A Taste of our Holiday Fun!

December was a great month! We had so much fun celebrating Christmas and the Christmas season. We got to have about three ward Christmas parties, we crashed our old ward, but only on invitation I promise. The other two were in our new ward. One of our new ward parties was held by the primary children and they told the nativity. We had fun making costumes, only I didn't get that great of pictures of the kids. Madelyn was a perfect angel and loved dressing up, big surprise. Drew looked great in his shepherd costume and now loves bath robes. You can kind of see Drew, he is the boy looking at the camera...Madelyn was hiding pretty good, I never even saw her the whole time. Jed's sister Katie and her husband Josh were Joseph and Mary and did great! :)

We were able to spend time with our families and friends with more parties, FHE's, dinners, etc. It was a great time and appreciate all the work that goes into those gatherings!! I think I gained several pounds as a result of everyone's delicious cooking.... Our family also got the chance to go to Salt Lake and spend a few days down there after Drew got out of school and Jed was off work. It was fun to just take time away from our normal routine and spend time together. The lights on temple square were beautiful and we enjoyed our time down there.

It was cold, but it was fun! We also popped in on several of the free concerts that were going on in nearly every building on temple square. We were able to listen to about 5 minutes of each of them, that is all Hannah could handle.

We were also able to attend the Salt Lake temple, and visit my good friend MarjAnn while we were there, which were highlights of the trip. Jed spoiled all of us by taking us out to eat more than we usually do on trips. I didn't mind. :) Our favorite place by far was Tucanos. We went there for lunch--the only way to go since it is a pricy place. If you have never been it is pretty much an all you can eat meat place. They bring you meat on big skewers straight off the grill and cut you off a peice. They are coming around constantly, so you definitely get your fill. It also came with a salad bar which was delicious too. When we first got there, I had to visit the bathroom with a child so I hadn't gotten to eat anything quite yet. When I returned, Jed had the waiters shave off some meat for me. I had heard so much about this restaurant that I dug in pretty much as soon as I sat down. I jabbed a little peice of meat and, in haste, ate it while Jed was trying to mention something to me. The meat was goood......at first, then I had to grab a napkin and--with bad manners and all--spat the meat into my napkin. It was SICK! What Jed was trying to tell me was that it was chicken heart....... Anyway, we had plenty of other meat to taste and it was delicious. Needless to say that when they came around with the chicken heart skewer, I kindly refused.

Before we had gotten to the restaurant Jed and I were debating whether or not to take in the diaper bag. I decided that I must take it, you just never know when you need it. During the course of our meal...we were there for a long time....making the most of our pennies....Madelyn exclaims something to me with much animation. Turns out, Hannah had a Code 3 blowout. Yes, an EXTREMELY dirty diaper. In fact it was not limited to only dirtying her diaper, it was dirtying the high chair as well. She was turned so that her back was turned and quite close to a neighboring table. I tried to be as discreet as possible to shift the high chair away from the neighboring table so as not to offend. It was one of those laugh/cry moments as a mother. And I was grateful I had brought the diaper bag!!!! I'm sorry if that was too graphic, I just had to document it because it was funny.....after a little while.

We got home Christmas Eve night. (Pam we were going to come see you, but it was getting late before the big day. We send you our love though!!) We held a nativity with our kids and I played some Christmas songs on my violin, then we ate and ate treats, then went to bed!! Here is a picture of our expectant Mary: I loved the profile.

Hannah was the baby Jesus who would only cooperate with a dorito in her hand, even then it was pushing it. I just love the sweet look on our little Mary's face. :)

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve followed by a wonderful Christmas day. Lots of love and family which is one of the best parts of the Christmas season!!