The BIG Christmas Post

On Christmas Day we, surprisingly, had to wake up the boys at 8am. It seemed that despite all our building up the night before Steven didn't really believe that it was finally Christmas. When woken he said, "We have to go back to sleep so Santa can come." He clearly didn't realize that we had already done that... 

Steven as usual gave a pretty lame-sauce reaction when he walked down the stairs (but at least he faked happiness for the camera once and I do mean just once) but Ben got pretty excited about his gifts...once they were opened. He would NOT open the presents so pretty much I ended up opening all of them.

Ben with the basketball hoop & ball that Santa got him 

 Steven on the bike Santa got him- unfortunately he still can't figure out the pedals so he hates it :(

Steven looking thrilled with the "rocket ship" Santa got him 

Ben loving his new cars!

Tyler showing off the paint scraper & flashlight that Steven picked out for him

Tyler "loving" the game he got for his new Xbox

Steven with all his presents. Santa got him a volcano AND rockets and still no joy for the camera....

Ben looking disgusted by his gifts

Tyler with his meager amount of gifts but he did FINALLY get an Xbox!

Me spoiled rotten as always. I got a bike & a camera & TONS of clothes & shoes. Ridiculously spoiled. 

After the gifts were unwrapped, I went outside to make sure that I really could still remember how to ride a bike. Then we all got dressed up for church and went to the Hatch home. Once there, we were given a few more gifts and then we hung out until we had to leave for church. Hanging out consisted of Steven playing with Brennen & Bryson's new toys, me browsing Pintrest with my sister-in-laws & Tyler setting up Mariah's new laptop.

Steven got another volcano! Unlike the lava lamp volcano Santa got him, this one really explodes!

 Ben got some Thomas the Train Squirt Toys for the bath tub

Steven opened our gifts...

And Tyler was SO excited to see Steven holding another controller for his Xbox

And I got an Amazon gift card!

After church we headed to my parent's house. My mom had out the makings for turkey sandwich and then their was my famous bean salsa and Rebecca made delicious spinach dip. It was a delicious dinner. When we finished stuffing our faces, Tyler made Steven's volcano explode and then their was some more gift unwrapping...

I stuck with my traditional LEGO gift for my brother

My mom got my cousin Fred a yummy treat & AMC gift card

I got Rebecca a food processor so she wouldn't have to borrow mine ;)

My mom got me a cute necklace holder (She also got me a necklace & made me a blanket & my brother got me ANOTHER gift card for Amazon- now I can finally read books on my Kindle again!)

My mom reading the amazing book I made her and dad called "10 Ways to Be a Brady"

My dad displaying the paintings my boys made for him

After the gifts were exchanged I worked on a puzzle with Fred & Rebecca, Tyler played Xbox with Mike & my boys threw around the Angry Birds Rebecca made them & played with all the other toys my mom has hanging about. It was really a nice & relaxing end to Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was spent at Tyler's parent's house. We enjoyed our traditional dinner of turkey and ham and shared favorite Christmas Memories while the food digested. Then the boys did boy things...

Ben giving us his party face

Steven and Brennen showing off their dance moves

When everyone was finally ready we opened our Secret Santa gifts. Tyler got a fantastic jacket and I got an Amazon Gift Card. Then we opened our PJ's and here I had an epic fail. I brought a clothing box that I thought was Ben's PJ's but was really one of my Christmas gifts. This meant Ben did not get to wear his awesome Christmas jammies at Grandma's house that night and so we did not have a picture of all of his in our new PJ's in front of the tree :(

Daddy was nice enough to let Ben open his PJ bag

Me being so excited to get another stupid shirt for my PJ's from Tyler. This one says "Vadar is coming. Look busy."

Steven loves his PJ's (which is good since he picked them out...)

Steven being shameless

Steven & Brennen

Ben got to wear his daddy's PJ shirt

After getting dressed in our PJ's we all piled in cars and went to a nearby neighborhood to look at Christmas lights. We also visited this house off of Gilbert that has this amazing music/light show. Then it was homeward bound and off to bed so that Santa could come eat some cookies and deliver some presents... 

Santa Cookies

Steven & Ben both "helped" with making the cookies. Steven helped by pouring an insane amount of flour on the counter and rolling pin and attempting to cut out the cookies. Ben helped by eating cookie dough so their was less cookies to make.

The next day, when Daddy was finally home, we decorated the cookies. Ben did a really good job eating the frosting.

Steven did a really good job making letters on his cookies for Santa. First he said he was making "C's" for Santa and then he said they were "I's".

Tyler & I were excellent decorators as well...

These are our beautiful cookies. Can you tell which ones Steven & Ben made?

Snow!

The day before Christmas we woke up early and headed to Payson to find some snow. And snow we found! 

We were joined by my parents & Mike and we had a blast. Ben & Steven both enjoyed throwing snowballs at everyone. Steven was always nice enough to warn before throwing, "I'm going to hit you!" and then he would promptly state, "I hit you." So thoughtful. Ben, however, was more sneaky and would come from behind with a slab of ice. 

The other fun part of our snow day was the turkey tracks and other animals tracks that we found. We made a good effort to follow some turkey tracks but never did find him. It was a great way to spend our day before Christmas and I didn't even feel like I froze to death.

Zoo Lights

My brother Cliff and his wife offered to take the whole Family to Zoo Lights this past Wednesday. The boys, of course, relished the opportunity to see more Christmas lights and I was grateful that we went on a week night so that it wasn't packed and crazy. Tyler, unfortunately, had a plumbing job though and wasn't able to come. He missed out on all the fun but I was kind enough to get him cotton candy, his favoritest treat!

Mike helping out with Ben  (What am I going to do when they have children of their own?)

My niece Mary wearing the trippy 3-D glasses they handed out at the gates

Mary's step sister Saphie

Me posing for the camera

My brother, Cliff, & his wife Amber

Rebecca looking charming with her adorable hat and a spooky web behind her

Once again, Mike lending a helping hand with my crazy boys

What a silly bunch we are!

Ben giving us his cheesiest grin

Poppy is so happy to be holding a squirmy Steven

My bashful mom with Rebecca

My cousin Fred with the gorgeous peacock

Revisiting the Temple

 After visiting Cherry Lane Monday night my brother Mike & I decided to go to the Mesa Temple. It didn't matter that we had just been there the week before, the boys still had a great time. They absolutely love the lights there!