Christmas Wrap Up

Our plan for the Christmas break this year was to be home on Christmas and then drive to Arizona on Friday and stay for a week. I wanted to be able to relax on Christmas day so we had our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. We had T-bone steak and baked potatoes, spinach salad, homemade rolls and Pomegranite 7Up. We had brownie skookies and peppermint ice cream for dessert and left some brownies and milk out for Santa. The girls thought Santa would really like that since he probably gets lots of cookies instead of brownies. We told the girls they couldn't come into our room until 8:00 a.m. and surprisingly they obeyed! They had come upstairs a few minutes before and I could hear them as they saw what Santa brought. The funny thing is they thought Santa brought a tent but really it was a trampoline. It, of course, wasn't set up and the pads were sitting on top of the box (we debated setting it up in the house but decided against it). I guess they didn't see the picture on the paper on top of the pads. When I told them it was a trampoline, Ashlee said "But where is Tumbles My Rollover Pup and where is Brynlee's Baby Born?" Ummm....Santa didn't bring that, he brought a trampoline. Then the tears started welling up in her eyes, along with sobs of "but I really wanted Tumbles!" Great, Santa screwed up this year! Honestly, I thought that the trampoline would be a huge hit and Tumbles and Baby Born would be forgotten but I was mistaken! In Santa's defense, in years' past he brought a very similar Fur Real dog that barks, sits, shakes and does all sorts of other cool tricks as long as you speak clearly and are in an absolute quiet room (when does that happen around here?) and the dog isn't moving while you're giving it a command....oh, and a doll that talks, cries and knows its mommy's voice. No worries, though. Later that day, Grandma Barton asked Ashlee if she was angry that Santa didn't bring Tumbles. She said, "Yeah, I was mad but now I'm over it. My mom said I could buy it with my own money or maybe I'll just ask Santa for it again next year."

Trevor got a few of his own trucks and tractors but was happier playing with Landon's police car...

Landon loves his new workbench and quickly found his construction hat in his room and went to work. The girls in their matching Christmas jammies...

Since there was a huge storm that blessed us with lots of snow, we decided to not make the long trek to AZ on Friday. We ended up going to Provo Friday night (took us 45 minutes longer than usual because of packed snow/ice on the roads) and then made the journey to the land of warm sunshine on Saturday.

Here is the last of the snow we saw as we stopped for gas in Kanab....

A beautiful sunset with cacti on the horizon about an hour north of Phoenix...

We enjoyed a week of 60+ degree weather (Brynlee was mad that I didn't bring shorts and swimsuits!) They loved playing out in the backyard on the trampoline and in the sand box (and found leftover money from the treasure hunt) and going to the park...

Trevor wasn't too fond of the tube slide. A bonk on the head coming around the curve probably had something to so with that...

For my parents' Christmas gift this year, my siblings and I redecorated a couple of rooms in their house. We (or should I say "I" :o)) painted, my sister took pictures of the grandkids and we all bought new frames for the pictures of the grandkids and families and made new picture arrangements on the walls in two rooms. It was a fun project and brought new life and openness to the rooms!

The grandkids wall (I still need to make a wood sign that says "Some of our greatest blessings call us Grandpa and Grandma") It will go in the big space in the middle :) And that big hole is the vent and my dad was ordering a new cover for it...

All the grandkid pictures used to be on the fireplace mantle but it was getting pretty squished with 17 (now 18 as of Jan. 2 and soon to be 19 in March). Now it has wedding pictures of me and my siblings...

All the family pictures, my parents, and my oldest sister who died when she was 2...

We are back home after another loooong drive. Now I have to put away Christmas, get back into the school schedule, and stay in my house because I don't enjoy going outside when the temperature is in the single digits! Happy New Year everyone!