmons'. It was full of good friends and food and hilarious and inappropriate white elephant gifts. So of course it was a good time. Kolton and I got this little gem:

Also we agreed a long time ago...about two years ago in fact, on our first anniversary, that we were not going to give gifts to each other. And Kolton broke the rule! I was mad at him but not really. He gave me a book I've been wanting and a beautiful little bowl from Anthropologie. That stinker! 

22nd- After church we headed up to Island Park for the Newman family party. We stayed overnight and enjoyed spending time together, snowmobiling, and just relaxing at our favorite place on earth. Kolton went on a big manly snowmobile ride and fell in love with it...oh boy. 

23rd-We came home from the cabin, showered, cleaned the house, and had visiting teachers come all within a matter of about two hours. Then we headed over to Hansens' because Ethan was calling from Guam! We talked to him for a good hour and got a kick out of the delayed internet. We would say something and five seconds later he would laugh. It was quite funny and really good to see and talk to him! Then we had a big dinner and I took charge of the yummy potatoes and they were actually yummy! It was a good day. When we got home that night Kolton had the brilliant idea to bring our bed into the front room so we could watch a movie out there and sleep by the Christmas tree. And it was so fun! I just really loved it.

24th-I put together our neighbor gifts while Kolton went to wash his pickup. In the middle of all that he got an ambulance call and had to take off so I was in charge of delivering. Luckily Addi came along with me and we were able to get it all done. That night we went over to Hansen's and spent Christmas Eve with them. We had different kinds of soups and breadsticks and watched a movie and opened pajamas and it was nice! Then we came home and stuffed stockings for each other and opened them and slept by the tree again. And Kolton had warned me ALL month about how lame his stocking stuffers were going to be and they totally were NOT. He did good! I was lame, however. But he did get an airsoft gun so I figured that made up for the rest of the lameness.

Christmas!-We started out at the Hansen's and opened all our gifts and couldn't even all fit in the front room because we're all so dang spoiled and got so much! Then we headed to my parents where the kids had to wait until we got there to open their presents. They were a little anxious to say the least. We did all that and then my Grandpa and Quenalee came out and we feasted on leftover shrimp and twice baked potatoes and cheeseballs and whatever else we could find. It was delicious. Then we all honestly laid down and took a couple hours nap. I couldn't believe it, but it was so nice! The sleeping by the tree idea was fantastic in theory, but in actuality we didn't sleep all that great so a nap was needed. Then we were in the middle of waking up when Tylee called! We got to skpe with her also which was so fun. It was just like she was there with us. We talked for about two hours which was probably too long, but how can you just hang up on them!? That was one of the best parts of Christmas. After that we snacked a little more and then went to the cemetery. And that was Christmas Day!

After Christmas we went to Island Park for a few days. (My favorite place on Earth) We snowmobiled, cross country skiied, and mostly just relaxed. And ate. And I finished a couple books. Kolton went on a big manly snowmobile ride and promptly fell in love with the sport. It was quite an expensive ride as a couple days later when we were in town returning some Christmas stuff and doing other business he and his dad bought themselves some snowmobiles!

After that little expensive venture we went up to Kilgore to the new Hansen cabin. We spent a couple days there snowmobiling, reading, and sledding with the kids. Baby Emmeline decided that New Year's Eve would be a great time to make her appearance so Shannon and Bear were not at the cabin even though their kids were.
Kolton even went all out and he and Teagan built themselves a little snow cave. It was an all day kind of project but it was sure neat when it was done. They even slept in it...for half the night. :)

We went home New Year's Day and then started up school the next day! It was quite the busy little break, but we had such a good time with family and friends.