Christmas Long Post

 Happy New Years!  2014 was a great year, we can't complain.  We'll make 2015 great too.  It has been so far!  :)

Let's rewind back to Christmas Eve.  Hold onto your seats!  We have lots of photos today.

Kids opening Grandma's pajamas: 

They all loved what they got, and it's a fun surprise for me too.  Daisy was thrilled with the evening's activities, as you can tell:

And then came Christmas:

 The girls were up at 6 begging to open presents, but we stalled by watching "The Nativity" and then we recorded them singing songs, something that has become a tradition.  I suppose that tradition started in my own childhood.  My parent's bedroom was at the top of a set of stairs, and they insisted we stand at the bottom and sing Christmas carols until they were ready to come out.  I have good memories singing with my siblings on Christmas morning.

Anyway, that was a nice trip to Christmas Past, let's get back to Christmas Present.  The girls finally roused the baby just before 7 (who lasted through stockings and then went back to bed).

We were happy to have Uncle Nate with us again:

 That is just an awesome pic.

We ate Nick's orange rolls and lounged about, playing with toys and napping until Second Christmas that afternoon with Nick's family.

 Missy got makeup.  :)  And, notice the exceedingly cool train set we got from my sister?  It's been in non-stop use since then.

The 3 J boys, all in a row:

We opened presents from G & G.  The kids were all thrilled with their gifts, I just happened to catch a good photo of Ellie with her new pogo stick:

 Since then, she's become quite good at jumping on that thing.

Maren with her own package of cookies:

I didn't get many photos of my babe, sadly.  This chocolate milk one is about what I've got.  She still wasn't feeling 100% and was a bit crabby.  But chocolate milk makes everything better, right?

 We went to bed satisfied with a good day.

Our weekend went by entirely too fast (why does time seem to go faster when you'd just like it to slow down a bit?).  On Sunday, we went to my sister's home.  My nephew gave his homecoming report from his mission (proud of that boy!) and then later that evening, that nephew baptized his little brother (proud of that boy too!).  It was a great day spent with family.  We drove home in a snowstorm, and woke up the next morning to a couple of perfect inches for sledding:

 Everett and Mom.  I LOVE Everett's face there.

Our little snowboarders in training:

We've kind of made it tradition to spend a night in Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square, and this year, the tradition continues.  Actually, the tradition got extended.  We spent two nights at the Little America.  The kids were so excited to stay in a hotel, ride the train, and eat out every meal (or maybe it was mom and dad that was excited to eat out every meal).  It took us a long car ride to get to Salt Lake Monday evening with snow on the roads, but we made it.  We had dinner and settled into our hotel room (which pretty much means kids couldn't contain their excitement and mom and dad were constantly shushing them).

The next day, after breakfast, we headed to the Clark Planetarium.

Maren, the Martian:

Moonwalkers: 

By the way, have I mentioned that is was cold?  It was about 10 degrees and the wind was blowing, which made it doubly cold.  Brrrr.  Thankfully, we were prepared and were all double layered.  Anyway, we headed to the visitor's center at Temple Square to warm up:

The babies were wasted:

Chillin' and enjoying the warmth of the sun:

We walked through the mall, Macy's window displays, and had lunch before heading back to the hotel for some pool time (the most important time spent at a hotel).  After showering, we had dinner and then went right to bed.  There was no bouncing off the walls this night, the kids were ready to sleep!  We never made it back to see the lights, which, in the freezing cold, was ok by all.  After a day of walking and swimming, I knew the kids didn't really have it in them anyway.

Our hotel set-up (we love the Little America, plenty of room for our family):

Wednesday morning we sent Dad for donuts and then one last dip in the pool:

 Ellie being a good girl and keeping her bandaged finger out of the water.

Dad was happy to see Daisy (and who's not?):

 Besides the baby, all kids were pretty self-sufficient in the water (with the aid of the life-jackets for the little ones).  Mom and Dad's job was a little easier.  This is a light of hope, people!

Mom and Daisy staying warm:

We had a wonderful time.  I know taking 5 little people to a hotel can be crazy.  Believe me, I know, but these moments are so worth all the craziness.  These are the memories we look back and treasure.  Time, money, and effort well spent.